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By Paul Cooper aka @longboardfella

My sister’s dog Banjo reminded me of some great life lessons this summer.  Banjo approaches his life with all the enthusiasm expected of a golden Labrador…and we were recently teaching him some new tricks (e.g. to hold 2 balls in his mouth and then to also retrieve a stick from the billabong at the same time – for a lab with a big mouth that didn’t prove too hard!) After we had lots of laughs about what he had learned from us, it got me thinking what I could learn from him and how that might be of relevance to the consulting work we do at SMS. Here are some observations and thoughts:

See the inner beauty….Banjo never judges people by externals.  Everyone is given a fair go for a friendly greeting regardless of age, race, appearance – they all get attention and a tail wag is at least offered.  After that, it’s up to the person to engage to at least a small degree with him to keep the relationship alive – but he always takes the first step of offering friendship and affection – great lesson! On a recent client engagement, a client team member had clearly come from the “school of hard knocks”, he was an older guy with great big tattoos on both arms and a gruff manner. Despite initial reservations, he turned out to be a most gentle and considerate fellow with respect to the team, and he really paid attention to the human touch.  He even organised thank you cards for all involved in the intensive engagement.  Banjo reminds us not to pre-judge people by their appearance, or vocabulary or lack of schooling opportunity…

Don’t make hardship into personal suffering.  This lesson was actually from Banjo’s dog mate Henry.  Henry suffers bad hips and it hurts him.  He occasionally yelps with pain when he runs too hard after the ball – but the thing is, it doesn’t stop him chasing the ball, playing or wagging his tail, or having fun.  He may be in pain at times, but he doesn’t seem to act as if it’s too personal.  It’s just stuff that happens.  My lesson from him is that pain and hardship affects us all, but how much we suffer is to some extent up to what our mind tells us – and that’s under our control to at least some degree.

Don’t bear a grudge.  OK, Banjo may not necessarily recall all of his negative interactions with folk, but he is certainly ready to forgive people and I reckon there’s a lesson there.  I know that I have had some tough interactions over the years, but like Banjo, I’ve found that reaching back out to people who have hurt me is just about always worthwhile – and sometimes builds the best relationships.  In fact there’s a story from Benjamin Franklin on this and how he built a great relationship with a political enemy by asking for their help – see more on this at my talk on the AB+C of persuasion at:  http://vimeo.com/10765584 or click through via: http://www.grassisgreener.com.au/blog/abc-of-persuasion-by-paul-cooper-sms-management-technology/

Let people know what you want/need.  Banjo gently reminds you if it’s dinner time (if you have overlooked the time) – he sits very neatly in from of his bowl at the right time and looks VERY expectantly at you. He doesn’t nag or growl, but you are never in any doubt about what he needs. Do we always have the same clarity on our needs and/or make that clear to others?  Or do we expect them to read our minds and then get hurt if they don’t give us what we want? Recently, we had a client engagement that was very confusing.  It got back on track by us finding some ways for the client to more clearly let us know what they really wanted without us making the wrong assumptions.  A low tech workshop using sticky notes on a wall is a great way to help get clarity. Don’t always shoot for the high tech – simple is best.

Be persistent…if you ever see a dog wanting to get a treat, then you will notice they are VERY persistent…Are we always so persistent when things don’t go our way? All worthwhile efforts require hard work/re-work….always…persistence is a MUST HAVE characteristic for all endeavours including consulting. Banjo shows us the way…

And my favourite:

Approach life with a sense of play and enthusiasm…self-evident if you ever watch a dog playing with kids or chasing a ball.  If we all keep that level of fun in our lives, think how happy we’ll all be. All engagements of any note have hard aspects and even challenging times.  But I try hard to make sure there is space for the team to share a laugh, or to share a story.  Someone told me once that it’s important to find a way to laugh out loud at least once a day – hopefully not AT someone, but to share some humour.  Speaking of which…have you seen this one?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBluUZ4NnZg

Do your pets have other lessons for us mere humans that might help us approach our work with more grace and enjoyment and give our clients the best possible experience? If so…why not share them?  We promise not to bite…

PS if you don’t know about Banjo Patterson and billabongs, then check out: http://clatterymachinery.wordpress.com/2006/09/03/the-top-20-greatest-banjo-paterson-poems-of-all-time/

Posted January 11th, 2012
categories: Blog