MSM, that’s not a typo. I don’t mean Microsoft’s internet messenger system and have spelled it wrong. I mean MSM.

It’s short for Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.

Remember when you learned to drive? Your driver instructor would have uttered the phrases several times during your lessons so that you understood before you moved, you looked. You signalled your intention to move. Then you moved.

In precisely that order. Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.

The other day on my fave Kent motorway, the M20 I saw at least 6 (possible more) cars signal then move. They didn’t check the rear view mirrors or the side mirrors, they just flipped the indicator and hoped.

People also have stopped indicating at junctions.

Now I don’t know about you, but my psychic ability isn’t fantastic. I am reliant on visual clues such as a head turned the way they are going or better still – signaling their intention to go that way. No clues mean, we have no clues and hence a driver ‘cutting’ you up, when quite clearly you are driving without a clue.

Another thing to consider, when you drive a long stretch on a regular basis you can get road ‘hypnosis’. You may recall you thought it took you faster than usual to get somewhere, that’s because you were driving on auto pilot, without consciously thinking. That’s dangerous and far more common than people think. It’s why my regular drivers alternate routes.

Everyone I have ever met has cussed about the way white van man drives, so let’s look at a few stats

In 2009 there were only 6262 injuries of commercial vehicle operators and of that only 50 fatalities. Car occupants had 143,142 injuries and 1059 fatalities. ORSA

Perhaps the professional drivers DO know better and it’s your driving that needs a little refreshing.

Start with MSM, it’s a good place to start.

Check that you use it at EVERY junction and that even if there is no other visible traffic about, you still do it. If you do it all the time, you’ll do it when driving on auto pilot.

It’s a good habit to get into and one day it may save your life.

Kevin

Old fashioned dress-codes – a half baked lie?

After polishing-off a perfectly prepared meal in a classy restaurant, the Head Chef was “shown-off” to my party. He was everything you might expect a well respected and successful person at the top of his profession to be. Healthy looking, fresh faced, well groomed and, of course, immaculately dressed in pristine “whites”.

“What a lucky bugger!” I secretly thought to myself. My son Josh is a trainee chef. He works long, hard, stressful shifts. He comes home tired, aching, sweaty and positively dishevelled.

This chef seemed to have run-up a three-course meal for over a hundred people and yet looked as if he had just walked out onto the catwalk. So, he gets to swan around the kitchen, not actually cooking a thing, yet gets to bathe in the glory of everyone else’s hard work.

Why this story?

On two occasions this week I was reminded of a familiar old saying. I was taught it at home, I was taught it at school and I was taught it again when I changed role from “engineer” to “sales-engineer”.

You have to… “Dress For Success!”

Whilst giving a talk on public a speaking skills I was asked if how we dress makes a difference. I was not wearing a tie…had I been caught out of my crease!

Later in the week I read a comment from a follower on Twitter who was ruing the fact that some people simply do not dress to the same standard they used to. I looked back over my last 20 years and realised I don’t wear my clothes in the same way anymore. I felt naked and exposed but not ashamed.

I responded to both situations slightly differently, albeit following a roughly similar pattern. To the tweet I simply agreed but posed the challenging question “…but how do you define dressing for success?” In the presentation, I spoke about the importance of personal branding and how we should “be ourselves”. I felt these answers, whilst not off the mark, were a little pants.

I don’t wish to alter these answers, but I would like to let them out a little.

One of the great freedoms afforded to us in the 21st Century is that we get to challenge old-style conventions. We are now allowed to question which parts of our received wisdom really matter. So we can ask if dressing the way we’ve been taught is about “achieving success” or simply “fitting-in”.

Just so long as we dress appropriately, wash our hands and comb our hair (into whatever odd style we choose!) what else really matters?

Your particular profession may have standards or traditions and you may need to follow suit. Sometimes, of course, that might actually mean not wearing a collar and tie. Is it now acceptable to dress in a way which reflects what you actually do?

I think it is. It shows individualism, credibility and professionalism – no matter what you do.

We have to fashion our own position in this modern world. There is a need to distinguish ourselves from the crowd, prove we can do our job and meet the rigorous standards laid down by regulators. By conforming to convention, by not actually cooking and by basking in other people’s glory, my chef failed on all three counts.

That was my attempt to iron out this complex issue, yet I fear I haven’t completely buttoned things down.

Perhaps you’d like to comment!

Marc

So why are the killjoy brigade trying to get them banned?

Because they are unsafe and can cause fires?

Or do they?

The very simplicity of their design is what makes them potentially hazardous and safe to fly at the same time.

What are the hazards of flying a Sky Lantern? They are much the same as flying a hot air balloon apart from that there is a fuel cell, not pressurised gas and all the associated risks, and a Sky Lantern does not carry passengers. There is only one real hazard. Fire!

If you consider the risks involved they range from:

• The person lighting the sky lantern being burnt
• The sky lantern catching fire before it is released.
• The possibility of the lantern being caught in a tree or overhead wiring.
• The possibility of a lantern being blown into a tree, building or field and setting fire to it.

The hazard is fire and the risks are all associated with people or property being burnt. The design of the Chinese Sky Lantern is simple and as such as safe as can be achieved in design and construction. The original fire source was a spirit burner which was heavier and could potentially still be burning when the sky lantern returned to earth. By using a fuel cell the source of the ignition burns out while the Sky Lantern is still in the air, when it returns to earth there is no heat source.

What then is the biggest hazard of a Chinese Sky Lantern being flown?

By far the biggest hazard in my opinion is the person lighting and releasing it. It is not the Sky Lantern itself although it is easier to blame an object than a person. Therefore if there is any likelihood of a Chinese Sky Lantern causing damage the packaging should not even be opened, the person intending to light and release it has a duty of care to consider all the risks mentioned earlier.

Only if having confirmed that there is no possibility of the Chinese Sky Lantern causing any damage whatsoever should it be removed from the packaging, lit and released.

For safe use Chinese Sky Lanterns should be assembled, lit and released in a wide open space where there is no chance of them being caught or blown into something that it can set alight. For the best effect a clear evening with a light breeze to take the lantern away from anything that it could cause a problem to. Not forgetting that they can travel many miles from the point of release.

There is a possibility that if the Chinese Sky Lantern does cause damage that the person releasing it could be prosecuted for the damage caused. It is therefore most important that the risks are considered and assessed before releasing into the air and enjoying the spectacular simplistic beauty of a Chinese lantern in flight.

Every year I sit on the slopes at Tankerton with my family to watch the Whitstable Regatta firework display. A prelude to the fireworks is someone releasing Chinese Sky Lanterns into the air over the sea. It is a serene beautifully quiet display that has the assembled spectators open mouthed in awe of the drifting wonder.

This year, weather permitting we will be releasing our own Chinese Sky Lanterns and enjoying the whole experience of lighting, releasing and gazing at the beauty of our own creation.

Adam

Don’t Bodge An Opportunity

When someone at a Business Networking event asks you “What do you do?” how do you usually answer? Is it in the same way as most people I come across? Stale, too technical, confusing, and less than memorable?

Most people glaze over when you answer with “I’m and Accountant”, or “I’m an IFA”. It doesn’t excite people (sorry to our Accountant and IFA friends). So you need to create a 2-sentence answer that tells one talent or skill and then tells a time you saved the day, solved the problem, or served the client.

Get rid of “CV” language. Go beyond your job title, acronyms, and the name of your employer. Help people see you in action through a vivid example.

Trust that if you can just get into conversation, you’ll be able to expand your listener’s idea of the many hats you wear.

Here is an example of what I mean…

Before:
I’m an Accountant at XYZ Ltd.

After:
I help people not to pay the tax man so much money. Last month I reduced one companies tax bill by £1000 over the previous year!

In the future when someone asks you “What do you do”, look at it as an opportunity to display your skills and to give an example of your work. Don’t just view it as a way of answering the question as quickly as possible and then move onto something else!

John

John Botting is a business networking coach. You can download your free networking tips booklet and read the blog for more detailed networking tips.

Lately I have been reading the transport news with some trepidation, we’re going electric it seems rather than searching down alternative fuels.

I have a problem with electric powered vehicles.

• Non existent infrastructure to support them ie charging points
• Not as green as people think
• Commercial electric vehicles are not competitively priced, so out of the range of many small transport companies

Recently the Government confirmed they would give £20 million into Nissan to build electric cars, in the form of a grant. In my mind the money would have been better off spent of alternative fuels research.

As a courier and transport company, we travel long distances to deliver consignments on behalf of our clients. The average electric vehicle has a range of 50 miles, with some being touted as a 100 miles. A Transit van does 370 – 420 miles depending on whether it’s loaded or not. Our average journey is 178 miles, one way. So in an electric vehicle we would have to stop and recharge 3 times before the journey back to base was complete.

Now, we are not total Philastines in our company, we were one of the first transport companies to win an environmental awareness award back in 2007, my company has always had a greener flavour. I am explaining this as it’s essential to understand, the enemy of the environment is not fumes emitted from my exhaust pipe, not the amount of LPG fuel we consume, not the amount of miles we do. The enemy of the environment is waste.

Wasted people, wasted energy, wasted fuel, wasted time, wasted money.

Electric batteries, like all batteries burn out and in this case, it will be every two years the batteries need replacing. The batteries are made from ion-lithium and will need safe disposal, and they must be constantly topped up like your mobile phone, they should not be run flat and as I mention above the infrastructure in place isn’t able to support that yet, and may be some time off from doing so.

I am assured that electricity is a clean fuel, the majority of our electricity at present is generated by fossil fuels and whilst this cleaner than just burning a fossil fuel, it’s not as green as we need. So we need more sea powered electricity, more wind turbines and someone really should invent a way of getting power from the rain that we have as part of the British summer. We’re a long way of from having sustainable, green electricity.

Needs.

Where do we go from here?

If the Government are throwing their weight behind electric power, then we need to start saving. All of us. An electric car will cost anything of £30k upwards, and the batteries for the vehicles are high in price too, those are expected to be leased to the car owner. Then there are the charging points, whilst 30 minutes is supposed to be the average charge time, you may find you have to get your own adapted sockets etc – and your electric bill will sky rocket when you find you have to charge your vehicle twice a day.

What do we do with the petrol, diesel fueled vehicles that are no longer any use to us? how can they be recycled? With millions of cars on the road, even if they are gradually replaced what on earth are we going to do with the now defunct non electric car?

Get bikes.

Seriously, as families get bikes and ride to the shops. Buy what you need and don’t buy in bulk. No longer will you waste food and have to throw it away, you will save money and reduce waste. The money you save from cycling locally will help offset your electric car bills as well as keep you fitter.

Now, how do I get Sarah to start cycling?

Kevin

Last week there was an article on the BBC website about a man who filled a hole in the road outside his house. I commented that I thought he was fulfilling both his responsibilities to look out for his and other peoples Health & Safety and did the councils job of removing the hazard. According to the council he was being both illegal and dangerous.

Someone else added a comment that his local authority had contradicted themselves by telling him that he was not allowed to trim the hedge that obscured his vision as he left his premises and then threatened to fine him if he did not clear up a tree that had blown across the road from the same hedge.

It seems to me that local authorities interpret the law to suit their needs.

I suspect that now the budgets are being squeezed they will find more ways to make all of us accountable for their responsibilities. It is already evident that the enforcing authorities are passing on the responsibility of monitoring Health & Safety to small organisations by insisting that they provide more documentation than they are legally required to, for example written Health & Safety policies, Risk Assessments and Method Statements for companies employing 4 or less staff.

That said there are a lot of reasonably big companies who think that Lord Young’s review of Health & Safety is going to change the law. That is probably unlikely. What he does intend to do, according to this article from the Telegraph, is attempt to change the way it is interpreted and administered. I am actually very encouraged by his comments because it will remove some of the mystery surrounding what has become for an autocratic method of controlling the general public, when it should be there to protect them and the working population from the risk of harm in or associated with the workplace.

So what should Mr Manning have done with the hole in the road that was allegedly so deep it was damaging the vehicles that were forced to be driven through it?

Well the local authority in its self important way says “leave it; it is on our list to be dealt with”. In the meantime the owners of the damaged vehicles will quite justifiably try to claim for the damage caused and quite likely come up against a brick wall.

Have you ever tried to claim damages from a council?

I did once and it amazed me that they were willing to spend more on the administrative cost of making excuses and passing the buck than the cost of replacing my £35.00 jacket torn on piece of barbed wire hanging across a footpath one dark winter night, each of the 5 letters must have cost more than that.

Isn’t the attitude of the local authority shameful and does their response suggest that someone has “egg on their face” because of Mr Manning’s public spirited responsible action.
The government is looking for ways to save on local authority spending, perhaps they could replace the time wasting job defending bureaucrats with people like Mr Manning and actually get the job done.

Climbs down from hobby horse!

Adam

Business Coaching and Consultancy are just a licence to print money.

These guys spend hours swanning around hobnobbing, then charge a fortune to take a few minutes to tell you things you already knew!

Image via Wikipedia

We’ve all heard the joke about the consultant who borrows your watch and charges you to tell the time – right?

Let’s face it, if these guys were so great in business they’d have made their fortunes and retired years ago. Why aren’t they the ones making you pay in sweat for your 15 minutes of fame in the Dragon’s Den?

It’s shameful isn’t it…. Or is it?

Running a business requires you to perform at your peak day-in-day-out. You have to create, market, sell, deliver, fix, manage, balance and even coach your own team. For you there is little or no time off. You are constantly in the fray, battling against customers, competition and Customs & Excise!

Every type of performer, from sportsmen to musicians and actors to opera singers, lives a life of intense preparation followed by the stress of delivery. Something else they share, is knowing the value of coaching. Even though they know the rules of their game, their lines from the script, or how to play their instrument perfectly well – they all seek help in getting the best value from the time they spend practicing and training.

The one advantage they have over you, the business owner, is the opportunity to train, develop and even rest a while… something you deserve too!

Time is money, yet a lack of either means death. It sounds harsh, but if you don’t take time out to rest, to think and to plan – you will pay the ultimate price. If you have allowed yourself to “become the business” such that it cannot function without you, your business will soon find itself losing value once you have gone.

Does a business coach really charge so much money simply for telling you what you already know?

Actually a coach gives you three vital things which together will make a substantial difference to your life – just so long as you allow them to.

The first is context.

There will always be a million things to do today. So where do you start, which issue is more important? A great coach will begin by helping you truly analyse your situations. He’ll then agree with you what needs to be done. The tools and rules he uses may well be very familiar to you, yet used properly will allow you to see the real value in your business, perhaps for the first time.

The second is encouragement.

Worth so much yet rarely found. Keeping on track so often seems impossible, as we tend to keep our heads down and just fight on. Your friendly coach is regularly there to help you measure your progress and keep you motivated.

Finally he gives you time.

Time to think, time to reflect and time to rest are all crucially important. Helping you make space for all those things is a key part of the coach’s approach. At the outset he can do some thinking for you and thus find creative ways for you to break the cycle you are in. Then he begins to work with you, helping you find more time, space and answers for yourself.

Is the value of a coach limited to telling you the time showing on your own watch? NO!

The real pay-off comes from helping you realise you have a watch and how to use it and that is worth more than even the most expensive diamond encrusted Rolex!

Marc

Have you seen the advertisement on the TV that on showing at the moment by a no win no fee solicitor depicting a man falling off a ladder?

In it the claimant states that his employer gave him “The wrong ladder”. Now call me old fashioned but if you were given a ladder or piece of equipment that was damaged or inappropriate for the job wouldn’t you say something about it? I certainly would!

My point here is that the operative (the person being told to climb the ladder) has a responsibility for his own safety AND the weight of the law behind him to refuse to use unsafe equipment. Any employer insisting that an employee uses unsafe equipment is in a very sticky situation, particularly if there is evidence to prove they have done so.

So are the solicitors concerned encouraging people to take unsafe risks and injure themselves and in doing so could they be held liable themselves?

There’s a question, I wonder if anyone wants to take the challenge and answer it.

Obviously the solicitors of questionable morals who prey on those vulnerable or greedy people who see compensation as a means to an end would say not.

However do those same people realise that it is them and the people like them who take out insurance to protect themselves against injury that ultimately pay for it anyway. Where do the insurance companies get the money from to make these payments? That’s it from the people who take out the policies, so the premiums go up to compensate for the claims.

Put yourself in the position of the man in question, you have been told by your employer to drill a hole in a wall 10 feet (3.05 metres) from the ground. How are you going to get up there to do it? It is just 1 hole so hiring mechanical access equipment is out of the question, it does have to be practicable.

The obvious method is a ladder or a step ladder and this is where the Working At Height Regulations 2005 (as amended) apply. Whichever type of ladder you use you should make sure the ladder is secure, did the person in the advertisement? I don’t think he did.

So who is at fault there the employee or the employer? I would say the employee simply because he is the person who is going to climb the ladder; it is primarily his responsibility to take care of his own safety. Therefore he should ask someone to hold the ladder or secure it before he climbs it and hey presto it won’t fall over.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the use of ladders in the workplace including claims that the Health & Safety Executive have banned their use, which is not true. They have given guidance about how and when they are used and recommended that alternative means of access are used whenever possible.

So if you have to use a ladder or step ladder to work on, make sure you do it safely.

If you have not been trained by your employer to use one, ask for training. Just because you use one at home does not mean you are trained.

Make sure that the ladder is in good condition, that where you are going to use it has a good footing and that it will be secure (it won’t fall over).

It is worth taking a little extra care, an accident might be the last thing you have and no amount of money will change that.

Be safe.

Adam

THWACK!

The Blogmistress was cracking her whip – thirsty for copy…

And there was I, brain buzzing at a zillion miles an hour, getting absolutely nowhere.

Some creative thinking was needed, but how, where, when? My mind had gone completely dry!

Time is precious and so many of us waste so much time stressing about ideas rather than coming up with them. Not everyone feels they are gifted or naturally creative and are thus insanely jealous of those of us who are. Enough of this madness!

Just like the world of Public Speaking, where we all have a voice that simply needs to be found, everyone has the ability to be creative – they just don’t always realise it.

Everybody has ideas and everybody’s ideas are valid. They may not constitute the “final solution” to a problem – but they are always valid input or a step towards finding that big idea.

Brainstorming is a wonderful way of getting a whole team involved in the creative process. The shame is this term is often misunderstood or applied poorly. The result is the less creative members of a group get drowned, along with their potentially amazing ideas, by the deluge of concepts gushing forth from the others.

Being a “left-brain” person I enjoy brainstorming. My opposites, “the righties”, like a bit more order and prefer the more structured concept of mind-mapping. In a group you’ll have a mix of both, so a good approach is to start with a brainstorm and develop the flood of ideas into streams using mind-mapping. The final aim of the process is to allow one idea to spring to life and flow into the solution you have been searching for.

If you’ve never ‘brainstormed’ properly, here’s a quick sprinkling of suggestions.

Whether you’re on your own or in a team – you need some time limits. Set aside a specified period – programme an alarm to sound when your time is up.

Have a leader. His job is not to come up with all the ideas or to determine which ideas are good, bad or indifferent. He is there to both record everything and make sure everyone participates. Every idea that is mentioned is valid and so are the ideas that go unspoken. Actively encouraging the ‘quieter’ team members is key to the success of this process.

At this stage opinions do not matter. There must be absolutely no debate about whether an idea is good enough or needs to be written down. It is an idea, write it down – preferably on a board where all can see it and be further inspired.

Crucially, he must not allow the stronger or domineering personnel to overshadow the others. Yes they may provide more of the input overall, but they cannot be allowed to swamp the brainstorming process.

Once the bell has sounded the process must stop and everyone should take a break. The really hard work now begins, grouping, linking and filtering ideas.

Mind you, sometimes an idea comes up at the very beginning that you love so much you just have to use it… Such as deciding to write an blog post on brainstorming

I like to leave that to my more logical friends…

Does one of you “righties” want to write up the second part of this article!!

Marc

Sounds unbelievable doesn’t it? My personal networking is over 5M and growing daily. How is that possible I am sure some are asking. Well I am not “clever” or “special” just I know where to go and what to do. Apply this is the same rule to any networking activity you do. Know what you are doing, why you are doing it and where you need to do it!

So, where are my 5M+ connections? The majority are in LinkedIn as 3rd level connections. I have fewer connection in my 2nd level and fewer again in my first level. But that doesn’t matter. The fact is that by asking a maximum of 2 people I could get to 5,000,000+ people around the world. Now out of that 5M+ connections do you think that there will be a few there that I could be doing some sort of business with in someway? You bet I could. All I have to do is find them. This takes time of course and a little effort. Then you need to ask for the introductions and once the introduction is made allow time in getting your services/products in front of the referral.

However at the end of the day this is FREE. All it takes is some time, but what could be the results? I hear people say they get nothing out of LinkedIn or Twitter for that matter. They don’t see what the point is for all these connections or followers. What does it matter? Well to a certain extent I agree. People who brag they are following 10,000’s or have that many 1,000’s of followers, or have 5M+ contacts on LinkedIn are missing a beat if they do nothing with them.

I spend regular amounts of time every couple of days looking for people to connect with on LinkedIn via the groups I belong to or by looking at my connections, connections. I want to connect to people I think may be useful to me in someway otherwise what’s the point? Same with Twitter. I look at who has followed me, look at their profile and website and then follow them back ONLY if I think I or they could benefit from connecting. Please don’t automatically follow someone back just because you feel flattered they have followed you and there is some perceived rule that it is impolite not to follow someone back when they follow you. There isn’t!

Online connecting/networking as with offline networking is a skill that can be taught. If you would like to know more about this please contact John or visit his website at www.businessnetworkingcoach.co.uk

John Botting is a business networking expert and strategist. He is also Regional Leader in the South East for 4Networking. Read his networking blog at www.johnbotting.com where you can also sign up to get his FREE Top Networking Tips Booklet.