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  • How compatible is your company motto with decisions that affect customer loyalty?

    Continuing the airline theme by taking a look at our own national airline in terms of the company motto and how poor decisions within the organisation affect customer loyalty.  As seen on the Ba.com website:

    “At British Airways our promise of ‘To Fly. To Serve’ embodies who we are and what we do. We want to ensure our promise extends beyond our everyday operation and that our commitment is one that lasts. To do that we have one overarching goal: Responsible Flying.”

    Taking this “promise” of “We fly to serve”, further, I have been flying one route for the last 20 years with BA at least 5-6 times per year, not to mention other flights to other destinations. I believe I have been a fairly loyal customer and I am qualified to comment on how this motto of “Fly to Serve” has changed in service delivery on this particular route, and how that has affected my loyalty.

    Today, on this flight, which is approximately 3.5 hours there have been several changes, all of which have occurred in the last 12-18 months:

    • From being served a hot meal, offered hot and cold drinks there is now no food, no drink or snack unless you want to buy it from the M&S menu.
    • The ticket price has gone up considerably and for the last two flights on this same route, I took another airline. All be it not a direct flight, but the price was more than 50% less!  And I got a meal on one and a sandwich on the other together with a hot or cold drink of my choice.
    • Interest of the cabin crew has decreased considerably.  The last flight I was on the crew served the M&S food to those who wanted it and then sat at the back of the plane and talked loudly to each other for the rest of the flight.  I don’t want to hear what stewardesses do in their spare time with their children, husbands and dogs, or any other thing they want to discuss!
    • If I fly hand luggage only, I either have to pay extra to choose my seat when checking in 24-hours before or sit where my seat is allocated, hence having to listen to the cabin crew discussion!

    Further reflecting on “Fly to Serve”, I am encouraged to earn Avios points thus the more I earn, the more loyalty I am giving to the airline.  Fair enough, and a winner for both parties.   Using my earned points was, I believe, to be a reward to be able to use them on a future flight.  As this is a loyalty programme, why then am I penalized for being loyal?  I recently redeemed some of my Avios points for a long weekend in a European city.  Being only a long weekend, I don’t require much luggage, and therefore flying hand luggage is reasonable.  As usual I check in on line 24-hours before to do just that – check in and print my boarding pass making the whole experience easier for BA and myself as I self-organise for the flight.  To my surprise, using my points, I am again penalised as my option to choose my own seat, unless paying more has been removed.  Thus having to sit in the seat allocated.

    How does an organisation with the motto “We fly to serve” make such decisions that lead to giving with the right hand, which helps earn the airline revenue and loyalty, and then taking it away with the left?  Clearly these two policies are in conflict.  Where are the managers who are supposed to ensure a company provides consistent messages to its customers?  Messages that give the impression that customers are valued and we do care which is reasonable with such a company motto?

    What is the affect of these decisions?    As I have free will and the possibility to choose who I fly with, it is clear that most of us would prefer to fly with an airline that actually values its customers and serves them in the fullest sense of the word.  Where the experience on board is safe, friendly and efficient and the rules for one passenger in the same class are the same as for all passengers, whether travelling hand luggage or with hold baggage.   Most importantly, I am welcomed and rewarded for my loyalty.

    It is a shame that the motto is no longer delivering its promise due to poor managerial decision-making, but I guess we can be thankful that at least the “flying” part is still being delivered!

  • How Are Your Listening Skills?

    How Good Are Your Listening Skills?

    I like to listen.  I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.  Most people never listen.

    Ernest Hemmingway

    In order to manage the ever-increasing workload, our lives are focused to processing as much as possible in the shortest time,.  This is further compounded by social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, all of which demand time, and to which it is easy to become a “slave”.  How are these demands affecting your listening?  Look over the table below and remind yourself of the difference between poor and effective listening.

    Poor v. Effective Listening Behaviour

    The Poor Listener:

    Is distracted by work, other people, interrruptions, noises etc

    Body is oriented away from the speaker 

    Gives no feedback (facial responsiveness, or other appropriate response 

    Ignores speaker’s non verbal communication

    Interrupts and waits to speak 

    Jumps to conclusions – focuses on symptoms and quick fixes

    Takes criticism personally

    Blames others.  Becomes defensive about the organisation or self and is judgemental and punishing when someone complains 

    Blames the organisation.  Takes the side of the person complaining

    Is thrown by stressed-out behaviour of others, and may become stressed-out in turn, Often lacks control of the situation

    Judges others by opinions – prejudices, shuts down listening

    The Effective Listener:

    Focuses on the speaker and what is being said

    Body is oriented towards the speaker 

    Gives feedback and participates appropriately 

    Tunes into the speaker’s non verbal communication

    Occasionally reflects and clarifies.  Allows the other person to finish what they are saying 

    Is patient.  Sees complaints and negative criticism as opportunity for problem solving and learning.  Focuses on underlying causes

    Avoids taking criticism personally 

    Suspends judgement as to who is to “blame”.  Has attitude to focus and find solutions which is seen as being more important than judgement

    Doesn’t blame.  Seeks solutions, is proactive for the future, not seeking revenge for actions in the past

    Realises the other person must have had to “psych up” to make a complaint, and has respect.  Makes allowances for the other person’s behaviour while listening

    Suspends judgement on others – listens to what is being said, not who is saying it

    Listens with head and heart

    Skilled Listeners:

    • Pay attention – focus to the speaker
    • Indicate interest
    • Listen without judgement or prejudice
    • Observe and notice others’ body language and vocal usage
    • Ask questions to expand the other person’s thinking
    • Use the feedback loop to check understanding and show listening

  • How Sustainable is Your Human Resource Strategy?

    Recently I attended a webinar that was focused to helping make businesses sustainable which got me thinking about sustainability in deeper terms than usually addressed through our media and government. My question to the person leading this webinar was, “You have given a case study in this session which you are using to show good measures that this particular company is taking to become more sustainable. In the example, I was confused because as the company is focused to delivery service, they had switched all vans to electric. On the surface we can say that is a good step to take, but going deeper, are electric vehicles really sustainable? How is the electricity generated to charge those vehicles? The company that makes the batteries – are they operating a green, sustainable production? Where and who mines the lithium for those batteries? How much water does production take and so on? Perhaps I digress, as the essence of my question was “Please tell me what does it mean to be sustainable?” What is sustainability?

    Whilst I did not receive a direct answer to these questions, it was clear that we all have to start somewhere in this journey and if we can influence our suppliers to follow suit through buying choices, this can only be a good thing for all concerned, including our environment.

    Seldom do you hear someone in conversation connecting sustainability to human resources. Perhaps I have been sleeping, but it still seems that the emphasis on creating a sustainable workforce is very much on surface level, as perhaps other aspects of becoming a sustainable business are. We measure turnover (churn), sickness and absenteeism, accidents in the workplace, mental ill health and so on. If these issues were truly addressed through the lens of creating a sustainable workforce through effective, caring, nurturing organisation leadership, surely the results of measuring these things would show minimal impact on business productivity and ultimately profitability?

     The conclusion of an article in Science Direct titled, “Systematic literature review on sustainable human resource management” by Janaina Macke, Denise Genari stated “Beyond the triple bottom line concept, leadership plays a very important role in sustainable human resource management. A formal and clear leadership definition is, in fact, the most important element for the implementation of sustainability principles in human resource management”.

    Some organisations take the time to measure happiness, morale and wellbeing in the operation which is a very positive action and one that will be well received by employees if:

    1.    They are privy to the results, in other words results are transparent.

    2.    Actions are taken to change those issues that are not supporting positive morale, happiness, wellbeing and ultimately sustainability.

    3.    Measurement is carried out on a regular basis in order to track results of actions implemented and to track any changes, ultimately making updates to the initial plan as necessary.

     

    In an article by Ed Houghton, CIPD, he stated that “Sustainable HRM recognises performance outcomes, which are broader than financial outcomes (for example, by including environmental and social outcomes) and assumes that in working towards multiple goals there are likely to be contradictory outcomes that must be resolved. In addition to this, sustainable HRM creates and captures value over the longer term and recognises that to be truly sustainable HRM must be able to deal with the internal and external environment and the changing context in which the business is operating.” Surely this again links into the effectiveness and overall approach of leadership within the organisation?

    A few ideas of how I understand the concept of sustainable human resources:

     

    ·      Employees who stay with the company for a minimum of two years

    ·      A healthy track record of promoting from within into positions that are created due to company expansion or to fill gaps due to natural attrition

    ·      Employees who speak positively about the organisation in which they work

    ·      A willingness of employees to help others without being asked

    ·      Minimal absenteeism according to or lower than internal targets set

    ·      Minimal sickness whether physical, mental or emotional according to or lower than internal targets set

    ·      Orientation away from shareholder value to multi-stakeholder value

    ·      Leadership who has the employees’ best interests at heart while remaining focused to organisation goals

    ·      An environment of kindness and positive energy creating positive morale

    ·      Group problem solving and decision making

    ·   Focus to the positives of what was achieved and not the other way round in order to learn from and strengthen successes rather than only focusing towards mistakes and non-successes and what we need to do about them

    ·      Leadership that provides a strong positive example of what is expected, knows all employees by name and gets out and about into the operation. The “old” style of management by walking about.

     

    I am sure there are many more examples of what could be included into an organisation’s sustainable human resource strategy and approach. However, each one of these points has great depth to implement and get it right in order to result  not only in a strategy, but actual sustainable human resource management that really works.

    Why are sustainable human resources important? With the shortage of candidates in the marketplace, surely it makes sense to look after those you already have. Less time fighting fires, avoids costly time-consuming hiring processes, no need for onboarding training to bring employees up to speed, giving time to focus on developing employees in the roles they hold. This translates into increased loyalty, good company reputation and overall productivity. In fact, I don’t see any negatives in this approach. This is simply effective, caring leadership that is part of the overall organisation strategy and goals for becoming and being a sustainable organisation that serves multi stakeholders rather than shareholders only.

     

    References

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652618331056

    https://www.cipd.org/uk/views-and-insights/thought-leadership/the-world-of-work/sustainable-hr/

     

     

  • How to Take Responsibility of Your Life

    Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

    How does this phrase reflect what is meant by ‘taking responsibility’?

    As defined by the English Oxford dictionary, responsibility is:

    • The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. Example: “a true leader takes responsibility for their team and helps them achieve goals”.
    • The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something. Example “the group has claimed responsibility for the vandalism of …..”

    RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS RELATIONSHIPS

    By definition there is an understanding that responsibility lies with an individual or a group/team.  Responsibility whether you take it or not has a direct impact on relationships – can you be relied on to do what you say you will do, and therefore, is there trust in that relationship?

    Responsibility in one’s personal life is the same as in a business world, whoever you might be – husband, wife, mother, friend, subordinate, manager or leader.  Each one of these roles, and many others, encompasses the need to take responsibility for what you are doing, or what you have done. Firstly being answerable to yourself and secondly to others involved in the commitment to do something.

    HOW IS TAKING AND SHOWING RESPONSIBILITY MANIFESTED?

    We show our ability to take responsibility:

    • By doing what we say we will do.  Not only that, but by doing it by the agreed time.
    • By admitting we have made a mistake, if indeed that is the case, and not blaming someone or something for the mistake.  Being honest with yourself and admitting a mistake, means you can learn from it and move on. 

    Just because no one takes responsibility for the mistake does not mean the mistake did not happen.   Spending time and energy blaming someone else for the problem is counter-productive to empowering others as well as the end result.

    How to take responsibility of your life4 TIPS TO TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

    TIP 1.  DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO AND BY WHEN YOU SAY YOU WILL DO IT.

    What happens if you committed to doing something and unforeseen circumstances occur, meaning you will not be able to deliver as agreed?

    Of course, life throws curve balls at us on occasions, which lead to circumstances that we firstly did not seek, and secondly do not want.  Such circumstances are seldom the norm, and if you are a reliable, responsible person, this can be handled by explaining the situation and agreeing a “Plan B” once you know that you cannot deliver.  Do not delay, thus limiting the opportunity for the other party in finding an alternative solution in a timely manner.

    TIP 2.  TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR MISTAKES, RATHER THAN CASTING BLAME

    Considering responsibility from a leader’s perspective is no different to responsibility in our personal lives, with the exception that we are part of and therefore committed to a team, thus having responsibility to each and every team member.

    Responsible leaders develop trust through doing what they say they will do and taking the blame; by admitting your performance is the reason why the team has not succeeded, rather than looking for someone to blame.  An effective leader will take responsibility for the mistake and admit he or she did not prepare enough, give enough guidance, or support, etc…

    Leaders are the ones who have ultimate responsibility for decisions taken, whether right or wrong.  President Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office with  “The Buck Stops Here”.  This phrase refers to the fact that the President had to accept the ultimate responsibility for decisions taken in his team.

    TIP 3. EMPOWER YOUR TEAM TO SHARE THE RISKS & RESPONSIBILITIES

    Empowerment of people goes a little further by expanding on the notion of taking responsibility.  A leader who is able to create an empowerment culture within the team and the organisation, gives out responsibility and power.  “Empowerment is the creation of an organisational climate that releases the knowledge, experience and motivation that reside in people.” (Ken Blanchard, Leading at a Higher Level)

    Empowering subordinates is easier said than done for many reasons, including subordinates themselves misinterpreting the term “empowerment”, often mistaking it for freedom to work as they please whilst making decisions around their own job.  Empowerment requires direct reports to embrace the freedom and in doing so participate fully in sharing risks and responsibilities.  This commitment to increased responsibility to achieve full empowerment engages direct reports and gives them a sense of fulfillment, ultimately leading to greater organisation performance.

    Does empowering others to take responsibility really work?

    There are numerous organisation studies that demonstrate the benefits of empowerment including an increase in return on sales between companies that empower and companies that do not empower.  Edward E. Lawler III, Professor of Business at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, found the difference to be 10.3% versus 6.3% increase on return of sales.

    TIP 4. AS A DIRECT REPORT, COMMIT TO TAKING A FULL SHARE OF THE RISKS AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES.

    “In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape our ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are our own responsibility.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

     

    References:

    Oxford English Dictionary

    Leading at a Higher Level, Ken Blanchard

    Edward E. Lawler III, Professor of Business at the University of Southern California

    Originally published on Up Journey May 29 2019  https://upjourney.com/ways-to-take-responsibility-for-your-life 

     

    Rachel ShackletonRachel Shackleton is an entrepreneur who owns and manages Green Key Personal Development and Green Key Health. Working with local and multinational organisations, she is a public speaker and trainer in the spheres of leadership, communication and customer excellence. She ensures sustainable productivity and profitability through healthy self-management and leadership practices, ensuring a focused and successful workforce.

  • Ignoring Bad Leadership is Damaging your Business

    We have all had at least one experience of poor or bad leadership. I could add “unfortunately” at the end of that sentence? In most cases it is a learning lesson for the employee to avoid such leaders and their behaviour in the future. In other words, it teaches a very good lesson and makes us wiser in our future job searches and appointments. What about the organisation, is it unfortunate for them? The answer is most likely “yes” for the obvious reasons such as loss of good employees, poor morale that leads to low employee engagement, low productivity and ultimately increased sickness and absenteeism. The 2022 Gallup poll stated that “60% of employees are disengaged at a cost of US$8.8 trillion to business globally.” If that doesn’t make your ears prick up or hair stand on end, then I don’t know what will.

    What are the top-rated worst leadership behaviours according to a survey conducted by Bamboo HR of 1000 employees:

    Your boss takes credit for your work 63%
    Your boss doesn’t trust or empower you 62%
    Your boss doesn’t care if you are overworked 58%
    Your boss doesn’t advocate for you when it comes to compensation 57%
    Your boss hires and/or promotes the wrong people  56%
    Your boss doesn’t back you up when there is a dispute  55%
    Your boss doesn’t provide proper direction on assignment/roles  54%
    Your boss micromanages and doesn’t allow you freedom to work 53%
    Your boss focuses more on your weaknesses than strengths  53%
    Your boss doesn’t set clear expectations  52%

    On top of these reasons, Gallup together with Workhuman in a survey conducted in May 2023 established an extensive connection between employee recognition and wellbeing, finding that “employees who receive the right amount of recognition for the work they do suffer from lower burnout, enjoy improved daily emotions and stronger relations with their co-workers.”

    What does Gallup consider to be wellbeing? This is divided into different aspects of wellbeing:

    • Community
    • Social
    • Financial
    • Career
    • Physical

    I agree that wellbeing is not just physical, wellbeing is much more than that, infact it is holistic just as Gallup has highlighted. The way I explain wellbeing is physical (vitality, energy, strength) mental (clarity, cognition, concentration), emotional (resilience, inner balance, positivity, self-compassion), and spiritual (purpose, alignment, integrity). In the Gallup survey these different aspects of wellbeing, in turn are placed into three buckets:

    • Thriving Wellbeing – High wellbeing across most elements
    • Suffering Wellbeing – A mix of high, medium or low elements
    • Struggling Wellbeing – Low wellbeing across most elements

    What then is the link between leadership and thriving employee wellbeing? According to Gallup and Workhuman – it is what they term “Strategic Recognition”. This is the ability to use the technique of giving genuine recognition to all employees. To be strategic it needs to:

    1. Meet employee expectations. In other words, be given in a timely manner and for the work that the employee thinks deserves recognition.
    2. Be authentic and genuine and not something that is simply on a to do list to be done every day.
    3. Personalised – given fairly to all without showing favouritism.
    4. Equitable – taking the needs of each individual into consideration rather than a one size fits all.
    5. Is part of the organisation culture and is lived throughout the organisation by all in everything they do.

    The interesting point here is that giving recognition to an employee for doing a good job, costs nothing, there is no pay check attached, bonus or increase of some kind. It is a simple act of human, respect, gratitude and quiet celebration of an individual’s performance. The result when recognition is given authentically is an employee who feels valued for what they do, resulting in willingly doing more of the same. This in turn leads to increased engagement and productivity, less employees actively searching for a job and therefore increased retention, not forgetting the ultimate aim of decreasing sickness, both mental and physical, and absenteeism because employees thrive within the organisation culture.

    So what you might ask? A Harvard Business Review survey on the impact of poor leadership behaviours revealed that:

    • 48% of employees intentionally decreased their work effort.
    • 47% intentionally decreased the time spent at work.
    • 38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work.
    • 63% lost work time trying to avoid the offender.
    • 66% said that their performance declined.
    • 78% said that their commitment to the organization declined.
    • 25% admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers.

    Give me an example of any organisation leadership that would not want to turn employee performance around to stop damaging their business? I hope that all organisations would want to turn this around and create a thriving workforce who love what they do. This requires a change in leadership behaviour to those that embrace their employees and encourage top performance through strategic recognition. Does this mean that all employees perform well? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that a manager and leader should see this as requiring discipline, severe correction or even some kind of abuse. It is an opportunity to understand why and consequently turn the employee’s performance round to one of excellence. In my opinion there are no such thing as bad employees, only bad managers.

    What behaviours do managers and leaders need to increase? Start by giving genuine authentic feedback and strategic recognition. This means “managing by walking about”, a concept that I learned in my early 20’s. By doing this you become human and approachable, you also know your employees by name and see how they perform, at the rock face while experiencing their daily work lives and not just seeing their names on a report or computer screen.

    Not all managers and leaders have received appropriate training to know when and how to deliver feedback. Ask yourself: “What is the damage and cost to your business for not investing in your leaders to provide the necessary training in leadership and these vital skills?

    Start the leadership training today, let’s talk.

    References:

    https://www.workhuman.com/resources/reports-guides/from-thank-you-to-thriving-workhuman-gallup-report-emea/?utm

    https://newageleadership.com/poor-leadership-behaviors-its-collateral-damage/#:~:text=Poor%20leadership%20behaviors%20and%20bad,root%20cause%20%E2%80%93%20bad%20leadership%20behaviors.

  • In pursuit of perfectionism

    Perfect or perfection is often thrown about in the business world as a desired state.  This might be voiced as an exclamation – “Oh perfect!”, as a statement, related to a particular desired outcome – “That is almost perfect?”  Clearly from the last sentence we can see that something is missing, not aligned correctly, has a small flaw and therefore in some way it does not achieve the status of “perfect” or “perfection”.

    When looking into the dictionary at the definition of “perfect” and “perfection” we see:

    Perfect –  “Complete and correct in every way, of the best possible type or without fault”. (Cambridge English Dictionary).

    Perfection – “Quality of being, as good at it is possible for something of a particular kind to be”.  (Collins English Dictionary)

    How do we define if something is perfect or not?  Of course when talking about figures in terms of achieving targets and goals, it is clear, you either achieve that figure, therefore its perfect, or you do not – a state of not being perfect.  For other situations and for behaviour we create parameters for measuring the end result, which then matches or it does not match and therefore is perfect or not.  However, what about being a perfectionist?  Someone who strives for the perfect result, which they decide is the final result and whether in their own eyes is perfect.  “A person who wants everything to be perfect and demands the highest standards possible”. (Cambridge English Dictionary)

    When being a perfectionist or working for a boss who is a perfectionist, very often nothing is ever quite right, or good enough in some way, in other words it does not meet expectations.   Their expectations!  As a perfectionist how does this affect your life?  Very often you create your own stress around improving that result so that it becomes perfect.  The time “invested” in this last effort to create perfection, drains your resources through nervous energy, missing deadlines and being overly hard on yourself.  Not only do you suffer, but possibly so do those around you who have to wait while you achieve this perfection, have to deal with your emotional instability whilst you strive for that perfection and perhaps even try to negotiate you around to accepting what you have done is already “perfect” because it meets their expectations and the agreed parameters, or indeed the result is even better than they expected and they prefer the outcome, even though it is not exactly what was agreed according to those same parameters.

    On the other side is that fact that being a perfectionist means that you do not make mistakes, defined as “Atelophobia” (taken from Greek) or the fear (phobia) of being imperfect (atelo).  If you do not make mistakes, how and what can you learn because you are already perfect?

    Working for a boss who is a perfectionist can be demotivating, destabilising and frustrating, as nothing is ever good enough.  This means the feedback is always half-hearted at best, – “Well, I like what you have done so far.  If you just work on this bit in XYZ way, it will be perfect!” “You have produced something that is good, in order to improve on that, why don’t you change this and then it will be perfect?”, and so on.  I am sure these and other similar statements are familiar.  I am also sure that over time hearing such feedback undermines your confidence and motivation, because you realise that whatever you do, you will never get it quite right, and therefore why put in the effort?  Leaving you with a feeling of being undervalued.

    Performance, self assessment and stress are directly related.  Striving for perfection, does it change anything in the result and outcome, the investment of energy, analysis, action and so on?  How we assess ourselves is a reflection of self confidence, being a perfectionist is one of the quickest ways to undermine yourself and your self confidence.  Stress – pushing and pulling, putting in those extra hours to achieve that last tweak, that last re-model, re-work or other to achieve that level of perfection takes away from a balance of work to home life, sports, activities and friends, which can end up with self disappointment, beating yourself up for not being good enough, and potentially affecting your health through decreasing immunity to infections and viruses, stomach ulcers, and headaches, fatigue and perhaps in the worst case scenario even adrenal exhaustion.  Not to mention the fact that your family will suffer as will your friendships.  For what?  Knowing when you have achieved the goal and stopping there giving yourself the reward and satisfaction is key to self management and strong self confidence.

  • Have our Government forgotten how to Collaborate?

    With all the chaos in the world and the never ending devastating and horrifying news, I believe it is time to re-visit the importance of authentic leadership. Most of our world leaders, whether prime ministers, presidents or M.P’s seem hell bent on dividing nations globally as well as locally. It doesn’t take much to find the subjects that are being used to create this great divide whether we think about ULEZ (Ultra low emission zone) climate change, Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, covid or any other vaccination, limitation on freedom of speech etc, the list goes on. In this blog I don’t intend to go down the rabbit hole of why this might be, and why several governments seem to only have one goal in mind and that is the destruction of individuals, groups, countries, cities and nations, but rather focus on leadership and the key characteristic and skill that is needed to bring us all back together to be more accepting of each other irrelevant of how you identify yourself, what your beliefs and opinions are and what your nationality or religion might be. All this is irrelevant when we choose to come from a place of kindness, unconditional love and collaboration.

    What is collaboration? “Collaboration is a joint effort of multiple individuals or work groups to accomplish a task or project.” Within an organization, collaboration typically involves the ability of two or more people to view and contribute to documents, work processes and procedures, or other content through a structured and organised approach. In other words, if we don’t work together, companies will not function well, employees will be dissatisfied and unfulfilled, probably leaving for sunnier prospects due to day-to-day chaos caused by a lack of leadership that brings about collaboration and teamwork and encourages a win-win output by sitting down in a group to address issues whether that is conflict, things not going to plan, processes and procedures that are not fit for purpose and so on. Seldom if ever, in my multiple years of employment in front line and management positions have I experienced a lack of collaboration when a proactive leader has realised the need to increase communication and collaboration and therefore has encouraged this to happen through appropriate leadership.

    The next question might be; Do we need a leader to drive collaboration? Actually not, if we all make an individual decision to collaborate with others whether that is a work colleague, peer, boss or when we are out and about shopping, driving, eating and drinking, or on public transport. Every single one of us can decide through self-leadership to positively collaborate to get the issue in hand resolved or the task accomplished and in so doing will avoid the need to jump the queue, treat a fellow driver with contempt, the waiter with annoyance because things are not as fast as we think they should be or verbally attack the human who finally takes our call after several minutes of being asked by the robotic bot why we are calling, venting our frustration and annoyance at being reduced to sub-human.

    The bottom line – how can you improve collaboration and show small acts of kindness to others in your everyday life which not only makes their day, but also yours as you realise what this does for others and how you feel at being able to show that kindness and collaborate with them to achieve a particular outcome that works for both parties.

    Back to leadership and our leadership structures. In the workplace, and let’s face it government of a country is no different, just a large organisation that has a specific goal of serving the community that it governs for the best outcome for all and the nation as a whole. Examples of collaboration might include communication, conflict management and resolution, understanding through a willingness to listen, questioning to understand other points of view and problem solving in a team. It is similar to teamwork, however collaboration has no hierarchy, even though someone might be nominated to organise the collaborative process. In collaboration everyone is equal. Everyone has equal right to share their opinion and be listened to respectfully, challenge others about their opinion in a polite manner while communicating together for the common good to achieve the goal. Collaboration skills are vital for a company’s very existence as well as growth and development. Governments are no different.

    According to J. Ibeh Agbanyim in his book the “The Five Principles of Collaboration: Applying Trust, Respect, Willingness, Empowerment, and Effective Communication to Human Relationships is the foundation to effective collaboration.” When using these skills as a checklist it is not difficult to identify what is missing from our governments and world leaders today. Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” We seem to have come a long way from Churchill’s comment. I’m sure he wasn’t referring to what our world leaders are giving today, even though he served as Prime Minister during the second world war.

    Don’t sit back in your comfort zone and ignore what is going on, unless of course you are satisfied with your country’s leadership and the leadership in those unelected organisations that seek to control our lives such as the World Health Organisation, World Economic Forum and the like and the only people they are interested in collaborating with are themselves. We can all choose to collaborate with each other and show our fellow humans kindness and unconditional love. In other words, don’t wait for someone to lead you, lead yourself to a place where you want to be and encourage others to do the same. In this way as we each throw a pebble into the pool of water, soon that pool will become the ocean. An ocean of collaboration and kindness.

     

    “Extend a hand whether or not you know it shall be grasped.”

    – Ryunosuke Satoro, the Japanese father of short stories.

  • Great Leadership – Taking Difficult Decisions

    Teresa May quoted in a recent press conference on the reaction to the Brexit plan that has just been signed by all 27 member states – “Great leadership is not about taking the easy route, it is about making difficult decisions.”  Putting Brexit aside – I hear a sigh of relief?   This quote is at the heart of what effective leaders are faced with on a regular basis – that self questioning and draw of the easy route, which we all know rarely delivers, or taking that difficult decision which one knows will meet opposition, denial, ridicule and even refusal.

    Peter F. Drucker the management guru, once said, “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”

    Making that difficult decision takes courage to stand in the face of adversity and keep moving forward, despite your inner self reminding you that there is an easier route, which may leave you unscathed, (probably not in Theresa May’s case!), but completely dissatisfied with yourself.  In other words, not living your own truth.

    Currently in South Africa enjoying the beauty of the landscape, the birds and wild life, knowing that underneath all this is a very rocky and unstable government.  The new temporary president, Cyril Ramaphosa is walking the tight rope through the land reform, and the demands of the opposition who believe it is reasonable to take away and redistribute land from farmers who have bought and worked their land, in some cases for generations, to African communities in those areas, for no compensation. Ramaphosa has looked for common ground in the negotiations and has signed off on the land reform. However, with a caveat that land cannot simply be removed from farmers, there has to be a system to request the land and process that transition, with the goal of ensuring it stays productive in supplying food for the South African people.  Did Ramaphosa take the easy route, or that difficult decision?

    Mandala walked the tightrope throughout his life, bringing liberation to the people of South Africa.  He did not stop to blame those who created the apartheid regime, he simply kept his goal in mind and moved peacefully and assertively forward towards his goal, making those decisions that had to be made despite lack of support from many his own ANC members. Eventually it all paid off with the end of apartheid, with liberation for all and a new beginning for South Africa.  Did it take courage and dedication to live his vision?  Did he have to make difficult decisions? I believe there can be no more difficult a decision to take than committing yourself to life imprisonment to serve the greater good of your people.

    Being a leader takes courage, it takes courage to make the decisions that have to be made, knowing very often that it will not please many of your followers.  However, firstly taking a decision is important, and making that decision work through a plan of action, communicating that plan to others and keeping the ship on course to overcome barriers to change, whilst inspiring followers to embrace that change, bringing about something new, different and exceptional.

    What lies ahead for Theresa May, the British government and people is going to take great courage and leadership to drive forward on the decision to leave the EU, to keep “Britain Great” and move into a new history.

  • Game-Based E-Learning – Six Reasons to Include Games in Your Content

    The latest figures on attention span of most people is anywhere between 10 seconds and 2 minutes. How does this impact learning and development especially in relation to on-line e-Learning? Basically, what this means is that content needs to include a variety of activities to support content while capturing attention to lead to learning. Talking heads are no longer of interest nor cable of holding attention for long. Seeking more creative and interactive content, perhaps turning to Gamification is the answer.

    Here are 6 reasons why Gamification is not just a passing fad or trend and why it is here it is a strong candidate to grab and hold attention while bringing in creativity.

    1. A carrot instead of a stick

    When it all comes down to it, gamification is really about motivation. You can always motivate someone with the stick approach and the threat of failing. Or you can take the Swedish National Society for Road Safety’s carrot approach that applied gamification principles to road safety. Remarkably, they found a way to make it fun to drive below the speed limit by rewarding safe drivers with lottery tickets. 

    2. Not just fun and games  

    When a new concept is introduced to e-Learning, it’s only natural for people to try to make sense of what it means and to want to understand how it works. One misconception with gamification is that it means we are adding games to our e-Learning modules that detract from the main topic to be learnt.  

    Gamification does not have to involve games. In fact, some of the best uses of it so far have had no games whatsoever.  It is interactive learning with a goal. Now you’re probably thinking; ‘well quizzes do that already.’  What is different between traditional e-Learning quizzes and a gamified quiz is the competitive element.

     The principles of gamification are widely linked to Game Theory. Any non-mathematician who watched Russel Crowe’s a Beautiful mind knows Game Theory explains why we make the choices we do based on our perceived probability of success. 

     As you will recall, there were no games in that movie but the principles of gaming and game theory are somewhat linked by the desire to succeed. Gamification simply takes the best elements of games and applies them to learning to make it more engaging.  

    3. Competition is healthy 

    Quizzes are an essential building block of e-Learning courses. For the competitive animal, quizzes can be boring when you are only competing against yourself. Sure, you can earn bragging rights but who else will  really care that you answered 95% of the questions correctly other than someone who is taking the same course?  Here’s a lesson you don’t have to learn the hard way; bragging to people not taking the same course just doesn’t work and in fact it is a recipe for social disaster and dateless Saturdays! 

    This is why leader-boards make sense. Depending on the LMS you choose, you can set up leader-boards where all course participants can compete against each other.  You get to see who is on the top percentile and where you fall in comparison. It is this type of healthy competition that motivates a participant to do better and achieve great results. Studies show that 89% of participants would be more engaged in an e-Learning application if it had a point-system.

    Being mindful not to ostracise under performers, there should always be a button that asks participants if they would like their results to be published or not.

    4. Celebrate achievements  

    It’s always good practice to recognise anyone who is working hard and achieving good results. When e-Learning is gamified and a user performs well, they can be awarded with a badge or an endorsement that is linked with their profile. 

    Collecting badges motivates users to learn more and earn more. Let’s say you are teaching a communications course. You can use gamification to award badges along the way such as: good situational judgement, empathetic listener or communicator extraordinaire. These endorsements can then be used by the user to market themselves and their skills, creating a win-win situation.

    5. Make learning addictive

    When it’s gamified, the goal is to learn but the methods used are designed to motivate the user. One simple example of this that works incredibly well is vocabularly.com. I’m sure I’m not the only person who tried to read the dictionary when they were a kid thinking we would have a great vocabulary at the end. I don’t know about you, but I gave up just after aardvark (ˈärd-ˌvärk) when I realised how boring the dictionary was. 

     Along comes vocabularly.com and suddenly reading the dictionary becomes fun and highly addictive. Vocabulary.com often has amusing definitions, not as amusing as those of the dirty minded urban dictionary, but they are certainly funny enough to be memorable.  Now here comes the gamified part. You get to build a vocabulary list and the site generates a quiz or you can take one of their generic quizzes such as the top 1000 words and compete against users worldwide. The last I checked, the top of the leader-board was some guy in India who had an English vocabulary of 1,341,365 words. Thanks to gamification, the user is learning and for the first time ever, reading the dictionary is fun. 

    6. Boost Retention

    When done right, gamification makes learning fun rather than an onerous chore. Frank Farral, leader partner at Deloitte said: "If you can gamify the process, you are rewarding the behaviour and it's like a dopamine release in the brain. Humans like a game."

    Gamification encourages the user to experiment and discover what they think they need to learn. It puts them in the driver’s seat of learning. The science behind it is when they are having fun while learning, those ‘feel-good’ endorphins are released which make the user excited because they are achieving something. It is this excitement that makes them more motivated, it hooks and extends their attention  span and overall makes learning more memorable. 

    It is the precise point when they stop becoming passive observers and become active participants that the knowledge you need them to retain gets stored in their long-term memory, right where you want it.

    To sum it up

    Gamification is not a buzzword but a useful technique to engage your learners, motivate them, and boost retention of your content whether individual e-Learning, virtual training or face-to-face training in groups. 

    Take a look at Green Key courses. https://www.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com/pages/e-learning

  • Fuel Performance: Why Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore Nutrition

    In today’s high-pressure business world, it’s easy to get on to a soapbox about healthy eating—then realise that daily realities make it far harder than it sounds. Consider the challenges leaders and employees face:

    •    Demanding jobs and deadlines that leave little time to prepare food.

    •    Back-to-back meetings that mean lunch is whatever you can grab in five minutes.

    •    Stress from the unexpected—technical glitches, urgent client requests, supply chain disruptions.

    •    Family responsibilities—school runs, after-school activities, caring for children or elderly parents.

    •    Life's unexpected curveballs.

    Add them together, and whether working from home or an on-job location, it’s no surprise many professionals rely on quick fixes to fuel the body: takeaway meals, vending machine snacks, energy drinks, or ultra-processed convenience food.

    The Business Case for Better Nutrition

    The link between nutrition, productivity, and long-term health is well established. The human brain consumes around 20% of our body’s total energy—more than any other organ. When fuelled with nutrient-rich food, we think more clearly, make better decisions, and stay resilient under pressure. Perhaps more than that we inspire others to want to do their job with a cool head, full focus, humour when needed to remove any pressure, positive feedback and  vision. When fuelled with high-sugar, heavily processed food, performance declines—often without us realising.

    Common effects of poor workplace eating habits include:

    •    Afternoon energy slumps and reduced concentration.

    •    Increased sick days due to lower immunity.

    •    Brain fog, forgetfulness, and slower problem-solving.

    •    Increased sluggishness and or irritability with colleagues and family members.

    •    Lack of positivity.

    •    Long-term risk of metabolic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and dementia.

    A 2023 study published in The Lancet Public Health found that diets high in ultra-processed foods were linked to increased rates of cognitive decline and depression. For knowledge workers, this is not just a personal health risk—it’s a productivity risk for the whole organisation.

    The Hidden Sugar Trap

    Sugar remains a major contributor to poor health outcomes. It’s not just in cakes and sweets—many “everyday” products contain hidden sugars, from ready-made soups to salad dressings. In the UK, research from Action on Sugar (2022) revealed that over 60% of popular savoury snacks and ready meals contained unnecessary added sugar.

    This is not simply about avoiding sweet treats—it’s about awareness. If leaders want high-performing teams and be high-performing themselves, they must encourage better choices and make them easy to access in the workplace.

    How Businesses Can Support Healthy Eating

    Changing habits starts with awareness and small, achievable actions:

    •    Make water the default – Provide filtered water stations in the office and encourage regular hydration.

    •    Offer seasonal, whole foods – Fresh fruit, vegetable platters, nuts, and whole grains support sustained energy.

    •    Limit ultra-processed snacks – Replace high-sugar, high-salt vending options with healthier alternatives.

    •    Encourage mindful eating – Protect lunch breaks from meeting creep so that leaders and employees can eat without rushing.

    •    Promote healthy fats – Avocados, nuts, oily fish, and olive oil to support brain health and reduce inflammation.

    •    Educate and engage – Short workshops, webinars and events on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle can help teams make better daily decisions.

    Why This Matters for Leadership

    Leaders set the tone. A workforce running on caffeine, sugar, and adrenaline is a workforce operating well below potential. By contrast, when healthy eating is part of company culture:

    •    Creativity and focus improve.

    •    Stress resilience increases.

    •    Employee satisfaction and retention rise.

    •    Problem solving and decision making improves both in speed and quality of decision made.

    •    Mental health improves.

    •    Employees and leaders have a better work-life integration.

    Good nutrition is not just a “wellness perk” — it’s your competitive advantage. When leaders and their teams eat well, they think faster, focus longer, bounce back quicker, and bring more energy to every challenge. Nutrient dead diets drain productivity; smart nutrition fuels it. If you want sharper decisions, stronger resilience, and bigger results, start with what’s on the plate. 

    Good nutrition is not just a "wellness perk"—it’s a business performance strategy.

    References:

    Monteiro, C.A. et al. (2023). Ultra-processed food consumption and risk of cognitive decline. The Lancet Public Health.

    Action on Sugar (2022). Hidden sugars in everyday foods report.

    Harvard Business Review (2020). The Business Case for Employee Wellbeing.