A Bit of Wild Writing about Fear – I think!

For as long as I can remember I have been an extrovert. Whether it would be in Year 4 in Primary School, regularly putting my hand up for anything which involved a degree of public facing or presentation elements, or as a Learning Professional which requires facilitating to a number of skilled people on a variety of subjects. These subjects could be as emotive as ‘Suicidal Ideation’ to as flexible as ‘Charing Meetings with no Agenda.’

“I couldn’t do that” one would say, “You’re so confident” says another. Both comments are subjective and could be challenged at any particular time or day, depending on personal circumstances, how much my toddler decides to sleep and so forth.

I remember my first Professional Public Speak. It was facilitating a Reflective Practice Workshop to 12 Behavioural Change Workers. I didn’t fully understand the term Reflective Practice nor did I fully appreciate the lack of available time the professionals in the room ‘had to spare.’ This resulted in a lot of watch checking, whispering and taking phone calls throughout the meeting. I could feel my confidence retreating whilst my heart rate increased. For some reason, i decided to wear a light green shirt, which was starting to become see-through as the cold sweat was running down the back of my neck. The Session Plan Document i was holding, gripped like a shield as wobbling in my nervous hands and making a noise like a home made Blue Peter Project without the yoghurt pots. A few staff left before the end whilst I had two or three complaints to my line manager at the end of the day. Combine this with the fact that I was on a temporary contract in my first full time role – you could say I wasn’t the most confident following and yet still extrovert by nature, becoming reenergised by hearing peoples ideas, workplace views and their goals going forward.

A few weeks later I wanted to get back on the horse. I wrote and facilitated an ‘Alcohol Awareness Programme’ for Police Officers. I wanted it to be fun, encourage discussion and allow myself an opportunity to utilise the skill in the room ……….. it never worked out that way. 11 of the 12 officers in attendance got involved, with lots of laughing – the one who didn’t informed me “I don’t have f**king time to play f**king kids games’ whilst pointing at me and stormed out. The ledge of confidence I gained during the introduction exercise I was trying to keep hold off but was about as effective as trying to peel an orange whilst wearing boxing gloves. I continued the session, the evaluations came back as strong but I still felt like i received a punch to the stomach.

“You don’t learn to ride a bike by reading a book” my brilliant former manager would say to me (@JoCoaches on Twitter). This is so true, following a lot of reflective practice myself, i would purposely try to challenge myself whether it be Ignite Talks, Lectures, Director Coaching, Workshop Facilitating, Org Design etc. Gaining as much experience as I could in the attempt to feel ease in uncomfortable situations. It works and having an ‘extrovert’ personality allows me to create an environment in the room where people feel valued, respected and heard – I’m not suggesting ‘Introverts’ do not, I’m just talking about me. Telling jokes, creating inclusive conversations, differentiating exercises depending who is in the room and if something doesn’t work having the confidence to say it. “This isn’t working, let’s try something different, who has ideas, let’s coproduce a way forward” Empowering, building trust, getting rid of the Expert / Patient Model which not taking responsibility for what someone wants or doesn’t want to gain from the day.

Do I still worry and have fears, yes! Some are difficult to shake. My phobia of Clowns is certainly one. I remember being at a children’s party, I must have been about 8 when an entertainer was hired dressed as a clown. Creepy i know! He presented to the party a fake finger guillotine, detaching a fake finger and throwing it into the circle of children. Terrifying. I feel like this last paragraph wouldn’t look out of place in a Stephen King Novel!

I am beginning to start feeling uncomfortable in small rooms, trains with no room too. I don’t think anyone notices but I do. Which is kind of the theme of this wild writing I’m doing on the train to London this morning. Feeling slightly warm, bit uncomfortable like when I first started facilitating over a decade ago. Feeling uncomfortable, anxious, nervous are completely normal. Most the time nobody notices as long as you have a place to bounce your ideas and reflections you’ll be absolutely fine. Mine reflections I’m sharing with you!

Twitter – @TheCraigKaye

Craig Talks L&D with Writer and Comedian Robin Ince

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to my second blog in the Craig Talks L&D Series. Previously I had the pleasure to ask Taskmaster and Comedian Alex Horne how he reflects on his communication and content delivery to which he shared his thoughts and decision making processes which benefit his own public performance and as result – ours.

With genuine excitement I now have the fortune to share with you my second blog asking different professionals how they reflect on their practice, what drives them, key skills and what differences and similarities we all share regardless of if our audience is 2 people or 200,000. With even greater excitement I get to have this conversation with one of my favourite Writer, Presenter and Comedians – the brilliant Robin Ince.

I went to see Robin and Professor Brian Cox in May 2017 at Liverpools Echo Arena, talking about all things Quantum Physics, Our Universe and Human Evolution whilst sprinkling in hilarious jokes in an easy to understand, engaging and approachable manner. The two hour set felt like it lasted only a few minutes due to our enjoyment and immediate buy in to the passion Robin and Brian had for the subject of science.

In the 1990s Robin regularly performed at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival alongside the likes of fellow Comedians; Stephen Merchant, Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais. Robin has also appeared in the Comedy Show The Office, a regular Author and Podcaster (is that even a word? Anyway I digress) with our favourite Physicist Prof. Brian Cox!

You can hear the delightful Infinite Monkey Cage Podcasts Here

Here is the brilliant insight of Robin Ince, discussing all things L&D:

When about to present / perform do you make a conscious effort to communicate in a particular way and if so what is it important to remember?

I am driven by wanting to make ideas that excite and interesting enough that other people want to investigate them more too. On shows like the Monkey Cage I also realise that I have to listen to the Scientists carefully and work out where the audience might start to be lost and find a way of breaking up the conversation, maybe with something silly or light, so the audience can relax for a while as they take in ideas of Particle Physics or Evolutionary Biology. I describe myself as ‘The Idiot Bridge.’ I think it is important to avoid underestimating the audiences intelligence but also to underline that just because an idea may seem to be seminal or important, it doesn’t mean you can’t be playful with it. You can be playful without being undermining. You can be respectful without being austere.

When you are in the public eye either by being on TV, Radio or speaking to a live audience – how do you prepare?

If we are dealing with something like gravitational waves, then I will do background reading, a book or two, some articles, enough to gain a very basic understanding but not aiming to pretend I know what I’m talking about. With speaking to a live audience, I am a scribbler – not an essay writer. I think about what I’ve been asked to do and start to juggle with what may be interesting to explore. I like to have three hours of ideas in my head or a one hour speech, so I can be reactive and also impromptu. If I am interviewing someone about a book, for instance I recently interviewed the astronaut Scott Kelly, I will read the whole book and scribble in the margins, but again I don’t aim to write a hard script of questions with a specific start and end, I want to have enough ideas in my head that I can be malleable and playful.

In moments when you are speaking to a large group of people i.e. Gigs, Presentations – how do you manage to hold the audiences attention?

I have a three cough theory. If someone coughs once in the audience ‘Hey they’ve got a cough.’ If someone else coughs immediately after, ‘hhhmmm, maybe there’s a bit of lurgy going around.’ If a third person coughs immediately after that, I reckon it means people are noticing their tickley cough over what I am saying. After years on the comedy circuit, I am very aware of how many laughs are being generated, but I am increasingly aware that I should not be a slave to it. What people want most of all is something that is interesting, so I have become looser. Joke, joke, longer story. Sometimes a funny one, sometimes an intriguing one, much of it is instinctual now. To me, the important thing is to convey passion and I don’t have to fake that as everything I am asked to talk about and everything I wrote shows about is something that interests me. I am shallow, but broad, so much excites me that I will rarely find enough time for depth because I get distracted by another shiny thing.

After performing / presenting do you ever look back and think I wish to improve in this area? And if so how do you reflect on your delivery?

I just keep doing it over and over again. My shows and my Presentations are always changing. It is the trick of working constantly. I learn by doing.

What advice would you give yourself, if you could meet Robin Ince on Day One of starting his job working within the media?

Tenacity. It may take time. You may not get what you thought you wanted, but if you are living a life where you are meeting fascinating people and able to explore ideas and making a living from meeting ingenious people, you are doing okay. Do not think there is one route and don’t think you should follow the instructions of those who consider themselves experts, the routes are various and some of the most interesting ones are the ones that you are told are impassable.

A massive thank you to Robin for taking part in the above interview, which is not only passionate and insightful but also highlights practical learnt experiences such as the awesome Three Cough Theory and also not being afraid to follow your own individual path. I can guarantee anyone reading this who works with people will be more knowledgable and intrinsically richer as a result.

Also a genuine thank you to you, for taking the time to read this latest Craig Talks L&D Blog,

Many Thanks,

Craig

@TheCraigKaye

Craig Talks L&D with Comedian Alex Horne

As a Learning and Organisational Development Professional it is imperative that I continue to challenge myself to be the very best version of me I can be. A workshop facilitator who can be sharp, yet empathic, energetic yet actively reflective and a professional who aims to make everyone who attends a Training Session with myself feels valued, listened to and enthusiastic to go about their specific job roles with a determination to flourish with their responsibilities in and out of the workplace.

To quote a friend of mine “That all seems like heavy salad!” – He’s right, to pitch our communication effectively whilst actively listening and assessing body language for hours at a time takes significant cognitive work, emotional intelligence and an intrinsic desire to see people succeed. 

Three major factors which help me with the above are; having a very strong Personal Learning Network with Twitter for me being the easiest way to access a wealth of information at any time by specialists in their field, using positive psychology to motivate myself and those around me and lastly reflective practice. I am very passionate about reflective practice, regardless of your field – an ability to look at your performance and think that worked well and assessing reasons why this was the case and likewise what could have been improved upon. It is this very topic which has inspired me to start a blogging series entitled ‘Craig Talks L&D with ……..’ This series is aimed at discussing a few reflective practice points with brilliant people in varying professions and mutually share the learning which comes out of it with you all.

This blog, the first in the series is entitled Craig Talks L&D with Comedian Alex Horne 

Alex Horne is one of my favourite comedians (click his name above to see some of his work)

Alex currently cohosts the popular show Taskmaster exclusively on Dave, appears on 8 out 10 Cats does Countdown, does stand up Comedy and is the frontman of the Musical Comedy Act The Horne Section – so happy that Alex kicked off this Series by agreeing to answer some L&D related questions for this blog (sorry I digress) ……….

Here we go:

When about to present / perform do you make a conscious effort to communicate in a particular way and if so what is it important to remember?

To be honest, by now I don’t think about it all that much. I make sure I smile a lot before going on – so I start talking in an upbeat way! And I do some verbal warm ups to make sure the words come out properly. If it’s a show with an audience I might just pretend to talk to an audience member to make sure my brain is switched on. Otherwise I’ll just practise my first couple of lines so I know I’ll start off ok.

When you are in the public eye either by being on TV or speaking to a live audience, how do you prepare?
I don’t prepare any differently when on TV or in my local theatre. It’s the same as the above, really. Just trying to make sure I’ve got something to say and that I say it reasonably well. As a Comedian you’re just trying to amuse so it’s not a huge responsibility.

In moments when you are speaking to a large group of people i.e. Taskmaster, Gigs, Presentations etc. How do you manage to hold the audiences attention? Pitch, tone, tempo, content?
Good Question! I do rely on props a lot – whether they are in videos or graphics in Taskmaster, or music and pictures in shows. That’s partly because I don’t trust myself to hold their attention by myself, but also because I like good old fashioned variety. Keep surprising them with different things, that’s what I say!

After performing / presenting do you ever look back and think ‘I wish to improve in this area?’ And if so how do you reflect on your delivery?

I tend to not look back! Mainly it’s just trying to be funnier … if I stumble over words it’s often at the beginning of a show because of nerves / lack of rehearsal – and that’s something I might regret. Sometimes I speak too fast or too loud, to try and get attention, when actually slow and quiet is often a better tactic.

What advice would you give yourself, if you could meet Alex Horne on Day 1 of starting his job working within the media?

My advice would be to keep trying new things. The more strings you have to your bow, the more experiences you’ve been through and the more ideas you come up with, the more likely it is that something you do will be a success one day. I’ve been doing comedy for 18 years and only now do I feel some sort of security. Be patient. Have fun. Make good choices. And bad choices!

Thank you so much to Alex for this insightful L&D Discussion, there is so much information professionals can take away and reflect on from this blog!! – awesome!!

And ……… Thank you for reading, 

Craig Kaye

@TheCraigKaye

The In Joke

Last week 07/07/2017 The #LDinsight Twitter Chat was based on the following question ‘What are your top tips on delivery / facilitation for a beginner?’ As I sat on the couch in my Living Room with my 19 month old Toddler Oscar whilst he was watching ‘Blaze and The Monster Machines’ and I had just read the Twitter Chat Subject my thoughts initially went to ‘being positive, being yourself and always prepare thoroughly’ as pearls of wisdom to offer to a ‘New Starter’ – then I reflected further.

I then thought about a French Sociologist by the name of Foucault who in the mid 1900s theorised under his ideology of ‘Discipline’ that a paying customer in a restaurant should not see the Chef in the kitchen, swearing and sweating whilst creating the dish and instead should be presented with a visually appealing meal, by polite restaurant staff in a welcoming environment. All variables which could taint the product regardless of how nice it tastes or how professional it is cooked. I thought about this theory in a Learning and Development context and concluded that although we deliver with congruence, we also prepare in the kitchen and deliver our meals with positivity, enthusiasm and professionalism.

I reflected further ………..

I reflected further about my own specific delivery methods, what’s important to me as a professional facilitator of learning? I thought about how do I ensure Learners feel valued, respected, welcomed, comfortable and mutual to myself and everyone else in the room despite maybe only meeting everyone today for the very first time?

One factor stood out for me, one I hadn’t given much thought to before especially in relation to the above thoughts which could create a platform for someone truly to feel accepted in the learning environment we are together sharing with potentially a dozen other individuals ……….. The In Joke!!

Why is it so important to create this ‘In Joke?’ 

Well for me, it creates immediate buy in, something which we have all played a role in creating. The Joke Matter can be absolutely anything; the room size, the tempreture of the day, my clothing, why I’ve eaten, the terrible B&B I’m booked in to, what activities the Learners got up to over the weekend etc. It can literally be anything!

What does this require of me? It requires observation, open questions, ability to think abstracty and creating a platform for conversation which may appear to have nothing to do with the day – news items, television shows, sporting events etc.

Ideally the ‘In Joke’ we all buy in to will be funny, but in a strange way even if it’s not and results in the facilitator taking a really light hearted approach to his or her humour  – that’s okay too!!

To conclude why do I seek out that ‘In Joke?’ For me it creates team cohension, positivity, mutuality, informality, facilitator approachability and if we reflect on the the term compartmentalisation we may even learn and retain information even better!

Thank you for reading!

@TheCraigKaye

Reflection in Action

Reflective Practice; is a way of studying your own experiences to improve the way you work. It is very useful for health professionals who want to carry on learning throughout their lives. The act of reflection is a great way to increase confidence and become a more proactive and qualified professional. (www.brightknowledge.org) 

The above quote makes reference to the term ‘studying your own experiences’ allowing Reflective Practice to not only benefit professionals in the healthcare sector but in anything and everything that you do. Whether that’s a Learning and Development Professional facilitating a Workshop, Senior Manager chairing a multiagency meeting or a Sports-Person entering a competitive tournament but how?

Well, Reflective Practice is exactly that – spending time after an event thinking and possibly documenting; What worked well and why? What could have been better and why? How did I perform? How could I improve? What would I keep the same? And so forth. Using this method repeatedly in our practice allows us to self evaluate our performance and challenge our own thought processes in our decision making. This is a form of Reflection on Action (after the event) as too are methods such Gibbs Reflective Cycle (pictured below) in documenting not just what happened, but as a result what I’m going to do next in the form of planning. Going back to Gibbs after our plan has been set it allows ourselves to view what progress has been made.

Another Reflection on Action method is that of Action Learning Sets (pictured below) which allow ourselves to work with our peers on issues we may feel are impacting on our performance or issues in the workplace etc.

This group agenda allows mutuality within peers working with one another, reflecting, using all the rich experience in the room and as a result an individual may find themselves in a more confident, solution focussed state of mind after sharing an area they may wish to focus on.

All the above are examples of ‘Reflection on Action’ however what I wished to blog about was a term called ‘Reflection in Action,’ This is a process of when we are going about our; Meeting Management, Workshop Deliveries or any other tasks we put our mind to that we are thinking, reflecting and focusing whilst in that moment of its facilitation.

What does this mean to me? Well in my role as a Learning and Development Advisor I need to always Reflect on every action I take in that moment for a number of different reasons such as; ensuring everyone in the room feels welcome, listened to and valued, delivering material whilst reading the body language of every learner in the room which could potentially change parts of my delivery throughout the day, listening to every individual in the room regarding their goals, targets, fears and ambitions and also display an unwavering element of positivity and showmanship. If you combine on top of these a facilitation of emotive and complex content, session timings, creating a platform for individuals to share their knowledge, challenging learners, being congruent, being challenged ourselves on our delivery, managing relationships in the room and trying to deliver it all in a way which is viewed as fun and exciting – that’s a LOT of cognitive functioning in this role.

Now that’s just a brief snapshot of my thought-process when standing up delivering in a Learning Environment and plenty more which I haven’t mentioned such as use of language, pace, body language and so on. All these decisions I evaluate in Reflection on Action exercises which in turn influences my Reflection in Action. An almost instantaneous decision making strategy relying on experience, ease in the environment and willingness to experiment in the here and now. If said exercise didn’t work out as well as I envisaged that’s okay, I’ll try something different next time. A mantra that I apply to all the previously mentioned factors.

To summarise, my Reflection in Action practice through experience, commitment and controlled experimentation ultimately allows me to have a certain ease when presenting, delivering and creating a platform for people to learn in a way which feels individual, comfortable and informal. 

Although I’ve shared my thoughts on Reflective Practice in a Learning and Development Role, I’m convinced both Reflection in and on Action can be fully utilised regardless of your role, task or exercise as long as there is a commitment and a desire to professionally and/or personally develop. 

When you reflect you adapt, you learn, you plan, you evaluate and you start again – an almost Brooklyn Bridge Painting Style of Professional Progression.

Thank you for reading!!

@TheCraigKaye 

What has moved me? Presenteeism to Happiness

Prior to 2015 if I was to describe myself in one word it would most likely be that of Presenteeism.

The term presenteeism is defined as ‘the practice of being present at ones place of work for more hours than is required, especially as a manifestation of insecurity about ones job.’ This presenteeism was not as a result of any employer expectations of myself, far from it but more an intrinsic determination to succeed – i had become a careerist. 

As i write this blog on a jam packed train from London Euston to Wigan North Western and think about my career to date let us walk through my journey. Firstly I went to University to study Criminal Psychology with the intention of becoming the next ‘Cracker’ the Criminal profiler portrayed by Robbie Coltrane and I was going to solve the cases the Police couldn’t. It dawned upon me with two weeks remaining of University life and a talk with a Careers guidance officer that this job didn’t actually exist. My response was “well what about: A Touch of Frost, Inspector Morse etc. A sudden realisation that these are in fact all fiction characters.

After broadening my search for employment outside the focus of fictional television characters,  I was successful in a job application and invited to a formal interview with a national organisation who work with individuals whose lives have been affected by offending and/or substance misusing related behaviour – I somehow was offered the job, a job i applied for literally because the role had the word ‘Arrest’ in its title. 

Going straight into this role, brought a number of challenges; not just a gap in my knowledge base and thereputic toolkit but also my age, i looked very, very young. A number of professionals and police officers regularly had me mistaken as being on a YTS (Youth Training Scheme), some thought i was on a different type of apprenticeship and on a number of occasions i heard the same criticism of myself “Aren’t you a bit too young to be doing this?” I remember thinking at the time, I look young so how can i make this assumption and question marks which sit over my practice go away? An answer sprung into my head – become the manager!!

This answer seemed so clear, I thought to myself become the manager and staff, external organisations and everyone else will surely have to stop and accept that i do actually know what I am doing.

A couple of years later that opportunity came, managerial responsibilities in a criminal justice setting, delivering peer supervision to employees vastly more experienced in the field than myself and so forth. Yes, at this stage my own professional anxieties grew and my comfort zone was far behind me, in fact the line in the sand of where my comfort zone was is now in green, tropical regions – but i dug in, eager to learn, develop, adapt and evolve – now I’m a manager, i want to be a good manager, then a great manager, then an excellent manager. 

With this driven approach i saw numberous opportunities taken, in terms of managing teams, writing strategy, implementing structures and lead various projects – Nothing was going to stop me becoming the best i could possibly be. I conducted myself in a way which was open, congruent and professional and wanted everyone I worked with or for to succeed and flourish too! 

I aimed to be a manager, who coached and led staff to success whilst feeling positive and enthusiastic about any task i set, the more responsibilities i gained, the more hours i was putting in, working from home, worrying that everything had to be be completed accurately and making myself available for phone calls and emails when on annual leave or toil as if it went wrong when I wasn’t there i would be wide open for possible criticism about my ability and might stunt future career prospects – presenteeism!

The title of this blog is ‘What has moved you?’  And for me, its more than just one answer but two; both of which happened in late 2015:

The first is that of the birth of my baby boy Oscar Stephen Kaye, to which I am thankful everyday to my wife Jennifer; who is not only the perfect Mother but also Partner who brought the most beautiful little man into this world. Becoming a father changes you, no longer do you think of immediate personal gratification whether it be;  career, food or fashion but Oscar – his safety, development and health comes first.

I also gained a new job, one i wanted for a long, long time, with the same organisation i have been with over the last 5 or 6 years but in a Learning and Development Adviser capacity and work with a team which can only be described as awesome. I’m actively involved in a team where the quality of work is so rich as well as being surrounded by learning specialists who not only are great in the work they do but also develops yourself in new avenues. In this team I have a manager that sits above me who also wants nothing but the best for you; giving advice, coaching, guidance, respect as well as highlighting potential personal and professional developmental opportunities whilst at the same time promoting healthy life balances.

The ironic thing is that since I’ve lost my anxious presenteeism due to the above I have become a more reflective, reflexive, conguient and self aware professional, as well as being a husband and a father i have become far more efficient, resilient and most of all happy with my current work / life balance.

I would like to finish by thanking the two biggest impacts on my life in 2015/16 – my family and my L&D Team; only with the support of all I am able to write this blog without the presenteeism chip on my shoulder and I have been moved in a way i could not have even dreamed of only a few years ago!!

Thank you for reading,

Craig

@TheCraigKaye

The Miracle That Is You!!

In my opinion a miracle doesn’t have to be something of biblical proportions or something so extraordinary that nobody would believe you without seeing it with their own eyes.

For me an ‘everyday’ miracle is something as beautiful as a rainbow ……..

Why is that you might ask? Well, what do you see when you see the above photograph? Yes, a rainbow! Yes all the colours from the age old mnemonic Richard (Red), Of (Orange), York (Yellow), Gave (Green), Battle (Blue), In (Indigo) Vain (Violet) shining from the white glare emitted from the sun to our planet. These colours and their variations are the only colours in existence in our universe – but that’s not what I find so miraculous about rainbows. 

What I find so miraculous is that two people never can see a rainbow the same way ……..

When we see a rainbow, we are not actually looking at something solid or conjoined – we are observing sunlight bouncing off the back of a raindrop and as a result creating a long prism effect to create what looks like a stream of 7 independent light rays curving through the sky. What I find fascinating is that someone standing next to me will see that light prism differently and someone 5 yards away different again and so forth, this is because the light reflections bouncing off the raindrops are unique from our vantage point at that time resulting in variances in length, brightness, size, shape and structure – to me the uniqueness of a rainbow is a natural miracle.

The purpose of this blog is to pour my thoughts on to the page regarding in my option another miracle ……. You!!

Statistically the chances of you sitting here reading this blog are so minimal, that any scientist looking at its odds and probability would deem it so unlikely that they would write off its chances immediately …. Yet here you are!

Let’s put aside, the fact that Earth is based in a Goldilocks environment nicely shielded by the enormity of Jupiter and the ideal distance away from the Sun to sustain life following the Big Bang approximately 13.7 billion years ago, Earth forming approximately 6.5 billion years ago, first bacteria on Earth about 3.8 billion year ago and mammals about 180 million years ago. (For more reading on an evolutionary timeline I suggest visiting the New Scientist Website). Anyway back to the blog.

The above information is so statistically difficult to absorb but let’s step it up a gear …..

The chances of your Mum and Dad meeting is one in 20,000 this is due to the average male and/or female each communicating with approximately 10,000 opposite sex people prior to the age of 32.

Then there is a 1 in 10 chance they’ll speak, 1 in 10 they’ll go on a 2nd date, 1 in 1o they’ll stay in a significant relationship, then 50 / 50 whether they’ll stay together for the long term. This then becomes a 1 in 2000 chance they’ll have offspring.

So at this moment we are currently at odds of: 1 / 40,000,000

Right …..

In a persons lifetime a female produces 100,000 eggs and a male 4 trillion sperm – the odds of them meeting and making you and not a competitive organism …… 1 / 400,000,000,000,000,000

Yeah that’s pretty long odds!!

Let go again, now imagine that process needs to be replicated over and over and over again for your grandparents, and they parents and their parents and so forth for approximately 150,000 separate gene pools and relationships forming children and combine it with the above quoted numbers – the answer is something like …..

1 in 10 (with 2,685,000 zeros after it)

It suggested that it be similar to getting 2,000,000 people, each with a dice with one trillion sides and they all simultaneously roll the exact same number, then again even that is only 1 in 550,343,279,001

If this blog show anything, it shows that you’re awesomely individual – live it like the miracle you are!!!

 

Thanks for reading!!

@TheCraigKaye
Credit to Robbie Gonzales for the stats published on 11/09/2011 on Gizmodo Server webpage!

Big Bang Theory, Einstein, Equality & Diversity

Approximately 13.7 billion years ago ‘most’ Astronomers and Planetary Scientists tend to agree that the ‘Big Bang Theory’ came into existence with the introduction of ‘singularity’ which is a gravitational force, which alongside heat, matter, water, carbon and hydrogen became the building blocks for life.

 
As time went on, nebulas, rocks, gasses and ice began to interact and quite a few years later the solar system we have began to know and love was formed. This was approximately 4.6 billion years ago, in a Goldilocks region (meaning all the ingredients and circumstances are there to sustain life) – we call this little planet Earth. What happened next? Well we estimate 3.8 Billion years ago the combination of heat, calcium and water created single cells such as bacteria, evolution would suggest 1.1 billion years ago saw the introduction of our first sexually reproductive organisms. Fascinating – what about people? Well, Homosapiens started walking, actually limping the earth only approximately 0.2 million years ago. Not long when we think of the above timeline.

Right so, we in one paragraph we have looked at the fabric of life – lets taken a breath and settle down. It’s now 2016 and humanity is still effectively in its infancy when we compare ourselves to the earliest of life based theories.

Why go through all the above? Because as people we are by definition all exactly the same baring a slight, pigmentation genotype which effects our appearance. If we follow our family trees back 3.8 billion years ago we would see, via a telescope a single cell named prokaryotic. 

What is fascinating is if we lined up in a row all our portraits or selfies as they may be known now of all our family members from the beginning of time we at first would see slight differences from our father, then his father, then his father – as we continue to look at the portraits and the thousands and thousands of generations are flying by we would start seeing resemblance of the above evolutionary diagram. If we continue to follow through millions of years of selfies so to speak we would go all the way back to our good old grandparent – the prokaryotic cell.

It add further gravity to our place in the solar system so to speak, should life be looking through a telescope in the next Galaxy down (The Andromeda Galaxy) the light would take that long to travel between galaxies that if they were looking at this second they would only be able to see when dinosaurs walked the earth.

Mind blown ……

What is beautiful in my eyes, is that we as humans are all exactly the same. We are miracles in survival, that despite numerous cataclysmic events, we are not just here but thriving – sometimes against all the odds. Plagues, sickness, famine etc – yet we progress and continue to evolve and will do for the millions and billions of years to come.

Despite being exactly the same, yet we are behaviourally different. We are athletes, scholars, musicians, artists, cartoonists, L&D Advisors and so on. We have cultures, religions, experience, skills and personalities which bounce and support one another.

Albert Einstein stated that ‘Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.’

In 2016 I find it hard to accept that individuals and institutions do not celebrate each other’s differences with respect, positivity and enthusiasm. As we looked at earlier, biologically we are all but the same baring slight appearance based features. We live lifestyles which differ and with that we bring new skills, experience, knowledge and style. As Einstein alludes we are all geniuses in our own ways.

Working in L&D it is fundamental that I believe the same, everyone has skills and qualities and my job is help these geniuses achieve regardless of any sociological label or definition.

To summarise, we’re all the same yet we’re all a little bit different, we’re all geniuses and with respecting each other thoroughly imagine what the next million years may look like.

Thanks for reading!! @TheCraigKaye

Waldorf and Statler and Learning and Development

I’m currently sitting in a restaurant literally in the middle of nowhere, this lonely restaurant is attached to what can only be described as a ‘creepy, olde worldie’ type hotel – very grim some might say. As I was waiting for my gammon, egg and mushrooms to be served by a waitress who appeared to have the weight of the world on her shoulders, I thought to myself ‘you know what I’m going to write a cheeky little blog, but what about?’ 

I thought I was the only person in the baron, tumbleweed-esque rolling restaurant when two elderly gentlemen who must have almost ninja like sneaked in were having a very loud and open conversation about how terrible the food was, as I looked over my shoulder basically for no other reason than being nosey – I was taken aback by how much they both looked the spitting image of the two critical hecklers from The Muppets Waldorf and Statler.

“It tastes like I stepped in it” said one, the other replied with “tastes like muck.” In fairness with the quick glance I gave over my shoulder it looked like a roast dinner but I wasn’t 100% sure. “I’m going to put a complaint in” said the smaller one with a dashing moustache.

My gammon had arrived by this point, when one of the critical duo called over the waitress, “This is disgusting, has it been heated in a microwave, it’s too hard and horrible – tell The Chef it’s disgusting.” In the distince, the manager appears. She says loudly “and what seems to be the problem here? It all looks fine to me.” The tension only broken by my Steakknife sawing away at the large chuck of gammon on my plate. Waldorf and Statler did not respond to the Manager, I didn’t see or hear them leave but as I finished my meal they were gone and I was back to being back in the restaurant again on my own.

As I was waiting for the bill I began thinking about why do we take: criticism and complaints so personally?

In true CBT Form if we remove the emotion and personalities from the situation then we are just receiving information about out performance which may or may not be able to help us improve as a professional or service. We however don’t – we seem to see it more as the below cartoon.

We see it as someone out to get us, we don’t accept the criticism and start feeling like the other person has an issue with us – but why? 

There is an argument that giving criticism without any constructive element is merely a judgement on the other person, with minimal logic to back up the views you are portraying.

When reading any managerial theory text regarding issuing ‘constructive criticism’ you’ll have no doubt read ‘The Sandwich’ approach by issuing 3 pieces of information in one interaction: something good, then your constructive criticism, then another positive element i.e. The criticism is veiled and sandwiched between two positive elements of feedback.

Waldorf and Statlers criticism of the meal they received in the restaurant was far from constructive “This is disgusting, has it been heated in a microwave, it’s too hard and horrible – tell The Chef it’s disgusting.” I believe was the exact phrase used. Resulting in the Manager responding aggressively, the conflict not resolved and the customers leaving quietly.

As a Customer do they have to be constructive? They have paid for a service and it was not to their liking, this isn’t my point of this blog – it more made me reflect on receiving information we don’t wish to hear in organisational development and if communicated ineffectively – can cause friction within an organisation.

Any ways ….. Thanks for reading my thoughts as I get ready for bed in a Hotel which could easily pass the Production Companies Criteria to be featured on the latest series of Gordon’s Ramsey’s Hotel Hell on Channel 4.

Follow me on Twitter – @TheCraigKaye

“You’re one bad day away from being me!”

The infamous Punisher (Frank Castle) quote which he screams at Daredevil (Matt Murdoch) is one of my favourite comic book lines. So in true geeky form, I’m going to try and link it into The Learning and Development field, here we go …….

To start let me introduce the two above characters, the one the right is Matt Murdoch aka Daredevil. Matt Murdoch as child grew up in the dangerous area of: Hells Kitchen, New York. One day in his childhood he feels an elderly gentleman about to be struck whilst crossing the road by a truck, in saving the old man the truck veers and the hazardous, toxic waste its carrying pours all over Matt – blinding him instantly. Matt over the years develops ultra senses such as crystal hearing to the point where he can hear a heart beat from 100 yards and develops sonar – he sees differently so to speak. Matt is trained after becoming an orphan by another blind martial artist named Stick where he develops his Superhuman Abilities to protect the civilians of Hells Kicthen.

On the left is Frank Castle aka The Punisher. Frank is a veteran US Special Marine who gained a reputation as a ‘one man army’ in his work against the criminal underworld. Franks tactical prowess, strength and ability in combat made him the best solder there is. One day however, when having a picnic with his family in the park, they accidentally come across a mafia style execution of a high profile gang member, when the mob see Frank and his family they open fire to eliminate any witnesses – killing all his family instantly, Frank though survived. Frank watched in the distance as the legal system failed to prosecute any member of the gang, as a result Frank disappears returning years later as The Punisher, a one man army to take down the criminal underworld once again.

When both characters are ‘working’ in New York they have one fundamental difference in their core beliefs, Daredevil won’t kill the bad guys, The Punisher will and as a result culminates in both characters clashing on a number of occasions. During one fight as The Punisher is getting the upper hand on Daredevil, Daredevil asks The Punisher why he is doing all this? That if he has lost someone this won’t bring them back! The Punisher responds with the title of this blog ‘You’re one bad day away from being me!” Insinuating that as he has lost everything that matters to him, the only factor he has left in his life is revenge.

Stepping out of my geeky persona for a few minutes, I was recently on Suicide Awareness Training as a Learner, to which during one of the exercises the facilitator asked us to scale one to ten how much we agree with the following statement ‘Anyone could potentially attempt suicide’ I thought about it and the above Frank Castle line sprung to my mind, the concept that anyone could possibly open behaviour change or a specific action under the right amount of stressors’ whether this be suicidal ideation, aggression and so forth.

Rightttttttt – enough of this dark, geeky, chit-chat!! The point I’m making is that if we believe that behaviour change for the negative is possible through internal and external stress factors, then if we consider Newtons 3rd Law of every action having an equal and opposite reaction then surely this is where L&D steps right in.

Working with Learners, creating an environment which meets Maslows Heirachy of Need and as mentioned in my last blog a strong sense of ‘Person Centred Learning’ then the possibilities for individual development is limitless. If an individual has the desire and drive to improve their skill-set then as a Faciliator these are two of the things we can harness to create a positive learning environment. 

If we look at opportunities and development is the opposite of stressors that Frank Castle experienced, then surely the sky is the limit for the person sitting in front of us in the Learning Environment.

Jumping right back in to geek mode the title of this blog is also quoted in ‘The Killing Joke’ Batman Comic by The Joker (Just a bit of useless trivia to finish my blog on)

Thanks for reading – @TheCraigKaye