Notes and checklists, calendars and appointment books, project timetables and reminder systems – should managing time require so much… time? And once the training session is over, how many of these tools do we actually employ to effect in our working lives?

Workshop takes place this Wednesday, two places remaining.

Statistics tell a grim tale: most Time Management training is ineffective and therefore literally (and ironically) a waste of time.

So this workshop will take a radically different track.  The course will commence with deep and personal questions about how each of us views and values our time.

This perspective is often neglected in traditional time management courses in favour of scheduling and arranging techniques.  This is in keeping with the latest research, which shows that the ultimate time management device for busy managers is… themselves.

We will then focus on two proven techniques that yield maximum results for time-poor managers and business people.

The first is the revolutionary ‘80/20 Principle’ as radically interpreted by Richard Koch, self-styled ‘time revolutionary’ and serial entrepreneur.  The second is the ‘Quadrant 2’ system developed by Stephen Covey, author of the famous Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  Between them, these ideas will radically alter how you view and use time – from a quantity to a quality perspective, from spending time to investing time.

This is a wide-ranging and stimulating course, designed to provide managers and professional people from all sectors with real-world tools for everyday use.

It will endow newcomers with an excellent overview of the best in Time Management techniques.  And it also offers fresh stimulation and focus for those with previous training in the subject.  No prior knowledge is assumed.

Venue: Queens University Belfast  -  Cost £210  -  Speaker: Dawn Baird

To book your place, please contact QUB CPD Short Course Programme on 028 9097 5260 or cpd@qub.ac.uk.

Image credit: foxypar4.

OK, so not the most sexy blog title in the world.  In fact, it was so dire, I added in the sound slang simply to try and curry favour with you, and to express my nerdish pleasure at the topic.

I’ve always believed that the fact our brains are split in two tells us something profound about our world.  There’s the rhythmic right and the logical left.    This is a standard starting-point for training in creativity or emotional intelligence.  But even those who use it nowadays – Daniel Pink for instance – are at pains to point out that it is only a metaphor.  The whole of the brain is involved in our reasoning and emoting; these functions are not divided up into neurological parts.

Then I came across the work of Iain McGilchrist, a former Oxford literary scholar, now a doctor, psychiatrist and writer.  His book The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World is a groud-breaking work that not only provides scientific evidence for the left-right split – technically called ‘brain lateralisation’ – but also draws out implications for weaknesses of Western society.  Perhaps his most thought-provoking insight is that each hemisphere produces a distinctive worldview!

Iain McGilchrist was recently on the BBC Radio 4 show Start the Week.  He will also be giving a keynote speech for the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) on the 17th Nov 2010; 13:00 (i.e. today).  Entitled The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, you can listen to it live here.

Exciting, isn’t it?!?  Yeah…

P.S. The title of McGilchrist’s book is taken from Nietzsche.  Isn’t everything these days?

Image credit: croush.

OK, first for the film.  Jaden Smith, a little too young but believable enough in the part.  Jackie Chan, the performance of his life, massive respect for his athleticism and range of achievements, minimal respect for Rush Hour 3 (the only movie I’ve ever vacated midway).

The pacing dragged by about 12 minutes.  The love interest subplot seemed forced, even mildly disturbing.  The insertion of Mr Han’s tragic background was superfluous.  Awesome cinematography, sinister political big-brother type images.  Relatively realistic fight scenes (considering Chan’s previous form).  Dramatic tension remained high despite the inevitability of the outcome.  For me, the kung-fu temple bit constituted the highlight  of the film, with verbal chop-suey kept to a minimum.  Overall, different enough from the original to constitute an authentic remake – 7.5 out of 10.

Now for the deep and meaningful bit.

At the heart of the film lies one word – mentoring.  It is not a film about martial arts or teenage love or moving home.  It is about the relationship between an expert and a student.  It is about the passing of knowledge between the two.  It is about the art of teaching and the act of learning.  Learning a skill.  Learning about life.  And – dare I say it – learning about manhood.

Ah, I could write a blog on each on these.  In fact, in some cases, I already have.  All I want to do is to raise the question of whether mentoring is a teaching form whose time has come.  Mentoring seems to me to hold significant advantages over those other kinds of teaching – instructions and coaching.  Training-room instruction often lacks personal application; coaching can collapse into motivation minus content.  Mentoring conceives learning as a personal relationship in which skill-modelling and interactivity form the substance, not the extra.  Such teaching can only be applied, tested and fit for purpose.

This version of The Karate Kid famously focuses on kung-fu rather than karate.  Did you know that the term ‘kung-fu’ literally means “human achievement” in any area of life?  That’s why Mr Han says in the movie that “everything is kung-fu”.

Spoken like a true sensei!

Image credit: irina slutsky.

They both have stuff to teach businesses, that’s what!  There have been quality BBC articles and vids recently on new sources of inspiration for business development.  One was comedy.  You don’t have to think too hard to realise that the skills necessary in stand-up – creativity, improvisation, confidence, communication – are directly transferable to the world of work.

Neil Mullarkey leads the way here.  You can read about his training organisation – called Improvyourbiz – and workshops here.

The next was about the use of wolves to model leadership and team-working skills! I noticed that several other coaching and training blogs have flagged up this remarkable story.  However they didn’t provide any more information than was in the original article.

Using my amazing research skills I’ve managed to track this story to its source.  The organisation who runs the training is called Team Venture.  The exact name of this course is ‘Natural Leaders – Trainings with Wolves and Horses for Executives’.  Chief instructor Dr. Janet Nagel, an Outdoor Trainer with a PhD in Engineering and project management experience at executive level.

As a trainer, I find both these directions extremely exciting.  It makes me wonder, What other untapped areas of learning experience exist out there?  Anyone for Star Wars?

Image credit: belgianchocolate.

Last Satuday (5 Dec)  I delivered a course called Right-Brain Rising: How to Harness All Your Mind at Queen’s University, Belfast.  This was the blurb.

One-half of our brain deals with logic, facts and argument. Traditional education encourages that, and traditional jobs use it. Now the rules have changed. The age of ‘left-brain’ dominance has gone. New abilities are required for professional success and personal fulfilment. Following bestselling author Daniel Pink, this workshop will focus on discovering and developing these ‘right-brain’ abilities – design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

I’ve never based a whole 1-day workshop around a book before, but visitors to this blog will know how much I obsess about the excellence of Pink’s book.  I did begin by placing Pink’s ‘why right brainers will rule the future‘ thesis into psychological context.  I mentioned the ground-breaking work of Rodger Sperry on the lateralization of brain functions, as well as the innovative attempts of Ned Herrmann to carry this insight into the realms of personality profiling, creative thinking and team dynamics.

Most of my courses are fairly ‘left brain’ in the sense of sequential, info-rich and analytical.  But I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s a rather contradictory to try to teach right-brain thinking by left-brain methods.  So, instead, on this course, I mostly allowed each technique to be exercise-driven in the way I taught it.

So, for example, when it came to teaching empathy, I left behind definitions and models, and instead got the class to observe body language on video clips and watch out for micro-expressions, as well as participate in role-playing and acting assignments.

For story, we wrote mini-sagas, created opening novel lines, and wove stories around interesting photos.  Other right-brain ‘senses’ had us re-designing annoying household items, listening to great symphonies, and dissecting the world’s funniest jokes!  There was also some heated discussion as to the merit of the ‘life is a game‘ metaphor.

I’d love to know if anyone else in Northern Ireland has read Pink’s book.  What did you make of it?

Image credit: spierzchala.