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Tag: Development

  • Authentic Leadership – how important is It?

    “The authentic self is the soul made visible.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach.

    Yesterday I attended the Engage Customer Summit at the Brewery in London. Another very good day laid on by Engage Media. It was my attendance at a round table to discuss “Cultivating Loyalty and Engagement through Authentic Leadership” hosted by Jamie McKenzie, CMO at Sodexo, that initiated the thinking behind this blog. The discussion was stimulating and active with those attending sharing ideas around the questions:

    •  Are you an authentic leader?
    • What examples are there of authentic leaders?
    • Is your approach the right approach for the environment in which you are in?

    Of course, from these questions the conversation broadened and deepened around a topic that I believe to be incredibly important and something close to my heart.

    Harvard Business School Online defines authentic leadership “as a leadership style exhibited by individuals who have high standards of integrity, take responsibility for their actions, and make decisions based on principle rather than short-term success. They use their inner compasses to guide their daily actions, which enables them to earn the trust of their employees, peers, and shareholders—creating approachable work environments and boosting team performance.” https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/how-to-improve-team-performance.

    From an employee perspective, research detailed in Harvard Business Review shows “that a majority of employees believe authenticity in the workplace leads to benefits such as:

    • Better relationships with colleagues
    • Higher levels of trust
    • Greater productivity
    • A more positive working environment

    For any leader who is aiming to make a lasting impact on the companies in which they work, investing time and effort into becoming an authentic leader can be extremely valuable, not only for them as individuals, but also those that they lead, the organisation as a whole and finally the shareholders.

    Points that came out of the discussion yesterday is that an authentic leader demonstrates:

    • Openness to share and to recognise the contribution of others, demonstrating how much they are valued
    • Trusting of others and build trust in all relationships
    • Consistent in their behaviour
    • Connect on the “shop floor” and walk their talk
    • Supportive of others, spotlighting strengths that individuals can build on rather than weakness that need strengthening
    • Possess a high level of emotional intelligence

    On the other hand, Harvard highlights the characteristics of an authentic leader as:

    • Committed to bettering themselves
    • Cultivate self-awareness
    • Disciplined
    • Are mission-driven
    • Inspire faith and build relationships of trust

    From these definitions and the discussion yesterday, I think we can define an authentic leader, as someone who comes from a place of inner strength, in other words they stand in their own power, and because of this are not afraid to show vulnerability, to reveal their weaknesses and to allow and enable someone else to fill the gap, recognising that you don’t need to be good at everything as true teamwork allows for individual potential to shine through at these moments and to rally round the mission, purpose and goals, while enjoying the benefits of working as a team.

    Authenticity is respecting and valuing others for what they contribute and letting them know that their contribution is appreciated through support and genuine recognition. If things go wrong, being fair and open to learn from mistakes and use these situations as growth opportunities. The result – highly motivated individuals who give their best, enjoy what they do, feel fulfilled and perform to the best of their ability having a direct impact on levels of productivity, trusting and open relationships that share a common foundation of support, openness and positivity.

    Sir Ernest Shackleton was the example that I gave of an authentic leader. I’m sure there are more recent authentic leaders but are not in the media as they humbly go about their business. Sir Ernest Shackleton had a people-centred approach to leadership. His personal values, learned from his upbringing helped him develop a progressive style of leadership. He turned bad experiences into valuable lessons, was respectful of business competition. He broke down any traditional hierarchies, was always fair in how he dealt with his staff and established a clear order and routine so that everyone knew where they stood.

    Shackleton led by example, he never expected from his team members what he would not do himself and was always willing to help get the work done. He met regularly for one-to-one conversations to build a bond with each member of the crew. He accepted the individuality of each person and their weaknesses and was always keen to help them achieve their full potential.

    In a crisis he took the lead and worked to keep spirits high. He inspired optimism, even though sometimes he might have doubted himself and he kept “his enemies close.”  He encouraged teams to help and support each other. He was always visible and aware of possible difficulties and danger.  Above all he took responsibility for getting the whole job done, kept the big picture in sight and was always there to help others.

    Shackleton’s leadership legacy needs no further explanation.

    George Kohlrieser sums it up well: “If your starting point is that people are a cost to be minimised, your organisation might survive but it won’t thrive. If, on the other hand, you fundamentally believe that human beings are valuable and a source of goodness, a true asset not in financial terms but in their very essence, you will make your decisions with an entirely different perspective. In your attitude, in your state and in your authenticity, you will be operating as a *secure base. From that position, even difficult decisions will be understood and received with a higher degree of acceptance and appreciation. You will achieve results in a way that also elevates the contribution and value of the human beings inside your organisation.”   

    *”Secure base is a person, place, goal or object that provides a sense of protection, safety, and care and offers a source of inspiration and energy for daring exploration risking taking and seeking challenge.”

     

    References:

    George Kohlreiser, Care to Dare, 2012

    Shackleton’s Way, Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell

    https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/authentic-leadership

  • Brain Health – Natural Agility

    Mental health issues have been escalating dramatically over the last two years, mostly due to the pandemic and to restrictive measures put in place during this time. Data in the Samaritans report, June 2021 is based on over 4 million contacts and highlights the growth trend in mental health issues:

    “Young people have struggled with family tensions, a lack of peer contact and negativity about their future prospects, as the pandemic has affected both their social and economic opportunities, and some people who self-harm have struggled to resist hurting themselves without their usual coping mechanisms.”

    “Middle aged men have found themselves feeling they need to be strong in the face of immense financial and workplace changes, creating a situation that feels both out of their control and one they must cope with alone.”

    “Healthcare workers have struggled with feelings of anxiety, trauma and mental fatigue from their work during the pandemic, alongside the impact of being surrounded by serious illness and death at unprecedented levels, while often struggling for support and resources.”

    Every day almost 600 people in the UK are diagnosed with cognitive impairment and/or dementia. (Alzheimersresearch.co.uk). Mental ill-health covers a vast range of named conditions including attention deficit disorder (ADHD), autism, eating disorders, anxiety and generalized depression which in some cases leads to self-harm and/or suicide, as well as Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Turning to the government or even an employer to ask them “What are they doing about this?” is a reasonable question, but it is also a question that can be reflected backwards to each one of us. What responsibility are we taking for maintaining our personal mental wellbeing and even broader, our health and wellbeing as a whole?

    In the UK alone we drink 1.5 billion caffeinated drinks a week, including tea, coffee and colas. We eat six million kilos of sugar and two million kilos of chocolate as well as 120 million alcoholic drinks every week and smoke 1.5 billion cigarettes. The reasons for doing this are many – satisfying cravings, handling stress, boosting low energy, insomnia, lack of time, personal enjoyment and so on. As far as pharmaceutical drugs go that are prescribed by the doctor to help with sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, a staggering 532 million tranquillizers, 463 million sleeping pills and 823 million antidepressants every year! With the escalation in poor mental health since the start of the pandemic, it is likely that the consumption of pharmaceutical products is increasing exponentially. 

     

    Typical Symptoms of Mental Ill-Health

    Each mental ill-health condition has its own symptoms, but some of the most common signs in adults include:

      Rather than turning to a doctor when the symptoms have become intensified and you are feeling desperate for help so that you can return to “normal” life, what are some of the things each one of us can do to manage and take responsibility for our mental health and overall wellbeing? 

      • Memory loss
      • Poor focus and attention
      • Slow processing of information due to confused thinking
      • Regular headaches
      • Inability to carry out daily activities or handle daily problems and stress
      • Excessive worrying or fear
      • Feeling excessively sad or low
      • Extreme mood changes
      • Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
      • Avoiding friends and social activities
      • Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
      • Changes in sleeping habits or feeling tired with low energy
      • Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
      • Overuse of substances like alcohol or drugs
      • Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)

      Sustaining Optimum Mental Health

      As with all serious illness, it doesn’t simply arrive one day, it has been coming for a while, and your body has been giving you the messages necessary to get you to change something, a long time before it becomes a full-blown illness.  

      Optimum brain health and preventing cognitive decline is made up of a combination of things, each of which requires consideration and inclusion into your daily and weekly routine:

      • Maintaining an overall healthy digestive system and gut health. The gut has a direct link to the brain via the gut-brain axis, therefore an unhealthy gut will affect brain health overall.
      • Managing stress levels so that the fight and flight response of the nervous system are switched on only when you are under threat of some kind.
      • Keeping blood glucose balanced avoiding excessive highs and lows
      • Feeding the brain with the right foods including essential fats and amino acids that make up the brain’s messengers as well as the correct balance of vitamins and minerals.
      • Keeping the brain active.
      • Adequate quality, uninterrupted sleep of between 6-8 hours nightly.
      • Keeping hydrated.
      • Plenty of fresh air daily – minimum 30 minutes per day, twice per day.

      I will not be covering each of these points in this blog, but you can find more information about optimising brain and mental health in our course “Brain Health Mental Agility.” 

      Foods Essential for Good Mental Health

      Dr Dale Bredesen in his book “The End of Alzheimer’s Programme” refers to essential foods as the “Brain Food Pyramid” and essentially is the reverse of what the “recommended food pyramid” has been. Cognition enhancing foods and practices, such as fasting, healthy fats and non-starchy vegetables are at the base of the pyramid going upwards to protein and fruit with indulgences such as chocolate, alcohol and the odd dessert at the top. As the brain has potential to consume 40% of all carbohydrate in your diet to generate necessary energy needed to do things and for an agile brain, it is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of complex carbohydrates found in whole grains and non-starchy vegetables

      When there is inadequate glucose in the body or extreme highs and lows caused by a “sugar or caffeine fix”, it will directly affect mental and brain health leading to fatigue, insomnia, irritability, poor concentration, forgetfulness, depression, digestive disturbances and several other symptoms.  In order for the body and brain to receive enough glucose and to avoid the need for energy boosts, eating slow releasing carbohydrates, such as whole grains, beans and lentils is beneficial to a consistent energy flow, whereas refined carbohydrates overload the system with a fast release of sugar, triggering a rapid increase in blood sugar of which any excess is stored in the liver and muscles until the stores are full and then it is converted to fat.

      The brain also has a massive demand for essential fats. Cutting out fat from your diet is the equivalent of dehydrating the brain! Alzheimer’s, fatigue, ADHD, depression and memory problems have all been linked to a deficiency of essential fats – Omega 3’s and 6’s. Termed essential fats because the body cannot manufacture them and therefore have to be supplied through what we eat. Rich sources of essential fats include oily fish, such as herring, mackerel and sardine, eggs, flax seed, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, olive oil, green leafy vegetables and avocados.

      Good brain and mental health is reliant on the effective functioning of neurotransmitters in the brain which are made from amino acids – protein.  Essential amino acids, those that cannot be made by the body can be obtained from grains and pulses, fish, meat, nuts, seeds, eggs and some vegetables such as peas, beans, broccoli and spinach. Eating a balanced diet will almost certainly provide enough protein for most health needs.

      Brain health is also reliant upon B vitamins, especially B12. These vitamins if deficient will negatively affect how you think and feel. A regular intake on a daily basis through diet essentially and only if under stress or recovering from illness, through supplements or herbs, is vital to supply the brain with the energy and food it needs. Food sources of B vitamins include green leafy vegetables, wheat germ, meat, yeast extract, cheese and avocados. In addition to B vitamins, Vitamin C and zinc are also very important to maintain a healthy brain. When under stress, suffering some kind of infection, or with premenstrual syndrome, demand for zinc to support physical and mental health increases. The contraceptive pill and drinking alcohol regularly also depletes levels of zinc in the body.   

      Good brain health is dependent on a healthy body, especially healthy gut and that means a diet of fresh, organic food if possible as well as foods free from additives. In other words, foods that you prepare yourself from base ingredients.

      Useful Herbs

      There are several well-known herbs that can be used to support diet and lifestyle choices to maintain healthy brain function and good mental health, including:

      Gingko biloba, this prehistoric tree has been around a long time!  Main actions include

      • Increasing blood circulation
      • Gingko and gingko extracts are used for its anti-inflammatory properties, antioxidant properties, cerebral glucose utilization, neurotransmitter regulation, and vasomotor effects.

      Bacopa monnieri, better known as Brahmi. This herb has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to enhance cognitive function for centuries. Main actions include:

      • Enhancing nerve impulse transmission by repairing damaged neurons, and stimulating neuronal synthesis in the brain.
      • Increasing antioxidant activity in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and striatum, decreasing loss of cholinergic activity. The cholinergic system of the brain is involved in the regulation of attention and higher-order cognitive processing. Down-regulation of the cholinergic system has been observed in aging as well as in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

      Enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission = improvement of cognitive properties: memory stability and attention sharpness.

      Centella asiatica, more commonly known as Gotu kola is also traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat memory loss and can be found listed in the Ancient Indian Ayurvedic herbal text “Caraka Susmita” for dementia treatment.  Main actions include:

      • Neuro-protective effects against oxidative damage
      • Rejuvenates nerve brain cells increasing longevity and memory
      • Protects cholinergic neurons from toxic side effects of aluminium (well known for its negative affect on brain health). On this topic in order to limit the build-up of aluminium toxicity in the brain, avoid cooking with aluminium foil and cookware – the “convenient” non-stick cookware.

       Note: It is best to take herbal remedies under the supervision of a specialist practitioner to ensure there are no contraindications when taking pharmaceutical medication or when pregnant.

       

      Hydration

      Of course, simply taking herbs is not the complete solution. Good quality and adequate sleep, fresh air on a daily basis and hydration in combination with a diet mentioned are also very important. As the brain is made up of approximately 85% water to keep it functioning women need to drink 2 to 2.5 litres (8-11 cups daily and men 2.5-3.7 litres (10-15 cups) though individual needs may vary depending on activity levels. When your brain depletes 1% of water, you’re likely to have a 5% decrease in cognitive/brain function. Without adequate hydration the brain becomes sluggish, you might experience brain fog or suffer headaches, both of which are often the first sign of poor hydration in the body. Before reaching for that Panadol, try drinking a glass of water first.

       

      Tips for reaching your water quota each day:

      • Use a litre bottle to help keep track of how much you are drinking. Make a note the number of refills you are doing during the day.
      • If you don’t like plain water, add some lemon or some herbs such as mint or cucumber to flavour the water. Avoid sugar based squashes.
      • Avoid sugary foods that are high in sodium as this causes dehydration.
      • Eating watery fruits, kiwi, watermelon and other varieties of melon as well as cucumber and tomatoes can be another way to keep hydrated.
      • Drink herbal teas.

      As Alzheimer’s is now the third leading cause of death in the USA and continues to rise and the UK is not far behind, it is not someone else’s responsibility to manage your mental health and prevent cognitive decline. Maintaining good mental and physical health is complex, includes more than what is written in this blog, but not difficult once you understand what is required. As President Truman once said, “The buck stops here.” Getting the right help from a professional practitioner before symptoms before acute, to support steps to preventing cognitive decline and re-balancing mental and physical health will provide the joy, energy, health and wellbeing each and everyone of us deserves.

      Brain Health Mental agility course subscription options

       

       

      References:

       The End to Alzheimer’s Programme, Dr Dale Bredesen.

       https://neurogrow.com/water-your-brain/f

       https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/dementia-information/quick-guide-dementia/

       https://media.samaritans.org/documents/Samaritans_Covid_1YearOn_Report_2021_BJCM8rI.pdf

       https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Warning-Signs-and-Symptoms

    • Building Loyal Customers from Dissatisfied Customers

      One of the biggest areas that I address with my customers through training and development of personnel is building and maintaining customer rapport and loyalty, whether that be from the very first contact with the customer or at any other stage in the customer journey, including when the customer is not happy with your services.

      Assuming that everyone is in agreement with maintaining customers and building loyalty, rather than looking for new customers to replace them, what needs to take place when a customer complains? Here are two scenarios:

      Scenario 1

      Customer: “Good afternoon, Mr X, I am calling about the recent holiday my wife and I went on which was organized and reserved through Sun Travel.”

      Agent: “Good afternoon Mr X, how may I help you?”

      Customer: “We have returned from our holiday and can only say that it was a complete and utter disaster from start to finish.  The flight out was delayed, not your fault, but still not a good start!  The hotel was overbooked so we were re-booked into a hotel down the road, at best was 2*.  Our tour guide spoke little English and appeared to only be interested in going home.  From here it does not get any better!”

      Agent: “Oh why didn’t you tell us before coming back and we would have sorted this out?  Now there is very little that we can do! I will put you through to my manager.”

      Scenario 2

      Customer: “Good afternoon, Mr X, I am calling about the recent holiday my wife and I went on which was organized and reserved through Sun Travel.”

      Agent: “Good afternoon Mr X, how may I help you?”

      Customer: “We have returned from our holiday and can only say that it was a complete and utter disaster from start to finish.  The flight out was delayed, not your fault, but still not a good start!  The hotel was overbooked so we were re-booked into a hotel down the road, at best was 2*.  Our tour guide spoke little English and appeared to only be interested in going home.  From here it does not get any better!”

      Agent: “Mr X, this is extremely disturbing to hear.  I am so sorry for everything you have been through, and to be quite honest, very surprised!  Certainly we would have liked the opportunity to solve these issues whilst you were still on holiday, however that is not possible now as I understand you have already returned?

      What I am going to do is firstly call the hotel to find out what happened and then to discuss this with my manager to find a solution, which sadly will not be as good as if you were still on location in Spain.  Mr X, please give me until tomorrow morning latest to come back to you?

      What are the main differences between these scenarios?

      Level of listening – in scenario 1, we see selective listening which means we are listening for what we want to hear.  In scenario 2 – empathetic listening, which shows the relevant concern, interest and empathy to the customer.

      Empathetic listening gives the customer the understanding that you firstly have heard, secondly that you care and thirdly that you want to solve the issue and that you care about your customers.  Selective listening means you only want to hear the information that you can use to support your own argument and in this case almost blames the customer for not informing Sun Travel whilst still on holiday.

      Authority level – In the first scenario the agent is very quick to hand over the problem to the manager and abdicate any responsibility.  In the second scenario we see that the agent is confident, assertive and keen to sort out the situation, and has decided to discuss everything further with his/her manager once all information has been gathered. The situation was not simply escalated to the manager, showing an understanding of how to solve customer problems as well as some authority for the decision.  These two points help to put the customer at ease, giving time to do this thoroughly.

      Giving out authority to handle customer complaints confidently and competently is vital to building customer loyalty, giving the customer a feeling that they are in the right hands and will be looked after. To give out authority means training team members on what is expected of them when a customer complains and what is their jurisdiction in terms of financial compensation they can give before having to escalate the decision to the next level.

    • Dancing on the Same Spot?

      “There is more to life than just increasing its speed.”  Gandhi

      Have you ever felt so overwhelmed with your workload and issues in your personal life, that you don’t know where to start?  Consequently, you find yourself dancing on the same spot, further increasing your heartbeat, cortisol and stress levels?

      That’s exactly where I have been recently, procrastinating and putting off my actions instead of beginning the process of  “Eating into the Elephant”.   I cleaned out the kitchen cupboard, wrote a couple of birthday cards, cleaned the download box in my computer, invited my neighbour round for coffee and generally filled my day with low value tasks and tasks that were not even included on my list of things to be done!   By the end of the day totally exhausted and even more stressed because I realized that I had just wasted a whole day procrastinating!

      How do you get off that same spot before you wear a hole in the carpet or run out of time?   Focus on reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed.   Eating the elephant whole is not possible, so do it in bite size pieces keeping in mind the overall goal of eating the whole elephant.  The following three steps helped me:

      1.  Create a “To Do” list – I took everything that I have to do out of my head and put it to paper.  Seeing the tasks rather than just thinking about them had a calming effect.  All of a sudden things became more manageable as I could see what was important, evaluate approximate time needed and understand the urgency of each one.

      Picking out the one that is most likely to take the largest junk of time, even though it was not the task with the closest deadline, created further calm – giving space for thinking as well as writing, creating and doing.  (If a deadline had been really close, I would have started with that task instead.)

      2.  Using the most productive part of my day for the most brain-oriented task was also helpful.  We all have biorhythms which when we understand our own biorhythmic pattern can use this to our advantage to do the most intense, difficult or demanding item on the list when our biorhythm is at its most energy dense and when having less energy, for example after lunch, using that time to clean out under the kitchen sink (if you really must!), update client files, enter data etc.  This means the lower energy time can still be put to good use, but does not take so much effort or brainpower from an already low energy time in the day.  Overall result – higher productivity, and less anxiety!

      3.  Applying Pareto Law of 80/20 helped eat into several tasks at the same time, whilst also ensuring I was working on the most important tasks on the list.  Twenty percent of my activities, achieved eighty percent of the results, as it would likely yours

      Enjoy your dance, put in the rhythm and steps that stop you from dancing on the same spot and procrastinating. Work smarter, not harder.

    • 5 Steps to Drive Employee Engagement

      We might ask the question who is responsible for engagement of employees and their development? On the one hand that responsibility can be given to line managers and on the other to employees themselves. Or you might take the other tack of putting the responsibility firmly on the shoulders of Human Resources or Learning and Development specialists. Perhaps the answer lies with all parties taking their fair share of creating, ensuring and committing to engaging for the purpose of driving development and ultimately performance of the individual, team and organisation?

      Personal development, unlike a Michelin star, goes with the individual wherever he or she goes, it does not stay with the organisation that was instrumental in instigating that development. Therefore, you might ask: “What is the point of developing employees if they are going to leave anyway?” Believe it or not I still hear this question far too often! If every organisation and individual is actively engaged in personal development which at the time benefits the organisation in which they are working, then when they leave, the replacement if from outside the organisation will also have a certain level of professionalism, knowledge and skills in their sphere of expertise. Consequently, circulating individuals who are inspired to learn and to engage in their own personal development will not only give to and benefit their new employer, but also keep that employer on their toes to provide further opportunities for development and growth. But as we all know, growth and development do not come without engagement.

      Breaking this down – engagement in the workplace means the absence of presenteeism. It means employees who embrace their role and their responsibilities within that role and are motivated and committed emotionally by what they are doing as well as the opportunities and challenges that present within the role, as well as opportunities to take on other roles whether in the short or long term. As Kevin Kruse, Founder+CEO of www.LEADx.org, wrote in Forbes Daily “Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.”

      “This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a salary, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals.” Invariably this means that an engaged employee will go that extra mile if needed, they will step in willingly during difficult times, work overtime without being asked and generally hold the interest of the company at the forefront of what they do in their role.

      According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace Report, 2021, “only 21% of employees are engaged at work. Even outside of work, only a third of the people making up our organizations feel like they are thriving.  This low engagement isn’t an overhyped narrative — Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy nearly 8 trillion USD.”

      McKinsey surveyed over 13,000 workers across the globe for their Great Attrition, Great Attraction 2.0 report, with 45% of respondents having quit or planning to quit over the past year. The top five reasons for quitting show clearly that the inability to retain talent is a direct result of high job demand that is “supported” by inadequate, uncaring and poor leadership that is compounded by inadequate compensation and lack of opportunities for development:

      • Lack of career development and advancement: 41%
      • Inadequate total compensation: 36%
      • Uncaring and uninspiring leaders: 34%
      • Lack of meaningful work: 31%
      • Unsustainable expectations: 29%

      Perhaps there is a hesitancy amongst HR professionals and top leadership to hire in this current climate with the expectation that the UK and perhaps the world, is facing a recession. Surely then if this is true, retention through active engagement has to be the answer? What are some of the ways that employee retention and engagement can be improved? In no order of importance as they are all interconnected, but together make a huge difference to how employees feel and how emotionally engaged they are within their role and the organisation as a whole:

      1. Engage managers and develop leaders

      If managers are not satisfied with what they are doing, it is unlikely that they will inspire others. Start with manager engagement and develop their commitment through knowing their needs, providing support and offering development to support their personal goals as well as the goals of the organisation.  Effective leaders require autonomy. If your organisation expects leadership to follow a set of rules without questioning, without application of personal knowledge and skill, combined with extreme pressure to deliver, perhaps it is not leadership that you are requiring?

       2. Show interest by following up regularly with employees

      There is a big difference between a bot or robot and a human. Humans require recognition for who they are and what they contribute. All managers and leaders should know their team members and be able to relate to them on a personal basis as well as job-related basis. This shows they have a personal interest in the welfare of their team members and show that they are valued. Employees who do not get the necessary recognition to feel valued for their contribution will most certainly look elsewhere.

       3. Give positive feedback and recognise improvement

      It is so easy to see and find someone doing something wrong – in fact is it human nature to notice what is not right as opposed to what is right. Find employees and team members doing things right, recognise their improvements, however small, to encourage more of the same behaviour. Employees who feel valued will undoubtedly become engaged.

       4. Listen to your employees

      Listening is the greatest gift one individual can give another. Managers, peers and colleagues who are unable to truly listen to others are missing out on the opportunity to show interest, connect emotionally, respond to thoughts, ideas and suggestions and demonstrate that they value their input whether implemented or not. Listening empathetically helps build emotional connection which in turn builds trust and confidence in one another.

       5. Plan for career development and advancement

      As seen in the McKinsey survey 41% of employees lacked engagement and left their organisations in search of a position elsewhere because of lack of career development and opportunity. 31% because of lack of meaningful work. Not everyone wants to become General Director, CEO or Group HR Director.  It is human nature to want to improve ourselves and if an organisation, department or team is unable to provide adequate opportunity to learn new skills and gain new knowledge, experience different roles, grow the level of responsibility and increase autonomy, then seriously the leadership of that organisation needs to look in the mirror and question themselves honestly and openly as to why employees are lacking engagement and worse still looking elsewhere for new positions.

      The responsibility for employee engagement falls squarely on the shoulders of leadership within each organisation to develop a culture that truly cares for their workforce, wants and aims to have each employee grow hand in hand with the organisation.  But, more importantly ultimately wants their employees to drive the success of the organisation.

      References:

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-what-and-why/?sh=148639287f37

      https://advise.gallup.com/employee-engagement?campaignid=18945816141&adgroupid=143633586437&adid=635680356857&gclid=CjwKCAjwiOCgBhAgEiwAjv5whMr9eXpYipo3ReeMZSr36ar2DHLyVLxPP25QkECaGmhj8d-0DILhGBoC_iUQAvD_BwE

      https://www.lumapps.com/resources/white-papers/attract-engage-retain-the-employee-experience-advantage/

    • 6 Reasons Why it is Important to Include Game-Based Learning in Your Content

      A Guest Post by Shaheen Sajan

      Can gamification make learning more meaningful or should we brace ourselves for a new wave of e-Learning courses diluted of any substance?  Here are 6 reasons why Gamification is not just a passing fad or trend and why it is here to stay. 

      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 awarding 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 class?  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 ostracize underperformers, there should always be a button that asks participants if they would like their results to be published or not.

      Why it is important to include game-based learning in your content4. CELEBRATE ACHIEVEMENTS

      Can gamification make learning more meaningful or should we brace ourselves for a new wave of e-learning courses diluted of any substance? here are 6 reasons why gamification is not just a passing fad or trend, and why it is here to stay.

      It’s always good practice to recognize 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 realized 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 Deliotte 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 and 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. 

       

      To find out more about how Green Key can design interactive e-Learning courses, contact Rachel directly.

    • A Celebration of International Women

      On the 8th March to celebrate International Women’s day it is appropriate to give credit to the many female Heads of State, CEO’s, Founders, Mothers and Grandmothers. How interesting that the world has a strong representation of female leaders, 22 countries in total including New Zealand, Denmark, Bangladesh, Lithuania, Taiwan and Norway are all led by inspirational women. This is quite a sizeable representation of women in top leadership positions, some in countries that are culturally showing more masculine than feminine qualities according to the Hofstede model of Intercultural sensitivity. It is irrelevant what you think about them, but the fact is these female and other female leaders are running governments, countries and businesses in what can only be termed troubled and challenging times.  In all fairness our male leaders are not exempt from the turbulence affecting everyone across the globe.

      Erna Solberg of Norway has been Prime Minister since 2013. Greece’s President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been in office since March 2020, and New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in office since October 2017.  These and many other women are demonstrating both success at achieving the position as well as longevity in the position.

      WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLE CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP? 

      A Celebration of International WomenCan we characterize these principles and definitively separate them from the principles of male leadership? Unlikely, because styles of leadership differ amongst men and women equally depending on education, experience, courage, individuality, stamina and so on.  However, when looking at women andLet us celebrate the female leaders around the world on International Women’s Day. men, there are differences and when women bring these differences into play, we might see a broader range of characteristics, showing feminine power. Many of which come naturally to women.  Again, I don’t want to say that men do not display some or all these characteristics and vice versa, but men usually display a more masculine power through male characteristics and therefore the following are more common in women, especially in female leaders.

      Common female characteristics:

      • Intuitive and sensitive, demonstrating fluid emotional intelligence
      • Ability to sense the emotion as well as see the facts in order to make decisions on both factual/logical and emotional levels
      • Goal achievement through perseverance and vision, but not at the cost of others
      • Patience and tolerance, promoting harmony and understanding
      • The ability to encourage and nurture to reveal hidden potential of those who are unable to stand up for themselves
      • Ability to forgive, let go, learn and grow
      • Fosters an environment of trust, cooperation and harmony
      • Quiet drive, courage and resilience, as opposed to power and strength
      • Ability to release own emotions to relieve tension and break stress often through crying, which in men is seen as a weakness 
      • Ability to relieve tension in a situation through empathy and understanding
      • Happy to be out of the limelight and just get on with the job 

      CONCLUSIONS OR QUESTIONS?

      Are we moving into a time when female leadership is more appropriate for the global and work-related challenges we face in today’s world – starvation, homelessness, loneliness, escalation in chronic mental and physical diseases, environmental damage on a huge scale and the ever widening gap between the exceedingly wealthy and those who earn under the minimum wage?

      I don’t know the answer to this, but I do know the questions:  How much longer can we, as human beings go on living in an environment that is under more and more control due to the poor, ignorant choices of our leadership and our own inaction?  One that we are determined to destroy through industrial farming methods, fracking that pollutes and destroys the very integrity of the earth and the finely balanced ecosystem on which we live as well as wasteful habits, all of which combined are removing the right to a heritage for generations to come?

      How long can we go on not seeing, or deliberately covering up the detrimental impact of processed, sugar laden foods on our health and the health of our children, which has manifested in serious escalation in chronic disease, obesity and stress, all of which we see in most of the English speaking world, with other countries not far behind, having adopted a Western diet?

      How long are we going to allow escalation in mental health issues to continue to rise, before taking a close look at our company cultures, leadership approach and work environments?  What might this have to do with the current pandemic?  Could there be a correlation between the number of Covid cases and deaths in countries with the highest levels of diabetes, obesity and other chronic disease?

      LET’S CELEBRATE FEMALE LEADERSHIP

      As we move into the Age of Aquarius with the spring equinox, let’s celebrate all our female leaders and leadership, not only on International Women’s day, but everyday whether Heads of State, Heads of Companies, Entrepreneurs or Mothers. The arrival of the Aquarian age is associated with harmony, understanding, sympathy and trust.  All female characteristics. It is perhaps the female leaders that will turn the ship to restore balance in life, becoming more caring, nurturing, and responsible in how and what we live for?  Fostering a global economy and community that sees nations support each other rather than competing and striving to be the first with the strong, fit and healthy and remembering the rest as an afterthought?

      In the words of Marilyn Munroe, “One of the best things that ever happened to me, is that I am a woman.  That is the way all females should feel.” 

       

      Happy International Women’s Day.

       

      To find out more about how Green Key can help you and your leadership journey, contact Rachel directly.

    • Anyone got a plan b?

      The General Election results have for the second time in recent history demonstrated the importance of having a Plan B.  What I am referring to is the Brexit vote – for most people there was little thought to the fact that Britain would vote “out” seen through comments such as “If I had known we would be out, I would have voted to stay in!”  The Conservative government at the time, also did not consider the fact that the British people would vote “out” and therefore create a Plan B, or contingency to kick in if the unspeakable happened.  Thus, the hasty resignation of David Cameron immediately afterwards and the chaos that ensued to find another Prime Minister.  Not to mention the “no man’s land” that we all seemed to feel with no leader at the helm and the potential impact that had on business both nationally and internationally.

      Again in the recent election results, there was no thought to the fact that the Conservatives would not win.  How can any leader be so confident, or we might say egotistical?  In this blog I am not advocating any particular party preference or view.   It is strange however that on both occasions, not too far apart from each other, it is the Conservative leadership who have fallen into the same trap of not expecting the unexpected.

      Where was Plan B?  In other words why, in both cases was there no apparent discussion on the possibility of the vote going in the opposite direction to firstly the planned goal and secondly the desires of the leadership party?   Effective leadership is certainly about driving towards a specific goal by inspiring and motivating those that are responsible for making it happen, but we should never be so overly confident as to not ask the question “What if…..” and have a plan B for that eventuality.

      Most leaders are motivated to avoid failing, because firstly we plan to succeed, but secondly we need to manage the emotions of disappointment and self shame which often turns to self anger and self-beratement when we realize that we did not achieve that goal, and therefore are imperfect, and consequently everyone else suffers in the same manner.  OK, we had no Plan B.  Now what?

      Failure is an opportunity.  In a crisis many leaders want to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders – “I got us into this mess, I will get us out”  (Theresa May) when actually the way forward is to work with your team with humility and collaboration to find a new way forward and to learn from the experience.  Failure helps to re-visit and re-define priorities.  This might mean giving up the original goal or re-defining the goal and then moving forward.

      Columbus was looking for India, Alexander Graham Bell was trying to invent a hearing aid, and Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame was planning to sell his chicken recipe to restaurants.  Often what we are planning to happen leads us to something very different.

      Plan B is not only for large scale situations, such as running a country, but for smaller situations where the impact of if it goes wrong carries high risk on business operations – the server crashes, your main supplier goes bankrupt, your tanker transporting goods damages it’s hull etc.  Whilst it might not be the most sexy task, it does help provide calmness in the ensuing chaos, focus, and ultimately a framework and goals to continue to exercise effective leadership.

      Sir Ernest Shackleton, The Great Antartic Explorer and his men survived the wreck of their ship “Endurance” coming home in good health and good spirits all because of Shackleton’s leadership.  He later wrote “The disaster had been looming ahead for many months, and I had studied my plans for all contingencies a hundred times.  The task ahead was likely to be long and strenuous, and an ordered mind and clear program were essential if we were to come through without loss of life.”  (Shackleton’s Way, Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell)

      Perhaps its time for us all to take a leaf out of Shackleton’s book and ensure when the risk is high to our operations that we have a Plan B?

    • Are Leaders Born or Made?

      “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one that does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.”  Ronald Reagan

      The question of whether leaders are born or can be made through learning and development is a question that is very often asked. This blog will explore the relationship between being a natural born leader, which certainly many people are, as well as learning the skills of an effective leader.

      Working on the premise that leadership is influencing others to want to do their job while management, also very important is getting the job done through others, the differentiating factor we could argue is how we influence those who work with us to want to do their job, to love doing their job, and to do it well on a consistent basis.

      What makes an individual want to do and love their job? Initial motivation to get out of bed in the morning has to be the responsibility of the individual, as does the positivity and excitement to turn up for work. The question then is what makes the experience between someone who turns up for work because they need the money and someone who wants to be there, enjoy the daily challenges as well as the regular tasks and duties that are a part of all roles. The answer lies in looking at the importance of colleagues who we associate with and enjoy working with as well as the person that we report to and who guides us while bringing out the best in each person. That manager and leader builds motivation and commitment in each unique individual to inspire them to want to as well as to love, coming to work. The person that builds a positive, fun climate in order to deliver peak performance.

      Characteristics and skills of an effective leader include, but may not be limited to:

      Honesty and integrity saying what you will do and doing it, being true to and keeping to your word, being consistent with those you lead and not treating one person more favourably than the other. As well as being consistent in all your actions and behaviours. Operating with high levels of personal integrity.

      Openness – being open to share feedback, both positive and constructive negative feedback while also showing vulnerabilities and encouraging and allowing others to also be open to share, to provide their feedback to you as well as other team members.

      Positivity – irrelevant of what is happening to find the upsides without being unrealistic. Remaining upbeat despite challenges and difficulties, not pulling yourself and others down.

      Ability to listen – perhaps the most critical of all the characteristics and skills of a leader. Taking time to hear others, being fully present and not necessarily finding a solution for that person’s plight, but simply listening and showing that you care. Listening is also important when it comes to listening to oneself. Knowing how you feel and acknowledging that. Addressing issues without taking them out on those you lead. Giving out the message that you are here, present and available while being able to show self-compassion and compassion for others.

      Humility – not being afraid to show your humble side. Just because you have been given the role and the job description, does not mean that you have to have all the answers. It is fine to say, “I don’t know what to do in this situation, does anyone else have any ideas?”

      Desire to see others grow and develop – Wanting to keep everything within your control only serves to stifle growth and development of both yourself and others. Trusting colleagues to deliver gives freedom to make decisions, freedom to experiment and try without fear of reprisal if it all goes wrong. Using these opportunities for assisting learning and development builds trust.

      Learning mentality – Leaders who do not have a learning mentality for themselves as well as others, will soon reach their ceiling of growth and be left behind.

      Trust – trusting yourself and trusting others creates an atmosphere of positivity, wanting to learn, confidence to take on something new and address challenges, ultimately leading to positive and constructive feedback and delegation of authority to create autonomy within the workforce. It takes time to earn trust which is an accumulation of all the little things that you do and say.

      Purpose and vision – Has a clear vision and knows their own purpose, why he or she is in the position of a leader, while also being clear about the purpose and direction of the organisation or department and is able to share that purpose and vision with others in order to build commitment.

      Self-care – Each one of us has a responsibility to ourselves firstly to ensure we are full of wellness and vitality through respect for mind, body and soul. Vitality is not just about regularly going to a gym, jogging, swimming or playing tennis it is much broader than that. Focusing only on the physical aspects of ourselves, failing to address the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects that are often the foundation to wellness and who we are, what we are experiencing and how we show up and contribute to this the world means we are addressing 25% of what contributes to wellness, vitality and general wellbing.

      Looking around the world at our “global” leaders, those nominated to lead a country, I struggle to find many of these skills and characteristics. Is it a surprise that governments are in disarray? I won’t take your time or energy to pick those apart that regularly feature in our media, sadly for the wrong reasons, I’ll leave you to do that using the above points. What went wrong in our systems? At this time, I cannot find a reasonable answer. Is it a reflection of our education system, upbringing, life experiences or culture? Probably a bit of each.

      Returning to the main question of can you learn to be an effective leader?  Do you learn integrity, honesty, how to trust and how to listen, are these characteristics and skills acquired somehow, or are you simply born with them? Integrity and honesty come from one’s upbringing while the ability to listen effectively and provide feedback are skills that can be learned if a person is interested while being given the experience of a wonderful role model in one or several job roles, through a family member or other role model who is closely followed.

      Developing your managers to become effective leaders is never too late. Giving them the skills to perform well, nurture individuals and teams to build commitment, encourage growth and development of others, while developing themselves is critical not only to the individual, but to the business as a whole. Without an effective leadership team, your ship is sailing without a rudder. It is like setting sail with all the bells and whistles, latest technology, fantastic systems, luxurious interior design, as did the Titanic when she set sail on April 10, 1912. Investing in development of your leadership team, irrelevant of seniority, makes sound, financial sense.

      If you want to optimise your leadership skills or develop the leadership skills of a manager then please drop me an email to rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com or book a zoom call.

    • Are You Educating Your Female Workforce On How To Manage Their Performance Through Menopause?

      A recent headline “Menopause is forcing women to retire early” written in an article by Caitlin Powell on 7 December, got me thinking about this statement.

      Firstly, no one forces you to retire irrelevant of the symptoms you might be suffering whether menopause related or otherwise. In fact, no one forces you to do anything as there is always an element of personal choice. Retirement might be a choice that is arrived at through discussion with an employer, due to some work-related issues, but at the end of the day, each one of us decides our own journey.

      Andy Briggs, the government’s champion for older workers, told the Mail on Sunday, “To leave the workplace in your fifties – when we know that you’re far less likely than someone younger to return to work – has a huge impact on your retirement income.”  This comment further highlights the fact, that women can make their own choice about when they retire and can seek help for the natural body changes that menopause brings to all women at some stage in their life.

      It is common knowledge that nearly 4 million women who are in employment in the UK are aged between 45 and 55.  Women over the age of 50 are the fastest growing workforce segment. As the average age to experience menopause is 51-52 in the Western world, it is expected that peri-menopause starts around the age of 45-46, with changes to their menstruation cycle. Transitioning through menopause can take up to 10 years. This is a long time to be suffering from symptoms such as brain fogginess, lack of concentration, hot flushes, poor sleep, irritability and lethargy, all of which often contribute to poor performance. Therefore, one could say “quite rightly that organisations encourage women to retire when performance is greatly reduced.”

      This workforce segment is important to the labour market, it is important to companies and to women themselves. Social programming might want us to believe that menopause is the end of life for women. This is not true. Menopause is a natural change in the female body, male body also during andropause, and can be extremely liberating, with minimal interruptions to work-life integration and overall wellbeing.

      Why is it that some women sail through menopause and others suffer from many of the symptoms mentioned above?

      Most of us prepare for our older age and our retirement, menopause can be considered a part of that and women can prepare for this in order to limit the negative impact of these natural body changes. Taking a brief look at a 1987 study conducted with 13,996 Japanese women the results concluded that:

      • “Studies and anecdotal evidence show that after their last menstrual period and the onset of menopause, American women and other ethnicities have a worse experience than Japanese women.
      • Japanese women have less severe hot flashes/flushes, insomnia, night sweats, joint pain, urine leakage, and increased heart rate.  They generally also have fewer symptoms.
      • Plus, they have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and brain cancer.”

      Are You Educating Your Female Workforce On How To Manage Their Performance Through Menopause?This study pointed out that this is not about genetics, it is about the differences in diet and the main differences are lack of or no wheat and dairy in the Japanese diet, as well as the inclusion of soy and soy products.  As the average menopausal woman produces less estrogen, soy helps to balance the body during the changes. As soy contains isoflavones, they work like estrogen, albeit in a much weaker manner. With a healthy portion of soy in your diet, you can effectively prevent the worst that menopause presents.

      5 Key points for limiting the negative impact on personal performance during menopause

      These points can be implemented not only to transition smoothly through this period, but also will help with overall health.

      1. Nutrition and Hydration

      Limit the amount of wheat or remove wheat from your diet.

      Eat the rainbow every day in fruit and vegetables and include a minimum of 10 per day to increase fibre, vitamins and mineral intake.

      Include soy and soy products in your diet on a daily basis (with caution if you are suffering thyroid issues). Protect bone density with Vitamin D3.

      Limit convenience foods which are full of preservatives, “E’s” and other additives as they exacerbate hot flushes, brain fog and poor sleep by choking up the liver. Instead cook from fresh ingredients and choose a salad or soup over a sandwich and fizzy drink at lunch time.

      Keep hydrated. Many of our body systems require water to function including the blood, removal of waste from the cells, digestion, brain function and so on. Providing water stations in the office can go a long way to helping employees keep hydrated.

      2. Movement

      The lymphatic system which is responsible for removal of toxins from the body relies on natural body movement. Lack of exercise, whether walking, tennis, football, cycling or any other sport decreases lymphatic drainage, therefore the level of toxicity within the body increases. Help your body and mind to function well with gentle movement on a daily basis.

      3. Fresh Air

      Getting outside, irrelevant of the weather is so important to wellbeing overall. Oxygenating the blood and boosting endorphins, the feel-good factor, fresh air helps to calm the central nervous system, de-stress the mind and aid performance. As a leader, encourage your female and male team members to go outside in their lunch break as this is one of the best gifts you can give them.  It clears the head, helps with de-stressing mind and body and aids performance, increasing productivity on return to your work place.

      4. Resilience and Stress Management

      We assume that stress is something that comes from an external source. That is mostly true. However, each one of us has a choice on how we manage external stressors and therefore how they impact internally, including being assertive to voice our opinions, being assertive to say “No” when the system is already on “overload”, taking time out when things become overwhelming. Cutting out “me” time on a regular basis, eating mindfully as opposed to grabbing something quickly, as well as sharing issues and worries and asking for help when we need it, all impact whether we internalise stresses.

      Stressors are not only things that we see and experience such as conflict, lack of openness and trust, financial issues etc, but toxins in the air, water and foods that we breathe eat and drink, all add stress. Electromagnetic frequencies that we all live in due to our wifi driven world affects the signalling in both body and mind and has direct impact on how we sleep. When menopausal the body is more sensitive to these frequencies, further contributing to poor sleep. Create EMF down time and switch off wifi at night.

      5. Sleep

      Sleep is essential and due to hormonal changes, it tends to suffer creating a vicious cycle of not sleeping, waking exhausted, then dealing with a stressful lifestyle and work life, gorging on foods that give a quick energy boost just to get through the day.  Each time the boost wears off it leads to a lower low, and so the cycle goes on creating in its wake poor memory, brain fogginess, adrenal stress and headaches.  Improving sleep quality goes a long way to supporting women going through perimenopause and menopause. The practice of a regular sleep-wake cycle is very beneficial for most of us, perhaps more so for women who are menopausal. Getting to bed at a regular time and waking at the same regular time is important and using the natural rhythm of nature to be in bed before 11pm and up eight hours later, will help improve sleep. That in turn tones down how we react to stressful situations and work demands, limiting any negative impact on performance.

      Educating your male and female workforce in the topic of menopause and providing supportive leadership and direction, will ensure you keep your female workforce through the transition and out the other side. That to me looks like a win-win for everyone!

      For more information on our course “The Impact of Menopause on Performance,” contact on 01235 639 430 or rachel@greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com