2011 in Review.

The year that was.

Well, 2011 was one hell of a year. Relocating family and business down to the Gold Coast, running a marathon, getting a publishing deal and generally just ripping in to a new space. Its been a blast and we have loved sharing it with you.

As we head off for a well-earned break, we thought we might leave you with a list of our favourite books that made us think differently in 2011.

In no particular order or ranking (but all highly recommended) they are:

The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion

John Hagell III, John Seely Brown & Lang Davidson

Explores the shifting landscape of a content rich world. Documents a number of shifts within business, and shows how the game must change if you want to map a certain future in an uncertain time.

The Thank You Economy

Gary Vaynerchuk

A customer service bible for the new world. Vaynerchuk’s take on the use of social media is enlightening, down-to-earth and contemporary. He walks his talk too. If you are a business of any size and use social media, you MUST read this book.

Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Wellbeing

Martin Seligman

What is interesting to note about this is Seligman’s humility to take a baseball bat to some previous findings and theories. Even more interesting is his boldness to declare strongly that this stuff works. Has some cool online tests within the book.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

Chip Heath & Dan Heath

A pretty cool follow up from their phenomenal first offering, ‘Made to Stick’. They use a nice overarching metaphor of the elephant and rider which works well, and have some relevant contemporary examples of change done well.

Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way

Dan Buettner

Buettner travels to four different continents to explore what makes the happiest people in the world happy. His findings are intriguing because what he discovers is not what we would initially think contribute to happiness. Buettner goes through keys that can unlock the door to contentment in our lives. We've tried to embody a few of these principles throughout our year. 

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are 

Brene Brown

If you are looking for a liberating and refreshingly honest book this summer then this is one well worth picking up. It explores the reality that each of our imperfections come with tremendous gifts if we are prepared to embrace them. Brene’s approach to life is contagious, you’ll want in!

Looking ahead to 2012, there is really only one book you need to read.... :)

Dealing with the Tough Stuff: How to Achieve Results From Crucial Conversations

Darren Hill, Alison Hill & Dr Sean Richardson.

Wishing you, your team and your families a safe and very Merry Christmas season. 

Look forward to catching up again in the New Year. 

Darren and Alison 

P.S We’d love to hear which books rocked your world in 2011! 

THE GIFT:

This weeks gift is the first chapter of Gary Vaynerchuk's book, The Thank You Economy.  We're certain it'll leave you asking Santa for the book for Christmas!

Dealing with the Chuff Stuff.

It’s easy to focus only on the tough stuff when managing people at work because this is what weighs heavily on us. But sometimes we forget to deal with the ‘chuff stuff’ too! The problem in only giving attention to the negative behaviours, means you risk creating a moderated, average work team. 

To have someone achieve excellence they need to hear feedback about what they are doing well, they need to be reinforced. Here’s the coolest thing; when you reward someone by expressing gratitude, you effectively reward yourself in the process.

If you do find your ratio of tough stuff : chuff stuff conversations is heavily skewed in favour of the tough stuff, then set yourself the task to find a reward or reinforcer for a staff member every day for a week, or twice a week for a month. Remember to vary the timing and size of the reinforcers for best effect (don’t let them become predictable), and in turn see the change in peoples productivity as a result.

One of the key messages that we talk about in our work and programs we deliver is to focus on the goodness of people; that all people are awesome. We have an array of tools to equip people to deal with the tough situations at work, but don’t ever lose sight of the fact that people are wonderful beings, each and everyone of us. 

We love this time of year because the festive season celebrations reconnect us with the people who are important in our lives. During this time make sure you focus on the chuff stuff with your colleagues at work too. 

Happy Christmas season! 

Darren and Alison 

THE GIFT:

We wanted to share a recent post from a favourite project of ours, 365 grateful...click here for a TED video on Gratitude and a blog by Amy Gill on being thankful.  Enjoy!

The one thing that makes all the difference

How often do you spend time trying to improve your weaknesses?

Okay, next question (and a more important one).

How often do you spend time developing your strengths?

Neurological studies indicate that we are hardwired to excel when we are focusing on our areas of strength. Despite this, we often spend most of our time and energy on trying to get from bad to merely mediocre in our areas of weakness. 

Our greatest growth actually rests in our strengths rather than our weaknesses. From our earliest cognitive development, we grow bundles of neurons in our brains in some specific areas. For some people, perhaps it is that they are better with numbers than the general population. For others it might be their innate ability to make other people feel at ease. We often term these skills as our natural skills, or sometimes even call them aptitudes. 

Because of the way our brain 'farms' its neurons, it is actually easier to branch new neurons off existing ones than create new neurons. This means, if we have a strength area (lots of neurons) we have the greatest ability to grow new neurons in that area. More neurons means more 'smarts' in that area.

So whilst it is common to want to develop our weaknesses so that we are a more 'rounded' person, biologically it makes sense to focus on our strengths. When you stop and think about it, it actually makes sense. If you are working on something that you are interested in and really enjoy, you are more likely to spend more time on it, research it, and want to excel at it.

Adam Gilchrist had a natural talent for cricket, and this was obviously a strength of his. If he never trained, practised in the nets or went to the gym, he would probably still play cricket far better than most people. But it was through his concentration on building his strengths that led him to be undoubtedly the best wicketkeeper-batsman the world has ever seen. If Gilchrist had spent most of his time concentrating on his weaknesses rather than his strengths we would never have seen him dominate the bowling attacks from around the world. 

But think beyond sporting parlance. Think of the leaders of any field and you will see people who have discovered, and then embraced, their strengths; for this was always the area they had the most potential to prosper.

Find those activities you get totally lost in and try and find ways to do more of these activities, focus on building and developing your strengths. 

It is the one thing that makes all the difference!

Warm wishes, 

Darren & Alison 

3 Powerful Questions (Part 2)

Last week we wrote about the problem with the good advice that you receive from others. But what do you do if you are the one giving the advice? 

How do you make sure that when you are helping someone else make a decision that it is relevant to them? 

The reality is that this skill is the essence of influence. Having the ability to assist and support someone else to make an important decision is the key to leadership.  

In order to get others to ‘buy’ your idea or your policy or your new practice, you need to let go of your own ego. Too often we step into our ‘expertise’ and start telling others what they should do without having a really good understanding of their context. You need to understand what is going on for them.

Once you understand their context you can tailor your message to their needs. And here’s the real kicker; if you step into their context your power to influence will exponentially grow, because your advice will be considered and relevant to them.

The following are 3 powerful questions that will help you to better understand the context of someone else: 

• What is your biggest headache at the moment?
• How much of a pressing need is this for you?
• What is most important for you right now in moving forward?

Ask these three powerful questions and this will turn your ‘expert’ advice into expertly relevant advice. 

Ultimately this makes all the difference!

Darren and Alison  

The problem with good advice

Part 1: The problem with good advice

We are faced with decisions each and every day in our work and personal lives. Often we seek advice from other people, the problem with this 'good advice' is that it is good for the person that is giving it and not necessarily for you.

It is good for them in the context of their situation, their relationships, their work situation, the family support they have (or lack of), their financial situation, their beliefs, values and personality, and even sometimes good for the era they grew up in. The truth is that your context is completely different for all the above reasons.

By all means when you are at the stage of making decisions scope for resources, gather information, seek out tools to help you get clear. Absolutely ask people's advice, it makes sense.  

Although when you do always check if this advice works for you within your context. Fundamentally human beings want to know they have made the best decision possible given the circumstances. But what is a good decision for someone else may be a poor decision for you. 

The number one best piece of advice that I have ever heard is this: 

‘Listen, ask, enquiry and be curious about everything that is available to 

help with  your decision. And then only choose to take on board the stuff that fits with you, the  ideas that match where you want to go. Let the rest just blow away.’

Beautiful advice.

It is the type of good advice that is useful in any situation. 

Remember that the problem with good advice is that it is not always good for you.

Next week we will talk about how to make sure that your advice is relevant for your staff and your customers. 

Darren and Alison

P.S. Leave a comment below as we'd love to hear what is the best piece of advice you have ever received.

Roundabouts and traffic lights

Have you ever noticed how much traffic flow and work flow have in common?

When it comes to intersections when driving your car, the two main ways road authorities handle congestion is using either a roundabout or a set of traffic lights.  Both serve their purpose, well given the right conditions.

The roundabout keeps traffic moving, and seems like a perfect answer, yet have you noticed how many near misses occur at a roundabout? It is close to chaos and it just seems to work, most of the time.  

The traffic lights are much more rigid.  You stop.  You go.  The only real way an accident occurs if someone fragrantly disobeys the rules (runs the red light).  The main issue for traffic lights is if the process interrupts the flow, and in some cases, causes big delays.

When it comes to the intersections of process, strategy and planning in your work team, do you tend to go with the roundabouts or the traffic lights?  Do you keep the flow moving, but risk the occasional near miss or even crash for the sake of fluidity?  Or do you go for the easily understandable, if not a little regimented simplicity of green light, red light? 

Both roundabouts and traffic lights work brilliantly well given a certain situation.  The general rule of thumb when using these;

1. Use a roundabout process in high output and productivity areas.  You will need to be OK with a few near misses and crashes, and take out insurance to cover yourself.  This insurance isn’t a third party policy as such, but rather regular debriefs and strategy sessions.
2. Use the traffic lights around the high risk regions.  Be clear about what constitutes a stop and a go.  Also be prepared that it will interrupt flow and back things up in times of high traffic.

Driving better thinking your way,

Darren and Alison

Mum was right...again.

Mum was right...again.

Remember back to the days when the most powerful reinforcer that drove your life was a few carefully chosen words of wisdom from Mum?

You’re special. You’re unique. You’re the best little girl/boy in the whole world.

Those few words made you feel great didn’t they?

Well it seems that Mum’s words of wisdom were exactly that. Words of a futurist, prophet and professor all rolled into one. In today’s world of unlimited choice, the counter trend in all levels of business and society is to specialise, niche or stand out from the crowd.

It’s where outstanding and extraordinary success lies.

Yet we can tend to reject outstanding and extraordinary in favour of conformity. We tend to try and walk, talk, think and act the same. Because it’s safer; it is also mediocre.

This isn’t exclusive to individuals, it also applies to teams. If you’re in a big organisation, the successful teams aren’t the same-same teams, they are unique and are celebrated for it. Think about it, you’ve never heard someone say:

“The HR team at ABC organisation have a great reputation...they are exactly the same as everyone else.”

What we actually say is, “They are outstanding”,“They do things so different over there”.

The most influential writers and bloggers in the world such as Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk and the legend Kevin Kelly (if you haven’t read What Technology Wants yet, you are missing out!) see what Mum saw all those years ago. Unique is actually a currency, and a very valuable one at present; specialists are needed now more than ever before.

How are you living up to what Mum told you? How are you being unique and special?

Have a special day (and tell Mum you love her),

Darren and Alison 

THE GIFT: Dream Stealers, Dream Killers, Dream Builder, Dream Givers

This week's gift is an E-book by Rowdy Mclean. Rowdy is a motivation expert with over 25 years experience and proven results.  His E-book discusses Dream Stealers - the people who subtly cause you to doubt yourself, Dream Killers - the people who influence you until you give up, Dream Builders - the people that support and encourage you and finally, the Dream Givers - the special people that inspire you to dream & enourage you to reach your full potential.

What Priorities Are You Ignoring?

What priorities are you ignoring?




Are you experiencing that never-ending cycle of desperate busyness coming towards the end of the year?


Are you getting more frustrated and less cheerful, even though we are heading into the season of merriness and celebration? Is it getting chaotic?


Perhaps it is worth taking stock of where you’re at today, and not waiting for the 1st of January. The problem is when we fill our lives with clutter, there isn’t room for the truly important stuff. So here are a few things worth considering to right the chaos:

• What things are you doing that truly don’t need to be done? Usually there are many things in our life we fall slave to, yet if we were totake an unexpected period off work, no one would really care if theyweren’t done anyway. Identify the time-wasters and let them go.

• Is your busyness just you being lazy? Now this might make you defensive, but in so many cases, being busy is being lazy…lazy because we don’t prioritise, don’t plan, and don’t say no. Make the tough decisions by reducing lazy prioritising in your day. Exhaustion is not a status symbol, take control of your actions.

• What important stuff is falling victim to your clutter? Are you spending less time on the key relationships in your life? Are you missing meals or exercise? Are you missing great opportunities because you can’t lift your head up to see them? For those of you living on the Gold Coast you would have no doubt noticed the parade of whales passing up and down our coastline. And if you haven’t, you need to pack up your lunch and sit by the beach and watch them. The problem is if you ignore this important stuff, nothing changes. Make sure you do the things today that will create a brighter tomorrow.

New Year’s is too far away to wait!  Make the decision to prioritise the things that are important to you and let go of the clutter.


Here’s to a busy year that you actually enjoy along the way!


Darren and Alison

Are you maximising maternity?

Is your organisation making the most out of maternity?

Have you noticed that part-time and flexible work arrangements are increasing? 

Does managing this increase feel like a burden?

Are you looking for ways to take the head-ache out of managing these transitions?

With an ageing population, skills shortage, and a greater number of woman in the workforce there is a major opportunity for forward-thinking organisations to attract quality professional talent through offering flexibility at work. 

The challenge is finding ways to do this that actually works towards improving, not reducing the bottom line. So how can you provide flexibility AND improve business? 

One of the key areas that flexible work arrangements become apparent is through the process of maternity transitions. Having a valued employee go off on leave can feel like a head-ache because of the gap that is created. It is undoubtedly a disruptive process.

Who is going to fill this gap and how much work is going to be involved in managing this process? And how are we going to ensure we retain skills and knowledge within the organisation?

In order to maximise this process organisations need to captialise on the window of opportunity that is available before a woman goes off on leave and develop strategies to reduce the gap across the four key areas of concern. 

Here are some key areas to focus on:  

1. Capacity - utilise the period prior to leave to streamline processes, explore job redesign, outsource options, identify systems and processes of the role. 
2. Commitment - this is straightforward. Individuals who feel valued, supported and understood by their manager show greater commitment to their role. The same is even more evident through maternity transitions. Strengthen the critical relationship between an employee and their manager. 
3. Connections - Every business is built on relationships and connections. Recognise the importance of early and regular discussion about the changes, personal handover and introductions and reassurance that the level of service, care and support will be consistent. Nurturing these relationships is key.
4. Capability - Capturing what someone knows, how they approach their work, what they do and how they do it is the starting point of capturing corporate IP. 

Disruption creates innovation and there is a great opportunity through the maternity transition process of actually finding ‘better’ solutions and actually improving business. 

Rather than see the burden, seek to find the opportunity. If you do we know you’ll be rewarded.

Think differently, 

Darren and Alison  

If you are interested in exploring how your organisation can take the burden out of managing maternity transitions, and actually maximise the opportunities that are available visit: www.maximisingmaternity.com or contact Alison directly at alison@pragmaticthinking.com.  

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Have you checked out www.darrenhill.com.au?  Check it out and leave your lasting impression.

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THE GIFT - Beyond Compliance Whitepaper

With Australia’s first mandatory paid parental leave now in place, maternity leave is firmly on the national agenda. The maternity leave is firmly on the national agenda. The number of women in the workforce is rapidly growing each year, the skilled workforce is reducing and forward-thinking workplaces can no longer simply comply with maternity leave policies; they need to embrace the opportunities that are available to them throughout the maternity leave transitions. 

This week’s gift is a a Whitepaper written by Alison Hill explores how organisations can go beyond compliance and improve business through maternity transitions.

To download this Whitepaper click here.

Scarcity and Abundance.

Scarcity and abundance

There is a governing statement in economics that states ‘every abundance creates scarcity’. In short, when the market is oversupplied, this in turn creates a demand somewhere else.

Think about it, the busier we get (abundance) the more valuable down time becomes (scarcity). The more information we receive (abundance) we seek clear, concise messages (scarcity).

The opposite also applies in this rule. For every scarcity, there surely is an abundance. Just this weekend, we found ourselves spending a few days in Arnhem Land, an incredibly ancient, spiritual track of land in the Top End of Australia. One of our stays was at an incredibly beautiful and remote eco resort Banu Banu Lodge on Bremer Island off the NE coast of Nhulunbuy. 

Scarcity abounds at Banu Banu. Resources are hard to find, and even harder to get. Water, power and basic supply are things most of us take for granted, but at Banu Banu are just part of daily scarcity. 

The abundance that has presented itself however is what truly makes it an incredible experience. Innovation, inventiveness, gratitude and customer service...so many areas have been overly compensated to make up for ‘not having’.

So next time you complain about not having the budget, resources, skills or planning to get something done, think about where this scarcity also gives you a great strength or a competitive advantage.

Abundance is always there in times of scarcity, you just have to choose to look for it.

Abundantly yours, 

Darren & Alison

Failure Is Fine

Have you ever beat yourself up for getting something wrong?

Do you procrastinate because you want it to ‘look perfect’?

The pursuit of excellence in our lives is a noble effort and one we should always strive to obtain. Yet closely linked to excellence is disappointment and malfunction. In fact, if you look at the biggest ideas, the real game-changers, they all have something in common. They are born from, or are honed by, one common denominator; failure. The oft-used quote from Thomas Edison his most famous invention, the light globe “I haven’t failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” applies, because without those 10,000 prototypes then success would not have been achieved.

Just like a baby learning to walk, failure is the predecessor for success. Imagine if when a baby fell down, we encouraged that child to not attempt to walk again; to not try...it is ludicrous. We encourage that baby with all our persuasive power to try to walk even though the inevitable result will most likely be another failure.

We learn through mistakes. We hone our skills in pressures of defeat. We discover desire and drive through falling short. Playing it safe is not only a soft option, it is also contradictory to our humanness.  

So today we ask you to wage a war on perfectionism.

Perfectionism is an insidious ideology that leads to so much stress in our lives. It leads to procrastination that can at best be time-wasting, at worst, debilitating. So dare to fail and in doing so, you will bring success one step closer.

Darren & Alison

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THE GIFT:KKaren Schulz: On Being Wrong

Karen Schulz is the author of 'Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error,' and writes 'The Wrong Stuff.' a Slate series featuring interviews with high-profiled people about how they think and feel about being wrong.

Don't cut what you can untie

Most businesses, organisations and managers understand that their work (and it’s success) is directly tied to the relationships we build and maintain. 

Relationships by their very nature are not static entities; they form, they develop, they change, they adapt, and sometimes they end. 

There are situations in the workplace when these changing relationships are met with an abrupt finish and bridges are burnt in the process.  This severity of cutting off a relationship makes it really tough to reestablish connection and inclusion. When something is cut, it loses its structural integrity and introduces new ‘weak spots’. 

One example we see this happen all too often in workplaces is around the announcement of someone’s pregnancy. It is not uncommon for someone going off on maternity leave to feel like they are no longer included in the teams activities or decisions, they are left out of key meetings and can be treated as though they are no longer part of the organisation, well before their leave commences. To the point where if treated this way and made to feel unvalued, some may not ever return from maternity leave at all. This is a significant loss for the team from both a relationship and an economic point of view. It’s just one of many examples.

The reality is that most relationships at work can adapt, change, or even end with mutual respect if the time is taken to work through this transformation.  

It’s the difference between ripping open a present or carefully unwrapping it. If ripped what’s left is simply rubbish, if given patience and time the wrapping can be reused again. 

In your key relationships this week make sure you invest the following three elements: 

1. Time - take the time to carefully sit with and untie any issues that you may have avoided;
2. Respect - like complicated knots, sometimes if we respect it we can understand better how to untie it in a way that keeps each party’s integrity in tact; and 
3. Self - invest your authentic self into the process. Be sincere and honest rather than saying or doing what you think you ‘should’. Don’t simply give it part of your attention, give it the best of your intention. 

Take a deep breath, invest the time, because you never know where or when that relationship may evolve. 

Note: We certainly acknowledge that there are situations that even with the investment of time and patience, the knot is too tight, messy, tangled, and complicated to untie and a swift cut is needed. Just don’t make this the first step.

Thanks for spending this time with us

Darren & Alison

Invite your friends and colleagues to sign up to our newsletter

Are you followning us on twitter? @pragmaticideas

Have you checked out www.darrenhill.com.au?  Check it out and leave your lasting impression.

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THE GIFT: Tell the Whole Truth

Clinton Korver, a serial entrepreneur, is CEO and founder of DecisionStreet which builds online tools to help consumers make informed life decisions.  In Tell the Whole Truth, Clinton explores why we lie.  Understanding the casues of our temptations will help us overcome them.

The one KPI all business success is built upon

Key performance indicators or KPI’s are a part of the vocabulary for most corporate work efforts these days.

We measure so many different areas of our work through KPI’s; from days off to daily tasks, from customer complaints to customer service. The type and number of KPI’s that can be attached to the measure of success within a business can be mind-blowing.

Yet there is one key performance indicator all successful sustainable businesses are built upon. 

How often the people smile. 

It really is as simple as that. 

You will notice we use the word ‘sustainable’, because success can be achieved without a smile, but to be sustainable over the long term, you need to like or even love what you do. The best indicator of liking of loving? It’s a smile.

Interestingly there is a body of evidence to support smiling as something worth pursuing. In this weeks gift (below), Ron Gutman shows you will achieve greater levels of success, experience improved task satisfaction and even live longer if you smile. It is funky, funny, and ultimately commonsense...it’s worth smiling about.

Smiling with you,

Darren & Alison

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Have you checked out www.darrenhill.com.au?  Check it out and leave your lasting impression.

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THE GIFT: Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling

Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? check it out here.