Resilience

I make no claim to this, but a friend of mine drew my attention to this post and I liked it!

'Five things resilient people do'

http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2014/01/22/five-things-resilient-people-do/?utm_source=Thrive&utm_medium=post&utm_content=012715CtRL&utm_campaign=CtRL_2015

More on distraction

Two thought-provoking quotes from Damon Young's book, 'Distraction' (2008, Acumen)

'To be diverted isn’t simply to have too many stimuli but to be confused about what to attend to and why.  Distraction is the very opposite of emancipation:  failing to see what is worthwhile in life, and lacking the wherewithal to seek it.'

'This is often called an ‘information economy’, but the market is supposed to run on scarcity, not surplus.  In reality it’s an ‘attention economy’ – what is in short supply are the mental and physical resources for actually taking notice of anything and for trying to make sense of it’.

Interruptions and multitasking

One of those happy coincidences this week, where two pieces of information come together at the same time.  Like a lot of companies in our field of work, we are doing quite a bit of work around resilience, mindfulness and emotional intelligence.  If you work in any organisation today, it is more than likely that you are being asked to do more with less, pick up the slack or even 'man up'!  People are feeling under a great deal of pressure at the moment, hence the interest in the previously mentioned topics.  (Although it still remains to be seen whether this interest is driven by a concern for the welfare employees or a way of squeezing a bit more juice from the lemon!  We were given a phrase yesterday by Robert Joyce, (see previous blog post) - he talked about 'McMindfulness', the pursuit of peace and harmony, but do it QUICKLY!)

The two sources of information were a podcast,  BBC World Service, The Forum: A world of ideas (13/1/15) and an article in The Observer (18/1/15).

The podcast was actually about interruptions.  Although sometimes, we welcome an interruption (and can signal to the other person that it is their turn to speak, by, for example, repeating ourselves) and sometimes an interruption can act as a distraction from a less enjoyable task, you won't be surprised to hear that most of the time, we find interruptions rude and consequently make some judgements about the person doing the interrupting.  However, it turns out that there are cultural, psychological and gender differences in the way we talk, pause and listen.  We also have different tolerances for being interrupted.  (Are you happy working in an open-plan office?)

One of the interesting contributions to the debate was from Claudia Roda, Professor of Computer Science and Global Communication at the American University in Paris.  Her argument is that modern technology, email, social media etc violates the normal rules of conversation and that as a society, we are being too interrupted by technology.  (You may have experienced this if you have ever left your Twitter/email/Facebook link open as you work.  For how long can you ignore an incoming message?).  Roda argues for the development of 'polite machines'.  These are machines that have to 'learn' the rules of interaction (based on the individual user) and adapt to their preferences.

The Observer article, 'Why the modern world is bad for your brain' was by the eminent neuroscientist, Daniel Levitin (18/1/15 and online,

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/18/modern-world-bad-for-brain-daniel-j-levitin-organized-mind-information-overload) 

was full of interesting facts about using technology. 

What both the podcast and the article had in common is evidence that multitasking is not that effective.  We may think that we are being efficient, but actually our effectiveness is being diminished.  IQ is reduced and our ability to concentrate is affected by a greater amount than if we had been smoking marijuana!  There are effects on health too and we suffer from 'cognitive overload' due to the increased number of decisions that we have to take.

Is the development of more/better technology the answer or do we need to re-think how we want our employees to work?

Another little promotion for a small business

Today, we had the opportunity to re-acquaint ourselves with Tai Chi, courtesy of Robert Joyce.  Resilience, mindfulness and mental toughness are all hot topics at the moment and we were attending one of Robert's workshops, as part of the development of a leadership programme in the private sector.

Robert has an easy style, and aims to de-mystify Tai Chi.  He explains things in a simple way and gives the rationale for the benefits of Tai Chi, using both Eastern and Western philosophies.  Before teaching Tai Chi full time, he worked as a Project Manager in engineering, so he's well-used to explaining things to busy managers.  As he introduces the movements,  each is built up gradually (we actually started learning the exercises while sitting).

The two hour workshop proved to be quite a workout!

Robert is based in Poole, Dorset (UK) and you can find him at:

www.elemental-taichi.co.uk

In praise of silence

A nice quote from John Francis, (from the TED radio podcast, 'Quiet', 21/11/14).  John simultaneously decided to give up using motorised transport and talking.  He remained silent for 17 years, and walked the world.  Talking about his motives, he realised that he regularly questioned his commitment to remaining silent, but never questioned himself about his choice to give up motorised transport.  This is what he said next:

'I didn't know who I would be, if I changed.  And I know that a lot of times we find ourselves in this wonderful place where we've gotten to, but there's another place for us to go and we kind of have to leave behind the security of who we've become and go to the place [of] who we are becoming'.

Laughter is good for the soul

We have just returned from 3 days in Germany, attending the Strategic Leadership Trainers' Summit. (Nuremberg is such a beautiful city.)  SL, run by Thor Olafsson is a fascinating company with some very impressive tools for developing leadership.  Most notably, the Integrated Leadership Development programme and their Inner Compass model seem to be able to create big changes in individuals and organisations.  It was the first time that we had met the rest of team of trainers, who are spread across the world.  A very impressive bunch of people.  You can find out more about Strategic Leadership at:

http://strategicleaders.de/

As part of the conference, we were treated to a presentation by Edda Bjorgvins.  Edda is a very well-known actress from Iceland, and has starred in an Icelandic comedy, 'Stella', which over the last 20 years, has become a national institution.  She's also a comedian, a psychologist and a motivational speaker.

http://www.eddabjorgvins.com/

Edda gave us a highly entertaining and informative lecture on the power of humour for well-being and for creating a productive working atmosphere.  When I say, 'lecture', it was rather unconventional and began with a few minutes of dancing, laughter and general good-natured banter.  There was a serious point to all this, though, as Edda soon backed up all the Tomfoolery with some of the research on humour and health.  We liked Edda.  She has a warm heart and she models what she talks about.  She's not afraid to be the butt of the joke and she can find humour in anything, while also knowing what type of humour is appropriate in a particular setting.  You can catch a bit of Edda on You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nBfqVkGJKs

Random acts of kindness

Congratulations to Luke Cameron who completed his 365 days of doing at least one random act of kindness every day, over the course of 2014.  If you haven't already read about his exploits I recommend his blog:

http://thegooddeeddiary.com/

On the blog you can find a list of all the things he did.  Some of them may seem small or even insignificant.  Others you may look at and think, 'Well I do that as a matter of course.  It's just good manners'.  But to think that way is to miss the point.  

Just imagine what it does to your mindset, to go out every day (even the ones where you might be in a less positive mood!) and consciously aim to commit an act of kindness.  Take a moment to consider what that might do.  Fundamentally, it removes you from the centre of your universe and, for a moment at least, puts someone else in your place.  Now imagine repeating that moment for at least another 364 times over the year.  Do you think it might have an effect on you and how you perceive the world?  Maybe we become a bit more optimistic, generous or simply a bit more tolerant?

Coincidentally, while Luke's story was making national headlines, I was reading a book on the 'altrocentric leader'.  I will post up more on this topic soon, but for now, it serves as an example of how a similar mindset to that of Luke is being encouraged as a way of leading in modern organisations.  The altrocentric leader is the converse of the ego-centric leader, the alpha-male (or female) who gets things done by stamping their authority, keeping control and themselves at the centre of everything.  The basic argument of the book is that in order for organisations to thrive in today's busy complex environment, where workforces are distributed and more individualised, and where the boundaries between customer, supplier, competitor and partner are becoming increasingly blurred, the effective leader has to recognise that leadership is both relational and contextual.  I'll post up a summary shortly, but for now, the simple message is that leaders need to start thinking about others.

Talent versus Knowledge

While doing some holiday reading, I came across the following quote.  It's attributed to Johannes Itten, one of the pioneers of the Bauhaus design movement of the 1920's.  Although he was referring to design, I think there is something in it for all of us:

'If you, unknowing, are able to create masterpieces in colour, then unknowledge is your way.  But if you are unable to create masterpieces in colour out of your own unknowledge then you ought to look for knowledge'.  

Nothing like a bit of hard work and application to study what has gone before you to help your genius shine!

The end of conscious choice?

Two stories in The Times, 5/1/2105:

'Technology lets boss know who is longing to leave', by Tom Whipple, and

'The suit that reveals when you are lying', by Nadeem Badshah

The first story is about employers using 'Big Data' technologies to analyse your posts on social network sites and other sources of information to highlight when a employee turns from engaged worker to disgruntled employee, who may then start to think about a new job with a new employer.  Apparently, data analysis shows that the existing employer has approximately 3 months to turn the situation around (should said employer wish to do so!).  

The second story is a short piece describing research conducted by a team of scientists from Cambridge, Lancaster and Utrecht.  They have developed a suit containing multiple sensors that can detect fine changes in physiology, allowing it to out perform the more traditional forms of lie-detectors.

What is striking about both of these stories is that we are now developing technologies that can tell what a person is thinking even before they might be currently conscious of that thought.  There are many more examples of this (For example, apparently, Amazon are developing algorithms that will predict a buyer's next purchase even before they know it themselves, thus improving efficiencies around delivery).

What does all this mean for our sense of autonomy, our belief that we are responsible and conscious about the decisions we make?  What implications does this have for personal development, or even legal responsibility?  Are we in the process of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, where instead of 'Computer says 'No'' we start believing we wanted something, just because it arrived in our post-box?

Any thoughts?

If your new year resolution is to find a new job...

We've been saving this one up, maybe just so you can have something to smile about on return to work!

Metro (9/10/14) ran an article on things job hunters have included in their applications and CVs. We've posted up some of our personal favourites:

'The idea was a gift from God, so unfortunately I am not able to share my methodology'  

(I would love to use this line when completing Request for Tender documents!)

'I have a lifetime's technical expertise.  (I wasn't born - my mother simply chose 'eject child' from the special menu)'.

'I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse'.

'I want to be an astronaut but I think working in a call centre will help me gain confidence for talking to mission control from space'.

'I am a wedge with sponge taped to it.  My purpose is to wedge myself into someone's door and absorb as much as possible'.

'Please accept my application for the role of customer services director, which I appreciate may come as a surprise given I was fired from the position last month'.

'Previous experience:  Marijuana dealer and nefarious dude with an intuitive understanding of supply-and-demand economics'.

'I offer mediocrity at its best'.

'To utilise my creative talent in a mundane office'.

'I am able to show up at the office on time, not only during the first week but even after a year of employment'.

'My ruthlessness terrifies the competition and can sometimes offend'.

'Duties:  Pretending to be on the phone.  Trying to work out what the company did and what part of it I was supposed to be doing.  Hiding'.

If you have decided that you are going to enter the job market this year and you are feeling a bit out of touch, we strongly suggest you seek some advice!