Mindset Archives - Smart Coaching and Training | Business Support, Consultancy, Mentoring

10/11/2022 By David Rigby

Cognitive: the most important type of Diversity

Are you dancing? Are you asking?

What’s the difference between being asked to the dance and being asked to dance ? This is a well established and good example of explaining the difference between Diversity and Inclusion.

Go sort these women’s issues

Typically, the pale, male and stale brigade announce they have a woman or an LGBT person on the board and they are tasked with dealing with HR or other soft topics and never get asked their opinion let alone to manage with anything else as that’s straight man’s work. And it ticks all the boxes of their Diversity policy. None of the ticks in the Inclusion box.

People like me, people like us

Most organisations typically like to recruit ‘people like us’ so they wont challenge the status quo. Most individuals (and many organisations) have cognitive dissidence – not even realising that have biases let alone doing something to counter it.

You are black – therefore your politics are…

The furore about a recent ex UK prime minister’s non-white chancellor demonstrated that colour is immaterial to diversity if all about you were also educated at Eton. Another politician said , in effect , “All black people think like this (or should)”- unless they are from a privileged group and are not, or much less, oppressed. Some people think “All Spanish people behave like this”- but depending on social status or location may not. – ‘some’ Spanish people may, most probably don’t .

How many stereotypes do you belong to?

Stereotypes are the biggest disaster – for any category the majority just don’t fit because they also belong to many other types which may be more prevalent.

*David Rigby will be presenting at PSAx talks 26 November 2022 in Barcelona (see below)*

*David Rigby was an expert speaker in Jersey (UK) in Otober*

*Hear SCT associates David Rigby, Jessica Breitenfeld, Caroline Dreami, and Ian Gibbs and many other experts at this Barcelona event. – details below*

Gender and Sexuality – sorted – so we are diverse.

There are other types of diversity except gender and sexuality. And yet most of the talk is about these two. The woman’s lobby and the LGBT+etc lobbies have ensured that. And coming up a good third is Race/Ethnicity and country of origin. Is dealing with these enough ? – many organisations dont know any better.

Class, education type and education level, country of residence, age (generation), religion, culture, organisation all are different spectrums of diversity.

Neurodiversity and Worldview

And worthy of inclusion are NeuroDiversity and Worldview. Neurodiversity is used to explain the diverse ways of thinking, learning, processing and behaving. People who think differently can come up with different ideas. ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Tourette’s syndrome are all examples of neurodiverse conditions.

Worldview is about values and cultural behaviours. The concept worldview usually refers to an interpretation of reality that provides an overarching framework for the constitution of the world or the cosmos. Various belief systems, religions, ideologies, and science itself are examples of worldviews that contain differing pictures of the world. All of us have different pictures – the more the pictures differ the more diverse the team. For example, the family is more important than the individual. Power is more important than doing the right thing.

Looking at different perspectives and listening to others – to make more money

The point about having a diverse and fully included team is that it looks at things from different perspectives. And research shows over and over that organisations with the most diverse teams are the most successful and profitable. Many people think they are diverse until someone challenges them with a different opinion.

Those who think logically typically take a different perspective compared with those who think emotionally. The extravert thinks differently from the introvert. Having a team or organisation with all these categories in various of the four combinations are the most powerful diverse teams you can have. This is called cognitive diversity.

Cognitive : Introvert or Extravert ? Logical or Emotional

Working with people who think and communicate the same way as you, regardless of their other diverse characteristics, will not get you the benefits of a diverse team. To get the benefits, above all, you need a team that is cognitively diverse. Just invite all the combinations both to the dance and also to dance . Read more here

At Smart Coaching & Training we have a diverse team of 20 associates in four continents speaking 11 languages. We pass the tests on diversity for sex/gender, race/ethicity, sexuality, education, class, generation. and fail on the boring-interesting spectrum. See our associates here

To attend the Professional Speakers Association (Spain) ‘s PSAx event in Barcelona on November 26th click here

24/08/2022 By David Rigby

Rubbing salt into the API wounds

Getting closer to the king

In the very old days , salt was very expensive and was used as a status symbol. At a banquet, salt would be placed in a strategic place on the long narrow tables and at the head of the table would be a very important person such as the king. The closer to the king you were the more important you were and if you were below the salt – you really were nobody.

Enabling people to take responsibility

I have fought running battles with managers and executives, particularly in the Middle East, where every tiny decision needs the signature of the boss – and I thought progress was being made. Getting over the challenges where entire peoples (such as Filipinos in Middle East; most Indians, women, and Northerners and Working Class folk in the UK) were educated to just do what they were told, know their place, and challenge nothing and certainly not to network.

Progress is being made – if you are ‘above the API’ and not if you are ‘below the API’
Today, you’re either above the API (application programming interface)or below the API. You either tell robots what to do, or are told by robots what to do.

*Below the salt: Learning English though Vaughan Systems at Belmonte Spain*

*Chess Pieces made by Alejandro Garabon in Altea Alicante It’s all black or white with API*

Psychologically safe environments

These days you are encouraged to develop your own networks and initiatives, and in theory there is the modern day leader who delegates responsibility to his team in a psychologically safe environment and allows them to experiment , to make mistakes without getting fired and above all gives them the authority to enable them make the decisions, wherever ‘the buck stops’ and your manager supported you. But only if you are above the API . While the upper and middle classes will work though ‘who you know’ it is still positively frowned upon in the working classes who will ‘get there on their own merit without help from anyone’.

Above and below the API

An example of an API is Uber. The app sends a request that includes account data, pickup and dropoff locations to drivers nearby and dispatches one to the customer to fulfil the request. The only two humans involved are the customer and the driver. The skills the drivers develop in driving are not an investment in their future. It’s a dead end job They have no opportunity to progress and no contact with management unless it all goes wrong. So there is even less opportunity than with working in a contact centre where at least you may have contact with the management. There is constant dispute with Uber and similar organisations such as Deliveroo as to whether the drivers are employed or casual It is no great surprise that the drivers are going on strike even in places where it is illegal such as Dubai. Good for them.

It knows you know (tribute to Hilda Baker)

In effect the computer (API) knows when you breathe, how long it takes to pee, as well as counting how many journeys and dinners are delivered, issues you resolve and other times how many people you can get rid of. Does it give you career progression? No. Does it allow you to develop your initiative and self-confidence? No. That’s the world of networking, negotiation, staff retention and freedom which you can get from being above the API and above the salt.

Breeding Populism and Fascism?

People being put below the API and not allowed to challenge, is ideal scenario for breeding populism and fascism. ( and could be a contributing factor to Brexit. )

At Smart Coaching & Training we are really busy teaching those above the API , matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

09/05/2022 By David Rigby

LEGO®Serious Play®in practice

How can I build my team?

The serious business of play can be used to help individuals and organisations resolve issues and find a way forward. Techniques such as Team Coaching and Constellations have been used for many years to enable innovative thinking to be creative outside of the conventional box. Now, you can take a box of Lego and, under guidance, use the bricks to help find a way forwards.

How can I resolve team issues?

In LEGO®Serious Play® sessions, individuals construct their own models for specific topics and learn from translating their 3D creation into words, a surprisingly insightful process, noting how different people interpret the same instructions. Many people find it easier to express their emotions through a third party or vehicle rather than talk about them directly, and having a model facilitates this. There are also opportunities to model a future by building co-operatively, to allow the quieter ones to contribute at equal level as their more assertive counterparts.

*Ian Gibbs: simple models tell great stories . Barcelona April 2022*

*One of the groups at Jessica Breitenfeld’s H2BU studio Barcelona*

How can I plan my company’s future?

In April in Barcelona, Spain, Smart Coaching & Training ran a successful event with LEGO®Serious Play Certified Practitioners, Marta Odriozola and Ian Gibbs to demonstrate how Lego Serious Play works. Participants learnt how simple small pieces of coloured plastic can be transformed into a powerful way of thinking that can cross conventional boundaries and act as a catalyst for producing ideas that were buried inside them waiting to be discovered. You can see photos of how the individuals bonded and confidently told their stories to their team members.

LEGO®Serious Play® Workshops

SCT are now proud to offer a series of three five hour workshops to complete your understanding.

You can see them here

https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/LSP-Team-Strategy.pdf

https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/LSP-Company-Strategy.pdf

https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/LSP-Identity.pdf

See all our workshops and short courses: https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/what_we_offer/workshops-and-short-courses

And our longer Signature Corporate Training Courses: https://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/what_we_offer/signature-corporate-training-longer-courses-and-retreats

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

01/03/2022 By Ian Gibbs

Why I’m passionate about PLS

I wasn’t the ‘brightest’ of kids at school. I was good at Art. I could keep my head above water with Maths and Science. But everything else was pretty grim and I wasn’t happy about it.

Given that my home was at the bottom of the valley and my school at the top, it’s fair to say that my educational progress was an uphill struggle every day.

Focus on what you are good at

But in spite of my academic failings, I was persuaded, for better or worse, to drop Art and continue Maths and Science at ‘A’ level, a decision helped by the fact that Close Encounters and Star Wars came out that year and the idea of working for NASA seemed like a dream worth pursuing. And that’s when something remarkable happened. I suddenly became intelligent. All those numbers, formulas and laws started to click into place. I started to get it. My capability for learning grew.

Swimming pool full of mud

My confidence grew with it so much I practically ran up that hill each day. I left school with grades good enough to get into St. Andrews (the 3rd top university at the time) to study Astrophysics. I started university with the confidence of someone who was going to devour astrophysics and graduate with a glorious first class honours.

Unfortunately it was not to be. My newfound intelligence disappeared in first term. I went through university like Usain Bolt trying to sprint through a swimming pool full of mud. It was incredibly tough and I felt I had to study twice as hard just to keep up with everyone else. I did get my degree but not what I felt reflected my efforts.

The remarkable point of this story though, isn’t about the change of my academic abilities. The remarkable point is that nobody, not my teachers, not my parents, not even myself asked the question why? Why was I intelligent during ‘A’ levels and why not before or after?’. In fact it was only 30 years later on that it occurred to me to finally ask and answer it.

Are You Intelligent or do you just have a good teacher?

The answer was to do with something that few in education talk about.

When someone does well in a subject, we either justify it by saying they have a good teacher (school, coach etc) or they’re intelligent (bright, talented etc). Few people consider the third option: their learning techniques. Or in other words the way they learn – the strategy they use to combine the resources at their disposal to learn in a way that suits them. When done correctly, a Personal Learning Strategy can make a world of difference. Yet it too often gets overlooked.

And this is a pity because whereas we can’t genetically modify our intelligence or feasibly change teachers, we can easily change our learning techniques. During A levels I inadvertently stumbled across some great learning techniques. But because I didn’t recognise them for what they were I failed to maintain them through university and thus my university studies were much more of a struggle than they needed to be. I could have sailed through my degree, but I didn’t.

This missed opportunity has left me feeling frustrated, partly for my disappointing grades, but mostly for all other students, young or not so young, who could be reaching their potential if only they knew how to put together the techniques which suit them best. Trying to change this by raising awareness of the options we have and how to develop our own personal learning strategies to become better more quickly at whatever we choose has become my driving force.

When I see the difference it can produce, it makes me feel that getting out of bed each day is worth it. It makes them feel good and it makes me feel good, too.

That is why I’m passionate about personal learning strategies.

Still Not Convinced You need to learn how to learn?

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate including location and language.

17 associates; 4 continents; 8 languages.

31/01/2022 By David Rigby

Woke up to Authoritarianism and Modernism

Open and Closed Mindsets

I wanted to write something with the work ‘Woke’ in the title, and not being sure whether Woke was a noun, adjective or verb, decided to start with the blues classic “Woke up this morning…”

What’s it to do with Carol Dweck ?

I woke up this morning wondering how Authoritarianism is connected with the work of Carol Dweck on open and closed mind sets. Authoritarians want everything ‘my way or the high way’, and appear to be scared of trying something new in case they fail. So I guess they have a closed mindset. Equally, as we celebrate 100 years of Modernism, said to be founded in 1922, (the birth of Now? ) do we guess these folk, such as Bertolt Brecht, T.S Elliot and Louis Armstrong had open mindsets?

Hitler and Franco and ???

I understand that at least 40% of the world prefer to be governed by authoritarians of, presumably, the same closed mind set, not allowing others to be different. Classic authoritarians are the dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Franco, and there are many today who I won’t mention. But they made sure that their fellow countrymen had the same views by ‘eliminating’ the opposition. The totalitarian state being enabled by initial indifference of the masses.

Listening to different people

Having worked in 22 countries, and lived a long time, I could still be of the opinion that ‘my way or the highway’ is still the right approach, broad as it is. However I have developed a team covering four continents, eight languages with diversity claims at least covering age, sex, sexuality, race, language, religion and education level, though we fail on neurodiversity. From this we are able to listen to each other and become stronger together than the individuals. I do not have an inclusion case for boring/not boring and entertaining/not entertaining and liking the wrong kind of music.

*David Rigby with Ebrahim Hosani in Madinat Zayed, Al Dhafra, United Arab Emirates.*

*David Rigby with a retired singer in Ghana Africa*

*David Rigby with Radical Faeries, Glastonbury UK*

*David Rigby demonstrating career coaching at Abu Dhabi University*

A collection of Cognitive Biases

We all have cognitive bias, recognise it, but at least we have different ones. There are many so set in their ways, insisting on the language of hygiene and political correctness, that they are no longer able to listen to discussions or anything which doesn’t affirm their beliefs. And personally I have often abandoned the challenge -after all what’s in it for either of us when dealing with closed mindsets. Especially if they cannot spell.

The same values as your mother?

When teaching coaching, I teach that one skill to have is to be able to coach people with different values than yours. I start with the questions ‘do you have the same values as your mother, when did you last change them’. And if the answer is ‘Yes, and Never’ then they wont make a good coach. And this then begs the question:

“If you have a learning and open mindset are you able to tolerate the views of others whether they be traditional religious zealots (of any variety) , privileged white supremacists, or of the politically correct snowflakes of the black/white/LGBT+/old/young/female lives matter brigade?” If so, you may have a future in coaching if you are not trampled on by the authoritarian majority from any one of those categories.

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

Are you dancing? Are you asking?

Go sort these women’s issues

People like me, people like us

You are black – therefore your politics are…

How many stereotypes do you belong to?

Gender and Sexuality – sorted – so we are diverse.

Neurodiversity and Worldview

Looking at different perspectives and listening to others – to make more money

Cognitive : Introvert or Extravert ? Logical or Emotional

At Smart Coaching & Training we have a diverse team of 20 associates in four continents speaking 11 languages. We pass the tests on diversity for sex/gender, race/ethicity, sexuality, education, class, generation. and fail on the boring-interesting spectrum. See our associates here

To attend the Professional Speakers Association (Spain) ‘s PSAx event in Barcelona on November 26th click here

Getting closer to the king

Enabling people to take responsibility

Psychologically safe environments

Above and below the API

It knows you know (tribute to Hilda Baker)

Breeding Populism and Fascism?

At Smart Coaching & Training we are really busy teaching those above the API , matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

How can I build my team?

How can I resolve team issues?

How can I plan my company’s future?

LEGO®Serious Play® Workshops

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

Focus on what you are good at

Swimming pool full of mud

Are You Intelligent or do you just have a good teacher?

Still Not Convinced You need to learn how to learn?

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate including location and language.

17 associates; 4 continents; 8 languages.

Open and Closed Mindsets

What’s it to do with Carol Dweck ?

Hitler and Franco and ???

Listening to different people

A collection of Cognitive Biases

The same values as your mother?

At Smart Coaching & Training we coach and mentor according to client’s need, matching the client to appropriate associate based on needs including location and language.

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