While we organise ourselves, remember too to organise yourself and register prior to 31 July to get the special Early Bird rate.  By registering early you’ll also be able to get the best-priced airfares if you’re travelling from out of town.  Keep checking Grab-a-Seat for daily specials.

So if you intend to attend, you might want to get cracking on securing your place – visit www.conference.hrinz.org.nz.

Trust us – it’s going to be a goodie.

Being able to remind ourselves of the bigger picture and remember customers are indeed ‘human’ (just like ourselves, the ‘staff’) is an important and good lesson to be reminded of every day.  As much as I have spent many an hour gazing intently into my computer screen and on the phone liaising with numerous members over the years, I know there is much more to HRINZ members than pixels, graphics, emails, phone messages and a profile number.  Although like anyone, I can be guilty at times of burying my head and forgetting (momentarily) this reality.

The new reality TV programme ‘Undercover Boss’ highlights a similar concept and gets senior management out into the ‘real’ world where they see how their policy’s are actually carried out.  What looks good on paper doesn’t always look so good on the factory floor.  The first episode was great viewing and I encourage you to look out for it on Tuesdays, TV1 at 7.30pm.

For the team at National Office, we’re including Social Media as much as possible to connect with our members in a new and instant way, and by doing so are reminding ourselves of the large reach we have out there into the HR Profession.

To engage in direct conversation with you via this new medium is bringing a whole new level of enthusiasm to the team as we see how our day to day activities are affecting you. It also makes our job easier as we can share more of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of HRINZ National Office with you.

On the flipside I thought it would also be interesting to share with all of you a typical day in National Office, to remind you too, that we are more than just a name, an email or a voice on the phone.  It will hopefully also answer that all too frequent question ‘so what do you do at National Office?’  – a question that always leaves me a little breathless as I try to list everything that our team of 8 full-time staff and 3 part-time staff are involved with.

So while the ‘Boss’ is away and unable to blog from her remote Greek Island.  I’ll be posting a few insights into life at National Office.  Stay tuned for HRINZ Reality World.

We are now ‘t minus one week’ until Edward de Bono arrives in New Zealand.  While I’m not expecting a ‘Justin Bieber’ type media frenzy to happen (although who knows? Edward’s red socks do have a bit of a following in NZ), the HRINZ team are preparing for a busy week all the same while we host Edward during his stay.

Edward will be in New Zealand to again talk about ‘Ideas’ – or rather the ability to embrace thinking which encourages ‘ideas’.

Wikipedia defines ‘Ideas’ as: In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images.^[1] Many philosophers consider ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being.
The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings.
In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place.

The ‘reflex, spontaneous manner’ of ideas is what intrigues me personally.  For myself, I know my best ideas are only created when I truly slow down.  They don’t come to me while I am sitting at my keyboard staring into my computer screen – which is typically when I am getting ‘paid to work’.  In fact a lot of my ideas come to me in the weekend, when my head has the ‘space’ and change of scenery which allows room in my mind for the new ideas to jump in.  A bit like that McDonald’s TV advertisement, when a new random fact can only be stored, if space is created by removing another stored fact.

A great enjoyment of mine is cycling, and I have solved many a problem in my head while cycling around the coast of Wellington.  It’s not uncommon for me to come into work on a Monday and spend the day beginning every other sentence with ‘I had an idea in the weekend’ – which invariably creates a roll of the eyes from at least someone in the team telling me to ‘stop thinking about work in the weekend’.

I believe that while we get paid to do a job which is typically Monday-Friday, we shouldn’t be afraid to let the mind wander in the weekend (nor should we be expecting overtime rates) if that happens to be when your best ideas are created.  To be engaged in your work is to constantly be open to better thinking and ideas.  How many great ideas have come to you in the middle of the night?  Or as you mindlessly cleaned your teeth?  It is these sort of random mindless activities which have the most value for the best thinking and should be encouraged.  For those employees who put up the ‘Closed’ sign as soon as you walk out of your workplace door – think again…or at least be open to thinking – you could be missing out on the best idea of the year (and imagine the pay rise if you truly cracked the jackpot for your employer)!  Or as Edward de Bono would say ‘Think – Before it is Too Late’.

What I want to know is where do you do your best thinking?  How do you encourage better thinking spaces for yourself and your team?

P.S.  For those looking for a quick solution to better thinking, Edward’s events probably won’t be for you.  For those looking for a ‘stretch’ and something to ignite better thinking in your own lives, then Edward’s presentation will be for you – if you can, try and see him either in Auckland on Wednesday 12^th May (at the ‘Nine to 9’ conference as a Keynote speaker) or the public event in Wellington on Friday 14^th May.