My nephew Harry recently signed a two-year contract for Reading Football Club, which will see him train 5 times a week, tour the world with his team and play against some of the biggest teams on the planet.  Harry is 12 years old.

As part of his contract Harry, or more realistically, his parents, has to agree to ‘day release’, one day a week where he will be excused from school and spend the day training at Reading.  Every boy who signs for the club, or for any club up and down the country has to agree to these terms or something similar.  For these boys going under contract is a massive achievement and a fantastic opportunity for them to pursue something they love, and for Harry’s parents agreeing to day release was a no brainer.  As long as Harry stays on top of his schoolwork then where’s the problem?

Well, the problem comes from a lot of schools around the country, that are so focussed on their academic league table standings that they fail to see the bigger picture.  Their only interest seems to be on how well the school is seen to be doing and not what is best for the children.  Ok so the likelihood is that of the 22+ kids I saw running around the Emirates on Sunday only one or two will go all the way, but is that really the point?  The things that make this such a wonderful opportunity for these boys goes far beyond football; they will make new friends, learn to work as and lead a team, travel the globe and develop an understanding of the world outside the classroom.  They will learn about life.  And more importantly they get a crack at doing something that they love, something that they would never get a shot at within the confines of a playground.  Yet still the schools are against it.

Looking at what the boys will gain from their experience it doesn’t make sense and I truly believe it’s time for the education board to have a rethink.  Yes, education is important, really important, but education is about far more than academia.  How many kids out there are terrible at Maths but incredible musicians? How many can’t grasp Physics but have the potential to run a multi-million pound enterprise?  And more worryingly so, how many children leave school without the faintest idea of how to boil an egg, change a plug or use a washing machine?  Surely these skills are going to be a lot more useful to them than understanding how to calculate the square root of x?

It’s time for a shake up.  With so many school-leavers failing to find jobs because they lack experience, surely schools should be finding new ways to make sure teenagers leave their grounds armed with the skills they need to get them through life.  I’m not saying that academia is a waste of time; Maths, English, Languages all have their place, but maybe, just maybe it’s time to embrace a new system that involves education beyond the text book…

Only time will tell if it will work out for Harry, but whether it does or not he certainly won’t have lost anything; he will still be able to go on and get his qualifications, but most importantly he will know that he was given the chance to pursue his dream.

Oh and for the record, Reading beat Arsenal schoolboys 0-1 on Sunday.  The winning goal? That was scored by Harry!

Cheers,

Cesca

Why are we doing this?  Because it’s important to us to really live our values. It’s not enough for us to have a mission statement of ‘We give everyone the opportunity to be brilliant at work’ we have to truly mean it.  It’s not enough to know that our values are Passionate, Brave & Human – we have to completely immerse ourselves in them.  How do we do that?  Well one way is to make sure that everyone we hire knows what we mean by Passionate, Brave & Human and how we’re going to measure them against it.  If there are no consequences then what’s the point?  Once hired, we then do a number of things.  Every time we see one of our colleagues doing something Passionate, Brave or Human, we give them a values card to recognise them for their effort.  This doesn’t have to be something totally amazing every time (though it often is) it can be something very simple too. The idea is, we want to reward our colleagues for being ‘Chemistry’.  We then allocate a random prize everything month by pulling one of the values cards out of a hat.  We then track each card by putting jelly beans in test-tubes (well it has to be different!) and at the end of each quarter the top 3 people who have lived the values the most (ie got the most amount of jelly beans) get a substantial prize.  This gives us two things a) a really motivated bunch of people b) management data to see who is living the values and who is recognising others for living the values, or not as the case may be.  The other thing we’re doing is linking quarterly bonus payments to living the values – if you don’t behave in the way we need you to a % of your bonus will be affected.  Again, giving out a message of how important this is to us as a business.

So you can probably tell we’re very passionate about these things (just as well really giving our values) and as we continue along this rapid growth path, we know it’s key to keep our culture as it is today – otherwise it’s just not Chemistry!

The answer to this is a resounding YES!  I always thought that it had little difference and that I would be fine if I missed lunch because I was so busy, or that breakfast wasn’t that important.  The truth is that missing meals has a massive effect on the energy that you have in front of clients and colleagues, as does putting the wrong kind of fuel into your body, the classic mid afternoon slump after a heavy lunch, the so called graveyard shift at conferences, when all but the most lively presenters will see bobbing heads in the audienceOn a personal note, I often miss meals because “work is more important and I have no time to eat!”  As a result of this I often feel tired.  Apparently I have bad adrenals, which basically means I’m not a morning person.  Now I’ve always thought this was a natural thing, and past work colleagues have simply accepted it by not bothering to talk to me before 11:00 in the morning!  Little did I know that there is something I can do about it, take an adrenal supplement, simples!

The fact is that if you don’t put the right fuel in to your body, you will not have the energy, the drive and the commitment to hit your targets.  So the simple model is “Eat Well, Work Well, Play Well!”

Cheers,

Colin

If they believe a “roster” change is going to solve the queue problem they are sorely mistaken…the reasons why queues develop in any face-face service environment is invariably not because of staff shortages (sorry, Union) but the behaviour of the staff that are present. I call it the principle of “giving a shit” and it has two implications. First, if you have staff that care they tend to think about their behaviour and more importantly, take ownership of the situation, making autonomous decisions quickly and effectively (instead of being controlled by data driven control centres, the other answer that the idiot ministers think will work). Secondly, through their behaviour the “empowered” employee will behave in a way that makes the queueing passenger believe the queue is shorter than it is…length of queuing is 90% perception and 10% reality.

So the “roster” won’t work, and in some way nor will “over staffing”, as this will be an expensive and inefficient answer.  The way to solve the problem is to create an environment where the employees feel valued, can work autonomously and the decisions on where to put resource and how to behave is made at the front line by the operational staff…great retailers know that “the operator is king”.The role of Border Control is a noble one, protecting Britain and there is opportunity to create a “high level intent” to engage the employees.  Sadly, both the Unions and the Government see it as a job that can be improved by systems, processes, rosters and rules…they have forgotten that the people queuing are people, not statistics and perhaps more importantly, the people who can alleviate the queues are also people – not an employee number.  Queuing is a human problem caused by humans and prevented by humans, unless of course you treat them like cattle…

Yet…I can’t stop this worrying! It has become a habit! However, I have acknowledged this and I have taken a stand against it! I have decided to mind my own business, that is – the busy-ness of the thoughts, feelings and emotions constantly running through my head causing me to worry!

During my masters I came across a fantastic concept called ‘Mindfulness’. Although the Buddhists have known about this for thousands of years, it kicked off in the western world in the 70’s and it is now (massively!) rising in popularity.  While it originated from Buddhist tradition, it isn’t inherently related to religion. It is based on the psychological quality of bringing one’s complete attention to the present and then accepting each thought, feeling or sensation that is experienced in a non-judgmental fashion. E.g. When I freak out about whether this blog (my 1st, no pressure) will be good enough, I stop, and take a deep breath.  I acknowledge the emotions that I am feeling, the anxiety and tension in my body and the fact that I’m a little bit peckish (and the critical thought that I have been a little too peckish all week…) Then, I just accept these feelings. I acknowledge that they exist but instead of worrying about it, I carry on with what I am doing, not letting them affect my hilarious and witty writings. BOOM. Mindfulness in action!

In the workplace our minds are so clouded with to-do lists, emails, work assignments, family issues, money issues etc. that we forget to ‘connect’ to the right NOW.  Instead we live in the future (worrying) or the past (dwelling).  I am a complete flower of the former. Mindfulness cuts through all of this. By understanding your brain and your current thought processes, you can significantly increase your effectiveness at work by having a ‘clear’ head at work.

So instead of my daily worrying practice I am practicing my mindfulness. The first time was cycling to work in a rather ‘refreshing’ spring shower last week. Instead of worrying about getting to work on time, checking my emails in time, the drowned rat look I may be sporting when I got into the office, the projects I had on etc. I took myself out of the future and put myself back in the present – I enjoyed the thrill of cycling, the fresh air of the Binfield countryside, splashing through puddles like a two year old and you know what, I felt a lot better for it and was much more relaxed, focused and ready for work when I got to the office! (Looking like a drowned but happy rat)

So why don’t you practice mindfulness? Set a time each day, a note in your calendar if you have to, take some time out to run a mental check of your thoughts and feelings. Are you angry? Happy? Tired?  Are you always living in the future or the past? Wanting to change things that have already happened? or worried about events that haven’t even occurred yet? Don’t run through life without truly experiencing the present! Be aware, be present and be mindful of your own business!

“Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other” – Milton Mayoff”On Caring”

Yes and that development of the other has a hard commercial benefit too. Whether you’re part of a corporate enterprise or you own and SME, the building block that is the foundation of your company’s share price or its valuation is your talent.

Skilled valuers of companies are prepared to pay a premium for your business provided they believe you have the best talent in your sector.

If you hold an ambition to increase the equity value, your strategies need to include one to develop your talent. The uplift can be expected to be a 10-20% premium above your sector benchmark. Considerable ROI. As my American colleagues would say – do the maths.

The answer is simple. Yes. Yes I could run the London Marathon. Not only that, I believe that if you put your mind to something you can pretty much achieve anything you want to.

There is a fundamental ingredient to allowing this statement fulfil it’s potential, and that is that you simply have to decide you can and will do it.

As Confucius once said:

“He who says he can, and he who says he can’t are both usually right.”

This makes it very simple. If you decide that failure is not an option, and you are passionate about what you want to do, then the Universe will get out your way. Will Smith is a big advocate of this notion and says “There’s no reason to have a plan B ‘cause it distracts from Plan A.” Equally, Steve Jobs was known for his ‘reality distortion field,’ in that he warped the perception of what was impossible to possible. Part of the psychology of this is to adopt a mind-set that is focused and determined. What we also know about your brain is that we have limited resource, so it important to not spread yourself to thinly and to be clear on what you will focus on. That way you can channel every trick you have in the book to ensure you deliver on your goal.

So what stops people from feeling that they can achieve anything they believe? The problem is that many of us adopt a fixed mind-set, believing that your intelligence and talents are fixed. The trouble with this is that it can create a toxic fear of failure, which then limits what you engage and invest time in. It also means you tend to focus on what you can achieve within your limits, rather than what you learn and experience when outside your comfort zone, as you don’t want to look silly. Mistakes therefore have to be avoided at all costs. It also creates barriers and excuses to give up or not do things – ever hear yourself say things like… “I’m too unfit to run the marathon” or “I’m not very organised so I’m always late” or “I’m too busy to find time to…” etc etc. These excuses are simply statements where you have assigned yourself a fixed label and view of yourself, which stops you from changing something in your life.

Research by Carol Dweck has found that people who adopt a growth mind-set are more likely to achieve success and happiness. That is, someone who sees themselves as fluid and a work in progress, and that sees experience being about growth and opportunity. Achievement is then a by-product.

Deciding which mind-set to adopt can impact on all aspects of your life. Personally, I made a decision to challenge myself on a physical and mental level at the beginning of this year. I decided to start running, and to start reading. So far I’m doing okay and I ran 10k at the weekend (yay). The key to my success? I’ve focused on what I am learning and the experience of feeling challenged and good about myself. What I haven’t done is weigh myself to see if I have lost weight (although always a bonus if I have!). I have not set myself a target on how many books to read. The difference in the goal I set myself has led to a different set of motivations and behaviours. This has also been shown in Dweck’s research.

Deciding to take a growth mind-set, and deciding that you can do whatever you put your mind too is very empowering. It applies not only to your personal life, but to business too. If you are business leader, have you considered whether your business adopts a growth mind-set? Being clear on the focus you take offers direction, and taking some risk, trying new things, and learning from the external events and factors that surround your business will allow your business to adapt, evolve, innovate and grow.

Next time you find yourself questioning yourself, take a moment to consider it. Is it that you can’t do it, or something that you won’t? The good news about mind-set is you can change it. Don’t give up too easily, stay focused, and most importantly, don’t settle for less.

Anyway, I turned up at the grimmest place on earth, to the grimmest building on earth to do my course, ushered in to the grimmest waiting room full of a diverse cross-section of our wonderful population who were in the middle of a raucous and fun filled session…trying to determine who got caught doing the highest speed!  This is when it occurred to me that the AA and plod are properly up against it when attempting to change driver behavior around speeding and so I spent the next 4 hours trying to work out how you’d do it.

I am not quite there yet but what I do know is the current Speed Awareness Course is not it; it actually misses by a mile!

So our leader was an amiable chap, complete petrol head, loves his motorbikes and was at pains to point out how we were all just unlucky and it’s not really our fault we were caught…sorry mate but it was, I don’t expect to get the book thrown at me but I do expect to be accountable for my actions.  An AA leader doesn’t tell the alcoholic that “it’s OK that you fell off the wagon it’s actually the off license’s fault for selling alcohol”.  This was a strange place to start, i.e. appeasement, the reaction was at least 6/7 of the people in the room vehemently agreeing and trying to tell their story of injustice. None of which mattered, they were caught speeding or they wouldn’t have been there, denial was a bit late.  So first mistake, telling the children in the room it’s not really their fault.

Second mistake was trying to land 20 different learnings.  This was a class of people, that when asked (anonymously) to vote on the National Speed Limit for a Single Lane Carriageway, only 30% got it right!!!!  Landing one learning would have been a challenge for 70% of them…it actually got so frustrating at one point, I actually said out loud “really? Have you listened to a single thing he’s said”…as when asked to vote on the speed limit on a lit urban road 70% of them got 30mph wrong…this after being told repeatedly for an hour it was 30mph!

I kid you not that our leader wrote the equation for Impact Force = Velocity*Mass and then proceeded to explain the consequence of this equation on braking distances…really? Had he not been looking at the voting results

The third and biggest mistake was something we learnt when studying Weight Watchers (when building our Pod Coaching product) you need post-class “nudges”.  The AA did not send me away with anything that reconnected me to the learnings I had on the course, there were 3 if I recall:

1.    Use 3rd gear in a 30 MPH zone, the over revving will limit your speed, neat trick actually

2.    Leave a 2 second gap between the you and the car in front, “only a fool breaks the 2 second rule”

There you go I can only remember 2!

The trick to get people to think about their behaviour and possibly change it, is to enable them to coach others in their learnings…the AA should really start by delivering the course in a coaching style, i.e. we are going to teach you some things about speed and your driving but actually the true value is you teaching someone else and hear are some tools to help you.

The course should then be followed up with emails/texts or other “nudges”, pretty sure there will be a social media tool for this.

The biggest revelation for me was the fact that it is not a legal requirement for us to have “driving license refresher courses”, speed in actual fact is a contributory factor in less than 6% of road crashes, the rest is distraction and incompetence.  So the speed awareness course is trying to address a 6% stat, which it doesn’t do at all, whilst not addressing the other 94% causes of road accidents.  Which is a crime for which the AA and plod should receive a £60 fine & 3 points or alternatively attend a Chemistry Behaviour Change class

PS: 40% of my class had been to a Speed Awareness Class before, my change in behaviour lasted 48 hours at best, a fact I am not proud of.   Chemistry’s belief is that training does not work, this course is a sad proof point.

Now I didn’t just pick this topic out of the blue, I have been known to be a bit of a stress-head.  However I like to think that I have built up enough resilience cope with situations I find challenging…although this hasn’t always been the case.  In my final year at University my jack in the box not only sprang out but the coil snapped as well..  I wasn’t experiencing any more pressure than my course mates but I allowed the demands of 4^th year get to me far more.   Was the University out to get me? No! Was I the first person to ever go through finals? Definitely not!  Despite this I felt like I was floundering, unable to keep my head above water.  Now before you start getting concerned there is a happy ending to this tale.  I managed to successfully finish my degree, get through the exams unscathed and come out at the other end with a 2:1.  So why the stress?   I know now that the catalyst was my own disorganization and lack of focus, the factors that lead to me to pushing that self-destruct button. I have put measures in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  I think there will always be that risk of reverting into my high emotion alias but at least I can recognize the warning signs…most of the time.

I was lucky discovering my propensity to stress so early on, as I know what warning signs to look out for.  However what about those people who go to work with positivity and return a nervous wreck? Have they ever had that moment of clarity?  Are they even aware that they aren’t coping or that they can actually help themselves?  I know that there is always the potential to crack during those days when work gets crazy, but how can we can we avoid that risk?  Is there a way of pulling us emotions from the edge and become AMAZING at work?  Of course there is!

There’s that old adage, “prevention is better than cure” and I believe this will save those pressure cookers from exploding! I know that dealing with a stressful situation at the 11^th hour is no good, in fact the damage already done.  In my case I drew from strength that I never knew I had.  This is definitely not widespread and measures need to be put in place to make sure that everyone is sailing on calm waters.  But how?  I believe it is a clear case of individual and organizational risk management.

Its no use identifying the risks after a mistake has been made when it can be avoided in the first place.  This saves the individual and the organization having to do extensive damage control and instead allows them to enjoy successes and increased productivity. An organization-wide well-being audit can identify the potential risk factors to stresses. If done early it can avoid a high emotion hurricane over those difficult days.  With this insight we can alter practices in order to have a happy and stress free workforce. This can also be done at an individual level, with employees becoming more aware about their own stresses and what their stressors are.  However, some need to be lead towards self-discovery

Now, here comes a link!  One of the fundamental stress interventions is support from the people around us and ourselves.  To save the high emotion individual from falling into that crevice there needs to be a safety net, someone to catch them before they fall.  It seems clear that the safe environment and behavioral development fostered by pod coaching could be developed to help those potential stress pots.  Pod Counseling or Pod Support, could take up residence within Energise and extend its influence to well being at work.  By having that guardianship, individuals can feel supported to go on and deal with any hurdles that come their way and maintain their productivity, which will keep the bigwigs happy.  I feel this fledgling idea could take flight; I certainly would have valued it.

Ultimately we don’t want people to have “one of those days”.  In the utopian organization everyone feels positive every morning and leaves feeling fulfilled. I know that not every day can be like this as even I have dodgy days.  What’s different is that I work for a company that has that support network built-in, there’s a constant safety net to catch you before you fall.  I by no means see this as a crutch, but just knowing it’s there is comforting.  Sadly many of my counterparts don’t have that luxury in their working lives and are drowning.  Surely we can be agents of change and make their days a happy one too! We can pull these high emotions back from the edge! It can be done!

However, the beauty of the Grand National is that form and experience go out of the window completely; anyone can win and that is why it is the most popular gambling event in the UK. Unsurprisingly, this proved true once again when Neptune Collognes was first to cross the finishing line in a photo finish. For those of you who saw the race, you will have noticed that none of my equine beauties even finished. I knew it wasn’t going to be my day when Viking Blood took a tumble over the first fence!

This got me thinking…if form alone has such a small impact on the outcome of the race, can the mistake of backing someone purely on experience alone be similarly as ineffective in the workplace? Does this mean that you can place your bets on a candidate based on what looks like great experience, only for him to fall at the first hurdle? The answer, of course, is yes!

From both personal and professional experience, companies are far too quick to settle for someone who looks like a safe bet because they have relevant experience. What they neglect to consider, however, are the other factors that will affect that person’s performance within that role and, more generally, within that company: intellect, values, motivations and behaviours.

Experience is, by it’s very nature, fluid. We are constantly taking in new experiences or learning new skills. A person, or an employee, can be have brilliant experience in the role they are hired to do, but without understanding their intellect, values, motivations and behaviours, it is very difficult to predict how well they will perform in that role. This is why every year the best horse (on paper) rarely wins the Grand National.

When you consider that a company’s most important asset are its people, it is startling to think that most of them are taking a wild stab in the dark when it comes to recruitment.

The Grand National, therefore, proves a point that is very pertinent; never be too hasty in backing someone on experience alone. Take the time to understand what makes them ‘tick’ and you will be genuinely surprised by the results!