Saturday, August 30, 2008
Working with Sparkle #1 - Trust and the human element of communication
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Join Liz Mead and James Williams as they discuss the broad area of internal communication and in particular the role that trust has to play in establishing long term best practice communication strategies in the workplace.
For more information on this episode including extra examples visit the website at workingwithsparkle.com.
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It's a gem of an idea!
Metaphors are a communicator’s best friend.
Most of us realise how easily metaphors facilitate learning, insights and creativity. Imbed a metaphor in a story, then begin the telling. Watch your audience shift into listener mode, watch them travel to a space combined of comfort and exploration.
Once the story begins, their eyes glaze over and they relax. This is the place of creation. This is long term, cellular memories of fairy tales, myth, adventurers, Aladdin’s cave, the flight of Icarrus, the journey of Ulysses, the Rainbow Serpent.
The posts on this blog, Working with Sparkle, will be in the main, shaped as a story. Stories that house tips and tricks we’ve learnt over the years. No magic, no sleight of hand, just a few gems we’ve managed to dig up in our working lives.
They will be stories more about the adventure than the people involved. And because of that, there will be nothing that intentionally or personally criticises those people involved. That doesn’t make a good story.
Instead, they will be elements about the quest, the problem, the rescue, the treasure, the action, the cut and thrust and parry, the sail, the secrets and the companions. A virtual Odyssey. Let’s face it there’s only about seven types of story you can tell. After that it’s just re-configuring the characters and destinations.
The title, Working with Sparkle provides a great opening to a world of gem metaphors. If your penchant runs to diamonds, saphires, emeralds or rubies, we’ve the gem for you and the matching story.
Think about it. A diamond is distinguished by its cut, clarity, carat and colour. Isn’t communication practice the same? How deep does the message cut into the culture and audience mindset? How clear is the intention and reception of that message?
How much weight do we assign it before the moment of exchange and afford it after the exchange has happened? And finally, how colourful is our language, our style and how appropriate is our setting? There will be more diamonds ahead on this blog. Suffice it to say, some are “in the rough” and others prove to be a “girl’s best friend” indeed.
The beauty, magnificent colours, constancy, durability and transparency are what sets the saphire amongs the most trusted and loved gems. If you want a constant lover plonk a saphire on their engagement ring. Notwithstanding the unhappy ending of the Charles Diana story, the intention was there at the start.
Like so many of our strategies and plans. Blue is arguably the favourite colour of 50% of men and women, it has an association with sympathy and harmony. Just wait until we get started on the Fancy family of saphires stories and the myriad of suprising colours that emerge in times of organisational growth.
Some of the most valuable emeralds are enormous. There are exotic stories of Maharajas with emeralds big enough to allow inscriptions of words and songs. Cleopatra loved the Emerald and had a famous emerald mine.
Like Cleopatra, the emerald is hard to work with because although it is hard it has a brittle nature. Gem cutters have their work cut out for them if they’re working with the emerald. The gem is formed by extraordinary geologoical fusions. Mmmmm I feel a merger or an organisational re-design strategy emerging.
The ruby, a colour of pigeon’s blood, is a gem most affliliated with high emotions, love and passion. Rubies have inclusions that provide a unique finger print for each gem. The inclusions only assist their brilliance. There are even Star Rubies (and Star Saphires) so extraordinary because of the six-pointed star caused by the deposit of rutile. This deposit reflects the light into this extraordinary shape. These are the most rare of all.
In our work as communicators, we sometimes, rarely get a glimpse of such a reflected light. That delightful time when we don’t star but the audience does. That time of success when they seem to ”get it”, then “own it” and finally “drive it”.
We hope the Working with Sparkle blog can engender discussions about the value, quality and process for cutting communciation gems. No gem is more valuable than any other. It is a matter of choice whether you select a diamond, saphire, emerald or ruby, topaz, jade, opal or pearl or…. Well, the mine is deep, the preferences varied so let’s start blogging.
We anticipate this rich deposit of metaphor will assist us in thinking more clearly about the tools we use, the cuts we make, the precision we need, the style we have and the value we afford to this rewarding pursuit of communicating with edge and honesty.
A virtual Aladdin’s Cave of treasure.
Most of us realise how easily metaphors facilitate learning, insights and creativity. Imbed a metaphor in a story, then begin the telling. Watch your audience shift into listener mode, watch them travel to a space combined of comfort and exploration.
Once the story begins, their eyes glaze over and they relax. This is the place of creation. This is long term, cellular memories of fairy tales, myth, adventurers, Aladdin’s cave, the flight of Icarrus, the journey of Ulysses, the Rainbow Serpent.
The posts on this blog, Working with Sparkle, will be in the main, shaped as a story. Stories that house tips and tricks we’ve learnt over the years. No magic, no sleight of hand, just a few gems we’ve managed to dig up in our working lives.
They will be stories more about the adventure than the people involved. And because of that, there will be nothing that intentionally or personally criticises those people involved. That doesn’t make a good story.
Instead, they will be elements about the quest, the problem, the rescue, the treasure, the action, the cut and thrust and parry, the sail, the secrets and the companions. A virtual Odyssey. Let’s face it there’s only about seven types of story you can tell. After that it’s just re-configuring the characters and destinations.
The title, Working with Sparkle provides a great opening to a world of gem metaphors. If your penchant runs to diamonds, saphires, emeralds or rubies, we’ve the gem for you and the matching story.
Think about it. A diamond is distinguished by its cut, clarity, carat and colour. Isn’t communication practice the same? How deep does the message cut into the culture and audience mindset? How clear is the intention and reception of that message?
How much weight do we assign it before the moment of exchange and afford it after the exchange has happened? And finally, how colourful is our language, our style and how appropriate is our setting? There will be more diamonds ahead on this blog. Suffice it to say, some are “in the rough” and others prove to be a “girl’s best friend” indeed.
The beauty, magnificent colours, constancy, durability and transparency are what sets the saphire amongs the most trusted and loved gems. If you want a constant lover plonk a saphire on their engagement ring. Notwithstanding the unhappy ending of the Charles Diana story, the intention was there at the start.
Like so many of our strategies and plans. Blue is arguably the favourite colour of 50% of men and women, it has an association with sympathy and harmony. Just wait until we get started on the Fancy family of saphires stories and the myriad of suprising colours that emerge in times of organisational growth.
Some of the most valuable emeralds are enormous. There are exotic stories of Maharajas with emeralds big enough to allow inscriptions of words and songs. Cleopatra loved the Emerald and had a famous emerald mine.
Like Cleopatra, the emerald is hard to work with because although it is hard it has a brittle nature. Gem cutters have their work cut out for them if they’re working with the emerald. The gem is formed by extraordinary geologoical fusions. Mmmmm I feel a merger or an organisational re-design strategy emerging.
The ruby, a colour of pigeon’s blood, is a gem most affliliated with high emotions, love and passion. Rubies have inclusions that provide a unique finger print for each gem. The inclusions only assist their brilliance. There are even Star Rubies (and Star Saphires) so extraordinary because of the six-pointed star caused by the deposit of rutile. This deposit reflects the light into this extraordinary shape. These are the most rare of all.
In our work as communicators, we sometimes, rarely get a glimpse of such a reflected light. That delightful time when we don’t star but the audience does. That time of success when they seem to ”get it”, then “own it” and finally “drive it”.
We hope the Working with Sparkle blog can engender discussions about the value, quality and process for cutting communciation gems. No gem is more valuable than any other. It is a matter of choice whether you select a diamond, saphire, emerald or ruby, topaz, jade, opal or pearl or…. Well, the mine is deep, the preferences varied so let’s start blogging.
We anticipate this rich deposit of metaphor will assist us in thinking more clearly about the tools we use, the cuts we make, the precision we need, the style we have and the value we afford to this rewarding pursuit of communicating with edge and honesty.
A virtual Aladdin’s Cave of treasure.
Friday, August 29, 2008
About the Sparkle
The posts on this blog and the stories told on the Working with Sparkle podcast will be, in the main, shaped as a story. Stories that house communication tips and tricks we’ve learnt over the years. No magic, no sleight of hand, just a few gems we’ve managed to dig up in our working lives.
They will be stories more about the adventure than the people involved. And because of that, there will be nothing that intentionally or personally criticises those people involved.
Instead, they will be elements about the quest, the problem, the rescue, the treasure, the action, the cut and thrust and parry, the sail, the secrets and the companions. A virtual Odyssey. Let’s face it there’s only about seven types of story you can tell. After that it’s just re-configuring the characters and destinations.
The title, Working with Sparkle provides a great opening to a world of gem metaphors. If your penchant runs to diamonds, saphires, emeralds or rubies, we’ve the gem for you and the matching story.
Working with Sparkle is a blog about communication and is jointly written by Liz Mead and James Williams.
The genesis of the name Sparkle is covered in another blog so we won’t repeat ourselves (even though repeatability has some advantages in the communication process).
We came up with the idea of this discrete blog though, as a place to house our thoughts and distilled approach to communication. Each topic is covered by the partner with the most direct experience and expertise of that area.
We hope you enjoy Working with Sparkle and start a dialogue with either or both of us any of the topics you read. Our learning to date has been cumulative and your input either in agreement or disagreement will add to that learning.
They will be stories more about the adventure than the people involved. And because of that, there will be nothing that intentionally or personally criticises those people involved.
Instead, they will be elements about the quest, the problem, the rescue, the treasure, the action, the cut and thrust and parry, the sail, the secrets and the companions. A virtual Odyssey. Let’s face it there’s only about seven types of story you can tell. After that it’s just re-configuring the characters and destinations.
The title, Working with Sparkle provides a great opening to a world of gem metaphors. If your penchant runs to diamonds, saphires, emeralds or rubies, we’ve the gem for you and the matching story.
Working with Sparkle is a blog about communication and is jointly written by Liz Mead and James Williams.
The genesis of the name Sparkle is covered in another blog so we won’t repeat ourselves (even though repeatability has some advantages in the communication process).
We came up with the idea of this discrete blog though, as a place to house our thoughts and distilled approach to communication. Each topic is covered by the partner with the most direct experience and expertise of that area.
 Liz Mead comes from an arts background, one that is steeped in the tradition of presentations, production and events. Her special skills and passions are engagement and production. With a strong sales inclination and and highly planful nature, she’s not happy until she delivers a tangible and achievable strategy. The selling side kicks in with her ability to make strong affective connections with people. In short, she matches the communication concept to the personal situtaion. With a provocative and humorous approach to uncovering the cultural and personal blocks in the communications process she is able to persuade and influence others of the need for change in themselves and in their situation. |
 James Williams comes from a technology, communications and service background with an innate ability to create, brand and market solutions to complex problems and deliver effective and lasting change.James is the one who pushes the boundaries out even further. One of his greatest strengths is the rigorous diagnosis of a stituation. His incisive almost intuitive questioning means he is able to ascertain what is really going on - be it a technical or cultural block of communication flow. Pushing buttons is a forte. His presentation and timing secures him a seat at the planning stages with senior management. The blog postings comprise topics such as: engaging stakeholders, reducing assumptions, managing change, benefits marketing, evaluating the results, identifying the pain points, messaging. |
We hope you enjoy Working with Sparkle and start a dialogue with either or both of us any of the topics you read. Our learning to date has been cumulative and your input either in agreement or disagreement will add to that learning.
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