Dr Adam's Blog

I just read the below article in Fast Company, thought you might like it. It talks about how the things we need to do as leaders today has not changed in 20 years, despite the change in environment.

What it illustrates is that we don't have an information problem we have an implementation problem. We know what we should do to lead better we are just not doing it. It shows that we need to help our leaders more with changing their behaviour.

My research supports this. In the last five years I have seen over 250 climate surveys from different companies. They all say the same thing no matter what industry. People want their leaders to do the following:
Treat me with respect
Listen and consider my ideas
Care about me as a human being
Coach me and develop my skills
Map out a career plan for me
Show me how what I do each day makes a difference.


This article supports this argument perfectly.

By Robert Sutton

http://www.fastcompany.com/1825035/good-bosses-are-the-same-today-as-they-were-in-1992

 

Lately I have seen the claim that management or leadership needs to be reinvented. Many reasons given for this need seem sensible: Gen X and Gen Y require different management techniques; outsourcing, globalization, and information technology means working with people we rarely if ever meet in person; the pressure to think and move ever faster is unprecedented; so many employees are disengaged that they need to be managed so they feel appreciated.

Yet, no matter how hard I look at studies by academics and consulting firms, or at contrasts between successful and unsuccessful leaders, I can’t find persuasive evidence of substantial change in the kinds of bosses people want to become or work for, or that enable human groups and organizations to thrive. Changes such as the computer revolution, globalization, and distributed teams mean that if you are a boss, staying in tune with followers is more challenging than ever. And, certainly, bosses need to be more culturally aware because many workplaces are composed of more diverse people.

But every new generation of bosses faces hurdles that seem to make the job tougher than it ever was. The introduction of the telephone and air travel created many of the same challenges as the computer revolution--as did the introduction of the telegraph and trains. Just as every new generation of teenagers believes they have discovered sex and their parents can’t possibly understand what it feels like to be them, believing that that no prior generation of bosses ever faced anything like this and these crazy times require entirely new ways of thinking and acting are likely soothing to modern managers. These beliefs also help socalled experts like me sell our wares. Yet there is little evidence to support the claim that organizations—let alone the humans in them—have changed so drastically that we need to invent a whole new kind of boss.

This isn’t a new idea, either. In 1992, two Harvard Business School professors, Robert Eccles and Nitin Nohria (now the dean of HBS), wrote Beyond the Hype. This book showed that while management thinkers (notably the much worshipped Peter Drucker) have repeatedly claimed it is a whole new world out there for managers and employees--that everything needs to be reinvented because the old ways are obsolete--the fundamentals of what it takes to lead, organize, and inspire followers were pretty much “the same as it ever was.”

Eccles and Norhia’s argument applies as well in 2012 as in 1992--at least when it comes to bosses. Just like the leaders people wanted before the industrial revolution, we humans still yearn to follow others who are competent enough to bring in resources, teach us new skills, and generate attention and prestige from key outsiders--who drive  performance. We also want fair leaders who protect us, and who make us feel cared for and respected--who inject  humanity. Although the ways bosses accomplish these things is and has always been constrained by technologies, culture, different kinds of  work, and on and on, the fundamentals remain unchanged. Yet the hype keeps flying about how we need to reinvent management. In particular, we often hear calls for the end of hierarchy, the virtues of empowerment, and how knowledge workers need to be treated in new and different ways.

The notion that people who do creative or complex work need more autonomy than others is quite old. Thomas Edison’s lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey,  was decentralized; workers there were encouraged to develop their own ideas, and there were fewer and less obvious status differences between people at different hierarchical levels compared to traditional organizations of the time.

Yet, at Edison’s lab--as at today’s Apple, Google, Facebook, and Pixar and every other creative organization I know—there was a clear pecking order. Indeed, a careful review of research by my Stanford colleagues Debra Gruenfeld and Larissa Tiedens shows that we humans prefer hierarchical relationships, are happier when we work in clear hierarchies than where power differences are absent or unclear, and we experience less distress and work more effectively.

Gruenfeld and Tiedens suggest that we prefer hierarchies because they are effective for sorting people based on different skills and reduce ambiguity. The upshot is that although good bosses--especially in creative places--do encourage input and delegate decisions, little evidence suggests that the need or desire for bosses--and bosses of bosses--will disappear anytime soon.

So the challenge is not to reinvent management. Rather it is to find ways to dampen the known drawbacks of pecking orders and amplify the positive elements. That is what great bosses do and have always done.

The Google experience is instructive. In 2009, Lazlo Block, vice president of People Operations, launched a study called Project Oxygen to figure out the differences between the best and the worst bosses at Google. Since Google was first founded about fifteen years ago, its leaders believed that technical expertise was the most crucial quality of a great boss and that since such smart people worked there, a boss’s job was pretty much to leave people alone unless they asked for technical help. Project Oxygen revealed insights that surprised Google’s leaders, but it fit with thousands of studies.


Technical expertise ranked dead last among the predictors of a boss’s effectiveness. Instead, as The New York Times reported, “What employees valued most were even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.”

Google is an evidence-based place. So they boiled down their list of what good bosses do into just a few key factors, and they now work intensely with underperforming bosses to change their behavior. If you are a boss, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by considering Google’s journey.


Don’t believe the hype about reinventing management. As over fifty years of research shows, treating employees with respect, encouraging them to participate and to make suggestions, and listening to them are as important as ever. The same is true about setting a clear direction, making decisions, and taking charge.



Kind regards,

Dr Adam Fraser


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"Dr Adam Fraser's latest book - The Third Space - out in July 2012!"












 

We all want it but it appears that most of us don’t have nearly enough of it. What am I talking about? Happiness!
Happiness research is now big business. Where once the secret of happiness was left to the philosophers to ponder, the world of science has since joined the party. Scientists want to know what makes us happy, psychologists want to know why, and marketers want to know how to make money out of our desperate need to be happy.
Why has research is this area exploded? Despite rises in the standard of living and greater and fancier possessions, depression rates have risen to 1 in 4 people. While our external world is getting more luxurious, our internal world is struggling.
Why isn’t our happiness scale climbing in parallel with our quality of life? I set about answering this question. Having spent the last three months analysing the research, I’ve found that everything we thought we knew about happiness is wrong.
It’s time to debunk some common myths about happiness.

1.    Don’t the big things make us happy?
Major positive events such a promotion, a new relationship or house or even winning the lottery may provide a boost of happiness but they do not always promote long-term happiness – we eventually return to our previous level of happiness. Research shows that few positive experiences affect our happiness for more than three months.
The frequency of our positive experiences rather than the intensity of our positive experiences is a better indicator of happiness.  A person who experiences a number of good things in one day is likely to be happier than another who has one great thing happen. It really is the little things in life that matter.

2.    Aren’t I happiest when things are easy and I am cruising along?
We mistakenly tend to think that relaxing and not working hard or cruising in life with no pressure will make us happy but the truth is boredom equals discontent. Communities with high youth crime rates often cite the root cause of crime as boredom in kids who then look for trouble to overcome the boredom.

Matthew Killingsworth from Harvard university has created an iPhone web app called Track Your Happiness, tracking more than 15,000 people in 83 countries. The app queries users at random intervals on their mood and what they are doing at the time, as well as their level of productivity and their social interactions.
His findings show that for 50 percent of our day our mind wanders away from what we are doing during which time we are incredibly unproductive. When our mind wanders and we are no longer ‘present’ we experience our greatest level of unhappiness. Why? Because our mind tends to wander to unpleasant thoughts or personal concerns.
Most importantly he showed that when our attention is completely absorbed in a task we experience our greatest level of happiness.
So how does this relate in the business world?
We are happiest when we are challenged and engaged – working to achieve difficult goals, yet those within our reach. Most employees do not want to be bored at work. Bored employers are neither content or productive.
If you are a manager and want more engagement from your team give them challenging work, keep track of their progress and debrief it with them.

3. Surely you can’t be happy at work?
In terms of overall wellbeing, career wellbeing has been shown to be more important than physical, financial, social or community wellbeing. In other words, whether we are happy at work or not is more important than the other aspects of our lives. Why? Because work makes up so much of our time and we often relate work to your self image and identity. Also, it is vital for employers to ensure their staff are happy as the research linking happy employees to greater productivity and performance is so strong that it is no longer up for debate.

4. Don’t I have to focus on myself to be happy?
A study was conducted where people were given a sum of money and asked to either go buy something for themselves or for someone else. Afterwards, the group that bought a gift for someone else had much higher levels of happiness than the group that bought something for themselves. When we do things for others we get a much bigger happiness bump than doing something for ourself. Same goes for the workplace, when we help others improve and develop their skills, our happiness is far greater than if we just focus on getting ahead.

5. That’s just me I am not a happy person!
Researchers have since discovered that happiness is not solely linked to genetics. While genes and heritage determine about 50 percent, the rest depends on lifestyle decisions and daily habits. While there is no magic pill for happiness and wellbeing, we can make daily habitual changes to make a difference.

6. When I have nice things then I will be happy!
While we certainly get a bump in pleasure after we buy something beautiful for ourselves, the effect is short lived. What gives us a bigger and longer lasting impact on happiness is when we spend money on great experiences. A holiday, a concert, hot air ballooning. If you want to use money to get you happiness, spend it on experiences rather than possessions.

7. Don’t I have to be a tortured soul to be creative and successful!
Is happiness really desirable since it is often thought that to write a best selling book or song you need to have pain or heartache? There is no solid evidence to support this theory. These people are the exception, not the rule. It’s like saying my grandfather smoked every day until he died at 99 years of age, therefore cigarettes must make you live longer. Happier people are generally more creative and successful than tortured souls.

Hints for greater happiness
•    Regular exercise
•    Practicing meditation
•    Daily reflection on what you are grateful for
•    Striving to experience happiness in each moment
•    Do things for others
•    Get absorbed in each task you do
•    Invest in your personal relationships
•    Focus on experiences not possessions

Looking at that list it is a list that would make the people around you happy too and the world a better place. Looks like personal happiness is a win for everyone.

When you run your own business you wear a number of hats and you are often jumping from one task to the next. New research tells us that the average person in an office environment is interrupted 11 times in an hour. Sounds a lot but when you think about it most people are constantly responding to their email alert, answering the phone, having people come into their office, suddenly remembering things that they should have done and dealing with noise from open plan offices. What’s the fall out of all these interruptions? The fall out is a massive reduction in productivity and creativity. A study by Basex found that office distractions take up 2.1 hours of the average day (28%) with workers taking an average of 5 minutes to recover from a distraction and re-focus on the original task. In fact a recent study conducted by The Institute of Psychiatry at King's college London, compared the cognitive ability of people who had been multi tasking and people who had just smoked marijuana. Who came out on top? The drug affected workers. The reason why is that multitasking is incredibly stressful on the brain, it impairs short term memory and concentration. The result is that the brain is left in an impaired state. This message is important for the leaders of the business. Due to distractions and interruptions people rarely get the time to think creatively and come up with innovative ideas. We need to minimize distractions and start to focus again. A recent study by my company Dr Adam Fraser Pty Ltd showed that the top 10 distractions were:

1. Emails – office alert and volume of emails
2. People – office colleagues
3. Phone – office and mobile
4. Distracting thoughts – thinking of the next thing to do
5. Noise - in open plan offices
6. Clients expecting instant responses
7. Personal Issues playing on your mind
8. Un-necessary meetings
9. Mixed priorities from management
10.Fatigue

Strategies to minimise distractions:
Turn off the email alert
Check your email at certain points of the day, for example every hour or every two hours.
During important tasks when you need to focus block all distractions or remove yourself from the office environment.
Communicate to people around you that at certain points of the day you are not to be disrupted.
If the noise around you is too great look at using ear plugs at certain points of the day.

Today's Blog answers some commonly held misconceptions about work-life balance...

1. What is your opinion of WLB?
I think the terms work life balance is negative as it implies that work is separate to our life. What we really want is work life integration where the two work together. Also with so much emphasis on balance these days the term balance almost have a negative effect as we feel pressure to get balance and fee guilty when we don't achieve it.

2. Does it actually exist anymore and why are we losing balance in our lives?
There is more pressure on the average employee today than any other time in history. Companies are cutting resources yet expecting greater outcomes, every industry is feeling the pain and no one is immune. Business guru Charles Handy said that working in the 21st century is described by the formula ½ x 2 = 3. Translated, this means half the number of people doing twice the amount of work expected to get three times the result. Yes there is a trend towards less balance.

3. Does striving for balance put excess pressure on us? Yes it does and when we don't achieve it we feel guilty. Also society makes us feel guilty when we don't have balance.

4. Do you believe WLB is achievable? I do however most people will need to alter their idea of balance, because what they expect and what is achievable are two very different things.

5. Are most peoples ideas for balance achievable? No they tend to be unrealistic. Most people think that balance is a destination that you arrive at where they will have all the time in the world and they will be calm and relaxed and serene. Balance varies each day and it is a constant battle. In addition many people off their balance for a future day. They say I will have balance when "the kids leave home", or when "they employ someone else at work to reduce my work load". Balance does no suddenly arrive one day. We need to find balance in all times.

6. Do we need to alter our goals and expectations around balance? Yes I believe that if we want more balance in our lives we start off with a very conservative goal and work up from there.

7. Is balance the same for all people? No, balance differs for different people and you need to find what works for you. For some people they need balance on a daily basis, while other people only need balance on a weekly basis. Balance is a personal thing.

8. Do you know people that get WLB right and what do they do to achieve it? They are realistic about what they can achieve and they make sure that they can integrate the balance into their life.

9. What do you think the keys to balance are? Being realistic Having a plan that is practical Set some rules and constantly re-evaluate it to make sure it is working.

I was recently asked by a law firm to come in and meet with one of their partners with a view to coaching him around his behaviour in the firm. I thought, “no problem”.

I then asked why they wanted him to be coached. “Well he has gone through 18 junior lawyers in the last 6 years, and the last one that worked with him almost had a nervous breakdown” was the reply. Mmmmmm the alarm bells went off! This could be a bigger challenge than I thought.

In preparation for my meeting I interviewed a number of people in the firm and they painted a unanimous and unfavourable picture of him. They all said he was the best technical lawyer they had ever seen, however he was the most controlling, impersonal, manipulative and critical person they had ever worked with. The interesting thing is that he was never aggressive, or yelled, or got angry – they said he was very passive, yet he subtly tore away at a person’s self worth and confidence. They even told me stories of how people are scared to send printing to the communal printer because he will pick up peoples printing that has nothing to do with him, go in to their office, tell them what is wrong with their work, and then tell them how to fix it.

I thought, “Gee cant wait for this meeting!!!”

I greeted him at the door. We had a very brief conversation about his background and what lead him to the firm. “Seems pleasant enough”, I thought.
We sat down and I cut to the chase: “We both know why we are here, it is to discuss the high turnover of staff you have had in your area. I would like to get your take on the situation.”

He then proceeded to go through the list of people and tell me what was wrong with “them”. The first one was a nut case, the second one was incompetent, and the third one was unstable. On and on he went telling me what was wrong with all these people. I was stunned.

I asked, “If they are all so hopeless why have some of them gone off to flourish in other parts of the firm?” To which he replied, “They aren’t going well, the other partners in the firm just say that to keep them happy and to make me look bad. None of these people are a lawyers boot lace.”

Part of me was thinking, “has someone set me up?” as I searched the room for a hidden camera. “Ok, ok, ok! Let me ask you this. What in your behaviour contributed to them not working out?” I was greeted with a stunned look. He said, “I don’t understand, I just told you the problem, they were incompetent, if they gave me good lawyers they would stay. What have I got to do with it?”

Getting him to admit his behaviour may have contributed to the situation was like trying to raise the titanic with a dingy. The most he gave me was he admitted that he does not suffer fools!

I asked him if he wanted to work on his behaviour and do a series of coaching sessions. He agreed. I said the first step is for you to identify a series of key stakeholders in the business to give you feedback on your behaviour. Specifically what you do well and what you need to improve on.

His response was, “No!!”
“No what?” I asked.
No, “I refuse to let anyone give me feedback on my behaviour.”
“But you will get to choose who gives you feedback”
“I don’t care”.

Still reeling I said, “Well how do you expect to be a better leader if you don’t ask any of the people you lead about how you can do it better?”

The next line was my favourite. “I am self aware enough to know what I need to improve on and what I don’t.” At this point I wrapped up the interview and left.

When I walked out I two things screamed out at me:

Number 1. How often do we come into a situation and think “Its not Me, Its You”. “I am not the problem, they are the problem”. All too often we are blind to how our behaviour impacts on our environment.

Number 2. How very few people actually get honest feedback from their environment about their behaviour. So what we can do to improve it?

In particular this second step is vital. There is wisdom in our environment; not asking for feedback is missing out on a massive opportunity. Also, don’t just get feedback from your co-workers, ask your clients as well. Ask them on a regular basis how you can serve them better, what they like about conducting business with you, and what you need to change.

I was recently talking to a CEO of a large company in Australia who said that their US office (during the GFC) told him that they needed to save 3 million dollars in one of their divisions, and this is how many people he needed to sack to save that much money. He asked for the opportunity to find a solution without having to sack anyone. He put it to the team they came up with a strategy, it was implemented and they saved 3.89 million dollars.

Obviously this example of the friendly lawyer I have given you is an extreme one, but how much do we have in common with this lawyer? 67% of leaders in this country rate themselves as good or excellent, however 61% of the people they lead rate them as poor or terrible. In fact 53% of people said they would sack their manager if they could. How we “Show Up” as a leader has a massive impact on our organisation. Gallup showed in a survey of 1 million people that the most common reason people left their last job was because of their direct manager.

My challenge to you is:

1.    Stop your natural reaction to say “It’s not me it’s you”. First start with how your behaviour contributed to the situation.

2.    Ask your environment for feedback on your behaviour. It doesn’t even have to be formal (such as a 360), survey your clients and your co-workers. Ask them what do you do well and how could you change your behaviour to get a better outcome.

There is more pressure on the average employee today than any other time in history. Companies are cutting resources yet expecting greater outcomes, every industry is feeling the pain and no one is immune. Business guru Charles Handy said that working in the 21st century is described by the formula ½ x 2 = 3. Translated, this means half the number of people doing twice the amount of work expected to get three times the result. The pressure to get more done in less time is driving us to the brink of burn out, causing us to take stress leave and putting excessive pressure on our relationships. Part of the fall out from this pressure is that most people have stopped taking breaks during the day, they arrive at the office put their head down and don’t put it back up again until it is time to go home. Morning tea is a thing of the past, the lunch hour is dead and afternoon tea doesn’t even get on the radar. However is working constantly during the day the answer? I think not.

As a performance consultant working with thousands of people each year I believe the single largest contributor to stress, burn out and poor performance is an improperly structured workday. It is physiologically impossible to be productive and focused your entire day; your ability to get work done fluctuates at different times of the day and follows the natural rhythms of the body. Every function in our body (sleep, digestion, alertness, even your energy levels) is controlled by our natural bio-rhythms. Unfortunately most of the habits we have in a day actually work against our natural rhythms rather than with them. The key to lasting energy, happiness and high performance is getting the external world and your internal world in sync with each other. Here is a daily plan to help you get your internal world and external world working together.

6am: Get regular

One of the most critical aspects of a sleep routine is a regular bed and wake up time (of these two the wake up time is the most important). Falling asleep and waking up involves a number of complicated processes, for example your body prepares itself to wake up long before your eyes open by increasing body temperature, releasing various hormones, elevating blood pressure and heart rate. When you are in a regular sleep routine your body gets used to the pattern and it makes going to sleep and waking up much easier. A sign that you have your routine right is when you consistently wake up minutes before your alarm clock is set to go off. The biggest challenge in maintaining a regular sleep routine is sticking to it on the weekends. When we dramatically alter our sleep pattern on the weekend we can give ourselves a mini case of jet lag. If you feel the need to catch up on sleep over the weekend the key is to go to bed early and get up at your normal time rather than sleeping in past lunch.

6:15 am: Get moving

Some exercise early in the morning before breakfast is the ideal way to kickstart your day. First of all exercise gets more blood and nutrients to your brain and helps you to be more alert when you get to work. Also exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which are not distant relatives to Flipper but chemicals that elevate your mood and leave you feeling good. In addition low glucose and insulin levels in the morning maximise the burning of body fat during exercise and the exercise will elevate your metabolic rate for the rest of the day.

7:00 am: Break the Fast

A solid breakfast is needed to ensure that you have enduring energy levels during the day. The two main things to include in your breakfast are protein and carbohydrates that are low in glyceamic index. Examples are: Omelette with wholegrain bread

Fruit smoothie with yoghurt and fruit

Muesli and nuts

Skipping breakfast is just plain stupid, so don’t do it!!

8am to 11am focus on the big stuff

During this time the majority of people are at their most effective. This is the time to tackle your most important tasks that require the most thought and problem solving. Don’t spend this time doing mundane tasks, leave clearing the inbox to times when you are less effective.

11 am: Fuel up and get some sun

At 11am there is a natural drop in our blood glucose levels, the result is a slump in our energy levels and a corresponding drop in performance. This is the time to have your first meal of the day. Yes you heard right! Have lunch early, this will help you to keep your energy levels high. In fact a number of schools tested 11am lunchtime and found that students were far more alert and focused as a result. The easiest choice is a whole grain salad sandwich with protein (chicken, ham, tuna). Direct sunlight each day on our body helps to keep our circadian rhythm (the rhythm that controls when you are awake and asleep, as well as hundreds of other functions) in check. Most people don’t see the sun as they get to work when the sun is rising, stay in doors all day, and leave as the sun is setting. A lack of sun puts you at risk of seasonal affective disorder syndrome (SADS). SADS increases your chances of feeling down and depressed.

1 pm: Remember to breathe

When we get stressed our body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Prolonged exposure to these chemicals has a negative effect on our brain and our ability to focus, solve problems and come up with new ideas. When we slow our breathing down and do some relaxation we stop producing these chemicals and produce something new called Nitric Oxide, when this hits our brain we produce endorphins and dopamine which make us feel good and help us think better.

2:30 pm: Lunch # 2

At around 3pm we get a dramatic drop in glucose levels and a drop in our temperature. This leaves us feeling very tired and drowsy. We have all experienced 3:30 itis. The way to avoid this is to stabilise your glucose levels by having a meal just before this. In this meal include some protein to stimulate brain function. An easy idea is fruit and nuts (almonds, walnuts). A meal at this time will also stop your cravings in the afternoon and stop you from pigging out when you get home.

6:00 pm: Switch to home channel

As you are travelling home start to switch your mind set to fit into family mode. A lot of people rush home at the end of the day and take their office mind set home with them and they run their home like their office. The mindset of your home is a lot slower and sedate than the office, so slow down on the way home.

7:30 pm: Have a happy meal

The final meal of the day should be small in volume (this will reduce the stress on your digestive system and help you to feel more energetic in the morning) and based on vegetables. Vegetables are high in fibre as well as vitamins and minerals. Science tells us that any population who live long healthy lives has a high intake of vegetables. With dinner include a small amount of lean protein especially oily fish like salmon, tuna etc. This type of fish contains high levels of Omega 3 oils, which improve our mood and our health.

9:00 pm: Dim the lights and slow down.

Whether our environment is dark or light impacts on our ability to get to sleep. A part of your brain called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) detects light input from the eyes. The SCN controls the secretion of Melatonin, a chemical that helps you sleep. When the SCN senses light on your eyes it shuts down Melatonin production, likewise when it senses darkness it releases Melatonin. Therefore as the evening progresses, start to dim the lights around the house. Bright artificial lights will prevent melatonin release so avoid switching on the Hollywood lights around the mirror just before you go to bed.

The average small business owner puts in a longer day than the average employee. The fall out from this is that many people who own their own business are worn out, tired and live in a constant state of jet lag. Is the solution better time management? I think not! Time management has been around forever and has not solved this problem. The new revolution in workplace performance is “Energy management”. Personal energy levels are emerging as the new currency in the workplace. People need to consider what are they doing to amplify how much energy they carry into their business. Low energy levels cause us to unproductive, uncreative, overly emotional, difficult to deal with and have low tolerance for customers and staff. Here are 3 simple tips to maximise your energy levels that won't turn your lifestyle upside down.

1. Manage your glucose levels.

One of the things that impacts on our energy levels is the amount of glucose that we have in our blood. The reason for this is that our brain’s exist on glucose and nothing else. Our brain makes up about 2% of our body weight however consumes more than 20% of the glucose that we ingest. The problem with this is that our glucose levels fluctuate during the day, in particular we see a slight drop at 11am and a huge drop at 3pm. How often do you get tired at 3pm? When our glucose levels are low we feel tired, cant focus, and generally our productivity stinks. When our glucose levels are high we are erratic, impulsive and often make mistakes. Obviously we are aiming for stable and steady glucose levels. Two things will help you to achieve this:

Eating every 4 hours
Having low GI foods

A classic trait of time poor busy people is that they are too busy to eat. When we skip meals our glucose levels begin to fall, therefore it is crucial to have regular meals during the day to stabilise our energy. Research tells us that eating approximately every 4 hours is an effective way to stabilise your glucose levels. This means that if you have breakfast at 7am, the next time you eat is 11am, then again at 3pm and finally at 7pm. What you notice is that this encourages you to have two lunches. Two lunches are you insaine!!! Yes two lunches. The return on this investment will be huge, and you will get back the time you spend eating back in productivity, ten fold over. Schools are now starting to get on this band wagon and they are starting to bring lunch forward to 11am. What they are finding is that their ability to focus and learn is far greater, and this is being reflected in improved test scores.

The next thing to look at is what you consume at these times. Often when we hit the 3pm slump we think “I need a sugar hit”. So we inhale a can of coke, and enough lollies to sink the titanic. When all this sugar hits your blood stream your glucose levels sky rocket, your energy levels go through the roof however it doesn’t last because insulin is secreted into your blood and it takes all the glucose out of your blood, and your glucose levels crash.

Your meals in the day should be low Glycemic Index (GI). What is GI, it is the rate at which food that goes in your mouth becomes glucose in your blood. The slower the better. Examples of low GI meals is;

Fruit smoothies.
Chicken salad sandwich.
Muesli and yoghurt.
Beef salad.

2. Ease off regularly during the day.

When we work hard during the day we get stressed and our body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Prolonged exposure to these chemicals has a negative effect on our energy levels; they wear us out and leave us feeling tired and lethargic. Stress is a sure fire way to kill your energy levels. So how can we control it? One mistake people make in stress management is that they put off relaxing to a time when they can take a lot of time out. For example most people work themselves to death thinking its ok “I have a holiday in 4 weeks I will relax then”. What happens when they go on the holiday? They spend the first 5 days of the holiday sick in bed. We don’t need to put off relaxation with the belief that we need large amounts of time to relax. Small moments of relaxation are just as effective as large breaks. So how do we do this? During the day allow for small moments of relaxation, we can relax in an instant. One of the easiest ways to do this is by slowing down our breathing. When we slow our breathing down our physiology shifts to a more relaxed state. Take opportunities in your day to sit still for 5 minutes, slow your breathing down and relax. It will put your brain and body in a better state.

3. Negative emotion.

Negative emotions like fear, frustration, resentment, worry and sadness kill your energy levels. If you want proof just think of the last time you went through a relationship break up, how much energy did you have around that time? One of the most important things you can do for your energy levels is to reduce the amount of your day that you spend in negative emotion. How do we do this?

One of the easiest ways to avoid negative emotion is to maintain a sense of perspective about what is important. So often during the day little things get us off course and we slip into negative emotion. Someone drives too slow in traffic and we drop our bundle, start to get angry yell and scream and spend the next 30 minutes thinking “how could they do this to me”. This lack of emotional intelligence leads to a large amount of stress hormones cursing though our veins, that suck the energy out of our bodies. Do you really want to be that flippant with your energy levels? Start to be ruthless with your energy levels and don’t waste them on small insignificant events that happen in our day. So build a bridge get over it and get back into positive emotion.

Ninety five percent of new years resolutions are never achieved, why are we so terrible at sticking to goals?

In a way achieving goals goes against our natural biological drivers. Our natural program is to avoid and move away from things that cause us stress and discomfort. Unfortunately most types of change and the majority of goals require a certain level of stress and discomfort. Studies have shown that the most common emotions people feel during the goal achievement process are frustration, anxiety, fear, boredom and apathy.

Therefore we have to realise that altering any habit or achieving any goal flies in the face of our normal biological desires and behaviour. Put another way its not going to be easy!! This statement is supported by research, which indicates that 85% of all goals set are never achieved.

The following research is taken from the PhD work of Dr Stephanie Burns an absolute guru in the area of goal achievement. It’s broken up into theory and strategies.

Theory is the background to goal achievement and will help you have a greater understanding of how change comes about. Action items are things you can practically do to increase your chances of sticking to a goal.

Theory
1. The amount of time you have to dedicate to a goal has nothing to do with your chance of achieving it. You can wipe someone’s day completely so they are free and this will not improve their chance of achieving that goal.

2. Having a high level of self-esteem does not improve your chance of sticking to a goal. A lot of people who have high self esteem often talk about all the grand things they will do, but don’t do them. The only thing self esteem affected was the size of the goal, the greater your self worth the grander the goal you set.

3. The main determinant of goal achievement was frequent and consistent action.

4. When people stopped taking action towards their goal they rationalised it by making up a story around why they couldn’t do it. Most of the time they said it was not their fault. They said things like, “I am just not an exercise type person”, “the family is more important and I really need to be there for them”, When analysed their stories were inaccurate and delusional. Also often people who stoped taking action towards their goal, said that they were merely putting it off and would get back to it later, which they never did.

5. When they compared themselves to other people who kept working towards their goal, those that quit perceived those that kept going as having a much easier time of it. They saw the other person’s goal as being easier, or their life as being better than theirs, or that the other person liked their goal more than them. None of these things were true. In fact those that stuck to their goals were as challenged, bored, frustrated with their goals as those that quit. They just didn’t see those things as a reason to quit.
 
Actions
1. Just start! Research shows that once we start the activity, momentum tends to make us keep going. For example to get people to exercise researchers got them just to walk for 10 minutes a day, however once they were out and exercising they continued to walk much longer than 10 minutes.

2. Don’t think too much! People that didn’t achieve their goals tended to think about it a lot. For example say their goal was to go to the gym, those that didn’t get there would sit on the lounge and debate over and over again in their heads if they should go or not. Finally they ran out of time and couldn’t go. Those people that did achieve their goal didn’t analyse it too much, when it came time to do their chosen activity, they just did it rather than thinking about doing it. In a way their heads were quieter.

3. Most goals are abandoned after 3 weeks. One key to achieving goals is to sustain the action long enough to see a result.

4. Consider the little stuff. When people set a goal they only thought about the outcome they will get at the end of it. For example if it was to lose weight they fantasised about how good they will look when they achieve their goal. Unfortunately they have not thought about all the little steps they needed to take along the way and all the little challenges they will have in order to get their goal. For example many people who had the goal to get fit stopped that goal because it was a pain to drive to the gym or they couldn’t get parking near by. It was the little things that they did not even consider that derailed their goal.

5. Create tension in your environment. Often children stick to new hobbies or sports because they have a lot of tension in their environment to make them keep going. Tension from parents, coaches, fellow students and teachers. All these sources of tension keep them accountable. Announce your goals to people and set up tension in your environment to keep you accountable to your goals.

Life is getting faster and faster and shows no signs of slowing down. Individuals and companies are being asked to do more with less time and resources. To be successful in this new world we need to adapt to our new environment by speeding up. In the 21st century businesses or people that slow down will get left behind and made obsolete. Also in this comoditised and competitive world staying on the cutting edge is vital. Businesses need to out create, out innovate and out market their competition. The key to staying on the cutting edge is greater and sustained performance.

The bad news is that business owners and employees are not working any where near their performance potential with Hewitt’s reporting that less than 50% of us are engaged. This lack of engagement is often due to fatigue and burn out.

When we feel tired and burnt out we often say “I need work life balance”.

80% of Australians believe that it is more difficult to achieve work life balance and they are right. We are working more and more and filling our out of work time with more and more responsibilities. Our preoccupation with being busy has even changed the way we greet people. A typical greeting is “Hi, how you doing, keeping busy?”.

Charles Handy described the business environment in the 21st century by the following formula:

½ x 2 = 3

The translation means half the number of workers doing twice the amount of work expected to get three times the result.

Let’s get real here this is the reality of our situation. Balance is possible however we are not willing to compromise on the things that will give us balance. So unless you are willing to move to Nimbin don’t expect to be enjoying balance any time soon.

Yet there is no shortage of people out there who tell us that this allusive balanced life is possible. They are usually speakers and authors with big teeth and an orange tan and they tell us that we can have the perfect life and all we need to achieve it is to enroll in their work life balance course that goes for 4 months every night of the week for 4 hours.

Work life balance is dead, dead, dead, dead and it doesn’t look like there will be a resurrection any time soon.
What’s the solution? How do we avoid burnout in this time poor world?

One thing that leads very quickly to burn out and fatigue is trying to work an entire day without a break. This practice is the norm now with meal breaks a distant memory. Not only is this physically impossible it also dramatically reduces our productivity. Two Harvard researchers Robert Yerkes and John Dobson examined how to structure a working day in order to avoid burn out and stay productive.

When we focus and work hard our body gets stressed. This is a good thing as our brain releases adrenaline and cortisol which stimulates brain activity and improves performance. However this only works up to a point, after prolonged exposure to these stress hormones we reach our “productivity peak”. Following this peak the brain starts to become fatigued, we loose focus and the high levels of stress hormones start to damage our brain. An example of this is in practice is when you are in a meeting that goes for over an hour and we find ourselves daydreaming and thinking about our weekend.

The productivity research shows that when we get to this point (approximately after 60 to 90 minutes of hard work) it is important to take a short break and relax. An ideal situation is doing five to ten minutes of a relaxing activity where the mind is no longer focusing on work. To do this you don’t need to get out the meditation cushion and your incense candles. All you need to do is sit and relax for 5 minutes focusing on breathing slowly and deeply, then get up and walk around for a couple of minutes. This is an obtainable goal as it is only 5 minutes, anything more would be unrealistic in this time poor society.

Relaxing at the point of our “productivity peak” stops the production of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) and produces nitric oxide instead which stimulates the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine. These chemicals make us feel better and improve our ability to focus and think clearly.

In effect what you are doing is working your brain hard then relaxing it to restore your brain chemistry and get the two hemispheres of your brain communicating. This is not about budging during your day, its about working hard and dropping out briefly to prepare yourself for the next period of intense focus.

It’s similar to exercising hard resting for a short period of time, resting and then exercising again.

What will stop us doing this is our fixation on how much time we spend at work rather than how effective we are at work. Are you time driven or performance driven?

By working hard and taking your brain to the height of potential and then suddenly relaxing it, it is possible to get greater performance out of it during your day and greater performance means we get more done in less time and only then can we have more time for ourselves.

Prior to the Global Financial Crisis we saw a shift in workforce dynamics. Historically the power was always with the employer. You were considered lucky to have a job and you did everything you could to keep it. Then we moved into a new millennium where demand was greater than supply. Power shifted to the employee and good candidates (even bad ones) could pick and choose from a selection of jobs.

As crazy as it sounds, when the “Global Financial Crisis” hit, employers breathed a collective sigh of relief, surely now the power would shift back to them?

So, has that really happened?

Recruitment firm Hudson have just published a report that indicates leaders are approaching this economic shift all wrong. Here are some highlighted challenges we are now facing.

Problem 1: A drop in engagement.
Half of all employees surveyed said that morale in their teams had plummeted since the financial crisis. In contrast only 26% of employers thought there was a reduction in employee engagement.

Clearly this shows that employers are out of touch with their staff and their attitudes. This is devastating for the company as organisations live and die by the engagement of their workforce.

Companies with a high level of engaged staff report 2.6 times more growth in earnings per share, have 12% higher customer advocacy, 18% higher productivity, 51% less inventory shrinkage, 51% less employee turn over and 65% less accidents in the work place as compared to companies with a low level of engagement.

Problem 2: The relationship has become complacent.
32% of employees thought that management no longer saw a need to reward or recognise them, because they were lucky to have a job!

It screams of a lack of empathy and understanding of their workforce. Also indicates that many managers are reverting to a 1950’s attitude of leadership where leadership is “put your head down, shut your mouth and don’t rock the boat or I will get someone else to do your job”.

Problem 3: Fear is keeping them from leaving.
Those who said they were working harder and were more motivated to get their work done since the GFC cited the driving reason as fear of job security. One thing we know about people is that fear is only a short-term driver and eventually leads to disengagement and contempt.

Problem 4: They wont stick around when the good times return!
In the past the average annual employee turnover within companies was around 25%, this year that has dropped to 15%. So how long will this last? Not long, because 47% of employees indicated that they were actively seeking a new role.

Many experts are saying that when the job market does turn around (and it will) there will be a flood of people leaving companies they felt gave them a hard time during the downturn.

Companies that got it wrong in the GFC will spend the next couple of years lining the coffers of recruitment companies rather than enjoying the opportunities that come with an upswing in the economy.

I am already hearing stories of companies who have been asked to reinstate the people they had sacked – because the overseas branch (out of touch with the local economy) reacted too zealously to the bad news and cut too many jobs.

How do we fix it? Research by The Gallup Management Journal indicates that there are four main areas to address to improve engagement in a difficult economy.

Leadership and Direction
Communicate, communicate, communicate! Keep your work force informed of the company’s situation and market movements.
Be Transparent – Be open about the decisions made and the reasons why.
Get middle managers on board – if middle managers are supportive of the executive it goes a long way to improving engagement.
Work structure
Ask your work force for innovation. I was recently working for a company who needed to save 6 million from a department so the overseas head of the company wanted to slash jobs. Luckily, an innovative mind in Australia put it to the department and within a week they came up with a plan to save in excess of this without one job lost.
Outline must win battles – in difficult times leaders must outline which priorities are critical.
Keep your head up as well as down – show your team how their efforts fit into an overall strategy for the company.
Capability
Keep training them – When people are under pressure and are fearful it is key to keep sharpening their skills to cope with this pressure
Give them feedback – outline what they are doing well and what they need to improve.
Talk to them about their career progression and identify opportunities for them.
Reward
In a flat economy it can be hard to reward your staff with money- start to think more broadly about how else can you reward them.
Thank them. It sounds so simple its offensive but very few companies and managers simply thank their staff for a job well done.