Comms Vision 2016 – Creativity, Innovation, PostIt Note and Rugby Ball. Part 2
Comms Vision 2016 – the best yet!
The Keynotes
I always look forward to the keynote speakers, Paul Cunningham always does a great job of getting the right speakers for the industry at the time of the event and this year was no exception. All of the keynote speakers provided great contribution to the mix of thought provoking and inspirational talks on the themes of innovation, transformation and creativity, but three speakers really struck a chord with me – Professor Jamie Anderson, Kevin Uphill and Doctor Dave Alred MBE.
The first speaker up certainly set the scene. Professor Jamie Anderson had the whole room of 300 people, I would guess over 90%, (may be even 95%) male and the majority middle aged and older going back to their primary school days. After a number of child like drawing exercises Jamie highlighted the challenges our industry faces when it comes to creativity and innovation. One of the drawing exercises we were asked to undertake was to draw a portrait of the person sitting next to us. The majority of them looked like they had been drawn by a six year old. Jamie suggested the reason for this is because that was probably the last time we were asked to complete such a task.
I have always believed that schools impede creativity and Jamie endorsed this and referred to an excellent 2006 TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity’. I saw this some time ago and I thoroughly recommend taking a look, especially if you have children or grandchildren. Jamie also raised the point that parents must also take some responsible for stunting the creative potential of their offspring. I recommend checking out Jamie’s TEDx video on YouTube, ‘What is Success Really?’ Both videos are included in the links below.
Dave Alred’s keynote talk complemented Professor Jamie Anderson’s keynote perfectly. Dave’s keynote: ‘Defy Convention – yes you can jump the building’, explored some of the obstacles that get in the way of our personal development. Fear is a very real inhibitor to personal progress, to the point where it can be debilitating. If we are to open up and be creative and innovative we have to overcome the fear of failure or damage to our pride by making what may be perceived as a stupid statement or asking a stupid question.
Dave also pointed that some obstacles are the result of convention. Dave demonstrated how our convention for scoring out of a fixed range can stunt our development. For example, if we score someone 6 out of 10 and they progress over a period of days, weeks or months where do they go when they get to 10 out of 10? ‘Out of’ creates a mental ceiling rather than basing an open ended score on our previous self which has no limits. That is the technique Dave used to coach Jonny Wilkinson and other sporting greats.
This struck a chord with me as one of our apprentices is consistently graded as excellent on his college feedback forms. Although this is a conventional way of scoring it doesn’t give us any indication as to whether he is improving. However, when on the rare occasion he drops a level to a mere ‘Very Good’ it is seen as he is falling back when this just is not true. It is in effect a negative way of scoring talented people who are consistently pushing at the bar. If the bar is fixed where can they go?
It is the first time I have been in a business conference inside a hall and a coach has given a rugby kicking lesson to one of the delegates. But that is exactly what happened at Comms Vision. Dave did this to demonstrate how we can improve and develop new skills and become consistently good at something but pressure on the day destroys our confidence and mentally we can no longer complete the task reliably. How many times have we seen this when footballers at the top of their game are unable to keep a ball on target when taking a penalty.
Dave also talked about the power of language in personal development, stating that negative language should be banned, positive language is OK but has no use, whereas ‘productive’ language motivates and nurtures improvement on our previous personal best. Dave’s talk was truly inspirational and I thoroughly recommend picking up or downloading a copy of his book ‘The Pressure Principle’ available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle, and if you ever get a chance to see Dave speak live, make sure you take the opportunity. In the meantime, check out this Total Rugby video and imagine this taking place in a packed room with the ‘mind’s eye’ focussing on a post it note on the wall.
Rather than take the opportunity to promote their products and services 8×8 took the option of fielding their keynote slot with an external speaker, Kevin Uphill. Kevin gave a great talk on management versus leadership, saying that businesses needed leaders to survive rather than managers. This again struck a chord with me as Astro took this step some years ago when we brought in a business leader to transform Astro to take us through our next 30 years and this has been a resounding success.
Kevin also raised the point that businesses should make decisions more collaboratively, and delegate effectively, again something that is working very well for us under our (relatively) new leadership. A big theme of Kevin’s talk was around understanding why our business is better than our competitors, which I thought was a very valid point but on this I thought Dave Alred’s point about measuring against a previous personal best could also be applied to businesses. If you are continually improving and serving customers well the relationship will grow stronger. I fully endorse Kevin’s statement with a mix of Dave Alred’s advice as that combination will make a world beating business.
The Home Journey
I usually catch the 1013 train from Gleneagles to Kings Cross but on this occasion, I had to be back in London to attend a hospital appointment with my daughter. I had to take the only option available to me and transfer my ticket to the 0654 out of Gleneagles with 12 minutes for a change at Edinburgh – ample time. But! Not being a football fan I had failed to realise that my journey home coincided with the England vs Scotland World Cup qualifier game on Friday 11 November.
As I approached the footbridge to get to my train I saw a sea of tartan. There had been the usual talk of potential clashes but the supporters I saw were well behaved and were just enjoying themselves. And we have all done that from time to time haven’t we! I suspect the fans I travelled down with were feeling a little worse for wear by the time they made their return journey, even more so having travelled all that way to see their team lose.
When I arrived in London and headed across to St Thomas’ Hospital I saw more native Scots than I saw in Scotland. So nice of them to escort me back to make sure I arrived in London safely.
Final thoughts…
I have kept this blog fairly light hearted but I cannot emphasise enough the value of attending Comms Vision. I picked out my two favourite keynote speakers because they really resonated with my experience and beliefs but all of the keynote speakers were very good and all offered excellent value. It was also a good opportunity to meet some existing and potentially new suppliers to attend presentations on their recent developments or to just catch up over a coffee or beer.
I get a great deal out of Comms Vision. A chance to break out away from the day to day pressures to talk to my peers and suppliers to benchmark the current state of our business against similar businesses. I am updated on current market trends and understand the opportunities that lie ahead as well as the potential risks. I am also reassured when I learn our thoughts are aligned with the thoughts of the keynote speakers and industry experts.
Creativity and innovation is obviously vitally important to our industry. We must remember that our user communities are focussed on their businesses and anything we deliver should be aimed at improving productivity and reducing costs. To achieve this, we must know our audience – our customers – and we must deliver products and solutions that are appropriate to their world rather than ours. If we don’t someone else will, maybe from another industry. We should never forget that Cissie and Ada are our customers too. Food for thought!
A big thank you to the organisers, the sponsors, the keynote speakers and the staff of Gleneagles Hotel for making the 2016 Comms Vision the best Comms Vision ever.
Useful links…
Sir Ken Robinson
‘Do Schools Kill Creativity’
Professor Jamie Anderson
Website
‘What is Success Really?’
Dr Dave Alred MBE
Website
Total Rugby kicking master class
Kevin Uphill
Website