Dr Alan Colley
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Author: Alan Colley

Don’t just blame your tools – give them away

I learned to play saxophone at Ashton High School. I never played particularly well – just enough to scrape a music O-level alongside the piano which was my primary instrument.

A source of huge inspiration was my slightly older schoolmate, Ian Kirkham, who played immeasurably better than I did. He went on to play with Simply Red from 1986 for thirty years. You’ll probably recognise his solo in “Something got me started“.  Sadly not much rubbed-off on me. I could never make my instrument sound like his and I always gravitated back to my keyboard. So a decade later, it went unnoticed when I lost track of the Tenor Sax that my parents had bought me having put it somewhere while moving house in Edinburgh.

And then a few years later, I heard somebody play sax in a church worship band and I was transported back to lessons alongside Ian Kirkham. It was like having Kenny G on my Sony Walkman. It was beautiful. It was pure, dreamy, breathy emotion. It was Adam.

I had no idea my friend Adam Archibald played so I eagerly approached him at the close of the service. I explained I’d had a go at learning sax but my instrument wasn’t very good, having leaky pads and not a very good mouthpiece (technical terms). His response stunned me. He’d found the sax he was playing in a cupboard and without an obvious owner had adopted it. He thought it was a beautiful instrument. He had no idea who to thank for it. It was MY SAX. My not-very-good-sax with leaky pads and an inferior mouthpiece. 

There is a really obvious moral to this story that you have likely heard before; “A bad workman always blames his tools“. I was a bad saxophonist blaming my perfectly good sax. 

But there is a less obvious take-away, that sometimes we have to give things away to create something beautiful. I didn’t willingly give away that sax but unwittingly it fell into somebody else’s hands who (instead of my honking grunts) created beautiful, floating, dreamy melodies.

How often do we selfishly hold onto things which could be used far more effectively by others? Not just “things” (i.e. possessions) but possibly our time or talents? If we gave those away without any expectation of a return, I wonder how people could transform them into something beautiful, something far better than we could have done with them ourselves? Maybe we should consider ourselves as “stewards” more than “owners”? Hold things a little less preciously. Share them or give them away. In a future blog I’ll share how I gave my car away, extremely profitably.

You may be one of the “haves” but there are many “have nots” right now. So perhaps it’s time to give away a few hours of your time? Or something from your cluttered house? Or some of your expertise or wisdom? 

You might be surprised when it turns up again, far better than you’d imagined possible.

Business, CoachingAlan ColleyLeave a comment

“You cannae change the laws of physics” – Oh Really?

“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another.”

Words that bring a warm reassuring feeling to a physicist like me (and conversely, probably puts some of you in a cold sweat). You may remember how this fundamental law of physics explains how energy is conserved as it is exchanged between it’s various forms. Those might be kinetic (movement), potential (e.g. height), chemical (e.g. exploding dynamite) and E=mc2 from special relativity.

I’m going to upset Scotty and generations of notable physicists – I’VE CREATED ENERGY !

Over recent weeks I’ve had conversations with people about their aspirations, hopes, dreams, passions, plans, beliefs, values, circumstances. I concluded every conversation feeling energised by what I had heard. According to the law of physics, that must have been at their expense. So a few days after meeting, I surveyed them online and 7-out-of-7 respondents gave the same anonymised feedback – their energy levels had increased too. I probably need to develop the experiment to see if energy is exchanged with other factors in the laboratory environment such as the coffee, sandwiches, cakes etc which were definitely depleted in the process.

Energy creation is not always the experience. We’ve all had conversations with negative, backbiting, grumbling, dour moaners that have left us feeling depleted & exhausted. In these cases, I suspect the other party wasn’t left feeling uplifted from the discussion either. Perhaps this also contravenes that law of physics given energy is being destroyed? 

We’d all like positive, up-building, energising conversations all the time. But in some circumstances they cannot be – for example where there is bereavement, loss, sadness, despair. In these cases our expectations should rightly be different. To be truly empathic, we need to sacrificially enter into the pain with the other person. 

So how do we maximise the chances of having an energising conversation whilst also showing understanding and empathy when appropriate? 

  • Hear the other party, listening more than talking

  • Be prepared to walk with them even in the valley of darkness

  • Speak to future possibilities & dreams

I don’t expect to get a Nobel Prize in Physics for this work. But I do want to encourage you to genuinely hear people and make a heart-connection with them, so there’s more chance we’ll all “live long and prosper” (another Star Trek reference).

PS If you’ve been energised by this article (or not), you can join the experiment by going to the survey and giving your own response.

Business, CoachingAlan ColleyLeave a comment

Bringing dreams down to earth

I’ve flown from the UK to North America more times than I can count. Looking out of the aircraft window I’ve always been fascinated by the vast uninhabited wilderness areas. From around 36,000ft I would look down and dream about how things would appear at ground level. Rammed-in to economy class, I would reflect on how long could you travel down there without seeing anybody. Drinking a beer whilst munching pretzels I’d wonder what you’d eat if you were abandoned in such rugged places.

Flights follow “North Atlantic Tracks” – corridors organised by the air traffic controllers. These invariably fly over Greenland. I took the photo above (left) from the in-flight entertainment system while travelling from London to Detroit a few years ago. The Google Earth photo to the right shows the route that my wife and I trekked for our honeymoon in August 2019. You can correlate with the in-flight version if you look hard enough.

Compared with looking down a few hours into a transatlantic crossing, the logistics of actually getting there took immeasurably more effort. Gaining the required physical fitness was the easy bit. Months of preparation included vacuum-packing two weeks worth of food, training to use a bolt-action rifle, working with a local SAS trainer who would be our base camp, chartering a fishing boat to drop us off and pick us up and managing a kit list of over 100 items. All this effort turned my mile-high dream into the reality of being immersed in one of the most stunningly-beautiful, rugged and isolated areas of the world. The image embedded in the back of the seat a row in front on the way to Detroit didn’t do justice to the up-close beauty you can see in the images below.

COVID has understandably caused many to put dreams on hold. But we will get through this and whilst we do, there is so much we can do to move us closer to our goals. In prep for our honeymoon, Cambridgeshire wasn’t ideal for training to climb Greenland’s mountains but there were plenty of stairs in office blocks in London and Addenbrookes hospital and 25kg of porridge oats felt just the same on our backs as 100 items on the kit list! So make the most of what you have. If you need education, many courses are now available online, often at minimal or no charge. Maybe you now have the time to learn that new skill or write those letters?

In addition to the quote above, at GLS18 TD Jakes also said “If you have a vision that everybody believes in, it’s too small for you.” I like the use of the word “everybody” because I believe it’s very helpful if “somebody” believes it’s possible. We all need champions. Have you recruited your base camp who can help send you out on your expedition?

It’s time to re-awaken your dreams and test them on others. Find some supporters but make sure your dreams aren’t so small that everybody believes they’re achievable!

Answer honestly..

  1. Do you have a dream? If not, start to look for one now! If you suspended it for COVID, is it time to re-awaken it?
  2. Is it big enough so some will think it’s crazy?
  3. What steps will you take NOW to move it closer?

Adventure, Business, CoachingAlan ColleyLeave a comment

Who would you run through a brick wall for?

Radio 5 “Robbie Savage’s Premier League Breakfast” 04/07/2020

Radio 5 “Robbie Savage’s Premier League Breakfast” 4th July 2020

Robbie Savage: I played for Martin O’Neill Mr Klopp who was on the sideline, animated, and us as Leicester City players at the time used the phrase in England that “we’d run through a brick wall” for him. So basically meant we’d do everything we could for him. You’ve created that environment at Liverpool that those players from the outside looked like they’d do the same for you. How do you instill that into a team? To make them feel like that about you as a manager?

Jurgen Klopp: First and foremost I would run through a brick wall for them. Let me say it like this. 100% with all I had. Without a question.

We all need champions. Those who will push us forwards, fight our corner, cheerlead us. Who will run through that wall for us. I hope you have one or two.

But that’s a little needy. Who are YOU championing? Who will YOU run through a brick wall for?

Can you list 3 people who you will encourage today? It doesn’t need to be a big thing. Just that little nudge to get them over the bumps they may be facing right now and propel them forwards.

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River Deep Mountain High

Alaska 2016 was our hardest trek to date. From being dropped by a chartered light aircraft on flat-ish patch of grass, my wife & I had thirteen days to navigate valleys, passes, glaciers and large areas of virtually-impenetrable bush to be picked-up from another remote strip of grass. Grizzly bears weren’t our biggest risk – the mother and cubs we saw from a distance were more scared of us than we were of them. The biggest threat were the river crossings. Freezing melt-water from scores of glaciers thundered through deep channels with moving rocks at the bottom. A slip with a 25kg rucksack would probably not end well with nothing but waterfalls to punctuate the few-hundred-miles ride to the ocean.

Towards the end of one particularly challenging day we approached a river and before seeing it we could hear the rumble of water and moving rocks.  Reaching the riverbank we depth-tested a few places by trying to plant a walking pole through the racing water. Unable to keep it vertical to reach the bottom we knew it was both too deep and too powerful.  

We were dismayed. The river joined others downstream so it would only be more difficult that way. The rock face miles up the valley displayed a fan of spectacular thundering waterfalls so no chance of circumventing it by going upstream. Then we remembered some advice – the rivers are at their worst late in the day when the sun has been melting the glaciers miles upstream. The cold night slows the process and stems the flow. We camped early, ate and fell asleep to the therapeutic sound of the rumbling river.

We awoke to a much quieter environment. Excited, I dashed down to the water and islands had appeared, the bottom was in reach and so looked the other side. It still took some courage and we used a rope to support each other – the wilderness is no place for complacency. We made it across, warmed our frozen feet and enjoyed our breakfast feeling triumphant.

I love adventures (especially those that put us at the edge of our abilities) because we can find profound life-lessons. For those of us who are impetuous and pushy, stopping and waiting doesn’t come easily but on this occasion it was essential. We also benefit from those around us (in this case my wife) who recalled what she had read about the water levels reducing overnight. And even in the morning it was a little daunting so we gave each other encouragement and safety with the rope.

  • To whom are you listening?
  • Who is joined to you through your challenges?
  • Do you have the courage to move forwards?
AdventureAlan ColleyLeave a comment

Q or A?

We are very familiar with the end-of-agenda “Q&A”. But which is most important in our day-to-day interactions – to Question OR to Answer?

On a training course many years ago I was provided with a list of “High Gain Questions” and was taught to use them to re-frame a simple unimaginative and limited-response challenge into a much more powerful query. For example, instead of asking “What do you plan to do in 2019?” to change this to “Come Christmas next year, what three things will you have achieved and why are these most important?” The essence being that they encourage the listener to speculate, visualise, prioritise and consider possibilities, encouraging them to think much more deeply.

I love these “difficult” questions because they bring out the depth in people’s thinking and beliefs. I can’t say I’m terribly good at them but I do try.

The key is preparation. I spent quite some time rehearsing a number of these for the young man who was planning on asking permission to take my daughter’s hand. That turned out to be a highly revealing Q&A.

The questions ought to be asked with genuine intrigue and humility, not just to catch-out the subject. The goal is to learn not embarrass or worse, to humiliate.

I want to be known for the questions I have asked more than the answers I have given.

And if you’re wondering, my budding son-in-law demonstrated immense depth, love and trustworthiness and continues to do so since marrying.

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Ever been a “Devil’s Advocate”?

We make myriad decisions every day. Most are trivial with small-scale short-term impact. However, occasionally we face enormously challenging choices which can impact a life, a career, a corporation, a population. The first chapter of “Beyond Measure“, Margaret Heffernan’s TED book, talks about “Creative Conflict“. In it she discusses how a “just culture” surfaces all the information, intelligence, and insight required to make the best decisions. This diverse-thinking “just culture” emerges from alternative perspectives; a healthy mix of male & female input; the breadth of inexperienced and the seasoned established professionals; from the old and the young and varied racial backgrounds. It is one of the reasons many corporates put so much emphasis on diversity programmes.

Unfortunately our biases mean this environment, characterised by healthy tension, isn’t natural. We mostly gravitate towards those who reinforce our thinking because it takes least effort and avoids conflict. In Heffernan’s words; “Great teams need windows on the world, but biases mean that we mostly get mirrors.”

While I’ve always been uncomfortable with the terminology, one way to increase diverse thinking is to embrace the input of a “Devil’s Advocate“. The expression originates from the Vatican’s canonisation process that declares someone a saint within the Catholic Church. The role of “Promoter of the Faith” (promoter fidei in Latin) was appointed to argue against a proposed canonisation or the step immediately prior, being “beatification”. Popularly known as the “Devil’s Advocate“, the lawyer was appointed to take a sceptical view about the candidate’s saintliness, questioning the motives and validating the miracles that had been performed.

When streamlining the process in 1983, Pope John Paul II abandoned the role, although modern media ensures that opposing, controversial views make the headlines. An example of this is Christopher Hitchens, when Mother Teresa was being beatified in 2002. Prior to their downfalls, Robert Maxwell and Charles Keating made significant donations to Mother Teresa’s humble work with the poor, sick, orphaned and dying. Hitchens made allegations of impropriety and inappropriate relationships. There was no evidence Mother Teresa was even aware and I’m just glad some of their cheated wealth went to good causes!

The phrase has been adopted within the standard English language and while not often an intentional or allocated role in a discussion, many of us will have heard somebody pipe-up in a meeting that they are being the “Devil’s Advocate”. A variance often used in the defence / cyber industry is that of ‘Red Teams’. These comprise personnel who use a structured, iterative process to continually challenge plans, operations, concepts, organisations and capabilities. The United States armed forces have used these much more frequently in recent years to mitigate the shortcomings that led to the 9/11 attacks.

What are the risks or potential pitfalls of appointing or encouraging somebody to play the role of a Devil’s Advocate?

Firstly, recall the origin of the title; the role was to question claims and take a sceptical view. I’m not sure this helps in creating a diverse debate but instead just criticises what is being proposed. So, taking the definition literally, a Devil’s Advocate most likely won’t build the just culture that encourages creative conflict.

Secondly, all too often the title is assumed to legitimise the reinforcement of the status quo, taking sides in the debate and adding nothing new to the considerations. This risks shutting down the discussion rather than expanding it, adding nothing to the diversity of the argument.

Thirdly and most dangerously, it can be adopted to legitimise the expression of an extreme, even bigoted perspective which adds little to a healthy, balanced consideration. You know the scenario; during a debate, a prejudiced, extreme view is shared and when people look aghast, the perpetrator claims “I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate” i.e. it’s not really me, I wouldn’t normally say anything like that.

I’m ashamed to say I have been guilty of the last which is perhaps why I dislike the title!

The Devil himself was very good when asking Jesus questions – tempting him with food when he’d been fasting for forty days in the desert (for me, four hours of hunger and I’m confronted by my humanity!). And these were followed-up with the egotistical and materialistic challenges too. Maybe sometimes we should check whether we’re really trying to be the “Devil’s Advocate” or just the devil?

Assuming it’s the former and the intention is to facilitate Heffernan’s “Creative Conflict”, how can it be done well?

As a prerequisite and as always is the case, the quality of the questioning will be directly proportional to the diligence of the listening. Hearing and appreciating the dynamics of the conversation and discerning others’ motives will make the offering of any alternative insight far more powerful. In this state of active listening, if it becomes obvious that everybody is in unanimous alignment, then it’s probably time to introduce diverse thoughts and suggestions, probably adding an explanation that this is intentional.

These alternative perspectives should be framed in a positive way, much more aligned with the original title of “Promoter of the Faith” than the colloquial Devil’s Advocate. Rather than cataloguing all the problems with what is being proposed, suggest the benefits of the alternative. To remain a welcome contributor, it’s important not to slip into strongly negative language, becoming a “carping critic”. For example, when suggesting the railway, rather than “I hate flying; driving is uncomfortable, takes too long and I can’t get on with my work; we should take the train” why not phrase it “Flying is quick and means I can work; driving gives me a great view of the countryside; how about the train which gives the best of both?”.

If the conversation splits into two opposing perspectives, it is best to avoid aligning with any particular group but rather look for what’s missing in both and frame this in a positive way as above. It might even express the best of both camps and lead to a harmonious way forward.

Finally, if there are already many very divergent views, rather than labouring to find yet another one, why not help facilitate others’ expressions by managing the flow of discussion, echoing, reframing and summarising what is being said?

Maybe this way we can embrace conflict and diversity, shatter the self-reinforcing mirrors and throw-open Heffernan’s windows on the world? The view’s amazing!

BusinessAlan ColleyLeave a comment

Would this work in your business?

I’ve been reflecting on Tesla’s battery deal in Australia that was well covered in the press in autumn 2017. Clean energy sources are becoming more efficient and cheaper but inevitably need storage (generally batteries) to match supply to demand. It’s not sunny during the night; the wind doesn’t always blow; tides ebb and flow.

Clean energy can genuinely change society – imagine for example, the potential for proliferation of zero carbon footprint desalinisation plants to irrigate the deserts. Unlimited water purification. Electric-powered aircraft (see the current BBC Business News “sky taxis and flying cars” article).

In the case of this story, batteries were an urgent answer to stabilise the output of the 325 MW Hornsdale wind farm near Jamestown, South Australia. Thus avoiding the catastrophic storm outages that had been experienced in recent years.

What I find remarkable about the deal was Elon Musk’s appetite for risk. His tweeted-bet in March 2017 was “we’ll build it in 100days or it’s free“. Many have been quick to put down the offer pointing out that half of batteries were already installed by the time the contract was signed at the end of September. It was still an astonishing commitment – his bet meant he would deliver it for free, not take it all away. So his liability was a very real $50m or more.

In our cloud-provided world, many services are already set-up and working so adding another customer is relatively low risk and the incremental costs are small. But there are many contracts out there that don’t fall into a cloud consumption model. They need real capital outlay.

For those of us with a sales responsibility, what if we were so convinced of our success that we would a) start to build or do something before contract signature, and b) offer it for free if we failed to meet the spec/timescales/expectations? A true outcome-based approach.

Would this work in your business?

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“Yeah but, no but” conversations

Vicky Pollard of Little Britain fame, made “Yeah but no but..” #1 of the UK’s TV Catchphrases. I’ve experienced many conversational “Yes but” people and a handful of “No but“. What’s the difference? What are you?

“Yes but..” people may have a different viewpoint to mine but express it by acknowledging my perspective and then offering an alternative. The conversation flows. We both feel valued. Consensus is reached, even if it is very different to my initial viewpoint.

“No but..” people seem to feel compelled to repeatedly disagree even though their view may not be too different to mine. In some extreme cases, they’ll bat back my thought but then eventually get round to repeating it, making it sound like they had originated it. The conversation feels stressed and competitive; like there needs to be a winner and a loser.

One extreme experience involved what should have been a relaxed country-pub meal with my colleague Andy and one of our company VPs. We were there to discuss his potential role as exec sponsor of our customer. Even over aperitifs it became apparent that most of what I said was “wrong”, though oddly he regurgitated my perspectives during starters and savoured them alongside the main course. I was too exhausted to enjoy a desert. Leaving the venue, Andy remarked “What have you done to cause that?” So it wasn’t just me. Thankfully the VP left the company before he had a chance to do it to our beloved customer!

What drives the “No but..” style?

  • Ego? You threaten their significance.
  • Insecurity? Their safety is at risk by you.
  • Competition? We can’t both be right so you must be wrong.

Is it discriminate?

  • Is there general negativity towards everybody?
  • Or do specific people trigger the response? (as I did with my VP in the pub)
  • Should we take some responsibility by the way we engage with them?

Have you been on the receiving end?

  • You may not have identified it but has there been tension in conversation? Could this be why?
  • How have you reacted? Backed-down and given in? Argued, trying to assert your value?
  • Could you gently confront a “No but..” person to raise their awareness and understand why they are like this with you?

Might you sometimes be “No but..“?

  • Are you a great conversationalist with everybody or does it sometimes feel competitive?
  • We can all feel threatened or insecure. Might you sometimes subtly slip into “No but..“?
  • Do we have straight-talking people around who would expose this in us and are we humble enough to admit it?
CoachingAlan ColleyLeave a comment