Shine a light

I was struck by the following quote from Nietszhe, and felt it had some relevance in the context of coaching, mentoring , performance management… hell just most aspects of management in general I reckon! (shout out to Robbie Steinhouse from previous posts whose book I found it in):

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how”

It really made me stop and think about how if we have a purpose to what we do we can always find a means to reach our goals – where there is a will and all that. Maybe it is a little too high brow for your liking? I know, for all that I got from that quote, if you asked me who this guy was I would most probably struggle to give you anything beyond a garbled recount of information from Wikipedia.

So how about a metaphor I can help explain a little more to keep in mind when dealing with issues of development or performance? And that you might not be questioned about so deeply if you bump in to some Stephen Fry types when you want to throw the example in to conversation? I think you could do a lot worse than consider the Green Lantern.

‘Green who?’ I hear you say - shame on you!

Hands up who wants pizza? (Image via Wikipedia)

I’ll avoid going in to a detailed account of the character, I will leave that up to you to investigate though I encourage you to do so. (I am a bias comic nut but I think aside from the sheer escapism there can be real benefits to engrossing yourself in this field of fiction – if anything else you don’t want to be lost when this summer’s latest cinematic blockbuster arrives)

The character traits that set it from alien predecessors or other multi-coloured Lanterns (no really – get in to this and there is a strict colour code) are twofold: will and humanity.

Before I am corrected on the details of the former, this is just a brief synopsis is for the benefit of those new to the character. By default a Green Lantern must have the ‘power’ of will – the idea being that they are the person who is able to step up in the face of challenges and adversity to make the hard choice or face the insurmountable foe, etc.

But what set Hal Jordan and those that followed him apart was their humanity. Will being applied without humanity loses some of its power, as it lacks sincerity and becomes more about coercion for those parties affected. View it in the context of performance management – one of the first things you ask of someone when trying to establish the reasons for a faltering performance is ‘are there issues outside of work we can help you with?’ We show concern for the individuals well being. Or perhaps look at it in the arena of mentoring or coaching.

With a mentoring example, one might ask “How will you feel when you achieve this? What difference will it make to your life, both professional and personal?” You look to try to play to peoples values, their sense of worth and so on.

So next time you have a project or a tough client to deal with, where you need to rely on others or want to bring them on board, keep in mind two points – what is creating the why/ the cause of what is being discussed, along with to what degree this is

Failing that ask yourself – what would the Green Lantern do? Beyond save the planet, of course…

Has Thor struck a hammer blow for equality?

First of apologies for the break between this and my last post- CIPD and my day job have been taking their toll! However I will endeavour to post more regularly to one and all from the end of May onwards.

Sadly we will have to wait even longer, until Summer 2011 in fact, for the next Marvel Comics blockbuster in the form of Thor. Though not a huge fan of the publication I am excited about the movie and it has hit the news recently with its casting of British actor Idris Elba in a one of its roles.

‘That bloke off that Luther show on the BBC?’ I hear you cry – well, yes but he is well known also for playing a role in the greatest TV show to ever air (Fact. No really - if you have not seen it the Wire was that good), in not just any old role but a key pillar to most of the storylines.

In Thor Elba has been cast as Heimdall, a Norse god protecting the rainbow bridge between earth and the realms that Thor, Odin, and a myriad of other characters reside in known as Asgaard. Upon hearing of his casting, some of fans of the Son Odin - Brother of Loki (that is Thor for those not a comic geek like myself) have been posting on chat rooms across the web about their displeasure in the casting. The suggestion has been that it undermines the credibility of the role as the gods in Asgaard are of Norse/European descent, meaning Elba in theory should be ruled out on grounds of race in casting for the role.

Is this an example of a genuine occupational requirement? There are certain roles or appointments that clearly rule out certain individuals from applying- for example, I would not expect my application for a position of trust in a women’s shelter to be successful due to my gender.

Often actors having certain requirements for particular roles is suggested as an example of this in action. That being the case, is there a case to answer here with Thor?

I don’t think so- and I think Elba gave an excellent argument as to why this is the case in a recent interview with the Guardian. This is not to say that in critiquing the final production we should not be blind to any faults in terms of storyline, performances and so on. However, should we not be given the chance to evaluate Elba in the role first? As he put it, it is a ‘fictional character, in a fictional world’.

Being a fan of his work so far and having a passing interest in the comic book publication, I am excited about the casting and what Elba might do with the role. And if he is not enough of a star to excite you, check this lot out who will also be taking part in it!