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01/09/2016 By Isla Baliszewska

Focus and Planning the Olympic Way

Matt Whitlock wins GoldIn an interview with Matt Whitlock on the BBC following the Olympic Games in Rio, Sarah Montague congratulated him on winning two individual gold medals and a bronze medal for the team, and that his first gold medal was the first ever Team GB gold medal for gymnastics.

She asked him some interesting questions: ‘Did you ever dare to dream before Rio ….. ? After winning the first how did you handle yourself? What did you tell yourself?”

Matt’s replies included: “It was about sticking to the plan. We had a job to do. That’s what we kept to. It was to stick to what we were doing. Focus on preparing for one more routine…”

Focus and planning – two crucial elements of achievement.  Studies show that focus is essential to goal achievement. Focus is the ability to direct your attention completely to a specific task or activity.   “Being able to control it (focus) gives you a lot of power, because you know you don’t have to focus on a negative emotion.”

It is relatively easy to focus on something that is going to happen in the short term, but not so easy when you are targeting long term goals.  This is partly because we lose sight of something that does not happen quickly, our forward vision becomes fuzzy and distracted.

The ironic thing to mention about focus is that it can be distracting – as Daniel Kahneman says “Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind “. Daniel Simon’s and Christopher Chabris’s brilliant Invisible Gorilla video demonstrates this beautifully.  (Follow the link in our newsletter to watch it).  What you focus on can make you oblivious to other things that are happening around you, and that can be a good thing.

Winning at the OlympicsThe trick is to think carefully and plan what you are going to focus on.  The GB swimming team’s plan, guided by Bill Furniss and sports psychologist Bill Beswick, was that “mediocrity was unacceptable” and that the team would do things the “British way”. With careful planning and by setting high standards and benchmarks and aiming for toughness and resilience Furniss drove his team forward to achieve fabulous results.

With firm planning, clear objectives and proper focus, a lot can be achieved.  So for some tips to realise your ambitions read on:

Do some serious Visioning – “One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started “ – Michael Johnson, Olympic gold medallist sprinter.

Be an ACE Goal Setter. If you need help we can guide you – get in touch with us on [email protected].

Minimise multi-tasking – What you are actually doing is using up energy flipping rapidly between tasks. Set aside the other tasks, allocating specific time for them later, allowing you to concentrate your attention where you want it to be.

Keep it simple – don’t overthink. As you become more competent, the individual components of your competence become automatic. Daniel Kahneman again – “As you become skilled in a task, its demand for energy diminishes”; now is the time to hone that skill and engage the added value.

Set aside time to address concerns – be aware of your concerns and allocate time to deal with them.

Enjoy! – Plan to enjoy your achievements and acknowledge your successes as they appear.

 

Isla Baliszewska

 

 

Filed Under: Mindset, Motivation, Personal Development

08/08/2016 By Isla Baliszewska

Can you see the Glass Full of Opportunities?

Can you see the Glass Full of Opportunities?

Glass Half Full

The old question of whether the glass is half full or half empty is simple – the glass is always full.  Air exists, it is a combination of gases, so even with no water in the glass, it is always full.  The glass is full of opportunities.

How is your emotional perspective on news?  Do you tend to see things from a pessimistic or an optimistic viewpoint?  First off, there is no right way for everyone to emotionally experience the same things.  But some of us will tend towards seeing opportunities.

There are countless examples of businesses making huge gaffs or having serious setbacks that they then turn around to their advantage.  It took GoCompare ages to realise how much their moustachioed opera singer annoyed people, yet when they did they used it to up their PR by killing him off, blowing him up and generally doing away with him in spectacular fashion, thereby fitting with what their customers wanted.

Trunki had a business threatening situation when one of their manufacturers fitted dodgy locks that came off and were a potential hazard.  They turned the problem into an asset by using humour messaging to convince irate customers to fit the new catches themselves.

Brexit happened, Donald Trump may be the next President of the USA, Rio has managed to host the Olympics….but what happens next?  The UK could talk itself into a depression, Mr Trump might bring all kinds of unimagined and unpleasant surprises, and Brazil might abandon all of its pre-Olympic pledges.

Innovation BUT…difficult times always lead to something better, there is always an opportunity to make something positive out of a negative (well, in most cases); we just have to

  • have the right attitude
  • be curious and look at what opportunities might be waiting to be uncovered
  • think innovatively; take a different perspective and see what comes to light.

 

It is the unexpected that often happens. Adam Peaty just won a gold medal for swimming, but as a child he didn’t like water, however that didn’t stop him pursuing opportunities to win.

To enable you to be curious and innovative remember the following:

  • Look for perfection in the situation – what can you learn right now?
  • Take full responsibility for the situation that you are in – what are you missing or not seeing? What are the powerful questions to ask to increase / deepen / make sense of your understanding? How might you have contributed to what occurred?
  • Be clear about your desires / intentions and focus on them – go back to basics … check in with your values … how in alignment with them are you?
  • Look for signs of life / momentum and be grateful
  • Be loving, respectful and honouring of all others – colleagues, clients, customers, competitors especially when you both are at odds with your thinking and goals
  • Focus on your environment – how can you clean up your act in all senses?
  • Give yourself credit for amazing courage!

 

Isla Baliszewska and Halina Jaroszewska – 2016

 

Filed Under: Enterprise & innovation, Mindset, Motivation

25/07/2016 By Isla Baliszewska

Talent Acquisition – the Best Practices

Talent Acquisition – the Best Practices

 

Talent Management

 (English Translation below)

إستقطاب أصحاب المواهب Talent Acquisition –

أفضل الممارسات Best Practices

 

هل هناك دور لثقافة المؤسسة و مسئول ادارة “استقطاب المواهب و أفضل المهارات والكفاءات” في تحقيق رسالة المؤسسة وأهدافها الاستراتيجية؟ 

يتوجب على أصحاب المصلحة والتنفيذيين ومدراء الموارد البشرية  واستقطاب المواهب – التركيز على تركيبة العاملين في المؤسسة كي تتوافق مع متطلبات العمل وسد الفجوة بين المهارات والمواهب المطلوبة لكل وظيفة. وذلك بإنتقاء وتدريب المواهب المطلوبة من العاملين.

و من الضروري متابعة السوق، واتجاهاته، والتوصل الى أحدث البيانات، والمؤثرات الخارجية للبقاء على إطلاع على أي مستجدات في حال  احتاجت المؤسسة إلى تعديل أو تغيير خطة العمل أو جذب المواهب فى ظل سوق تنافسية.

 

من متطلبات تحقيق أفضل الممارسات في استقطاب المواهب:

  • بناء بيئة عمل تعكس ثقافة المؤسسة وقيمها من خلال؛ إنجاز الأعمال، أو كيفية إتخاذ القرارت، أو تطبيق الحوافز
  • منح المرشحين للوظائف معاملة العملاء
  • الإستثمار في إستخدام أحدث التقنيات والتكمولوجيا لجذب المواهب والمهارات والكفاءات ومواكبة التقدم
  • تصميم خطوات وإجراءات تعيين تعكس المعايير الحديثة، بالإضافة إلى إستخدام استمارات تقييم لفحص المواهب والكفاءات
  • تحديد المهام والأدوار الحساسة في المؤسسة، وتمكين المدراء – لما في ذلك من أثر مباشر على الأداء المتميز وتحقيق العوائد الاستثمارية المرجوة
  • إستخدام بطاقات إظهار النتائج لقياس أداء أصحاب المواهب وذلك بإتباع أربع خطوات: إستخدام مؤشرات الأداء الرئيسية (KPI) – الإطلاع على تحديات محددة تحول دون تحقيق مؤشرات الأداء – مراجعة المبادرات الرئيسية المرتبطة بخطة العام المالي وموعد التسليم – النظر إلى الفرص والخطط والإعداد لتقديم التحديات المذكورة أعلاه. إن التنفيذيين وأصحاب المصلحة هم أشخاص دائما مشغلون ويريدون فهم مجرى الامور بمجرد إلقاء نظرة سريعة. كما أن أصحاب المصلحة لا يحبون تصفح العشرات من الصفحات. إن بطاقة واحدة موجزة تفي بالغرض.
  • استخدام أداة قياس عائد الاستثمار ROI في التعينات و ذلك للتخلص من إتباع العادات القديمة و التقليدية في التوظيف.
  • وأخيراً الإنسان قبل الإستراتيجيات: إن دور المهارات القيادية لمسؤول الموارد البشرية CHRO، مهم لبناء الموهبة وإحراز نتيجة ومستقبل من النجاح. إن الأعمال التجارية لا تصنع القيم; الإنسان هو صانعها.

 

رنده شنابلة

أستشارية  التطوير والتدريب/

أخصائية تطوير الأفراد والمؤسسات

 

Is there a role for the culture of the organisation to be significant for HR leaders and departments to  “attract talent and better skills and competencies” in order to achieve the organisation’s mission and strategic objectives?

Stakeholders, executives, directors of human resources should focus on the structure of employees in an organisation, so that they comply with the work requirements and bridge the gap between the skills and talents required for each job.  This can be done by selecting workers and training talents.

It is necessary to keep an eye on the market, trends and external influences and to acquire the latest data and stay informed on any developments in case the organisation needs to modify or change action plans or attract talent in a competitive market.

The requirements for achieving best practices in attracting talent include:

1. Building a work environment that reflects the culture of the institution and its values through the completion of tasks, decision-making or incentives.

2. Treating job candidates as if they were customers.

3.  Investing in the latest techniques and technology to attract talent, skills, competencies, and keep pace with progress.

4.  Designing steps, processes, and procedures for hiring that reflect modern standards, in addition to using technologies to evaluate talents and competencies.

5.  Identifying sensitive tasks and roles in the organisation, enabling managers to deliver.  This has a direct impact on outstanding performance and helps achieve the desired return on investment.

6.  Using balanced score cards to measure the performance of talent by following four steps:

*  the use of key performance indicators (KPI) – looking at specific challenges that get in the way of the achievement of performance indicators.

*  reviewing the key initiatives associated with the general financial plan and delivery date.

*  looking for opportunities, plans and preparations to address these challenges.

*  having a one-page concise dashboard entry; executives and stakeholders are busy people and want to understand the course of things at a quick glance, they do not like to browse dozens of pages.

7.  Using an ROI tool (return on investment) in hiring and appointing people, to move away from old and traditional habits of employment.

And finally – implementing a “human before strategies” rule: The leadership skills of the human resources official CHRO (chief human resources officer) are important for building the talent and achieving progress and future success.

Businesses do not set values: Humans do.

By Randa Shanablehhttps://www.smartcoachingtraining.com/our-people/randa-shanableh (translated from Arabic)

Filed Under: People Development, Talent Management Tagged With: Developing People, Talent Management

04/07/2016 By Isla Baliszewska

An interview with David Rigby

An interview with David Rigby
Career Development Day
David Rigby

David Rigby has been working in the business transformation and change management sector for many years and is currently providing training in the UK and UAE.

Business Transformation is a change management strategy which aims to align the people and it’s a strategy that must be practiced by each and every organization. The process was first initiated by IT companies to re-brand their consultancy processes in order to sell integrated information systems more effectively. Now, business transformation have innovated into a holistic process across the business implicating that this an effective strategic process to stay profitable and competitive

In conjunction to Marcus Evans Business Transformation & Corporate Strategy Training that will take place on 28th & 29th August 2016, we spoke to our highly experienced trainer, David Rigby, Founding Director of Smart Coaching and Training (SCT) in United Kingdom and Middle East.

Read the full interview with David.

Filed Under: Change Management

29/06/2016 By Isla Baliszewska

Change The Wallpaper

Change The Wallpaper

Effective Change Change is not always sought or planned and not always welcomed.

 

Last year 14 year old Domanik Green hacked into his school computer in Florida.  Did he alter exam answers?  Did he meddle with pupil’s grades?  No. He changed the school computer’s wallpaper.   His reason was simple; he wanted to annoy a teacher he didn’t like.

Some people interviewed after Brexit admitted voting Leave because they were annoyed, wanting to make a point, and they were alarmed at the result. The result has bred high levels of uncertainty and alarm at an unknown future with warnings of doom and calamity looming.

Domanik faced criminal charges for a third degree felony with a maximum sentence of up to 5 years imprisonment and a $5000 fine.  All he wanted to do was make a point.

GETTING THE RIGHT DESIGN

  • Things change.
  • Change has consequences.
  • We are not necessarily able to control change, but we can influence it.

Whether we choose to make a small change or a huge one, we should think about WHY we are doing it.  What might be the unintended consequences?  Domanik probably thought he might be banned from computer access, it is unlikely he considered he might face criminal proceedings.

The great thing about Domanik’s story is that his actions highlighted weaknesses in the school IT policy – he watched his teacher log in using his surname as a password, and apparently other students knew several teacher passwords.  So another unintended consequence of his hacking activities was the overhaul of the school’s IT security.

Change can have positive side effects:

  1. Opportunities for reflection
  2. Opportunities for invention and innovation
  3. Opportunities to improvise and improve

 

A final thought –  How can you influence change, whether it has already happened because of external forces, or the changes that you want to make yourself?

Isla Baliszewska

Filed Under: Decisions, Enterprise & innovation, Managing Change

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