Editorial Desk
Guard Rails and Rumble Strips
Experienced leaders know the ‘guard rails’ of leadership. They’ve learned them through solid management training and character-building leadership opportunities over time. These guard rails somewhat reveal the accepted or desired leadership behaviours and provide feedback on the limits of leadership behaviour.
Rumble strips, on the other hand, provide the warning that impending dramatic feedback is coming unless the course is corrected. They help leaders to be aware that they are heading towards a guard rail. They warn leaders to stay focused and be aware that continuing to drift at this trajectory will mean hitting the guard rail. In our life as a leader, rumble strips are the analogy to situations that inform leaders of the edges of leadership behaviour that are acceptable just before they are dysfunctional or negatively impactful.
Anyways, the leadership lane is actually quite wide.
But, staying only in the middle lane without ever finding and feeling the edges with the rumble strips, leaders may miss out on the vastness of their leadership potential. And perhaps miss out on the opportunities to stretch their leadership behaviours or the gain in “feel” for situations and the latitude that exists.
Many seasoned leaders say that they’ve leveraged on the rumble strips and at times have hit guard rails that left deep learnings. They agree that it’s much better to get the feedback from a rumble strip than from hitting the guard rail. What are some of the rumble strips you have on your leadership highway?
ӹ Maybe it’s that employee/colleague/superior who you have provided the encouragement.
ӹ Maybe it’s a superior who mentored you throughout the week.
ӹ Maybe it’s the 360-degree feedback survey you requested.
ӹ Maybe it’s a conversation or meeting and have taught yourself to listen for.
ӹ Maybe it’s the one-on-one meetings you diligently had with your colleagues.
Whenever you journey on that leadership lane, take time to look out for the Guard Rails and Rumble Strips.
DIGEST LEADERS 3 Issue 73 I March 2023
From the
BY EVULX CONTENT TEAM
DIGEST LEADERS 4 Issue 73 I March 2023
Source: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
We live in a time of unparalleled access to knowledge. Never before have we been able to learn so much, so fast, at any age. The internet allows us to stream lecture videos by the world’s foremost thought leaders and educators. We can even debate with and discuss with strangers from all over the world.
So, which is better: face to face vs online learning?
The answer is both. No one method of learning is better, but each has its place in our educational system. The most important thing is to make sure that students are exposed to both modes of learning so that they can decide which best suits their needs and interests.
Face to Face vs Online Learning
Face-to-face learning is the most common type of learning and involves an instructor in a classroom or learning center who can give real-time feedback and answer learners’ questions. The advantage of this method is that there is time between lessons and you have access to the trainer’s expertise if you need it.
You may have many questions about the difference between e-learning and face-to-face. That’s natural! Learning is an essential part of any business, and this article should provide a good starting point in helping you discover your options.
Traditional Education is Now a Thing of the Past
For many people, traditional education is now a thing of the past. Conventional education is now a thing of the stone age. Today’s learners are given access to online learning platforms and find that traditional teaching methods can be too restrictive. This is why online learning platforms are now being preferred more by students.
What is Online learning?
Online learning is any learning you can do at home, on your own time and in your own space. It gives you the flexibility to know when you have time and means that you can maintain your daily schedule to attend lessons. Do you know, what is the best part about online learning? You get to view learning materials whenever and wherever you want.
Whether the organization offers internal or external training, there is no question: your learners need digital. Organizations have to make the switch, often to survive. Online learning for employees is an expectation as the workplace becomes more virtual.
Your learners want digital because it’s convenient and easy. They want online learning because they can access their courses at a time that suits them, wherever they are in the world. A learning platform is quick to set up and easy to use and can track your learners’ progress through their learning path, guiding them along the way.
The Business Transformation
Managing corporate eLearning is a challenge. You need to ensure that your learning content is fit for purpose, meets compliance requirements and matches the needs of learners, for example, eVULX products provide the immersive experiences to indulge employees in effective learning. You have to make it accessible to employees at all times, on whatever device they choose to use – mobile, tablet or desktop. A corporate eLearning strategy designed for the future could offer online learning/training which managers need most: at home or on the move. This can help you increase productivity and save time by reducing travel costs and environmental impact.
DIGEST LEADERS 5 Issue 73 I March 2023
“ Technology is not a silver bullet. It’s only as good as the teachers … using it as one more tool to help inspire, and teach, and work through problems ”
– Barack Obama
Here are a few reasons why this transformation is taking place.
1. Flexible learning
Online learning is flexible. You can learn at your own pace and make the most of your time by fitting it around your life. No more taking two weeks off work to cram before an exam!
Many people spend hours commuting or travelling during their day, making even the thought of getting another qualification seem less than appealing. But with an online course, you can do all that extra studying where you want—and when you want. E-learning can be accessed on your learners’ terms –research shows that the modern learner spends 33% of their time in meetings already.
You don’t have to sit in lectures or travel across town every week to complete a lecture series anymore; instead, you can simply listen in on them from the comfort of home. If particular subjects aren’t relevant to your current career path, then just skip that section and move on with what interests you most!
2. You can learn at your own pace
One of the main advantages of online learning is that it allows you to learn at your own pace. You can take as much time as necessary to understand the material, and there is no pressure to finish lessons quickly.
This also means that you don’t have to worry about missing lessons or classes if, for example, something urgent comes up in real life such as a family emergency or job interview. In fact, since most online courses have a flexible schedule, they’re ideal if you would rather take breaks when needed instead of rushing through everything at once. One thing’s for sure: Online learning has never been more convenient!
3. More topics to choose from
Online learning gives you more choices. Many providers are offering a wide range of courses, which means you have many options when it comes to finding the right course for you. The flexibility of online learning also makes it possible for students to access courses at times that suit them and their schedules.
Last but not least, when we talk about e-learning vs traditional learning, online learning is often more affordable than faceto-face learning as there is no need to travel or pay for accommodation costs.
Now, here we have Face to Face learning pros:
1. Improved Attendance
One of the biggest benefits of face-to-face learning is that students are more likely to attend school. When virtual learning is used, students may not show up for a class or may miss it altogether. This means that this absence could negatively impact their education.
There are other benefits as well. Virtual learning allows teachers to reach more students and make lessons more engaging by allowing them to use multimedia tools like PowerPoint and video conferencing technology. It also allows them to create a more diverse classroom experience by allowing students from different backgrounds and with different interests to interact with one another in real-time. This helps reduce the likelihood of bullying or discrimination based on race or religion because all students are present at once in their own physical space rather than just chatting online with each other without any visual cues about who they’re speaking with at any given moment.
DIGEST LEADERS 6 Issue 73 I March 2023
Source: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
2. Increased Social Skills
The benefits of face-to-face learning, in the online learning vs classroom learning debate, are numerous, and they apply to social skills as well. Face-to-face teaching can help kids develop important social skills that will serve them throughout their lives. When students learn in a classroom setting, they are more likely to interact with one another than if they were just sitting around at home watching TV or playing video games.
Studies have shown that students who attend school are less likely to get into fights with other classmates outside of school because they’ve already learned how to resolve conflicts while in class together!
3. More Brain Stimulation
Brain stimulation is important because it helps the brain grow, develop and learn. When you’re learning something new, your brain sends out a signal that it wants more information. This is why you might feel so hungry when you study or work on a project: it’s telling you that it needs fuel!
Conclusion
In the end, it’s essential to weigh your options so you can find the best fit for you! As we’ve seen, online courses are cheaper and more flexible than on-campus courses. But they require more discipline and self-motivation from students because there must be live instructors around to guide them through their learning process. So to answer traditional learning vs online learning, which is the best?
Do what suits you best; face-to-face classes also have advantages: teachers and other students can help keep each other accountable for completing their assignments or attending classes regularly. It’s up to each student what type of learning experience works best for them–and if you find out that neither side appeals at first glance, don’t stress too much about it! Just keep looking until something clicks! Visit eVULX for more information on gamified solutions.
DIGEST LEADERS 7 Issue 73 I March 2023
EVULX CONTENT TEAM
article is republished courtesy of eVULX. For more information on gamification or experiential learning, please visit eVULX
This
Source: Hugo Hercer from Pixabay
Why is
Business Acumen
Important for HR Professionals?
BY ANNIE BUTTON
Human resources professionals are seen by many leaders as strategic partners to their businesses.
The role of HR professionals has drastically evolved over time, where they are - almost single-handedly - responsible for aligning strategic initiatives with the company’s goals and priorities. This is where having knowledge of and a skillset in business acumen will prove vital for HR professionals in 2023
What is Business Acumen?
Business acumen is the understanding of a company’s situation, and the ability to make informed and effective business decisions. In other words, it’s a complete understanding of how an organisation makes money, along with how that business’s customers or clients make money.
Business acumen is not innately given to everyone; most business acumen is taught. However, by learning business acumen and its importance, HR managers and, by extension, their teams, can understand complex business situations more efficiently and instinctively.
It’s one thing to manage these situations from an HR perspective, but another thing entirely to hone intuitiveness to the point where it’s almost second nature to recognise and address various situations.
Importance of Business Acumen for HR
Many business owners are worried about the gap that exists between their business strategy and their HR initiatives. There is reason to suggest that many HR professionals lack essential skills for top-level business management and strategic advisory functions. However, on the flip side, many HR managers are expressing concern about severe underfunding in the professional development of their teams, specifically business acumen. In fact, 41% of Chief Human Resources Officers claim that business acumen skills are the most lacking when recruiting top-level talent in the field.
It’s believed that HR practitioners that hold essential business acumen skills will provide a greater scale of services across a business, such as its finances, client management, product delivery, market research, promotions, and many others. Ultimately, however, it would bridge this aforementioned gap between the company’s objectives and the HR strategy that sits underneath it, leading to an increase in productivity and eventual growth.
DIGEST LEADERS 8 Issue 73 I March 2023
“Business acumen is not innately given to everyone; most business acumen is taught.”
Source: Photo by Adeolu Eletu @ unsplash
Benefits of Learning Business Acumen
Teaching and refining business acumen skills across an HR function - whether in-house or outsourced - can lead to many advantages for a company. For instance…
ӹ Business acumen knowledge allows HR professionals to make valuable, data-driven contributions to help the business and its employees.
ӹ It helps fill a gaping hole in a market where increasing numbers of companies need HR professionals to fulfil multiple responsibilities.
ӹ Learning this skill bilaterally helps HR practitioners become more knowledgeable about the business, and by extension, their efficiency will improve.
ӹ It can lead to an enhanced understanding of the company’s internal processes, task and operations management, along with its broader sector, clientele and competitors. As a result, HR professionals can offer insights into a multitude of areas.
ӹ By teaching business acumen across the board to the HR team, they will understand every employee’s role much more effectively. Over time, this will lead to improved relationships between everyone in the organisation.
ӹ When HR professionals and business partners can grasp all areas of the business, it can improve business performance and profit drastically.
The role of HR is continually evolving and now, business acumen has become a ‘must-have’ for anybody getting into this area.
What Does Business Acumen for HR Professionals Involve?
Business acumen encompasses three vital components:
1. Context interpretation - through analysis of market trends and factors that affect the business, this component involves understanding internal and external company dynamics.
2. Customer orientation - understanding the company’s product or service offering, the target customer or client, and aligning policies and procedures to enhance the delivery at all touchpoints.
3. Strategic co-creation - this involves understanding the organisation’s inherent value, how it works, and how successful it is. While this is arguably subjective, the knowledge must be analysed objectively, making room for an aligned HR strategy and business strategy.
In light of all these points, it’s important to remember that in 2023, business communication is becoming increasingly more ‘visual’. In other words, business leaders, under guidance from their HR teams, need to be able to communicate well in person and on screen.
CEOs, executives, business owners and designated spokespeople need to be able to communicate effectively in front of a camera, be it televised, on a video conference call or in corporate video content streamed on social media channels. To achieve this, HR teams are investing more in professional camera and video equipment and media training to create better quality and more impactful marketing visuals. Modern business acumen training, in essence, would further support business leaders to articulate their information skillfully and professionally on whatever platform they use.
How to Develop HR Business Acumen
Specific capabilities and competencies will vary from one organisation to another, but as a rough guide, these strategies will help to develop business acumen.
ӹ Thoroughly understand who the end-consumers are, what they are looking for, what their pain points are, and why they shouldn’t go to your company’s competitors.
ӹ Understand how leaders’ strategic decision-making affects employees and stakeholders in the company.
ӹ Constantly teach your HR team members about the business, what it does, and why. Look beyond the finances and look at other metrics like retention, benefits, engagement, and so on.
ӹ Don’t stop learning and seek out recommended podcasts, books, articles, courses and events to develop HR skills that will likely include elements of business acumen training.
ӹ Consider shadowing or mentoring, either internally or externally. Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge or request that other, more experienced professionals give your team members the time to hone their skills.
Annie Button
Annie Button is a writer who specialises in business growth and development. Annie shares her experiences and knowledge through blog posts in a variety of publications.
DIGEST LEADERS 9 Issue 73 I March 2023
BE READY FOR IT TO GO OFF THE RAILS
BY MICHELLE GIBBINGS
Put Change into Context and Make It Relevant
Have you ever had a time when you planned a project, initiative or piece of work, and it didn’t go to plan? It might have been that it took longer than anticipated, required more resources, was more costly, the benefits weren’t realised, or you discovered it didn’t come to fruition as expected.
The list of things that can go wrong, and often go wrong, can be long.
Often with the best intentions, we overestimate what can get done and in what timeframe. Particularly when it comes to change – whether big or small and in your personal or professional life.
When a project, a change you want to make or an initiative goes off the rails, you may wish to descope, push out timeframes, get frustrated, spend more money than necessary, give up and walk away or use other unhelpful approaches.
None of those tactics is beneficial. Instead, it helps to start at the beginning and accept that all change involves uncertainty and unknowns, so you best be ready for it.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Contextualise your why
Change is easiest when it’s incremental and has a clear destination. That is, the change has a clear plan and steps to follow, and each piece of change builds on the earlier part of the change, all of which ultimately get you to your desired end state.
Source: Photo by Craig Adderley @ pexels.com
It’s more complicated when the end state is unclear, and your objectives and goals are fuzzy. It’s even more complex when the change is disruptive and thrust upon you by external forces. For example, technological advances or new regulations force you to shift how you operate, and you need more time to adapt than is available.
Regardless of what might have initially driven the change, put it into your context and make it relevant. Be specific about why it matters and what will be gained, and ensure there is a clear destination.
Identify the risks from the outset
Before you start, undertake a realistic assessment of the potential issues that may arise during the work program.
When you understand the risks that could arise, you can put in place plans to minimise the likelihood that they will eventuate and minimise the impact if they do. You can also establish early warning indicators to monitor if a risk starts to eventuate.
Experience shows that contingency planning enables people to cope better, and the issue is better managed because plans to address are already mapped out.
Manage expectations
When projects are initiated, there are many unknowns. Over time, an unknown becomes known, so the level of understanding about what’s practical, possible and probable becomes more evident.
DIGEST LEADERS 10 Issue 73 I March 2023
Throughout this period, it’s not just about managing the expectations of stakeholders and your team. It’s about managing your own expectations.
From initiation to implementation, notice how expectations shape how you react and respond when things don’t go to plan.
Change can be challenging, so be realistic. As I’ve written about before in the article Are your expectations, hope and optimism not helping you? being a hopeless optimist won’t help. Instead, as Admiral James Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than seven years, advised, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end— which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be“.
Focus on the messy middle
We all love the beginning when everything looks exciting and full of potential. We all love finishing something and seeing the fruits of our endeavours. However, as Academic and change expert Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter writes, “Everything can look like a failure in the middle“.
She wisely advises that the hard part is the work in the middle. We can give up during those times in the messy middle when things appear off track, and you may be unsure how to get back on track.
This is when your resolve and character strength as a leader are tested. The messy middle will happen, so ready your mindset (and that of others involved) for its eventuality.
Know where to seek counsel
There will be lots of people who will have ideas about what you should do.
Know who you need to listen to and those whom to ignore. Be ready and willing to listen to the voices of dissent, as they can provide valuable perspectives.
As part of this, be conscious that you don’t need all the answers. The wisdom is usually in the group – so seek it out. Your role is to be curious and to ask the right questions at the right time.
Make decisions
In times of challenge, people can become reticent to make decisions. However, at precisely this time, the need to make decisions is at its highest imperative.
People are looking for leadership, and making a decision goes with the territory. Remember that when you fail to make a decision, you are, in fact, still making a decision.
Take time out
Author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, writes about breaking the cycle. He suggests that “It only takes five minutes to break the cycle. Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing, and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation, and the relationship is restored. It doesn’t take much to feel good again.”
You can apply a similar philosophy to times when things are going off the rails. You need to gain perspective and be open to shifting your perspective.
One of the best ways to do that is to take time out. Walk away. Get some air. Take a break. Do whatever you need to do so you can return to the problem with a different frame of reference.
Find the learning
Out of every failure or thing that goes wrong, there are immense opportunities to learn.
So whilst you may not enjoy the experience, you will undoubtedly benefit from it in the long run. Take the time to reflect on the learnings gathered at an individual, team and organisational level. Consider what you need to take with you into the future and what you need to leave behind.
Take care
Your team are looking to you for guidance and direction. Be available, supportive and encouraging to those around you. Take the time to listen and understand their concerns, while constructively challenging them if needed.
At such times, stress levels can become overwhelming, giving rise to short and longer-term health issues. Be alert to the danger signs for you and your team. Throughout any form of change, you want to ensure that your mental health and wellbeing start and end in good shape.
The American novelist, Henry Miller, wrote “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things”, and that is one of the biggest benefits of any form of change.
MICHELLE GIBBINGS
Michelle Gibbings is a workplace expert and the award-winning author of three books. Her latest book is ‘Bad Boss: What to do if you work for one, manage one or are one’. www.michellegibbings.com.
DIGEST LEADERS 11 Issue 73 I March 2023
12 Issue 73 I March 2023
13 Issue 73 I March 2023
Source: freepik.com by @storyset
WHY MO NKEY MIND IS WORSE THAN YOU THINKAND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
BY GREGG VANOUREK
Can Your Monkey Mind Derail You?
Many of us are going through much of our lives with a “monkey mind” that’s restless and easily distracted, with thoughts swinging wildly in different directions. (1) The problem is that chaos in our minds will bring chaos in our life, work, and leadership. It will make us anxious and make it harder for us to accomplish our goals.
Unfortunately, this monkey mind phenomenon is as common as it is old (the term having been coined by the Buddha), and it’s aggravated by the way we tend to work in our modern world.
“ I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the monkey mind. The thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit, and howl. My mind swings wildly through time, touching on dozens of ideas a minute, unharnessed and undisciplined.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert, writer
Signs of Our Monkey Mind Going Wild
How to know if we’re afflicted by a monkey mind? When our monkey mind is active, we:
ӹ have scattered thoughts
ӹ feel anxious, restless, and unsettled
ӹ find our mind wandering after just a short while of doing something
ӹ experience mental fatigue
ӹ feel impatient often
ӹ are often bouncing from thought to thought and task to task
ӹ have a hard time focusing on the present moment
ӹ spend a lot of time thinking about the past or the future
ӹ return to the same thought loops over and over again (rumination)
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Our monkey mind is a bit like Curious George—always causing trouble. How much of our day do we spend worrying, complaining, or relitigating past sleights? How about assuming the worst and running worst-case scenarios through our minds again and again? These are telltale signs of the monkey mind in action.
“Give anything to silence those voices ringing in your head.”
- from the song, “Learn to Be Still,” written by Don Henley and Stan Lynch, recorded by The Eagles”
The Problem with Our Monkey Mind
Though it’s common, monkey mind isn’t harmless. Its restless bouncing from thought to thought comes with many problems, including:
1. making us anxious and restless
2. amping up our stress levels
3. impeding our ability to focus and concentrate
4. inhibiting mental clarity
5. preventing us from being in the moment, present with people, or focused on the task at hand
6. pushing others away if they find it draining or chaotic
7. reducing our sense of calm and wellbeing
8. disrupting our sleep
9. pulling us away from the things that matter most
10. reducing our contentment and happiness
11. becoming a lifelong habit that harms our mental health, quality of life, and career
Monkey mind is related to what psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, in his book Flow, called “psychic entropy,” a condition of inner disorder that impairs our control over our attention and our effectiveness. With psychic entropy, a negative feedback loop can form in which we feel unpleasant emotions that make it hard for us to focus, thus causing us to fail in achieving our goals, then starting the cycle all over again—and sapping our confidence. He wrote, “Prolonged experiences of this kind can weaken the self to the point that it is no longer able to invest attention and pursue its goals.”
How Our Monkey Mind Inhibits Our Leadership
A monkey mind can also haunt leaders and managers. Think of Karen, a busy executive facing a steady stream of challenges in her work. At breakfast, she’s preoccupied with the presentation she will give to an important customer later, and she’s running late. She’s also worried about her son’s new friends. In her two morning meetings, she’s thinking about what to do with Jerry, a longtime colleague who’s been struggling with an important new project, and how to approach the upcoming board meeting.
When she calls her husband over lunch, she remembers that she forgot to schedule her car for service. In her customer meeting, she nails the delivery but then spirals into self-doubt when the conversation turns to future product releases, and she relives a heated exchange she had with the IT team this week.
At the gym after work, she’s revisiting her answers to the customer’s questions about functionality, and at dinner with her family she’s wondering again about what to do with Jerry. In bed that night, she’s reading a novel, but her mind keeps drifting to the problems of the day, so she must go back and re-read almost every other page. When the lights are out, her head keeps spinning.
“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things—that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”
- Steve Jobs
DIGEST LEADERS 15 Issue 73 I March 2023
Monkey mind inhibits our leadership by:
1. leading us to poor, impulsive decisions or slowing down our decision-making
2. making us more reactive than proactive
3. harming our credibility
4. preventing us from focusing on our priorities
5. reducing our executive presence
6. preventing us from listening well to others
7. frustrating our colleagues
8. killing our enjoyment of our free time
9. increasing our stress and anxiety
10. harming our sleep
Monkey mind relates to many of the leadership derailers that inhibit our leadership effectiveness, potentially including avoiding tough issues, being a bottleneck on big decisions, causing chaos for the team, not being sufficiently clear, becoming ego-centric, being hypercritical, impulsive, indecisive, or insecure, not listening well, being obsessive or perfectionistic, being pessimistic or prone to overreaction, and becoming a workaholic.
What to Do About It
We’ve seen how our monkey mind can detract from our work, leadership, and quality of life. So, what to do about it? Here’s a punch list of things we can do to start addressing our monkey mind:
Think of our monkey mind as something to befriend as opposed to an enemy we need to vanquish. In some ways, it’s built into our brain’s design. Calm redirection will serve us much better than judgment and resentment. According to Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, “if we create a calm space for the monkey mind to jump around in, it will eventually settle down.” (2)
Meditate. With meditation, we can train our minds to become more present, focused, and still. We can train our attention and awareness, helping us feel calm and clear. Studies have found that meditation can lead to improvements in brain function, blood pressure, metabolism, sleep, focus, concentration, and even our lifespan, as well as alleviation of stress and pain.
University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson
has conducted experiments on the effects of meditation on the brain. His results suggest that meditation may lead to change in the physical structure of the brain regions associated with attention, fear, anger, compassion, anxiety, and depression. (See the Appendix below for some common types of meditation.)
“Be here now.”
- Ram Dass,
Be Here Now
Breathe deeply and do breath work. During breathing practices, we can place our attention on our breath (e.g., we can focus on the top of our head when we breathe in and our diaphragm when we breathe out). This can include deep breathing exercises, such as box breathing in which we breathe in while slowly counting to four, hold our breath for four seconds, slowly exhale for four seconds, and then hold our breath again. (Each of these four steps forms one side of an imaginary box.) Then repeat the process.
“Being aware of your breath forces you into the present moment—the key to all inner transformation.”
- Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
Engage in mindful, offline activities. When we’re doing something—anything—place our attention on what we’re doing and only that. Focus on the sensations of washing the dishes on our hands or the taste, texture, and smell of the food we’re eating. Meanwhile, we should engage more in real-world offline activities. Read a book. Play a musical instrument. Go for a walk. Watch the squirrels and birds in our backyard. And we should be mindful and present while doing it, bringing our attention back to the moment when it wanders.
Play the “game of fives.” Writer Marelisa Fabrega recommends pausing our thinking and noticing five things in our vicinity that we see, hear, or smell. Then, fully experience them. It may help to pretend that it’s the first time we’ve ever experienced that sight, sound, or smell. When we do this, all our attention moves to the present moment.
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Reduce distractions. It seems like the modern world is designed to agitate our monkey mind with a barrage of inputs and distractions, from texts and emails to videos, breaking news alerts, streaming shows, and social media posts. Put our smartphones away (out of sight) and turn off notifications. The key here is breaking our addiction to numbing and distraction, in which our brains are constantly flooded with stimuli designed to capture and control our attention. Along these lines, we should wean ourselves from the habit of taking out our smartphone every time we get bored. That mindless, compulsive behavior only stimulates the monkeys in our mind to race quickly from thought to thought as we keep swiping.
Take breaks in between activities. Grab a cup of coffee. Gaze at the horizon. Get some fresh air and sunshine. Take some deep breaths. Take a nap. Even short breaks are restorative.
Find sanctuary. Create a space of sanctuary associated with a calm mind, such as a place to think or write, or a place to meditate or pray. It can be a place of worship, a quiet retreat in the backyard, a trail in the woods, a quiet park nearby, or a peaceful kayaking outing on a lake. For some people, it can simply be a centering practice, and not necessarily a place.
Journal. Jotting down our thoughts and feelings in a diary or journal can be beneficial because it allows us to express our emotions freely, clear out distressing thoughts, organize our thoughts, gain new insights, recover a sense of control, find patterns, and deepen our understanding of the events in our lives (and ourselves). According to research studies, journaling can help with anxiety, hostility, and depression. It’s been linked to measurable effects on our health and immune system response. Tip: For best results, include both thoughts and feelings when journaling (and avoid rehashing troubling thoughts over and over), and consider adding some drawing or doodling to the text as well. (For a great summary of the research, see “How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times.”)
Practice self-care. Engage in regular self-care practices, including sleep, exercise, nutrition, and relaxation. Turn these into habits and regular routines. All of these can have calming effects on our minds through various mechanisms that are well documented.
Get out into nature. More than a hundred studies have documented the benefits of being in or living near nature—and even viewing nature in images and videos. According to the research, it can have positive impacts on our thoughts, brains, feelings, bodies, and social interactions—including reduced stress, enhanced recovery from illness, and changes in our behavior that improve our mood and overall wellbeing. Viewing nature can calm our nervous system and lead to a cascade of positive emotions that can in turn promote things like creativity, connection, cooperation, kindness, generosity, and resilience. Experiencing nature can also induce powerful feelings like awe, wonder, and reverence. Unfortunately, many of us today suffer from what environmental writer Richard Louv calls “nature deficit disorder.” (For a great summary of the research, see “What Happens When We Reconnect with Nature.”)
Do deep work. In his book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Georgetown University computer science professor Cal Newport notes that to produce at our peak level we need to be able to do “deep work”—working “for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction.” Such deep work is now as valuable as it is rare, and it will be a big differentiator for those who develop the capacity to do it well. It requires discipline and weaning our minds from the easy comforts of distraction. “Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.
Write things down. If our monkey mind is bouncing between several thoughts and worried about missing or forgetting things, the simple act of writing things down can be surprisingly reassuring for many of us.
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“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
Use a shutdown ritual at the end of each workday. Newport also recommends implementing a strict shutdown ritual at the end of our workday. For every incomplete task, goal, or project we face, we should either have a plan for its completion or capture it in a place where we can revisit it later. That way, we’ll know “it’s safe to release work-related thoughts for the rest of the day.”
Engage in activities that put us in a state of “flow.” Professor Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi characterized flow as a state of complete absorption, almost effortless attention, and peak performance. In flow, he writes, we invest our attention fully in the task at hand, and we function at our greatest capacity. When in a flow state, we’re so engaged in what we’re doing that we stop thinking about ourselves as separate from the activity. We’re so absorbed in it that time seems to slow down or stop for us. How to experience flow more often? We need three things:
1. a clear set of goals
2. clear and immediate feedback so we can tell if we’re advancing toward our goals
3. the right balance between the challenges we face and our skills (if there’s too little challenge, we’ll get bored, and if there’s too much challenge, we’ll feel anxiety)
Serve others. The monkey mind tends to be ego-centric, focusing mostly on ourselves. We can disrupt that narcissistic loop by focusing instead on serving others— and being present in the act of contributing.
Find and embrace things worthy of our focus. Too often, our monkey mind is ruminating about things of little significance. We should be disciplined in dedicating more of our lives to things that matter—to things that honor our purpose and core values and allow us to contribute to others and make an impact—with consistent routines.
“If you want to win the war for attention, don’t try to say ‘no’ to the trivial distractions you find on the information smorgasbord; try to say ‘yes’ to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing, and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else.”
- David Brooks, “The Art of Focus”
We’ve seen that the monkey mind can cause great suffering in our lives and be a real disruptor in our work. And we’ve covered many ways to address it.
The result should be a mental disposition that more often than not is the opposite of monkey mind—one of tranquility and inner peace. A disposition of acceptance (or “nonresistance” as the Buddhists call it) and of equanimity and ease.
Filipe Bastos from MindOwl makes a distinction between monkey mind and “monk mind,” which entails presence, focus, compassion, discipline, perspective, and consciousness. See the image below.
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Source: MindOwl
The good news is that our brains have an amazing capability to rewire their neural pathways. With neuroplasticity, our brain’s neural networks can change through growth and reorganization. As a result, investments in our focus, attention, and consciousness can pay real dividends over time if we commit to daily practice over time.
Science writer Winifred Gallagher notes that the findings from many disciplines “suggest that the skillful management of attention is the sine qua non of the good life and the key to improving virtually every aspect of your experience…. Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on…. I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there is.”
Here’s to a life in which we can focus attention on things that are worthy of it, thus lifting us up.
Reflection Questions
1. Are you struggling with the chaos and disruption of a monkey mind, with thoughts swinging wildly in different directions, causing distraction and anxiety?
2. How is it affecting your quality and enjoyment of life and work—and your productivity and performance?
3. What will you do about it, starting today?
Appendix: Some Common Type of Meditation Practice
ӹ Body scan meditation, in which we direct our attention to sensations happening in our body. We can mentally scan over every part of our body, from head to toe.
ӹ Focused attention meditation, in which we focus on one thing, such as our breath, and when our mind wanders to other thoughts, we gently bring our attention back to our breath.
ӹ Loving kindness meditation (also known as metta meditation), in which we silently repeat in our mind phrases of benevolence or good wishes directed at ourselves, people we love, neutral people, rivals, animals, and/or the world or universe.
ӹ Mindfulness meditation (also known as open monitoring meditation), in which we observe our thoughts nonjudgmentally without reacting to them, acknowledge them, and then let them go. It can also include deep breathing and bringing our attention to our mind and body. (3)
ӹ Transcendental meditation, in which we use a silent mantra repeated in our mind for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day, with an eventual aim of experiencing what they call “pure awareness” or “transcendental being.”
(1) The term “monkey mind” is attributed to the Buddha, and there are later uses of “mind monkey” expressions from the Later Qin dynasty in China. Side note: Apes are the ones that usually swing through the trees, while monkeys more often run on tree branches rather than swing.
(2) Source for this tip: Leo Babauta, “Monkey Mind: Shifting the Habit of Feeling Distracted Throughout the Day,” ZenHabits.net, undated.
(3) The default mode network includes regions of our brain that are active when our brains are idling (i.e., not focused on a specific task) and moving from thought to thought by default. According to researchers, mindfulness meditation can deactivate the regions of the brain associated with this network, perhaps even changing the structure of the brain over time, allowing us to switch off this network more and more.
GREGG VANOUREK
Gregg Vanourek is an executive, changemaker, and award-winning author who trains, teaches, and speaks on leadership, entrepreneurship, and life and work design. He runs Gregg Vanourek LLC, a training venture focused on leading self, leading others, and leading change. Gregg is co-author of three books, including Triple Crown Leadership (a winner of the International Book Awards) and LIFE Entrepreneurs (a manifesto for integrating our life and work with purpose and passion).
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ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE IS AN OVERLOOKED FACTOR IN TRANSFORMATION
BY PRASANNA SINGARAJU
A Good Organisational Culture Leads to Higher Employee Satisfaction Rate
Today, many organisations leverage next-generation technologies like AI, big data and IoT for business transformations. Of course, training employees from time to time is also a part of that transformation, but is that it? Absolutely not.
Which factors drive a successful business transformation?
According to a Deloitte survey:
ӹ Nearly 76% of business executives said “a clearly defined business strategy” is necessary for transformation success.
ӹ Whereas, the surveyed employees said that a clearly defined business strategy and core values and beliefs drive success.
A 2014 Harvard Business Review article noted that chefs prepared extra delicious food after they got to know their customers — which, to me, meant that visuals and tangible things had helped the chefs go that extra mile beyond success. However, organisations’ cultures are complicated, as they are unique, cannot be visualised, nontangible, have a longlasting journey and, more importantly, don’t have predefined guidelines. Because of this, organisations can tend to overlook them and move on with other important tasks. You can’t go wrong investing in organisational culture, as it’s been found that businesses with powerful work cultures have a 20% higher employee satisfaction rate. It means more productivity and more quality work.
Management’s Role
Just like any other organisation-wide initiative, the cultural shift excites management at the beginning, but eventually, it generally fails to keep up the spirit throughout the transition. Every management member and senior executive must take responsibility and remain active throughout the process.
Here are some ways to build a strong cultural pillar in your organisation:
▶ People. No matter how good your product or service is, you could be going nowhere without investing in hiring or retaining the right people. Sometimes, employee training does not suffice, and you might want an open platform where employees feel free to express their thoughts. Many employees feel hesitant to reach out to their management. If that’s the case, then it’s high time for a change. It’s time to commit to the talk.
▶ Share your vision and mission. You will be surprised how many employees are not aware of their organisation’s vision, mission and values. It is a very common scenario, and I have seen it happen far too many times. Please take the extra step to effectively communicate the core tenets of your organisation — vision, mission and values — to your employees. That can keep them to stay more active, aware and motivated. Also, remember to do this every time you have an opportunity to connect with a larger set of people. It’s OK to overcommunicate.
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Source: freepik.com by @pressfoto
▶ Collaboration. Collaboration is the key to building high-performing teams — the devil is in the detail. Most importantly, the team needs to keep their ear out for cues and get to the crux of any negative sentiment that might be coming up.
▶ Leaders’ support. Your organisation’s leadership plays a bigger role in empowering teams. The leaders should be approachable to the team members, and this could be done by keeping an open-door policy where anyone can walk into any of the leaders’ offices and have a chat. Eventually, work toward dismantling the culture of offices and enable a “dinner seating” type of arrangement where every employee, including the leadership, sits and works in the open.
▶ Transparency. Many employees can often feel disincentivised due to a lack of transparency and process opacity. It is very important to let employees know about the things they are (or could be) a part of. Give them a sense of ownership and communicate why they are important. After all, we are human, and it feels good to be appreciated.
▶ Rewards. A rewards system can be a tricky one, and it doesn’t always involve a monetary aspect but can also include things like experiential rewards. It’s imperative to design a rewards system with various choices so there is almost something for everyone. That’s certainly not an easy task and might require:
• Frequent in-house quizzes about management and work culture.
• Revisiting the rewards system regularly.
• Engaging with an external partner.
▶ Challenges. A Ladders survey (via Glassdoor) says that not having a challenging role is a downer and organisations end up losing talent. Challenging objectives, if employed the right way, can unlock the potential of your talent and help with employee retention and engagement. A couple of examples include:
• Planning for frequent employee cross-mapping for different roles. This could give employees fresh perspectives and even bring in new ideas.
• If you are undertaking a new technology initiative, then the employees need to understand the “whys” of believing in the outcomes and be ready for the shift. Pushing changes often might be counterproductive.
▶ Flexibility. Covid-19 has changed maybe everything about business conduct. Being flexible has become more of a need than just an option. Employee morale and productivity can be uplifted by balancing between creating an engaging and challenging — but flexible — work environment.
▶ Diversity. Diversity and inclusion are significant factors that inculcate several possibilities, ideas and creativity. It is great for employee motivation and can help people keep up with changing social dynamics, which can encourage various perspectives to be part of your success story.
Conclusion
In many ways, strategy and culture invigorate each other. Peter Drucker once said that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” which means you can have the best strategy, but if your culture does not enable change and embrace failures, then your teams are not motivated to push themselves out of their comfort zones. A motivated and enthusiastic workplace goes beyond goals and blesses businesses with countless innovations and can even withstand any challenges due to the business transformations.
Working on organisational culture must be a continuous process and must not be neglected due to a busy schedule. You are in this for the long haul, and being patient helps. It’s not too late to rethink or be serious about organisational culture for that sweet success beyond desired technological outcomes.
PRASANNA SINGARAJU
Prasanna Singaraju is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Qentelli. He is responsible for amazing teams at Qentelli that deliver Engineering Services, Solution Architecture, Service Delivery, Human Capital, and the Innovation Team. Prasanna is passionate about enabling enterprises to realise their business strategy by leveraging on technology.
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According to John Maxwell, in order to excel, every leader needs to make ongoing “leader shifts”, changes that positively enhance personal and organizational growth. He further elaborates that, effective leaders make constant course corrections to adapt to ongoing changes, similar to the captain of a ship; to maintain course, plan ahead and manage the crew. John C. Maxwell believes that we are living through a paradigm shift, one that has redefined the very meaning of the word “leadership” and in view of the “fast” world of today, being a leader also means the need to be fast, nimble, flexible, able to constantly adapt. The eleven leader-shift are listed below for your reflection.
Leadershift #1: The Focus Shift
Soloist to Conductor Great leaders used to be top producers. Tomorrow’s leaders need to orchestrate groups.
Leadershift #2: The Personal Development Shift Goals to Growth Goals help you do better but growth lets you become better. Leaders are growth-oriented.
Leadershift #3: The Cost Shift
Perks to Price Great leaders don’t think about what they can get. They’re focused on what they can give.
Leadershift #4: The Relational Shift
Pleasing people to Challenging people You cannot lead people if you need them. Great leaders challenge their teams to do better all the time.
Leadershift #5: The Abundance Shift
Maintaining to Creating Have the mindset you want to move things forward rather than standing still. Be a creator.
Leadershift #6: The Reproduction Shift
Ladder climbing to Ladder building Forget about ladder climbing. Help others build and ascend their own ladders. Be an equipper.
Leadershift #7: The Communication Shift
Directing to Connecting Great leaders don’t order people around. They connect, influence and help people.
Leadershift #8: The Improvement Shift
Team uniformity to Team diversity Great leaders value diversity highly. Do everything you can to bring people into your teams who are different.
Leadershift #9: The Influence Shift
Positional authority to Moral authority A leadership position does not give you leadership authority. You have to earn moral authority.
Leadershift #10: The Impact Shift
Trained leaders to Transformational leaders Don’t settle for being a trained leader. Become a transformational leader who inspires change.
Leadershift #11: The Passion Shift
Career to Calling Don’t look at leadership as a career. Make it your calling. Find your purpose and you’ll never look back.
Diana Marie is a team member at the Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service attached with Corporate Affairs who found love in reading and writing whilst discovering inspiration in Leadership that Makes a Difference.
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DIANA MARIE
Leadership Institute of Sarawak Civil Service KM20, Jalan Kuching Serian, Semenggok, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak. Telephone : +6082-625166 Fax : +6082-625966 E-mail : corporate@leadinstitute.com.my
