MWFA Archives - Cortex Leadership Consulting

11 Things Every Business Traveler Should Know Before Going to England
By: Lynda McNutt Foster, CEO, Cortex Leadership Consulting

Allen and I took a holiday (that’s what the Brits call vacation) for a week in London, then York, England. This week we’ll be facilitating some leadership training in a town called Andover which is about an hour from London.

If you plan on traveling to England one day or have plans to do business there, this list of word swaps might be helpful.

Fries are Chips
In England, chips are fries. That’s where the term “fish and chips” comes from. What we call chips, they call crisps. No problem, when you say something incorrectly, they will quickly correct you.

Cents are pence.
It cost to pee. No really. Twice we had to pee and we were out of luck because we had pounds not pence. When we did have pence we did not have the right amount of pence to get in. Ended up eating somewhere for 20 pounds because we didn’t have 40 pence to pee.

Dollars are pounds.
Important to note that there is a significant exchange rate. 1.37 dollars equal a pound. That meal we signed for 20 on our credit card for was actually almost 28 bucks. Not looking forward to getting the full statement next month. Ouch!

Restrooms are toilets.
Yes, the restrooms have toilets, but they call the restrooms toilets so don’t look for signs to point you to a restroom, the signs say TOILETS. And remember, bring your pence if you are in a train station or public area like a park.

You’ll need a converter or two.
You’ll be quite surprised after your overnight flight and train ride to London when you plop down in your hotel room and want to charge up your phone, iPad and Computer. Oh, yeah, there are ample outlets none of which will work unless you have a converter for each one.

Your blow dryer can kill you.
Really. Plug that puppy into a converter and it immediately gets hot as hell. It is like a Camero engine at 150 miles an hour. The end of it gets red as fire. Turns out your blow dryer in the states is designed for 110 watts and they run on 220. Clearly a big difference that other appliances like your phone is okay with. Your blow dryer is not. Leave that at home.

Pants are Trousers.
This one is important because pants mean underwear. You could see how that could lead to some embarrassment or confusion at a closing store or in a casual conversation after work.

Your check is a bill.

Ask for your bill at the end of your meal, not your check and stay as long as you like without tipping.

They call your check a bill and don’t rush you if there are only 4 others in the stamp size restaurant you are in. They think it’s rude to bring you your bill. Same thing in Puerto Rico. Relax, enjoy your meal and your company. They are not in any hurry to turn your table.

Their taxis are cute.

Uber is cheaper but the taxis are just so convenient and cute! The little black rides are adorable which makes it seem like a treat to ride in one of them. The British accents are charming and they zip you through London in no time flat.

Breaks are Tea Times.

They really do break for tea at about 10:30am and 3:00pm. The first time we taught here the nice lady from the hotel came in to our training and announced “tea time”. I said thank you and kept going as we were right in the middle of something. I quickly came to the understanding that tea time is not optional, so plan around it.

Your phone might be useless. Try WhatsApp.

I’ve had US Cellular for about 20 years now. I love them when we’re traveling in the US. They suck overseas. When I called them to find out what I needed to do the very nice man on the other end suggested that I get a track phone once I got to my destination. We chose instead to try a free service that you can download known as WhatsApp. It’s an app. You can use it for free when you are connected to the internet. That’s the trick, right. “Hooked to the internet” are the key words. It’s fantastic if the other person you want to talk to uses WhatsApp, too (like FB, it’s impossible to talk to someone on FB who doesn’t have an account). Free text, you can send all the pictures and videos you want, and you can even make a call on video on WhatsApp. If, you have a WiFi connection. Imagine splitting up to go to different stores for a period of time. Nope, can’t just expect to send a text because the other person may not have signed on to the internet where they are at or the place may not have WiFi at all, like in the small shops, or in the museums, etc.

I will apologize now for anyone who was traveling overseas, got a Monti text and was dying to answer it, except they couldn’t or it would cost them 40-80 cents to do so. I got one and told Monti to go fly a kite while I am away.

We have another week here so I am sure that I will be able to add to this list at some point down the road. It’s been an amazing, wonderful, romantic, magical week that we won’t soon forget. Now… back to work tomorrow to make work fun again for a group of talent leaders.

I love my J.O.B.

The Cortex Survey Results are in about what will make work fun again – the results may surprise you

The Cortex Survey Results are in for the question: What types of conditions make work fun for you?
We asked our Lynda’s Launch List readers that question a few weeks ago and here are some of the answers we received from those leaders, executives, and professionals. The results we collected were complete anonymity. Thank you to everyone who participated!

We posed this question because we are on a mission to provide team training that makes work fun again and the only way to be sure we are on track is to find out from our clients, readers, and followers what they think.

There are tons of gold nuggets in the feedback we received in the survey results for CEO’s, VPs, frontline managers and anyone who is in a position of authority for their team or even if you are leading or managing people through a project. We didn’t have one answer that even mentioned receiving more money for what they currently do at work (although I am sure none of them would turn that away if offered to them).

The basic theme of the answers.
The conditions that make work fun are clear and defined outcomes that don’t frequently change in the middle of an assignment or task. We have fun when we work hard to solve problems as a team, get time to play together, laugh, celebrate our wins, and feel appreciated, all while making our customers happy.

If you are familiar with DISC, it’s fun to read the list and see which types may find what fun at work. Some are pretty easy preferences to spot.

When we are selling business regularly and the team is excited about how to deliver it to wow our clients.
Working together as a team, attaining goals, supporting each other, staying busy, profitable.
Challenges but not micro-management to get them accomplished; challenges that DO NOT WASTE MY TIME – I dread the question that starts with, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” because it usually generates something that will waste most people’s time; free-wheeling discussions where no idea is wasted; keeping my time my time
Collaborative/Communicative Work Environment
The ability to share best practices
Teamwork: Sales Summits
Fun/Energetic Environment
Team Spirit/Winning Attitude
Everyone Wins
Recognition
Opportunities to collectively problem-solve.
Getting to focus on a task and not getting changed halfway. Doing it successfully and celebrating success after.
I am very appreciative of a work environment with a staff that wants to win. I’ve found that regular staff get-togethers or very loose staff meetings, as well as communication, are the keys to a happy, fun work environment. When the staff is happy, we win.
A team that is excited to work. Our department is different from any other because we personalize items. Everything is different; everything is unique. When we have a team that everyone is involved in making it go timely and best quality we can do it is fun to plan it out and watch it take place. A team that likes a little healthy competition makes it fun, too.
Energetic staff. A buzz within the office of good energy. Engaging in meaningful tasks and activities.
When we function as a team, the more ideas the better, and the more ideas the better opportunity in the planning stage.
Being able to smile and have a pleasant conversation with co-workers without fear of reprisal.
Being human and interacting with people on a more personal level and not so rushed to continuously not waste time by asking co-workers if they are ok.
Group collaborations. Outside community activities.
It’s pizza for breakfast day! Underlying well-baked crust of mutual respect, openness, curiosity and optimism (optimism is the yeast). Variety of toppings: humor, time flexibility, inspiration, deadlines and new problems to solve. Cheese (always): Rhythm (keeps things in a loose but continuous order so we can innovate within the structure of our vision). Bake it in the light of people we love – clients, friends, advisors and family. Shake a little profit and continuous learning over the whole thing. Delicious!
Responsible, Intelligent, Cooperative and Kind (RICK) individuals that systematically completes work in the most efficient process which allows more personal network and teambuilding time to Make Work Fun Again (MWFA). I often think of work as a machine that is designed, run and maintained to perform a desired outcome with precision and efficiency. Such a machine can be fun by having a pleasant or interesting appearance.
Work is a four letter word, along with Dumb. One of the definitions of dumb is to “have no power of speech; mute. ” The problem, as I see it, is the fact that many organizations do not allow a constructive two-way conversation leading towards an inefficient workplace along with employees not suitable for their assigned tasks. The organization that is wise and forward thinking and within a profit motivated platform will always outpace the “plodders, those companies that the employees just show up to get a paycheck”. Where is the fun in that?
Fun at work is having the ability to make wise and efficient choices and just enjoy the day.
Honest collaboration. A willingness to suspend roles to seek equality of input from all. The ability to see how the jobs that we do positively affect others. Time to interact informally.
Flexible work schedule
Small breaks or activities (corn hole game or table tennis)
Set clear goals
Incentives, rewards & recognition
The Environment- conducive to work and enjoy my time here. Get to work within my passion and inspire others around me. We work hard, but carve out time for fun events.
I like a relaxed but detail focused environment. One in which we have a balance of sharing details and new ideas, but once we decide on the plan, we stay on track with minimal distractions and execute.
Clear procedures with room to do it your own way. Happy coworkers. Nice clients. good smells. Lunch together.
Being part of a team that works hard and plays hard all while being committed to making daily progress toward the BHAG that we have all agreed upon.
Having a good sense of humor. Kindness. Celebrating milestones, like birthday’s and work anniversary’s. Good communication among team members. An attitude of servitude towards team members.
1. The atmosphere of the job. Meaning how the higher management makes the worker place feel on a daily bases once the employees walk into the building. Example: Relaxed atmosphere not a tense or walking on egg shell filling.
2. Have different at work function for the employees to keep up the morale in the job place and to let the employees know they are appreciated. Which by the way, our organization, has been doing really great with showing us we are appreciated.
3. Just having your supervisor and manager talk to you as a person and not just as an employee. Makes any workplace conditions a little fun. Knowing you can joke and laugh and still get the job done and not cross the line of whose over who.
Conditions or an atmosphere with a positive environment. Also, although not always possible, if one has a natural interest in what they are doing it usually lends itself to being fun. Along the lines of “do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”