The pecking order

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Francis Lambert

It’s been a while since my last blog. In fact quite a number of things have changed since my last blog. Back in April, a week or two after publishing my last article, my wife and I visited the local farmers market. We were familiar with the vegetables and fruits section but we discovered they had a live animal section and decided to have a closer look. As we strolled through the isles full of chickens, turkeys, and ducks, of all ages and size, an idea struck us.: why not get our own chickens! We have enough space in the backyard and will get the benefits of eating fresh eggs. As we neared the end of the isle, we spotted what has to be the picture perfect rooster and hen. We approached the man and inquired about his chickens. He told us they were an Italian breed of chickens. Awestruck by their beauty we bought them on the spot without too much thinking about it. We told the man we did not have any experience with chickens and he helped us select the right feed for them, which luckily for us, was sold in another section of the market. Normally we like to have lunch at the market for there is a place that serves delicious roasted suckling pig, but today, with our precious cargo, he headed straight home. On the way, my wife and I discussed various possible names for our new pets. And we settled on “Luigi & Luisa”.

Chicken Buffet – Breakfast is served!

Now I must admit that such an idea would not have flown in the past as I know absolutely nothing about raising chickens; but, the eggs from the store have been tasting like fish lately and I find that quite disgusting to be honest. Besides, how hard can it be? When we got home, I started building a fence so our dog would not eat our chickens before we have had the time to taste the eggs. We used the old dog pen (our new dog refuses to go in the old dog house) as it been sitting empty since we lost them. However since the pen does not have a roof, Luigi escape to the neighbor’s garden and Luisa disappeared! Half an hour later, whilst I combed the neighborhood looking for Luisa, our neighbors caught him and brought him back. As we brought him back in the pen I also found Luisa, she had been hiding the whole time in the Cedar tree. I quickly proceeded to cover the pen with wire fencing to ensure they stayed where the belonged. Luigi and Luisa spent their first night in the pen perch on top of the doghouse.

Luigi & Luisa getting ready for bed!

However it did not take long to realize that, being a family of four, one hen would not be enough to feed everyone. We needed more hens if we were going to enjoy their eggs. During the following four weeks, my wife and I visited all the nearby farmers market and, each time, bought a pair of hens: Lily & Lola, Gertrude & Olga, Stefitza & Katitza, Dora & Dara. We now have 9 hens and one rooster.

Gertrude – our first egg layer

Olga – our smallest but bravest hen

As the flock kept increasing I also realized that the old dog pen would not be sufficient for our new pets. I researched how to raise and care for chickens on the Internet and found a very helpful websites: Backyard chickens dot com . I learnt that hens need a quiet and darkened place to lay their eggs so I looked up the basics principles of making a chicken coop, and went to work on it. If we were going to raise chickens, then we might as well do it right! I also found out that our Luigi and Luisa where not Italian but rather an Icelandic breed. I guess Gunnar and Guðrún might have been more appropriate names but “oh well” we decided to stick with Luigi and Luisa.

Katitza – the shy one

Stefitza -lays 2 yolk eggs

After having finished the coop, I realised I should have started with the floor. You see when we built the dog pen we laid down wood so it would not be to cold for the dogs, but now, years later, the floor is rotting. I decided to pour some concrete, as it would make it easier to clean than wood. This proved to take longer than I had anticipated. As the chickens were living there I had to subdivide the area into smaller square and tackle each one individually.

Lily on the left and Lola on the right

The upside of this process was that I had lots of time to observe the chickens. I had heard of the pecking order, I even learnt about the pecking order financial theory; but never had the opportunity to observe it. Since we introduced our chickens to our flock 2 at a time, every new introduction was an opportunity to observe first hand and here is what I have learnt:

1) The rooster is the leader and he takes his job seriously. One would think he would be the first in line to eat, but as a true leader, he lets the top hens eat first. While they are eating he chases the lower rank hens around and thereby provides them cover so they can eat in peace. The rooster is also vigilant. As dusk approaches he is constantly looking up at the sky and is the first one to settle in for the night. He leads by example.

2) Size does not always mean rank. Rank is determined by productivity. We have introduced smaller hens to the flock that have immediately risen to the top because they laid eggs. (Although this might have to do with the fact that egg-laying hens let themselves be fertilized by our rooster ;-))

3) Once the pecking order is established, there is no need for violence. The chickens accept their rank and live by the rules.

4) Hens are proud of their work! Every time they lay an egg, they sing a song, as if to celebrate their accomplishment.

Do morals and values need calibrating?

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Francis Lambert

Picture, courtesy of desert moon rising dot com

I recently entered into a discussion in one of the forums on Linkedin. That got me thinking and recalibrating my views on morals & values. The thread’s topic started with the question “How much are you respected as a consultant?” Someone posted: “Respect has nothing to do with performance. It’s a meaningless babble word like “trust, ethics, values and morals” -all which have numerous meanings”. Although the statement is correct, I was irked by the comment, as I believed that: “defining and sharing values is what holds societies together, it provides a yardstick against which we can judge intentions and actions. If we did not have any values or morals we could not differentiate good from bad”. My colleague and I had a good exchange but I had to admit that smoking marijuana in Texas is considered bad (jail) whilst in Colorado it is good, or at least legal. Morals, values and ethics are “babble” words – not convinced about trust just yet- that have different meanings depending on where you live and where you’re from.

It is true that different moral standards apply to different religion and tribes. A good example is homosexuality, (or sexual freedom). It is measured or ranked on a morality scale very differently in Saudi Arabia (Mecca the heart of Islam) than in Europe (the home of the Christians). Regardless which religion, religions have held the monopoly on morality matters throughout history. Interestingly enough the Jews, Christians and Muslims all share the same root and thus the “old testament”, where the guidelines are very clear:

Courtesy PreSchools4All.com

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, religions and God have little in common. Religions are all lead by men; all claiming to be speaking the message of God. Although I not contesting the original message or intent of sharing the “message” with others, religions develop a life of their own. Even the seven deadly sins, although noble in their nature, are a fabrication of the church. History has taught us that power is addictive. Today it’s the politicians that get addicted to it, “power” is the drive behind the men who are behind the religions. Regrettably history has also taught us that power corrupts, and the religion’s elders seldom retire as Pope Benedict did. The system just isn’t perfect.

It just seems that once upon a time, value was measured differently; or maybe we just measured more things than just money. Perhaps it’s because presidents of companies did not make a thousand times the salary of their lowest paid employee. Of course you may argue that today’s CEOs generate perhaps a thousand times more value as an employee than the man on the assembly line; and that it is only fair to compensate him accordingly. Good point, if we take shareholder value as the only measure of success. Unfortunately this is the same logic (along with a few other things of course) that has lead China to become the world’s manufacturer, making things where it’s cheapest. How can Europe be facing some of the highest “youth unemployment” ever measured whilst the baby boomers are entering retirement age? Quite simply, the jobs have moved elsewhere because it’s good business, good for the bottom line. In today’s global economy, not only are you competing against the neighbour’s business from across the street, you compete with a business from across the world, and your neighbours are all over the globe. So the decision to move jobs abroad is relatively easy to make; in many cases it may even be imperative to a company and it’s business model’s, survival. It’s just about money and shareholder returns. There is no room for morality. Time goes by and as employees are victims of the circumstance, the greed slowly siphon’s away the jobs and economic activity these jobs provide. This is the kind of actions and reasoning behind paying CEOs large salaries. The only value that count’s today is money. Never mind honesty or integrity, mastery or excellence, reliability and trust are all just words that look good on the vision statement but are hard to recognize in every day actions.

I happen to live in Croatia, a young democracy with an abundance of natural resources; since it’s inception in 1991, the vast majority of politicians have demonstrated with their actions; that they care more about their own pockets than the people, and state, they are meant to represent. Not only did they managed to squander the previously state owned companies, they have indebted the country to the point that fiscal discipline, mandated by the EU, is now very painful. The answer has been to raise taxes; at 25%, we have one of the highest “Value Added Tax” in Europe; and things are not only taxed once, but every time they are resold. These policies are snuffing out any kind of economic spark and this is reflected in the low investment figures. As we watch the evening news report about the corruption trial of the ex-prime minister, Ivo Sanader, the country is facing tough economic times and millions of people are paying for his greed, whilst the people that supported him are living it up immune by their fattened wallets to the hardship their irresponsibility have caused. What is sad; is that Croatia is certainly not the only example.

Many will argue that we have more choice today than ever before. Choice means competition and competition means a better product for consumers. Thereby stimulating innovation, which spews out new products and more choice. Those who don’t adapt to the ever-changing conditions quickly go out of business. Industries become extinct, just like species in nature; essentially a kind of “economic evolution”, where the only law is the law of the jungle: survival of the fittest. It’s only fair to say that in such an environment, it’s not surprising that people start worshiping money rather than god, wrongfully believing that money is the only thing that makes you happy. In fact if we dig a little deeper we find that there are many things that we value in life; we just tend to forget them. They get lost in the rat race that has become our lives, juggling deadlines and priorities whilst constantly distracted by everything and everyone who is seeking our attention.

So to refresh our memories about what is valuable to individuals, and give you the opportunity to recalibrate your own priorities; I thought of sharing this values map (found at with an open heart dot org).

Are you using a leadership mirror?

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Francis Lambert

Courtesy of Dreamwallsglass.com

I recently read a McKinsey Quarterly article on “Why leadership-development programs fail”. The article highlights several factors that, while appearing obvious on the surface, are often misunderstood: overlooking context, decoupling reflection from real work, underestimating mind-sets and failing to measure results.

Since I have personal experience of some of these pitfalls, I thought I could enhance the lessons from the McKinsey article by sharing some of my observations; thus, enabling you to make the right decisions when it comes to developing leaders within your own organisation.

Let’s start with the first pitfall: overlooking context. The article points out that a brilliant leader in one situation may not perform well in another. Although this is not unusual, it makes you wonder whether that person was a real leader to start with. Real leaders are able to anticipate and adapt to any situation because they carry more than one arrow in their quiver. Just because a formula worked in the past does not mean it will work forever. Different situations demand different approaches and tools. Versatility is an important trait of good leadership. People who stick to the tried and proven approach often do so because they are comfortable with it or, even worse, because they don’t know what else to do – not exactly a sign of strong leadership.

But I guess this also proves the point that a generic approach to leadership development – the one size fits all attitude – is not appropriate. Everyone is different; someone’s strength is someone else’s weakness. This almost guarantees that in a classroom setting someone will be bored. This may also help explain why the article points out that adults retain just ten per cent of what they learn in the classroom. Personally, instead of trying to fight against this phenomenon, I prefer to use it to our advantage by pairing up executives who display the opposite strengths and weaknesses. For example, someone with great personal skills could be matched with someone who has difficulties with people but who is brilliant at strategic thinking. This not only helps individuals, it strengthens the leadership team by reinforcing the bonds between senior leaders. This approach also helps bridge the second pitfall – decoupling reflection from real work – because it provides leaders with time to reflect and analyse their own performance in a non-threatening setting. It also encourages growth and development because it allows leaders to monitor their progress – thereby addressing the last pitfall of failing to measure results.

The remaining pitfall – underestimating mind-sets – is more difficult to deal with. In most organisations, there exists a huge gap between the top floor and the shop floor. Leaders are so far removed from the day-to-day activities of the organisation that they have often lost their sense of reality. This misunderstanding frequently leads to suboptimal policies and plays to internal politics and infighting. Without understanding the real organisational dynamic behind undesirable behaviours, it is unlikely that sustainable behavioural change can be achieved. As the article points out, people’s actions are often derived from entrenched beliefs, which regularly go unquestioned simply because they are so obvious. This is where consultants – who are not tainted by years of “business as usual” – can add considerable value. They can provide an unbiased view of reality and identify the drivers of undesirable behaviours. Consultants provide leaders with a unique opportunity to look at themselves in the mirror and map out the shortest way to get results.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 20 January 2014

How elastic is your ego?

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Francis Lambert

Have a look in the mirror!
Photo courtesy of IKEA: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40213759/#

The other day my wife and I had a fight, and she called me an egotist. Although there are always at least two viewpoints to every argument – and I don’t want to get into too much personal detail here – the statement made me reflect. Although I did not agree with her point of view, in essence I had to agree that I have an egotistic streak in me. But isn’t that a good thing? How can you ever be confident and successful if you don’t like or respect yourself? Certainly a measure of egotism is healthy. But the question is how much is good and how do you know when to tone down or ramp up your egotism?

It’s clear that for any relationship to work, there needs to be some kind of balance from both sides – and I suspect there is no real recipe or formula. The equilibrium in each relationship will lie at a different point, probably between 40 and 60 per cent, depending on the individuals. Only the involved partners can define the point of equilibrium, as it is dictated by their own comfort levels. With equilibrium, love and respect can flourish and relationships can develop to the point where the “whole” is greater than the sum of its parts – well in theory at least.

Where things go wrong is when one partner perceives a deviation from the equilibrium. This is also where the dynamics get complex. As individuals, we all have our own view of what is tolerable and what isn’t: our filters. Then there is the individual temper or the fuse; some people have a short fuse with frequent eruptions, others have long fuses that don’t erupt often but produce much larger eruptions when they do. As people we are all just different, and it is our ego that guides us when we judge and react to our partners’ actions or words. It is also our ego that gives the elasticity to the equilibrium point. Some people would call this the “give and take” of a good functioning relationship. Are we willing to accept certain things, tolerate others, ignore the little things because we are focused on the whole? The problem with ignoring the small things is that sometimes they are like a tiny stone in your shoe; the moment you feel something you can decide to ignore it or take the time to remove it. Even if you decide to ignore it at first – the stone might not be painful, just annoying – sooner or later you will sit down, take off your shoe and try to remove the irritating object. It all comes down to tolerance, and it is your ego and personality that set these tolerances.

But just like an elastic band, your ego will lose its elasticity if it is always stretched. Through constant over-stretching, it loses its ability to contract back to its original form and becomes damaged. The good news is that by becoming more aware of your situation you can protect the elasticity of your ego. By clearing up perceptions and by removing the tiny stones in your shoe immediately, you won’t have to test the elasticity of your ego.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 30 November 2013

When did you last stop to smell the flowers?

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Francis Lambert

http://www.bubblews.com/news/245059-stress-can-kill-you-what-causes-the-disease

Much has been said about the power of the moment. Books have been written telling us to focus on the most important time in our lives: not the past nor the future, but the present – the now. And, indeed, the present is where it’s at!
The present is where we make decisions and take action, and it is these actions that determine our future and create the memories that will, tomorrow, be our past. We process many of these decisions and corresponding actions almost unconsciously, but it is precisely this capability that is also our weakness, as it allows us to get distracted. In today’s world everyone demands our attention. Where the industrial revolution gave us more time by simplifying manual tasks (and in some circumstances removing them altogether), the information revolution is consuming more and more of our time. The difference is that now we have a choice: our devices have an off switch – and we should use these more often.

As I look back over the decades at the growth of consumerism, I can see that, as more and more things became available, companies vied for my money by promising me products with “effortlessness operation” and “lasting quality”. During the occasional visit to my aunt’s, I can remember marveling at her electric can-opener, thinking it was really cool. Fortunately, I never did buy one, as it would now be collecting dust up in the attic – along with the other marvels of health and productivity, like a juicer and an old vacuum cleaner. The industrial revolution brought about consumerism, the excesses of which are, unfortunately, visible not only in my attic, but also in the island of rubbish floating around the Pacific Ocean. But I guess this is the price we pay for what we have today.

Now we have the information revolution, with many companies vying for our time and attention: the new currency. Everything is compressed; the mobile device makes us more productive, yes, but it also makes us a slave to others without even realizing it. Being able to read our emails & finalise a presentation on our iPad, whilst on the beach, may enable us to rethink where we can live; however, it also means we don’t really switch off during our holiday. Let’s face it, some of the stuff we can do with our mobile device can be addictive. Have you ever seen a couple having dinner in a restaurant, each of them with a smart phone in their hands, and, rather than looking each other in the eyes, they are both checking their emails! A perfect example of this new trend is a company called Zinga, which makes some of the most popular social games on Facebook. Last year it generated over 1 billion dollars of revenue from its 250 million users. Many of these users are addicted to the games and spend hours playing them on their computer everyday.

As we continue down the “on demand” path, we have more and more choices available to us at the touch of a button. Our propensity to get distracted grows exponentially, obscuring our ability to enjoy the moment without some kind of electronic stimulation. Of course, it’s a choice and we are the ones that make the choice. But choices are often made subconsciously, like the reflex to check your email when you hear the ping of your portable device. I suggest you consciously turn off your devices for a certain amount of time each day – dinner being one of those times, when you can engage in real dialogue and maybe even practice your storytelling skills. Go for a walk and fill your senses with the beauty of nature: the grandeur of the oak tree, the rustling sound of a river or creek, the sweet smell of blossom in the spring or the relaxing feeling of walking barefoot on a beach. Whichever experience is available to you, spending time reconnecting with nature and people is sure to be time well spent.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 1 September 2013

Are You Seeing the Forest through the Trees?

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Francis Lambert

Probably one of my favourite things about growing up in Canada was summer camp: one full month of outdoor activities and getting close to nature. The highlight of the adventure was the canoe expedition. The camp’s duration was dictated by the age of the participants: 2 days and 1 night for the 6-year-olds and up to 20 days for the 16-year-olds. First, we were put into pairs, then we were off: paddling in the different lakes, setting up camp – the next day, more paddling. The slowly changing landscape in various shades of green, mixed with the peace and tranquillity of the lake and the steady rhythm of the paddling, was sometimes hypnotic and provided many daydreams. But it was not all fun and games. The “portage” – from the French word porter meaning to carry – was a nightmare: we had to carry not only all our gear and backpacks, but also the stupid canoe. The woods were infested with mosquitos, and with the canoe on your shoulders you couldn’t even swat them away. It was enough to drive you mad – and a real test of character. But we went through it – and by the third day of not washing with soap the mosquitos had stopped bothering us.

The trail was often poorly marked, but after making a few unnecessary detours in the mosquito-infested woods I learnt very quickly how to read a map and use a compass, always looking for the shortest possible way through the woods or the best way to pick up the supposed trail. The interesting thing about a map is that it provides a “bird’s eye” view of the terrain, giving you information about what lies ahead of you – things that you may not be able to see at that moment in time. It gave us a view of the forest. Although we may not have been able to see the other lake, we started our portage, confident that it lay about 800 m to the west, just beyond the hill. We took our bearings with the compass, picked a point in the distance and started walking. Once we had reached that point, we repeated the process until we had reached our destination – the other lake. It’s easy to see the parallels to classic management theory:

1) Vision: Reaching our camp site safe and sound

2) Mission: Getting there one hour before nightfall

3) Milestones:

Paddle across the lake to where the trail starts
Portage through the mosquito-infested wood
Paddle to camp site
Set up camp

But, as you can imagine, management theory often differs from reality. So, what is the problem? The bloody canoe! You see, when you walk around wearing a canoe as a hat, you can’t see more than two metres in front of you. It makes it kind of hard to get your bearings and pick a point in the distance. In reality, as 12-year-olds, my partner and I were victims of our own size and youth. Only one person should carry the canoe; that way, you can tip it back and see where you are going. The two-man approach is just not a good option in the woods, but it seemed like our only option at the time – neither of us had the strength to carry the canoe alone. Needless to say, we struggled; we just could not see the forest through the trees. Although we had a map and we knew there was a lake a short walk away, our struggles with the canoe demanded all our attention and drained our energy.

So often in business, we see a similar picture. We all have some kind of canoe to deal with, something that impedes us from seeing the bigger picture by sucking up all of our attention, and, because we get distracted, we lose sight of the objective and the task at hand. In our example, the problem was obvious: the canoe. Although it took us a few frustrating trials, we did figure out a way to make the task easier for ourselves, in the end.

In a business situation, becoming aware of the issues and forces that are obstructing your view of the forest should be your top priority – only then can you deal with them. (That is, of course, if you have already defined where you want to go and what your objectives are.) In most companies, the real boss – the CEO – sits just too far from where the value is created. As commander in chief of the organisation, his role is – like it or not – to give purpose to the jobs of the employees. Failure to do so results in an uncommitted workforce – people just putting in their time for their pay cheque, without much concern for waste, quality or efficiency. Sure, you can invest in quality systems, define standards and measure against them – in an attempt to maintain a high standard of work – but if you can’t get your people committed to their work, you will never make it to the top. You give purpose to people’s jobs by, first of all, sharing a set of values and mores; after all, knowing what to expect from each other gives everyone a sense of security. Therefore, describe the conditions under which the company is operating; talk about the competitive landscape, the strategy and how everyone plays their part in its execution, but, more importantly, break down the task into small enough chunks so that progress can be measured. After all, it is in the day-to-day activities along the value chain where the vision gets realised. If you are not aware of what is obstructing you, then you have little chance of success.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 18 August 2013

Taking Control Of Your Own Destiny

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Francis Lambert

Being an only child, like everything else in life, has both positive and negative aspects, the importance of which often depends on how you look at things. I have never longed for a sibling, nor have I spent much time thinking about what life would have been like had I had one. My parents never forced me to leave home and attend boarding school; they just presented the facts (well, I suppose I may have been given some hints) and I simply opted for, what seemed to me, the most adventurous option. So, in the winter of 1973, when I was just 9 years old, my mother raised the topic of my schooling one night over dinner. I later discovered that, at that time, the provincial government had been experimenting with new teaching methods, and she did not want me to be part of their experiment. In any case, she asked me if I would be willing to go to school in Switzerland; she had done her research and learned that they had the best boarding schools in the world. My mother explained that, as Switzerland was on the other side of the world from Canada (where we lived), it would only be possible for me to see my parents every three months. She then went on to explain that there would be lots of other kids there – and I could ski every day. Well, skiing every day, are you kidding me? It was an easy sale. Not only was I already skiing at the time, I knew where Switzerland was: I had seen some World Cup downhill races on TV, and those skiers were my heroes. Not seeing my parents for three months did not seem like such a bad thing – after all, I was already at camp for a month during the summer. The next autumn I would be off to boarding school – in Switzerland!

I have to say, my birthplace, Shawinigan, is not particularly nice. It’s an industrial town. Its location on the St-Maurice River made it an ideal place for electricity generation and a paper mill. It went on to attract other electricity-hungry industries, most of which stank! Organised labour and the political climate, as well as a bunch of other factors, finally choked profits and investment. The town then went through a long recession before emerging as the gateway to the Parc National de la Mauricie – 536 km² of protected wilderness. With its 155 lakes, it is a paradise for anyone who loves canoeing – and mosquitos! To ensure you sleep well at night, in your flimsy tent, you are given strict instructions by the forest ranger as you enter the park: under no circumstances should you keep food in your tent. Doing so would attract the bears, which is not too good for the park’s health and safety reputation. So much for midnight snacks! You are also told that, at night, you should hoist a backpack containing all your food 4 m high into a tree – at least 50 m from your campsite. Now that’s what I call adventure: uncomfortable in a tent and in danger of being eaten by a bear. The Europeans love it; they come in their droves, and the town’s prosperity has now been guaranteed. However, back in the days when I was a 9-year-old, the prospect of going to school there was not all that appealing. Switzerland – and skiing – was much more attractive.

Finally, the day came when I was ready to go off to school. It had been a long time since that dinner conversation the previous winter. My anticipation was prolonged due to the fact that in Switzerland school didn’t start until the 1st of October. During the summer, my restlessness had been tamed by being around all the other kids at camp. In September, once they’d all gone back to school following Labour Day, my excitement grew stronger. You can imagine my delight the day we finally made it to school. Up in the Swiss mountains, at an altitude of 1500 m, there was already 40 cm of snow. We’ll be skiing soon I thought. Well, I thought wrong; this was just a freak snowstorm and, as it turned out, “skiing every day” was only for the winter months, between Christmas and Easter. So, after all this anticipation, you can imagine my deception; I cried that night, alone in my bed. The room was so dark I could not see my hand 5 cm in front of my face. Back at home we’d always had the city lights reflecting inside my room, so I’d never experienced such darkness. I would just have to be more patient. I reasoned that, if I’d been able to wait eight months to get here, I could wait another three before finally skiing in the Alps.

The next day we were woken up by the noise of the shutters being raised. The sun’s rays flooded the room, and we were told to get ready for breakfast. When I arrived at breakfast and saw the panoramic view from the corner window, I witnessed, for the first time, the majesty of the Alps. Besides, there was a cute Italian girl that kept looking at me, so I knew I had made the right decision in coming to Switzerland. At that time, I spoke only Canadian French, so I said, “Bonjour.” She answered, “Buongiorno, mi chiamo Marina. Tu, come ti chiami?” Needless to say, I had soon forgotten all about skiing as I was busy learning Italian; even though I had just learned a hard lesson about patience, my encounter with Marina had taught me even more, as it had opened my eyes to another culture.

As it turned out, I learned that patience is good for your character: it makes you appreciate things more; it spices things up: it raises the expectations. Naturally, of course, there may be some disappointments along the way, but that is all part of our learning experience: we calibrate our ambitions with reality and potential, in order to find a way to reach our goal. It took me a while to understand that, but finally it sank in. This is what is meant by taking control of your own destiny. Sure, you can say that I was perhaps one in a million (Canadians) who was offered the opportunity to attend school in Switzerland. I can’t help that; I can only say that I seized the opportunity.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 4 August 2013

Are you wearing the right glasses ?

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Francis Lambert

I can remember having a heated discussion with my wife about our eldest son. He was barely walking – about 18 months old – and, like all babies of that age, he wanted to touch everything. That was fine for 90% of the things in the house, but not for items such as the iron, the stove, the oven, etc. Already at that age he was drawn to the things which were out of bounds and he was constantly trying to get his hands on the forbidden 10%. His favourite was the stove. I guess he must have seen us cooking and just wanted to get in on the action. My wife managed to save him from burning himself on several occasions but, already at that age, he thought he knew better. However, when my wife told me about the problem, heated discussions were to follow. When I suggested that we should run a controlled experiment (i.e. let him burn his fingers) I got more than an earful. How could I even think of something like this? What kind of father was I?

I quickly explained that by controlling the experiment we could make sure he only burnt his fingers a little bit. More importantly, this way he would learn from his own experience, and she would not have to worry anymore about him really hurting himself. So I set up the trap. I turned on the oven to about 100° C and waited for it to warm up. When it was up to temperature, I opened the oven door and stepped out of the kitchen for a moment. Sure enough, no more than 3 seconds had passed when, with my back turned, I heard the crying. He came running to me with his hand up in the air. I quickly plunged it into cold water and, after about a minute, he stopped crying. That was the last time we saw him hanging around the stove; he had learnt his lesson.

So what does this have to do with glasses, you ask? It is really quite simple: just as glasses help you see things better by filtering what you see, all your experiences are, in effect, filters that help you process information. In my son’s case, he needed to experience the heat from the oven to learn that ovens are hot and that he should keep his hands away from them. In other words, your experiences ultimately define your view of the world.

So you have a choice: you can just go along with life and not worry about this, dealing with everything that comes your way as it comes up, or you can try to create experiences that will enrich you and help you see the world in a different light. Therefore, if you are lacking in confidence (most likely you have experienced failure in the past and are cautious about trying anything new) you need a series of small victories to counterbalance your negative experience and build up your confidence. If you have difficulty making friends (you have most likely been betrayed in the past and are reluctant to trust people) try approaching new relationship without any expectations; let others demonstrate to you that they are trustworthy.

Of course, the older you are the more experience you will have gathered and the more imbedded your filters will be. This is why we hear the phrase “moulding a child when the slate is still relatively clean”. This does not mean you can’t change; it simply means that you will need more time and experiences to overcome the effects of your filters – so you’d better start working on it!

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 8 July 2013

What do you think is the most important thing in life?

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Francis Lambert

I bet that many of you will be surprised by my answer. If you are thinking water, honour, love or maybe money, you are wrong. I’m not saying that those are not important; they are just not the most important. The most important thing in life is breathing. Stop laughing – I know what you are thinking, breathing is just too obvious. But there is breathing and there is “breathing”; let me explain.

The kind of breathing you are thinking of is the instinct we have to breathe in air and stay alive; whereas the kind of breathing I’m referring to is conscious breathing – or simply put, breathing exercises. The ability to control your breathing has not only physical but also psychological benefits. By controlling your breathing you are able to stay in control of a situation that may otherwise get out-of-hand. Being able to control your breathing means that you can better control your emotions by raising your awareness of the situation.

You may remember that in my blog entitled “The Duality of Individuality” I wrote about the constant struggle we have in our mind between our two brains – the rational and the emotional. I compared this struggle to a rider (the rational) trying to ride an elephant (the emotional). By controlling the act of breathing, the rider maintains control of the elephant.

I believe the real value you get out of breathing properly is a raised awareness. Because you’re mindful of your breathing, each time you take a breath, you consciously correct your breathing technique and, as a result, you raise your general awareness and consciousness. Put it this way, to tame an elephant you require lots of practice and patience. Every opportunity you get to exercise your will over the elephant, and get away with it, you take a step forward. Good breathing habits are just a positive side effect.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 23 June 2013

Keeping up expectations

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Francis Lambert

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“If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.” Norman Vincent Peale

You may have heard me talking about my wife and how we are complete opposites. I like to see it as a “yin-yang” relationship. Of course this also means there is constant tension, which is both good and bad. Good because we are always exploring the limits of our individual comfort zones, and bad because this process requires an endless amount of patience and understanding. One of our recent debates was about a weekend escape I’d planned for the two of us. After 20 years of marriage, I finally convinced my wife that it was okay to leave our kids at home alone. (Our eldest will be 18 in September, and his brother is only 17 months younger.) Eventually, it was agreed that we should go somewhere for the weekend – but where? This seemed to be an impossible question to answer; there were just too many variables. In the end we conquered our indecisiveness: we just got into the car and left. I figured we would get as far as Zagreb (which is about 25 km away) and then make our decision just where the motorway splits in two. I’m all for adventure and this was certainly testing the limits of my comfort zone. Deep down I believed my wife was afraid of being disappointed; however, not knowing where we were going to end up meant that we had no expectations.

But it is one thing for my wife to choose not to have expectations about her vacation, it’s another when this becomes your guiding principle. Expectations are the carrots that dangle in front of mankind; they pull evolution forward. We see them at the personal level, for instance, a scientist would not perform an experiment if he did not expect some kind of result, or you would not go on a diet if you did not expect to lose weight. However, we also see them at the societal level, where expectations are derived from religious norms and beliefs and guide our social maturity. Expectations are the seeds of hypotheses and science.

You may ask yourself why I chose to write about this; after all, there is nothing new here. But you may be surprised to discover that I regularly observe missed opportunities that are simply due to low expectations. I have also realised that setting proper expectations feeds the “Strength of the Workplace” model of Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, published in their book First Break All The Rules. The model depicts three main elements of employee satisfaction: meaningful work, opportunity to contribute and feedback for good work. Setting expectations reinforces all three elements and enables employee growth and development. The same is true for personal development. Expectations of one’s own performance – be it about staying in shape, attaining at school or triumphing on the sports field – dictates one’s success. Without expectations there are no champions. It is through having expectations that progress is made and learning takes place. You see, expectations allow you to calibrate your efforts and set “smart” (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) objectives that will help you overcome challenges along the way to your goal.

In consulting, one of our favourite tools is getting people to describe what a perfect day would look like and how others would know it was a perfect day. Similarly, we like to ask the “consulting genie question”: if you had three wishes, what would you change about your work, in terms of your job and the company you work for? This line of questioning raises awareness and helps create a vivid image of an ideal situation – even if it’s only a dream at that moment.

By creating a contrasting image of a better environment we raise awareness, which allows us to see the deficiencies and opportunities for improvement in the current work environment. Once we have this information we know where we’re heading. It is then a simple task to divide our journey into several stages, each with its own milestone. These stages, in turn, will get broken down further into smaller measurable criteria and units that will provide the basis for your planning.

It is easy to set expectations for yourself and your team when the purpose is clear, the task is meaningful and you are contributing to make things better. The other vital ingredient is feedback: expectations don’t work if you don’t measure results or don’t get any feedback about your effort. It is all very well if we diligently measure our performance using certain indicators; what is crucial is that we seek an explanation for any deviation from that which we had expected. The indicators you use to measure performance will take on a new meaning when you not only understand them but also are able to influence them with the quality of your work. Analyse the deviation and learn from it, no matter whether it’s positive or negative in its outcome; that is the essence of continuous improvement.

Francis Lambert – Zabok, 12 June 2013

Change minus hard part

Change with less pain

Category Archives: Personal