We are privileged to have weekends for the most part to catch up and recharge our batteries.
 
However I am writing this blog on a Sunday because what with one thing and another I ran out of time on Saturday. And even today I have only just managed to find time to write this. Actually, hang on a minute whilst I fill the garden bins and put them out! Now back and writing whilst watching the football!
 
My point is that as we all work incredibly hard at our professions during the week (and sometimes sadly at weekends) often in very pressurised roles it matters that at times we can wind down and have a “slow” Saturday or Sunday. A day to deliberately stop going from one thing to another, hard though that can be.
 
The Small Faces sang
 
“Lazy Sunday afternoon
I've got no mind to worry
I close my eyes and drift away.”
 
They got it about right. On perhaps a more profound level Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: “Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week.”
 
Well that’s true but we can only take advantage of it if we make the effort to slow down a bit and appreciate the space and time it can afford us.
 
Here’s a nice quote from the American self-help author Patti Digh “Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.” Just about sums it up for my theme this week - we should try to stop doing some things on a Saturday or Sunday to get the most out of the weekend.

​I heard a great story of triumph over adversity on the radio this week. The jazz pianist Keith Jarrett was invited to perform a solo concert in Cologne in January 1975.
 
The concert was in a famous location, the Opera House, but was organised by a 17 year old prompter Vera Brandes. The preparations did not go well. Keith Jarrett arrived late after a long journey, suffering from back pain.
 
Then the concert hall staff made a mistake and provided a rehearsal baby grand piano instead of a concert grand which was in a very poor state and even after tuning had pedals that stuck and the upper registers and bass didn’t sound very good.
 
Keith Jarrett wanted to cancel the sell out concert but Vera Brandes persuaded him to continue. He did, but had of necessity to adapt his playing and changed his style concentrating on notes in the middle of the keyboard. The result was an acclaimed concert and his most popular recording which continues to sell well. See this link for the full story.
 
This is a classic example of what to do when things go wrong, turning adversity into triumph. Another great jazz musician Duke Ellington said:
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
 
And it wasn’t so much that Keith Jarrett welcomed this opportunity to triumph over problems – his first inclination was to quit. But when he turned his mind to it he not only got by but gave one of his greatest performances.
 
So it is in the professional world. Difficult clients, intractable problems, even broken equipment. They happen anyway but not only can these problems be overcome, it may be they represent an opportunity to do things even better. Disruption may at first sight look like a disaster, but with the right mind-set and approach can be turned into a creative triumph.

​As professional people we are of course by definition and nature perfection from the moment we start practicing to the moment we cease!
 
This is of course patently not true. We develop. We get better. And as a part of that process we make mistakes and learn from them. But also we can avoid mistakes. Say you are in a hurry as a lawyer to send a complex redraft of a document to a client who is pressing very hard for it. Yet there is some nagging thought deep in your mind, almost not “heard” and nearly unconscious that all is not right. Something is wrong with the document.
 
I have found that it pays to watch out for, recognise and listen to that small voice. Almost invariably checking the document again reveals a, sometimes critical, error, such as editing the wrong version or missing something crucial out. And this small doubt is not easy to recognise or act on. It is far simpler to bow to the pressure and press send.
 
Brian Goldman a Canadian emergency physician and author wrote:
 
The redefined M.D. is able to access the still, small voice that says I'm about to make a mistake - or I've just made one and I need to undo it before it's too late.
 
This requires a certain strength or character to resist the pressure to hurry, and also self-awareness, the ability to recognise and listen to yourself.
 
Steve Jobs said:
 
Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
 
I think there are also some simple techniques that support this approach and avoid mistakes. Stop for ten minutes before pressing send, go for a walk, have a cappuccino, talk to a colleague and then return to the computer and see if you are still confident with the document. I also almost always now open a document I have attached to an email and look at it again. No matter how hard you try it is amazing how often you spot an error.
 
In the long run not making the mistake is worth the small amount of extra time, care and “listening” it takes to avoid it.

​We have all participated in assessment exercises or team building days when a group of aspiring graduates or managers are organised into teams and set tasks to achieve upon which they are measured.
 
In these slightly artificial situations one of the most interesting aspects is the way in which the leadership of the teams work out. There will often in my experience be one man or woman who tends to talk the most and seeks to dominate the team. They always seem to know best and try to assume the mantle of the team leader. They often succeed as well in becoming the team leader because the other team members are perhaps more reticent in putting themselves forward.
 
They probably see themselves as the natural leader, but are they the right person for the job? You actually have no means of knowing because they have sort of been self selected, by themselves. Their qualities, good or bad have not really been assessed or tested in any way.
 
Jim Collins in the book Good to Great said of the business leaders that succeeded in taking their companies to the highest level:
 
“The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.”
 
In fact sometimes these self electing leaders can be very bad news for the team. I recall one such situation where one of the team knew the answer to a particular task – because they had done the exercise before. However the self chosen leader would not listen and tried to insist the team took a different approach. Interestingly and fortunately the rest of the team saw sense and refused to follow the “leader”.
 
So in artificial tests and even more so in real life business situations I suggest that more care and intelligence is applied to the selection of the team leader. At the very least the person who thrusts themselves forward should be questioned to see if they have the required qualities.