Canny Conversations – People Power
People Power
SAFARAZ opens the Canny Conversations podcast series by turning the focus on the most important aspect of any organisation =, its people.
He discusses the importance of the willingness to learn and unlearn and echoes the thoughts of Alvin Toplass:’ the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.’
Safaraz admits that his attitude to experience has got him into trouble. He thinks that it is overrated, and that experience needs to be relevant, and people have to keep learning. He believes that what someone has done in the past may not be relevant to the present situation.
In fact, Saf says that in some circumstances, experience can be a barrier because it can stop people from learning a new way of doing things.
Adrian Kibbler makes the observation that: ‘you can teach an old dog new tricks, but the difficulty is often getting them to unlearn old ones.’
He believes that structured courses are only a small part of how we learn accounting for about 20 per cent of the proves with the remaining 80 per cent shared between experience from doing and learning from others by watching and seeing how they work.
In recruiting people, the three major qualities that he looks for are skills, knowledge and behaviour, believing that a willingness to learn is essential.
Getting the best out of people is more about helping them to become better at what they are good at rather than focusing upon weaknesses.
Saf says that often people lack confidence and do not realise what they are good at. He says that in recruiting someone for a job it is not uncommon to realise that they may be much better suited to another vacancy within the organisation.
Canny Conversations – Series One
Why did a table cleaner in a staff canteen embody the ethos that got a man on the moon and why does a Chinese bamboo tree provide a crucial lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs?
These are just some of the things that social entrepreneur and author Safaraz (Saf) Ali shares in a series of 10 conversations with journalist Adrian Kibbler.
The topics covered in these conversations include the importance of people, how to recruit them and get the best from them.
It explores what makes a good leader and how to build strong teams within a winning culture.
‘It all starts with you’ is one of Saf’s favourite catch phrases and he sets out the importance of mindset including having a willingness to listen, learn and grow.
He deals with the best ways to cope with and overcome adversity, recognising that we learn more from our failures than our successes.
For Saf the Canny Conversation podcast is a logical next step, taking his insights, and experiences and packaging it in audio bites of business wisdom with context and background.
Responses