A young farmer starts his first day and is tasked with tending the sheep. The old shepherd offers advice many times but the youth is just not listening. By the end of the day the youngster is exhausted, it was more like herding cats than sheep, and he finally accepts some help. He asks, ‘What should I do?’, and the shepherd replies, ‘Take these three learning pills, they’re only £10 each.” The youth looks at the small pills doubtfully, ‘And these will help me to learn?’, the old man replied, ‘Aye. Put all three pills in your mouth and chew very, very slowly.’ The youth pays the £30 and starts to chew. After only a few seconds he spits them out and shouts, ‘They’re disgusting! They taste like… like sheep dung!’ The old man replies, ‘Aye! Now you’re learning!’

Assumptions:

• Not everything we learn is useful - we use what we believe is useful to get stuff done and forget the rest.
• Not everything we use is useful - we fall into habits that may not be the most efficient way to get stuff done.

My mission is to make ‘it’ useful.

What I do:

• I strive to be useful in everything I do: what I say; what I teach, what I build, and how I behave.
• I work to create things of use, not simply ‘things’.
• I teach just the things needed to get stuff done.
• I build only what is necessary to get stuff done.

Applying my value:

• Consultancy.
• Project Management and eLearning development.
• Twitter tag: #beauseful - Any object that is both beautiful and useful.

Ever visited the London Underground or the New York Subway? Have you noticed the signs telling you to ‘Mind the Gap’, or heard the announcer call, ‘Mind the Gap’ whenever a train arrives? Why do they do that? To protect your safety of course… and not to get sued in case you don’t mind the gap! Don’t we know this by now and do we really need to be told every 30-seconds? The answer is, ‘Yes!’ Our attention isn’t focused on the slim chance we may slip between train and platform, it’s focused on getting from point A to point B as quickly as we can, so we can do our ‘stuff’. The repetition is necessary to break through our focus and make us attend to what is important now… to Mind the Gap. Next time you visit an underground or subway in your part of the world, listen for the message or look for the signs and then pause, smile, and say a silent, ‘Thank You!’

Assumptions:

• Sometimes our focus is not on the thing we should really be paying attention to.
• Often we don’t even know there is a gap to be avoided.

Everything we do has a positive intention.

What I do:

• • I mind the gap between where you are and where you want to be - I want to improve you and your business in both the short- and long-term.
  • You should mind about the gap - I identify gaps and help you to fill it in.
  • I mind the gap between what you want and what you need - I help set useful and realistic expectations.

Applying my value:

• Running meetings: Spinks eMedia MTG Policy.
• Running projects: Project philosophy is based around ‘Mind the Gap’.

Have you tried to find the hidden image in a Magic Eye picture? You’re supposed to start with the picture so close to your face that it’s blurry and then to focus as though you’re looking through the picture into the distance. Next you have to slowly move the picture further away from your face, and hope your arms are long enough to reveal the hidden image. Sometimes, however hard we try, we just can’t see the hidden image. We may be focusing on the wrong area or are holding it at the wrong distance. Often, a nudge from somebody else can reveal to us what is hidden.

Assumptions:

• Everyone, at some point, can’t see the wood for the trees.
• Every now and then we need to refocus or get a new perspective to move forward.

Reflect before we do.

What I do:

• I step back and smell the…! I constantly evaluate where we are, good or bad, so we can move forward positively.
• I step back to ask the big questions: Is it useful? Does it Mind the Gap?
• I step back to see the big picture and check where our current focus and direction should be.

Applying my value:

• Running projects: Time is set aside at each phase to ‘Step Back’ and re-evaluate our current position and thinking.
• Running meetings: Each meeting (MTG) is a chance to step back, evaluate, focus and direct our next actions.

After school I used to go to the park with my friends to play football. It didn’t have goalposts, so we made our own using our jumpers instead. Without the goalposts it would just have been a ‘kick-about’ but with jumpers as goalposts all of a sudden it became a proper game. We had something to aim at, literally a goal! When creating solutions we need to frame the problem and part of the framing is setting boundaries. Once we have set boundaries we can then challenge them but without a framework (boundary) we’re just having a ‘kick-about’.

Assumptions:

• Setting boundaries actually helps to focus our work otherwise we ‘kick-about’ aimlessly.
• Rather than stifling creativity, setting boundaries (e.g. using a framework) actually help in the creative process that leads to solutions.

What I do:

• I like to understand a client’s working framework and if they don’t have one help them to create one.
• I challenge and analyse current boundaries as it often leads to new solutions.
• I use models, processes and frameworks to help businesses identify the real problems they are facing and create relevant solutions.

Applying my value:

• The Learning Model Canvas: an opportunity to frame the strategic skills and learning required for your business.
• The 20:20 Management & Design model: how to manage a project to design a product.
• The i3D/iD3A project model: a simple project management process.