Is always being positive actually a good thing? Motivational speakers will often talk about picking your attitude or making sure you always have a positive outlook to life? On the surface is sounds like some fairly harmless possibly slightly hippie-ish ramblings. In corporate world talk of positive outlooks is a popular mantra, often linked to improving the companies performance or lifting sales. Again is this really that bad?

It is possible to be too negative. People who have suffered many knock backs or disappointments in life can easily became stuck in a mindset where nothing good can happen. Often this is used as a resistance to change, as you know whats the point nothing is going to make things better.

But frankly, always being positive is not the best thing. Its false. If something bad happens in your life such as you lose your job, a relationship ends or a loved one dies – is being positive that helpful? Or are you just repressing the emotions that you actually feel, and whats more should feel. Those of feelings of sadness, anger, regret, disappointment, frustration and grief. Telling people to just put those aside and be positive is frankly just nonsence.

When I lost my mother to cancer a few years ago, people at the time would try to comfort me and say things like “you will grow stronger from this.” A work colleague at the time came up to me shortly after mum died and said “those who say you are stronger for this are talking crap, its a shit thing that happened and there is nothing good about it.” This was the single best thing anyone said to me during that time, it validated how I actually felt. Sadly the colleague who said this to me, died suddenly of a heart attack two years later.

The above is an extreme example. We also face disappointment in day to day working life. You have been working on a project that didn’t come through or a funding request was denied. No, the answer isn’t just to give up. But being all new aged and zen and loving the enriching experience of a knock back  is not helpful. And telling a colleague to be certainly is not.

My experience has been that it is important to have goals or a desired outcomes to work towards. In doing so you hope to make progress as quickly or pain free as possible. As my previous post related to setting up a UK bank account explains, this isn’t always the case. Were those phone calls to the Department of Work and Pensions positive or life enriching? Like hell they were. They were very frustrating. It wasn’t a positive attitude that eventually got me through to set up a bank account, it was determination and persistence. Was it fun? No. Did I learn anything? That bureaucracy is a pain in the arse (something I was already well aware of).  But I didn’t give up, and that eventually got me through.

There are times when you can pick your attitude, and where stubbornly wallowing in the negative can be utterly destructive. But so too is stubbornly fixating on everything being positive. Its false, and actually very draining to force yourself to feel a certain way when it doesn’t come naturally. And sometimes “shit things” happen, and you should just allow yourself to accept how you feel rather than force something thats not real.

The Rt Hon David Gauke MP

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 

House of Commons United Kingdom

SW1A 0AA

Rt Hon David Gauke,

In September 2017 I moved to the UK to expand my business Piko Consulting, a communications and research company into the UK market. One of the first things I did was to get myself a National Insurance Number.

In late October when still trying to set up a bank account in the UK, the bank asked me for proof of address. It was suggested to me by the bank that I called the Department for Work and Pensions and get them to send a letter with my National Insurance number on it to my home address.

On 24 October 2017 I called the Department of Work and Pensions help line. Firstly I was told that this was not the correct number and that for National Insurance queries I should call a different number. I then called this number. I was given a series of options; eventually I was put through to a pre-recorded message and then hung up on. My issue still wasn’t resolved so I called back. Once again, I after selecting a series of options I was hung up on. The third time I was slightly more cunning. I called back the helpline, and manipulated the answers in a way that I thought may get me put through to an actual human being. I had been at it for 20 minutes by this stage. I was successful. I spoke to someone, explained that I needed my National Insurance number posted on letterhead to my home address. The person on the phone agreed and said it would be on its way.

A few days later I got an email from my accountant. A letter had been sent to my accountants address with my National Insurance number on it, not to my home address as requested.

Having wasted over an hour of my life on a fruitless quest to get what I wanted out of the Department of Work and Pensions I elected not to put myself through this again.

A few months earlier I had seen the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake. At the start of the film there is this guy who recently suffered a heart attack trying to get information about his benefit out of the Department of Work and Pensions. He becomes highly frustrated with the long waiting times, and the circular conversations where he can get no answers to his questions. When I first saw this film I thought this scene was exaggerated for artistic effect. I now realise that this is an accurate display of a typical call to the Department of Work and Pensions.

My case ended up ok. I found another letter which the bank accepted as proof of address. What I was appalled by was that a government department could show such contempt for the UK tax payer by hanging up on them when they were seeking advice or help. That a pensioner who has paid tax all their lives, possibly a veteran even, could be treated with such contempt was very saddening. I understand the desire for government departments to save money and rationalise resources. And I accept that call centres will often get any number of nuisance callers or people who have questions they could easily find out online. But for some people using the internet is a struggle. And sometimes, people have complicated requests, and need to talk to someone rather than listen to a robot. It shouldn’t be a struggle for tax payers to get the help they require.

The UK is a great country, and I really love that I have the opportunity to live work and contribute here. But I do think its citizens deserve their government and in particular its government departments’ to treat its citizens with greater respect than the Department of Work and Pensions help line currently does.

Yours Sincerely,

Nick Kelly

Don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say. Specialisation is a great thing. Modern society has evolved due to the specialisation of labour. People live longer as doctors and scientists have specialised in areas such as cardiology or neuroscience. It is a good thing to have a workforce where people’s particular skill sets are recognised and they can be their most productive.

But it is always possible to have too much of a good thing.

One of the things I have found moving from Wellington to London is the degree of specialisation is far greater in the UK. For example in a typical New Zealand communications team, there often are social media specialist roles. But people in these roles are likely to be expected to do other roles within the communications team, such as being the media contact or working on an organisations annual report. Far less likely (though it does happen) is it that a New Zealand organisations will have a team just dedicated to social media where the team members specialise in specific platforms such as Twitter or Instagram.

The personal struggle for me is that my CV and previous work experience includes a number of different roles. I have worked as an advocate and a representative. I have done research and analysis. I have set up and maintained social media campaigns or pages for organisations. I have been responsible for media campaigns dealing on a daily basis with journalists. I have worked the education, transport, trade union, government, private and NGO sector. I have been a member of governance boards. I have managed people and budgets. And I even use to drive a bus.

While I have been able to pick up contracts in London in my first 3 months here, the process of securing contracts can be slow. One of the challenges is that in London organisations rate specialist skills. So someone with 10 years specialist experience in social media is seen as an ideal candidate. Someone who has used social media in previous role, but also has wider experience  in managing the other functions of running a campaign or project may not be viewed as so qualified. I believe having that broader experience is incredibly valuable. Having someone who can see the bigger picture, or knows how their piece of the project interacts with the other departments or functions is vital.

Globally the trend is has significantly moved away from people remaining in the same job throughout their working lives. According to the Financial Times people in the workforce today should expect to change careers 5 times in their lifetimes. This isn’t a trend that workers in the UK are necessarily wanting to resist with nearly half of UK employees wanting a career change a 2015 study showed.

Changes to the world economy are going to perpetuate trends of people changing careers. In the UK clearly the changing economy when the country leaves the European Union will force businesses to change strategy, in a as yet  uncertain direction. But bigger shocks are on the way to the world economy than this. The development of driver less cars will result of millions of workers being forced to change careers in coming years. Responses to climate change, weather voluntary or reactively to climate disasters, will also cause massive changes to the workforce.

Significant changes to the workforce and people having multiple careers will not mean the end of specialisation. But people who display the skills of agility, adaptability and who can transfer specialist skills from one sector or role to another are very valuable to any organisation. Increasingly transferable skills and adaptability could will become just as important as having specialist knowledge.

The second in my ‘Why’ series is about my company Piko. A group of us formed Piko in early 2016 in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In September 2017 I expanded Piko into London.

So why the name?

Piko is a Māori word which means to bend or curve.Piko was a road address for one of our directors at the time we formed the company. Much of our work is about helping our clients run campaigns for change, or to refocus clients strategic aims. Thus the name seemed appropriate.

But why did we form Piko?

The founding directors had worked in political parties, government departments, trade unions, Iwi organisations and private sector companies. One of the issues we had found in running campaigns is that often knowledge from successful projects or campaigns weren’t shared. We had run successful political campaigns within our various organisations. We wanted to build a company that helped organisations develop their capability so they can achieve their strategic goals or campaign outcomes.

Piko provides an opportunity for individuals to broaden their experiences and develop in their careers. It is very easy to end up in a certain sector or organisation, and soon find you only get opportunities to work in that area. Piko offers the opportunity to work across the public and private sector. To run campaigns for unions, charities, NGO’s and other not for profits, but also for political parties or businesses. We want people to develop their skills and capability, and not be limited by siloed organisation or sector thinking.

Much of our work has involved helping organisations run successful social media and digital campaigns. We are not a digital or social media company. We are a company that helps organisations run successful campaigns or promotions, and social media is one of the tools in the kit.

Why expand the business form New Zealand to London?

This why is addressed in the previous post. In the context of Piko’s overall business strategy campaigns and projects are often run across national boundaries. The UK retains strong connections with New Zealand, but also is a larger and more complex market in many ways. Both countries have much they can learn from each other, and Piko’s expansion in the UK can help facilitate this.

 

Recently someone recommended I look into Simon Sinek’s Start With Why. I’m not usually one to get over excited by the latest motivational speaker or concept. But this one spoke to me. It spoke to me as it was so simple, so obvious, yet often the very question that businesses and organisations ignore. Why?

So my first blog posts are going to be dedicated to this theme.

Why London?

The UK and particularly London is about to go through the most significant period of uncertainty and change since the end of the second world war. Brexit will fundamentally change the economic, political and cultural landscape of the country. Commentators and pundits can try and pick what will happen over the coming months and years (and I’ll inevitably do the same). But in reality there are so many variables that at this stage it is anyone’s guess as to how things will play out. Last nights upset vote in the House of Commons being just the latest sign of turmoil.

Uncertainty, change, turmoil. These don’t sound like reasons why do they? Or are they?

When there is a risk, often there also is an opportunity. Since 1973 Britain has been part of the common market. In March 2019 that will come to an end. All of the UK’s trading arrangements will need to be revisited. EU regulations will no longer automatically apply and parliament will need to pass a considerable amount of legislation. The politics of Northern Ireland have already been brought to the fore, with concerns that a soft border may not be retained with the Irish Republic. This was further complicated in the 2017 general election when the Conservative Government were forced to go into Coalition with the DUP. Likewise the issue of Scottish Independence looms in the background, as like Northern Ireland the majority of voters in Scotland voted to remain in the EU.

The above may not look like opportunities for positive change. But in times of change comes and opportunity to fundamentally revisit the political and economic structures of the United Kingdom.

Coming from New Zealand, I have grown up in a country that was never part of the EU. New Zealand has been forced to make its own trading relationships. As a small country in the South Pacific we have had to develop relationships with superpowers like the US and China. We hold our own on the world stage despite having a population of just over 4 million people. I don’t mean to put NZ up on a pedestal, and future posts may address some of the challenges that country faces. However coming to London from New Zealand, Piko Consulting comes to the UK with fresh eyes and a different perspective. This fresh perspective and openness to change is something that would greatly benefit many organisations in the UK.

So why London? For me and my company Piko, London at this time offers exciting challenges. There are opportunities for Piko to make a positive contribution to the UK at a time of significant change. For me it is an opportunity to move into new areas of work in a different economy. The city of London is full of many opportunities for me to expand my company at this time. And for London I offer a skills, experience and a fresh perspective that will be incredibly valuable, especially during this time of change.

I am excited to be here, and I can’t wait to make a positive contribution in London.