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Author: Dale Smith

Day 30: New beginnings

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

As one chapter closes, another one begins. As the day came to an end, it was a great opportunity to look objectively at the entire project. From the original goals and desires for the programme during its inception, to the many touch points along the journey. I did have one milestone and that was to wear a favourite shirt that had not fit for a few years. If there was any measure of success to me, that would have been it. Yet that of course is not the level of insight that is required in a company transformation project. This leads me on to my ending parallel; how do you measure success? There will always be the quantitative and qualitative measurements that are in place, but never forget to just step back and do your own measure of success by simply asking: how does the organisation feel? After all your efforts and at the end of this phase of the journey, take time to appreciate just how far you have come and what this stage of success looks, sounds and feels like. Having worked on several large transformation projects, there are moments of success that will never be truly measured and can only be felt through your personal intuition.

Day 28: My time

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

It is so amazing how much difference one day can make in our motivation and how just the day before I was inspired by the energy of others and today I really needed one day to ‘just be’. I decided to totally take the day off and shut myself away from the world; put on a few good movies, do all those loads of laundry that have been piling up and get on top of a few things. I always find days like this a dichotomy: one side of me loves the slow, non-directional pace, and the other side gets a little bored and is guilty to not be making the most of my Sunday. However, it is the latter that is of interest in this parallel. It is important for leaders to pace themselves and be more forgiving of themselves when they need to jump off the treadmill for a few minutes. The day was interesting in the so much as I was still fully committed to the programme and with such a clear no-cheat rule, I could relax in the fact that this meant healthy food and no alcohol – contrary to those lazy Sundays in the past that easily turned into snack-attack days. It is important for all people to find their space and be comfortable to ‘just be’; not judging this time through the eyes of others. It also gave me time to reflect on many of the key learning points that we have explored as a team over the last 28 days. I also realised that no matter how different the days can be they are all working in their special way towards the final outcome.

Day 27: Others’ energy

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

I made a conscious choice to use this day to push my boundaries a little more and take the advice of Tom and do an extra personal training session over the weekend. Today we really pushed it out, and I have to say I felt better for it. The need to reframe constantly is key to the success of any project, and the exercise did seem to help. It is great to be around such a driven and motivational spirit like Tom. It is key at this stage to take the energy of others and make it your own. The temptation to just allow this to roll on through and get to the end is tempting, however Tom also has a vested interest in his part of the project, as my fitness success is his success. This is something that we must always remember in any transformation project as we may all work collaboratively to reach the overall goal, but each individual driver will have goals that are intrinsic to themselves.

Day 26: The end is near

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

Today I had a huge revelation and that is where my true focus was – on the end of the project. I was getting a lot of questions around what non-compliant food I would eat first after the 30 days was over. This brought me to look at the parallel between my challenge and most large engagement programmes I have been involved with, and the crucial stage that I have just entered. It’s not really about what I will eat or drink, but more about the daunting thought of ‘what comes next’. Soon I will be without the clear direction of the programme. The open support of others has made me take my eye off the journey that I am still on. There are still four days to go, and if I am focusing on the end then my motivation and focus is not on the drive to really push through these last barriers and make a bang on day 30. I think some of this has to do with my personality type: I discovered when working with Cathy what drives both my motivation and fear states and how this can impact on my push at the end. I also realised that I have yet to really look at a plan after day 30. I know I have lost weight and I have felt stronger and fitter, but is this sustainable? How do I reprogram my brain to continue with this learning?

Day 25: Experience

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

Failure only happens if you do not learn from was went wrong. This was my motto today as I had another full day out with clients. Learning from my last experience in which I had not prepared my food in advance, I came well prepared today and had both my healthy snacks and Whole30 lunch with me. This was then doubled as Sharn, knowing the challenges that one can face when on the road, also ensured that I was covered with respect to food, by bringing some compliant snacks for me. This brings me back to the Bridge value of Sharing Knowledge Openly – using the information that is given to us from a place of experience. We often learn in real time, and this information should be better programmed to assist others in the future. This may sound like a small parallel, but in the small stuff you can guide others to a simpler outcome, just from not getting it right every time.

Day 24: Shake it off

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

I started my day with an exercise that I learned a few years back in my NLP training. It is all about self-talk and consciously choosing who you are going to be that day. I am not sure if it is the lack of sugar in my body, or that I have found myself in a bit of a trough but I was still struggling with motivation. However, ‘mind over matter’ needs to be applied if I am going to power through this! After sketching out my day, I decided on the attitude that I would apply before I set out. This is something that I have discussed with many leaders over the years; to constantly remind ourselves that when it comes to staff engagement we play an active role in the creation of the culture in which we live. I am not saying that we have to come into the building doing cartwheels and back flips, but resilience, strength and focus need to be demonstrated to gain continued buy-in. With every transformation programme there will always be assassins waiting in the wings, just hoping for an opportunity to prove that this will not work for the long term. Hence if life is a stage, then perseverance has never been more important than at this point of the process.

Day 23: No yoga

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

On reflection, I did not fully appreciate the message that I discovered yesterday as this morning I missed Yoga for the first time. After a restless night of sleep, my alarm went off at 6am; my new call for 7am yoga. As I lay there thinking about yoga versus more sleep, I found myself running through all the reasons why I could miss this class. From ‘I have a bit of a headache’ to ‘I’ve got a busy day ahead’ and the list continued until I had enough reasons to reset the alarm and drift back to sleep until the 8am call. As the day rolled on I had conflicted emotions, bouncing between guilt and justification until I reached a stage that neither of these was beneficial. No transformation runs 100 percent to plan (so best get over the guilt) and the purpose of not always getting it right is to learn (so out with the justification). Okay; so I missed yoga! With an appropriate reframe then I could review the benefits that I get when I go and also look through a positive lens about what I need to minimise that risk again. It was also helpful to lighten up on myself a bit and not focusing solely on the one bad, and instead to overlay it with all the good. As people, we get so focused on the one mistake or challenge that we lose sight of all the core benefits. In this reasoning, we can easily find the rationale that, once broken, cannot get back on track. So – give up and be happy in the fact that we almost did it.

Day 22: Eating eggs

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

During one of my mindset coaching sessions with Cathy Dixon, we looked at various character types. I guess I can easily be likened to the tortoise and the hare – I am a sprinter at the start but can get easily distracted by the next big idea. This is exactly how I felt today and have also seen this laissez-faire attitude creep into many programmes at this stage. So far it has not been without its challenges, but now I seem to have fallen into a bit of a rut with the way I feel about the programme. I have started to find some of the tasks becoming mundane due to the lack of variety as this is now just plodding along to completion. This parallel hit home to me when I cooked eggs for my breakfast for the 22nd day in a row.  Believe me, I do like eggs – but trust me when I say that there are not 22 different ways to make them! So what started as a breakfast that I felt great eating as I could take pleasure in nutritional value it gave me has now become “….eggs…. again!” I tell myself, “Just eat them so you are not hungry – that is what you get for breakfast!” It is at this point when most transformations start to really run out of steam as we are more focused on just getting through the transactional motions. The end is in sight, so we forget that this is our chance to inject new energy and finish with a burst.

Day 21: Time

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

Following on from yesterday’s lunch, my perception of time has been playing on my mind, and how we can all view a transformation in different ways based on many facets that play into our life narrative. I am attempting to link my 30-day commitment to that of a one-year company movement and have been able to find many key parallels. Often in organisations, the support and agreement of these projects sit within the corporate strategy and fit into the 3, 5 or 10-year plan of transformation, all the while the employees in the front line sit waiting for something to happen: awaiting the promise of positive change to manifest itself into their daily lives. When chatting to the waiter yesterday, I had an epiphany when he mentioned that he had been going to the gym for ages – since he was 17. The bold tone of this statement indicated that is was as far back as he could remember and something that had completed embedded into his life. On further questioning he was 20 years of age, however 3 years to him was statistically a significant part of his life. The same time it takes many organisations to just complete the meetings on what a transformation programme could look like and secure funding. All the while, employees are living in real-time; not strategy time. I appreciate that it is a balancing act, but what I have become more aware of is the importance of communication and the differential to the way we all view time and transformation.

Day 20: Restrictive

Posted on by Dale Smith

Between the parallels

I connected to a new parallel today through the difficulty that the Whole30 can cause by its restrictive nature. This was the first time that I was faced with having to eat out in a restaurant, and therefore be at the mercy of others to accommodate my dietary choices. Over lunch, I had a great conversation with a friend about the pros and cons of having such clear cut guidelines in the diet, including a no-cheat clause. I appreciate that to some this seems too extreme, however I believe that in this case it has been the secret to my success so far. The great thing about this kind of messaging is that it has no ambiguity and is very black and white. Now I am normally an advocate for autonomy and allowing creativity in teams, however in looking at my own communication style through this lens I can see how in my desire for creativity, my requested actions are less directive and too open to interpretation. A strategy needs to be very clear and have key agreed actions, parameters of scope and timed deliverables if it is to stay on track.

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