Why This Retreat Stands Out

In a world that's constantly racing, the Dubai Executive Retreat offers a sanctuary of growth, learning, and connection. Limited to a select group of like-minded executives, this retreat ensures personalized attention, fostering genuine connections and deep insights. It’s more than an escape; it’s a journey of transformation.

Transformation at Every Turn

Prepare to embark on a path that reshapes your approach to leadership, creativity, and well-being through a carefully curated program. Explore topics ranging from mindset mastery, art and spirituality, to leadership techniques, and physical challenges, each designed to propel you to new heights.

An Ensemble of Experts

Meet the team of visionaries poised to guide you:

Experience a Transformative Agenda

From thrilling desert adventures to intimate workshop sessions, each day is meticulously planned to balance growth with enjoyment. The retreat's agenda is thoughtfully designed to engage every aspect of your being—professional, personal, creative, and physical. Highlights include:

This meticulously curated agenda promises not just a retreat but a transformational journey that touches every aspect of your life. Join us to unlock these experiences and more, setting the stage for a future where you're not just surviving, but thriving.

An Unforgettable Venue

The Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, your home for the retreat, promises luxury amidst Dubai's grandeur. It's more than a stay; it's an experience set against the backdrop of the Arabian Sea and Dubai's skyline, crafted to inspire and rejuvenate.

Testimonials That Speak Volumes

Past attendees rave about their transformative experiences,citing unprecedented personal growth, invaluable learning, and unforgettable memories. This is your invitation to be part of something truly special 

Your Future Awaits

Spaces are limited for this high-demand retreat, offering an unparalleled opportunity for growth, networking, and rejuvenation. Secure your spot today and set the stage for a future where you thrive, not just survive.

Embark on this extraordinary journey in Dubai and return transformed, equipped with insights, tools, and connections to elevate every facet of your life.

The time is now—your future self will thank you.

According to DDI’s Leadership Transitions Report 2021, “Stressful transitions have a long-term impact, with 45% of leaders who had stressful transitions rating themselves as average or below average leaders compared to their peers.” The responses came from 2,102 human resource executives and 15,787 leaders around the world.

What can companies do to ensure they will transition to new leadership successfully each time? How can they not miss a beat during the transition? How can the passer and receiver not drop the baton in the process?

DEVELOP UNDERSTUDIES

The preparation for succession, mentoring and coaching of understudies take time and should, therefore, not commence when the “founding father” is in his retiring age.

In China, where family businesses drive economic growth, succession planning begins very early because it involves in-depth orientation of business. Training involves more than discipline but instilling wise stewardship in the next generation because the next leadership will not just take over the business, but will be responsible for the preservation of family name and legacy.

In the book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths, McKinsey Senior Partners Scott Keller and Meany  Keller and Meany report that “as many as 74 percent of US leaders and 83 percent of global ones think they are unprepared for their new roles.”

Transitioning to a new leader is not just about filling a position. The process also includes acquainting the candidate on the corporate culture, the current state of the business, intricacies of team dynamics (who had the most influence, how decisions are made, how things roll), etc. The new leader, however, must be able to ask for these critical details if they are not provided.

Any current leader must identify and develop a successor or an understudy. Because honestly, and in reality, anything can happen.
Five hundred executives were asked to rank their top three human-capital priorities, and almost two-thirds of the participants picked out leadership development as their number-one critical issue. And it is a sad reality that only 7 percent of the senior managers, asked by a UK business school, think that their companies develop global leaders effectively.

An effective leader has the distinct skill and wisdom to identify a potential leader in his team. Upon identification of succession candidate/s, he must take the time to invest in mentoring and coaching his protégé/s.

Knowledge transfer is one thing, influence is another. The potential successor should be effectively enmeshed into the leader’s mindset that they almost finish each other’s sentences. It can happen. And when you find that perfect match, it will be a huge accomplishment for both the initiator and the successor.
A successful transition speaks well of the retiring or departing leader.

DEVELOP A COACHING CULTURE

Coaching culture is not ordering people and telling them what to do,  but coaching culture creates a space where employees can engage in conversations asking questions, giving and getting feedback, listening, and sharing knowledge. Employees in these one-on-one or group coaching sessions engage in conversations that maximise strengths, minimise weaknesses and converse about their goals and progress.

A coaching culture must start from the top down, across the board. It must be embedded in each employee’s DNA so deep it could potentially be a strength and core competence for your organisation.
A Gallup’s research showed that when coaching culture is done effectively within the organisation, these results happen:

TAKEAWAY

“Everything rises and falls on leadership”, says John C. Maxwell.
Creating a coaching culture is one way to prepare the organisation for any transition or disruption. And the coaching culture must come from the top of the food chain for it to be effective and rewarding.

It could be a challenge to any organisation and more so for big corporations. The process can be daunting (where to start, how to start, who to initially involve, etc.) so management commitment to the project is crucial and will be the great driving force for success.

With management commitment and employee involvement, it is possible. It can be done.  
If your organisation is ready for this transformation, or if you have any questions or interest in this topic, and would like to explore this activity for your team, please connect with me through my number +49 4292-517 288, email: mail@roel-schaart.com or any of my social media accounts.

What is the “team role theory”?

Dr. Meredith Belbin suggests that an individual will increase productivity and perform well within a team when he identifies and understands his role. And by understanding his role, he will be able to contribute effectively by managing his weakness and optimising his strengths. By using Belbin’s Team Role model, a leader will be able to create a balanced team, composed of people performing in mixed roles, which can sustain a high-level performance at all times.

What is the Belbin Team Role model?

Belbin identified nine team roles, categorised in three groups. A Team Role is defined as a “tendency to behave, contribute, interrelate with others in a particular way.” A team does not necessarily have to be composed of nine members to complete the categories because it is possible for individuals to display more than one team role in varying degrees in many situations. If you are serious about building up your team and investing in their careers, you might want to start your investment in a complete Belbin individual report for each of your team members. It will motivate and increase the engagement of your team, knowing you are invested in their growth, and it will provide you with a better understanding of yourself and your team.

The 3 Groups of Team Roles are:

Under each group are three categories.

To avoid straying from Belbin’s definition and descriptions for each category, we are citing him below:

TASK ROLE

  SOCIAL ROLE

THINKING ROLE

TAKE AWAY

As Dr. Meredith Belbin perfectly puts it, “The benefit of utilising and understanding Team Roles is that not only do we learn more about ourselves, but also a lot about our work colleagues and how to get the best out of them.”
Each team member must understand their role in the team and of other team members, which could potentially reduce disappointments and result in harmonious working relationships.

However, team roles are not set in stone. As a person matures, gains more experience, and evolves, it is possible for him to move up to a higher role than where he started.
An effective leader must know each member of his team and the role each plays within the team. He must know how to direct and conduct their game by harnessing and optimising each member’s strengths and working with them on their weaknesses.  

I agree.

It’s a very practical, easy-to-follow and doable goal, rather than following some influencer or personalities and using them as your template for personal development. Adapt Dr. Wayne W. Dyer’s definition instead.
Personal development as the term suggests is, first of all, personal. It is uniquely yours, customised and individual. You evolve and grow from within. In simple terms, it means “to be a better version of yourself.”

How does Personal development differ from Personality development?

These two terms are closely associated but not similar. It is important to know the distinction of the terms.

Personal development is a lifelong process of improvement to be a better version of oneself. It is holistic, all-encompassing and broad.

If personality is the set of traits and qualities that make a person distinct or unique from another like behaviour, habits, appearance, attitudes, or what a person appears to be, Personality development, therefore, is the enhancement of these traits and qualities. The polishing of these external attributes for a better presentation of self.

Personality development is part of personal development. Have you thought, at this stage in your life, what could you have become? If you could be better, should you? And why not? You have all the raw materials to be a great individual. So work it.

To start your pursuit, here are 3 Basic and Practical Steps to Personal Development according to Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker.

Study
John Earl Shoaff, an American entrepreneur, motivational speaker and Jim Rohn’s mentor, gave that word for Rohn’s life change – STUDY.
Make an effort to study anything that can bring about change in your life, improve your skills, increase your value.

If you want to be successful, study success. If you want to be wealthy, study wealth. If you want to be happy, study happiness, Rohn advised.
Success leaves clues, he further said. Identify a successful person you admire and learn from him. Find out about his life, his principles and how he achieved his level of success.

Get as much information as you can for what you desire. You never want to miss any opportunity because you lacked the information.

How do you do that?

TAKEAWAY

The key to personal development is to study successful people and learn from their stories. That would save you a lot of mistakes and wasted time. Create a game plan on how to make the changes in your life and don’t take shortcuts.
What are your personal development goals? Have you made steps towards achieving them?
Did you learn something from this article? I love reviews. Please share your thoughts in the comments.
If you have any questions or interest in this topic and would like to explore conducting a deep level assessment of yourself or your team, please connect with me through my number +49 4292-517 288, email: mail@roel-schaart.com or any of my social media accounts.

My goals were to be a member of the ICF Germany, get myself certified, and build my network in the coaching scene. I did my external training in Business Coaching in Berlin, but did not pass the practical exam. I did not consider that a failure. I consider that a redirection. Now, I am a life coach and a mentor. I use objective tools in coaching, instead of merely asking questions.

The more I learned about coaching, getting mileage and keeping myself surrounded by top coaches, mentors, and coach trainers (I suggest you reach out to this amazing team at the SolutionsAcademy. They will be very happy to meet and accommodate you!), the more I understood that coaching is actually very simple. Just follow the ICF PCC markers. 
First, ICF stands for International Coaching Federation. It is the gold standard in the coaching practice. And PCC means Professional Certified Coach.

So, what are ICF PCC markers? First, you want to demonstrate ethical practice. Hence, no pushing for or implying any religion or sexual preferences. Second is to always assume and maintain a coaching mindset. This means no rendering of any consultancy function. The next marker makes your coaching easy or difficult. Have a clear coaching agreement. Why is your client with you? Coaching works well only if you are able to build trust and bond with your client. As a coach, you not only want to be brave, but you also want to really be listening deeply. Ask good questions and let the client decide how to end the sessions with some actions, if needed.

How do I close the loop? First of all, I use assessment tools. When I start a coaching journey with my new clients, I conduct several assessments. A full-360 assessment will give me an understanding of their observational behaviors, their internal drivers, level of emotional intelligence, how they learn, how they make decisions and a snapshot of their leadership styles. The assessment data will be used as a guide in planning the coaching strategy. And at the end of the workshop, the assessment tools will be used to gauge the improvement and  effectiveness of the changes implemented by the client.

But again, it is just a snapshot. To give you a number, when leaders hire new staff, they use assessment tools for recruitment and selection, but these tools give the company only 20% maximum insights on the candidates. Nonetheless, using assessment tools is a good practice in hiring. It is still a wise and practical addition to your hiring toolkit. But I admire organisations who include coaching as part of their training and development program for their leaders. It shows their commitment to continuous development for their people. Because executive coaching is more than just a development program. It is an investment. If you, your team or your organisation have a challenge in this area, connect with me and let’s find out if we can be a good fit for a collaboration.

And Thomas Cadell, the publisher who will forever be known to be the man who committed the greatest literary folly of rejecting Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice manuscript.
What about this, at least two decades ago, Google offered to sell the company to Yahoo for US$1 million, but Yahoo refused. In 2002, Yahoo had a change of heart, so they offered to buy Google for US$ 3 billion. Google countered at US$ 5 billion, but Yahoo refused. Again. What’s Google’s worth now? US$1440 billion as of May 2022.

So what were these people thinking? But hey, let’s not be quick to judge. Whoever is without sin, cast the first stone.
We all have made bad decisions – from choosing to wear trousers with your suit for your important zoom meeting with a client, not knowing you will accidentally stand up during the meeting, to grabbing a job offer when you will be promoted at your current job two days after.
One of the top 50 living influential psychologists today, Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert, explained why we make bad decisions every now and then. He stated two errors we commit in gauging situations. Knowing these two errors will allow us to judiciously arrive at a better choice for a given situation.

What are the Two Errors We Commit in Decision–making?
In Dan Gilbert’s words, “there are two kinds of errors people make in trying to decide what the right thing is to do. One is estimating the odds that they are going to succeed and estimating the value of their own success.”

Odds of the gain x Value of the gain = Expected value

ERROR IN ESTIMATING THE ODDS

This point starts with how people figure the odds of a potential gain. What are the odds that your decision will give you what you want?
People estimate probability by thinking about what is familiar to them or what they know. 
In a survey where Americans were asked what are the odds that they will die in a variety of ways, the answers were tornadoes, fireworks, asthma and drowning.

You see from the estimates versus the actual numbers that the top two scenarios were highly overestimated, while the next two scenarios were significantly underestimated.
The reason for this is that asthma and drowning do not get front-page coverage. These causes do not come to people’s minds as easily as tornadoes.
When you ask Americans today about their guesstimate of the top cause of death in 2020, it will be very easy for people to say Covid-19. But according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the leading cause of deaths in the U.S. in 2020 are heart disease, next is cancer and Covid at third.

Simple #decision-making. You want to get a new iPhone. Nine out of 14 years, Apple has released a new phone model in September. What is the probability that you will have the latest iPhone this September?
Another practical application. Based on records, you closed a new account for every five client calls you made. What are the odds you will get ten new accounts if you decide to book 50 client calls for the month?
The last scenario given by Gilbert is the lottery. These are the scenarios,
There are 10 tickets at US$ 1 each ticket. All nine tickets were sold. The winner will get US$ 20. Based on the formula, it is a good play. The expected value of the lottery is US$ 2. Will you play? People said they will play.

Second scenario has a little twist. The same values except the nine tickets were bought by one person. Will you play? Many surveyed people said they will not play. How come? The expected value of the lottery is still US$ 2, and you still have the same number of chances to win.
How do you estimate the odds that a decision or an action will make you succeed or allow you to gain something?

ERROR IN ESTIMATING THE VALUE OF SUCCESS

Decision-makers should not only focus on probability, but also the expected value of the result of the decision. Although, estimating the odds is easier than estimating the value of something. How much happiness or satisfaction will something give us?
If you have numbers to calculate the odds, how do you calculate for value? Because people tend to compare the past with the present to estimate the value of something, Gilbert suggests two questions we ask ourselves to calculate the value of something:

Does yesterday really matter today?
Will today really matter tomorrow?

To illustrate, Gilbert used a McDonald’s burger which costs $25 in an airport. You have US$25, but you didn’t buy it because you found the price excessive. But in your flight, some passenger opened up his pack of McDonald’s burger meal, and the amazing aroma of fries and burger drifted to your seat in a not-so-swift and faint way. The 6-hour flight you had to endure with your stomach contracting with hunger, the US$25 didn’t seem excessive anymore. And you say, “What was I thinking?”
And what will make things worse? When you realise you need to take your medicine with a full stomach.

TAKEAWAY

Dan Gilbert was asked, “How can you do the right thing all the time?” He said, “You probably can’t. The best thing you can do is to catch yourself making these errors and know to watch out for them.”
And may I add, deciding is different from doing. There is this story of five people in a room. It was time for lunch. Three people decide to have lunch at the nearby cafe. How many are left in the room? You say, two? Correct answer is five. Deciding is not acting on your decision. Actually doing it, is.
It is just the same as pledging and donating. The two words are not the same, no matter how you twist them. Pledging is pure talk, donating is the action word. And what a bad decision not to act on your word.

He listed…

After April 7, 1838
If marry – means limited, feel duty to work for money. London life, nothing but society, no country, no tours, children (if it please God), constant companion (& friend in old age), home, & someone to take care of house . . .

July 1838
If not marry – Travel. Europe, yes? America???? If I travel it must be exclusively geological United States, Mexico Depend upon health & vigour & how far I become Zoological. If I dont travel.— Work at transmission of Species— Microscope simplest forms of life— Geology. ?.oldest formations?? Some experimets [sic] — physiological observation on lower animals. Those are some of the entries in his journal. Evidence of his listmaking habit.

HOW DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS?

Are you guided by a structure, go with your gut, do as told, or follow the majority?
As a leader, it is imperative one has to develop decision making skills.
A study on 500 executives and managers revealed 98% fail to apply the best practices in making decisions.
While in another three-month study of 100 managers, those who applied best practices in making decisions achieved their expectations 90% of the time and 40% exceeded expectations.
The research further says that “businesses which follow a decision making checklist make 75% better decisions twice as fast, with half as much meeting and 20% better performance.”

WHAT ARE THE 8 KEY STEPS IN DECISIONS MAKING?

Defining a problem

What is the problem that needs to be solved? State the problem specifically for clarity.
Let’s use Darwin’s case as an example. To marry or not to marry? It is not, to marry Emma or Jane?
This first step is critical in the decision making process because this is what will give clear direction to your process.

In the first place, is there really a problem?

An unnamed head of the Industrial Engineering Department in Yale University said, “If I had only one hour to solve a problem, I would spend up to two-thirds of that hour in attempting to define what the problem is.”

Classifying the problem

Is the problem a unique situation, an exemption to the rule or recurring? Problem classification also establishes urgency, helps identify the right people capable of handling the situation (sales, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, finance, logistics), and can rate priority based on the impact on your business.

Research and data gathering

In the olden times, people made decisions based on gut-feel, intuition and experience. And in some cases, like Charles Darwin, on a pros and cons list. But in this AI and SpaceX age, data analytics plays a crucial role in problem-solving.
Management or decision-makers, for that matter, will need supporting data to enable them to make informed decisions. Do not attempt to proceed without any data. But not just any data, only quality data – correct and complete.
Insufficient and incorrect data will mislead and make your succeeding steps of no value.
Several data analytics tools are available to enhance problem-solving processes and make the process faster.
As Clive Humby said, “data is the new oil.” Because with the right processing, analysis, use and application, that processed data will be powerful and of greater value to your business and operation.

Evaluate data and options

After the completeness and soundness of the data are checked and verified, it is time for the team to evaluate.
Aside from the data on hand, it is critical to bring in key people to provide their expertise on the subject. In some companies, this team is called the Focus Group Team, where selected individuals from different departments, related to the problem, are brought in to provide their perspective, insights and experience on the subject.
The Focus Group team provides a holistic approach in resolving an issue, and brainstorming is a process that is employed to generate the best option for the issue. The team, however, is abolished after the problem has been resolved.

Select the best option

When analysis of data has been completed and all possible options have been presented, it is time for management or decision-makers to choose the best option.
In some big companies, the Focus Group team is empowered to decide and implement the best option.

Develop a plan for implementation

After management or the decision-makers have chosen the best option for the company, a GANTT chart is prepared to state in detail the timeline (steps and schedule of implementation).

Implementation

The second to the last step in the decision making process is the execution of the solution.
The team should ensure that the roll-out is managed as planned, and any deviation should be reported immediately to the team.

Feedback, review, and evaluate

The process does not end with implementation. It is necessary to reconvene for a post-event meeting.
Review the consequences of your decision. What was effective, what needs revision, what needs improvement, what did you miss in the process, etc.?
Your successful implementation can be a template for a similar situation in the future.

TAKEAWAY

Making the right decision is a skill. And as a skill, it needs enhancement to ensure proficiency.
Proficiency then yields confidence. Also, recognise that decisions should be guided by facts, not emotions, and because of this, a leader with high emotional intelligence has the right ingredient to start with.
No leader should rush into making a decision. Any decision that will have an enormous repercussion on a company’s bottom line cannot be hasty.
The same thing with marriage. It is a life-long commitment. How can you rush into it?
Charles Darwin, who decided in favour of marriage, proposed seven months after his first deliberation on marrying or not his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. They stayed married for 43 years until his death.
If you want your team to be oriented to the concept of decision making in leadership, you can send me a message and let’s talk.

What do surveys say?

According to a Statista survey conducted on 30,000 respondents in Europe between March to April 2021, fifty-five percent from Switzerland are reported suffering from burn-out or on the verge of it. Fifty-three percent from Austria and fifty-one percent from Germany.
Lepaya, a power skills training company, conducted a research on stress at work on 1,322 European workers and results show more than half agree to experience unhealthy levels of stress at work.
Based on the survey, Germans working in the financial, automotive, manufacturing, health care and education industries are the most stressed.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work says “workers experience stress when the demands of their job are excessive and greater than their capacity to cope with them.” And when this situation persists for a prolonged period, stress develops into more serious health problems such as cardiovascular disease or musculoskeletal problems (three most common musculoskeletal problems are trauma, back pain, and arthritis).

Triggers of stress at workplaces are high levels of work pressure, lack of job security or changes within the organisation, longer work hours and pressure to deliver.  Relentless worry and anxiety over undelivered actionables, delayed deliverables or unmet deadlines can result in burnout and later, to more critical disorders. Although burnout is not classified as a  medical condition by the World Health Organization,  it is a syndrome that needs serious attention.

At What Cost?

The estimated direct (healthcare and welfare payments) and indirect (diminished productivity and income loss) costs related to work-related stress is 10 billion days of annual work days lost and US$ 1 trillion per year.
In Europe, mental health disorders total cost is € 240 billion per year. Fifty-six percent of the cost is attributed to absenteeism and reduced productivity, while 43.3% goes to direct costs such as medical treatment.

What is stress?

Stress, whether we admit it or not, is synonymous with work. But stress is not all unhealthy. There is a good kind of stress which we all need. The first day at your job, when your boss suddenly awarded you a project you have been rooting for, or a big client you have been working on signed up with you and wanted a project presentation from you. Anything that shakes your balance is stress. And anything that shakes you short term is good stress. Good stress is also called eustress. We release feel-good hormones or endorphins during these exciting times.

However, stressors become bad when you are unable to manage them, and they prevent you from doing anything else. Working on a pet project can initially give you the feel-good stress, but if you are unable to manage the project and it takes you longer working hours and less sleep to finish it, it turns to bad stress.

This means, a big part of stress relies on a person’s hands.

While it is great to have companies provide and offer emotional and mental health benefits, it is best to initiate steps to address your stress. It is wise to assume responsibility for your health.

HOW DOES MINDFULNESS HELP US MANAGE STRESS?

Living in the moment is mindfulness. Living in the moment is being aware of your present. Intentionally and deliberately paying attention to every detail of the moment, without judgement, and not thinking of the past or future.
Mindfulness is a state of being, and a skill that can be learned through constant and consistent practice.

Long-term practice of mindfulness results in changes in how the brains work. For example, the amygdala (which is the part of the brain responsible for the fight or flight response) is part of the limbic system. The Limbic system is involved in our behavioural and emotional responses.
In stressful occasions, there is a reduced blood flow in the left brain and increased blood flow in the right brain. The right side of the brain is involved in emotions, among other things. Mindfulness can help stimulate the left brain to counteract the escalating emotion resulting from heightened emotions or stress. The amygdala is, therefore, controlled from doing its natural tendency of fight or flight.

The science of mindfulness offers these other benefits from prolonged practice:

TAKEAWAY

There is value in implementing the practice of mindfulness at the workplace. Learning the skill is a powerful tool to be added to your tool kit. It is applicable both at work and home, and in all types of relationships – vertical and horizontal.
It is recommended to do a consistent practice of the skill to be able to enjoy the benefits. Only long-term practice can create a positive change in one’s brain structure and function. Neuroscience supports this.

Mindfulness allows a person to look at the whole picture, discourage bias by being non-judgemental and, as a result, supports inclusion. Mindful leaders look beyond age, race and colour.
It is easy to get along with people when one has no bias. Isn’t that the biggest stress-buster?

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS IN SIMPLE TERMS?

Wikipedia defines “mindfulness” as the practice of purposely bringing one’s attention in the present moment without evaluation.
Cambridge dictionary defines mindfulness as “the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings in the present moment, thought to create a feeling of calm.”

According to the American Psychological Association, mindfulness is the “awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings.”
And Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the proponent of  Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), defines mindfulness as the “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”

WHY DO I HAVE TO PRACTISE MINDFUL ACTIVITIES?

In some of my previous posts, I have cited studies from neuroscientists on the power of our thoughts. There are studies on how repetitive thoughts become part of our temperament, which later become our traits. If a repetitive thought can be that powerful to result in changes in our personalities, imagine the damage negative thoughts can do to our minds and bodies.

Dr. John Kabat-Zinn is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society.
His research dealt with the benefits of mindfulness in healing physical health symptoms and psychological distress.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn endorses mindfulness practise to train our minds and bodies to pay attention.

WHY IS MINDFULNESS IMPORTANT AT WORK?

Primarily, mindfulness helps people focus on the task at hand and eliminate time-wasting activities.
Relating with people “non-judgmentally” allows people to work harmoniously and averts conflict. A negative working environment results in damaging mental health problems like depression and anxiety. WHO reports an estimated 264 million people suffer from depression.

In an experiment on the role of mindfulness in emotional reactivity, experienced mindfulness practitioners were found to be able to quickly disengage from an emotionally charged situation.
Reduces errors at work, which in many cases results in work-related accidents, especially in manufacturing settings.

When you find yourself getting anxious about events at work (or at home which creeps into your mind during work hours), try the STOP mindfulness technique.
STOP stands for Stop (or pause), Take a breath, Observe (your body, thoughts, experience, emotions, and surroundings), Proceed (with more consciousness).
This technique allows you to detach from the situation, enables your brain (amygdala) to process your stimuli, and then (prefrontal cortex) gives you the appropriate action to take.

WHAT ARE THE BEST MINDFUL ACTIVITIES YOU CAN PRACTISE?

One fundamental mindful activity is BREATHING. If you think it is easy, think again. With all the chatter and clutter in one’s mind, to quietly pay attention to your breathing can be one major challenge.
The challenge is to focus your mind on the process of breathing – slowly taking in air through the nose when you inhale, imagining the air passing through your windpipes and then to the lungs, causing the lungs to inflate like a balloon and then exhaling the air. Repeat.

When a montage of things starts to occupy your mind during the process, and you find your mind lingering and wandering, immediately push the thought aside and bring your mind back again to your breathing.
A study showed that mindful breathing enhanced error-monitoring in the brain, also known as performance monitoring.

Another simple mindful activity we can practise is mindful EATING. This can be so easily neglected, especially when we are in the company of friends and family. We eat and talk at the same time, giving very little attention to the process of eating. I remember a friend who chatted away while eating, and when his family talked about how scrumptious the pasta was and asked him how he found it, he said he didn’t know how it tasted but showed traces of the pasta on his plate. He had to go back to the buffet table to get a second serving and validate his family’s comments. This time he was mindful of the taste and agreed with his family. Imagine doubling the calories just because he was not mindful.

Another friend burned her lips because she stuffed the food in her mouth while chatting with her husband, not noticing the food was hot.
When you eat mindfully, you will be conscious of the texture and colour of the food, the aroma, taste, and the temperature of the food. Eat slowly to savour every bite. Eating slowly allows the satiety hormone in your stomach to send signals to your brain when you are full. This process takes 20 minutes from the time you start eating. This results in less eating.

With intentional mindfulness, you observe and hold all judgements. You observe other people and understand them better, you observe your surroundings and become more careful, and you observe your body and understand its processes.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER BENEFITS OF PRACTISING MINDFUL ACTIVITIES?

Lower blood pressure

A nine-week Mindfulness-based Blood Pressure Reduction program used mindfulness techniques to enhance attention control, emotion regulation and self-awareness of both healthy and unhealthy habits in 43 participants who exhibited significant improvements in self-regulation skills and significantly reduced blood pressure readings.

Weight control

A study was conducted in 2011 to explore the use of mindfulness intervention in reducing cortisol and abdominal fat among obese women due to stress eating. According to the results, “the intervention was successful in increasing mindfulness and responsiveness to bodily sensations, reducing anxiety and eating in response to external food cues, and tended to reduce eating in response to emotions.”

Enhanced focus through reduced mind-wandering

Mind-wandering is the shift of attention and thoughts from one task to other unrelated tasks. A study showed improvement in reading comprehension even from a brief 15-minute mindful breathing exercise.

TAKEAWAY

Practise mindfulness in three ways:
One, be aware of your moment.
Two, be non-judgmental of yourself and others.
Three, keep your mind from shifting away from the task at hand.

Living in the moment allows a person to respond appropriately to his new situation or task at hand, and enables one to make a headway effectively by deactivating crippling thoughts of the past.

Prof. De Waal’s basic definition is, “the highest-ranking male is the Alpha male. The highest-ranking female is the Alpha female.” To be an Alpha male “you need to be impressive, intimidating, and demonstrate your vigour on occasion and show that you’re very strong.”
Since Newt Gingrich’s endorsement of his book, the world has created different images of the Alpha male, much to Prof. De Waal’s chagrin. So he went out to correct it. The alpha male is a lot of things, but the “Alpha male is not a bully”, he says.
And he is correct because when you search the internet for the Alpha male, you will be bombarded with a lot of information and descriptions, so it is safe to stay with the man who researched the concept extensively and have actual studies to back it up.

Now, what is a Sigma male?

The term Sigma male was coined by Theodore Robert Beale in 2010. Theodore Robert Beale, popularly known as Vox Day, is an American far-right activist, writer, and publisher. Beale called Sigma males “lone wolves” and described them as introverted Alpha males.
He developed the concept of Sigma male as an attempt at challenging the conventional view of the “man at the top of the human dominance hierarchy.”

Below are Five Signs of a Sigma Male Personality:

Talented and Highly Intelligent

Sigma males take pleasure in solitude rather than bask in the attention from swarms of people. This characteristic allows them occasions for deep thinking, introspection, and self-reflection.They are good listeners, do not reject ideas, but listen to them. Creative and innovative concepts get their attention. A lot of times they are called “rule-breakers” because they refuse to go by the rules. You will observe this behaviour in a lot of creative people because they do not work within anybody’s box.
Sigma males ruminate on an idea, carefully reflect on strategies and analyse options before making any decisions. They are highly observant, eager for knowledge, and intellectually curious.

Sigma male leaders are visionaries.

Extraordinarily-driven

A Sigma male is not one to enjoy a routine job. He will flourish in a position that will give him authority and space to act on his creative spirit. Sigma males are driven, but they are not impulsive. You can be sure they have given a project much thought before they act on them.
A Sigma male might dare to do something that will appear reckless to a regular person, not to show off or draw attention, but to satisfy his experimental and curious nature, nothing that has not gone through his exhaustive research and analysis.

Cool And Prone to Unusual Behaviour

Sigma males have confidence in their ability without putting effort to impress. They don’t maintain a wide social circle because social gatherings and heavy social interactions with shallow conversations bore them. They do not avoid interactions but hate unnecessary interactions. They would rather read a book.
They live their lives in a specific way that works best for them, needing no validation from anyone. They are independent-thinkers and will not depend on others’ opinions or views to guide them on how they will live, behave, or even dress, but wise enough to decide sensibly.
They are non-conformists that people often judge them as anti-social.

Definitely, Sigma males are not anti-social.

But they do not need any validation, seek opinion or social approval from other people as to how they should behave, act, speak or think.
You will not find them actively posting on social media but are socially equipped when forced to mingle or participate in team-building activities. While Alpha males would be loud and call attention with their antics, the Sigma male would be quiet in a corner, maybe speaking with one or two people, yet draw attention without even trying. This air of aloofness adds to their charm and appeal.

They are leaders of few words.

They are Prone to Antagonistic Social Relations with Alpha Males Because of their conflicting nature, Sigma males are prone to hostile relations with Alpha males.
Sigma males hate conflict and they will avoid it at all costs because they hate drama. But being highly observant and a good judge of character, a Sigma male will know how to anticipate an Alpha male’s behaviour and will be able to respond to them accordingly.

Sigma male leaders are good at conflict resolutions.

They do not respect the Alpha’s high social rank. Sigma males share the same social rank as the Alpha males but refuse to play by its rules, and are therefore placed outside of the social hierarchy structure. But despite the alienated status, they manage to win the social games anyway.
In a social situation, Sigma males might drop by your table, say a quick hello and leave. He will not snob, ignore or disregard, but he will not linger giving him an air of mystery that adds to his appeal.

TAKEAWAY

Sigma males are the quiet versions of Alpha males. They could easily challenge an Alpha male in the top rank position without tromping their way to get there.
Alpha males are easily found these days. They are active on social media.
But Sigma males are rare and cannot be easily found. Because they do not actively post on social media.
Did you find agreeing to a lot, if not all, of the descriptions?
Can you relate to the above list of behaviours?

Caveat: No matter how people try to debunk this personality theory, many people can still relate to them.

So, read, study and learn as much as you can because knowing oneself is the key to personal growth.

Incidentally, Prof. Frans de Waal was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2007. He also is a psychology professor at Emory University with a Ph.D. in biology.

His book, „Chimpanzee Politics,” was recommended to freshman congressmen by the U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in 1994. Since then, the term Alpha male has become very popular and, consequently, also has been used loosely all over the internet, so Prof. Frans de Waal made some clarifications.

Alpha male does not mean bullies, and jokingly he added, “you should not insult chimpanzees by using the wrong label.”

His Alpha male definition is as simple as the highest-ranking male is the Alpha male. The highest-ranking female is the Alpha female.

Though his study and research focused mainly on primates, I do not believe, for a minute, that we are close relatives with them, as De Waal often says, but I agree that we can learn a lot from these animals.

So, what are the real alpha male traits?

Body language

The Alpha male assumes the Bipedal swagger when he wants to display control. This posture is where the mammal stands tall and walks on both his hind legs with his arms loosely hanging on his sides away from his body. This very confident, bold posture gives an air of superiority which is very common in high-ranking people.

How can you be an alpha male?

According to Prof. de Waal, “you need to be impressive, intimidating, and demonstrate your vigor on occasion and show that you’re very strong.”

But more importantly, according to Prof. De Waal, Alpha male also needs to demonstrate the following behaviours:

    Generosity

Grooming is a very significant social activity within chimp groups. Aside from grooming being a way to clean oneself or another chimp, it is a powerful way to form and maintain alliances. The longer a chimp grooms another chimp, the more favour he gets at food-sharing.

When a younger male would like to dethrone an Alpha male, he would go on a campaign by building coalitions among their group. He would share food generously and groom other males to gain their support. And since he needs the support from the female group, he starts to play with the baby chimps and tickle them. They do this to gain favour among the females.

In humans, I believe this is what we call reciprocity. Love begets love, kindness begets kindness, and the age-old golden rule “What you sow is what you reap.”

It is natural that when you do someone a favour, they feel obligated to return the favour. There will be a few outliers, but generally, it is the case. People reciprocate.

A primate will do it out of instinct, but a leader should do it out of the natural goodness of his heart. Because no matter how you fake it, people will find out. Generosity in leaders is not all monetary. It could be their time, knowledge, words of affirmation, and talent, especially when grooming their next leaders.

2. Peacemaking

Alpha males stop fights. They come in between two fighting chimps, and they do not take the sides of their family or friends. They generally defend the underdog, which contributes to the Alpha male’s popularity, especially among the weak in the group. This behaviour demonstrates that the Alpha male can provide and assure them of the security they need.

The Alpha male who keeps order longer within their community will be more popular, loved, and kept longer in power.

Isn’t that true in humans too? Peacemakers are beloved in any organisation, community, society, and country. They mediate in conflicts, provide clarity in chaos, calm down hostilities, and handle things with composure.

You will notice peacemakers do not tromp their way in to create attention. But you will be surprised, they generate followers. Their distinguished character shows in how they speak, move, and behave.

3. Empathy

The Alpha male is the chief consoler in the group. He goes to console the loser in a fight, keeps him company, and grooms him.

Empathy is defined, by Cambridge Dictionary, as “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.”

And in humans, it goes beyond empathy. We progress to compassion, which means we try to help and alleviate someone’s suffering. If Prof. De Waal says perspective-taking takes intelligence and primates can do it, shouldn’t it be expected more in humans?

Prof. De Waal talks about an incident in a Sweden zoo when an Alpha male chimp saw a young chimp choking to death because a rope wrapped twice around his neck. So the Alpha male chimp grabbed the young chimp with one arm and used his other arm to unwrap the rope. A true display of empathy and compassion.

An Alpha male leader should develop empathy and compassion because these two come together. They co-exist. I firmly believe compassion begins where empathy ends. A leader does not just talk about his employees’ difficult situations amidst covid. He tries to get information about their situation and finds ways to send help.

Takeaway

An Alpha male leader, according to Prof. De Waal should not be, first of all, a bully. But, he should be “impressive, intimidating, and demonstrates vigour on occasion and show himself to be very strong.”

But, Alpha male is not all size and bulk. Strength is not seen only in size. The smallest can also be an Alpha male if he has the right friends, constantly works at keeping them happy, and if he gets female support. Just like in humans, leaders come in all ages and sizes.

Age may dethrone an Alpha male from the highest rank, but the coalition that he has developed or created can give him a very influential force because coalition is also extremely important in the primates’ network.

As revealed in Prof. De Waal’s study, coalition (or influence, in humans) plays an important part in leadership. So how do humans build a powerful influence? Build relationships based on trust.

Do gentlemen’s agreements still exist? When two people agree on something and both trust that each one will be honourable to keep his end of the bargain, even without a written contract. When a man’s word is his contract, and people continue to do business with him on a handshake, you know that man’s got strong influence.

An individually strong chimp may defeat an old male chimp or an Alpha male chimp separately, but he will not be able to defeat a coalition between an old Alpha male and a young Alpha male. This coalition system will be very difficult to overpower and is extremely important to demonstrate unity within a team. A leader will not exist without his team.

Generosity, peacemaking, empathy with compassion, and trustworthiness. For me, and I agree with Prof. Frans de Waal, those are the key behaviours an Alpha male needs to have. And that is as far as I will agree with him, though. Not the part that I am a close relative to the chimps.

What is your idea of an Alpha male?

Do you share the same description of an Alpha male as Prof. Frans de Waal?

Share your thoughts. Let’s talk.

Try to imagine the first time you learned how to drive, how to ski or the first time you travelled by plane, the first time you travelled overseas, or the first time you travelled alone. 

How did you feel before, during, and after those experiences?

WHAT IS A BEGINNER’S MINDSET?

Shoshin is a Japanese word that means “beginner’s mind.” It is a concept developed by Zen master Shunryu Suzuki. 

Suzuki believes “if your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything.” 

When a person operates from a beginner’s mindset, he also demonstrates humility. A beginner’s mindset will have to relinquish all preconceived ideas, opinions, biases, and expectations and proceed from a position of zero-knowledge. 

A full cup cannot be filled. And so, one needs to empty his cup. For experts, this could be a challenge. 

A lot of times newbies, outsiders, nonprofessionals, laypeople can give us a fresh perspective on tasks we have been used to doing. 

In your operations, for example, it is wise to regularly conduct third-party audits of your facilities for an objective assessment of your process. Most of the time, you will be surprised at the amount of details you are missing within your facilities. It is because when you see and do something day in and day out, you begin to operate on auto-pilot. Fresh eyes can give a fresh perspective.  

SO, HERE ARE FIVE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD ADOPT A BEGINNER’S MINDSET

TAKEAWAY

Leaders can sometimes be trapped in a rigid structure to follow the norm. They hold back from changing lanes to avoid the risk of ruffling some elite feathers. Traditional leadership can, a lot of times, choke and block innovative spirit among teams. 

Needless to say, innovation is always the key driver of businesses. Just look at Airbnb, Uber, Tesla, Netflix, etc. The leaders of these companies carved a new niche for their products and services because they did not stick to what traditional products and services dictate. They used traditional products and services as the springboards of their innovations. 

Curiosity pushes one’s mind to question and explore. Your teams must be given this latitude. Encourage a time to come together with your team, away from work, and go on an exploratory retreat. Make it a time for everyone to recharge and be creative. 

As the covid protocols loosen, you might want to plan a weekend retreat with your team.

If you want to know more about this activity and sign on your team, let me know. I can design a training activity tailored to your needs.

You can connect with me through any of my social media accounts, and let’s talk. 

But then you go and say you have a growth mindset.

Did you know those statements reflect a fixed mindset? How is that? You never thought you needed to improve your mindset.

Well, a lot of times, the way people perceive themselves, how they behave, and what they really are are all not the same. Why do you think companies subject job applicants, and even their employees, to personality tests and behavioural assessments? 

I am a firm believer in assessments. Before I start any mindset coaching, I need to have an understanding of my prospective client. A discovery call is an excellent way to start the process, and then the assessments, for validation.  

People can have a different view of themselves. It is possible for people to be unaware of their mindset. You can say one thing in interviews and conversations, but your behaviour and test results may show differently. It is not being phoney. A person may just not be self-aware. 

Carol Dweck, an American psychologist, is known for her research on mindsets. She says of her work, “My research looks at the origins of these mindsets, their role in motivation and self-regulation, and their impact on achievement and interpersonal processes.”       

Her mindset theory, which began in the 1970s, proposes two mindsets – fixed and growth mindsets. These mindsets dictate how a person perceives success, challenges, accepts feedback, failures, and mistakes, among other things.

Dweck’s research states that with a Growth mindset, a person’s talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. While people with a Fixed mindset believe that their talents, abilities, and intelligence are fixed traits.

Given those facts, can we change mindsets? How is it possible?

Here are 5 Ways to Change Your Mindset:

Empathy is defined, by Cambridge Dictionary, as “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.” 

So, shouldn’t the question “how are you” give you the basis for empathy? That is if you cared to listen to the answer. 

A CNBC article, published in March 2019, claims that Harvard researchers say successful people stopped asking “how are you?” when making small talk. The article talked about how to open an engaging conversation. 

Life and times have turned so fast that we have reduced this phrase from a caring angle to a standard greeting. Many times you would hear people ask “how are you?” at checkout counters and never see them look at the person in the face and wait for an answer. We, on the other hand, wouldn’t want to hold up the line so we say, “Fine, thanks.”

I would like to believe that Covid changed our perspective, so now we really mean it when we ask people how they are, and would like to know how they are doing, and coping, and then take time to listen to what they would have to say. 

In your workplaces, have you noticed how people ask how you are doing? Are you asked more often now? Did people (especially your managers) ask and really listen to your answer? Do you reply generously or still give that curt, “Fine, thanks” answer? 

“How are you” is the same as asking, “how are you coping?” It is an empathic question. However, listening to the answer is the second-best thing. What you will do after is the best thing and will complete the cycle, ASK-LISTEN-ACT. 

What is Compassion?

Cambridge Dictionary defines compassion as “a strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them.”

Merriam-Webster defines compassion as “sympathetic consciousness of others‘ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”

Between the two, my persuasion is with Merriam-Webster. However, let me share my definition of compassion. 

Compassion, for me, is empathy in action. What you do with the information that you receive will define you. Wishing to help or desiring to alleviate distress does not complete the action. 

When you text a peer to ask how he is doing because he has been quiet, and he said he has been in bed for days nursing a fever, what do you do with that information? The next thing you do will spell compassion or apathy. 

Compassion is sending him food, covering for him at work, offering to buy him what he needs like medicine, sending him groceries, checking on him regularly until he recovers, especially when he is living on his own, which is basically the norm these covid days. People can be isolated for days.

Empathy is feeling how to be in another person’s shoes, while compassion involves actions showing the other person that you care about them in their situation. 

That’s my definition. 

Why Empathy and Compassion are Important in the Workplace?

According to the sixth annual 2021 State of Workplace Empathy study of Businessolver, 68% of CEOs feel they will be less respected if they show empathy in the workplace. 

Surveys show the following effects of empathic leadership on employees:

With all those positive effects of empathy on employees, how come CEOs feel threatened of being disrespected?

When a situation happens at work, and the leader holds off judgement, listens to all sides of the story, and puts himself in his team’s shoes, he shows he is empathetic. When he defers judgement and gives his team a chance to resolve and correct the situation, he shows he is compassionate.

Perspective-taking is another skill all leaders need to cultivate.

TAKEAWAY

There is no choosing between empathy and compassion because one cannot and should not exist without the other. Compassion starts with empathy, and empathy should end with compassion. 

Empathy may get you through people’s hearts, but compassion will keep you in their hearts.

Elevate the quality of your greeting.

Next time you ask someone, “how are you,” take time to listen to what he has to say. Better yet, look him in the eye and wait until he tells you his story. 

To illustrate, when a wife’s love language is “words of affirmation,” any “act of service” by the husband will not be perceived as a demonstration of his love to his wife but will be perceived by the wife as “helping out around the house.” Let us say on Valentine’s day, the husband helps out preparing dinner, sets the table, and even washes the dishes after dinner. For him, he was showing his wife how much he loves her by doing those acts of service, because that is his love language. But the wife, all the while, wonders why her husband is being extra nice that evening. She thinks, “maybe he needs something or will confess to something”, so she waits for her husband’s punchline. But nothing happened. And through the whole dinner, the wife waited to hear her husband say how much he loves her and values her, and appreciates all the work she does for the family. However, not a word from her husband. Why? Because words of affirmation are not the husband’s love language. For the husband, he already “showed” her how much he loves her. Can you relate to this?

Even in organisations, unexpressed expectations result in unmet aspirations. Unless you tell your partner (or your team) what you want to be done or need from them, you will continue to be disappointed and frustrated. 

Now, let’s go through each love language in the realm of business and the workplace.

Here are The five love languages:

To know another person’s love language, the book recommends that you observe how the person demonstrates love and affection towards others, and what are the things he or she frequently criticises, protests, or gripes about. Chapman further says that how a person expresses his love is also how he wants it received. 

WORDS OF AFFIRMATION

Have you experienced going through a rough night to finish a presentation material, come to work feeling jittery the following day, almost fainted in front of peers and management during your presentation, and then hear the CEO say, “That was a great presentation, John! Good job!” How do you feel? Stoked, right? You suddenly feel like you got an adrenaline shot in the arm.

That is the power of positive words. Words of appreciation and encouragement, written or verbal, sow a positive vibe on the recipient. 

Works wonders on a person especially whose love language is “words of affirmation.”

Neuroscientists claim that merely seeing the word NO will cause a sudden release of stress-producing hormones in our brains, which interrupts normal brain function. When a speaker verbalises the word NO accompanied with a slight frown, it causes more stress chemicals released not just in the listener’s brains but also in the speaker’s brains.

Give credit where credit is due. Be positive and timely in your recognition and acknowledgment of good work. And more importantly, be sincere. It’s good for your health!

QUALITY TIME

If you notice, in your meeting, that your boss stops speaking each time you hold your phone, you should get the hint. He wants your full attention. 

Although we all know that it is disrespectful to text or check your phones during face-to-face meetings, how many of us are still guilty of doing this? Some people may not notice or not be bothered, but people who will make an issue out of it would want your eyes on them alone. 

Give them your undivided attention to please their love language. 

GIVING GIFTS

Some people appreciate receiving tokens of appreciation because they see the gifts as symbols of their achievements or affection. A lot of times the gifts are displayed in their offices or rooms. 

You may also have a colleague who frequently brings you a cup of coffee in the morning. If she buys a coffee for herself, you get a cup too! It is her love language. 

Some organisations have perks and incentives (gift cards, event tickets or free breakfasts as part of the onboarding process). That is another way to satisfy people with this love language.

ACTS OF SERVICE

When you offer help to your colleague who is drowning in paperwork and he thanks you profusely and never forgets what you did, you can right away tell that he values this love language. You can expect him to take the opportunity to offer you his help when you need it too. 

On the flip side, when the act of service is your love language, and you went out of your way to help a colleague who is sick or offered to substitute for him on a task, and then you felt bad for not being acknowledged by your colleague, this love language is going to score high in your love language quiz. 

PHYSICAL TOUCH

Our current social distancing, work-from-home, and no-touch virus policy block us from close contact with each other. But this shouldn’t stop us from fist-bumping (instead of high fives and handshakes) to congratulate, greet or welcome a friend, colleague, or client. 

A pat on the back to acknowledge a job well done is another love language you can apply. 

Great caution, however, should be observed to avoid this gesture from being misinterpreted or abused.

TAKE AWAY

If you have not done the quiz yet, and have no idea about your colleagues, boss, friends’ or even your love language, take the test and start observing. 

To validate your observation, you can ask your partner or team to take this love language quiz. 

According to Chapman, each person has a primary and a secondary love language. You might want to take the quiz and find out your love language too.

As the saying goes, “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It’s because the CEO answers to the Board of Directors, his peers (CFO, COO, and the whole executive team), his direct reports, and basically, the entire organisation. He is in charge of the interest of the company and its organisational health. 

And, that is a lot on one’s plate.

So, what are the core pillars these Chief Executives live by? Essentially, three:

TAKE AWAY

The CEO serves as the face of the organisation. He has the crucial role of projecting a robust organisation to keep the business attractive and worthwhile to the shareholders, partners and clients. All these duties and responsibilities can be overwhelming and consuming. 

It is best for these executives to have an outsider connection as a sounding board for an unbiased perspective. 

If you are leading a startup company, and would want to navigate these key pillars in-depth, or you are a CEO of an established organisation, and you want to further advance your success rate, let’s have a conversation. 

You might wonder, do experts need a coach? Read here.

I am an ICF Master Certified Coach with more than 20 years of international leadership experience. I support entrepreneurs, managers, executives, and leaders in generating more impact, advancing their professional development, and realizing their business and personal goals. 

As your sparring partner and reliable partner, I will be at your side until the finish line.

In short, the employer is doing a background check by “googling” an applicant. They may or may not inform the applicant, but most of them don’t. If a prospective employer asks for a link to your social media accounts, they are indirectly telling you that they will be checking on you. 

If you still don’t get it, it means whatever they see on your socials becomes part of your curriculum vitae. Why? Because whether you realise it or not, your profile IS your personal brand. 

Your name, your profile, and your posts tell the world a lot about who you really are – your values, the quality and scale of your connections, the level and quality of your engagements, etc. Have you assessed your socials lately (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat)? What do your social networks put across? Are they helping your career? 

A Swiss company disseminated a memo across their global offices restricting employees to post any personal photo showing their company logo. That is how much they guard their brand. How is your personal brand? 

Did you know that employers who use social network sites to probe job candidates continue to check social media platforms to monitor their employees’ online presence? It’s true! Forty-eight percent of them do, according to CareerBuilders’ survey. And as a result, 34% of these employers have fired or penalised employees based on the content found on their socials.

What are employers looking for?

TAKE AWAY

Due to the widening use of social media networks, companies have found it a best practice to create social media policies and regulations to protect the company and its employees. And, a company’s onboarding process must include a session on these policies so a new hire will know what is allowed or not allowed concerning the use of company property (computers and mobile phones, if provided), company time, and corporate proprietary information. Some may think that this may seem a bit of a stretch, but you will be surprised by how people can be so careless and insensitive in their use of social media platforms.

This could be the best time to do a quality check of all your social media accounts. You might be creating a persona that is hurting your career opportunities. 

In any case, a digitally obsessed person shouldn’t be so bothered at all with being e-stalked. Besides, a publicly shared profile is free for all. It just boils down to how responsible you are in your use of social media. 

Social media is a very powerful tool. Use it with a lot of care and caution to avoid injury.

FUN FACT

HOW DO YOU USE THIS INFORMATION?

TAKE AWAY

Understanding your millennial workforce will enable you to provide the working conditions this generation needs, make adjustments to ensure they are satisfied, and somehow hold back (if at all possible) their tendency to roll.

Free-flowing coffee, nap rooms, free gym memberships, or free snacks do not cut it anymore especially in this pandemic when everyone is working from home. Besides, what happens when another company offers better coffee? 

Millennials value mentoring. For your millennial protegè to be engaged rather than detached, be a mentor, not a boss. Give them a compelling reason to stay and a struggle to leave.

Invest in Leadership Development programs for your Millennial team. For a customized program, connect with me. Let’s create one for your team.

From a mishmash of online assessments and quizzes one can take to check his/her personality and character traits, the Big Five Personality Test is where you can start because it is where many of the other personality assessments were based on.

The Big Five Personality Traits, also known as the Big Five Model, Five-Factor Model, and OCEAN Model (an acronym for the five traits – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) is considered the Gold Standard of personality psychology tests.

The progression of research and development on this theory started from the work of Sir Francis Galton in 1884, which was, later on, picked up by psychometrician Dr. LL Thurstone in 1934. Their work became the foundation of factor analytic research into personality traits. Psychologists Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert expanded on their work, and the theory was established by Dr. Fiske in 1949, and again expanded by other researchers from 1967 to 1987.

Clearly, extensive work has been done in the design of this theory which made it a dependable metric to measure personality. 

WHAT ARE THE FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS?

TAKE AWAY

Personality tests are conducted to know a little deeper about a person. However, it should not be treated conclusively but rather handled cautiously. Better yet, evaluated supplementary to other psychological assessments. One’s environment, experiences, education, relationships all contribute to a person’s growth and change over time. While psychological personality tests reveal things about a person, it is not a perfect metric. 

While the Big Five Personality test remains a dependable standard and provides valuable insight into a person’s strength and character, I still believe that it is better to reserve all judgment until you come face to face with the person and have a conversation. Tests, unless done repeatedly and analysed scientifically, are also influenced by the person’s situation, honesty and emotional state at the time of assessment. Do not cancel any person until you have conducted a deep conversation with him/her.

Did you learn something from this article? 

If you have any questions or interest in this topic and would like to explore conducting a deep level assessment of your team, please connect with me through my number +49 4292-517 288, email: mail@roel-schaart.com or any of my social media accounts. 

When the goal of your team is to climb up a steep mountain, how would you lead your team to achieve it? Your answer will tell your leadership style.

But is there a way to know your leadership style? You can start with these five steps:

It will also help to ask oneself these questions:

As I have mentioned a few times before, a professional will be able to provide an objective quality to your assessment, and so you will save time in the process. Coaches will be direct in pointing out your blind spots. He will guide you through your self-reflection process, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and identify your untapped potentials. Then, guide you through your transformation process.

TAKE AWAY

One leadership style does not fit all. A team is composed of people who continuously evolve. A leader must learn how to assess situations, get feedback, adjust accordingly and continuously recalibrate to meet ever-changing organisational needs. 

Need help? Connect with me. Click this link.

You can call yourself a leader or assume leadership for one reason or another, but what’s significant is, do people see you as one? Or, more importantly, does your team consider you one?

We read a lot of articles talking about the top qualities of a leader that range from being agile to being a visionary depending on the latest trending buzzword. But there are basic traits that a true leader naturally exhibits. There is no switch you can turn on or off. No valve to increase or reduce intensity. Like honour, it’s either you have it, or you don’t. 

What can distinguish an average leader from an exceptional leader?

Here are EIGHT distinguished people who exemplify the best of the traits

TAKE AWAY

Not everyone is born a natural leader. You cannot give what you do not have. But this doesn’t mean it is not achievable. Admission of lack is the first step of growth. Leadership is a lifelong apprenticeship. It is refined by time through experience, exposure, training, mentoring, and continuous education. 

Whether born or made, all leaders must continue to learn and sharpen their skills. It starts by “knowing thyself.” 

Connect with me through any of my social media channels. Let’s have a conversation.

If you like this article, please share. It might be what someone needs today. 

The doctor replied, “Because he is my son.”

How could that be possible?

What’s your answer?

And there is this story of a lady named Sandra, who attended a Montessori conference in Kansas City with the teachers from her sons’ school. She kept noticing this small-framed Filipina carrying a baby-changing tote around. She wondered if the Filipina was part of the hotel’s cleaning staff. She was utterly dumbfounded when she found out that the Filipina was the main speaker for the conference, a world expert on the Montessori method of education in public schools! Aua!

Did you answer mum to the first story?

Do you often fall into racial and gender stereotyping?

Cultural diversity in the workplace is one good thing that came out of this pandemic that swept the world in 2020. 

The job space has undoubtedly expanded and exploded since the 2020 global pandemic. People from all parts of the world can get jobs from across continents, without having to leave their homes.

Admittedly, agile global corporations who have been embracing diverse cultures before the coronavirus disruption have made small steps towards diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Only now, with the pandemic disruption, the steps had to be fast-tracked. 

Nimble corporations quickly pivoted to embrace these new paths of hiring. And to handle consequent increased cultural diversity, corporations started coaching sessions to ease people in through cultural adjustments, conduct cross-cultural competence training and formed Diversity and Inclusion teams and programs. Because, honestly, it is more than just a time-zone difference.  

What is Cultural Intelligence (CQ)?

The term Cultural Intelligence, abbreviated CQ (Cultural Quotient), was coined from the research done by Professors Christopher Early (Professor of Organization Behavior at the London Business School) and Soon Ang (Distinguished University Professor, Nanyang Business School). They define the term as an outsider’s natural ability to interpret and respond to unfamiliar cultural signals in an appropriate manner. 

A leader with a high cultural quotient can come into a new cultural setting, work and live side by side with people of diverse cultural backgrounds, and adapt their behaviours and actions with ease and understanding. 

Early and Ang recognised three components of CQ: the head, the heart, and the body.

What are the three components of cultural intelligence?

A highly culturally intelligent person will use all three components to interact with people of diverse cultures. They dismiss all forms of judgement and stereotyping but rather observe, understand and adapt to what is happening.

Why does cultural intelligence matter?

How to improve your cultural intelligence?

The studies on Cultural Intelligence done by Early and Ang in 2003 were later fully developed by Dr. David Livermore and published in his book, Leading with Cultural Intelligence. In his book, he highlights four aspects of CQ:

When an IT project gets delayed, do you immediately conclude it is because your IT head is from a culture that is known to be relaxed and laid back? 

Hold off any judgements and assumptions. One general rule to follow, if there is anything you do not understand, respectfully ask. A show of interest to understand will demonstrate empathy. 

TAKEAWAY

There is power in diversity if we learn to leverage each other’s cultural differences.

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” 

At the end of the day, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. 

I hope you enjoyed this article. 

I am Roel Schaart and I am a Master Certified Coach. 

My experience and in-depth expertise, gained and expanded in more than 20 years in international leadership, makes me acutely aware of the many challenges that executives are facing today. My goal is to show what changes can be made and how they lead to optimum results.

Do you want to create a borderless culture within your organisation? 

You choke. Your foot just got stuck in your mouth. 

At a construction site, the project site manager arrived and saw the workers huddled. He blew his top and yelled at the crew for „delaying work.“ One of the workers spoke up and said, „the materials have not arrived, boss.“    

Perspective-taking, according to Psychology Today, is a multidimensional ability that includes understanding not only of someone’s visual assessment of reality (their viewpoint) but also their perceptual assessment (their understanding). 

In these COVID times, it would de-escalate a lot of frazzled nerves and soothe a lot of hurts if we learn to see the other’s point of view – family of covid patients wanting prompt medical attention and seeing health care professionals getting infected and dying from their service.  

Simply put, perspective-taking is putting yourself in the other person’s shoes and seeing things from their perspective.

Ask this question, “What would you do if you were in my shoes?” and this will give you an idea of how the other person perceives a situation. 

HERE ARE THREE REASONS WHY LEADERS NEED TO DEVELOP THIS VALUABLE LEADERSHIP SKILL:

WHAT COULD BAR A LEADER FROM LEARNING From Learning PERSPECTIVE-TAKING Skill?

ONE WAY TO PRACTISE PERSPECTIVE-TAKING SKILL

Try this activity in your next meeting to demonstrate the skill, place two members of your team face to face. Put a number 6 or 9 in front of them and ask each one what number they see. Naturally, one will say 6 and the other will say 9. Then, ask them to exchange places. Then ask the same question. This time, each one of them will say the opposite of what they initially said. Or, you may use the letter M or W. 

And in your next board meeting, why don’t you start with a fun game to show the link between power and perspective.

Perspective-taking is not about making judgements based on how you assume the other person feels or thinks. But rather, holding judgement (or none at all) until you get the other’s perspective. 

Perspective-taking is a continuous process of collaboration, empathy, and communication for understanding. 

Put yourself in the other’s shoes. It’s all a matter of perspective. 

Level up your self-development training plan to include a perspective-taking workshop. 

There is a fun way to learn this skill. Reach out and send me a message to discuss the details. 

These are the cream of their crop. Elite executives who are high above the echelon of the business world. Why did they need a coach? 

What is Coaching? 

The International Coach Federation, or ICF, the gold standard in coaching defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” 

The reluctance in working with a coach arises from the misconception about the duty and the role played by the coach in an executive’s life. 

Coaching is not the same as mentoring, teaching, or therapeutic counselling. A mentor teaches, a consultant solves problems, while a coach facilitates. 

A Culture of Improvement 

Strong leadership builds a culture of improvement within their organization. They know that with continuous learning, people become highly engaged. And to promote this culture, leaders must be the first in line. 

With coaching, an executive goes from great to sterling. Eric Schmidt called himself an “established CEO” yet, realizing he needed some polishing, got the coaching services of Bill Campbell, Silicon Valley tech executives’ trusted confidant. 

Benefits of Getting a Coach 

Do you agree that a lot of times you are oblivious to your own actions, how it impacts other people, how people perceive you or how you interpret other people? That is understandable. No one knows everything. The moment you think you know everything, you stop improving. That is why it is crucial to get a second opinion, or a “third eye“ if you will. Someone who will critique you, raise your self-awareness, listen to you and give you feedback, observe your words and actions, and break it up to give you an objective image of yourself. A coach does all that and then some. 

The process could be uncomfortable, hurtful, and humbling, but the first step in learning is acknowledging a lack of knowledge. However, you must understand that your coach is your “trusted confidant.” He will not mince words to let you know your areas of improvement, but he is fully committed to lead you through your development journey. 

Here are some benefits you can get by working with a coach:

According to the Trillion Dollar Coach, Jim Campbell, coach only the coachable. And the traits of these people are honesty, humility, willingness to persevere and work hard, and openness to learn. Do you have these traits?

How can executives move from great to sterling? Be teachable.

If you are willing to go through this amazing learning journey, let’s talk. 

I am a Master Certified Coach. I guide executives, leaders, teams through mindset transformation and growth.

A Red Zone is when there is a high level of distasteful competition within your organisation, uncooperative spirit and unshared knowledge among team members. Everyone guards their turf for self preservation. 

What is a Green Organisation?

A Green Zone culture, on the other hand, is an organisation where collaboration and teamwork operate. People in this organisation rank high on emotional intelligence. Trust, open and candid dialogue, shared values, and respect among the team are the standard. 

Why is knowing the difference important?

Salesforce, a CRM solution company, claims 86% of executives identify the major cause of business fiascoes are ineffective collaboration and communication.

Knowing the problem is the first step in solving the problem. If you admit to yourself that you are breeding a Red Zone team, resolve to take action.

Is there a chance for a Red Zone culture to transition to the Green Zone?

Definitely! Here’s how.

TAKEAWAY

Do you have a high turnover rate? People with a Red Zone mindset leave at the first sight of a higher paycheck. Do not make the mistake of paying more to keep a Red Zone employee. Create a Green Zone working environment instead by helping your team transition from a Red Zone mindset. 

Like any skill, collaboration and communication skills can be learned, developed, and improved. Help your team master the skill and see how you will boost your employee retention, productivity, and profitability. 

If you want to transition from Red Zone to Green Zone, let me help you. Let’s talk!

― Warren Buffett

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on.

But that’s not what it means at all.

It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.

You have to pick carefully.

I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.

Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

― Steve Jobs

One of the most dreaded words people avoid hearing is the word NO. Salespeople are scared of the word and some business people are too. The word brings some negative implications. But how come two of the most successful people in the world endorses it? There should be some wisdom in it.

To start with, successful people have developed the discernment to distinguish between what is important and what is not.

For most people, determining what is important and what is not important isn’t as clear. This is because to determine this is a process of logic and not one of emotion. As what tugs on your heart is not always truly important, it only makes you feel important and there is a big difference between the two. This isn’t the only emotion that can easily cloud your judgement of what to say yes to and what to say no to, the fear of missing out, and the fear of offending, disappointing, or displeasing people can greatly impact your judgement of what is and what isn’t important.

Not only have highly accomplished people learnt what is important and what isn’t, they also know how to say NO; some graciously, and yet some, unapologetically. If you have to make a choice, choose graciously.

 How to say NO graciously? 

Stick to your script, and don’t allow yourself to be bullied into saying yes.

If a boss makes a persistent request, mention the tasks you have at hand and allow him to choose the task to deprioritize so you can accommodate his request.

So, how do these highly successful, well-accomplished people figure out when to say no and what to say no to?

According to Bill Gates, one habit of Warren Buffett that he admires is how Warren keeps his schedule free from meetings. He is good at saying ‘no’ to things. And because of this, Gates noted that Warren’s calendar was almost empty. 

As Warren Buffett says, „You’ve gotta keep control of your time and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.“ He says no to a lot of things so he can do what he wants to do, reading. He dedicates 80% of his day to it.

So don’t feel accomplished because your calendar is bursting at the seams. It apparently is the opposite. 

Say no to intrusions and disruptions.

One major distraction is technology. It removes one’s focus on the task at hand. When at work, focus. Disable all social media notifications from your smartphones, laptops, and desktops. Set certain times throughout your day to check for messages. If a message is urgent, people will call. As people get used to your system, they will know how you can be reached. 

Say no to clutter. 

Some people can’t say no to deleting emails from ex-colleagues even if emails said “Will send you the project details on Friday,” or “let’s discuss project details over dinner” three years ago. Valuable content within emails should be stored in a separate folder, otherwise, you will end up with 100,000 emails from 20 ex-colleagues or ex-clients.

Focusing is about saying no.

Steve Jobs in Apple’s 1997 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) said, “I know some of you spent a lot of time working on stuff that we put a bullet in the head of. I apologize, I feel your pain, but Apple suffered for several years from lousy engineering management. I have to say it. And there were people that were going off in 18 different directions doing arguably interesting things in each one of them. Good engineers. Lousy management. The total is less than the sum of the parts. We had to decide what are the fundamental directions we are going in. What made sense and what didn’t.” When you think about focusing, you think focusing is saying yes. Focusing is about saying no. And you’ve got to say “no, no, no”. 

And the result of that focus is gonna be some really great products where the total is much greater than the sum of the parts.” 

TAKE AWAY

Successful people know how to distinguish between what’s important and what’s not important to them. This knowledge serves as their guide when they reach crossroads in decision-making. It becomes swift and simple for them to say no to those that fall under the “not important” list. They know it will not be a pleasant thing to say, but they also know it is necessary for them to say no so they can focus on what is important. 

In the end, one second spent saying NO will save you hours of unproductive time because you put another person’s “important” over your own. Time flies whether you spend it wisely or not. 

If you are struggling with achieving your goals because of distractions and time management, let me help you. Book a free 30-minute call with me today, and let’s talk! (link: https://www.roel-schaart.com/contact/)

HOW TO ADD THESE ICONS TO THE BLOGS?

Are you on a job hunt or moving up in your career? Well, expect a digital interview as part of your hiring process. More than 50 percent of employers say they will continue to use video interviews even after the pandemic.

In this age of free and unlimited face times, a lot of applicants are still apprehensive about going through video interviews, and with good reason. Interviews per se are nerve-wracking, but add to it the stress of connectivity breakdowns, audio and video quality issues, and the discomfort of knowing you may not look video-friendly. 

So, to minimise your anxieties here is a curated list of pointers to consider before your next remote interview.

TAKE AWAY

Do not lose yourself amidst all your preparations. Do not create another person. Be yourself with a little dazzle. Integrity is still the key! 

Virtual life is the new normal. Embrace it. Ace it.

I hope these pointers help you land your dream job. Please do not forget to let us know how you did! Share your story with us. 

Do you often realize it is time to head home, yet you feel you have not accomplished much at work? Or do you stay up late because you still have a lot of work to do? How do you prioritize the tasks before you? 

Maybe you have heard about Eisenhower’s task management principle but by another name and with some tweaking here and there for repackaging. 

What is Eisenhower’s task management principle?

It is called the Eisenhower Matrix. It is a method of prioritizing your tasks based on their importance. You tag all your tasks in four categories:

  ❗ Important and Urgent – DO

✔️ Important but Not Urgent – SCHEDULE

👍 Not Important but Urgent – DELEGATE

❌ Not Important and Not Urgent – DELETE

How do you classify?

FIRST QUAD – Important and Urgent  

Act Now

These tasks deserve your attention for the day. Tasks need to be completed as soon as possible because many times, these tasks have deadlines, and missing them will cause penalties or undesired consequences.

Sometimes tasks under Important and Urgent were formerly under “Important But Not Urgent” but were continuously put aside until they reached crisis level. Instances like bringing your car to the dealer’s shop for its regular Preventive Maintenance Schedule. You pushed the schedule back several times until you notice your garage floor has oil leaks. Or you delayed your scheduled annual physical examination until you suddenly felt continuous pain somewhere in your body. It now becomes Urgent!

If your days are filled with the Important and Urgent because of tasks you procrastinated on, you know you are not handling your Second Quad right. Continuous firefighting on procrastinated tasks will eventually burn you out. 

SECOND QUAD – Important but Not Urgent  

Put A Date And Don’t Delay

These are your long-term goals that are important but have not put target dates for them. Some of these activities are online courses you want to take to upskill or reskill, prospecting to expand your business relationships, business planning or planning a new venture, team building, annual medical examination, car preventive maintenance, etc. 

Since these activities may not have target dates, they often end up getting set aside. However, if you have classified an activity as Important, it is wise to set a date, invest time, energy, attention, and conscious effort in them. 

When Important tasks are scheduled and acted upon carefully and conscientiously, they will never turn up under your urgent tasks. 

Schedule these tasks at a time when you have accomplished your tasks under “Important and Urgent.” 

THIRD QUAD – Not Important but Urgent   

Train and Delegate

These tasks need not be critically done by you but can be delegated to other people, such as phone calls, email management, travel bookings, social media management, social invitations, etc.

Delegation is one way to work smart. Do not micromanage your things to do. Instead, examine your list and qualify. You can ask an assistant, or if you can afford to get one, pay someone to do your tedious Third Quad tasks.

Your life will not crumble if you train someone to do the tedious tasks. This delegation will free you up to do your First and Second Quad tasks. 

FOURTH QUAD – Not Important and Not Urgent  

Delete

These activities are complete time-wasters and should not be done at all if you want to be productive. Activities such as random surfing, video games, movie watching online, etc. are done when time allows or to relax after heavy activity. 

TAKE AWAY

Take a deep look at your activities now and qualify them according to the Eisenhower Box. How are you spending your time? In what box do most of your tasks fall? 

Only you can tell which is important to you. Make it a habit to use the Eisenhower Box in classifying all your activities and deciding what task to prioritize. 

And lastly, practice practice practice! That will make the habit perfect. 

Albert Einstein 

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

That’s how Albert Einstein’s desk looked a few hours before he died. Does he have a special reason for it? 

The 2013 experiment by Kathleen D. Vohs, and two of her colleagues from the University of Minnesota, explored the relationship between order/disorder and human behaviour.

Smoothie Experiment

In one of their experiments, they arranged their laboratory rooms to look tidy and orderly or messy. Tidy with books and papers stacked in an orderly fashion. Messy with books and papers strewn all around the room. 

They invited 188 adults to participate in a “consumer choice study” where the participants were asked to choose between healthy Smoothies in “classic” flavor or “new” flavor. 

As the team has predicted, people in the tidy room chose the “classic” smoothie almost twice as often, while the people in the messy room chose the smoothie with the “new” flavor more than twice as often. It shows that people in the tidy room chose convention while the people in the messy room preferred novelty.

Ping-pong Ball Experiment

They conducted a second experiment to validate their premise that messiness sparks creativity and that departure from conventions is key to wit and brilliance.

This time, they invited 48 research participants to again stay in a tidy room and messy room. The participants were told that a Ping-pong ball factory would like to find new applications for their Ping-pong balls. They were asked to write as many ideas as they could think of. Independent judges were asked to rate the ideas based on the degree of creativity. Rated highly creative were using Ping-pong balls as ice cube trays and chair leg protectors. Low in innovation was the use of Ping-pong balls as a party toy. Both groups came up with the same number of ideas, but the ideas from the messy room group were 28% more creative. 

Doing the Right Thing

Thirty-four Dutch students were subjected to an experiment to check the effect of an orderly room on generosity and doing the right thing. At the end of the experiment, 82 percent of the students in the orderly room contributed money versus 47 percent from the messy room. 

Afterwhich, they were given a choice between an apple or a candy bar. Those from the orderly room chose the healthy snack. 

Creativity or Convention

It has always been told, taught, and widely promoted that a clean and orderly environment contributes to better work and greater productivity. A neat and organized environment promotes learning.

In the experiments conducted by Voh’s team, the locations didn’t matter at all. The creation of a mess or order made a significant difference in people’s behaviour. 

A messy work environment makes people more creative, breaks conventions, and stimulates people to think out-of-the-box. While an orderly environment encouraged safe and conventional choices. 

This experiment does not mean messing up your work area will bring out the genius in you. It is not a magic trick. Remember, you can not give what you do not have. 

It merely means that the tidiness or chaos of your work environment affects your behaviour. It transforms a person’s behaviour. 

TAKE AWAY

Do you clear up your table before starting work, or do you thrive in messy disarray?

As the experiments revealed, there could be good in the mess. Creativity is an attribute of brilliance. 

Work around what you have. What matters is that what you have works well for you. If mess brings out the genius in you, let it be. 

Just remember to keep the mess within your work area. 

Do you wonder about the state of Mark Zuckerberg’s desk?

Statistics on these virtual get-togethers are startling:

So, how can an Agile mindset reverse these counterproductive effects?

What is an Agile mindset principle?

In a regular corporate meeting, the agenda might cover a vast range of topics. 

Meetings following the agile methodology are highly focused. It involves consistent, collaborative meetings done in a repetitive mode for continuous improvement.

Agile’s guiding principles involved working in shorter time frames, iterative, done in regular intervals with the intention to check progress, review tasks, adjust systems for improvement, and discuss roadblocks. 

The two most popular Agile principles are:

But this article will focus on Scrum. What is Scrum?

Scrum is a rugby term to describe the players’ position as they come together in a tight formation to gain possession of the ball. 

The term was first used in the 1986 paper The New New Product Development Game by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka. They described their new strategy on project management as a rugby approach rather than a relay race approach. 

Under the rugby approach, the team involves a few hand-picked, cross-functional members with all members constantly interacting from start to finish. 

This approach trains members to self-govern since the team is not governed by a Project Manager, but has a Scrum Master to mentor the team.

The daily stand-up meetings caps at 15 minutes. It is a quick check-in on what each member is working on, how it is going with them and declares any obstruction stalling them. These sprint meetings allow for the immediate resolution of issues and/or improvement of processes before much work, time and effort have been put in.

The research of Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka revealed that exceptional performance is achieved when teams are small, self-governing, and are given objectives rather than tasks because they are accorded freedom in devising their own strategies towards achieving a shared goal.

TAKE AWAY

Meetings may not be popular, but they are fundamental in any organization. It is the forum where collaborative activities are managed. 

Your meeting experience will change when your meetings are conducted with the Agile mindset and methodology. They will be short, on point, and deliberate. You will have more time in doing rather than meeting.

If you want to learn the fine points of this methodology, let’s talk.