As we go thru our day, our Energy level peaks and ebbs. Often we ignore it and soldier on. Occasionally we get pushed to do something about it. Maybe out of concern to be attentive in an upcoming team meeting or simply being in a positive and energized frame of mind while returning home.
Below are a few. The only twist here is that it has to be something that energizes you in 5 mins. or less from the time you reach out to it.
Today i witnessed, through teary-eyes at times, eulogies to a great human being from a very tiny and great country-Singapore. As the prime minister, president, past prime-ministers and other significant Singaporeans including Lee, Kuan Yew’s son, delivered their eulogies, I could not but help connect to how Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are known to have built HP. Perhaps this post may help make us a better leader, from what i heard and learnt today. Simple.
Focused on the task at hand: This means getting to the point and staying around it even in the face of distractions including things like visual distractions, sounds, ideas not on agenda etc.
Deeply cared for people in the here and now by being aware of the now and addressing it right then and there even if it meant breaking away briefly from protocol.
Fought hard to build out the vision that he had so much conviction in. Bill and Dave were determined in building a great company and they fought hard to build it.Mr. Lee, Kuan Yew did the same in building and guiding Singapore.
Meditate- yes. This may or may not surprise you. I wouldn’t know if Bill and Dave meditated but Lee Hsien Loong, the current prime-minister of Singapore and eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew shared how his father learnt and encouraged his son to meditate. To clear the mind and get back in touch with oneself.
Sense of urgency- there’s no time wasted on things that are either not family nurturing, wellness nurturing or goal nurturing
Start of with the realities of what we are and let it evolve. Don’t go for one stroke solutions. You may regret it.
Lee Kuan Yew’s doctrines – stability can lead to growth. With discipline, give people a stake in the country’s(company’s) development that directly connect with realizing their life-dreams. There’s more. Lots more. He was there for the long haul. Most CEOs of multinational companies and corporate world, in general are in for a tenure of but a few years. That makes your job as a leader different and more difficult.
We have faith in the human spirit. I hope this piece will give us the resolve and ability to evolve as better leaders–for our children and families, co-workers and society we live in.
Gurunath Hari is the author of “The 6 Dimensions, Overcome Presenteeism: Excel in work and Life”. He has over 25 years of corporate experience, including leadership and management roles. His working life started at the end of the pre-computer era and continues to the present ‘everything-mobile’ era.
Sensational as it may sound, this is precisely the title of a recent publication by HBR. https://hbr.org/2015/05/corporate-wellness-programs-make-us-unwell.
The situation
Obsessing over health alone is obsessing over physical well-being. Precisely why its not intuitive for corporate leaders to know how to get Wellness programs to work optimally. Reading this book will Help.
The challenge
Less than a quarter of the employees of a large multinational corporation even participated in their global wellness program. Let alone benefiting in any significant way from it. Wellness cannot be a program. Its a lifelong happy pursuit. It has to be a culture, a mindset. Similar to quality and excellence. So for me, pursuing Wellness has to be predictive of something else(well-being). Wellness fits in perfectly with what Shawn Ackor says, “So for me, happiness has to be predictive of something else. So I’d go with the Greek definition of happiness, the ancient Greek definition, which is, “The joy that we feel striving after our potential.”
In my experience of pursuit and outcomes Wellness is the strife and well-being is the predicate.
The implication
Companies spend a lot of money, effort and time on running wellness programs. employees are not properly orientated into the rationale for these. This results in poor ROIs both financially and from a time and effort, productivity and employee morale standpoint.
The Evidence
In the article Prof Andre states ‘there’s little evidence that superfitness correlates with leadership, good management, or even productivity’.
Indeed that is obvious because:
a. Expecting sustained excellence in performance and productivity at the workplace is a marathon and not a sprint.
b. Unlike sports an office environment demands equal importance to other dimensions of wellness besides spiritual, mental and physical viz. Environmental, social and financial. The below illustration maps barriers to performance excellence and the 6 dimensions of wellness. This is why there is a difference between sports analogy and the workplace and several limitations.
(Reproduced with permission from the authors, Dr. Kerry Evers and Wolters Kluwer Health)
What you need to do
To get it right you need help. There is no silver bullet but the good news is that with adequate evidence of small pilot successes of breakthrough practises, that are measureable and sustainable, it is possible to scale and integrate Holistic Wellness into the corporate psyche and culture. Wellness pursuit has to be customized and individualized. And yes It is a Pursuit, not a program.
In summary
The hypothesis is: the most sustainable way to maintaining a net positive level of well-being outcome is getting staff to do something you want done because he/she wants to do it. Not just because the company wants it done and they don’t/can’t resonate with it. This is also how Dwight Eisenhower defined leadership.
Best wishes to you and in your pursuit of holistic Wellness!
Gurunath Hari is the author of “The 6 Dimensions, Overcome Presenteeism: Excel in work and Life”. He has over 25 years of corporate experience, including leadership and management roles. His working life started at the end of the pre-computer era and
continues to the present ‘everything-mobile’ era.
The kindle and hardcopy version of 6 Dimensions book is now available at Amazon!!
(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s own and are not endorsed by his employer or any other company)
A recent poll by Gallup states 70% of American employees are not engaged at work. There have been some push backs. Gallup measures and we listen and learn but seldom know how to act.
That’s where HBR’s article ‘What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees’ by James Harter and Amy Adkins comes in. They quote Gallup again ‘Mere transactions between managers and employees are not enough to maximize engagement. Employees value communication from their manager not just about their roles and responsibilities but also about what happens in their lives outside of work. The Gallup study reveals that employees who feel as though their manager is invested in them as people are more likely to be engaged.
What tools do managers have today that can support the pursuit of making employees feel their manager is invested in them?
My answer as a people manager and a managed employee is – most managers don’t have the social skills, training or tools to do justice to this important communication opportunity. I did not have it either.
Mark C Crowley in a comment to the Forbes article wrote, ‘One key reason engagement has fallen so severely is that people have greatly changed what they need and expect in exchange for work – and our leadership practices have failed to evolve. What’s required now is that we reimagine leadership and identify all the things that can help restore 21st Century employee spirits, and motivate people to excel’.
What’re your thoughts? What aspects of employees lives outside of work would seem appropriate to communicate on. What’s missing now?
Best wishes to you and in your pursuit of happy engagement!
Gurunath Hari is the author of “The 6 Dimensions, Overcome Presenteeism: Excel in work and Life”. He has over 25 years of corporate experience, including leadership and management roles. His working life started at the end of the pre-computer era and continues to the present ‘everything-mobile’ era.
The kindle and hardcopy version of 6 Dimensions book is now available at Amazon!!
(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s own and are not endorsed by his employer or any other company)
7 September is Dave Packard’s birthday. As i deliver events for senior leadership and new talent i find these 11 simple rules that’s widely available on the net, nice reminders:
Reproduced here for all of us:
Dave Packard’s 11 simple rules
1. I first think of the other person. This is the key – the first requirement – to getting on well with others. It is the most difficult thing to do. If you succeed, the rest is a piece of cake.
2. Reinforce the other person’s feeling of importance. When we make someone else feel less important we frustrate one of their deepest instincts. Make the other person feel equal or superior and you will get on well with them.
3. Respect the other person’s individuality. Respect the other person’s right to be different from you. No two people are molded by the same forces.
4. Offer sincere recognition. If we believe someone has done something well, we should not hesitate in telling them. Warning: this does not imply the immoral use of flattery. For intelligent people, flattery produces exactly the response that it deserves, disdain that someone has lowered themselves.
5. Eliminate anything negative. Criticism rarely achieves what we intend, since it invariably causes resentment. The smallest suggestion of disapproval may cause resentment – to your own detriment – for years.
6. Avoid any attempt to change people. Everyone knows they are imperfect, but they don’t want other people to try to correct their faults. If you want someone to improve, help them to embrace a higher goal, a standard, an ideal, and this will work much more effectively for them than you can.
7. Try to understand the other person. How would you react in similar circumstances? When you see the other person’s “whys” you can’t help but get on well with them.
8. Check your first impressions. We are inclined not to like someone at first sight as a result of some vague similarity (of which we are not usually aware) with another person whom we have a reason to dislike. Follow the advice that Abraham Lincoln gave himself: “If I don’t like this man, I have to get to known him better”.
9. Take care of the small details. Watch your smile, your tone of voice, the way you look at people, the way you greet them, the use of nicknames, a memory for faces, names and dates. These small things will refine your ability to get on with others. Always be aware that these things form part of your personality.
10. Develop a genuine interest in people. You cannot apply the foregoing advice unless you want to like other people, respect them and be useful to them. By contrast, you can’t develop a genuine interest in people until you have experienced the pleasure of working with them in an environment of mutual appreciation and respect.
11. Persevere. That’s all, persevere!
Dave knew SOCIAL STYLE even before Daniel Goleman gave us his Emotional Intelligence (1995, Bantam Books)!
