Celebrating freedom and hope by honoring a great man

2015: More is the new black

For 2015, just expect more.

More time and relax

More work and money

More enjoyable things to do

More gratitude, praise and appreciation

More love and friendship

More kindness, fairness and respect

More how can I help you

More accept my apologies

More apologies accepted

More good weather

More good music

More smiles

More meditation

More leadership

More justice

More openness and flexibility

More workout

More good food

More tea

More let me try this bend faster

More dos

More kudos

More feelings in your heart

More experiences in your backpack

More fulfillment in your soul

More mindfulness

More I live in the present

More I do care

More from you

 

What are you going to do to attract this?

 

Antonella & Federico

 

PS add you mores if you feel like. Happy new year J

The lesson of the Blue Star to the Green Bird

Last Sunday I was just watching the Sunday Night Football, the match between the Eagles and the Cowboys played in Philadelphia.

Very briefly: up to less than one month ago Dallas was playing fine in the season but on Thanksgiving the game between the two teams resolved in a bad loss for the Cowboys and in an easy walk on the pitch for the Eagles. The green defense set the difference and the blue and silver offense did not have any chance to express its potential.
Now, many people know that Dallas hardly wins on Decembers, that it is pretty weak on a psychological standpoint, and that Philadelphia this year is very strong, determined and conscious of their means. This would have probably led to another defeat for Dallas. But…

What did happen that turned Dallas into a strong team concentrated on winning the game and on avoiding any single mistake made in the previous game?

Probably just few things:

·         Confidence in its own strengths
·         Keenness to be successful
·         Ability to analyze its previous performance and its opponent’s one
·         Focus throughout the whole match
·         No fear to win
·         Getting the most out of its best players – Romo and his capability of staying in the moment even under a huge pressure from the defense, Murray and his eagerness to be the best ever, Bryant and his hunger as a young man who has strived for his entire life being born and raised in a poor environment

This is what had to be done, this is what the Cowboys did, and the results are in front of everybody. A thorough win, in spite of everything.

How could this simple recipe be useful also for business teams and organizations? How could we shift this to a corporate environment?

What could be the takeaways for you?

What would you think if I said that there is a lot to learn from what has happened between the first minute after the Thanksgiving game and the last minute of last Sunday’s game?

Who are the Romos, Murrays and Bryants in your company? And in your life?

These are very good questions… what are your answers?

My personal takeaway is that if you have a second chance, do whatever possible not to miss it! And work it the hardest possible, without making your competitor understand what a surprise you are cooking.

Sure there is a lot to learn, one thing above all: do not give anything for granted, because people can really go far beyond expectations when properly motivated – and engaged.

You’d like to know my own Romo, Murray and Bryant, wouldn’t you? Sorry, this is very much personal!

Your friendly OD guy,

Federico

PS Hope Frank Amoroso and Maria Fiore, my wife’s uncle and aunt, and big fans of the Eagles, won’t take it personally…

What does Kolbe have to do with entrepreneurship?

Since I began my own journey as an entrepreneur, I have spent a lot of time and effort considering what I had to do in order to achieve the goals I defined for my business.

As a Coach and Consultant, I have clear what I am capable of doing, I am confident in my ability to drive results and add value to my clients, however the skills required to be a successful business owner are much broader than the mere delivery skills.

In my old life in Europe I was an employee. Although I had to know very well the different departments and functions of the business because of my role within the executive team, my strategic support to the organization was focused just on a specific component, that is the people within the business. Surely my responsibilities were broad and various, anyhow they were all related to HR and OD: hiring, onboarding and developing the right talents, coaching and developing leaders, developing the most efficient and effective organizational structure to support the business goals, maintaining and improving employee engagement, promoting and maintaining an high-performing culture, managing the admin and legal side of the employment relation in compliance with legislations and acts, effectively and punctually managing the payroll process, the HR and OD budget, and so on.

It was a clear slice of the entire pie, and I was confident of my ability to effectively take care of it.

Now that I have my own business, I have to look after every single slice of the pie. Having a business partner is a great asset because at least we can leverage on each other strengths, however we are still both directly involved with every aspects of the business. And, as new entrepreneurs, we are both still learning. Not that I have ever believed that in life one can become “the Expert” of something and just stop learning new things – and by the way how boring if it was like that!

Despite the strains required, undertaking the entrepreneurial journey is a unique opportunity that an individual can give to herself. No matter what the destination will be in the end, it is the journey itself that is really worth it. There are days of doubts, moments of discouragement, and there are days of excitement and positive thrill. All these emotions come and go, sometimes you feel like you are constantly on a roller-coaster, or like you are a pendulum, oscillating from one edge to the other. Your mind is always spinning around ideas, you can never really rest.

Lately I come to the conclusion that, at least for me, this journey is a sort of extreme representation of Kolbe’s learning cycle: first of all you experience something new every single day, especially at the beginning of the adventure, when you try for the very first time to establish your enterprise, and throughout the business development phase which takes a long time, many months and more; thereafter, you review and reflect on each new learning experience on a daily basis, because it is so very true that every day you come across something new, sometimes unexpected, or even if it was expected, your reactions are not what you would have imagined! The third step, the abstract conceptualization – that is the actual learning from the experience in Kolbe’s model – is an ongoing process, deeply connected to the reflection phase, intrinsically embedded in the entire learning process. As a new entrepreneur – and I bet also when you are a seasoned one! – you cannot stop actively experimenting new ways, strategizing, planning and trying out ideas, things you learned, tools you discovered along the way.

But first and foremost for me it has been amazing not as much learning the different components needed to create an effective and sustainable business, and neither as much all the things I have to master (admin, marketing, sales, operations, etc. – things which were known by me, but not enough at a deep level, and for sure not as I had to look after all of them myself!) but rather it has been incredible what I have been discovering about myself, at a profound level. Building a business from scratch for me has been so far a self-discovery, an amazing opportunity to deepen and expand my self-awareness, to understand even better my strengths and weakness, who I am and from where I came, what it is really important to achieve for me in my life, who I want to be.

I still don’t know what the destination is, lying behind the last bend at the top of the hill, and every day I have to make an effort to make peace with that (being a control-freak, I must know exactly where I am at any given moment!)

I am glad that each day I have the privilege to learn new things also inward, as well as outward; I am lucky that I can take the time to observe and reflect, I strive to find the way to conceptualize what I have been learning, even when it is not so immediate to do so, because then from there I can experiment new ways, I can chose a new direction or course of action, I decide whether to commit to implement new behaviors that better serve my goals.

In conclusion, the never-ending learning process of this journey is making me a more rounded person in any case, which is an invaluable result no matter what. It may happen that the business won’t ever flourish as much as I would like, but surely I am becoming a better version of myself. Priceless!

 

Antonella Capizzi

 

 

 

The art of Performance

What do you think about Performance Management?

I was asked this question recently, at the event joining GMSHRM (the Greater Miami SHRM association) and HRABC (the Broward SHRM association) in Dania Beach, end of August if I well recall. The guy is a practice SVP of very important consulting firm in South Florida, a well-respected organization which leads the local marketplace.

First and foremost I replied “It is mainly a process, not a single moment throughout the year or at every quarter. It is about setting SMART goals, observing behaviors in multiple and diverse business situations, assessing performance and eventually competencies, communicating and giving feedback, coaching and mentoring, and of course many other things because actually for me, Performance Management is really everything.”

The guy looked at me and smiled like he was thinking “ok, we are on the same page”. Then I added “I do not care about the scorecard, I have developed many but still believe that it could easily be a white paper sheet.” End of the smile. The guy started looking at me as I was from another planet.

What did I say wrong? Maybe he does not like paper? Empty sheets remind him of early days at school when bullied by a big bad mate?

It took me a while to understand, but then I got it. Only few months before I was an employee, VP of HR with a long and strong OD background and experience. Now I am a consultant talking with another consultant. And this, believe me, changes perspectives dramatically.

Consultants (I am one of them now so please do not get me wrong) would love to customize any single piece of their services to better fit the client’s needs, but for many reasons (lack of time, efforts, established procedures, and sometimes fear to fail or to be misunderstood or not understood at all) off-the-shelves solutions are their preference. Easier to market, easier to explain, easier to apply, and often satisfactory as well as fully customized services.

Well, a white sheet can hardly be sold as an off-the-shelf solution. Really. So, probably he turned his expression not because I replied in a bad way, but because I replied in a non-consulting way.

When I was an employee, VP of OD and Reward, I always thought that the appraisal form was the death of Performance Management. This, because when you launch a new PM system, straight away the form becomes the PM system. WRONG! The form is a little and useful tool of the entire PM system, which also encompasses meetings, communications, behaviors to observe, many other things to say or do, and first of all culture, a Performance Management Culture.

I am still there, by the way. Performance Management is just culture. The way you apply it, the timeframe, whether linked to reward or not, how the scorecard looks like, if it is a 90’, 180’ or 360’ degrees, who is involved in the process, how many steps, how many half-time reviews, if it encompasses also competencies / qualitative goals… all these things have just to be other representations of the company culture, which is expressed through the PM system. PM is culture, and everything else.

But of course it is easier to explain how to fill in an evaluation form rather than explain what the PM culture is. And it is easier to sell, too. Which is ok for consultants, because if it does not work (that is, the company does not turn the wonderful performance of its employees into money) the consultant is allowed to say that it was due to the client which was unable to apply the system in the correct manner. But it is sad for an internal OD guy when she/he does not get the sense of what PM is, and is just keen on applying the form to all the target population within a given time. Hurry up!

Someone could argue that off-the-shelf solutions often fail because they are not able to actually catch and match the client’s needs, but I leave this further discussion with you.

What I want to underpin here is that I would love, I would cherish any PM system which could really be both customizable (in terms of being fully capable of detecting client’s needs) and somehow relying on an established structured and process-driven solution. All off-the-shelf systems pretend to be like that, but when I was sitting on the other side of the table, I have hardly seen something similar.

Ready to be contradicted, you are all mostly welcome.

 

Your friendly OD guy,

Federico

 

PS: it is extremely probable that the SVP of the consulting firm never got bullied by anyone, the guy is pretty big and tall and if I had been one of his schoolmate, I would have never challenged or annoyed him, never!

PPS: big, tall, cute, smart, nice, fit, successful. Whatta hell?!?

PPPS: I recently met a PM system which really tastes as being like something I would cherish… let’s speak soon!

Coaching – dogma and scams

I started getting interested in coaching back in 2008. I was reading an HR online mag and an article reported that, out of all leadership and talent development tools, coaching was the most effective in terms of return on investment, client satisfaction, performance improvement and sustainability.

Wow, that did sound great! Ok then, but what is coaching? Good question after the newly realized acknowledgment…

It took me several weeks to really understand what it was all about. At the very beginning every single source I found was referring either to sport or to mentoring or to consulting. After a while I got in contact with an organization and one of their coaches, Guido Faraggiana (thanks Guido!) patiently explained to my lazy grey cells what the real coaching is.

My first reaction was a mixture of surprise, curiosity and skepticism. Surprised, because I had never heard of such a thing. Curious, because I was missing how coaching in that way would have been successful and useful for coachees. Skeptic, because this is the way I am when I meet something new and different.

Let’s then go straight to the point and make crystal clear what coaching is, and why it will always be worth repeating what it is.

We can use the International Coach Federation (ICF) definition, just to make sure not to be misunderstood in any case. Word for word: “ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve; encourage client self-discovery; elicit client-generated solutions and strategies; hold the client responsible and accountable.”

Really in a nutshell: 95% of a coach job is to ask powerful, thoughts-provoking questions to help the coachee (or client, or coaching partner or whatever you want to call it) achieve her/his goals by leveraging on inner strengths, capabilities and skills. The foundation of coaching is that everyone has a potential to achieve even beyond her/his own expectations.

Believe me: this approach is definitely the best way to help people reach their desired results while holding them accountable. What a big difference it makes if I sort my challenges out with just my personal means, abilities, competences, know-how and will!

Now we know what coaching is, and be sure, this is dogma (yes, the word ‘dogma’ is often associated to something negative but in this case it makes real sense and it must sound completely positive at your ears). It is dogma because there is only one real Coaching, whether you agree or not with this statement.

And as for every dogma, there are heretics. People who call themselves coaches but with a completely different idea of what coaching is, pretty often with no idea at all, with no methodology, no training. If it comes to explain what, usually these people talk about what we “dogmatic” coaches would call “Mentoring”, or “Consulting”, or “giving some tips and then please pay the bill, Jack!”

Let’s be straightforward: this is scam. A good, effective, successful, easygoing scam. Like if I opened a haircut shop and called it Wells Fargo. People start bringing money and I pay them off by cutting their hair. Which is good, but it is not exactly like being a banker.

Ok but why should I be called coach and someone else shouldn’t? Well, there are several reasons why.

First – I have been trained

The dogma requires to be trained by an official coaching school for a minimum amount of hours. This ensures a common methodology, tools, a common mindset and, of course, discipline and attitude. Everything that may protect the client by any form of “unfairness” and “heresy”.

Second – I follow a serious international organization called ICF

ICF is serious. It is a place where you can find a structured method, a straightforward approach to coaching, common definitions, resources to share, tool, people you are alike and to network with, and most of all a lot of good sense. There are also other very serious organizations similar to ICF (which is by the way the biggest Coaching institution on earth) which have a similar approach and level of professionalism. Congrats. I chose ICF but many others are fine as well.

Third – I have a code of ethics to abide with

This is at the third step of the podium but could really be at top. It is so fundamental that best for you would be to go there and check it yourself: http://coachfederation.org/ethics/

Fourth – I belong to a network of professional coaches

We may be right, we may be wrong, but all the coaches belonging to ICF (and to other coaching recognized organizations) are somehow connected to each other. This is definitely another proof of credibility and reliability, indeed.

Fifth – after a pre-defined path, I got certified

After being trained, after having practiced coaching for a proper time, your proficiency is tested and certified by an official body. Is there anything better to confirm that you are a real coach?

Sixth – because words count

You can use the words “Coaching” and “Coach” the way you want, but when it comes to being professional, please stick to these old words of wisdom: words do count!

Is it enough for you to distinguish between the real coaching (the dogma) and the fake one (the scam)? If not, sorry for that, do not take it personally! If yes, welcome on board! In both cases, your comments are mostly appreciated and feel free to have your say here.

 

Your friendly coach,

Federico

 

PS the author did not mean in any way to mix up religion with profession. Better still, the author’s ideas on religion are pretty much confused then please do not take him seriously.

Are you Hunt or Lauda?

After having spent another night watching “Rush” on HBO, I have just started thinking about how the fight between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the F1 1976 championship could be a sort of metaphor of what almost everybody has lived at least once in a lifetime: the fear to win.

That is kind of a sensation which brings you in particular moment of your life, your work, it is unpredictable and most of all it is unexpected and very hard to understand. But it is true, all of us have experienced that.

Ok but, why?

It is not only coming from the opposite, the fear to lose. The fear to win may have many causes but all result in just one effect.

First, when you win, you change, and change is something which is really scary for most of the people. Uncertainty, unknown, short sight, call is the way you want, but it is just the fact that you doubt yourself when you win, especially when that is not something you are used to.

Then, you feel under the spotlight when you win. And this is often uncomfortable, because it requires you to win again, and put even more effort, more strength, more energy. Yes, winning is difficult indeed and winning twice is three times difficult. Why not cutting it off from the very beginning?

Your foes (external or internal, real or fictitious, weak or strong) when they you win, become even more aggressive. And, will you be prepared to fight them again in the future? Maybe your win was due to luck, circumstances, and their mistakes. But the next time it will be different because they will have no mercy, and you will have nothing and nobody to rely upon but yourself.

Last but not least, a wonderful excuse. What Niki (who, by the way, has been my childhood hero) chose was read as an easy escape, an excuse not to admit that Hunt was the best and he was simply the second.

But as a matter of fact, against all odds he decided to loose, which is actually a step beyond not to win. It implies courage instead of fear, bravery instead of cowardice, vision instead of short sight. And self-confidence, because when you throw a victory away you become a looser, unless you win afterwards.

Winning or losing may mean many things and may depend on many more. To me, it does not really matter if you win or lose. What matters the most is making up your mind with pride, courage, both instinct and reason, following that decision thoroughly and actively but being ready to change when something occurs and the new context modifies the rules of engagement.

 

At the end of the story James Hunt (r.i.p.) was the real looser. After the ’76 final GP in Japan he decided to exit the competition, destroy himself and become a lazy drunk ex-pilot. I was just a kid when all the people around me were hoping to have him driving for Ferrari and replace Lauda. It was just my dad and me who thought differently.

I am often still scarred by the chance to win. Then I think of James and Niki, and the sky gets a little bit clearer.