Podcast appearances and mentions of warren hammond

This week Warren Hammond and Angie Hodapp return to the show to catch up and talk about critique groups, creativity, and writing! Find out more about Warren at https://warrenhammond.net and find out more about Angie at https://angiehodapp.com. Mentioned in this episode: The Kop series by Warren Hammond The Denver Moon series by Josh Viola and Warren Hammond TIDES OF MARITINIA by Warren Hammond Nelson Literary Agency https://nelsonagency.com James Persichetti The Dresden Files book series by Jim Butcher Radom Games Inc. Unioverse Hex Publishers https://hexpublishers.com Aaron Lovett The Good Place (TV Show) Supernatural (TV Show) CriTiki Party (Podcast) Mario Acevedo Travis Heermann THE GUNSLINGER by Stephen King ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

Warren Hammond is known for his gritty, futuristic KOP series. By taking the best of classic detective noir, and reinventing it on a destitute colony world, Hammond has created these uniquely dark tales of murder, corruption and redemption. KOP Killer won the 2012 Colorado Book Award for best mystery. His last novel, Tides of Maritinia, was released in December of 2014. His first book independent of the KOP series, Tides is a spy novel set in a science fictional world. Josh bio: Joshua Viola is a 2021 Splatterpunk Award nominee, Colorado Book Award winner, and editor of the StokerCon™ 2021 Souvenir Anthology. He is the co-author of the Denver Moon series with Warren Hammond. Their graphic novel, Denver Moon: Metamorphosis, was included on the 2018 Bram Stoker Award™ Preliminary Ballot. Viola edited the Denver Post #1 bestselling horror anthology Nightmares Unhinged, and co-edited Cyber World—named one of the best science fiction anthologies of 2016 by Barnes & Noble. His first novel, The Bane of Yoto, won the USA Best Book Awards, National Indie Excellence Awards, International Book Awards, and Independent Publishers Book Awards. His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including DOA III: Extreme Horror Anthology, Doorbells at Dusk and Classic Monsters Unleashed. In 2022, he became the creative director of comics and novelizations for Random Games' videogame franchise, Unioverse, a new series from the creators of Grand Theft Auto and Donkey Kong Country, and the writers of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Halo 4. When he isn't writing and editing, Viola dabbles in art. In 2020, he collaborated with his husband, Aaron Lovett, on AfterShock Comics' Miskatonic #1 Cover Alpha Comics variant. As a video game artist, he worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: Call of the Kraken, Smurfs' Grabber and TARGET: Terror. Viola is the owner and chief editor of Hex Publishers in Denver, Colorado. www.hexpublishers.com www.denvermoon.net www.unioverse.com www.joshuaviola.com www.warrenhammon.net For video versions of these podcasts, follow: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBP81nfbKnDRjs-Nar9LNe20138AiPyP8 Host: Mark Stevens: https://www.writermarkstevens.com/   Intro Music by Moby Gratis: https://mobygratis.com/ Outro Music by Dan-o-Songs: https://danosongs.com/

This is a great, light-hearted way to profile people.  And Stephen always tells it so well it feels like it should be in a book. Rhinos and Cattle - One is not good, and one is not bad.  None of us are all one or the other – it's a spectrum that can help us to understand ourselves and those around us – it can help to improve how we work with others. Short description below - and scroll down for the first 10 minutes of the transcript. Loads more from Stephen on www.coachpro.online Full transcript available on www.rhinoconsulting.nl/podcast Any thoughts or suggestions - let us know at podcast@coachpro.online The story is a little playful – you hear it and you immediately start putting yourself into one of the 2 camps – and then you start looking around you and doing the same.  Your whole family and team are suddenly full of horns and black spots. The spectrum so colourfully described is also a useful way to characterise yourself and those around you – by labelling you and others you can start to manage the relationships around you better – you to them, and them to you.  There are many other charts that allow you to profile people – but this one I found to be useful.  There are others too. The second part is the learning to appreciate that a balance is needed.  Without a team that can covers all skills and viewpoints you will be weaker. By acknowledging the different type of animals around you, there is now an understanding that you should manage the different personalities better. In the future you can use this knowledge to build an optimum team. This move from “seeing the differences and denying them” - to toleration – to appreciating them - to actively seeking out complementary skills - is a valuable skill to learn and consciously employ. Lastly, it's an important learning that can be applied to other spectrum and differences.  Gender, age, cognitive models, backgrounds, roles… there is a huge and important movement to diversity and inclusion.  It's important that everyone understands and appreciates that Those that are different are not be tolerated. They are to be appreciated and valued.  They are strengthening your team and improving results if you embrace the perspective they can offer. Those that are different- you were brought in to be different. Fitting in is a common and normal habit – it makes sense.  Find a way to fit in by being you. Keep your unique perspective. Be authentic – that's the real value. Transcript (AI generated so forgive the typos) Warren Hammond  02:13 Today, as always, interesting topic, the Rhino and Cattle model. Now, I'm going to be working really hard not to say too much in this because this is a story I have abused and abused so many times, Stephen, that it's going to be good to get it from the horse's mouth so to speak. So let's get into it. The Rhino and Cattle model? What is it?   Stephen Gribben  02:40 In essence, what it is is a Profiling framework. It'll help you to see yourself and understand others more as a process so that you can authentically connect, engage, understand and appreciate both yourself and others intelligently, rather than just see yourself or others through an emotional prism.   Warren Hammond  03:03 So I just thought it was a nice wildlife story, but already you've come up with lots and lots of four syllable words. So it's a profiling framework. So how I think about it, and you tell me which bits are right and which bits are nearly right, let's put it that way, this is a way of looking at yourself, looking at other people, and helping you to see the differences between them without it being good or bad.   Stephen Gribben  03:31 Yes it's to understand those differences, and accept those differences. Appreciate those differences, be okay with those differences and value them and expect them as opposed to seeing them and judging them on the basis of whether you like them or not, or whether you agree with them or not. So that it gets beyond either asking people to be more like you, or feeling the pressure for you to have to be more like them.   Warren Hammond  04:00 And you use the word already 'intelligent'. We talk a lot about when you're thinking intelligently it is more complex and nuanced versus emotionally which tends to be binary, black and white, good or bad, hero or zero. This is part of that. Intelligently looking at somebody and seeing the many different shades of of skills in them. They're not good or bad. They are just different. Unique.   Stephen Gribben  04:28 Yeah, if you're going to have relationships and you're going to be of influence then you first have to connect. So you need to know where people are to be able to connect.  What this allows you to do, even with this profiling we're going to use the caricatures of a rhinoceros and cattle. This isn't, then, to label people as either being Rhino or Cattle. But to understand if they are more Rhino or more Cattle, so that we can define more intelligently where they are, as we did with Trust before.  There's emotional trust, which is 100% or 0%, the 99 boxes in-between is where intelligent trust sits. Well, when we're profiling people, in terms of their characteristics, this is an objective process to see where they are on a scale, as opposed to just putting them in a box.   Warren Hammond  05:22 This makes sense. We think about workplaces at the moment, we've got so many different generations, and then there's  ages, there's genders, there's so many different spectrum at the moment in play, I can see that this is going to be useful for that. So firstly, internally, why is this important in terms of my own self development?   Stephen Gribben  05:48 In terms of your own self development, and the four pillars of that are your Self awareness, Self confidence, Self management, Self determination. Having a greater self awareness of where you are on the spectrum, from know the extreme Cattle to the extreme Rhino, where you are helps you become more self aware of where you are, what's important to you, what works for you, what matters to you, how you see the world, it reinforces that self awareness. It then also supports that self confidence that if you're more Rhino, it's okay, and it's pretty cool to be a Rhino, and if you're more Cattle, it's okay and pretty cool to be Cattle. So it's having that Self-Confidence that I know who I am, I know what I'm about, I'm okay with that.   Warren Hammond  06:37 So that profiling, that naming you talked about before, is when you name something, it's easier to manage it. Using these profiles of Rhino and Cattle help you to name and identify and acknowledge certain characteristics about yourself. And as you said, once you become aware of it, be absolutely fine about it, then, okay.   Stephen Gribben  06:56 Yeah, because it helps you get beyond the 'is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is that a strength or weakness, is it right or wrong? It's an objective Profiling. So you can see it is what it is, and that's okay. And if you've got that self awareness, of what you are and you're confident then of what you are more of, then you can move on to that self management. Which is managing then how you communicate with yourself, how you connect with yourself, how you position things with yourself, to your natural strengths, and tendencies. And then the last element is about self determination. You're then more empowered, more in control of being able to say 'what do I want to be? What is my full potential? What do I want to develop? Being successful by being you. Now knowing and understanding more about who you are on that profile allows you then to determine what success would look like for you, what happiness would look like for you, what health and fulfilment would look like for you, and being able to determine that rather than wait to hear what others think is best for you.   Warren Hammond  08:06 So in this one, we're talking rhinos and cattles, it doesn't matter where you are on it. But once you understand which you are, you can then use that to your advantage to determine what's going to happen next. You don't have to pretend to be something else, this is who you are. And that's enough. And that's good enough already.   Stephen Gribben  08:27 Yeah. And as I say, it takes you beyond the labelling of good or bad, right or wrong, strong or weak. It's just an objective, this is where you fit. In your opinion, this is where you fit and therefore, let's start from there, rather than the where am I not, who am I not, looking at the gaps all the time. It is building upon what's there. And then you take that externally to others, So if the self development is your piece in it, the external benefit of this is then it helps you build stronger relationships, authentic, genuine, sincere relationships, you being you, and them being them. It also allows you to connect. You don't have to be the same to connect. It's not about having something in common. It's about creating a connection. And therefore with that connection, you can be far more influential, you can add more value, you can make more of a difference. And the difference is it's of value to that other person. Because you have that connection. You will also have greater harmony through this, and importantly, less conflict. Because you're not forcing your way of looking at the world onto someone else who sees it differently. You will understand and expect they're going to see this differently and therefore they're going to respond to this differently. And so you can anticipate that more.   Warren Hammond  09:48 So by looking at their qualities you see they're different. You don't judge it as good or bad. You just understand it's different and knowing it's different, you know that there will be a different response. a different reaction, a better way of talking to them. And therefore, that's that, as you talk about many times, that connection is you can't influence from afar, you can't build trust from afar, you have to have that connection. So this enables you.  This is one of the basic building blocks then. This helps you get a connection with people who may be the same as you, or maybe different, but you're looking at it more clearly. Okay.   Stephen Gribben  10:30 And it helps you go beyond that tolerating people who are different than you. This helps you build credible value and appreciation for what they bring, rather than always comparing it to what you would rather they brought or what you're bringing, and therefore, that moves on to tolerance. This makes it into value and appreciation. It also helps with your communication. Because you can speak their language, you can position things in a way where they can connect and understand it better. And also, what you can do is request and advise on how best to communicate to you. This is this stuff that works for me, this is the way I'll respond best. So that you can then set clear expectations - both in the giving of expectation, and what to expect in return, which wraps up into that intelligent trust. Rather than thinking I can trust someone or I can't, you'll be able to clarify and identify specifically, what exactly can I trust. So that you can make more conscious decisions. Rather than feeling 'I should be able to, so I'm just going to', but actually, you make more conscious decisions. Wrapping all that up, you may not be happy. And therefore you might be disappointed. But it will be accurate disappointment. You might be disappointed that a Rhino is not going to respond the way you would prefer them to do if they were cattle, and vice versa. But it will be accurate disappointment, rather than the inaccurate optimism 'that I like this, therefore you should' or that inaccurate pessimism 'that you will never respond well to this but I'm going to still keep putting it to you in this way'.   Warren Hammond  12:19 There's a lot there. I like this idea that, first of all, that conflict can move to a tolerance when you've acknowledged their skills, to actually appreciating and valuing people. And that's a journey that I've gone on, but maybe not as consciously and intelligently, as you're suggesting can be done. I mean, I think we've all had those people who we just didn't understand. And then we start to think 'Oh, actually, I can see the job they do' to actually appreciating the massive value that they can bring to a team or to your life. Okay, I love that idea of being able to say to people, this is how to deal with me. I think you know, if you could have a manual around your neck, that people realise how best to get the best out of you, that would have saved me loads of hassle in the past. Yeah, okay. This is good. This is massive, this is important, it feels that this is one of our key building blocks. And this genuine connection with people, with yourself and with other people, this is going to help massively with that.   Stephen Gribben  13:32 I've used this for many, many years with people and it's almost become shorthand with some of those people will just say either Rhino or Cattle and we both know what they mean. There is a value and importance in this and there's fun involved. And this allows you to take a little bit of the intensity out of it, and allow yourself just to observe and see it through a humorous aspect. And caricature, which takes a little bit of the heat out of it, to be able to just look at it as a process. And to characterise people in two fantastic animals of Rhino and Cattle, but to see them on that basis allows you to look at it more objectively in a more relaxed and informal way. And as long as you do without judgement, then there's great clarity to be gained from it.

Satisfaction and loyalty – the holy grails for relationships – personal, professional, internal and external. The two are mentioned in the same sentence all the time – like a double act in comedy, foods that complement each other or a famous sporting duo – but they're not necessarily found together all the time . Satisfaction is an attitude – Loyalty is the behaviour.  People may be satisfied but not loyal – and loyal people may not be always satisfied One way I considered it was pizza delivery– I'm usually satisfied with any of them and will happily order for any of the 4 nearby – I'm not particularly loyal to any one brand.  Someone shopping for a car may start at their favourite brand – Audi – and end up buying BMW.  But in their heads, they remain a loyal Audi customer and will go back to Audi first next time. Stephen walks us through this model that looks at different components that make up Satisfaction and Loyalty.  Once you understand them you can manage them.  And then you can decide which relationships you want to build up into ones that are full of satisfaction and loyalty. Any comments or thoughts: email us at podcast@coachpro.online More great models at www.coachpro.online Full transcript and blog: https://rhinoconsulting.nl/episode-132-satisfaction-amp-loyalty   Thanks for your support so far - please subscribe and share   The first 15 minutes of the podcast is transcripted below -    Warren Hammond  00:56 Welcome back podcats, to another episode of our podcast. This one's a good one. I always say that, this one is a Loyalty and Satisfaction or Satisfaction and Loyalty. I'm always tempted to put in 'Customer' before that, it just seems to be one of those phrases that we always hear; Customer satisfaction and Customer loyalty, we spend ages talking about it. It's one of the key metrics for business success. That is covered and it's talked about, but also how we can take this into other areas of our lives. internal and external. So it's looking at the whole relationship. So it's good, there's a model, there's a six point guide at the end. So there's lots to take away. Any thoughts questions, give us a shout, podcast@coachpro.online or find us on LinkedIn. There is a full transcript available for these so please look that up. And on www.coachpro.online itself there's loads more models and frameworks that you can use. So let's get straight into it. I'll be back at the end with some brief comments. Here comes the cheesy music. Warren Hammond  02:11 So here we are. Normal call signs, Edinburgh, can you hear me? Stephen Gribben  02:16 Loud and clear Warren Hammond  02:17 Loud and clear? It's not a surprise anymore. But when we started this a year ago, all the zoom and the video conferencing, it felt that this was almost magic, it was almost wizardry, the fact that we could hear each other, even though we were countries apart now is the most normal thing in the world. Anyway, today, we're discussing satisfaction, and loyalty. Now I know I've got in my head while I think of loyalty and satisfaction. And I'm immediately thinking of customers and NPS etc. And I also know that I always think about these things too small. So let's go to Stephen and get a formal definition that we can kick ourselves off with. So how should we think about satisfaction and loyalty? What's the definition we should be using Stephen?   Stephen Gribben  03:08 Well, satisfaction is about attitude. And loyalty is about behaviour.   Stephen Gribben  03:16 Typically in relationships, whether that is as a customer relationship, or a personal relationship, or professional relationship, satisfaction is the attitude, how you feel and how you judge; loyalty's about behaviour, which is about what you then do.   Warren Hammond  03:34 That's a good definition. Because I do you think that sometimes we use satisfaction in a broader way. But that makes sense. And so this is an attitude, this is how you're feeling about something. And loyalty is then how you're demonstrating that feeling that behaviour.   Stephen Gribben  03:51 Yeah, typically, this is used in the concept of customer and there's value in that. But you'll get customer satisfaction, which is based largely on your attitude of what's happened. But that doesn't necessarily always lead them to customer loyalty. So you'll get people who will say satisfaction versus loyalty, rather than satisfaction AND loyalty. And ideally, what you're looking for in a relationship is satisfaction and loyalty.   Warren Hammond  04:19 You're I mean, maybe it's because he's in the middle of the day. You know, we're not sitting in a pub with a beer or a glass of wine. Because if you were to talk about loyalty and satisfaction in a social setting, you do automatically think about relationships, but it seems very different when you think about customer relationships. But how you just said this is attitude and behaviour. Yeah, it's different relationships where both of these things are important.   Stephen Gribben  04:48 But if we hold on to that concept of customer, and the challenge that we've all got is how wide is your concept of customer. So, who do you consider or who could you consider to be a customer. I've used a model with clients for years, called the Client Box. I use this at home as well. In the client box, everything becomes kind of automatic for me, I know the parameters to work in. I know what I can get away with, what I cant get away with. I know what's good enough and what's not good enough. So for a client, in that client box, it becomes very clear on what professional and standard looks like. However, I can leave home in the morning and be asked what time will I be home at  tonight? And my answer could be, Well, it depends on what messages I get through what calls I have to do. What else comes in during the day. Probably sometime, it could be as early as four could be as late as eight'. Because at home, I haven't put my family in that client box. If I was to say to a client, the client said, Could you be there on Tuesday, and what time will you be here, and I say to him sometime between four or eight. And then they'll say 'well, do you want to just not bother coming along until you can tell us what time you're going to be here'. So sometimes putting things in the client box gives you absolute clarity on how you should be dealing with something in that relationship. And it's not for me to pretend my family are clients, no disrespect, they're  a lot more to than clients, but sometimes they deserve that attitude and behaviour that my clients benefit from   Warren Hammond  06:27 That firm border that you'd put around that. Even when you say the client box in my head, I've got that visual of a thick black frame, you know, around it, which you don't get through,   Stephen Gribben  06:39 We do this with family members. In business, we might do it with suppliers, we don't treat them as clients or we don't treat our colleagues the way we would treat clients. And people deserve to be treated as a client.   Warren Hammond  06:52 Okay. So this is a relationship then with way more than just intimates or customers, this is about satisfaction, as an attitude and loyalty as a behaviour, all around us. So this is a lot bigger already, as I'm getting accustomed to. So we talk a lot about personal growth, and especially about self development. So how does satisfaction and loyalty, and understanding that, fit within the whole self development philosophy?   Stephen Gribben  07:26 Well, as you know, the four pillars in self development are self awareness, self confidence, self management, and self determination. And what self development is about is focusing on your strengths and what you're really good at, and building upon those so that when you take on those gaps or areas of weakness that you want to improve, they become less challenging, and you're more authentic in it. So in terms of self awareness, what this is about is becoming more aware of the level of satisfaction and loyalty, so the attitudes and the behaviours that you want to foster or to have within relationships, both personally and professionally. So becoming more aware of what makes a relationship have satisfaction and loyalty to the level that you want.   Warren Hammond  08:15 So this is part of then understanding what the terms are the satisfaction and loyalty which we touched on which we'll go through more, but also understanding when you should be aware of satisfaction and loyalty, that's that whole self awareness thing. Okay,   Stephen Gribben  08:29 This is self awareness so you're consciously aware of what a good relationship looks like. So that you get beyond saying, we've got a great relationship or with that person I don't have such a good relationship, or you know, better relationships than others. It's having that self awareness, to be more conscious of why certain relationships are at certain stages. So you become more aware, therefore, you're already more empowered.   Warren Hammond  08:55 Love that. And that is the consciousness that we talk about as well. You're owning it. It isn't something happening to you, you've actually can see it, you're noticing it, you're acknowledging it, and therefore you've got a chance of working to make it better. Okay? So self awareness is the first plank,   Stephen Gribben  09:11 Then self confidence. And self confidence is making sure that if you're aware of what's going to drive your satisfaction and loyalty, having the confidence to making sure you're bringing that all the time. Consciously aware of what you contribute, based upon your strengths, what you're good at. What are you good at that drives satisfaction, loyalty to the level that you're wanting to either give it or receive it. You're, therefore, getting those great relationships by being you rather than trying to force the great relationships by pretending to be something or someone else.   Warren Hammond  09:49 And that confidence then, and you talk about this before is, this isn't fake confidence. It isn't a fake way of working, a crutch or something you're getting from a guru. This is you looking at yourself and connecting with those strengths, and knowing because you have those strengths you can do whatever needs to happen.   Stephen Gribben  10:06 Yeah, it's getting fantastic relationships for you being you. It's you getting the right attitude and behaviour, giving out and in return, for you being you, not by other people's perceptions or your pretence,   Warren Hammond  10:20 yeah, that self confidence is massive to get stuff done,   Stephen Gribben  10:23 Then on to self management, which is by now knowing what you consider to be of value in terms of driving satisfaction and loyalty, it is having that self management of sticking to that, that discipline, that ensuring that you keep your standards, that consistency of looking for those standards from others. So that's self management. So there's not relationships through compromise, but relationships through assertion of what's important to you and important to them in terms of driving satisfaction and loyalty.   Warren Hammond  10:57 That's massive, isn't it? We talked before about self help, and information. So the self awareness and the self confidence is a higher stage in that, knowing that you can do something, knowing what you should do. The self management then is that discipline in execution and consistency of effort to make sure that those things you know you should be doing, you are doing. Yeah, I mean, that's easier said than done.   Stephen Gribben  11:24 And then self determination. And that's that 'you deciding'. That's the 'what relationships do you want to have? With whom do you want to build those relationships? What do you want those relationships to be built upon? In terms of attitude and behaviour to drive satisfaction and loyalty? What do you want the value to be understood by. So you're determining what the fullest potential for you is going to look like to bring you fulfilment, happiness, success for being you, a genuine relationship. And that, tapping back into the self management, is not you just accepting things on anybody else's terms for the sake of it. So you taking that self determination what amazing and fantastic will look like for you.   Warren Hammond  12:11 I love that. I love when, whenever you say the self determination thing, I just get bigger and bigger inside, this is just such a strong idea. And the great thing about the self development is this gives you the steps on how to do it, because we all want to determine our future. And as you said, if you're not telling yourself, then someone else is doing it for you. Good luck with that, I think is how you say it regularly. And I love that. And then, of course, we all want to determine our own future. But there is that how do I do it? And this whole self development ladder of the awareness, of the confidence, of the self management are the steps to get there? Love this. Okay. So the satisfaction and loyalty forms part of this as well, this is going to be good. So why are we discussing this now?   Stephen Gribben  13:01 Now more than ever, when you've got so much information, so many opinions getting thrown out at you of what you should be satisfied with and loyal to. This is more than ever critical that you're making your conscious choices, conscious decisions, on what matters to you, what's worth your level of commitment to be satisfied and loyal. And then equally important for you then to be able to determine the satisfaction and loyalty that you want to receive from whom, and from where, and knowing how to get it more than ever, rather than other people telling you if you want to be successful, this is what you need to value. Well, actually, it's understanding what you really value and then saying how do I achieve the success, fulfilment and happiness that I really want through this   Warren Hammond  13:51 You did this similar trick with (trick in the nicest way) with Value is that you sometimes think that these are things that are active FROM you. But it's actually also understanding that these things happen TO you as well. These things are all around you, and pressing on you and you pressing on them.   Stephen Gribben  14:09 And to take this to its core with self development it always starts with you. And are you satisfied and loyal to yourself? You know, are you showing the right attitude to yourself and the right behaviours to yourself, that you value that relationship. And this is where self development really comes in, it is understanding yourself, knowing where your strengths are, having that discipline and rigour to be at your best, and you determining what matters to you, enables you to drive that satisfaction and loyalty internally so that you have that relationship with you rather than being in conflict with yourself.   Warren Hammond  14:51 Wow. Imagine that. Looking at all the relationships, the attitudes, the behaviours towards yourself and being totally satisfied with that. Okay, let's get going. This is good.  

This podcast episode features a key tool in the Self Development toolbox - Questions. Questions allow you to take control and give guidance on where you are going to end up. Better Questions, bigger questions generate better thinking.  That thinking leads to better results and bigger outcomes.  Choose to be the one asking the questions and choose which questions are asked. Welcome to this episode on Questions. This is a little bit bigger, as usual, than I thought it was going to be. I'll give you a clue. When I asked Stephen for the definition of a Question, he said, It is to elicit a challenge or to inspire a response.  Immediately that helped me to move into a higher gear. We get taught at a young age, we see it in the classroom and we see it in our careers that the person who's asking the Question is controlling the conversation, is controlling the room. So don't you want to be the one asking the Questions? To the room and to yourself. So there is that element of control. Also this idea that Questions determine the thinking, which determines the results. So if you're not getting the results you want, dont question the thinking. Go back to your original Question. And this also takes us on to the idea that the bigger Question, gets you bigger results, bigger outcomes, more powerful. The basic idea to first of all, be aware of this, and how can you do this better? How can you manage this? And how can you use this to your benefit? How can you help this knowledge of how questions can work and their impact, they can have, how can you use this and turn it to your advantage? We spend a lot of time on this. Stephen goes through lots of different examples of questions, type of questions you can ask. And the sort of impact they can have. Questions are at the heart of so many of the different conversations we've had and so you'll see so many things that we touched on before coming back. I've genuinely had this one resonating my head ever since we did it. I hope you enjoy this one too. Any thoughts or questions, please get in contact podcast@coachpro.online. Check out the CoachPro.online website. Loads of information on there. Please take a look at that. Full transcript on https://rhinoconsulting.nl/podcast-entries/betterquestions Any thoughts? Any questions, any feedback? Do let us know. Thanks for sharing, subscribing and liking - it all helps.   Below an excerpt from the transcript: So today, as always, is a great topic: Questions. Now Questions is something we talked about pretty regularly, it came up a lot in the solution focused one, we spoke a lot about it there. And even in our tagline is we talk about the importance of questions. So this one's probably way overdue. So as always, let's get started. You always make the subject a lot more interesting than it sounds when we start. If we say to people, we're going to talk about questions, people aren't going to understand how deep and wide and important this is going to be. So let's start with the first question. What is a question? Lets start there. What is a question? What's the definition of a question, Stephen? Stephen Gribben  04:34 Technically a question is a method to elicit challenge or inspire a response. Warren Hammond  04:42 elicit a challenge or inspire a response. Okay. So you've already made it bigger. Just not just to get an answer. It's to elicit a challenge or inspire a response. Okay. Stephen Gribben  04:56 It could be to get an answer, but it's a powerful method to elicit challenge or to inspire a response. So it's a method of communication. It's a strategy of influence. It's a demonstration of your value. And it can be a catalyst for greater impact and outcomes. So a question is to get an answer. But it can be used to communicate, to influence to demonstrate, and also to make things happen. Warren Hammond  05:27 But even just using words like challenge and inspire in the definition, this is a weapon. This is a useful tool. And I don't think of questions as necessarily always being a part of my armory. But I should be. Stephen Gribben  05:44 Questions are one of the most important things to have, to connect and to have impact, is having the questions.  You will have more influence from the questions you ask, than the answers that you give. One of the most important things about questions is that long after the answer has become redundant or irrelevant. The question is still standing. The answer may change. But really good questions stand the test of time, even though the answer to that same question in a year's time may be different. Warren Hammond  06:20 That makes sense. So we talked about in these difficult times, for example, as a leader, what your team want to hear is that you're asking the right questions, even if the answers aren't available yet, or as you said, things will change. How people get confidence is knowing that you're asking the right questions. So as always, now I start to understand that I should be taking my questions more seriously, or how I use questions more seriously. Where do I start in building out my awareness of my questioning technique? Or is it about how many questions I ask? Or is it how I ask the questions or to whom I ask the questions? What's the first things I should be thinking about when it comes to my questioning approach? Stephen Gribben  07:07 Well, the first thing is, once you're starting to understand the value, and the potential of having the questions, and it's one of the most common requests that I get is, can you just write down all those questions and give me them? And I have done that a couple of times, but finding your own questions is the most effective way of doing this. But there's the why you're asking this, the types of questions you're going to ask, there's the when to ask, there's the whom to ask. There's a whole number of areas and aspects of questioning that will determine how effective it is, and we're going to cover them all. So we're going to look at why questions are so important. And then we're going to look at the different types of questions to ask, we're going to look at how you're best to ask them. And then so we are fulfilling that popular request is we're going to give you some good questions at the end of this, in particular categories, that are going to help experience the value of those questions. Warren Hammond  08:02 That's great. It's good. We're getting the list at the end as well. But I think as we go through this, it's just understanding that questions can take you into so many important places, isn't it? This is what you've explained and taught me before, is about this importance of better questions. But as you said, it isn't just the question itself is, when you're asking it, how you're asking it to whom you're asking it, because there's a lot of different things isn't it isn't just going to be, as you said, rattling off your list is understanding the importance of a questioning strategy. Okay, so what are the important things that I need to be thinking about when I'm asking questions? Where do I start? What's my starting point, Stephen Gribben  08:43 Important to be first of all motivated to ask questions and so understanding the reasons why you ask questions, and particularly now,  why you need to be more aware and more conscious of the questions that you're asking not just to yourselves. But the questions you're then asking others. Questions are hugely, hugely powerful. And they can have a massive impact, positively or negatively. And so it's really important.  You and I are big exponents of self development, about taking ownership of your growth and fulfilling your own potential. So being more consciously aware of the quality of questions that you're asking. There's a fundamental to that, that you're asking positive questions. Otherwise, you can start asking negative questions, or questions that are neither positive or negative, and just get you to stand still. And this isn't about saying they're right or wrong. It's about being more conscious of making a choice. Am I asking the question I really need to be asking at this stage. Warren Hammond  09:49 And this is asking yourself is pretty much what you're starting with here. And this is really powerful. So we talked a little bit about this in Affirmations, about the importance of those powerful statements to yourself to help, not drown out, but at least balance out all of the noise around you. Stephen Gribben  10:07 Yeah, well taking ownership is really important Warren and it starts with you. You will never ask better questions of other people with any credibility than you're asking of yourself. So that personal leadership of you going first. If you're not asking great questions of yourself, you'll not know the great questions to go and ask other people. So it starts with you. And we are all the sum and substance of the question that we ask. And we've touched on this in a number of the sessions is that the quality of the question you ask, is the cause of the quality of thinking that you then have, which then we'll culminate in the quality of the result you produce. So the question is the cause the thinking is the symptom, the result is the consequence. So big questions, you'll have bigger thoughts, you'll have bigger outcomes; smaller questions, smaller thinking, smaller outcomes. Warren Hammond  11:06 This is great. I love the idea of practicing on yourself as well. I mean, one, because then practice asking yourself bigger questions, and you'll get bigger results. But yeah, of course, you should start with you that makes total sense, doesn't it? Starting with you? Stephen Gribben  11:22 Even more so now Warren because if you're not asking the question, then who's questions are you listening to? And we are consistently bombarded with other people telling us the questions that we should be asking. And the person who's asking the questions is the person who is in control. So if you're not asking yourself questions, then who's controlling your thinking and your results? So it's about taking ownership and being aware that the question you ask is what's driving your thinking and leading to the result. If you want the result to change, rather than criticising or beating yourself up for the quality of thinking, go to the cause which was the quality of the question, you want a better result? Ask a better question, the thinking will follow. Warren Hammond  12:12 This is good, isn't it? Because when I was thinking of questioning, I wasn't thinking of the internal questioning as well and so it's good to get that straight out. This is your starting point. Get used to asking better questions to get better results for yourself, which feeds into the purpose, their habits, their confidence, self confidence, so many of these things. Being able to ask yourself, the right questions, is a key tool in this sort of toolbox that you refer to regularly. This is important. Stephen Gribben  12:44 However, like everybody else, and particularly if you're doing something you run as a business, the first time I sit down with some really important people. And for me, everybody I sit down with is really important. My emotions can kick in.  I'm from a broken home from Linwood just outside Glasgow, and I'm sitting in the 72nd floor of a high rise with some global CEO in New York, and I'm selling the thinking, I'm from a broken home and wondered, What am I doing here? That question comes in, what am I doing here? Now, if I gather myself together, my question might not necessarily be how can I help this person? My emotions come in and the question could be, how do I impress this person? How can I justify myself to this person? How can I show this person that I'm good at what I do? How can I win some work? Those questions now they're all kind of positive questions. And then global CEO might not notice the difference. But I know it's slightly off, and I can tell that it's slightly off because if the question I'm asking is how can I help this person I'll really listen. But if the question my emotions are asking is how can I impress this person? I tend to jump in too quickly. I tend to give too many answers, end up saying too much, because I'm trying to impress. Now the result is I might have impressed them, but not necessarily have helped them. And so having that conscious awareness of your question means that you can move to the questions that work best for you to get your best thinking, and therefore your best result. But what I've got to do is try and grab on to that core success question. Before I step into the room before going to the call, before I stand on a stage before I sit down across from somebody, otherwise, my emotions can sometimes choose other questions, which aren't quite as optimal And its having that conscious awareness. Otherwise, you get the situation where all your emotions are determining the question. So as an example, I've been doing one to one, group and team sessions and conference sessions. for 23 years, it's always live TV, You don't always know what you're going into. And I've got a belief that we've all got within us a 'Core Success Question'. So there's a question, we start from there, we tend to have the best quality thinking and produce the best available result. You tend to discover that most when you're going through a real crisis or trauma situation, where all the kind of preferential questions go away and you get to the core question. So my core question in the work I do is, how can I help this person? And I know if I'm connected to that question, how can I help this person? My thinking becomes a bit like Google search, and it starts connecting with things. And the result, is I'll have been of help. Because the results been designed by the question.  The QTR that you talked about before with the question, the thinking and the result. If your thinking is not right, it's deal with your question first. You're saying I wasn't connected to my normal core question, which is why my thinking was off, which is why the result wasn't there. And I love that idea, again, of you being the one asking the question to yourself, not somebody else asking it, because we see it in all the TV detective movies, it's the person asking the question, who's controlling the room? And you see people try and deflect questions and ask the questions themselves. And then that guy says, Hey, I'm the one who asked the questions, not you. And you're right, the moment that person is asking the questions, they're in control. So in terms of yourself, why wouldn't you want to be that person who's asking that question? And then secondly, as you said, why wouldn't you ask yourself the best possible question you could ask yourself to get the best possible thinking? Yeah, and look I've been coaching for a long time, as you know, and two of the fundamental things that was told to you at the beginning was, as a coach, you're not supposed to ask why. (I was always kind of confused by that). Never stuck to that rule, by the way. But I was told you're not supposed to ask why. And the second thing was you never give an answer. And so if someone asks you a question, you answer it with a question. And I get the gist of that. But if you're asking the question of yourself, and if that question is, in my instance, how to help this person, if just giving them a question back isnt helpful, I'll give them an answer that is because what I'm there to do is to help the person, not just stick to a process. Warren Hammond  17:38 This isn't how do I stick to the coaching protocol? It's how do I help this person? I like that. Stephen Gribben  17:44 That's a bigger question. So when you first start out on these things, which, it's about learning to drive or learning to do anything, your question is how to make sure I don't get this wrong. And sometimes you're just so focused on not getting it wrong, you never get it right. But as you start to progress and ask better questions, then you'll get better thinking, you'll get better results. And my job, in its simplest form, is to invite people to ask better questions than they currently asking. Not to jump to the ultimate question, but to give them a handrail of what the next best question might be. Because I can normally tell when you look at the results someone's producing, you can take a really good guess at the question that they currently asking. Warren Hammond  18:29 I mean, why is it then that we don't ask questions? What you've just said, as always with these things which is why it's so powerful, when it's put in front of your face of course that makes total sense. We should all be doing that. But why don't we then automatically, when we think about questions, think about the questions we're asking ourselves. I was thinking immediately about the quality of questions I asked in my family setup, with colleagues and with people I work with. But what is it that stops us thinking more about the questions we ask ourselves. Why isn't this part of our normal set, get up? Or is not part of mine? Stephen Gribben  19:09 Well, asking questions is a logical and obvious thing to be doing until your emotions get in the way. And then your emotions create barriers to asking questions. And the emotions are all wrapped around the answer. So the main reasons why we don't ask questions. We don't ask questions, because we don't know what the answer is. Or we don't ask questions because we think we know what the answer might be but we don't like it. We don't ask the question because we think everybody else already knows the answer and so it's going to look kind of stupid to ask a question. We don't think the other person has an answer. So we don't want them to feel foolish by not having an answer. So we don't ask the question. We don't ask the question because we don't want to let people know that we don't know the answer. And we don't ask the question, because we're still working off the answer that we've always had. Warren Hammond  20:06 We think we've already got the answer, you mean, so we don't need to ask again. Okay? Stephen Gribben  20:13 And questions are a great way to communicate and connect. So 23 years worth of traveling all over. And, Tracey and I have been married for all those years. And we could be literally at opposite ends of the planet. But be connected, because we send a text or make a phone call, or we go on a zoom or FaceTime. And we say 'how are things?' Now, to be absolutely honest, neither of us really want to know how things are because we the opposite ends of the earth, there's nothing we can really do about it. But what we're wanting to do is to connect. Yet there are times when the two of us can be sitting on the same sofa. And Tracy will be sitting there thinking, do I ask him that question? And she'll think, no, because he's gonna say yes. And I'm sitting at the opposite end of that sofa, saying, I'm not going to ask because I know she's gonna say no. So we all know the answer to get in the way of that connection. Because asking questions, is not because of the answer. Asking questions. The value of asking the question is what you communicate by asking. If anybody can remember the kind of first date they went on. And if it was a good date, they asked each other a lot of questions. But if it was one of those dates, where neither was asking each other questions, they knew this wasn't  going to go far.

Welcome to our Conversation about Change - with Stephen Gribben and Warren Hammond. Change is a big topic - but it is something we all know is happening around us, to us, by us all of the time.  Stephen explains the benefits of using Change to build a better outcome for yourself.  It's a big topic and we cover a lot.  Let us know what you think at podcast@coachpro.online.  Some notes from the episode are below - Enjoy. Notes from the Podcast: Change can be a good thing – Progress is change.  Disruption is the big brother in the change family – and adjusting is the little one.  Change is all around us – but how to make sure we are changing for the better. "Change is neither a good thing or a bad thing, it's a thing. And depending on what you change, why you change, and then importantly, how you change things, will determine whether that changes it for the better or not". Things will change and either you do it or somebody else does it for you.  Or to you. Sometimes, you're just sleepwalking into change -  there was no conscious point of realising you're going through change.  And then you get really good at managing how change happens to you. What I will say to people about change is change can be an absolutely fantastic and essential thing. If you change the right things, for the right reasons, and the right way. Change is a continuous thing. It is happening around you. And maybe you're not seeing it, but it's going on. 3 boxes/approaches model First one: Deny it.  Pretend it doesn't affect you.  Second:  Fight it – resist it and search for alternatives.  Or Third: Use it - how can I channel this? How can I see this as an opportunity? The great thing about change is that nothing bad is going to last forever. At the same time you know that nothing good is going to last forever. When companies have to launch a transformation programme, that's just a public admission, they haven't been changing as much as they should have been doing on an ongoing basis. Change doesn't have to be painful. But if you've not been to the gym for a while, and you're trying to do something that you've not trained for – you're going to feel pain.  What you know is that pain was always going to be there. But you either spread it out or you do in a big bang.  It shouldn't be something you get through or something you complete, rather than it being a continual process of improvement Some businesses view on Change seems to be more a wedding day rather than a marriage If you still want to be the parent that you are today, you're gonna have to redefine that relationship to still be the same parent in five or 10 years Healthy Dissatisfaction x Strong Vision x Clear First Step > Resistance to Change Startups tend to be more disruptive because they've just got less resistance to change, because they don't really have much to protect at that point. Change is not an event. Change is an ongoing process. And therefore, it's making sure that you've got the percentages of things in the right order to make sure that continual change can be successful. Try to change 100%, it's just going to break. And the likelihood is that you end up with a poor version of what you already had. 80-16-4: For successful change to happen, the first 80% must stay the same. The next 16% must also stay the same, but that can be better, faster, different. And then that allows for 4% to be new. Don't get pace and scale confused.  If you want to make 100% new, do 4% new every hour by tomorrow and then it'll be 100% different.  For successful change, you need 80% to stay the same for now. So there might be some things that you're going to want to change. But, for now, they need to stay the same. The communication of Change should start from what must stay the same. Otherwise, when you talk about the thing that is new, no one hears the rest. Because they're into an emotional place of I like or I don't like and they don't hear the rest. The thing I would ask everybody to do is get on the journey with Change. And if the thing that's holding you back is the fear of losing or leaving stuff behind, take it with you. But get on the journey. Go and discover. Otherwise you can sit back and wait to someone tells you what they think is good enough for you.  

Joshua Viola is a four-time Colorado Book Award finalist and co-author of the Denver Moon series with Warren Hammond. His comic book collection, Denver Moon: Metamorphosis, was included on the 2018 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel. He edited the Denver Post #1 bestselling anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, and co-edited Cyber World—named one of the best science fiction anthologies of 2016 by Barnes & Noble. His fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, Birdy magazine, and on Tor.com. He is owner and chief editor of Hex Publishers. Hex' latest short story anthology is Psi-Wars: Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena, due out later this month. Intro music by Moby Outro by Dan-o-Songs

If there has ever been a reason to declare "Breaking News" around Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, this might be it. For more than 20 years now, editor Otto Penzler has been publishing a volume called the Best American Mystery Stories. As part of that process, he reads some 500 short stories and passes along the best 50 to a guest editor. That guest editor then chooses the top 20 to be published. This year, the guest editor is Jonathan Lethem and out of the 20 stories to be published two were selected from RMFW’s "False Faces" short story anthology, which came out last year. The two writers are Anne Macdonald (“That Donnelly Crowd") and Suzanne Proulx ("If You Say So").  On the podcast, we chat with False Faces editors Angie Hodapp and Warren Hammond and then with each of the two writers—whose work will go national later this year.  As if that’s not enough great news for False Faces, the anthology was also named this week as a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards. Yes, more Breaking News. Intro music by Moby Outro music by Dan-o-Songs

This episode of the Rocky Mountain Writer is a live recording of the event held at The Tattered Cover in Denver on Oct. 25th to celebrate the release of "False Faces," the latest short story anthology from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. The hosts for the evening were editors Angie Hodapp and Warren Hammond. Writers at the event include Travis Heermann, Terry Kroenung, Amy Draper, Anne Therese Macdonald, Suzanne Proulx, Sue Duff, Angela Sylvaine, Andrea Poners, Saytchyn Maddux-Creech and Mark Stevens. Intro music by Moby Outro music by Dan-o-Songs

Josh Viola returns this week to talk about what Hex Publishers has been up to in the last few months. Spoiler: a lot of cool stuff! Mentioned in this episode: Denver Comic Con Independence Day (Movie) Hex Publishers DENVER MOON (Book Series) by Josh Viola, Warren Hammond, and illustrated by Aaron Lovett BLOOD AND GASOLINE (Anthology) Edited by Mario Acevedo Matt Hubel Matt Van Scoyk Kirk Douponce Warren Hammond Blade Runner (Movie) Total Recall (Movie) THE BANE OF YOTO by Josh Viola BLACKSTAR by Josh Viola CYBERWORLD (Anthology) Edited by Jason Heller and Josh Viola Playstation Alamo Drafthouse Black Shirt Brewing The Tattered Cover Crafting A Nation (Documentary) Mario Acevedo MAD MAX (Move Franchise) Sons Of Anarchy (TV Show) Sean Eads Facebook Steve Rasnic Tem THE MASK SHOP OF DOCTOR BLACK by Steve Rasnic Tem R. L. Stine GOOSEBUMPS (Book Series) by R. L. Stine MECHANICAL ANIMALS (Anthology) Edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller DENVER MOON 2 by Josh Viola and Josh Viola Jeanne C. Stein THE ANNA STRONG VAMPIRE CHRONICLES (Book Series) by Jeanne C. Stein http://denvermoon.net http://hexpublishers.com http://facebook.com/HexPublishers http://twitter.com/HexPublishers Don't Miss THE FORBIDDEN FIELDS short story by Giles Hash on http://changingdenver.com http://changingdenver.com/?episode=rocky-flats-flash-hash-christensen Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters over at http://patreon.com/BeyondTheTrope

Warren Hammond is never lost in space. In fact, he’s quite at home away from planet Earth His KOP trilogy was set on a planet called Lagarto and his standalone, The Tides of Maritinia was set on, you guessed it, a planet called Maritinia. This time around, Hammond’s sci-fi storytelling shifts to Mars and features a female detective named Denver Moon. The opening entry in the series, co-written by Josh Viola, is Denver Moon: The Mind of Mars and it just came out this summer. On the podcast, Hammond talks about the process of collaborating with another writer, discusses his love for atmosphere in storytelling, and catches us up on on the new RMFW short story anthology, coming out in September.  Warren Hammond is the author of four science fiction novels, many short stories, and a graphic novel. His 2012 novel, KOP Killer, won the Colorado Book Award for best mystery. Warren is also chief intoxicologist and co-host of the popular Critiki Party podcast. Warren's website Hex Publishers Intro music by Moby Outro music by Dan-o-Songs

The authors talk about the forthcoming conference.

With Angie Hodapp and Warren Hammond in the studio, it's a chance to discuss some publishing industry insider information.   Mentioned: Hilary Clinton Neil Gaiman Chuck Wendig John Scalzi MacMillan Publishing Kristin Nelson Harper Collins

Warren Hammond and Angie Hodapp are back to talk about the RMFW 2014 Anthology, Crossing Colfax.   Mentioned in this episode: Nikki Baird (RMFW Anthology Chair) RMFW.org ON WRITING by Stephen King MY BIG FAT SUPERNATURAL WEDDING edited by P.N. Elrod Duotrope.com thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com SFWA.org Jean C. Stein S. J. Harper Harmony Ink Press

In this episode, we talk with Warren Hammond and Angie Hodapp about the dynamics of being married to another writer. Then we move into a discussion on critique groups.   Mentioned in this episode:   RMFW Writers of the Future TOR Books Warren Hammond's KOP series Mario Acevedo Jeanne C. Stein (Author of the Anna Strong Novels) Aaron Michael Ritchey Nelson Literary Agency Max Brooks (And WORLD WAR Z) Jim Cole Margie Lawson Borders (RIP) Pikes Peak Writers

Where geek is sheik and pandemonium reigns supreme! Dungeon Crawlers Radio hosted by Revan and A Guy Named Joe are two zany hosts that delve into the many facets of the World of Geek!  From Comics to gaming, Author interviews and more!  We have it all right here! Dungeon Crawlers Radio will be sitting down with Warren Hammond to talk about his new novel KOP Killer.  KOP Killer is a hard-bitten follow-up to Hammond's 2007 science fiction noir debut KOP, set in the 28th century on the technologically backward world of Lagarto, offers further evidence of his considerable talents….Koba is a tough town full of desperate people, and Hammond makes full use of this richly imagined society.