Exercises

The problem a lot of people come across with mentoring is that the mentors don’t have time to mentor on top of their normal role. We’ve all been in a situation where we’re not quite sure what’s expected and our mentor isn’t available. If this is problem you face, why not try the following:

Use a silent mentor

Step 1: Identify the person you want to mentor. This could be your boss, a subordinate, a close friend, a coworker, anyone at all who has a skill that you need. This must be a person that you see frequently enough that you can do the following steps.

Step 2: Get yourself a notebook. Easy!

Step 3: Whenever you are around your mentor and you see them do something that you wish you could do, watch their behaviour and mimic it. Sometimes it’s appropriate to let them know that you’re doing it so they don’t think you’re making fun of them, other times you can quietly copy them. Notice the following:

• Posture
• Breathing
• Facial Expression
• Tone of voice
• Types of words they are using

Step 4: As carefully as you can, make a note of these in your notebook however works for you and practice doing them in front of a mirror or video camera so you can watch yourself back. Do you remind yourself of them?

Step 5: Next time you need that behaviour, remember all those little elements that make your mentor so good at it and use them. It might be that all it takes is putting a smile on your face.

This way your mentor doesn’t have to do anything extra to help you other than behave as normal. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Happy New Year everyone!

When the clock struck midnight did you transform into the person that you’ve always wanted to be? No? How disappointing! Maybe you didn’t use enough fairy dust? … or the spell wasn’t quite right – you did say the magic words didn’t you? And you span round three times?

Ok then Cinders, it’s back to the drawing board! Maybe we’ll get it right next new year’s.

…Or maybe it just wasn’t realistic!

When talking about new year’s resolutions for 2011 I noticed that about 75% of people told me that their resolution was to “win the lottery”. So these people have started their year with a plan that they have very little control over (and before you tell me they have no control, they can buy a ticket – that’s control!)

The other 25% told me that in 2011 they were going to be fit, make more time for their families and friends, have a better work life balance, take up a new hobby, drop a dress size and get a promotion. When I asked them how they were going to do all of that they told me “well it’s just what I want to do”.

When I see them next I’ll find out how much they’ve done towards their goals. The truth is, those who want to win the lottery will probably already have bought a ticket, they’re taking control!

The point to this ramble is that despite the uncharacteristic pleasure of staying up until midnight, you are the same person at 1 minute past 12 as you were at one minute to. You are no more likely to achieve everything you want by simply saying it than you are to win the lottery! So if you have goals you really want to achieve this year, make a plan. If that seems too much effort, guess what? You don’t want it enough! If you really want this, you’ll make a plan and with prompts and guidance you can be the person you want to be just in time to come up with another person you want to be by next new year’s! If you’d like a free starter plan, drop us a comment or an e-mail and we’ll send you one to get you going.

Good Luck!

Anyone will tell you that New Year’s Resolutions don’t stick. Remember when you bought that gym membership? (oh please don’t mention it!). So we’ve got a new idea for you. This is not about new year’s resolutions, this is something new and exciting to make 2011 a brilliant year for you and it is our Christmas present to you:

We call it the Five Firsts. This will take you 15 minutes maximum, give it a go.

Mission 1: Get a notepad and pen out and have a think back to the early snowy days of January 2010 when you were full of ideas for the new year. Don’t worry if you didn’t achieve everything you had hoped to, but write on your notepad 5 things you did for the first time this year. These can be big things that you’ve always wanted to do, or they could be tiny things that could even have gone unnoticed. The important thing is that you did them for the first time in 2010. Just write down the first ones that pop into your head.

Was that fun? No we’re not done yet:

Mission 2: thinking ahead. What are five things you would like to do for the first time in 2011? Again, this is not about resolutions, it’s not about big commitments. This is about little things that would make you smile if you did them for the first time. If it’s possible, write a date next to each of them when you’d like to have done them by.

Mission 3: If you feel so inclined, send us your list. We’d be interested to know, and we’ll keep track of whether you get round to doing them in 2011 and give you some help along the way. We’ve had some great fun doing this in our office. Share yours with your friends and colleagues, you may be surprised by all the things you’d forgotten about. Enjoy, and Happy Holidays from the TPS Team!

On Channel Five’s The Gadget Show last night the team played a game of giant tetris. We thought it was a brilliant team building exercise, showing the importance of clear and precise communication when working as a team. Enjoy the video here and let us know what you think!

…Well, not a lot actually! We’ve all read the books on body language, and practised on our friends. We’ve all observed conversations that we can’t hear and tried to guess at what the emotions involved are. We’ve all sat in meetings or interviews and started to quake in our polished shoes when the boss’ body language suggests he or she is disinterested.

Here are some definitions of body language that I remember reading:

And sure enough all those postures and gestures could mean the listed things. And you could argue that because so many books have been written about these meanings, these definitions have become reality. You could argue that if we don’t mean these things, we should sit or lean or glance differently. Yet is this the most productive way of understanding each others’ cues? How about considering some alternatives:

Are these any less realistic?

Why not try and come up with your own possible definitions. Be aware of your own body language and try to notice when it does or doesn’t contradict the definitions we’ve all been taught. You’re bound to realise something rather interesting!

For those of your who didn’t see it, during the German Grand Prix yesterday, Ferrari were heard to give a coded message “Fernando is faster than you” to let his team mate know to let him pass. Watch the video here courtesy of BBC news.

This made me think about the idea of a “coded message” and how we can define it. Language is a tricky game, very rarely is the message purely provided by the words we say. Try this exercise to see for yourself:

Choose any simple phrase and try

• varying you tone,
• your pace of speech,
• your body language
• your facial expression
• your intonation
• use different hand movements,
• alter where you place your eyes
• and the amount of eye contact you make.

How many different meanings were you able to create?

The short sentence “Fernando is faster than you” could be a taunt, a statement of fact, or indeed a coded message. And within that coded message could it be “slow down and let him pass” or equally “speed up, he’s on your tail”? Of course given the context that they are team mates, and Felipe Massa’s move to let him pass following the message we can understand what was meant by the simple phrase. This suggests that a sentence in itself is meaningless without context.

When we start to delve into the complexity of language, it’s really no wonder that there are misunderstandings. Try the exercise above again and ask someone else to explain the meaning of your sentence with each change in delivery, do they understand the same meaning as you?

Let us know how you get on!