Tree Toad ConsultingI was recently introduced to the concept of soft eyes. It is the premise that by opening (softening) your focus on something you will see more – more of the environment, more of the small details, more of the context and more of the meaning of what you are looking at. Your soft eyes will help you see the worry on the face of a grumpy co-worker or the path to resolving an issue that doesn’t disadvantage one party. Soft eyes will show you the beauty in a difficult journey and will give you and others grace in messiness.

There is a purpose for the laser focus of hard eyes. Our challenge as leaders is to not overuse that skill and know when a shift to soft eyes will benefit us, our work and our clients/coworkers.

“Honouring what is most beautiful about the past and build it into the promise of the future.”  Jacqueline Novogratz

 Tree Toad Consulting

How you start something matters.

I have attended two recent events that began with songs and prayers from First Nations elders. The elders recognize our presence on traditional First Nation lands and demonstrates the honour and respect for all that has come before us.

I heard from many people who attended these events the positive difference the songs and prayers made to them in starting the work for the day. Words like grounded, peaceful, powerful, inspiring and moving. Every single person told me they felt stronger, more positive, and clearer in their thinking and intent towards the day ahead.

Starting your day with exercise, meditation or prayer is often touted in mainstream media and blog posts. There are even mindfulness exercises in school designed to help children move successfully between topics or activities.

In our busy overstimulated lives, a small pause every day could go a long way to improving our health, our relationships and the tone of our organizations and workplaces.

I challenge you to find a phrase or mantra that speaks to you and repeat it each morning in the shower, or every time you get in the car or before every meal or meeting for a week and notice if you feel or show up differently in the world.

In conversation with a colleague recently, I indicated that I believed one of my skills is to roll with ambiguity and place some structure and process around it. Her next comments made me step back. She said that I would be an asset to an organization that is lacking in command and control processes. Wait! What?

After dismissing the comment because she really doesn’t know me very well - I began to ponder the validity of her statement. What evidence do I have to support or refute it? There is no secret that I like structure and organization – I like lists, charts, schedules, and systems. I like bringing simplicity to the complex. I also like to work with people to meet their needs and make their world better. I like helping others connect the dots to bring pieces of a puzzle together. I also love helping people grow and develop their skills and confidence.

After reviewing the evidence I think my conclusion is that the answer lies in the difference between the “what” and the “how” of a situation. I also believe that as in all complex systems there is not a “right” answer. And I am a complex system.

While researching ambiguity on-line I found a new favourite quote – “What starts in vagueness, stays in vagueness.”Tree Toad Consulting

In my world, there is a significant amount of focus planning for the future. In my work, I am currently involved in three large-scale, long-term planning initiatives. Two of the initiative will also leave legacies. Leaving a legacy is not a new concept to me but me leaving a legacy, particularly in my professional life, is a relatively new notion.

In my personal life, I see a connection to my legacy every time I watch Toad. When I interpret a current event from the news, when I explain the impacts of racism or sexism and when I model how to handle adversity I am shaping how he looks at the world, others and himself. It is a daunting thought and gives me pause to examine my own beliefs, my own language, and my own actions.

In my professional life, I am more aware of my legacy than I was previously. This might be because I could have just a decade remaining in my career. It also might be that on a daily basis I am watching my colleagues retire. Finally, it might be because the conversations I am having are related to what needs to happen in 2020, 2028 and beyond! In a world with such fast pace change, disruptive technology and global influences (+ and -) planning for the future is also daunting.Tree Toad Consulting

Overwhelm (verb) - Bury or drown beneath a huge mass; Defeat completely; Give too much of a thing to someone, inundate

A lot of people find December overwhelming but not me. I have a small tribe and I am a strong introvert so I don’t have tons of shopping and an overbooked social schedule to balance. I get overwhelmed in January. Being out of routine for 3+ weeks leaves me with an enormous TO DO list in the early days of January – both personally and professionally. As a self-confessed efficiency/organization nerd, you would think I would be in my glory but that is never my initial feeling. Somehow, despite all my years and experience, I get a sense of overwhelm about how many things need to get done.

Confession time…… when that sense of overwhelm creeps over me I actually lose my mind, get completely and ridiculously mired in minutia. When that happens I start wildly adding to the TO Do list! I add ore – get more overwhelmed and add even more! I continue this cycle until something completely minuscule and ludicrous hits the list…. Make dinner…. Shower….. go to bed. Once I see how preposterous I have become I step back and put a real plan and schedule together. Once this is done I launch right into the tasks and the big feelings of overwhelm quickly subside. I am always amazed how quickly I finish the list!

Going forward I think I will try and take a page from the Nike playbook and “Just do it!”Tree Toad Consulting

I am a creature of habit. I sit in the same spot in a meeting room, I drive the same route to work, and I have a favourite shirt. I am perfectly able to move out of these routines but when I am on auto-pilot these habits become my natural choice. (I won’t divulge my auto-pilot “bad” habits like bowls of popcorn for dinner or eating pasta directly out of the pot.)

As a creature of habit, it isn’t a stretch to assume that I also thrive on routines. This is never more evident than after the New Year just before the Toad goes back to school (a.k.a. right this very minute)! We have been at home on vacation for almost two weeks now with very few regular routines or activities (piano, hockey or swimming lessons) to keep us grounded. In fact, the only reason we know what day it is revolves around the World Junior Hockey playoff schedule (Go Canada Go!) and garbage day.

I am more than ready to have a fresh start on all our daily routines as we get back to school/work next week. I will once again cozy up to my categorized to-do lists, colour-coded calendars, reminder emails and post-it notes. There is no way to sugar coat it – I am a time management, efficiency/organizational system NERD! Tree Toad Consulting

Tree Toad ConsultingAs 2017 winds to a close there are year-in-reviews happening everywhere – top news headlines, best hockey goals, and worst 911 calls – you name it and we seem to rank and review it at year end. I admit to even doing this in my own life – a highlight and lowlight reel in my head. I would like to think it is more a mechanism of learning than one of self-flagellation but I am not sure that is provable fact.

My own personal year in review doesn’t feel as “rollercoaster-ish”  as world events but as I think about the people that I love I can see how many are dealing with beginnings and endings at this very moment – the arrival of babies, the end of relationships and the death of parents all happening at this exact same moment in time. I have a life-long friend who has distilled their life journey in such a way to be able to identify moments in time when a single event or choice forever altered the course of events that followed. For me, one of those life-defining moments happened on New Year’s Eve thirty-five years ago. I made a decision that night that has enriched my life, taught me so much, kept me going through dark times and continues to bolster me even today. 

Happy New Year! May 2018 be a year of monumental beginnings and happy endings for us all!

For the last few years I have selected a word to guide and center me through the year. I go through a protracted brainstorming session with myself and then sit with the list of words until one jumps out at me. (My Gran used to refer to this as letting the idea “percolate”.) In the past I have included some close friends in my selection process but it is hard for someone else to identify what speaks to another’s soul. To keep the word in the forefront throughout the year I add the word cryptically in a password, tape it to my bathroom mirror and post it on my fridge. In moments of uncertainty or when I am pondering a change/choice I use the word to help me evaluate options, choose a course of action or settle my anxious thoughts. Some of the words in past years include FEARLESS, RESONANCE and WHOLE.

I launched the process for the 2018 word of the year in early December. So far I have a list of six words for consideration. I always get a bit nervous that the “right” word will not become clear for me – after all these years you would think I would learn to trust the process as it has never failed me.

Best wishes for a joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tree Consulting. 

I am not a “natural” entrepreneur. I was raised by parents who were loyal employees – I mean old school loyal. My parents both had serial long-tTree Toad Consultingerm employers and these people were deeply woven into my childhood memory. My Dad used to go back to work after dinner several times each week and it was an adventure when I got to go with him. Just imagine a kid having free run (and pretty limited supervision) in a closed car dealership. I spent lots of time racing around the shining showroom floor with the Big Wheel, getting filthy building/fixing with the tools in the service department and playing with the microfiche in my Dad’s “office”. Does anyone remember what a microfiche is?

 Although my own career has had exponentially more employers than my parents had I am also a loyal employee. I have been with my current organization for close to two decades!

 Launching Tree Toad as my side hustle was a big leap out of my comfort zone. As I have been examining the edge of that comfort zone I realized that there are only a few elements of this adventure that are “foreign” to me – and it is not the work! The work I have done in my 30-year career for my employers is very similar to the work I am doing with my clients. The stretch for me as an entrepreneur is the marketing cycle. The quote above was an actual thought I had – just let me get to the work! I am pretty sure that should not be Tree Toad’s tagline! It did get me thinking about strong marketing campaigns and the Faberge Organics Shampoo commercial from the 80’s. If you were old enough to watch TV in the 1980’s you absolutely know this marketing campaign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcskckuosxQ

 “and they tell 2 friends and so on and so on and so on….”

 Now that is marketing with staying power! I wonder if they would mind if Tree Toad uses it too? J

Tell your friends about Tree Toad! www.treetoadconsulting.com

Yep, I am a country music fan. I actually like many genres of music but country is what is on my car radio when Toad isn’t with me. (He is Top 40 all the way!)

The lyric quoted above have been stuck with me for a few weeks now. You already know that I am a lover of routine/structure and am reasonably risk adverse. These traits combine to make doing something for the first time a more unlikely scenario that I had previously recognized.

I have been chatting recently with a friend who has known me since I was a teenager and they still seemed as the slightly rebellious, “don’t tell me I can’t do something”, “I’ll show you”, headstrong spitfire I used to be. It is a strange feeling to have someone mirror back to you someone you only vaguely remember or recognize.

The lyrics and the reminiscing has me pondering what I will do in 2018 to ensure that when I am asked about the last time I did something new I can proudly list off at least a few things without hesitation.

When was the last time YOU did something for the first time? How do you make sure you are continuing to put yourself out there to experience firsts? Any advice for me?