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Category: Management Communication

  • The Impact of Employee Health and Wellbeing on Your Bottom Line?

    Working with individuals on work-life balance, as well as with groups, I am seeing more and more people with adrenal stress, very often caused by stress from work.  Reasons for the stress vary, however these can be self inflicted, such as wanting to be a perfectionist, the inability to say “no”, poor time management, inability to delegate as well as procrastination by putting things off.  As for external factors that might cause stress, the first one springing to mind is living in a blame culture, thus creating an environment of fear.  Inappropriate leadership styles and habits such as a boss who doesn’t listen, a manipulative leader who can only influence by using manipulation techniques, a boss who lives in crisis due to poor planning and time management or a boss who is unable to communicate effectively, practicing chameleon type behaviours, swinging from one mood to the next.

    The Health & Safety Executive estimated that 31.2 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2016/17.  25.7 million were due to work-related ill health!  Adrenal fatigue is when the adrenal system struggles to maintain homeostatic balance, leading to depletion and dysregulation of the adrenal glands and Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis after a long period of emotional stress or chronic illness.  Adrenal stress, due to fatigue presents in different ways.  Early signs might be intermittent lack of energy, low motivation and poor sleep.  More advanced stages will include these and other symptoms, such as nights sweats, brain fog, lack of energy to do anything, headaches, poor functioning immune system, resulting in colds and flu, as well as cravings for carbohydrate foods and stimulants such as coffee, chocolate and fizzy drinks all giving that quick, short lived, hit or energy boost. (http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm) 

    Is management of stress a function of leadership?  One could argue that this is personal and thus individual to each person to manage themselves effectively in order to manage what life throws at them, and therefore not under the leadership role or umbrella.  However, if work-days are being lost from absenteeism due to overload and stress, it becomes every leader’s concern and issue.  Therefore, is it better to manage the situation before it gets to this stage or wait until the person gets sick and submits a doctor’s note?

  • Leaders are Like Gardeners

    We think about and refer to leaders in many ways – good, bad, poor indifferent, charismatic, dynamic, legendary, but have you ever thought that leaders are like gardeners? Let me explain.

    What or who is a gardener – someone who prepares the earth, plants seeds, nurtures those seeds as they grow to become young tender seedlings and later fully grown plants that bear fruit, whether berries, kale, courgettes, apples, pears or flowers. The goal is always to create the right environment to help the plant, whatever it is, grow and flourish. Plants like people are individual and some will bear fruit, some will have an off year, because the environment is not right, while others will simply keep on growing and producing so long as the environment is right and they have plenty of food. You can probably now see where I am going with this and why we can refer to leaders as gardeners.

    As with gardeners there are good ones and not so good ones. Leaders are no different.

    An effective leader will create the right environment for each person to grow and flourish being mindful that the overall environment is the same for everyone whether experienced or inexperienced. Into that environment they plant the seeds, nurture them, again being mindful that some need more nurturing in order to help them establish themselves within the environment and to grow. Nurturing with compassion, care and attention, support and direction that is just right for each person. As a gardener you would not put fresh horse manure on your roses, why? It is too strong and would kill the plant. On the contrary, put on to a more hardy plant such as an apple tree that manure would probably be perfect. I’m not suggesting for one minute that horse manure is a good way of helping employees grow, but what I am suggesting is that people are different and need an approach that is suitable and brings out the best in them. Leaders need to understand that each employee requires an individual approach to become established and then with the correct nurturing are able to flourish and grow.

    When flowers start to open and blossom, the gardener probably stands back and admires his or her work, remaining attentive to any changes in the plant or the environment and reacting appropriately to that. When winter comes, protecting the plant is a priority to help it survive? Is this not the same for people? Sometimes winter appears in the form of curve balls that life throws at us causing us to temporally lose our way. An effective leader, because they care, will notice the change and provide the support and guidance to that employee helping them weather the cold, a time when they are at their most vulnerable.

    Gardeners know that the roots, make the fruits and if not spending enough time and appropriate effort into establishing those roots, the plant will not survive. It is the same with leadership. Expecting a new member of the team to thrive from the first day, without appropriate “planting”, even if an experienced person is farcical. Just think back to your first day in a different organisation. How comfortable were you? Did you end the first day feeling nervous, but positive that you had made the right choice of company, or did your heart sink with dread because you realised that you had made a grave mistake and that this was not what you expected. Had you known you would not have taken the job?

    The first three months of any new job is difficult for most of us as we try to find our way around the building, the people and who does what, the job itself and the challenges that this creates as well as finding someone who could be a “good” person to get to know. At this time the role of any leader is to ensure this seed, the employee is planted in fertile soil and that he/she will grow to be strong and healthy.

    It is estimated that loss of new recruits within the first three months of employment in UK companies is approximately 5%. Can you imagine as a gardener losing 5% of your crop, garden or allotment during the planting and establishing period? Losing people is much more costly in recruitment costs, training costs (if there was any), hours spent on administration to onboard each person etc.

    Is it time that your leaders become gardeners and put all their focus into creating the right environment, a fertile ground, tending each seed carefully while they establish and grow stronger and then providing the right nourishment to watch each seed grow into a strong plant that flourishes and bears fruit. That “fruit” being consistency, productivity, achievement of goals and ultimately profitability.

    According to a CIPD report, “A good retention rate range is 90 percent or higher. Industries with the highest retention rates include government, finance, insurance, and education, while the lowest rates can be seen in the hotel, retail, and food industries.” This would include the first three months of employment. In reality the churn rate according to a CIPD report is approximately 35%. This cannot solely be blamed on poor leadership, nevertheless leaders and managers have a huge influence on how long someone stays in their job. Below is the breakdown from a recent study conducted by the CIPD on churn rates in 2022. As seen here the first three months is critical, even extending up to six months with the potential of losing 10.5% of newly recruited talent within the first six months.

    https://community.cipd.co.uk/cipd-blogs/b/cipd_voice_on/posts/why-staff-turnover-data-matters

    What gardener would be happy with the loss of 10.5% of the potential crop at the 3-6 month point? Probably no gardener, not only because of losing the crop, but because unless you are planting and growing in a greenhouse, in the UK you have to wait another six months before being able to plant again, losing the crop for that year. A question springs to mind – How long does it take to recruit a new person into the now vacant position?

    The answer lies in the position you are recruiting for, the level of skill needed and how abundant these skills and talents are in the marketplace. Surely it is common sense to encourage your leaders to be gardeners so that the loss of new talent joining your organisation is minimal.

    For more information on Leadership training with Green Key Personal Development, book a call here.

     

  • Learning from mistakes – the “oscar faux pas”

    What will the impact of no risk taking be on individual’s and how we learn, on organisations and levels of competitiveness, and on whole countries and nations?  Are we really advocating that we must stay within a known comfort zone?

    It’s one thing messing things up in private, where mistakes can be rectified and nobody notices.  However the news at the beginning of last week after the Oscars was very special.  It was a ‘case example’ of how mistakes are made and the way in which reactions can spread….

    “The winner of the Oscar for the best film goes to ……………….  Oops”

    A certainty in life is that we will all make mistakes, big and small.  We have all been, and will be in, those situations where there is that sinking feeling in the stomach, or throughout our whole body, as we realise a mistake is emerging.

    We live in a culture where mistakes are derided and blown out of proportion.  I admit to laughing a bit at the news of the Oscar prize-winning faux pas, thinking  “What a mess. How is that possible? Probably deserved it, glad that wasn’t me!’.  The mix up at the Oscars resulted in the media leading a somewhat scornful, mocking campaign aimed at those who simply gave the wrong envelope to someone at an awards ceremony.

    Are we in a culture where each one of us is quick to judge others against our own perceived perfection.  Are we in a culture where we can no longer make mistakes?  If we criticise and blame others, how helpful is this?  Does it move the situation forward, help the “accused” learn from their mistake, no it simply causes that person to become down trodden, self critical and de-motivated.  The mistake at the Oscar ceremony was simple human error.  Yes, we can argue that it should not have happened, but it did!  However the overall effect is that we are further drawn into a world where the culture for accepting mistakes, or taking risks, is diminished.

    Many people think that as managers and leaders we are supposed to get everything right.  We are supposed to make all right decisions, answer with the right answer and generally show our knowledge and wisdom.  Is this really so?  I think slightly differently.  Of course, in our positions as managers and leaders we should endeavour to act and behave correctly in each situation, to make those right decisions and to answer our team members with the right answer, but there are times when that is neither realistic nor possible.  Most managers and leaders do not find themselves in life and death situations when having to make decisions, and therefore making a decision becomes far more important than not making a decision, as this holds up operations, processes and team members who are waiting for direction.

    Going down the path after having made that mistake, knowing that we were wrong, it takes courage to admit it, to learn from it and to move on.  Without the courage to take decisions and to take risk we are limiting ourselves and those around us.  We limit our own learning, the learning of others and the excitement of seeing what happens when we take that risk.  Most importantly we spend more time in accusation, blame and protection of what gives us the most for the least effort and keeps us in our comfort zone.

  • Lessons from Janus the Two-Faced God

    Janus, the Roman god, to whom we owe the naming of the first month of the year, January, looked forward into the future while also having the wisdom for reflection and resolution of the past. Starting a new year is a perfect time for closure on things as well as to reflect while making plans for the coming year. In reflecting we might ask questions such as:

    • What worked well last year?
    • What systems, processes and procedures are not working so well? Why?
    • Where do we need to make improvements?
    • Who within my team has learning and development needs to help them perform better, to step into a new role and so on?

    Asking these and many other questions, helps us plan and budget effectively. What happens if managers and leaders are unable to reflect both on their personal performance and the performance of those they lead? Ever worked with or for someone who always seems to have a reason why something cannot be done, won’t work, didn’t work, wouldn’t fit, does not make sense or any other similar phraseology, simply wanting to protect the status quo appearing lethargic, stubborn and perhaps even toxic in making any changes that might take them out of their “comfort zone”.

    Staying in a comfort zone, as it suggests, feels easy remaining in the familiar – “better the devil you know than you don’t know.” “We’ve always done it like this.” Challenging our comfort zone requires effort, change to be more effective, to try something different or new and to temporarily move into the unknown. “Comfort zones are our default behaviour – our routines, habits and patterns.  Comfort zones are not necessarily comfortable, they are familiar. They are what we know and they are ways we organize much of our lives”.   (The Bigger Game, Laura Whitworth, Nick Tamlyn)

    Linking this to positive thinking and a positive, constructive approach, a comfort zone is something that we do not necessarily see, rather it is “just the way we do things”. Our patterns of thought and behaviour. The key to changing ingrained patterns that do not necessarily serve us personally as well as those around us is to be open to hear when someone challenges the way we do things or the way of thinking at that moment. Encourages reflection and analysis of situations, thoughts and ideas to challenge the status quo, the comfort zone. Accepting that there might be another way to do something does not necessarily mean choosing what is being suggested. However, it does require that we examine that particular pattern of behaviour and make a conscious decision as to whether it is actually serving our individual interests as well as those of a department or whole organisation, question where we are now in the process, where we want to be and therefore what we want to achieve.

    Negativity, such as the inability to listen – “I believe I am right”, avoiding accountability and responsibility, lack of energy to try, giving no support for something new, focusing on the past rather than the present, is simply a toxin that saps lifeblood from the person themselves, from the system, from the team and ultimately the organization as a whole.  

    Everyone in the organization needs to feel fulfilled. Feeling fulfilled does not mean that life is easy. Fulfillment can coexist in a challenging environment, when we are out of our comfort zone and when times require extra effort to rise to the challenge being ready to step out and step up not only to overcome the challenge, but also to learn and grow, leaving our comfort zone behind while moving into the new state. And then like Janus reflecting on what has been achieved, is it serving well and how can it be improved moving forward?

    Keeping a balance between looking forward and planning the future requires the wisdom of Janus to be open with ourselves and others, to admit when something is not working well, needs upgrading, changing or deleting only comes through open reflection and the willingness to resolve issues.

  • Mrs M – A very capable lady

    This case study encompasses both my professional roles as an alternative healthcare practitioner and corporate wellbeing training provider. The aim of the case study is to encourage you to assess the impact of executing a decision on the health of those who are involved, perhaps through no fault of their own and therefore what could have been done differently.

    The client in question, came to me for the treatment of chronic depression. She had been recommended by a person who I had been treating for some time who also suffered from  chronic depression, which I am glad to say he is mostly free of today. At the time she was under the “control” of the specialised NHS mental health, psychiatric unit as well as receiving medical assistance. She is taking several medications for depression, anxiety and sleep including Lithium.

    A lady late 50’s who was employed by a high school as the assistant director of the school, a job she has been doing for some years already while also continuing to teach the pupils an academic subject. An active person who was working long hours every day, five days a week in school and some part of her personal time to catch up, mark papers and do other administrative tasks, she seldom did less than a 10-hour day. Her husband also works in education. Her daughter was due to graduate a couple of months after her first consultation with me.

    About 3 years ago, as a part of some kind of change in status and re-organisation of the school, all teachers were asked to re-apply for their jobs to continue employment at that school. Each teacher would be hired based on the new requirements. My client was not re-hired, nor was she given an explanation as to why, she was simply told that her job was no longer needed as of tomorrow. No redundancy payment was offered. That news would be a dramatic shock for most of us, even if thinking of resigning or retiring. Lack of appreciation, feedback and thanks would make anyone angry, likely followed by sadness at having the job and career you love crudely removed with no further contact. From May to September of that year she did not feel well, she lost interest and enthusiasm for life, but tried to regain this by taking up a role as a volunteer in a local charity shop.

    At a similar time, her father died during Covid and this seemed to “tip” her over the edge into mental illness, specifically severe depression combined with anxiety. Her father also suffered from depression and anxiety therefore depression running in the familial line. She stated that she remembers shaking uncontrollably at the loss of her father, and perhaps to this day has not yet come to terms with this loss through the normal grieving process.

    Certainly, we can debate if how she lost her job was according to the law? That is not the purpose of this case and therefore we will avoid going down that route. The client is now on four medications for anxiety and depression, some of which are also negatively affecting hair growth, causing hair loss, which further embeds the feeling of “why would anyone want or love me?”. In addition, she is putting on weight, which also negatively impacts how she feels about herself. Her quality of sleep is poor due to twitching, a side effect one of the prescribed medications. To aid sleep she has been subscribed Zopiclone, a common sleep medication which can cause drowsiness during the day. In her own words, she “Has no reason to get out of bed and most of the time feels blank and tense,” therefore can spend the whole day in bed sleeping with no desire to get out of bed. In order to end this cycle, she saw only one way out and that was to commit suicide. She tried, but luckily was not successful.

    She had her gall bladder removed approximately 10 years ago and despite this has no  difficulty in digesting most foods. However, looking at this energetically, the gall bladder – “How can you have the gall to……?” is a representation of rage and extreme anger that has been suppressed within the body, ultimately causing severe inflammation and damage to the gall bladder until eventually it had to be surgically removed. This is an example of how suppressed negative emotions manifest on the physical level to show us what it is we need to deal with. Does removal of the gall bladder mean we have dealt with these negative emotions, or do they still remain in the body as the person’s behavioural pattern remains the same?

    Mrs M also suffers from a fungal nail infection in both her feet under the nails.

    Despite being under the guidance of the mental health team in her local area, at best she is staying numb to life, devoid of any kind of emotion whether joyful or otherwise, at worst is not living. Weekly she has a counselling session with one of the mental health counsellors. After several years of guidance from this team, she and her husband, whose life has also been tipped upside down, decided to try something different and on recommendation from one of their friends, sought a health consultation with me.

    The main goals for treatment are:

    • To get better from severe depression and anxiety to live her life as before.
    • To improve her quality of life and reduce medications.
    • To empower her to embrace life through physical and mental health and vitality.

    To date she has undergone 2 consultations. Between consultations she is taking herbal remedies and orchid essences as well as Omega 3 for brain health and vitamin D. The orchid essences were to address the anger at herself and to re-balance the victim and saboteur archetypes that are both running negative patterns affecting her behaviour. Naturopathic advice included:

    • Going outside into nature for a minimum of 10 minutes twice daily. When someone does not even want to get out of bed this is a huge challenge.
    • Removal of all wheat from her diet.
    • Find one positive in her life every day and give thanks.
    • De-clutter her “office” for 10 minutes 3-4 times weekly until complete. Throw past documents out with joy at letting them go.

    The first two points were essential to creating wellness. The other points are important, but if not done every day at the early stage of treatment, this is fine.

    This gives you the background of this client. Now look at this situation from a treatment perspective and answer the following questions:

    1. How did this person end up with severe depression and anxiety when previously she was a capable, active woman who up until losing her job we can assume was able to take responsibility and get things done? 
    2. When treating any dis-ease condition how important is it to treat the symptoms and the cause for long term relief and to ensure she is able to live her life with a good degree of normalcy?
    3. What do you think is the root cause of her prescribed condition?
    4. Treating any dis-ease requires consideration and treatment of both the emotional underlying factor as well as the physical condition/symptoms? What is your opinion?
    5. Do you think that treatment through the traditional, allopathic medical system considers the person as a whole in the treatment protocols or rather focuses on the visible symptoms and therefore dis-ease diagnosis?
    6. What naturopathic advice would you give to the client, bearing in mind that she may not have the energy to get out of bed? What actions do you think would bring the most positive impact to her mental health?
    7. If you were the manager/HR manager who informed this client of their redundancy would you do anything differently?

    Are you on a similar journey to Mrs M? Discover how you may be able to help yourself from my Brain Health – Mental Agility course.

  • New Year – New Opportunities

    The start of a new year is for me always a time to clear out – clear out wardrobes and drawers of clothes I haven’t worn in the last year, storage areas that have been stuffed full of things that “might just come in useful,” as well as my brain, mind and body. In truthfulness body comes a little later in the early days of spring. I find trying to remove the old, dusty and sluggish me difficult to do in the winter months when foods craved are wholesome, warming and consequently heavier in nature. Lymphatic cleaning is is much easier and consuming salads, juicing and lighter foods also easier when the weather is warmer and the days starting to get longer.

    Clearing and cleaning out facilitates space to think, to create and for sure being human will once again over the coming year get filled up, maintaining the cyclical nature of hoarding. There is a saying “I need to clear my head”. This phrase is representative of how I feel about this time of year and the importance of ensuring my head is clear for what is ahead, whether plain sailing or challenges. For most a mixture of both. Above all to have space and the eyes to be able to see new opportunities.

    Clearing out also brings the opportunity to manifest what you want in 2023, by letting go of the old, with thanks and welcoming in the new. After approximately two years of doubt and uncertainty due to Covid fall-out we can look forward to a healthy, positive, forward moving 2023. While the outlook according to “Capital 500, London Quarterly Economic Review” (Q4 2022), sponsored by Haysmacintyre, for the London Chamber of Commerce and commented on by Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Advisor and Board Member, Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) while not being the most positive forecast, is at least showing an upward trend within London businesses:

    • 17% expecting their workforce size to increase over the next 3 months.
    • 21% reported an increase in investment in training in the last quarter of 2022.
    • 14% reported an increase in investments in plant and equipment.
    • 24% reported an increase in cash flow in the last quarter.

    In combination with this positive upward trend, there is a worrying trend in rising costs. Nothing that we don’t all know already, but never-the-less:

    • 70% reported an increase in their fuel costs last quarter.
    • 79% reported an increase in energy costs last quarter.

    Business confidence which is perhaps one of the most important markers was also showing an upward trend. An important point here is that the field work for this survey was conducted before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 19 November 2022 and before the recent industrial unrest.

    • 28% expect their profitability to improve over the coming 12 months.
    • 37% expect their turnover to improve over the next 12 months.
    • 21% expect London’s economy to improve in the next 12 months.
    • 22% expect the UK’s economy to improve in the next 12 months.

    Positivity is half the battle, if we start the new year feeling positive and upbeat there is a strong likelihood that we will manifest more of the same. Remember the Law of Attraction that states, “Like attracts like.”  This means, on a daily basis, putting into the ether, our environment and lives, positive thoughts, actions and ideas in order to get back more of the same. Following are some tips and actions to take to start manifesting positivity and abundance in your personal and business lives, in no order of importance:

    1. Be grateful for the small things. Many small things add up to create larger things.
    2. Find others, your colleagues, team members, your boss, family and neighbours doing things right. Give them positive feedback on the spot to encourage more of the same.
    3. Be thankful for the abundance in your life – friends, family, clients, colleagues, partners, food, travel, nature etc
    4. Regard challenges in a positive way. Think about why you are facing this challenge and what it is trying to teach you. Experiences are the best teacher.
    5. Don’t take life too seriously – keep your sense of humour.  Life looks so different when you can laugh with yourself and with others.
    6. Feed your brain as well as your body. If you eat *dead foods you lessen your energy, ability to focus and concentrate, ultimately your mental and physical output.
    7. Nourish your mind, body and soul. Take regular downtime to switch off, tune in to yourself and your environment in order to nourish the soul.
    8. Let go of negative emotions in an appropriate manner. Harbouring negativity is detrimental to mental and physical health.
    9. Do something every day, even if only for 10 minutes that brings you joy and fills your heart, making you smile.
    10. As in the film with Julie Roberts “Eat, pray, love.”  (A film based on a memoir of the American journalist Elizabeth Gilbert.) Enjoy your food, give gratitude and love life by taking in every moment in a fully conscious state.

    Wishing you all a healthy, happy, abundant and beautiful 2023.

     

    *Dead foods – all processed and fast foods, simple carbohydrates – bread, cakes, pasta, sugar-laden foods.

  • Post COVID 19: 5 Steps to Creating Strong Immune Health in the Workplace

    With the loosening of lockdown guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic, HR directors, CEO’s and other organisation managers will be thinking hard and planning the return to work and how to protect themselves and their team members from this particular virus and any other seasonal bug that comes along.

    In many cases, due to the physical limitation of space it is not feasible to separate working places, meeting rooms, the use of toilets, the space for lunch and coffee breaks to observe the social distancing guidelines. Therefore, what steps can be taken to protect the environment and people within it?

    THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ILL HEALTH

    Physical and mental health is considered an individual matter.  However, the physical work environment, leadership and general work conditions all affect levels of mental and physical health, which in turn affects focus, drive productivity and overall performance.  Knowing how to look after yourself and being responsible to maximise health and energy is key to productivity and performance, both of yourself as a leader as well as those that you lead.  It could easily be considered and included as a part of any job description and job responsibilities, saving organisations thousands of pounds from lost work-days due to sickness.  Figures taken from the 2017 Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey conducted by Vitality Health in partnership with Cambridge, RAND Europe and Mercer, with almost 32,000 employees within 167 companies, found that employees lose an average of 30.4 working days a year due to sickness, or illness-related underperformance, costing the UK economy a staggering £77.5 billion a year, an increase of 6.2% on the previous year.

    CAN WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM COVID-19 ABOUT IMMUNE HEALTH?

    The immune system is responsible for protecting our health through surveillance scanning for bacteria, toxins and viruses.  It is a network running throughout the body that includes lymph nodes and vessels, the skin as the first line of defence, as well as the thymus gland.   Immune defence is divided into two aspects and can be likened to an army – the first line of defence, known as the non-specific immune that is fast acting, and the specific immune which is slow to respond as it distinguishes between friend and foe.  Extensive research has identified that 70% of immune health is in gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT).  Therefore, an unhealthy gut weakens the immune as well as affecting mental health due to the gut-brain connection via the gut-brain axis. 

     

    WATCH MY VIDEO ON THIS HERE:

     

    WHAT COMPROMISES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM?

    In a regular day, our immune copes with the effects of household and industrial chemicals, food additives and preservatives, electromagnetic radiation also known as electro-smog from exposure to Wifi driven and other devices reliant on electricity and non-ionizing radiation, as well as environmental toxins, antibiotics, vaccines and stress we experience in our work and personal lives. As leaders, taking care of the immune system is critical if we want our bodies and minds and those of our employees, to deliver top performance through energy and mental focus. Building a healthy immune does not have to be difficult or time consuming. Just like brushing teeth, showering and eating, maintaining a healthy immune becomes an integral part of our way of life when we know what to do.

    WHAT ARE THE MARKERS OF A POORLY FUNCTIONING IMMUNE SYSTEM?

    The main markers of a poorly functioning immune are:

    • Feeling run down or under par for most of the time
    • Poor resistance – repeated colds, regularly contracting flu
    • Inability to shake off a cold or flu
    • Repeated bouts of urinary tract infection
    • Exhaustion and weariness
    • Low resilience to daily occurrences therefore irrational behaviour
    • Poor ability to focus and mental fog

    TIPS TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM

    Maintaining a healthy immune assumes that it was formed correctly from birth by the baby passing through the birth canal, feeding on breast milk, nature’s protective mechanism to pass on antibodies to the newly born child and then as the baby grows to pick up pathogens through playing in the dirt.  In this case, it can probably be assumed, unless the child has had antibiotics for some reason, that the immune system is functioning effectively. In a post COVID world, there are steps we all need to take to create strong immune health in us all. Read here for more information.

    Tips to maintain a healthy immune system1. MANAGE STRESS IN YOUR STRIDE:

    • Identify what causes your stress and put steps in place to minimise it
    • Think positively replacing any negative thoughts with positive ones
    • Communicate assertively and positively.  Be ready to forgive
    • Walk in nature regularly.  Even if living and working in a city, getting outside into a local park is generally possible, and extremely beneficial to lowering levels of stress
    • Avoid procrastination
    • Deal with conflict openly and constructively.

    2. HYDRATE AND EAT HEALTHY FOODS:

    • As the body is made up of 85% water, it is essential for a healthy mind and body.  The immune is reliant on water for many functions.  Drink a minimum of 1.5 litres of plain water daily by keeping a glass on your desk all the time
    • Eat seasonal foods.  In each season, nature’s intelligence produces foods that we need to support strong immune health.  At this time of year there are lots of orange, yellow, red and blue vegetables and fruit, all of which are high in Vitamins A and C, rich in antioxidants and polyphenols, all essential for effective immune function
    • Eat a combination of raw and cooked foods.  Too much raw can make the body cold and vica-versa
    • Mushrooms – Lions Mane, Maitake, Reishi, Turkey tail and Shitake are natural immune modulators.  When added to cooking or taken as a supplement help strengthen and modulate the immune system
    • Ensure your gut has a well-balanced microbiome to avoid weakening gut integrity leading to a range of inflammatory digestive disorders and/or brain fog due to the link between the gut and the brain via the gut-brain axis
    • Add onion, garlic and leeks (Liliaceae), nature’s anti-virals to soups, stews and salads.   
    • Take vitamin D3.  The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 400iu, well below the needed levels for countries in the Northern Hemisphere. A daily minimum of 2,500iu is necessary to protect immune function, and in some cases, it might be more as it is a recognised fact that dark skin does not manufacture Vitamin D as well as pale-coloured skin.

    3. BODY CONDITIONING:

    • Exercise and movement improve lymph flow whilst conditioning the heart and lungs.  As the immune system does not have its own pump, it relies on movement to function effectively
    • Dry skin brush 4-5 times weekly before showering, to remove any dead skin to keep the first line of defence functioning correctly
    • Hot and cold hydrotherapy – invigorate yourself and your immune every day with a hot and cold shower or take a sauna once weekly. Hydrotherapy is very effective for stimulation of lymph flow and strengthening immunity. 

    4. KNOW YOUR LIMITS AND REST:

    • Recognise when you are tired and feeling fatigued to avoid “flogging a dead horse”
    • A good night’s sleep helps the body get adequate rest and time to repair
    • Avoid pushing yourself when you are suffering from a cold or flu to enable the body to recuperate quickly.  Take bed rest if needed
    • Switch off Wifi at night to limit exposure to electromagnetic radiation, especially when sleeping as this is when the immune is at its most vulnerable. 

    5. HAVE FUN!

    As leaders, when we create an environment that is fun to work in, employees want to come to work to get more of what they love.  The benefit to the employer is a productive, effective team of happy, healthy people who are focused, loving what they do and who they do it with.

    As managers and leaders how much would you save, and gain, if your main focus and goal was to create a work environment that is a happy, fun place to be? 

     

    To book Rachel to speak at your event, please contact Rachel directly at rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com 

     

    References:

    ABL

    Hifas da Terra Mycotherapy

    Mayo clinic

    NCBI

     

    Rachel ShackletonRachel Shackleton, Founder of Green Key Personal Development and Green Key Health is a leadership trainer, medical herbalist and naturopath specializing in corporate health through face-to-face, on-line and e-learning development solutions.

    For more information contact Rachel on rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com

  • 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!

  • 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.

  • Does your employee appraisal process need an appraisal?

    “The most basic problem is that performance appraisals often don’t accurately assess performance.” – W. Edwards Deming (Founding Father of Total Quality Management)

    We traditionally rely on employee management performance systems / performance appraisals to give feedback to our employees. In most organisations this is a yearly ritual after having completed the statutory probation period. If you are lucky, it might be twice yearly. How do manager’s typically view this? Do they look forward to spending valuable and productive time with an employee listening to how they feel they have performed and opening up discussion if for some reason it differs from the manager’s view. Or does the manager provide a monologue of feedback according to the question and rating on the form in some kind of awkward manner in the hope that the employee firstly understands and secondly agrees with what is being said. If the manager orients towards the autocratic style, what the employee thinks or agrees with is probably highly irrelevant. The box gets ticked, and the employee goes back to what they were doing muttering on the way about the “BS” that he or she has just been subjected to.

    I remember many years back when my then manager called me at a random time when I was travelling home from work on a Friday, having been away on the job since the previous Sunday afternoon to give me my appraisal. “Give” was the appropriate word as 10 minutes later after listening to him, he ended the monologue with “Have a good weekend.” My emotions? Disbelief, disappointment both of which later developed into anger due to the shear disrespect I had been shown for working 12 hours a day, 5 days a week while living in a hotel and eating pub grub or take aways for the entire week. Was he interested in my thoughts, questions or comments? Definitely not! The fact that he did not even have the respect to organise the call in a proper way giving me time to prepare myself. Perhaps that was what he was afraid of? It’s no surprise therefore that I managed a year before departing for greater things.

    What does the employee think about the performance management system and their appraisal? Is this recognised as an opportunity to talk openly about what they are doing and how they feel they are doing or is it something that they dread knowing that their point of view will likely be ignored or brushed off like a piece of dust on a dark-coloured jersey?

    Every organisation needs a method of understanding how an employee is doing, how they are feeling about their current role and what it is they are interested in growing into. After all this is the foundation to succession planning and can help not only the department manager, but the employee, HR team and General Director in a smaller operation saving large sums of money on search and recruitment fees.

    The best performance appraisal is one that is no surprise to the employee because they have received ongoing feedback, both positive and negative as and when required, making the formal “meeting” almost a summary of their performance and an opportunity to open up discussion around future plans and to agree a way forward to assist that employee to grow and develop their potential to be ready to assume a new position as and when it appears.

    Information gained from such a conversation has much more value to enable for succession planning and facilitate an understanding of the positions that will need recruiting in the future, linking to HR planning. It also provides information for the manager to ensure that he/she takes an active interest in his/her employees, organising and delegating accordingly to facilitate learning, helping to keep individual employees engaged and motivated as well as loyal. The latter being especially important at this time when there is a shortage of people in the market. Learning and development that cannot be facilitated through delegation of skills, role rotation and so on might need to be addressed by organised learning through courses that meet the specific skills need whether face-to-face, virtual or through specialised digital courses. Again, knowledge gleaned from the appraisal process is fed into HR or Learning and Development to enable yearly budget planning for company employees’ training and development needs according to demand for particular skills courses whether it be leadership, communicating with customers, delegation or computer skills.

    There is a standard approach to conducting appraisals that any manager needs to know, but there are also critical skills to conduct a performance appraisal effectively, including:

    • The ability to ask questions that develop open discussion and probe to understand fully and clearly.
    • The ability to listen effectively not only to the answers, but tone of voice and body language behind those answers.
    • To use appreciative enquiry to build trust, respect and openness in all aspects of the conversation.
    • To lead the discussion in a positive manner that includes all aspects of performance, while not being afraid to address issues in performance where the employee is not performing at their best.
    • To help the employee identify how they can improve their performance through invitation to help them find their own answers.
    • To encourage engagement of the employee to want to improve where required while at the same time motivating change in performance in skills and areas that require it.
    • To be open and honest.
    • To not be afraid of receiving feedback as the employee’s manager in how your style of leadership for this person could be improved to build a trusting relationship.

    Giving feedback to develop and improve performance is a skill required of any manager and leader. Them making light of the process could be an indication that they themselves do not have the necessary skills to feel comfortable and confident appraising others who are under their responsibility, or it could simply be that the senior management themselves under value this process, encouraging their subordinates to adopt the same attitude.

    “A performance appraisal that is conducted effectively leads to greater employee morale, higher productivity, creating a positive culture and improved overall performance and effectiveness of an organisation.” –  Kumar Parakala, global business leader