Happy Company - everyone beneifts

Is there such a thing as: "A Happy Company" ?

According to Dan Baker,Cathy Greenberg and Collins Hemingway, authors of, "what happy companies know", not only are there companies out there that are happy, but also that part of this happiness creation process involves the development of positive work environments. These in turn create a compounded benefit that translates into greater levels of productivity which directly hits the bottom line.

What is very useful and actionable about this book is that it maps out the framework under which any organisation can develop a happy environment of their own. The framework is people directed and therefore focuses on the process of aligning teams (and leadership) through:

1. Values Analysis: understanding of leadership values and how these underscore success
2. Congruence Analysis: Degree to which the values of the team align with the leader and with each other
3. Energy Assessment: Understanding of the stress points and anticipated trouble spots for transitions
4. Culture Assessment: Leadership profiling and feedback of cultural awareness
5. Check-in Sessions: Validation of operating principles and shared definition of the team's future
6. Leadership Development: Creation of programs to improve capabilities of the leadership team, in conjunction with the recruitment of talent as needed.

According to the three authors, the 1st three sets of tools relate to the individual, whilst the last three looks at how the individual sits, collaborates, engages and co-creates within a team context (pp. 247).

What I didn't like about this book:

1. Sketchy/Executive overview: It feels like they want you to seek consultancy to fill up the gaps.
2. Insufficient quantitative references: Slim on the ground no follow up recommendations
3. No reading list: No clear link up to other references or books

The positives:

1. Case studies/examples: usual suspect selection of supporting case studies & examples
2. Framework to work on: lovely framework on pp. 247 - which is developed throughout book
3. Detail (framework): sufficient detail with the provided action framework, specially if you have done further reading in this area.
   

There are books out there to make up for failings...
Fortunately we can get further help to make this process work with more robust evidence with books such as: Firms of endearment, the levity effect (why it pays to lighten up), delivering happiness (a path to profits, passion and purpose) - zappos.com,and nowhere - which cleverly examines the journey of the individual to fulfill their passion, purpose and impact on organisation profits.There is also the flip-side: aligned organisational values based development that has resonance with employees may create the very envirnoment and opportunities to cement congruence, thus creating a common platform of shared vision, values, passion and purpose.


The books are as per the amazon carousel below:




For us on the coal face of delivery...
It is encouraging to read such books especially when as workers, facilitators and leaders within companies and projects are instinctively adopting this approach. It is a lonely road, but lovely when you link up with like minded individuals. Contrast in life is essential and therefore it is necessary to get to experience the light side (see the levity effect) and the dark side (toxic work environments).

Thanks to experiences you end up counting your blessings and I guess, as is in my case I have ended up neutralising toxic people and environments for the benefit of all.

Finishing project work at Campaign for Learning, and Community Learning Partnership was a very positive and rewarding experience. What a fantastic bunch of human beings, and I am continuing to work on a pet project with the Community Learning partnership and their wonderful CLP - Angels, a.k.a community learning champions (CLCs). CLP continues to reach out to their learners and involve them in positive social action to extend the trans-formative power of learning in fun and joyful environments.

I hope that you get further evidence from reading this book about a positive way to working. I shall be reviewing other inspirational books along the way. I tweet at times, so if you want to catch me on the twitter stream - see my widget. Enjoy and Merry Xmas. ;-)


Useful & Related articles...

How Room Designs Affect Your Work and Mood
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=building-around-the-mind

How Humor Makes You Friendlier, Sexier
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=laughing-matters


Generosity Might Keep Us Healthy (podcast)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=generosity-might-keep-us-healthy-10-10-26


Adversity Is Linked to Life Satisfaction
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=adversity-is-linked-to-life-satista-10-10-16

How to Protect Your Health Against Toxic Behavior (types of people & groups)
http://drbenkim.com/toxic-people-behavior.html


Stay Away From These Four Types of Toxic People: Choose the Company You Keep
http://stason.org/articles/life/self-growth/Stay-Away-From-These-Four-Types-of-Toxic-People.html

Eurovision HIV Champion needs your Vote

Appeal to take HIV Champion to the Eurovision Song Contest! - with our Vote he can!

With two decades of music behind him in his quest in favour of positive images realting to HIV awareness and resillience, Carlos Lopez G has raised his profile to be selected as 1 of 5 candidates representing Spain for the Eurovision Song Contest.
http://bit.ly/CarlosEuroVisVote

Anyone can Vote up to 5 times a day!!!

If you want to find out more about this wonderful person & human being, then you can click on the following:

Carlos Euro Vision Song:
http://bit.ly/CarlosEuroVisSong

Carlos YouTube Channel
http://bit.ly/CarlosYouTube

Carlos CDbaby
http://bit.ly/carlosCDbaby

Bit about Carlos
Carlos has been producing albums and doing concerts for free for years! - in favour of HIV awareness. I met him and helped him out many times including World Aids day.

If you want to Vote please follow these screen shot instructions (site is in Spanish)

Landing Page

Voting in red hand made circle...

Your details to activate Vote

Your details (from left): name, email, and anti spam. Click Vote! (Vota)


Voting Email Confirmation - have to click to make vote count

Your inbox will have the following confirmation email.


Email Body with link to click to activate

The 1st link you see is the one you will need to click to make vote count.

Please follow this process five times a day for next 13 days to make this guy's dream come true please, please, please ;-)

Euro Vision Voting Page
http://bit.ly/CarlosEuroVisVote

Thank You to Everyone who's Come here via Twitter ;-) and for those who discovered this post.

How can Eminem and `stigma research` offer inisights in to positive service user experiences?

How can Eminem and `stigma research` offer insights in to positive service user experiences?...

..."If, as I have been arguing, stigma is a cause of stress, then stigma as a way of life will turn out to be a cause of ill health. And the effect will be a direct consequence of stigma itself, not an indirect result of it. In other words, it will turn out that people on the bottom of society's hierarchies, who die younger and endure more illnesses, will suffer because they perceive themselves at the bottom - not just because they can't afford doctors or good food or safe housing. " - Us and Them: Understanding your tribal mind, pp 262-263.

"I am what ever you say I am..." - Eminem, The Way I am, The Marshall Mathers LP [Explicit].

So if service users are aware that they are disadvantaged, at the fringes of society, and are trying to parachute out of an environment of under-achievement and apathy, then these descriptive aspects of the very services users will manifest and play out as self-fulfilling prophesies.

It is a bit like a theatrical performance, where, when you outline the actors, set the script, and the stage, what do you think the outcomes will be based on these self-determining factors and conditions? How do you think the show will play out?

This is far from fiction, when you take into account Phil Zimbardo's 1971 prisoner/guard experiment carried out in a Stanford university basement, which was turned into a mock prison. In a nutshell the experiment documented how people can very quickly adapt their behaviour and easily fall into pre-defined roles, rules, conditions and expectations. Links to this striking research is available at the bottom of this article ;-)

So we may either extrinsically be exhibiting behaviour which projects our beliefs, or express biases which nurture our buried prejudices or subliminal stereotyping. There's plenty of research in this too!

Personal conversations and fabulous idea exchanges with various "charity chums" has provided me with numerous examples whereby people are described and pigeon-holed as cases for "special need" and attention, and that the programmes that are delivered are for "disadvantaged" or "vulnerable" people. Etc... mmmmm.

So, as service providers and key workers we need to watch our language and frame senses of achievement for our service users or clients from the "additive perspective". Within this view, the person is already complete. We, as service providers and facilitators within the third sector, have the responsibility to point people to resources and personal tools (emotional and spiritual) that will enable them to embrace and take advantage of life's future possibilities. A future, where their lives become a regular source of joy and tranquility.

Don't take my word for it, check out the research and catch you another time ;-)

References/Research...

"Us and Them: Understanding your tribal mind"
http://cli.gs/65V0pB

"I am what ever you say I am..." - Eminem,The Way I am, The Marshall Mathers LP [Eplicit]
http://cli.gs/1TgsAe

Stanford Prison Experiment
A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment Conducted at Stanford University
http://cli.gs/qYqj45

Abu Ghraib: Why good people turn evil
http://cli.gs/gum8gy

Social Stigma Causes Poor Math Performance by U.S. Students, Study Suggests
http://cli.gs/W0bJg1

Negative performance and the impact of: Stereotype threat
http://cli.gs/NVtS4y

Buried Prejudice: The Bigot in Your Brain
http://cli.gs/H2Sj3Y

Decision Making Suffers from Unconscious Prejudices
http://cli.gs/GmqYn6

The Implicit Prejudice
http://cli.gs/W0Mq35

Tricky, Turbulent, Tribal: Friend or foe is a mutable designation
http://cli.gs/NHEPLX

Stereotype Threat and Female Students’ Math Performance
http://cli.gs/dGAgu2

The Neuroscience of Stigma and Stereotype Threat
http://cli.gs/qJDXvh

PR and Media guides for small charities and groups

Need to work smarter with the media and get some PR going for your activities?

Well don't fear, here are two fantastic, and what is best of all, free PDFs to help you along the way.

I have missed posting to this blog, but I've been busy exploring new material, and even have a video to post here for another tutorial that will help my fab charity chums. Enjoy the preview of the PR & Media PDFs thanks to the lovely people at Issuu.

Abbey National's free guide to PR for small charities and Groups

Open publication - Free publishing - More pr

Here's a link to the file, if you want it (will open as PDF in browser):
http://cli.gs/dySe8V


Voluntary Action Media Unit's Guide to working with the Media: Smart Comms

Open publication - Free publishing - More press

Here's a link to the file, if you want it (will open as PDF in browser):
http://cli.gs/XX5Yz0

Let me know what you think of these, and leave us a comment or some stars ;o) Happy Easter!

Website demos can be a doddle with twiddla

Live real time web demo & collab with twiddla - doodles and chat too....

Yes, live website demos, doodling & chattin is a doddle with twiddla, oh and did I mention it was free?





Yes, yes, my wonderful charity chums and little charity chums helpers and buddies! - I bring you another fab free online collaboration review! - have no fear, - Twiddla is here!!!!

kiss good bye to thumb twiddling when asked to support charities, colleagues or invidiuals with web platfomrs/technologies! - this is a tool that is very, very useful and easy to use! If you know how to use drawing tools in microsoft word or powerpoint and can use a browser - then you re 90% of the way there with twiddla! - it's that easy! - really!

Shapes, text bubbles, free style pencil drawing, adding images - it is all possible with twiddla. You can even chat with colleagues, or if you have skype you can talk to them explaining verbally what you are doing. It's that simple.

So check out the video I have prepared below - and get familiarised with the possiblities.

What is even better is that after contacting the twiddla team as a charity, they told me that anyone with a '.org' or '.edu' email can be upgraded for free. What's the difference? - Well, when you demo a site for people you can do so under the privacy of a "private" - "password protected space".

You can email the unique and customisable password and URL to your audience, so no clown can come in and start grafftiying your work and loading other sites. If you want to get your free upgrade then, send an email to info[at]twiddla.com, put into the subject free 'charity' or 'education upgrade' - and in the body tell them that william doust sent you. So now turn the lights down, get your popcorn and get ready to watch the twiddla show.

Ressource(s)

twiddla website & sandbox
http://www.twiddla.com

twiddla free upgrade email contact & details
email: info[at]twiddla.com
subj: free 'charity' or 'education upgrade'
body: william doust told me & sent me
terms & conditions: must have a '.org' or '.edu' for free upgrade
(to password protect your sessions)

skype
http://www.skype.com

Charity Chums - social bookmarks sharing group for charities & non-profits
(share annotated web resources with our little group on diigo)
http://cli.gs/rJ4y91

Charities-from virtual tools to real world collaboration

Charity Chums - linking charities to collaborate smartly and build a better future together ;o)
Through lovely conversations I've encouraged charities to start talking and helping each other with the use of free web and communication tools. It started all with Skype, and web disoveries were then added to the mix - and these are now shared with the use of diigo - bookmarking and web annotation on a web platform.

What's even better is that these initial conversations that were started with free technologies, will now lead to face-to-face meeting to exchange best practice. Thanks to the NCVO's connect scheme they should be able to get together - fingers crossed. This is the scheme where £250 are shared for the day's expenses. £150 - goes to the host and £100 for the visitor. Agh ;0)

Could dabbling in communicating and collaborating via fee web-tools create evidence - to piggy back off other funding? - who knows, but it is worth a cheeky try! - specially when the NCVO connect Scheme has several round fo funding. Next round in June.

Why you could save time - and time is money in the charity sector - by using web tools and social bookmarking
Two of my charity chums, charities which I work with and try to inspire are sharing my passion for learning and making life easier with the use of free web technologies and appliactions to collaborate and save time & money during these credit crunch times.


In this post we will cover the use of Diigo, and in a future blog post we will cover Twiddla with Skype. Stay tuned, and I do hope you enjoy this post.


Using Diigo to share sector discoveries, insights, and great resources - tap into the collective power of soical bookmakring and web annotation
How many people have you met in conferences, events and in other face-to-face circumstances who tell you about great resources on the web that could have helped your project? - If, only, if only you knew?

If only the information of this resource had done a Hudini, and broke free from the confines of your favorites (on your browser) or the silo of your inbox. So many links waiting to help you!

This is where Diigo comes in. Diigo allows you to save, annotate and share the web - on the web! people can search and discover what you want to share! as simple as that. Take a look at the video and I'll see you in a moment.

What do you think?
Check-out the bookmarking screenshots on diigo for a fab review

Don't ask what you can do for diigo but what diigo can do for you
You saw how quickly you can expand your efforts by tapping into "communities of common interests", create/join groups, track keywords and phrases related to your interests and share. Go ahead, join us in diigo and let us share our journey of discovery.

This video only scratches the surface of what diigo allows you to do and connect to
There's much more, stay tuned! - and why not join our family learning and sharing group?


Resource(s)

Diigo website
http://www.diigo.com

Diigo - bookmarking screen shots
http://help.diigo.com/How-To_Guide/Bookmarking

Diigo help - screenshots - everything u need to know
http://help.diigo.com/

Diigo - presentations on slideshare
http://tinyurl.com/diigopresents

Diigo in Education wiki
http://tinyurl.com/diigo-ed-wiki

Diigo toolbar for firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2792

Diigo intro video
http://tinyurl.com/diigoquick

Charity Chums Group (new- as of this post)
http://groups.diigo.com/groups/charity-chums

Existing Accelerated Family Learning Group
http://tinyurl.com/willdiigogroup

NCVO connect scheme
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/?id=7278

stories:perception, values, behaviour and strategy

I've listened to wonderful heart warming stories - and these contain shorcuts to building strategies and shaping behaviour

I feel that I have been blessed to have the opportunity to work front-line supporting the wonderful charities I came in contact with in my role at campaign for learning. Currently working in London & South East has seen me support my charity chums face-to-face, on skype and on the phone.

The stories I hear so clearly represent the caring values that have become invisible to these organisations, because it is not scripted or rehearsed! - it comes straight from the heart! So my role is to listen and raise a mirror so they can see the building blocks behind their stories that make them so, so unique. Have you seen what lives behind your charity's or group's story? Yes, no?

From this starting point we can build a foundation and uncover vision, mission, strategy and values. You really do need these strong building blocks, because they will shape your choices, your behaviour and everthing you do as an organisation. Once documented and communicated it helps staff and service users see what you are all about. In fact, why not ask your service users if what you think of yourself - is what they think of you? - as they say, your brand is not what you say it is, it is what your publics say it is!

Here are a couple of fantastic free reads - check them out and let me know what you think! - I would love to hear from you...

Story Telling & Story Selling

Talking Strategy & stories






Resources

talking strategy diigo anotated link (access to free PDF)
http://www.diigo.com/04yo8

telling stories, selling stories diigo annotated link (access to free PDF)
http://www.diigo.com/04ypb

Amazon related & useful books (my associates links)