Avoiding Memory Biases: How the Right Questions Can Lead to Unbiased Self-Discovery
Imagine this scenario: You witness a car accident and are called to testify in court. The judge asks, "How fast was the car going when it passed the red building on Main Street?" Yet, there's no red building on Main Street. Research suggests that most people would confidently state the car passed a red building, even though it wasn't there. This is due to a phenomenon called reconstructive memory.
Coaching for Clarity, Not Confirmation
Human memory isn't like a video camera; it rebuilds memories based on personal interpretations and existing belief systems. We store information in a way that makes sense to us, often fitting it into pre-existing mental frameworks called schemas. These schemas help us predict the world around us, but they can also distort unfamiliar or unexpected information. Studies by Bartlett (1932), Loftus (1987), and Rubin (1977) all point to how individuals reconstruct memories to align with their personal beliefs.
This raises a crucial point for coaches: Our clients' memories are shaped by their unique experiences, beliefs, and interpretations. So, how can we navigate this to facilitate effective coaching?
The Art of Open-Ended Questions
As coaches, we rely heavily on open-ended questions. These questions encourage clients to explore their experiences and perspectives in detail, fostering self-discovery and critical thinking. Here are some examples:
By asking open-ended questions, we avoid leading the client towards specific answers or interpretations. We empower them to share their unique narratives without the risk of influencing their memory reconstruction.
Being Mindful of Biases
Beyond using open-ended questions, coaches also need to be aware of their own biases and assumptions. We may unconsciously interpret a client's words or silences in a certain way. Here's how to maintain objectivity:
Active listening: Pay close attention to what the client is saying, both verbally and nonverbally.
Paraphrasing and reflecting: Restate what you hear the client say to ensure understanding.
Avoiding judgment: Create a safe space for exploration without judgment or criticism.
Unveiling the True Story Together
By utilizing open-ended questions and remaining mindful of memory biases, coaches can create a space for clients to explore their experiences authentically. This collaborative approach allows us to work with the client's reconstructed memories, not against them, ultimately helping them gain valuable insights and navigate future challenges.
Ready to explore the power of open-ended questions in your coaching practice? Let's connect!
References
Bartlett, F.C. (1932). Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Loftus, E.F., Loftus, G.R., & Messo, J. (1987). Some facts about weapon focus. Law and Human Behavior, 11, 55-62.
Rubin, D. C. (1977). Very long-term memory for prose and verse, Journal of Verbal learning and Verbal Behavior, 16, 611-621.
An Unforgettable Challenge: Conquering the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Our five-week exploration of New Zealand's stunning scenery, delicious wines, and friendly people culminated in a challenging yet rewarding experience: conquering the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
Eager to tackle this bucket-list adventure, we booked this world-renowned, one-day trek, a year in advance. The Tongariro National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a paradise for nature lovers. I have now seen its volcanic mountains, emerald lakes, and dramatic landscapes. No wonder the Crossing is a bucket-list experience!
On that day, our group of 10 trekkers were all geared up and ready, but as luck would have it, the weather gods had mischievous plans. The day turned into a wet, grueling challenge that pushed us all to our limits.
Pushing through the elements
The 20-kilometer trek proved to be both physically demanding and unpredictable. We battled persistent rain, steep, relentless climbs, and icy winds for most of the eight-hour journey. Our initial confidence in our waterproof gear quickly dissolved, and by the time we reached the summit, we were all thoroughly soaked and miserable.
There were moments when all I wanted to do was curl up in a warm shelter (which, unfortunately or maybe fortunately, does not exist on the Crossing). Yet, the camaraderie of our group kept us going. We slowed down for those who struggled, cheered each other on, and shared stories that brought laughter in the face of adversity.
One particular moment highlighted the importance of teamwork. A fellow hiker, who wasn't a fan of climbing, but aced the descents, took the lead on the downhill, and without a doubt helped us avoid a few missteps. Similarly, others who thrived on the ascent provided support at the back when climbing.
We remembered that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and that by working together, we can achieve amazing things.
Our group, a diverse mix of ages, nationalities, and fitness levels, truly discovered the power of collective determination.
It was not what we had expected, or what anyone would have signed up for in their right mind. The 8-hour trek was undeniably tough. There were times when I questioned my sanity, but the will to finish and the breathtaking glimpses of scenery between rain showers spurred us forward. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we reached the end, utterly spent, but exhilarated.
As we sipped hot chocolate, (which has never tasted so good!) I realized the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was more than just a hike. It was a journey of self-discovery, resilience, and the power of human connection. We learned to embrace challenges. We discovered the magic of teamwork, and appreciated the unique strengths each person brings to the table. Most importantly, we learned that even the most uncomfortable moments can be incredible adventures when shared with a great group.
This experience left me with renewed energy and also some key takeaways that can be applied at work, as well as in personal situations:
Embrace the challenge. There will be moments of doubt and discomfort, but pushing through them can be incredibly rewarding.
Teamwork makes the dream work. A supportive group can make even the toughest adventure more enjoyable.
Everyone has something to offer. Recognize and appreciate the strengths of others, as well as yours.
Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. You might surprise yourself with what you can achieve.
The Art of Reading the Room: A Crucial Communication Skill
Be it in social or business situations, or even in a coaching process, the ability to ‘read the room’ is an essential skill. It refers to understanding the unspoken dynamics and emotions of a group, or an individual through nonverbal cues. In social situations, by being attuned to these subtle signals, we can become more effective communicators and navigate interactions more smoothly. As leaders, we can create a more positive, productive, and collaborative work environment. As coaches, we are more likely to create transformative experiences for our clients.
‘Reading the room’ helps to:
- Increase engagement by tailoring communication, content, and tone based on the audience's body language and energy. We will keep our audience interested.
- Build rapport and trust by responding to the emotional undercurrents of a situation. It helps demonstrate empathy and foster connection, leading to more positive interactions.
We could also use the "mirroring" technique to build rapport. People like to talk to people who are similar to themselves.
Ultimately, "reading the room" empowers the messenger to build trust and strengthen relationships.
How to Develop This Vital Skill
Practice Active Listening: Pay close attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues, and truly listen to understand, not just to respond.
Embrace Silence: Allow space for processing thoughts and emotions, and avoid overtalking.
Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage elaboration and deeper exploration.
Be Mindful of Biases: Be aware of your assumptions and strive for objectivity.
The ability to ‘read the room’ is a cornerstone of successful communication. It goes beyond simply listening to the words being spoken and delves into the realm of understanding the underlying emotions, attitudes, and dynamics at play in a particular situation.
Overall, ‘reading the room’ is a valuable skill that enhances our ability to connect with others, navigate social situations effectively, and build stronger, more meaningful relationships.
Keeping it Human in the Age of Algorithms: An HR Perspective
Forget the robots taking over. As an HR leader, I see AI as a transformative tool to empower our workforce, not replace it. In fact, I believe it's our responsibility to unlock this potential and secure a competitive edge in the coming era.
Here's how we can build a future-proof workforce that thrives with AI:
1. Upskilling for Impact: We move beyond technical skills and foster critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. These uniquely human traits will power effective collaboration with AI, not make them obsolete.
2. Reimagining Roles, Not Just Skills: Automation frees us from routine tasks, unlocking opportunities for higher-level thinking, problem-solving, and strategic innovation. We reskill our workforce to seize these opportunities and become drivers of change.
3. Human-Centered AI Integration: It's not just about deployment, it's about thoughtful integration. Transparency is key: we explain how AI is used and its impact, actively encourage feedback, and address concerns. Trust and understanding are the foundation for a smooth transition.
4. Celebrating Individuality: AI thrives on uniformity, but our people are diverse. We promote flexible work arrangements, personalized career paths, and recognizing individual strengths. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work for our unique workforce, and neither should our AI strategy.
5. Building Connected Teams: Technology connects, but it can also isolate. We foster meaningful interactions and strong team cultures. In-person collaboration, social events, and opportunities for relationship building are crucial for a thriving, engaged workforce.
6. Leading by Example: HR teams champion human-centered values. We lead with empathy, active listening, and a commitment to employee well-being. This sets the tone for a company culture where technology empowers, not dehumanizes.
The future is not humans vs. machines, but humans and machines working together. By prioritizing the human element and embracing AI strategically, we unlock a future where technology fuels our workforce, not replaces it. This human-centric approach is the key to sustainable success and a competitive edge.
Ready to unleash the full potential of your human capital in the age of AI? Let's connect and explore how.
Lessons from the Wild: A Namibian Road Trip Story
I recently returned from a 2.5-week road trip to Namibia, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. With its stunning red sand dunes, rugged coastline, and diverse wildlife, Namibia offers an unforgettable experience. But it's more than just a pretty place. It's also a place where we can learn valuable lessons about life and business from the wild animals that call it home.
Lesson 1: We are all part of the animal kingdom.
While driving through Etosha National Park, we came across an elephant crossing the road. We stopped to watch as this magnificent creature ambled by, its massive tusks swaying gently. It was a humbling reminder that we are all part of the animal kingdom, and that we should respect all creatures, great and small.
Lesson 2: Time is relative.
In the Western world, we are obsessed with time. We constantly check our watches and rush from one task to the next. But in Namibia, people learn to go with the flow. They know that time is not something to be controlled, but rather something to be embraced.
This lesson is especially relevant to the business world. We often try to force our plans through, even when they're not working. But sometimes, the best thing to do is to take a step back, reassess the situation, and make a new plan.
Lesson 3: Strategy is key.
One day, we saw a leopard trying to hunt an oryx. The leopard is a solitary animal, so it has to be very strategic in its hunting. It watched the oryx for a long time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. But in the end, it decided that the oryx was too big and too dangerous. So it changed its strategy and went after a smaller animal.
In business, it's important to have a strategy. But it's also important to be flexible and adaptable. If your plan isn't working, don't be afraid to change it.
Lesson 4: Know your strengths and weaknesses.
The guinea fowl is a common bird in Namibia. It has wings, but it chooses to walk fast. This makes it vulnerable to predators, but it also allows it to conserve energy and travel long distances.
The guinea fowl teaches us that it's important to know our strengths and weaknesses. We should focus on our strengths and use them to our advantage. But we should also be aware of our weaknesses and take steps to mitigate them.
Lesson 5: This one is for me: Use your wings more often.
The final lesson I learned from the road trip in Namibia is this: I need to use my wings more often, I am not a guinea fowl after all. The whole trip was scary at the beginning as it was an unknown territory but the end result was priceless.
If you have talents and abilities, don't be afraid to use them. Don't let fear or self-doubt hold you back. Take risks and pursue your dreams.
Having the Courage to be Authentic
I had been carrying Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown around with me for months. I would take it on the train to London, to coffee shops, and on planes. Every time I started to read it; I would put it down after a few pages. It wasn't because I didn't have time. It was me. Something was stopping me. It was as if I didn't want to dive deep into emotions.
Finally, last Sunday, I had the courage to pick it up and finish it on Monday. It is a wonderful book. As a coach, it helps you to understand the dynamics of different emotions. I took a lot from the book, but the one thing that stayed with me is the chapter on love and belonging.
In the last few months, I had been working with a group of people in a volunteer organization. We had a lot in common, such as coming from similar educational backgrounds and having lived in the same city for a while. Despite all this, I felt like an outsider. I never felt connected to the group, and I tried to change myself to fit in. I thought this was being agile. But no matter what I did, I couldn't feel like I belonged. My head was pounding, and I was feeling stressed every time I dealt with the group, and I couldn't figure out why.
And then, on that fateful Sunday, I found the answer in Brené Brown's chapter on love and belonging. "Authenticity is a requirement for belonging, fitting in is a threat." When I read that sentence, I realized that I wasn't being true to myself and was working very hard to fit in to be accepted by the group. I must admit this took me by surprise! I was a leadership coach, and I was talking about awareness and authentic leadership on every platform. Yet here I was reading a book on emotions and having a light bulb moment about my own emotions and behaviours. This realization was so liberating. I felt free of all the "self-induced obstacles" in relation to this group.
I knew all along that authenticity is essential for connection. When we're authentic, we're able to be our true selves and connect with others on a deeper level. We can share our thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment, and we can build relationships that are based on trust and respect.
I also knew it's not always easy to be authentic, but it's worth it. When we're authentic, we live our lives with integrity and courage. We're not afraid to be ourselves, and we're not afraid to stand up for what we believe in.
We all want to be loved and belong to a group or a person. But the trade-off sometimes might be very expensive, and you might try to fit in rather than being your authentic self. All we need is to have the courage to be ourselves. Thank you, Brené Brown for reminding me this! If you haven't yet read the book, I strongly recommend it.
Company Culture - KAIZEN
I have just come back from a month-long holiday in Japan. It has been an epic journey into the heart of Japan. We learnt so much about the history, art, culture and people of Japan and the more we learned the more we were fascinated by the country. Those who know me, know that we like hiking and everywhere we go we find great hiking routes. Japan was not an exception and we hiked in many different places where the nature was at its best.
It will not come to you as a surprise when I say, as a social psychologist, as an organisational development and cultural diversity expert that I love observing people and culture. My first observation about Japan is that It is an insanely clean country. Everywhere, every corner of the country is pristine clean. It is also a wonderfully organised country. And when you realise that you do not get surprised by its cleanliness.
Japan, the whole country, they live in KAZIEN. As you all know, Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous improvement. It is a Japanese business philosophy that concerns the processes that continuously improve operations and involve all employees. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process. “
As consultants we all have been working with business process improvements for ages for a long time and all of us are familiar with the concept. We have all witnessed success of the companies that practised KAIZEN as well as failures. Big failures. The most common reason for the failure has always been the company culture.
Well, Japan is living and breathing KAIZEN. Trains are running like a clockwork with almost no delays. People everywhere, be it in a restaurant or at the train station or airport, do their best. Even if what you have asked for it is not within their rules or processes, they go that extra mile to make you happy. Everywhere in the country when you give money to the cashier, they all hold it the same way!
Kaizen involves five key principles: know your customer, let it flow, go to gemba (or the real place), empower people and be transparent. I can tell you that I experienced all these in Japan.
I know the world is changing, and KAIZEN may seem like a term from the past. But company culture is not! It is our reality that we live in and work hard to change company culture to get better business and people results. Once the company culture starts supporting the values and the goals of the business, all the pieces of the puzzle come together.
Mata aimashoo = See you later
Psychological Safety: How Safe is Your Organisation?
Although psychological safety has entered the literature almost half a century ago, its impact on teams and companies has been more researched in recent years. (Baer and Frese, 2003; Schaubroeck et al., 2011, Frazier et al., 2017). But there is no doubt that it was Project Aristotle that put it at the center of teams and workplace literature. To recap, Google in 2015 did a study, Project Aristotle, among its teams and found out its successful teams have 5 elements in common: psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact of work.
Psychological Safety is defined as a shared belief that people feel safe about the interpersonal risks that arise concerning their behaviors in a team context (Edmondson, 2018). it’s a shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not reject or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or providing feedback.
By all means, it doesn’t mean that everybody is nice to each other all the time at the office. But it means that people feel free to “think out loud”, openly challenge each other and work through conflicts together — knowing that it is safe to do so.
A research done by Loignon and Wormington (2022) with nearly 300 leaders, it was found that teams with high degrees of psychological safety reported higher levels of performance and lower levels of interpersonal conflict.
However, according to a research result by Ipsos (2012), only 47% of employees across the world described that their workplaces are psychologically safe and healthy. If psychological safety is important for the team and organisational performance then it seems there needs a lot to be done on that front. Another research done recently, 2019, by Gallup shows similar results with just 3 out of 10 employees strongly agreed that their opinions count at work.
So how do we create a psychologically safe environment at work? According to Timothy Clark (2020) there are four stages of psychological safety:
Stage 1 — Inclusion Safety
It is a basic human need to connect and belong. Organisations , first need to create inclusion safety where people feel they are accepted as they are.
Stage 2 — Learner Safety
At this stage, people feel safe to learn and grow. In this stage, people feel safe to ask questions, give and receive feedback, and make mistakes.
Stage 3 — Contributor Safety
People feel safe using their skills and abilities to make meaningful contributions.
Stage 4 — Challenger Safety
People feel safe speaking up and challenging the status quo.
Creating a psychologically safe environment at work is a challenge for leaders and especially senior leadership teams. It is the leaders’ role to support the culture of a psychologically safe environment but they also need to create that safety for the senior leadership team.
Just look at the 4 stages above and honestly answer the question: where is your organisation at those stages? And where is your team?
References:
Baer, M., and Frese, M. (2003). Innovation is not enough: climates for initiative and psychological safety, process innovations, and firm performance. J. Organ. Behav. 24, 45–68. doi: 10.1002/job.179
Clark, T. (2020). The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation. Berrett-Koehler Publishers ISBN:9781523087709, 1523087706
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Frazier, M. L., Fainshmidt, S., Klinger, R. L., Pezeshkan, A., and Vracheva, V. (2017). Psychological safety: a meta-analytic review and extension. Pers. Psychol. 70, 113–165. doi: 10.1111/peps.12183
Gallup (2019) https://www.gallup.com/workplace/247361/change-culture-listen-best-people.aspx (accessed January 17, 2023).
Google (2015). Five Keys to A Successful Google Team. Available online at https:// rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team (accessed November 17, 2015).
Ipsos (2012). Half (47%) of Global Employees Agree Their Workplace is Psychologically Safe and Healthy: Three in Ten (27%) Say Not. Available online at: https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/half-47-global-employees-agree[1]their-workplace-psychologically-safe-and-healthy-three-ten-27-say (accessed January 17, 2023).
Loignon, A. and Wormington, S. (2022). Psychologically Safe for Some, but Not All? The Downsides of Assuming Shared Psychological Safety among Senior Leadership Teams. Center for Creative leadership
Schaubroeck, J., Lam, S. S. K., and Peng, A. C. (2011). Cognition-based and affect[1]based trust as mediators of leader behavior influences on team performance. J. Appl. Psychol. 96, 863–871. doi: 10.1037/a0022625
HR Priorities in 2023: What are Yours?
According to research (Barentsen and Kok, 2017), we are in one of the fastest-changing times in history. So, how are HR colleagues responding to this change in 2023?
In a few surveys conducted at the end of 2022, hundreds of HR leaders across many countries were asked about their priorities in 2023.
Now hybrid work is in the picture and the debate for remote work is out, HR and companies are facing bigger challenges as the world go through high inflation, rise in energy prices, and scarcity of talent due to changing trends in the employee market.
Whilst HR leaders are going to continue juggling between balancing talent management and costs, and between business needs and employee needs, they will need to deal with more demands from the employees such as more flexibility, more emphasis on employee well-being and the individual being at the center of the business. This is a job for the leaders in any business across the board and not only for HR. Therefore, the need for more leadership effectiveness is more than ever!
For leading in this rapidly changing environment and responding the needs of the employees the effective leaders have to adapt by
- Creating an open environment that accepts diverse perspectives, values, discovery, and experimentation.
- Translate new information into differentiating capabilities by conducting iterative dialogues that create new ideas (Ramachandran, 2021).
By doing so, the leaders will be able to focus on people as individuals, mentor and coach them, help their learning needs and create a safe environment where people feel respected and can exchange ideas based on trust by embracing equality and diversity. This would create a dynamic relationship between all stakeholders, employees, customers, investors, shareholders and will improve the performance of the business.
Therefore, developing leadership and management effectiveness is the top priority for HR in 2023 in order to respond to both business and employee needs.
However, 1/4th of the HR leaders says their leadership development programs are not supporting the leaders for the future of the company.
In order for the leaders to be more effective and perform better with tangible results, they need to be supported. They need to be mentored or coached to improve their performance which will directly have an impact on the companies’ performance.
What are your HR priorities in 2023?
References:
Barentsen, J., &Kok, J. (2017). Leadership, (super) diversity and identity construction. Increasing diversity: loss of control or adaptive identity construction
Gartner (2023) Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders
Ramachandran, R. (2021). Leading in a VUCA World. Journal of Business Management, January.
The Growing Gap Between Higher Education and Job Market
Recently I have been heavily involved in a mentoring programme for university students. The program has 4 folds and one of them is to support the university students in defining their future career.
Based on current patterns of graduation, more than half of young adults in OECD countries are expected to enter a bachelor’s degree, and almost a quarter are expected to enter a master’s degree or equivalent programme over their lifetime. Higher education trains graduates up to doctoral level. Countries with a higher percentage of doctorate holders in the population tend to exhibit higher rates or R&D intensity and innovation.
Whilst higher education is getting more expensive, the number of institutions providing higher education is also increasing. It is becoming more of a global market as students are willing to move to another country for a better education. The medium of education is English in most cases. The higher education industry is growing but it seems that the connection between the higher education and the employment market is getting weakened.
Despite all these developments, the Employers are relying less on a college education: the number of jobs requiring an undergraduate degree dropped by 45% in the US in the first year of the pandemic. Companies are also trying alternate educational pathways to employment, such as certificate programs on specific skills.
Universities and higher educational institutions need to work on this gap but for the time being mentoring and coaching students at the university is becoming more challenging as the link between their education and the market is not a direct one anymore. Therefore, students might need some more skills in up in their sleeves to be ready for the job market.
For more information pls see https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/11/new-educational-institution-higher-education-model-for-the-future/
Creating a Successful and Innovative Organisational Culture - 3 Simple Elements
I have been leading a project seeking views from over 100 successful international experts in human resources and leadership. You will hear more about the project in the second quarter of next year. I will keep you posted.
What I want to talk about in this article is what these experts, who have spent a lifetime managing multinational companies, reminded me about creating company culture: Make it Simple!
It is indeed, so simple to create a company culture where people feel safe, engaged, and innovative. I know there are thousands of books, blogs and articles on company culture. When I typed company culture on google search it came up with 1,470,000,000 results within 52 seconds! So, one might argue everything in the world that could be said about company culture has already been said! One might be right! However, it is not what you say but how you structure it that is important, isn’t it?
According to Frances Frei and Anne Morris at Harvard Business Review:
“Culture guides discretionary behaviour and it picks up where the employee handbook leaves off. Culture tells us how to respond to an unprecedented service request. It tells us whether to risk telling our bosses about our new ideas, and whether to surface or hide problems. Employees make hundreds of decisions on their own every day, and culture is our guide. Culture tells us what to do when the CEO isn’t in the room, which is, of course, most of the time.”
It is with that culture comes engagement which itself brings productivity and results in innovation. The more engaged people are, the more involved they are and the more “free” and innovative they can be. It is obvious that disengaged people will not be innovative! We all know that innovation is at the heart of every business and so are the employees. Or so, they should be!
How can we have a culture that is engaging people and supports them to be innovative then? Here are the 3 simple elements of great culture:
1- Communication: I can’t emphasize enough how important communication is in creating a culture of success. Communication may mean a lot of different things to different people but my simple view is basically clear guidelines, listening to people rather than dictating to them what to do, being honest and fair, respecting people, and building trust and transparency. You might add many other things into this mix. But the truth of the matter is people do not need much guidance in communicating with each other. So, I always recommend to my clients to keep it simple and straight to the point.
2- Agility: In today’s world an organisation needs to be agile to be successful. It also needs to be inclusive of all the different cultures within itself. Therefore, diversity, respecting differences, valuing the differences, and adapting to changing environments are the key elements for an organisation to be agile. If the culture of the organisation is agile, then that organisation will not have serious risks in facing the challenges of the changing environment. If all the members of the organisation, regardless of their ethnicity, where they are based, and what they do, feel they are included, they are respected, and represented, then they will feel more engaged and help the organisation to be more agile. One size does not fit everyone! Agility is an important asset for an organisation.
3- Leadership: There is no way to create a well-communicative and agile culture without leadership, a good one! People like to imitate their leaders. Leaders who live by the values and walk the talk will build trust. As we all know this is an important part of communication. People will follow the leaders whom they trust and believe. If the leader is inclusive, the people feel they are respected. If the leader values diversity and encourages people to think laterally and “outside of the box”, then people will be more innovative.
As you can see, creating a corporate culture that results in innovation and success is not rocket science! It is just a simple matter of talking to people, trusting them and helping them to trust you, being agile to their needs as well as customers’ needs, being inclusive, and walking the talk. That is how I help my clients in changing their organisational culture. As they say, less is more!
When talking and thinking about organisational culture, let’s never forget what Peter Drucker said about it: Culture eats strategy for breakfast!
Most Adaptable Ones Bring Success -Case Study
Almost 2 years ago, I was approached by a large engineering company to help them with their overseas recruitment and appointments. What they basically wanted me to do was to set out the recruitment process and help them with the interviews to identify the best people within their company to be sent on an overseas assignment. They had their own very successful interview process but they found it failing them in identifying the best internal candidate(s) for the overseas roles. In their last few appointments, either the candidates did not like the assignment or they were not a good fit to the role or the local clients did not like them. There had been a few cases where the families did not like the new country they moved to as well. So, having spent so much money in investing in those people and even coming close to losing clients, the company decided to work with me.
The first thing I did was to review their recruitment process which was working perfectly in most cases but not so with overseas assignments. In order to make recommendations on the process, I talked to the managers, i.e. hiring/ interviewing managers, HR managers. I read the job descriptions. Interestingly, none of the job descriptions mentioned specific requirements for the client management skills or cross-cultural awareness for those specific overseas roles.
Even more interesting than the job descriptions was the differences between the expectations of the current managers of the employees, the hiring managers and HR in the interview process. The current managers’ view point was mostly shaped around the employees’ performance and knowledge of the subject matter. Therefore, they often used the opportunity of the new overseas job opening as a promotion or fast track to the top roles for the employee and hence the recommendation. The hiring/interviewing managers wanted also someone who is a subject matter expert and who can start as soon as possible so that the financial loss would be minimum and they would have a happy client. Time is money, after all! HR was in between the job descriptions, hiring managers and all others involved, trying to manage the process and fill the vacancy within the SLA criteria.
Within all these complexities, no one thought about the employee/candidate being the right one for a cross-cultural experience. Therefore, I introduced several tests to understand the candidates’ cross-cultural awareness in the process. I also introduced a few mandatory questions to be asked in the interview, all about cross-cultural awareness. The reason was so simple: the best engineer in the world might not be the best person to live and work abroad.
Before, we started the interview process, I also trained all the parties involved on cross-cultural awareness and what kind of thinking and behaviours they should be looking for.
The company embraced this process and we started the interviews. Despite, the new process and new criteria to identify the candidate internally, we came across candidates who were high performers and fitted all the business criteria other than the cross-cultural awareness. However, thanks to the new process, we also had different candidates, who were “just good” at their jobs but who were much better in cross-cultural awareness than some of the best performers.
At the end of the interview process we had 2 candidates who were highly thought of by the hiring managers and HR. As I was getting ready for the next step of our project, which was coaching the candidate they were going to choose, due to the strategic nature of position, higher level management had to be involved in the decision making and we were told that an earlier candidate who was a top performer but we had not short listed due to improvement needs on cross-cultural awareness, was going to be given the job!
You can imagine, everyone involved in the project was disappointed to say the least! I prepared my report on the reasons why choosing him would not be a good idea, taking into account the culture he was going to be working in and his attitude towards relationships, leadership, power distance. The list goes on and on. Almost before, I was on the train home, the candidate was on his way to manage clients and projects in Japan.
Exactly, 13 months later, the company approached me for another project and while we were discussing the details HR Manager told me that superstar of the UK who was sent to the overseas assignment with high expectations, unfortunately could not make his new business a success. He made clients upset and caused issues among the locally employed staff. Long story, short, he was kindly asked to leave the company!
The company has not only lost time and money on this specific placement but they also lost one their most talented high performers!
Moral of the story: Not the best performers but the most adaptable ones bring success in overseas assignments!
Should you like to know more about cross-cultural awareness consultancy and coaching, please contact me on hande.binns@yournextsteps.co.uk
Future of Employment: It is time for HR to step in?
Since the publication of a book The Future of Employment by Dr Carl Frey and Dr Michael Osborne from Oxford University in 2013, the issue has been debated at different platforms, especially by management consultants and economists but it seems infrequently by HR Professionals.
Frey and Osman predicted that 47% of jobs will disappear by 2030. These jobs either will be extinct or will be performed by robots. A more recent study from PwC makes a prediction that the nature of some occupations will change rather than the jobs disappear. Whether some jobs will disappear or not, one thing is for sure that we as humans will need to share our jobs with robots or in some cases lose them
Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Robots (automation) are the answer to productivity issues that have been on the table since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Automation is the cheapest way to improve productivity which is highly valued by shareholders and the capitalist system. Technology (automation) reduces accidents, saves time, maybe results in less mistakes and of course helps to maximize the profit! It will have a huge impact on our current systems around employment, retirement, tax and social care, more than we can imagine!
Due to the increasing amount of automation, indisputably unemployment will increase. As the journalist and author of PostCapitalism: A Guide to Our Future, Paul Mason stated the future of work will soon become “the survival of the most adaptable”. Those who can adapt to the new ways of doing work due to automation will be able to survive. People will need to learn additional skills and use them simultaneously within different roles. This will require more training programs from the companies. Universities will need to review the content of their courses to givea wider range of skills to the future employees. Meanwhile companies will think about what kind of a skill they need rather than a specific role and where and how they can find that skill and for how long? As you can see, the whole structure of employment as we know, as of today, will change.
Unfortunately, not everyone will be employable despite the efforts. Therefore, society will face unprecedented unemployment rates. Our society, one that is already aging and already struggling with changing dynamics of aging, such as high life expectancy, will need to rethink how to support pensioners and unemployed as well as younger generations. How is our precious NHS going to be supported with loss of tax revenue due to employment of robots?
As HR professionals, it is our job and ethical responsibility to help our employers and fellow colleagues to draw a road map on how to cope with all these changes almost on our doorsteps. We need to put automation at the top of the HR agenda not for productivity purposes but for the future of employment. We all know that that there is no job for life any more but with automation the life span of that job is going to reduce drastically.
We, as HR professionals, need to work with governments to create different skilled jobs and champion different remuneration structures for multi-skilled employees working on different time schedules and periods. We also need to drive the discussion of the loss of tax revenue due to “robot employees” and how to support governments to earn tax revenue on robots so that the social welfare system could be sustained to a certain level. I think it is time for HR professionals to step into this unknown area of future employment and drive the agenda at the macro level.
Despite the challenges, there are many reasons to be optimistic and one of them is that we make and program the robots! And that means we can control and manage the change that will happen!
I would like to hear your views on how HR should drive the agenda on the future of employment and the co-existence of human employees and Artificial Intelligence.
Get Me Out of This Place!
A client of mine has moved to a different country 9 months ago. She had been head hunted by one of the government agencies in a fast-developing country in the Middle East. She is a very clever and competent lady with excellent professional skills. She has spent her last 25 years in her area of expertise as a leading consultant. When the opportunity arrived, she took it with a great enthusiasm. It was an opportunity of life time as she was going to be able to make a huge contribution in setting up and implementing the strategy for that country to be the number one in the world in her area of expertise. Although she was very enthusiastic she was not blinded by the opportunity and financial benefits that came with it. She was aware there were cultural differences and although she has been at the top of her profession, she has never worked abroad. Therefore, she reached out to me and asked me to coach her in her first three months of this cross-cultural journey.
The first few weeks, she was happy. More than happy, I think, she was excited and enthusiastic. She had every reason to be. The weather was great and sunny, the culture was new and exotic, food was excellent. She was meeting new people from all over the world and everyone at work were very friendly. I call this honeymoon phase. This is the phase where people live in the clouds and think all is great. She was even thinking to cut our agreement short as she did not think she needed any support in adapting herself to this new environment. Four weeks into her new life, she emailed me and she asked for a session immediately. After few emails we managed to find some time in our diaries and we had an “unplanned” session. She was visibly in distress, shaking her legs, biting her lips, talking about an upset stomach etc. She talked about things being difficult at work such as people not listening to what she suggests or asking her to proof read their documents rather than working on the strategy as her job description and contract required. She was having difficulty in understanding all these things happening around her and she was literally shocked. Her employer also told her that they are making some amendments to her contract and none of them was for her benefit. This was totally against her professional understanding, her culture where business ethics were different. The result was headaches, anger, resentment, homesickness and sleepless nights. She was feeling like nothing but a failure. Suddenly that wonderful country she moved to 4 weeks ago turned out to be a giant prison for her, in her mind! She did not believe anything would be resolved and all she could think of was to go back to the UK. All she was saying was : Get me out of this place! I must admit that she had made some mistakes before arriving in the country such as signing the employment contract of another country without consulting a lawyer or someone who can help. But put this and a few other things aside, that once clever and self- assured woman was crumbling in front of my eyes. This was an important stage for her and for our coaching sessions. I call this stage shock phase.
It is in this stage some people give up and decide to go back to their home countries. It is in this stage people experience the most change in their lives. They suddenly realize it is not a holiday anymore! It is for real! It is in this stage people realize their life is changing for good and change itself is scary. To get over all the fear of change, I often refer to the Kubler-Ross Change Curve with my clients. The Kubler-Ross Change Curve, which is also known as the 5 stages of change, is a model consisting of the various levels or stages of emotions which are experienced by a person who is soon going to approach change or is going through change. The 5 stages included in this model are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. When my client called me, and insisted to have a session, she was at the anger stage.
Throughout our sessions, we worked through the stages and she finally reached the point where she found herself happily living in her new life and contributing to the strategy of that government office as she had promised to do. She made new friends, joined some social groups and learned more about the local culture. This is the cultural adaptation phase.
So, should you be planning to move abroad, work abroad or should you be managing a multicultural workforce, it will always be advisable to get some cross-cultural coaching. A simple hint: make sure the offer you have received from abroad is reviewed by a cross-cultural expert!!
Should you like to know more about how I can help you, please get in touch with me at hande.binns@yournextsteps.co.uk
Cross-Cultural Leadership in the Global World
In the early 1960s when Marshall McLuhan introduced the concept of “Global Village” no one really understood what it meant to humanity until the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century. Today, the term globalization is most closely associated with the term economic globalization: the integration of national economies into the international economy through reduction of barriers to international trade and through international division of labor.
Large or small, local or global, all the firms are facing with a different challenge than in the past as workforce demographics are changing as a result of many factors:
1. decreasing population growth in industrialized countries
2. increasing life expectancy in industrialized countries (By 2050, one fifth of the world’s population will be aged 60 or older)
3. mobilization due to changing economics
In the next 20 years, availability of skilled workers will not be balanced by the in-country need. Some countries such as India, Philippines, Mexico, and Vietnam will have a surplus while others such as US, UK, Japan, and Russia will suffer significant deficits. All this demographic turbulence means that industries around the world will have to find new sources of labour and many countries will need to get used to working with workers from different nationalities and from different cultural backgrounds.
Technology on the other hand is developing very fast and enabling people to communicate with almost no time and space boundaries. It has been one of the key drivers of globalization.
As a result of all these factors, today’s world is more competitive than ever. It is almost impossible for companies to stay local and be successful in the long term. Expatriate or international assignments have been rising and companies need skills to be successful in the global context such as adaptability to different cultures.
The most effective way to cope with this changing world and increasing competition is to work with leaders who can effectively and efficiently work across different cultures, who can build trust and influence people from different backgrounds. However, those leaders, unfortunately, do not grow in the trees!
Companies need to define their requirements very clearly and then invest/hire the right people to create their very own cross-cultural leaders.
In my Cross-Cultural Leadership in the Global World Training Programme, I help/support companies to have a competitive edge by simply creating cultural awareness, discussing and assessing Cultural Intelligence (CQ), and improving skills in cross-cultural leadership.
The framework of my training programmes is:
· Self-awareness
· Cross-Cultural awareness/CQ
· Communication skills
· Cross-Cultural leadership skills
Within this framework, attendees:
understand the benefits of understanding the cultural differences
experience how understanding herself can help the person work with other people from different backgrounds
learn different communication styles, understand the difficulties of using English as a medium of communication, learn to overcome prejudices, deal with misunderstandings, learn to manage conflict
learn about cross-cultural leadership styles
Embrace diversity and recognise its role in innovative problem solving
For more information- hande.binns@hkbconsltancy.co.uk
How Culturally Intelligent is Your Business?
We are all familiar with HSBC’s slogan of the world’s local bank. It is a reflection of how important it is to understand the local environment while you are still being a part of the global world.
In today’s world one of the skills that people should acquire is the ability to adapt to different cultures and manage interconnections. Similarly, organisations have to adapt to globalization and have people with the right skills to cope with the constantly changing global environment. Globalization is an intertwined relationship between the local and the global, the so called local being the environment in which people create flexible transnational as well as trans-cultural communities (Bauman 1998, Giddens 1991).
Today companies are striving to become truly global and they try to acquire specific knowledge for individual and organizational goal achievement in culturally mixed settings and be able to handle “glocal” encounters. This requires a different set of skills from the employees such as interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds and being able to adapt to working with and in different cultures.
As the world gets more global and so do the businesses, we need to acknowledge that the unfamiliar experiences created are unknown to us. Thus, Cultural Intelligence - the ability to create an impact across different cultures - is required in order to make sense of the unknown differences. Intercultural success is more reliant on Cultural Intelligence than any other forms of intelligence such as IQ and EQ.
A company’s level of adaptiveness to the different cultures and therefore its success is directly linked to its people’s cultural intelligence. Therefore, starting from the recruitment process, companies need to adapt different techniques to hire/appoint the person. Then comes the orientation programme. People with any managerial or leadership role would agree with me that having the right person in the right place is vital.
I personally experienced how cultural intelligence can be vital as an HRD working for many multi-national companies on 3 continents. I witnessed people being sent on overseas assignments by the HQs based on their technical skills or the skills that are relevant to their home countries. Sadly, they often failed in their roles by not being able to adapt to different cultures, different styles of doing business……Even having different weekends. That resulted in losing business, losing people, losing market share, losing clients and inevitably losing money. Therefore businesses need to have culturally intelligent strategies in entering overseas markets and more importantly they need to have culturally intelligent people to make the “unknown”, familiar!
In my next post, I will discuss how to embed cultural intelligence into a recruitment process especially for overseas assignments.
Bauman, Z. (1998) Liquid Modernity. London, Sage
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
High Performance Culture: What Team GB’s Olympic Success Reminds the Business World About Executive Coaching?
Great Britain is celebrating its most successful Olympic Games ever in Rio 2016, with a total of 67 medals, nearly 130 medalists, across 19 sports, their best since 1908!. Now, everyone is asking the same question: What has been the secret of Team GB’s Olympic success?
It was only 20 years ago, at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, GB finished in 36th position, their lowest ever and behind New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ireland and winning only one gold medal.
This prompted a fundamental question: how could they do things differently in order to be a winning team?
First of all, they started putting clear goals, ambitions and targets. It was obvious that they would only go upwards and this message was made clear to all sporting parties. Step 1 in creating high performance culture: Creating a clear, shared vision!
Next step was reviewing the resources: Both people and financial resources. The biggest impact of the results of 1996 Atlanta Olympics was on the way GB funds its Olympic sports. In 1997, there came the use of National Lottery funding whichhas changed the face of British sport. It played a huge part in driving the agenda in creating a high performance culture. With the money coming from the National Lottery, it has been possible for athletes to train full-time.
The money also supported the strategy on finding the best coaches, introducing better training schedules, diet, medical support and bringing expert advice from all over the world. Step 2: Reviewing the resources that would support you in creating high performance culture!
Then there came an action plan with strict measurements of performance. The National Lottery funding helped UK Sport introduce the World Class Performance Programme in 1997. With all the support from both financial and people side of the sporting world, there is now an expectation to succeed as failure results in funding cuts. A prime example of this is British gymnastics team as they achieved their 4 medals target at London 2012, they were awarded with a 36% increase in the funding which resulted with their first gold medal ever in Rio 2016. Step 3: Set clear performance targets, give more support to those who achieve the targets and give them more challenges. Review the reasons behind the failures and do not be afraid of making difficult decisions.
This programme of World Class Performance also monitors the risk of people most likely to be targeted to join another country, and a succession plan for our best coaches, scientists and medics. Thinking long term is behind the success of Team GB. Step 4: Put a succession plan in place!
Creating the enviable team spirit was an important factor behind Team GB’s success, if not the most. Being able to give people a long-term future creates the huge sense of belonging. People really want to be part of this success. Step 5: Create the team spirit.
And finally, when Team GB returned from Rio yesterday, they were greeted by the whole nation. They were all over the TV, radios and newspapers and they will be for a while. And in October, in Manchester the whole country will come together to celebrate their great success together with the Paralympics Team. Step 6: Celebrate your success!
Thanks to Team GB , it is becoming more clear to the business world that the path to high performance in Olympics is identical to the one in business. The term coaching has been in use in sports far before it has been used in business and there is a reason for that: People in sports have been focusing on high performance more than the people in business until recently. When the competition got tougher, business world have started looking for better ways of performing and this is where executive coaching has been providing expert support to create high performance teams. Through its systematic approach, executive coaching helps the executives to develop insight, self-confidence, skills to cope with the challenging world and ability to make difficult decisions.
In order to make those coaching efforts impactful, businesses need to make right decisions as to whom they would support through executive coaching like Team GB does. Executive coaching can help businesses in making those decisions. Sometimes, those decisions might be difficult or tough to make but one thing is sure making the investment in the right people pays off! High performance culture is possible!
What is stopping you to reach your potential?
We all have a tendency toward self-actualisition. That is, it is in our nature to reach our potential. However, we bump up against family norms, society norms, expectations from significant others, education system and many other imposed standards. We all learn how to love ourselves, when to love ourselves, conditions to love ourselves and we all assimilate those into our self-concept. In this “process”, we end up “being conditioned” to respond the experiences based on those standards and not on the basis of enhancing ourselves to reach our potential. Yet, we continue accumulating the wisdom that is needed for self-actualisation. As a result, the tension tarts building up between the inner force to reach our potential and external inputs, i.e.
It is however, possible to reach our potential, live the life we want to live. Simply because we are already born with the capacity to reach our potential. All we need is to have the right conditions in the present and our urge to reach our potential will start coming out to the light and we will gradually overcome the obstacles in front of our potential.
The foremost important condition is self-compassion. It is extending compassion to one's self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering. Or it is called “unconditional positive regard” by Carl Rogers. Or it is called “unconditional self acceptance” by Albert Ellis.
Several studies have shown that treating oneself with compassion when faced with challenges and suffering improves resilience and well-being. In addition, studies found strong association between self-compassion and happiness, optimism and emotional intelligence.
Although we innatelyhave compassion in all of us for others as well as for ourselves, it seems that during the “process” we start being more and more compassionate our others than ourselves. There is nothing wrong to be compassionate to others and it is really important to be empathic and compassionate to others. But, there is nothing wrong to be compassionate to ourselves either.
It looks like throughout the “process”, we become more judgmental towards ourselves, more isolated and overly identified with mental or emotional suffering. No wonder, why we are not able to reach to our potential. We tend not to have an unconditional positive self-regard.
So, in order to reach to our potential and have a fulfilling life, we need to replace the conditions that causes lack of compassion for ourselves. As we have learned all those behaviours, we can unlearn them too! This starts to be in environments that treats us with unconditional regard. Hard to find, I know but coaching provides such an environment.
When you find yourself self-judgmental, try to think howyou would treat someone in your position. We are more compassionate to others, remember!
Remember that you are not the only one who is going through the experience. It is a human experience that sometimes we fail.
I know it is easier to say than practicing the love for yourself. But I am afraid that is the only way to start reaching your potential and have/do/be whatever you want to in your life. You are worth it!
For more information on self-compassion, please visit my website:www.hkbconsultancy.co.uk
What makes a good relationship? .... Values!
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
Mahatma Gandhi
In my previous article “What makes a happy life?”, I talked about the longitudinal study of over 75 years on “What makes a good life” and the findings that a good relationship makes us happy and feel good.
In this article I would like to take a step further and discuss more about how can we have good quality relationships so that we feel fulfilled?
Despite the thousands of books on how to have a fulfilled relationship and life, fulfilment is still a personal experience and definition of fulfilment is also very personal. Having a fulfilled life by all means does not mean a life without struggle. People can be fulfilled even when there is struggle. Fulfilment is about who the person is becoming, it is about being fully alive.
The values that people hold play a critical role in having a fulfilled life. Like having a fulfilled life, everyone talks about values. Politicians promote them, companies engrave them, parents transmit them, and our environment shapes them. So what exactly are values? How do we portray our values? What happens when we have a life where we don’t live by our values?
Leonard et al (1997) defined values as those qualities, interests or aspects of life which have continuously drawn or attracted people since childhood. Values are "who we are.” When we honour our values, there is a feeling of harmony. Values are like finger prints. They are products of our unique experiences, knowledge, feelings, preferences, etc. Our individual sense of values determines what we consider meaningful and important. If we are not clear about what is important for us, then we will have a difficulty in making decisions.
As the world is constantly changing and people need to adjust to new situations, problems and opportunities, they might “choose” to tolerate these and compromise their values. This creates dissonance, tension, unhappiness and more importantly an unfulfilled life.
So, the key determinant of the quality of a relationship is how much both parties can live by their values when in the relationship. And this relationship could be between you and your partner or you and the company you work for or between you and your boss!
Within this context, how many of us is living a fulfilling live, having a good quality relationship? Above all how many of us is really, truly aware of what their values are?
Let’s discuss how value clarification would help us, in my next post.
Leonard, T. J., Talley, L. and Coach, U, Inc. (1997). The Dictionary. Available at: www.coachville.com
Unchain Your Courage
Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.
John Wooden
It is not surprising that the quote I used as an introduction is from a very famous basketball coach! John Wooden, as head coach at UCLA, won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including a record seven in a row. He was nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood”.
Many people I coach want to be either wizards or to have a magic wand to do or get what they want and become who they want to be. All the self-development books and experts repeatedly state the same thing: You don’t need to be a wizard to change your life or be who you are! You really do not need a magic wand!
There is no formula to change your life or totally transform it! But it is a good idea to start from letting go off the past!
As a coach, I usually spend the first few sessions listening to my clients tell me who they really are, how much they want to be themselves, what they want to be and the obstacles in front of them. 80% of the time those obstacles are from the past experiences and believe me most of them have no relevance for today or the future. But it seems like some of us like to hold on to the past and don’t want to let it go.
What happens when people hold on to the past? Well, to start with they miss the opportunity to live in the present and plan for a wonderful future. But perhaps the biggest challenge they face is the memories of the past in similar situations which they use for their decisions/choices for today.
Those people who are “stuck” in the past tend to focus on their duties and obligations and therefore they miss their immediate situation. They always experience tension between their present situation/thoughts/actions and commitments made in previous situations. They tend to be ritualistic. They like to hold on to habits as things from the past to inject in to their “present”.
Not surprisingly, they do not like new experiences. They do not seem to appreciate the new ways of doing familiar things. They are afraid of new. They are afraid of taking risks. So, they get stuck with their past.
Being stuck in the past is one of the most important factors that holds people back from living the life they want, being the person they are and transforming their lives. If you ever find yourself in this situation, ask yourself: This is similar to my past, so what are the odds of having the same results/experience a second time? Ask yourself if your assumption is correct?
Remember, it does not matter what your past is, who you were in the past. What matters is to have the courage of being who you are and letting gp of the past. What matters is to have the courage to brake the chain of your past. Unchain your courage! That is what matters.
And you do not need a magic wand. You have all the resources you need. You are a beautiful, smart, skillful human being with love in your heart. You can do it! You can choose love over fear or the shadows of the past.
I believe in you and your ability! You can take the first step in being who you really are by braking the chain with your past. Once you do that, you will see how liberating and fulfilling it is.
As Oscar Wilde once said Be yourself; everyone else is already taken!