Conversation as a Core Strategic Process

The most widespread and pervasive development and learning no longer occurs in workshops, classrooms, conference rooms or boardrooms. It occurs over coffee, around the water cooler, in the corridors and the team’s kitchen. It is in emails, skype sessions, phone calls, instant messages, intranet-based groups and any internal social media applications. Every conversation is an opportunity to delve deeper, be more innovative, reinforce values, explain strategic priorities, support, inspire, ask questions, provide information and advice, share history, and (most of all) listen. Inquire about issues, approaches, opinions, experiences, obstacles. Spark a new insight, investigate a new perspective, explore an alternative path, suggest other sources of information. Offer feedback, seek feedback, ask advice. Make the person feel valued.

Using Paradoxes to Increase Performance, Achieve Success

“Don’t exclude paradox, it is more than half of life itself!”

As I read this quote this morning, I was reminded of how powerful the Paradox Traits are in Harrison Assessments. I love using them to show our clients how small shifts in the way that they use one or two paradoxical traits can produce extraordinary results with strong performance outcomes.

It is exciting for people, for teams, to be able to clearly see a way forward — often they have been struggling with an issue for a long time without making progress.

Find out more about Harrison Assessments and how we use them.

http://indraconsulting.harrisonassessments.com/

Enjoy your weekend!

Give of Your Time; Respect the Time of Others

Time is an interesting commodity. It is used in different ways all around the world. In our so-called “time poor” countries we consider ourselves so busy that our responsibilities outweigh the time available. We eek out every minute, carefully scheduling and booking appointments weeks and months ahead. We lose a real sense of spontaneity and flexibility. I have also noticed a trend over the past decade in organisations that places such a high value on one’s own time, and that this outweighs the appreciation of the value of time to others.

Once again, it is a balance between managing one’s productivity (which is often but not always a direct outcome of the amount of time that we put into activities), appreciating the use of the time of others, and giving your time freely and generously to others who need or will benefit from it.

Performance Focused Organisations: Extreme Leadership

In Performance Focused Organisations, diversity in style is welcomed. PFOs are not “cloned” organisations where a mono-culture exists. Rather the ideal is an active culture built around strong and deployed values where diversity is welcomed, honoured and respected.

Leadership styles vary. Some are strongly driven, some are strongly people-oriented. Others are detailed, thorough and exact, cautious or forever seeking opportunities. Some leadership styles work best in small groups, some are best in very large teams. As long as there is a central respect of People, Results, Profits, Customers and Process, each style has a part to play.

Our Mind and Our Brain: Our Responsibility

There is interesting research coming to light on the brain and the mind – in many ways this reflects the journey of science towards the philosophies of the East, which have always believed in the plasticity of the brain. Nowhere is this more evident than in the meditation techniques associated with the teachers from India and beyond.

Our brain is a fascinating organ – about 1.5 kg, or 2% of our body weight. It swims in a clear fluid but we are not yet sure of the purpose of this fluid. It needs oxygen, glucose, calories and utilises about 20% of the body’s nutrients. There are wonderfully eloquent parts of the brain, and also many whose use continues to elude us. There are a finite number of neurons but an infinite way of connecting them and communicating between them.

Do the Leaders in your Business Demonstrate Social Intelligence? Do you?

Written by Dr John Viljoen, Associate Consultant

For those of us who are in leadership roles, there is good reason to monitor our social skills – they could be key determinants of our leadership success.

The role of Social Intelligence in leadership performance

We all know that Emotional Quotient (EQ) is as important as Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in the make-up of a good leader.  Recent research indicates that EQ has three components, two “self” related and one “other” related:

Mentoring your Mind

Written by Anama Morriss, Associate Consultant

Have you ever thought how important your mind is to your life?

Through our minds we create the results in our workplace, care for our families and ponder purpose and meaning in our lives. Arguably the brain is:

the biological base for the mind, and is affected by the mental and physical aspects of our lives.  It is the control and coordinating centre of the central nervous system, and seat of thought, memory and emotion (Collins Concise Dictionary).