Month: October 2016

A few weeks ago I published a blog about conflict in the workplace and included some research that detailed the financial cost of this conflict. It claimed that the cost of resolving conflict to the US economy was $359 billion (£274 billion).

Given the negative impact that conflict has on results, staff morale, productivity and service levels, I believe that it’s imperative that leaders champion and encourage greater collaboration and co-operation in their organisations. Many employers list team-work as a key skill in job adverts but in reality numerous organisations are very poor at collaboration.

I was therefore interested to read research by global management consultancy, Hay Group in 2015 based on data from more than 500,000 UK employees. It stated that greater collaboration is one of the key challenges facing global firms over the next five years. The other four challenges are agility, transparency, innovation and productivity.

Business environments are changing rapidly and it doesn’t appear that many companies have the right strategies in place to meet the challenges. Many teams seem to have a silo mentality and tend to compete rather than co-operate with each other. This has a huge negative impact on productivity.

Some of the other key points highlighted in the research were:-

• Organisations rated highest for engaging and enabling their staff achieve four and half times the revenue growth of the lowest scoring counterparts
• They also see a 54% improvement on staff retention
• More than half the people researched said their teams aren’t adequately supported by counterparts elsewhere in the business.
• More than a third said co-operating and sharing ideas and resources is not readily encouraged.
• Outdated processes seem to hamper performance, with almost half saying they don’t feel their organisation is innovating in the way work is done.
• 44% felt transparency was an issue with them not having a clear idea of possible career paths available to them.
• 59% expressed concern about the speed of decision making in their firms.
• 40% of respondents felt they weren’t encouraged to be innovative.
• Only 37% said they are given enough time for training
• 43% stated that they don’t believe their company communicates openly and honestly about change.

In my book, Be First Class, I dedicated a chapter to a team that have to be very collaborative – The Red Arrows Aerobatic display team. Some of the lessons that I gleaned from watched a documentary about the team, which I cover in greater detail in the book are:-

• Trust – foundation to great team work and critical when you are building a high performing collaborative team.
• Clear purpose and plan – a clear understanding of team purpose and objectives is vital and the part each member can play in executing the plans.
• Constructive feedback and commitment to continuous improvement – even the best performers need to be committed to learning new things, practising and honing their skills.
• Recruitment and selection – an investment in considering how people will fit in and gel with each other will reap rewards. Clear standards and behaviours expected need to be outlined.
• Honest and open communication – opinions are offered in the spirit that the team is looking to be the best it can be. Views expressed aren’t too personal and stated with good intent.
• Focused competitive team players – team members who have a will to be the best but are also team players who fit in and encourage this in others and have great levels of trust.

This week why not take a few moments out to reflect and think about the teams and groups that you are involved with professionally and/or personally. What can they do differently to become more effective? What action can you take to be more collaborative?

This week’s quotation:

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

Recently, I was talking with a client who told me they were facing the threat of redundancy. They were concerned at the financial implications of this and the uncertainty of what they would do for employment if the redundancy actually happens.

Interestingly, they had shared with me previously that they were very unhappy in their job. They didn’t dare contemplate a change of jobs as they weren’t comfortable with stepping into the unknown. Also having worked with the same organisation for a long period of time they weren’t convinced they would be able to switch to a different job. There are many people who stay in jobs despite being unhappy. Research by Investors in People in 2015 suggested as many as 6 out of 10 UK workers aren’t happy in their job.

It appears that life may be dealing my client some cards where they will have to face into their fear of the unknown and embrace uncertainty. They will need to trust that, after a short period of time, they will discover resources they didn’t know they had and do what they need to do to secure alternative employment.

This story is an example of what I have discovered many times over the years during coaching sessions. That is that one of the key reasons that people struggle to achieve their personal goals and fulfil their potential is a fear of the unknown.

We are creatures of habit and this can stop us from trying something new and different. It can mean that people stay stuck in a rut or in situations that are unhealthy and don’t serve their best interests. The truth is that life is unknown for us all and all that is certain is the present moment. This can be good motivation to embrace opportunity, enjoy now and put off worrying about an unknown future.

People choose to stay in their comfort zone and tolerate challenging and unhappy environments because whilst it doesn’t make them particularly happy, it is known and predictable. In part this provides some explanation why people stay in jobs they detest and where their contributions aren’t appropriately valued and recognised.

Whilst they aren’t happy, they stick with what is known because contemplating changing jobs can trigger issues around security and force survival instincts (flight or fight responses) to kick in. This is quite often the response when people are made redundant. In this scenario, the fear becomes very intense and they become worried about how they will pay their bills.

It’s true that uncertainty can be uncomfortable. As humans we like to control our lives and to have a future that is stable and predictable. It’s therefore understandable when we feel insecure when our future becomes uncertain.

There is a great phrase which summarises those that take a risk and decisive action, that is “fortune favours the brave.” Taking a leap of faith enables us to grow, develop and to fulfil more of our potential. Stepping out of our comfort zone helps us to build new capability, discover hidden talents and new opportunities and build our confidence.

It’s important that we periodically review our lives to ensure that our fear of the unknown isn’t stopping us from developing and growing in life. If you conclude that you’re not stretching yourself enough, a great question to ask yourself is, “What would I do if I knew that I couldn’t fail?” The answer to this, may give you a clue to a risk to take. Then you can seek to get comfortable with the answers to the question, “What is the worst thing that can happen?”

The society that we live in teaches us to seek to take control of everything in our life – our career, our relationships, our children, our health, our money and the state of the world. We insist that life be secure, safe, predictable and all good things. Therefore uncertainty and not feeling in control of our destiny can panic us and cause anxiety.

It’s possible for us to spend so much of our time worrying about the future and seeking to stop bad things happening that we can overlook taking time to enjoy the good in our life! This seems a dreadful waste of time and energy. It doesn’t have to be that way. It has never been proven that a full, happy and abundant life can’t be achieved in the presence of uncertainty.

There have been many people before us and many with us today who have proven that life can be wonderful, despite the uncertainty.

Something that helped me to get better at coping with a fear of the unknown was accepting the reality that the only certainty in life is that life is uncertain. Once I accepted this, it opened a new way of being. Instead of overthinking and being solely driven by my head, I developed the courage to listen to my heart and the inner guidance of my intuition. We tend to know deep down what is best for us, although don’t always honour this inner wisdom.

Whilst change can be uncomfortable, it does present opportunities to experience new things, broaden your horizons and open the door to a new approach to life. Facing into what frightens us enables us to develop trust and faith in ourselves. We have to trust that we have the necessary resources to create the reality we want to experience in life.

Another reason that we stay stuck is the fear of making a mistake or of failure. It’s inevitable that we will make mistakes during our life but these provide great lessons and learnings. It’s good to develop a mindset that all setbacks are a gift; they provide valuable insights and teach us something new. We often learn more from our setbacks than we do from our successes. Developing an attitude that we are 100 % responsible for our results helps us to avoid blaming others and feeling like a victim who is unable to change their fate.

This week why not take a few moments out to think and reflect. Consider if there is a situation in your life where you need to get more comfortable with uncertainty or where you need to get “unstuck.” Do you need to show more courage and step out of your comfort zone? Ask yourself the question “What is the worst thing that can happen?” If you can get comfortable with the answer, decide what your first step will be to progress matters. Also consider if you need to ask for some help and support.

This week’s quotation:

“Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” W. Clement Stone.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk