Addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling are harmful.
Habits, of emotion and behaviour.
Minds and bodies conditioned to reproduce patterns.
Humans acting on autopilot.
The Invisible Influence of Group Affiliation
Group psychology has a massive unseen influence on behaviour, the way things get done, and the way decisions are made, aka, the politics
Someone recently told me that “Politics is frowned upon here.”
I probed “What exactly do you mean?”
What followed was a number of examples such as brown-nosing, button-holing before meetings, self-promotion.
“Okay, who are these people who frown on the politics?” Read More
Don’t Leave Relationship Building Too Late
Most people prioritise improving the quality of a relationship when a problem hits them in the face.
This is the most difficult time of all to build trust and openness, because the guard is up, and perhaps, so are the heckles. On the other hand, hard as it may be, this could be exactly what the two of you needed, a big wake up call!
And, if you're diligent, tenacious and careful, the prospects are good that the relationship after things have been resolved will be much better than it was before. Read More
Belief in an Unlimited Capability
A truly fascinating discussion about success with a high-ranking military officer. He has a long track-record of incredible achievements.
He was reading at 3 years old. Helping teacher to teach others to read at 4 ½. From a very early age he acquired the belief that there was no limit to what he could achieve. He has always achieved what he set out to achieve. Somewhere around his early teens, he caught the idea that he could master any topic within 6 weeks. That has become another core belief that has served him well.
Nature or nurture? Tough one, jury still out. Family history Read More
Shift Your Focus: Dangerous Habits
It's really interesting to notice that when people have problems they can very easily get carried away with those problems. Worrying about them, obsessing about them, and getting very emotionally engaged with the feature of their current life or work that they don't actually want, that they don't like, that they would soon it wasn't there.
What I notice happening is that those obsessive thoughts feed on themselves and they get bigger and worse, and that starts to dig people into not only a negative feeling, but the perpetuation of that phenomena, that event, that situation, in their working lives.
Read More
Rolling with the Punches
Rolling with the Punches: Coping with and withstanding adversity by being flexible. The Urban Dictionary.
Several years ago, I asked a client for some feedback. I had trained most of his senior team around the world and six months later, I wanted to know what had changed.
His first reaction was to focus on how noticeable it was those of his team who had not done the training. “They are now looking distinctly wet behind the ears, naïve in the face of the usual cut and thrust of organisational life!”
Read More
Cybernetics, Population Ecology and Corporate Geriatrics
Two branches of science have always fascinated me because of the way they can be related to organisations, and how they can help us to think creatively about how to make them more successful, and ourselves in the process.
They also lead to a fundamental question you need to ask yourself about the way you behave at work, and my reason for sharing this with you.
Cybernetics is the science of communication and control systems found in biological organisms and machines. It is usually regarded as one of the many methodologies within the field of systems thinking (yes, systems thinking doesn’t just mean Lean!).
What I find most interesting in Cybernetics is what you can learn about how biological organisms survive and thrive in a changing environment, and the systems the successful species have developed to do that. All of this can be mapped to a corporate structure to determine if it is likely to survive. Read More
Why Your Boss Should Not Trust You
You may well have the feeling that your boss doesn’t quite trust you. Perhaps they:
- Insist all communications go through them rather than direct.
- Will not allow you to engage directly with her boss.
- Do not delegate decisions, however small, to you.
- Insist on constant updates from you – micro managing.
- Do not allow you to attend meetings on their behalf.
Learning to Break the Rules
The large organisation environment is increasingly regulated and governed. Due process. Follow the rules. Obey, and all will be well.
Discussing this with a senior IT professional in one of the big four consultancies, he observed that those who are performing at an exceptional level are those who are willing to break the rules, and later be judged as having done the right thing.
He also noted that they Read More
Is This as Good as it Gets?
What if...
This is as good as it gets?
Serious point. Many people in middle years and middle levels, hit the buffers. They have been successful in a way, but not the way or to the extent that they intended. Underneath, there is still ambition. The belief that they cold do more, should do more... But they are stuck, doing what they've always done, and now, getting what they've always got. Breaking out of this is tough, but it has to be done, and can be done. Read More- « Previous Page
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