I took my car for a service last week to a dealership I know from experience provides a good service. You used to go in the door, up to a receptionist who (once they had stopped answering the phone) took your name and car registration number. They then sat you down and offered a coffee whilst they called the service agent. This time I was met outside the door as soon as I got out of my car by a cheerful girl who greeted me by name and welcomed me, took me inside and provided a coffee and immediately contacted the service agent.
 
This is an example of an already good service being improved by a small additional step. As technology supplements people in increasingly competitive professional services it is these continuing small improvements that may make the difference between retaining or losing a client. Incremental improvement is as a series of small improvements or upgrades made to a company's existing products, services, processes or methods.
 
See this Wired blog on The Power of Incremental Innovation which cites the example of Apple’s iPhone it was mostly the incremental innovations of a larger touchscreen, the app store, various ease of use and an improved overall experience, which enabled the iPhone to be the first in making smartphones mainstream. There is also an interesting ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Report on The Importance of Fostering Incremental Innovation focusing on intellectual property  which comments:
 
Based upon the degree to which the innovation presents an advancement of the state of the art, economists distinguish between incremental and radical innovation. Whereas incremental innovation involves refinements and relatively small extensions of existing technologies, radical innovation produces considerable technological advancements that have the potential of completely substituting products and industries by new ones.  However, in practice, any radical improvement of a technology invariably draws on a series of incremental improvements.
 
See also this Forbes article which discusses the principle of regular 1% improvements saying  Incredibly, this principle was applied and tested in 2002, which helped the British cycling team win 7 out 10 medals at the 2008 Olympics. The head coach, Sir Dave Brailsford, used the idea of improving each element of cycling by 1% to win incredible gains. It should also be noted that prior to this British cycling only had one gold medal in its 76-year history.
 
It also refers to this more detailed interview Sir Dave Brailsford gave to the Harvard Business Review where he explains how they applied a theory of marginal gains to cycling — he gambled that if the team broke down everything they could think of that goes into competing on a bike, and then improved each element by 1%, they would achieve a significant aggregated increase in performance.
 
The management consultant Tom Peters sums this up well Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.
 
As Confucius said The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
 
Or rather less philosophically And now, I'm just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time– Lady Gaga!

This term meaning “Do not despair” was originally used in The Odes a collection in four books of Latin lyric poems by Horace  - Nil desperandum Teucro duce at auspice Teucro ‘no need to despair with Teucer as your leader and Teucer to protect you’. This seems particularly apposite these days as we live in such uncertain political times. It is very easy to despair.
 
However, every such political problem may represent a possible opportunity, hard though it can be to see sometimes. Whatever your views or situation it is a time to be positive and look for these opportunities in our professional lives. See this short Harvard Business School article Turning a Problem into an Opportunity and this Forbes article which says In this view of the world, “problems” are not problematic -- rather, they're helpful opportunities that can contribute to our growth and improvement.
 
I also like this blog 3 Problems That Became Opportunities to Change The World which cites the example of the creation of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928. At the time, Fleming was experimenting with the influenza virus in the Laboratory of the Inoculation Department at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. 
Often described as a careless lab technician, Fleming returned from a two-week vacation to find that a mold had developed on an accidentally contaminated staphylococcus culture plate. Upon examination of the mold, he noticed that the culture prevented the growth of staphylococci.
 
The solution to the problem ended up being the thing he discarded by accident, but he recognised the opportunity.
 
Here is another good article on Turning Problems into Opportunities with a lot of interesting examples from history which commences In a 1959 speech, John F. Kennedy famously said: “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters—one represents danger and one represents opportunity.” Although today it is widely recognized that this is not the correct interpretation of the Chinese characters, President Kennedy’s wisdom about a crisis yielding unique opportunities may be more important than ever.
 
As another great political leader Winston Churchill said “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity, the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
 
In the end of the day I think it comes down to having the right attitude to appreciate the potential for opportunity – "Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."- Henry Ford.

I went to see a specialist about a sporting injury to my knee this week and he had to analyse an MRI scan as a part of the consultation. This is not anything like looking at two or three X-rays – there were 30 different views to consider, only one of which eventually turned out to be particularly relevant.
 
This is the challenge of being a professional these days – you have requests for advice and sources of information coming at you from all directions. If you need to research anything there will be a myriad resources available online at your fingertips from Google, including blogs and vlogs on all manner of subjects, to professional databases. Before the Internet – anybody remember that? – the main source of knowledge was professional practitioners’ books which of necessity could only be updated every year or so, but were at least professionally validated.
 
And that is the challenge now, sifting through the many sources of information available to find reliable and verifiable material. The pace of change is also unlikely to slow down with mores sophisticated search engines available and AI promising to revolutionise things again.
 
Business communication has also moved on from the days when letters and occasionally telexes were overtaken by fax machines and then email. I saw this apposite quote about the latest kid on the block, IM Instant messaging improves communication in the workplace. It is more efficient than email because it allows messages to appear immediately, saving time. Through instant messaging, workers can remain in constant contact with one another in case problems arise that require assistance.
 
However as this article suggests there is a “dark side” to instant messaging:
 
A huge problem with instant messaging in the workplace is that it can easily lead to miscommunications. Much like its predecessor, electronic mail, instant messaging presents an easy way to communicate the wrong message in very short spans of time merely by hitting the “send” button.
 
Here also is a good blog Top Ten Communication Problems in the Workplace which cites amongst other issues Lack of Standards, Mixing Work and Personal Communications and Misinterpretations and Assumptions.
 
I personally think it is about choosing the right medium for the required communication. IM is good for constant and quick contact whereas a face to face meeting is really essential for appraisals and sensitive of difficult personnel issues. This article sets out the most important dos and don’ts of instant messaging in a business environment.
 
As James Thurber the American cartoonist, author and journalist commented Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.
 
And this issue is not a new one – Pythagoras sagely said Be silent, or say something better than silence whilst Charles Dickens advised Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.

It goes with the territory, but is not always appreciated or understood. It is particularly manifested in the relationship between bosses and workers, but it also occurs between co-workers. Oversensitivity seems to be a curse of the professional classes. Your expenses or a business trip or your Christmas holiday are not signed off, and you assume straight away that you are in some trouble at work.
 
A Harvard Business School professor on a course I attended in Boston summed this up well. He cited the example of a partner in a professional practice who in the morning walked quickly past one of their direct reports and did not acknowledge them in any way. The employee immediately assumed the worst and that they were not in their boss’s good graces for some reason and maybe were about to be fired. In reality the boss was just distracted by a difficult meeting they were going to and did not think about the employee.
 
The difficulty with these “misunderstandings” is that they have the potential to damage working relationship in a way that may ultimately not be good for a professional practice. Mistrust builds up over time and can manifest itself in poor performance or ultimately a valued worker leaving. Both parties have lessons to learn here. The boss should maybe acknowledge their employee even if it is with a quick “Good Morning” or a handshake (very common in France when workers first greet each other as the working day starts). The employee should perhaps be aware that they are not the centre of the universe, their boss will have more on their mind and it is unlikely that a trivial omission means anything serious. Ultimately both can exhibit greater empathy to their mutual advantage.
 
What does help I think is greater awareness of this tendency of particularly professionals to overreact to perceived slights however unintended.
 
There is even “Sensitivity Training” available now - The underlying idea behind sensitivity training is developing respect for each person as an equal and as a human being. Just as we have wants and needs, so do the others around us. And just as we want people to show respect to our feelings and ways of living, so too must we show respect to others.
 
The key in everyday behaviour is probably just about showing “respect” for other workers whether bosses or co-workers. This Harvard Business Review Article in 2018 said When you ask workers what matters most to them, feeling respected by superiors often tops the list. In a recent survey by Georgetown University’s Christine Porath of nearly 20,000 employees worldwide, respondents ranked respect as the most important leadership behavior. 
 
Albert Einstein got it right when he said I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university. 
 
I also like Winston Churchill’s rather enigmatic quote about respect “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
 
And it is very easy to overlook how easy it is as a manager to inadvertently give an employee the wrong impression, not perhaps recognising quite how much in a position of influence you are – and how truly simple it can be to acknowledge a colleague in a positive way maybe even just by a smile!
 
As Dale Carnegie counsels in How to Win Friends and Influence People Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, ‘I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you‘.

One of the abilities I have worked on to improve all my professional life is contributing effectively at the right time. This is particularly difficult in a meeting or on a call with very senior or dominant colleagues, especially when they seem to want to talk all the time. This can be even more challenging on a Skype conference call when it is sometimes hard to know who is speaking.
 
The old saying goes out of the mouths of babes (and sucklings), which in my context applies to young professionals learning their job but often bringing fresh and unexpected insight to a situation. As a young lawyer working on a large bond issue I raised some point of interpretation of a provision of UK companies legislation that seemed to me to raise an issue. Probably because it did the senior lawyer in a large City law firm advising on the transaction listened but just did not really want to know.
 
There are ways of learning to contribute more and in a timely manner which can help. One simple technique is to make sure during the introductions at a meeting or on a call you say something about yourself or the weather or anything really which means that your voices has at least been heard. It is then far easier to contribute later. 
 
Here is a good article 10 Ways to Increase Visibility in Meetings which discusses someone whose quiet nature and somewhat passive approach were interfering with his need to be visible, especially in meetings where higher level executives were in attendance. As a result, senior staff members and other influential people weren’t aware of the impact player my client truly was. It was clear that he needed to become more visible and self-expressed.
 
There is a book Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence which includes tips for what it describes as the “phobia of participation”. I also like this Harvard Business Review Article Don’t Let Inexperience Stop You from Participating in Meetings which quite wisely says The first thing you should do is gauge your company culture. In some companies, participation from junior staff is essential, a key part of the career development process. In other companies, it might not be a big deal — or might even be actively discouraged. Take the pulse of your office.
 
This is because it is not just about young professionals having the courage of their convictions and speaking up. This is an institutional issue as to whether an organisation encourages or indeed should encourage such behaviour. I firmly believe it should – the young workers are the very future of the firm. As Benjamin Disraeli said The Youth of a Nation are the trustees of posterity.
 
The very law firm I mentioned above had a policy at that time, since abandoned, of only allowing partners and clients through the front door of their offices. Trainee lawyers and more humble staff had to use a side door. That would hardly have encouraged young lawyers who were learning their profession to dare to speak their mind when a partner or senior lawyer was present.
 
Leaders of conference calls or meetings can greatly assist by giving everyone a chance to contribute – on a Skype call this may be as simple as leaving time at the end to go around everyone on the call and ask if they have anything to add. See this article which suggests Some team members are naturally assertive and self-confident, while others are naturally shy and quiet. An assertive and self-confident person doesn't necessarily have better ideas than a shy and quiet person, but assertive people are a lot more likely to be heard and to have their ideas acted upon. To get the best out of your quieter team members, structure your meetings so that everyone has an equal opportunity to speak. Give people time to fully articulate their ideas.
 
I am not saying young professionals should not recognise and respect their elder colleagues, but rather that for their development and the good of the business they are in (which are interlinked) they should be given every chance to contribute.
 
As Oscar Wilde said The only people to whose opinions I listen now with any respect are people much younger than myself. They seem in front of me. Life has revealed to them her latest wonder.