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Tag: Performance

  • Ignoring Bad Leadership is Damaging your Business

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

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

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

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

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

    • Community
    • Social
    • Financial
    • Career
    • Physical

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Start the leadership training today, let’s talk.

    References:

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

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

  • In pursuit of perfectionism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Inspirational Leadership – A Festive Thought

    2018 has been a very turbulent year, especially when we look at what has been going on in the world – dare I mention the “B” word again and all the leaders involved in that process to execute the will of the British public, the turbulence in the USA that came with Trump leadership, the unrest in France, challenges to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and many more issues that have created news in 2018.

    However, my thought as this year comes to a close, is around inspirational leadership.  Sadly there is little evidence of inspiration coming from world leaders during this year, therefore I want to go back to February when I had the honour of attending the winter Olympic Games in South Korea.  When I say, the honour, what I am referring to is the fact that one of my godson’s was competing.  Infact he was and still is the skip of the Swiss men’s curling team.

    I have never attended an Olympic games before, and from a leadership perspective it was quite fascinating to watch the curling teams manage the challenges of each game, the pressure that a competition like the Olympic games brings, as well as the relationships within the team and the need to make decisions in the moment that very often demanded the courage to take risk in order to be at the top of your game.  As in business, this risk sometimes pays off, and sometimes it does not.   Making those decisions does not make you less of a leader, infact the reverse as it is an opportunity to learn and grow, but at the same time an opportunity to inspire each and every team member to give of their best and to find that energy, courage and enthusiasm to keep focused and to excel by pulling something extraordinary out of the hat.

    Is inspirational leadership about winning?  Personally, I do not think so.  Winning is a bonus.  Instead it is about sharing the glory, sharing the disappointments, but more importantly knowing that everyone gave of their best and in that there is always celebration.

    I wish you all a very inspirational 2019 with opportunities to share, to experience the true essence of being a team, and to celebrate at every opportunity.

  • Integrity in Leadership; What Business Leaders Can Learn from Our Political System

    In today’s Britain, as we watch our government navigate scandal, public discontent, and complex global challenges, the question arises again and again: are our leaders truly working with honesty and integrity?

    Recent months have seen a string of events that throw this into question. Sir Keir Starmer entered office promising a clean break from political sleaze—but recent revelations suggest a more complex reality.

    In 2024, Starmer declared that he had accepted over £100,000 in gifts and hospitality since becoming an MP—far more than any other parliamentarian, including clothing and accommodation provided by Labour donor Lord Alli. While technically disclosed, this sharply contrasts with his message of accountability and austerity. As one Reddit commentator put it:

    “For a man who found so much pay dirt in presenting himself as a man of integrity, accepting these sorts of gifts … seems like such an easy bullet to dodge.” 

    There's also the awkward incident during lockdown: Starmer reportedly invited an acting coach to Downing Street for in‑person lessons while urging strict lockdown compliance for everyone else. The episode sparked claims of hypocrisy and doubt over whether “rules for some” applied across the board. (IAE Limited)

    On issues of openness and accountability, Starmer has called for a statutory “duty of candour” in government aimed at ending cover‑ups seen in the Post Office, infected blood, and other state failures. Yet critics argue that his own government's internal handling of data secrecy, e.g. hidden Afghan data leaks, hasn't always aligned with these values. 

    Take, for example, the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT scandal. After years of injustice, during which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for financial shortfalls caused by a faulty computer system, the government promised compensation and transparency. Yet, as of mid-2025, many victims are still waiting. Promised payouts delayed, processes remain unclear, and bureaucratic hurdles persist. Despite repeated reassurances from ministers that the issue is being handled with urgency and compassion, families remain in limbo—forced to relive trauma while fighting for justice that should have been swiftly delivered.

    Is this leadership? Or is it another case of “managing the message” rather than taking meaningful action?

    Honesty and integrity in leadership aren’t abstract ideals. They’re the foundation of trust and trust is the glue that holds together public cooperation, engagement, and belief in the system. When leaders send mixed messages—one rule for the public, another for those in power—it erodes the very contract that enables effective governance. Is this any different for private companies and their employees?

    We’ve been here before. Rewind to the early days of the pandemic and the infamous Partygate scandal under then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. While the public was locked down, making sacrifices and losing loved ones, senior officials partied at Downing Street—breaking the rules they themselves had set. That hypocrisy shattered public confidence and left a deep scar on the national psyche. I suspect the deep scar might become even deeper as the truth about Covid and the “pandemic” is revealed.

    And what about science?

    When it comes to public health and medical research, integrity matters just as much, if not more. In a 2021 article in IHCAN Magazine, journalist Ronald Bailey exposed shocking systemic failures in the scientific research community. Former BMJ editor Dr. Richard Smith even proposed a radical stance: “Assume all medical research is fraudulent until proven otherwise.” Let that sink in! The very field we rely on for life-and-death guidance is increasingly driven by incentives that reward quantity of publication over quality or honesty of findings.

    As researcher Barbara K. Redman wrote, this “isn’t just a case of a few bad apples”—it’s a whole system that encourages poor behaviour. The absence of robust fraud-detection mechanisms, combined with an unwillingness to retract false findings for fear of reputational damage, is deeply troubling, setting an example to the many who look up to and follow those in authority through unquestioned belief. (Authority is one of Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Influence).

    What happens when the people can no longer trust their government leadership and the scientists who produce the “science” it not only relies on, but makes decisions on? When both leadership and knowledge systems seem riddled with opacity, contradiction, and self-interest. Until then, the public will continue to ask: “who are they working for – us or for themselves?

    That same question can be asked of leadership within an organisation. What happens when employees cannot trust their leaders and the information and systems they rely on? 

    For the UK we can still reclaim that future—but only if our leaders choose transparency over spin, substance over slogans, and integrity over image. In organisations it should never come to “reclaiming” because damage will already have been done and consequences will be clear as good employees jump ship, service levels drop and customer negative feedback increases all seriously effecting earning capacity.

    Conclusion: Lessons for Business Leadership

    Examples shared and the many others whether Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Rishi Sunak, David Lammy or Boris Johnson all demonstrate important lessons for organisational leaders:

    o    Trust is earned, not assumed: Promising reform or transparency isn’t enough if actions don’t follow through—and stakeholders notice inconsistencies.

    o    Details matter: Whether in public office or private boardrooms, undisclosed interests or misstatement, even when unintentional undermine credibility.

    o    Prioritize timely, accurate declarations of interests.

    o    Ensure consultation and stakeholder engagement are genuine and recorded.

    o    Show transparency in who you are and what you do.

    o    Back up what you say with personal behaviour and deliver on what you promised. In other words “walk your talk”.

    o    Communicate honestly—even when facing difficult decisions or scrutiny.

    o    Be true to yourself, and to others.

    As Nelson Mandela reminded us: “A bright future beckons. The onus is on us, through hard work, honesty and integrity, to reach for the stars.”

    Organisations can build that bright future—but only if leadership demonstrates integrity in word, action, and transparency.

    References

    Bailey, Ronald. (2021). Zombie Trials and Outright Fraud: Why Medical Research is Mostly Fake News. IHCAN: The Practice and Science of Natural Medicine, September, p. 42.

    Smith, Richard. (2021). “Time to Assume Fraud?” BMJ Editorial.

    Redman, Barbara K. (2021). Research Misconduct Policy in Biomedicine: Beyond the Bad-Apple Approach.

    https://iaelimited.com/keir-starmers-days-are-numbered-the-scandal-that-could-end-his-leadership-carole-malone/

    Cialdini's 6 principles of Persuasion book

  • Is Technology Ruining your Life?

    Is technology ruining your life?Technology is a fine thing, and something that most of us cannot do without on one level or another. It keeps us connected to colleagues, partners, family. It even helps make our lives more tolerable, less intensive, more effective and overall easier.

    IS THAT REALLY THE CASE?

    Did I say, more tolerable, less intensive, effective and easier?  Information flies around at such speed that it is almost impossible sometimes to feel that it makes life less intensive. In some instances, it is even questionable whether it helps us to be more effective.

    SUPPORTIVE FACTS

    Here are just a few facts and figures to support my comment, from Bernard Marr of Enterprise in a Cloud, May, 2018:

    • 3.7 billion humans use the internet
    • 40,000 searches are conducted through Google every second.  That is equal to 3.5 billion searches per day on Google alone.
    • In the last two years 90% of data was created at the current pace.  That is 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being created every day.  If you don’t know what a quintillion is – check out Google!

    EVERY MINUTE:

    • 156,000 emails are sent
    • 103,447,520 SPAM emails are sent
    • 4,146,600 users watch Youtube
    • 45,788 Uber rides
    • and the list of technology related statistics goes on……

    THE RESULT

    It is no wonder that some days, I feel like I am in a washing machine that just keeps going and never reaches the end of its cycle. I’m constantly bombarded with information coming in via WhatsApp, Linked In, Facebook, including Messenger, Twitter, SMS messaging, email and finally the odd telephone call.

    The feeling of having to be constantly connected and available can be very stressful. Not to mention the other side of the coin, of keeping in touch with the latest information, just to keep your head above the parapet.  This list of possible ways to contact is not complete by any means when considering all other in possibilities.

    IMPACT ON BUSINESS

    Is present day business expecting all leaders to have the same digital availability, whilst also managing team members on a face-to-face basis.  Or have leaders become digital, thus leading without face-to-face exposure?

    Impact on the brainIMPACT ON THE BRAIN

    With so much focus on technology in today’s society, we find ourselves paying a price. Sleeping problems, anxiety, stress management and work stress are just a few. This blog offers a solution. Are you prepared to hear it? #sleep #stress #technology

    What impact is this having on the brain?  Research is already showing that brain function due to neuronal re-programming is changing and becoming wired differently.  Whether this is evolution or not, time will tell.

    Ill health such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder and other brain related diseases are increasing in number and hit the headlines more often.

    POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

    Is it time to think about using digital technology for the purposes that it was designed for – to assist and make life easier by transferring information instantly, to conduct meetings virtually, to send the same information to a group of people at the click of a button and to access news as and when time is appropriate?

    Would this allow “unconnected” down-time to enable enjoyment from leading people, and to be able to appreciate what they do and say in a fully focused manner?  Interacting with others on a face-to-face, person-to-person basis brings what technology is unable to do, fully engaged communication, that human touch which we all need at times, and a normal conversation with facial expressions, shared joy, disappointment, laughter and interest.   Is this approach, old hat, or simply lost under the demand of our digital world?

    Do you really need technology to tell you how you slept?DO YOU REALLY NEED TECHNOLOGY TO TELL YOU HOW YOU SLEPT?

    With so much focus on technology in today’s society, we find ourselves paying a price. Sleeping problems, anxiety, stress management and work stress are just a few. This blog offers a solution. Are you prepared to hear it? #sleep #stress #technologyThis blog came about because of one of those all too rare face-to-face conversations with a friend and business colleague as I noticed that she was not wearing her Fitbit activity tracker.  On asking where was her Fitbit she answered, I used it for 2 things:

    • To tell me how far I have walked
    • To tell me if I am sleeping

    With that last comment she added: “When I wake in the morning, I know whether I have slept well or not. Why do I need a Fit bit to tell me this?”

    Is this yet another aspect of giving up brain capacity to a piece of digital technology, which at the end of the day tells me what I already know?

     

    References:

    Bernard Marr (May 2018)

    Baroness Susan Greenfield, Mind Change (2014)

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    •    Life's unexpected curveballs.

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

    The Business Case for Better Nutrition

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

    Common effects of poor workplace eating habits include:

    •    Afternoon energy slumps and reduced concentration.

    •    Increased sick days due to lower immunity.

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

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

    •    Lack of positivity.

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

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

    The Hidden Sugar Trap

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

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

    How Businesses Can Support Healthy Eating

    Changing habits starts with awareness and small, achievable actions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Why This Matters for Leadership

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

    •    Creativity and focus improve.

    •    Stress resilience increases.

    •    Employee satisfaction and retention rise.

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

    •    Mental health improves.

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

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

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

    References:

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

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

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

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

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

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

    1. A carrot instead of a stick

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

    2. Not just fun and games  

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

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

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

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

    3. Competition is healthy 

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

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

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

    4. Celebrate achievements  

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

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

    5. Make learning addictive

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

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

    6. Boost Retention

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

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

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

    To sum it up

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

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

  • Great Leadership – Taking Difficult Decisions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • 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

  • Does your working day eat into your lunch break?

    As with most things in the UK around working hours and conditions there is legislation that dictates the amount of hours worked in relation to the time allocated and legally allowed for a break.  I would suggest that most companies are not only aware of this, but also follow the legislation, explaining to employees the amount of time they are entitled to for a break and in some situations, such as restaurants, and other service institutions, when that break can be taken.   On the other hand there are jobs such as couriers who are paid by the number of deliveries and not by the hour who probably focus more on earning capacity, rather than taking a break to eat something.  Despite all the legislation, lunch breaks are being swallowed up as we resign to eating lunch at our desk, opting to earn more, or to go home early.  Not exactly “al fresco”, but “al desko” dining, or quickly popping out for a take-away of some kind, which is eaten on the hoof before returning to the desk.

    Is the lack of respect for the lunch break self-imposed or a reflection of the ever-increasing pressure and changing work culture?  Does the employee feel comfortable in taking a full lunch break, or is there an unspoken rule that this is not acceptable and therefore, frowned upon?

     

     

    What are the benefits of taking time for lunch?

    Effective digestion – There are the obvious benefits of getting away from the desk to stretch a little, exercise, get out into some fresh air, and if going with someone, talk about something else, socialise and unwind. Furthermore, from a digestion point of view, focusing on what we eat helps to begin the process of digestion, therefore starting natural salivation in the mouth in readiness for the arrival of food, which in turn stimulates the release of stomach acid.  Proper digestion, means avoiding that uncomfortable feeling of bloating and heaviness associated with indigestion or having that “sugar high” and then a major energy slump an hour later.

    Mental and Physical Performance – Proper digestion is connected directly to physical and mental wellbeing. Ensuring the body is able to absorb  nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed for work performance, needs time to begin the process of digestion.  Working through a break, or eating at the desk, when a regular practice, is false economy because the digestive system is compromised, thus affecting nutrient absorption that ultimately takes its toll on performance with the inevitable slump in energy.   Whereas taking time to leave the desk to “switch off” and enjoy what you are eating, helps in creating the right environment for digestion as well as alleviating work pressures and stress, thus leading to enhanced performance.

    Mental performance is also lowered due to increased screen time.  Our mental performance is directly linked to the ability to make decisions.  It is the pre-frontal cortex that is involved in making decisions and in executive function.  This connects to other brain networks in order to regulate behaviour, mood, thought and emotion. The pre-frontal cortex is highly susceptible to stress, which when overloaded can result in poor decision-making, inability to focus effectively and over time lead to tension headaches, mood swings and depression.

    Better Weight Management – It is common knowledge that weight management is important. Overweight means we put stress on our body functions and all the organs in the body.  Besides this obvious point, being overweight you often feel uncomfortable and lack energy, as well as self-confidence.  Taking time to eat slowly and mindfully and getting some movement or exercise during a break are both important to managing weight.  The World Health Organisation has identified physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor in global mortality.  Being overweight and leading a sedentary lifestyle can lead to such diseases as hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease.  Lack of movement through sedentary behaviour lowers energy required to perform well.  “Moreover, physical inactivity is estimated to be the main cause for approximately 21–25% of breast and colon cancers, 27% of diabetes and approximately 30% of the ischemic heart disease burden.” (World Health Organisation)

    Tips for Improving Digestion

    1. Eat when relaxed.  Avoid eating when stressed as energy is diverted and digestion is compromised.
    2. Be mindful about what you are going to eat, stimulating saliva and gastric juices prior to putting food in your mouth.
    3. Sit comfortably, and upright when eating, avoiding slumping as this means food cannot travel easily to the stomach and intestines.
    4. Be relaxed and breathe, thus relaxing the brain and helping the body to switch on the digestive process.
    5. Eat slowly so as not to dump large chunks of food into the digestive tract.  Well-chewed food is more easily broken down and nutrients absorbed to provide not only the feeling of satiety, but also the energy needed to continue with your day.
    6. The body needs time to register when it is full, therefore avoid eating quickly to allow the system time to register and feel satiated.
    7. Enjoy the process of eating, take time to notice the smells, flavours and textures of your food.
    8. Eat until you feel comfortable.  Avoid overeating as this stresses the digestive system, and leaves you feeling tired with the inevitable afternoon slump in energy.
    9. Try to get at least 15 minutes exercise during your break especially if you have a sedentary job as movement helps to oxygenate the blood, increase blood flow to the brain, and alleviates any feelings of being stressed.
    10. Preferably walk or exercise outside as fresh air boosts the levels of oxygen in the blood, and through exposure to the sun also helps the body to create vitamin D needed for many functions in the body, including mood regulation. 

    With the increase in mental ill health in the workplace, encouraging employees to go out for lunch is a one step towards helping decrease stress and increase work performance through greater focus and attention, increased energy and a positive, constructive mood.

     

    References:

    https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/pa/en/

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28358570

    Optimum Nutrition www.ion.ac.uk