JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THINGS COULDNT GET ANY WORSE!

At the risk of being corny, I couldn't resist the temptation to share this clip of Charlotte and Jonathan from Britain's Got Talent.

Just look at the lessons in TRUST - Self-Trust, Relationship Trust, Organizational Trust, Market Trust and even Societal Trust. (See SMR Covey - Speed of Trust) and of course in INFLUENCE (both negative, personified by the "vile" SC, and all the positive sources that put him to shame!)

I can't believe this whole act wasn't carefully scripted to create a viral marketing campaign that probably means this clip will have travelled three times round the world by the time you see my version! Much as I hate to fall into the trap of sensationalism and showbiz, I have to give my thanks to J&C's music teacher/coach for recognizing/drawing out the potential, to Charlotte for her vital support to Jonathan and to J for his talent, courage and commitment to his team. Finally to Simon for being such a "nasty" man and allowing us all to reflect on the power of our own talents and attributes if only we can have the courage to believe in ourselves, even when the chips are down!

Thanks to Brian McDermott from Growthworks Inc and Linked in for bringing this to my attention!

A NEW PLUS

In case you were wondering, the weird shadows that appear in the Powerpoint explaining my new venture, Coaching Plus for Peak Performance, are not friends of ET heading for home, but 3 generations of Rays in the Cajón del Maipo Cordillera on our way up to the El Morrado Glacier (taken about 4 years ago). What a memorable bonding experience with Peter and Philipito which had a lot to do with building and maintaining trust.

I am delighted to report that CPPP is going strong and I am excited to see how the brave souls who trusted me to be their coach and have dared to do this in English are demonstrating surprising abilities to express highly complex and frequently delicate matters (difficult enough to express in their mother tongue!) in the very safe environment we have created... and they have already seen the early fruits of using me as a sounding box and point of accountability (for their own decisions and results) as they begin to execute their plans.

30+ (gulp!) years of experience have shown me, however, that the skills acquired by practice in the classroom or coaching space do not automatically transfer to real life and the moment we find ourselves in a a less "safe" environment, the self-doubt, hesitation, stuttering and memory gaps begin to take over.

I am therefore keen to move on to stage 2 of my experiment in building self-confidence/trust for language learners by creating a safe space for groups of like-minded individuals to share their ideas and get used to expressing themselves to groups in English, overcoming their fears and reaping the benefits of the 3 "S"s !! - Synergy, Serendipity and Syncroncity.

I shall start the ball rolling in the first meeting by presenting my preferred coaching model "The Heart of Coaching" by Tom Crane, in a Round Table Meeting which will I hope provoke some interesting discussion on different coaching models and experiences involving all the audience.

In subsequent meetings we will encourage other members to make presentations on some other aspects of Coaching, Leadership, HR, OD or Personal Development intended to generate a similar interactive meeting.

Provisional date for the first meeting is Monday 9th April at 19:00 somewhere in Providencia (Exact location to be confirmed). There will be no cost ...and no coffee or trimmings!!! ;) Let me know if you are interested by adding your comment to this blog or mailing me at: philiprayr@gmail.com

Hope you can make it!!

“BY REASON OR BY MIGHT” OR “BY THE MIGHT OF REASON”?

¿(POR LA “RAZON O LA FUERZA” o “LA FUERZA DE LA RAZON”?

I am not sure what specific recent national or international conflict led me to reflect on the“slogan” on Chile’s national Coat of Arms – “By Reason or By Right”.

If this is supposed to be one of the guiding principles of our democracy, what hope is there for “Win-Win” solutions and the Culture of Trust which, according to so many scholars, is the keystone to peace, effectiveness and high performance?

Confucious: “Good government needs weapons, food and trust. If the ruler cannot hold onto all three, he should give up the weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end, because “without trust, we cannot stand”

Einstein: “Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police.”

Pope John XXIII : “The true and solid peace of nations consist not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.”

Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) : “Without trust, there is no open society, because there are not enough police to patrol every opening in an open society. Without trust, there can also be no flat world, because it is trust that allows us to take down walls remove barriers, and eliminate friction at borders. Trust is essential for a flat world.”

Extracted from “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey

I therefore turned to “trusty” Wikipedia to understand the origins of the slogan and was both surprised and delighted to be reminded that Ricardo Lagos (the man with the mighty finger) had started the very same debate and proposed a new less bellicose version “Por la Fuerza de la Razón” (By the Might of Reason) which was presented to Congress as a Bill in 2004 by Nelson Avila and is still biding its time.

As I started a serendiptous jaunt through Google, to learn more, I quickly realized, that the very mention of this subject could be open to a misinterpretation of my motives so I would like to make it clear that I have no political stance on this subject, just a healthy curiosity in hearing what readers of this blog think.

My aim is to relaunch and transform my blog from a sharing of stuff that the author has experienced to a light-hearted forum where readers can share their thoughts and experiences related to trust.

ABRAZOS DE CONFIANZA

A lo mejor algunos me van a tildar de muy ingénuo, pero cuando vi a Michelle y Sebastián darse este abrazo que me parecía tan auténtico al final del Teleton "Chile Ayuda a Chile", mi confianza en ambos incrementó en varios puntos, al igual que mi esperanza que este país va a convertir este catastrofe no solamente en una oportunidad de crecimiento económico y material, sino tambien en una palanca para mejorar el escenario politica, social, cultural y espiritual.

Me siento, además, muy comprometido por los abrazos que recibí este fin de semana en mi recorrido por los pueblos del Río Mataquito y alrededores para entender las necesidades de apoyo, más allá de alimento, abrigo y vivienda. Homero y Francisca, Hector, Wilson, Luis Armando, Leslie, Bernardita, Marcelo y Sandra, María Carmen y tantos otros que tomaron tiempo para hablar conmigo para compartir sus penas pero tambien su agradecmiento por la solidaridad de millones de chilenos y de empresas y organizaciones, gobiernos y ciudanos de todo el mundo que han dejado al lado sus diferencias para apaliar rápidamente el dolor más inmediata - la soledad, el hambre y la falta de abrigo.

"THE BIG ONE" - SELF TRUST

When I took Puki out on his lead this morning to perform his morning duties, I felt the urge to extend our walk down past the supermarket just for the reassuring feel of "back to normal" and sure enough, "back to normal" it was - queues of people to buy their Sunday empanadas from the "Tomás Moro" and outside everyone glancing at the horrific pictures of the destruction in the South and Central zones.


The "Big One" had come and gone. 1960 - 1985 - 2010... every 25 years... this time, almost to the day... but I had a "Bigger One" inside me. How can I be thinking of getting back to normal after the summer break - trim my beard, send my suits to the cleaners and start "peddling" organizational effectiveness and my "trustworthiness" as a consultant/facilitator/coach - with this huge doubt eating a hole inside me... ?

(foto EFE)

... should I be talking about effectiveness - achieving personal "greatness" or should I be doing something about it....

Friends, family, clients and colleagues, forgive me if I don't call you for a couple of months - I'll be around and available if you need me... but right now I am going to start knocking on other doors to see how I can help pull Chile... my home for the last 30 years...out of this huge hole. If this means getting my flaccid body and soul back into shape by shoving rubble or using my large frame to ward off looters, great... if I can use some of the leadership skills I have been teaching for the last 15 years... so much the better...

... by the way, friends of Chile from Franklin Covey from Panama, Mexico, Guatemala and Miami are sending messages of sympathy and asking how they can help (Pepe, José Luis, Gladys, Barbara and Marta).

Any ideas on the doors I should be knocking on to deliver this promise, gratefully received - please use the comments section of this mail to share your ideas and thoughts or mail me on philiprayr@gmail.com .

BUSY MONTH IN EDUCATION

I hope to have more time over the next few weeks to provide more details on our activities in November with the SOFOFA Industrial Liceos, Juventud Emprendedora in Iquique and the ABSCH in Santiago, along with our dear colleagues Marta Sánchez from Venezuela and Gladys González from Guatemala.

In the meantime here's an opportunity to share a moment of "paradigm shifting" with Pablo Vásquez's magnificent team in Iquique with whom Gladys and I enjoyed a whole week, sharing with local teens and their families, and in a very intense certification programme.

I also attach an extract from the Trim Tab video on Change Management in Education, which was a source of considerable discussion at the ABSCH Resource Centre - illustrating how even the most menial of personal contributions can lead to community-wide changes.

Between now and March I shall be available to visit all schools and institutions who would be interested in discussing how to begin implementing leadership programme not just for teachers and/or students but for the whole educational community, taking advantage of visits we have planned for Marta, Gladys and other educational experts who we hope to invite to Chile in 2010.

Mail me on pray@franklincoveyla.com for further information.

Leadership in Education

I am in the process of programming some opportunities in November for educators to meet two experts in leadership in the educational field. They work with one of the international consulting firms with which I have been closely associated for many years.

1) Week of 9th November

Martha Sanchez, the senior educational consultant for Franklin Covey in Latin America, will be coming to Chile to deliver the “Leading at the Speed of Trust” ‘programme with a major coporate clients. We are taking advantage of this opportunity to hold a series of meetings with other clients in the corporate and educational fields.

We have reserved 12th November for the educational sector to allow Marta to present the “Leader in Me” initiatives in Education throughout the world and in particular, the ambitious program with the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, where Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits” has been introduced into the curriculum of the final year of secondary schooling. The Educational Division of SOFOFA, has expressed an interest in hosting this activity in which they will showcase the results of the leadership initiatives in one of their “Liceos Técnicos”.

2) Week of 23rd November

Gladys Gonzalez, from Franklin Covey’s Guatemalan office, who has specialized in education, entrepreneurship and training of facilitators, will be conducting a workshop on “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens” to a group of youngsters from Juventud Emprendedora and subsequently carrying out a Train the Trainer programme for this ONG’s internal facilitators. We are currently approaching several of our clients about their interest in participating in a forum on “Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Education” we plan on organizing on 25th or 26th November.

Anyone interested in attending either of these activities or arranging a special meeting on these dates on their premises please advise as soon as possible.

Please note my new cell phone: 6 229 7840

philiprayr@gmail.