7.16 am Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head …. Well actually, I did my e-mails for the day and phone calls as well ….

11.29 am Arrived at the HQ of Premier Christian Radio in London.  I had been invited for a bacon roll and coffee with no particular agenda.  On arrival, the marketing director said “Would you mind running a 90 minute creative thinking session for our people to help us formulate our next public fundraising campaign?  We have no money but will try to think of some way to thank you if it goes well”.  I said yes, assuming that he was talking about something for another occasion, to which he replied “Wait here, I’ll get them in”.  The session started 2 minutes later!  Much of my work is pre-planned and it was therefore refreshing to be asked to do a live session with no warning.  I’m pleased to say that the session went so well that Premier have offered to write me some PR and broadcast it widely.

Networking lesson: Remain open and receptive to surprises

1.37 pm Onwards to Lloyds of London for a coaching /  session / exchange with Alex, who works as a change agent there.  Nothing Rock’n’Roll about that I hear you say?  Well, Alex is also a talented singer with suburban blues band — Bastedo — http://itsbastedo.com/ , having had recording / writing contracts with Sony.  Turns out that Premier Christian Radio want to record a version of the Aretha Franklin song R.E.S.P.E.C.T for their campaign.  Alex is a follower of Premier and an extremely talented singer / songwriter.  Who would have thought of that piece of serendipity?

Networking lesson: Make connections between seemingly unrelated things

3.34 pm Arrived at the offices of Pricespective to meet someone who I last met on my 1st day at work 35 years ago.  How did we reconnect? Linkedin.  I think we will end up doing a number of things to our mutual advantage, some of them social (my friend has also turned into an author) and some of them business related.  Upon leaving his offices, I noticed a door in the Foyer marked ‘music room’.  I asked the guy at the desk what this was about and it turned out that the law firm in the building has a rock band, which he is part of.  Cards and book details were exchanged immediately.  I can’t wait to hear the Lawyers rock!

Networking lesson:  Open all your senses and be curious

5.23 pm Arrived at the offices of  The Halcyon Gallery to meet with their Finance Director, another long lost connection, found again via Linkedin.  Turns out that he is also interested in coaching and we’ve agreed to share our collective knowledge, skill and experience in the area via my master NLP practitioner.  He is also on the lookout to provide free coaching sessions to help him complete his coaching diploma.  Write to me here if you are interested?   The Rock’n’Roll connection?  Well it seems that Bob Dylan and Ronnie Wood are connections at the gallery and I am connected to Ronnie via some of his Hampstead ‘spiritual’ connections!  Some strategy work for the business may be in the offing as a result of our random reconnection.  It also turns out that the Halcyon may be interested in getting involved with The London Mapping Festival – A celebration of all things geographical and IT from now until the end of 2012.

10.28 pm Got home!

Networking lesson:  get up early, get home late, discover business!

Networking works, both face to face and online, but you have to work at it.  Contact me if you would like to make your networking work better for you.  Now, I know this really has nothing to do with the post, but I just found Jeff Beck playing ‘A Day in the Life’ in his inimitable style with the brilliant Tal Wilkenfield, so I will leave you with this:

Peter Cook is the Rock’n’Roll Business Guru, delivering exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business and music.

What we most need in such circumstances are a series of ‘better brainstorming’ tools to help your client escape from habitual thought patterns and genuinely consider novel strategies to achieving their goals.  Having taught on the flagship MBA programme Creativity, Innovation and Change for 12 years, I have been exposed to just about every creative thinking tool on the planet.  When we are coaching, we need a small subset of these that can be done on a 1:1 basis and which are mainly verbal-linguistic in nature, as we are usually doing coaching in this mode.  Here’s two of my favourites which work when a client is stuck or when they need more radical ideas than are currently being considered:

Reversal

In situations where people find it hard to produce ideas, the technique of reversal can be used to overcome the blockage.  Typically, reversal produces wilder ideas than conventional brainstorming.  Once you are fixed on a goal, ask your client to find ways NOT to achieve the goal. For example, if the goal were ‘In how many ways may we improve the image of the department in the eyes of key customers?’, one reversal would be ‘In how many ways might we seriously damage our reputation with key customers that would lead to a long term memory of the department as worst in class?’  Once you have generated some wild reversals, examine them to see if they can be re-reversed to produce new ideas for the goal.  This does not mean adding the word ‘not’, but a creative reversal of the idea.  Continue to do this until ideas that are both novel and practical emerge.

Superheroes

The technique requires you to adopt the persona of a superhero.  In this context this could be someone with ‘relevant’ qualities e.g. an expert problem solver or creative genius, or just any old hero, e.g. a superstar, fictional hero, or icon of some sort.  It matters not who you pick apart from the fact that you will be comfortable ‘being them for a few minutes’.  In the superhero role, ask your client to generate a number of ideas without concern for their practical value from the mind of their chosen hero.  You may have to ‘scale them back’ in a second phase to ensure the exaggerations become more practical etc.

There are many more techniques to improve the efficiency of brainstorming, some of which are outlined in our book ‘Best Practice Creativity’ and in our forthcoming publications.

Peter Cook is an author, business consultant and keynote speaker, specialising in exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business and music.  Peter does 1:1 and group coaching sessions as part of the work he does to move clients from innovative thought to profitable action and is delivering events based on his ideas around creativity in Greece, United Arab Emirates and South Africa in the coming months.  If you would like fuller explanations of the techniques mentioned in this article of to talk to him directly about applications of creative thinking in business, please contact Peter directly at peter@humdyn.co.uk and he will provide you with the full ‘recipes’.

Sex, Leadership and Rock 'n' Roll

Peter Cook author of the book ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock n Roll. Leadership Lessons from The Academy of Rock asks business’ ” Who’s playing the drums and bass in your business while all your stars are busy playing solos and smashing up their guitars’? ‘Who is sustaining innovation while your key players are crashing into new markets and crucifying your budget’?

Peter Cook is a dynamic and energetic Business Guru, who integrates the necessary creativity of music into business, identifying that the world of business would thrive if they were to develop a business model based on that of a balanced, creative, free thinking composer.

Peter’s philosophy is that business’ need ‘to tune into innovation, rather than focus in on rigid, autocratic structure, which puts a lid on fluid and authentic creativity‘!  Peter recognises how ‘Too much structure produces a dull, rigid performance and too much improvisation and the band never get to play’.

So, how do business’ gain the ideal balance of creativity against the need for some form of structure? Academy of Rock Guru, Frank Zappa summed this conundrum up perfectly: ‘without deviation, progress is not possible’.

Peter often refers to song titles, as if thinking in music and a powerful quote in his book provides a perfect example of how Peter processes and shares information ‘

‘If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music…I get most joy in life out of music’ Albert Einstein.

Peter Cook is not only an Author and Business Guru but also a Scientist, therefore genius is definitely behind the thinking of his dynamic approach to developing relationships and business. I have no doubt Albert Einstein would applaud Peter’s approach to developing and sustaining business.

The Kings of Leon proved that Sex sells; Leadership is a skill you either have or will never have and Rock n Roll was once deemed the work of the devil when Elvis Presley changed the world of music! We all know resistance is futile and as Sam Cooke informed us so eloquently ‘A Change Gunna Come‘! Peter encourages corporations to ‘cut the crap, start the rap and reach for something that engages both hearts and minds’. Music is indeed a powerful media and Peter reminds the reader about the global success and power of music in reference to Band Aid focusing the world on famine in Africa.

Having watched the news (which I try to avoid) I was horrified to hear recently that this country is currently handing out food parcels to disabled and low income families in the UK! So put your hands in your pockets, because UK and global business needs your money NOW!

Peter Cook recognises how business’ have become more corporate and have lost their ‘Soul’. I agree wholeheartedly, having resigned from a Welfare To Work organisation last year purely because they did just that. The UK is predominantly a ’service provider’, thanks to politicians of the past! I have been alarmed at how corporations think less of the customer and more of the bottom line! Well as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes once sang and was covered by the great John Legend, it is seriously time to ‘Wake Up Everybody‘!

Musicians are excellent at articulating the ‘word on the street’  in the form of lyrics, beats, melodies and rhythm.  Dance Music is a huge seller, therefore, CEO’s need to realise it’s time to get down from their ivory towers and get on the dance floor with the people, to discover what’s really ‘going down’!  Peter also runs seminars for schools, which would no doubt please Whitney Housten who sang ‘The Greatest Love of All‘ and believed ‘the children are our future’!

Sex, Leadership and Rock n Roll is a breath of fresh air to read as it covers every aspect of business relations, including the most fundamental aspect of all, relationships. It encourages people to think creatively and in rhythm of the beat of the customer for sustainability purposes. Your business could either end up a ‘one hit wonder’ or maintain success, as have some of the greatest musicians of all time, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Madonna and David Bowie. They are all perfect business role models and prime examples of the genius of Charles Darwin’s theory of the ‘survival of the fittest’ and how success is an evolutionary process, where we all need to adapt to global change!

Peter Cook is currently writing another book called ‘Punk Rock HR‘ A No Bullshit Guide to Hiring, Inspiring and Firing Staff!  This man certainly knows how to tell it like it is ‘Rock n Rolly’ style and is in constant demand for his Academy of Rock seminars, having been invited to do a 30 minute keynote at The Customer Service Training Awards at Heathrow on 8th July,  Athens in October, UAE in November and South Africa in February.

You can contact Peter Cook at The Academy of Rock.

Joy Andrews Business/Artist Development

That said, coaching is often mentioned as a critical component of much personal and corporate success.  So, what wisdom lies beneath the hype?  Although it may not be trendy, I reach for a classic approach which just works.  Borrowing our blog title from Scandinavian glam popstars Abba, the GROW model articulates the essential things that any good coach will do for their clients.  Simply stated, GROW stands for:

Goals – What does your customer really really want to achieve?
Reality – Where are they now?
Options – What innovative options may be considered?
Wrap up – What will happen next?

A great coach systematically moves their client from ‘might do’ through ‘can do’ to ‘will do’.  Some coaches make the GROW model an explicit part of the process, following it in stages, others use it as a flexible template from which they operate with flair.  My choice in these matters comes down to what the client wants / needs / expects rather than my own whims and preferences.

In this series of blogs, I will briefly explore each stage of the GROW approach from the point of view of asking great questions that provoke movement on the client’s part.  This ‘Socratic’ (question based) approach is just one style.  In practice, I often mix a questioning approach with feedback and good old plain advice when there is a need for this, but we’ll stick to the question based approach here.  So, when getting someone to focus on a goal, here’s some great starting questions to help frame the desired outcome:

• What do you really really want to achieve, as opposed to what you might just like to achieve?
• What’s essential versus nice to have in terms of improved performance?
• If you could have it all, describe a day in your life?  Is that realistic?
• If you got your needs met, what would be the impact on you and the people you work with?
• What would have to happen for you to walk away feeling this time was well spent?
• If you had some outlandish wishes about your needs, what would they be?  If you could only have one of these, what would it be?
• What would happen that is not happening now?
• What outcome would you like from this session? How will this be of real value to you, in the short, medium and longer term?

Peter Cook is an author, business consultant and keynote speaker, specialising in exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business and music.  Peter does 1:1 and group coaching sessions as part of the work he does to move clients from innovative thought to profitable action.

Change is the only constant! The world is constantly changing, which means Business’ need to ensure they can adapt their services to meet this constant evolutionary cycle of development. Business Development is about moving forward and adapting. Development equates to growth and where there is growth there is progress and success!

Change is a word that most of us can say easily, but few of us embrace without some hesitation and some even with absolute resistance.  Any business needs eventually to develop in some way, shape or form. Everything is temporary, nothing stays the same!

The World Wide Web has introduced much change in the business industry, along with current economic downturns and the recent change of government.  Industries are changing, teams are changing, people are changing and business needs to keep up with this trend.

How Does Your Business Need to Develop?

“The key to change, is to let go of fear”  Rosanne Cash

It could be something as simple as a logo design if you have a website, or alternatively a simple change in the form of your company stationery or even image in the form of a uniform. Re-Branding is always a good idea, as it is a re-invention of your business image and informs the customer and partners, that you are constantly seeking continual professional development.   Customers can even get excited when there is development, remember, people are fickle!

My local pub/restaurant recently had a complete makeover. It was refreshing to return to, as there was nothing that resembled the old, the bar and even entrance had all changed. As a customer, I found it exciting and very refreshing.

Products are constantly evolving and business’ need to ensure that they move with the times or they could be left behind or even fail.

Does Your Business Need A Makeover?

Is it time for you to think about developing your Business in order to survive?

How would your Business, Staff  and more importantly Customers benefit from change?

Managing Change

Change is inevitable and it is crucial for any business to manage the change effectively.  Teams and Customers will need to be informed and even maybe consulted in regards to Business Development in the form of Focus Groups.

Would it be beneficial to ask your staff and customers what changes they would like to see?  My response to this question would be a resounding yes!

As a Business and Development Coach, I understand all to well the power of questioning?

Is it time for you to start questioning how your business would benefit and develop in this current economic climate, to give your business a fresh approach thus attract more customers?

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending”  Maria Robinson

For any Business and Development Coaching,  please visit my website

http://joyandrewsbusinesscoaching.co.uk/