Discover the 90/10 Principle.

 Today's Article comes from Steven Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 90/10 Principle will change your life (at least the way you react to situations).

What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us.

We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic.

We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%.

How? ………. By your reaction.

You cannot control a red light. but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example.

You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You have no control over what just happened.

What happens next will be determined by how you react.

You curse.

You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus.
Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit.

After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse.

You look forward to coming home. When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter.

Why? …. Because of how you reacted in the morning.

Why did you have a bad day?

A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is “D".

You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day.

Here is what could have and should have happened.

Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "Its ok honey, you just need to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.

Notice the difference?

Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different.

Why?

Because of how you REACTED.

You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle. If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you!

React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them?

WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive?

Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job.

Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job.

The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take outpour frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on.

Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse.

Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it. The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle.

The result?

Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and heartache. We all must understand and apply the 90/10 principle.

It CAN change your life!!!

Enjoy….

The Full Tea Cup

A university professor went to see a Zen master to question the nature of Zen and its profound wisdom.  When the professor arrived, the Zen master asked him if he would like a cup of tea. 

As the Zen master began pouring tea, the professor started asking a number of questions about the value and meaning of Zen. The Zen master kept pouring the tea without answering the questions.  

The professor impatiently restated his questions and asked for an answer. The Zen master kept pouring the tea without saying anything. The professor began to get annoyed and demanded that the Zen master answer his questions.

By now the hot tea was running over the cup and onto the professor’s hand. “What are you doing? You fool! How can you tell me about Zen philosophy when you can’t even pour tea!” exclaimed the professor.

“That cup is just like your mind, Sir.  I cannot tell you about the nature of Zen when your mind, like that cup, is so full!” said the Zen master.

This story reminds us to be mindful of the judgements, ideas and opinions that we have in our mind when listening to another person. If we truly want to hear what is being said, we must first “empty our teacup” of such judgements, ideas and opinions – only then can we truly hear what is being said.

What is your mind full of?  

Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning

Book Review By Ron Cacioppe
Managing Director, Integral Development

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's "Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning" is a remarkable book, The author, who introduced the concept of flow in 1975 has extended the application of flow to the role of business in society.

He describes the new work as “a guidebook for a way of conducting business that is both successful and humane,” focusing on “how leaders and managers and…employees…can learn to contribute to the sum of human happiness, to the development of an enjoyable life that provides meaning, and to a society that is just and evolving.”

FLOW APPLIED TO BUSINESS

The experience of Flow is familiar to anyone who is passionate about what they do. It refers to that almost transcendental state we dive into when the world around us disappears and we are fully involved and focused in the moment. Recent research suggests that the flow experience is what human beings seek at a deep level, and that providing this experience is a major pillar of “good business”.

Flow is a special kind of enjoyment and is a common experience experienced by a wide range of people— creative artists, mountain climbers, stay-at-home mothers, workers in all types of jobs, and visionary leaders. A flow activity is intrinsically rewarding worth doing for its own sake, even if it involves monetary or other rewards. Experiencing flow contributes to our happiness and improves the quality of the work we do.

Csikszentmihalyi’s research has shown that there are many common elements:

1. Deep, focused attention, sometimes to the point of joy
2. Being fully in the present moment
3. Very clear goals; you know what has to be done
4. Immediate ‘on-line’, real time feedback; you know what you are doing is right
5. A fascinating challenge and you have the skills to respond to it.
6. Harmony with the situation; you are not in circumstances beyond your control.
7. An altered sense of time; time usually stands still or passes slowly.
8. The loss of ego; you immerse yourself in the moment and the activity.

A flow activity is intrinsically rewarding—it is worth doing for its own sake, even if it involves monetary or other reward as well. Experiencing flow, says Csikszentmihalyi, contributes to our happiness and improves the quality of our existence.

Flow experiences, with their balance of challenges and skills, lead to ever more refined skills and/or a fuller understanding of the subject at hand. If leaders and managers can design jobs to make workplaces more amenable to flow, there will be benefits for the organization and for employees. The best way to manage people is to create an environment where employees enjoy their work and grow while doing it.

It is the central concept of Good Business that flow experiences are not merely coincidences; that the experience of flow in the business environment, can be designed to occur much more frequently. Surveys in the United States and elsewhere show that more than 80 percent of adults do not experience flow on a regular basis. The potential for increasing flow and enjoyment in the working population is immense.

Because business is so central in today’s world—it controls the flows of vast resources and has a significant say in the direction of nations—bringing flow to work at an individual level is, therefore, essential. Strains that have appeared in the free market businesses such as the financial crisis, excessive greed, unethical practices and exploiting workers—are becoming increasingly frustrating and people are looking for a new approach in which short-term financial achievement is not the only indicator of success.

Good Business  was based on an extensive tri-university research project that utilized interviews with 39 “visionary business leaders” who modelled the desired behaviors. They ranged from Sir John Templeton to Anita Roddick of The Body Shop to Leon Gorman, Chairman of L.L.Bean, and are quoted extensively throughout the book.

The visionary business leaders broadly agree on this simple proposition:

“To be successful you have to enjoy doing your best while at the same time contributing to something beyond yourself.”  

Breaking this statement into its parts, we are all unique, but integrated. However, as we are connected irretrievably with other people and entities, we must live our lives in harmony with that reality as well.

Flow opportunities have diminished in today’s workplace because purpose or goals can be ill-defined, feedback may be inadequate, skills are not often well-matched to opportunities for action and many workers are not in control of the final result.

“The ideal organization,” says Csikszentmihalyi,” is one in which each worker’s potentialities find room for expression.” 

The leader becomes an enabler, rather than a doer, in this environment.

BEYOND MISSION AND VISION

Anyone who has been involved in strategic planning is aware that the highest level of a plan is its vision statement, in which the organization defines the future state it wishes to work toward.

Csikszentmihalyi goes one step further and calls the vision’s “vital essence,”  the soul of the organization. Two examples of organizational soul are attempting to achieve excellence and doing something of benefit to others.

Properly conceived and applied, these kinds of overarching goals can galvanize a company’s workers in a way that the financial bottom line cannot.

In Csikszentmihalyi’s words:

“The search for a life that has “relevance or meaning”…is the primary concern of soul. This is…the need that motivates us to become part of something greater or more permanent. If a leader can make a convincing case that working for the organization will provide relevance…then his vision will generate power…

If…a vision is genuine and is carried into action, it becomes a powerful attractor for members of the organization. It provides a goal that is worth pursuing over and above the extrinsic rewards that can be provided by the job.”

Limitations of This Book

Csikszentmihalyi's chose to interview only CEOs as the voice of good business.  Though these CEOs might be highly respected in the business world to call them "visionary leaders" would require a more thorough evaluation of their lives. 

What do their spouses think of them?  
What do their children think of them?  
What do their fellow employees really think of them? 
What are the working conditions for the lowest level of workers in their companies?

There is an assumption that those at the top know best about what makes a good business.  One could argue that those at the bottom have a much clearer picture of what makes business good because they so often suffer the consequences of bad business. It would have been useful for the book to include interviews of people at lower levels to see if they believed the views of the CEOs and if they believed the purpose of their work is to experience flow.

Yvon Chouinard is the founder of Patagonia, a company that makes outdoor gear is a great example in the book.  He approaches his business as if it is going to be here for one hundred years.  That attitude alone would change the nature of much of the corporate world.  In his corporate offices they have a policy called, "Let My People Go Surfing."  When the surf is up anyone can grab their surfboard from the entrance hallway and hit the beach.

This is great, but it is at the management level and do the people who are making his clothing get the same luxury? Some people have worked in a company for 20 years and have yet to be invited to any "retreats" though upper management always is.

Csikszentmihalyi spends time explaining that being a CEO of a tobacco company is wrong because we now know how bad smoking is for our health.  Yet, he quotes Jack Greenberg, the CEO of McDonalds a place that isn’t known for healthy food.  He also chose the CEO of Amway which a lot of people associate with pyramid selling and a sales process that is irritating and manipulative.  Can you be a "visionary leader" and head a company that turns friends or acquaintances into irritating salespeople?

While Good Business suggests it is possible for everyone to achieve flow at work, workers at lower level boring jobs are burdened with too little pay and too many hours.  What can make these jobs more tolerable is more money, longer vacations, good benefits, shorter hours and genuine respect from managers and bosses. 

As happened to many good management ideas in the past, if managers try to use the idea flow, mindfulness and being the present as an alternative or excuse not to provide good work conditions or leadership, then we have missed the point.

Some people have criticised this book as simply a marketing ploy by the publisher to repackage Flow and Good Business into a successful book for a new audience.  While I can see how they might see this, I feel that Good Business goes much further than Flow and is a much better book since it takes Flow on to a larger social and organisational scale.

Csikszentmihalyi writes of the "unglamorous tasks" that we must all perform "like mopping the floor or taking showers."  Though he admits that we cannot be in flow all the time the goal appears to be to access it as much as possible. 

While he seems to be aware of Zen and other spiritual practices where a person does mundane tasks as a spiritual practice to drop the ego and experience the unbounded moment or flow, he does not discuss this possibility in business – to use repetitive work as an opportunity for spiritual development and flow. 

Tich Nat Han, a Zen monk, says that if a person cannot learn to be fully in the present washing dishes then s/he cannot truly live one minute of life. Teaching workers that is a radical shift in perspective.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Leaders can design jobs to make workplaces more conducive to flow, by creating an environment where employees enjoy their work, gain skills and are given challenges to help them grow. There are a number of things that can be done to increase the experience of flow;

By the organisation

• Top management commit to building a workplace that fosters flow.
• The organisation has an overriding worthwhile purpose and vision
• Continuous communication of the purpose, vision and values to everyone.
• Clear performance goals at the individual, team, and organisational level.
• Good feedback mechanisms.
• Match the challenges given to people to the skills they have.

By the individual

• Think about the occasions when you have experienced flow and what you were doing, and use them as a springboard for increasing future flow at work.
• Consider how you can contribute to the prosperity of your organization, beyond the financial bottom line, and act on your ideas. .
• Hire a business coach who can help you experience flow, mindfulness and greater happiness.
• Ask for clarification of your goals and for more feedback.
• Find work challenges you but matches your skills.
• Have your managers and employees read Good Business.  It could be good for your business.

In effect, bringing flow into work suggests that the purpose of work is not just to make profit or to grow a sustainable business but to experience flow, since that is what leads to true well-being and success for employees, managers and organisations.

Essentially, Csikszentmihalyi has given a modern name to aspects of spiritual and mystical experience that have been around for thousands of years.  Good Business  could be especially useful for anyone interested in practical philosophy and bringing mindfulness and spirituality into the workplace. 

At the end of the day Good Business is a study of consciousness, what makes us happy, what makes us do good creative work, and what makes humans want to really contribute to society and the world.

The Power of Personal Purpose

Victor Frankl, the author of a book called "Man's Search For Meaning" first came to this realisation as an inmate of Auschwitz during World War II. Frankl was incarcerated at the beginning of the war. He was twenty-five years old. He was also a psychiatrist and a Jew.

Frankl made a decision early in his incarceration that he would survive the experience and he would use his skills as a doctor to help as many other people survive as was humanly possible.

Frankl survived the war.

Frankl makes the comment in "Man's Search For Meaning" that we would all (quite reasonably) have believed that the young, or the fit, would be the best survivors under such extreme conditions - physical abuse, starvation, fear, illness and brutal death in abundance. And that, in part, would have been right - for a day, a week or, in fact, at best a month.

Then, something else came into play.

The penny did not drop for Frankl until December 26th, 1944. Through the second half of 1944, rumours were rife throughout the camps that the Allies would release inmates by Christmas 1944. In the second half of the year, with this sense of the possible in their hearts and minds, some 70% of inmates "chose" not to die.

How did Frankl know?

Because the death rate dropped by 70%.

The conditions did not change. In fact, some would say they became worse. None-the-less, the death rate plummeted - that is until December 26th. Despite rumours to the contrary, when December 26th came around, the Allies had not, in fact, released the inmates of the concentration camps.

It was then that Frankl realised the power of purpose and vision. With the prospect of release no longer real in their hearts, adversity overwhelmed already desperate people and they began to die.

According to Frankl, the death rate rose by some 70%.

Without a "why" for what they were experiencing, something yet to be done in their lives, people gave up. 

This is the territory of vision, the power of purpose, the sense of hope and anticipation for a future yet to be, that pulls us through the present, empowering us to make choices that enhance the possibility of this future materialising. Frankl's story of Auschwitz is a terrible and compelling example of the power of this capacity in human beings.

Personal Purpose

In our lives today, having a sense of purpose, a vision, something towards which we are aiming, which we aspire to, is a critically important part of our "wellness".

It is also the breeding ground of a fair degree of anxiety. Some people seem to be consumed with passionate purpose, appear to know exactly what they were placed on the planet to do. They have been pursuing it with vigorous determination throughout their lives. Unfortunately, many of us don't feel this is true for us. We sort of have a sense of purpose but we are not necessarily convinced it is "the one" or as meaningful as we would like it to be. Sometimes we feel we are at a competitive disadvantage.

The person next to us has a sense of purpose, a vision or goal they are striving hard to achieve. For some reason, we are not so directed. Before moving on, then, to look at the match to organisational vision, or indeed, the keys to effective envisioning, let's just take a very brief look at how purpose emerges from our life's experiences. It is actually far simpler than most people imagine. What it isn't, is an immaculate conception, a midnight imagining such that we wake up in the morning and go "Bingo - got it! Now I know what I want to do with the rest of my life."

Evidence would suggest that real purpose - what, why, when, where and how we will do something, emerges from four distinct processes. Each of these four processes cycles on a continuous basis, constantly refining and improving our sense of purpose - from cloudy to clear. The four stages are as follows:

(Adapted form A Kick in the Seat of the Pants by Roger Von Oech)

Exploration

A period of research and data gathering, of tasting and trying, of pushing and shoving our world. During exploration we are building knowledge and gaining a sense of preference - what we like as opposed to what we don't like.

Artistry

A period of shaping and refining. This comes from a period of exploration during which we have built a sense of what we might prefer to do - in life, at work, in the community, in our backyard! As our sense of what we might prefer to do builds, the artist in us then begins to shape our preliminary idea. Moulding, pushing, crafting a "sense of possibility" into a concrete idea.

Judgement

Following this period of creating or innovating, we put on our judging capacity. This is the skill (in all of us) that allows us to test our assumptions, to affirm or challenge the appropriateness of what it is we are wishing to do. The judge "advises" the artist in us - determines where an idea needs further refinement, what the wins and losses might be based on what is presented. The challenge with our internal judge is rarely its effectiveness.

Most of us have a potent internal judge who, for many people, more often than not, diminishes their sense of what is possible in their lives rather than enhances it. In this process, the power of the judge is determined by the appropriateness of his or her timing, ie: the judge must not come on board (overly) during a period of exploration, if the judge does come alive when we are creating, it represents the death knoll to a period of innovation, to the mindset of the artist. The judge is, however, that part of our thinking which ensures all contingencies have been thought of, preferably before the situation is a fait accompli.

Warriorhood

The warrior is that part of us that becomes consumed with passionate purpose, goes out and willingly fights for what we believe in. The warrior looks for ways to make things happen, to ensure dreams and ambitions are fulfilled. The warrior inside us is well prepared for adversity (both physical and spiritual) and welcomes the battle, knowing that in the trial, real strength is measured.

These four stages are never fixed, and the beauty of this relatively simplistic model is that it acts as a compass when we look at where we are in our lives and the strength of our personal purpose or vision.

Generally speaking, if you find that you are little persuaded to vigorously pursue a specific purpose, chances are that you are not convinced it is the right thing to do.

So go back to the judge and give the judge another airing. The judge will reveal, if you are listening well, what it is the artist needs to reconsider. And finally, if the artist in you is having trouble determining a valid, real, exciting sense of purpose that you genuinely believe in, chances are, you have not done enough exploration.

Go back to basics and play again in the universe - taste, try, look, listen and experiment. It is also worth remembering that even when you are sure of your purpose, each of these stages is constantly being recycled but at an ever-increasing level of refinement.

It is an upward spiral dynamic that, with clarity and commitment, absolutely delivers what you want, perhaps not exactly when you want it, but eventually! In the world of work, finding a purpose or sense of vision can still follow the same cycle. If, as you come to consider what your personal purpose is, you are unclear, chances are you need to give yourself permission to 'play' with your work life. This should not be underestimated in adults.

Most of us feel compelled to take life seriously and to put our heads down and commit to the path on which we find ourselves. If we are on the "right" path (ie. it suits us) then fine and good. But if we are unhappy or dissatisfied, it can be devastating, slowly corroding our sense of self and of our own possibilities.

To play then, seems an extraordinary answer but it is vitally important. It can mean many things to many people, but consider that it may mean the rebirth of curiosity, the generation of a sense of inquisitiveness. It may be a request to be given variety and choice in the work we do, flexibility and abundant opportunity to test ourselves and to learn.

This is a key consideration as we look at where we are with our personal vision, both in life generally and, perhaps of more relevance in this day and age, in our work life. To help you make some distinctions, consider some of the following questions:

• What do I passionately love doing?
• What do I love doing passionately?
• What really excites me in life?
• What do I find boring, tiresome, tedious?
• What have I done in my life that has given me a sense of achievement?
• What have I done in my life that has left me feeling that my time was wasted?
• What do I love about being with people?
• What do I love about being on my own?
• What in my day to day environment gives me energy?
• What in my day to day environment robs me of energy?
• What are my preferences for gathering information?
• Do I prefer the detail around me, paying attention to what I learn through my senses or do I prefer the world of concepts, of ideas?
• What are my preferences for making decisions?
• Do I prefer to think things through, work them out logically, or do I prefer to make decisions based on what's important to me and to others?
• If I could wave a magic wand and do or be anything in the world today, what would I do or be?
• What do I think is possible in my life?
• What do I think is impossible?
• What in my working life do I absolutely love to do?
• What in my working life do I absolutely hate to do?
• What in my working life would I love to be doing five years from now?
• What in my working life would I hate to be doing five years from now?

These questions are by no means definitive, but they will help you sort what it is in your life (both private and professional) that really counts, that you value. Your answers act as light beacons in the night.

Don't discount them.

Vision and purpose emerge from an honest sense of what it is that you as a human being are able to honestly tell yourself (and powerfully others) that you want. Dream a thousand dreams, because if one comes to life, it will be more valuable than never to have dreamt at all.

This article was reproduced with the kind permission of Dattner Grant Pty Ltd  www.dattnergrant.com.au

8 Questions with Ken Milling

ID:   Tell us a bit about yourself.  How did you become involved in Leadership Development?

I have been owner/manager of a number of small businesses and have extensive experience as a martial arts practitioner and teacher with particular interest in the integration of mind, body and spirit. However, since 1996 my professional expertise has been in private practice in the psychological arena.

Five years ago I met Integral Development’s (ID) managing director, Dr Ron Cacioppe, and shortly after attended an ID coaching course, during which it became clear that my main areas of study and professional practice interfaced well with Integral Theory and that ID offered unique ways of developing leadership and management capabilities.

ID:   With the experience you’ve had, how do you see the Integral approach making a difference in Leadership Development?  Any specific success stories?

The Integral approach offers a comprehensive development model that can help facilitate the growth of individuals both professionally and personally, with the opportunity to develop increased levels of self awareness and to apply in pragmatic ways such as avoiding negative bias and negative self talk that potentially curtails the development of a potent sense of self agency.

I had a profound experience on a residential ID leadership and management retreat with City of Joondalup managers and executive and colleagues from ID.  We were all stretched to our full capacity and challenged by many difficult issues, but I came through with a sense of how the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts and of what can be achieved as a collective when we share values that essentially lead to more authentic ways of being both personally and professionally.

ID:  Where would you like to see Australian leadership in 5 years time?

I would like to see an emphasis on innovation and creativity within work environments that allows talented individuals to apply their full potential as leaders and managers.  I see this as an essential development if Australia is to do well in an increasingly competitive global market.

ID:  Name the top 4 or 5 Influencers in your personal development.

I am fortunate to have been in contact with many talented people who have inspired me so this question is a difficult one to answer, bit those who immediately spring to mind are:

C G Jung (Swiss psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology)
Daisetz Suzuki (Zen master and scholar)
Shigeru Kimura (Karate master)
Dr Jean Knox (Psychiatrist, Analyst & author)
 
ID:  Who do you look up to, who REALLY inspires you?

There is no one person and I am often inspired by ‘ordinary’ individuals achieving the ‘extraordinary’. This is reflective of ID’s vision – ‘Developing leaders, teams and organisations to be their best for the world’.  The people I work with inspire me when they clearly demonstrate manifest courage, commitment and integrity in the face of very challenging situations.

ID:   If you could be anywhere, doing anything right now what would it be?

I would be here doing the work that I enjoy. I consider myself extremely fortunate to work with interesting individuals in circumstances that are challenging and often call for me to look at how I might further develop my professional and personal capabilities. I am essentially engaged in a lifelong learning process and this is what fuels my passion.

ID:   If you were stranded on a desert island, what’s the one thing you would have to have with you?  (no not your iPad!!) 

A helicopter to get back home!

ID:  If you could personally address the Prime Minister, what would you say?

I would suggest that the Australian government capitalise on our economic fortunes by securing future economic, social and environmental development by significant investment in education, research and innovation. Our future rests in the hands of the next generation of leaders and their ability to adapt in constructive ways to a fast paced and changing world, and to have a big picture perspective that considers the wellbeing of society as a whole.

ID:  Ken Milling specialises in Assertiveness for Women in Business and more details on his upcoming workshop in October can be found below:

Assertiveness for Women

Wednesday 19 October 2011 Cost: $660 inc GST
Date: Wednesday 19 October 2011
Time: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Wollaston College

Download the Brochure (pdf) >>

About the Workshop

Stating your opinions when others may disagree can be very confronting and uncomfortable, especially for women. Some may even see this as negative behaviour. So we need to take care not to confuse assertiveness with aggressiveness! Where do you most frequently fall on the following continuum? Are you timid (passive), rational (assertive) or the aggressor (aggressive)? If you find you are on the either the passive or aggressive side, then this workshop can give you an increased sense of self-confidence and assertiveness that will lead to better relationships and greater effectiveness in all areas of life.

Who Should Attend?

This is a dynamic course designed for women who would like to develop their self confidence, assertiveness and authenticity in both professional and personal areas of life.

Benefits of Attending

• Evaluate your current level of self-confidence
• Experience self-empowerment through experiential exercises
• Integrate your inner energy into constructive action
• Make creative use of stressful situations
• Develop the ability to say “no” without feeling guilty
• Explore the practice of living authentically
• Develop an awareness of a deeper, enduring aspect of self
• Learn how to use stressful situations creatively and for the benefit of all
• Gain the ability to speak assertively in challenging situations
• Gain self-confidence in dealing with difficult situations

Presenter

Ken Milling is an executive coach and presenter with Integral Development and an experienced analytic psychotherapist with a broad-ranging private practice.
In his spare time, Ken is a karate 4th Dan black belt and partners his wife Bev as a flamenco dancer. Ken delivers talks on a range of subjects relevant to psychological wellbeing and personal safety. Ken has over 15 years experience in developing the capacity of people, self-awareness and empowering individuals to embrace and facilitate change.


Wednesday 19 October 2011 Cost: $660 inc GST
Date: Wednesday 19 October 2011
Time: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Wollaston College

What is your Organisational Purpose?

If our personal sense of purpose or vision matches the organisation within which we work, then it becomes the place of true empowerment.

Collins & Porras, in their now famous book "Built to Last" studied a range of the world's most successful organisations, success being determined by longevity as well as profitability. Their original theory was that powerful and charismatic leadership sat behind the success of every organisation, and particularly those companies that were "built to last". Their findings were to provide a very different scenario for sustainable success.

The compelling "sell" in the work of Collins & Porras is not that they studied and found an emergent pattern between highly successful companies alone. Their chosen point of comparison profoundly reinforced their findings. They did not compare the best to the worst - they compared the best to the nearly best. The differences were specific and far-reaching. In essence, their findings were quite simple.

Firstly, "built to last" organisations had a clearly articulated and commonly owned "core ideology". This core ideology comprised of a fundamental purpose that could not, in all reality, ever be completed, and a clear and well-recognised set of organisational values.

This core purpose and the values that sustained it were, according to Collins & Porras, known by all staff, were adhered to by all leaders and were used to benchmark things as diverse as recruitment policies, staff employment conditions, marketing messages and long range business plans.

The core ideology was founded on the importance of controlling and preserving the core - what the business "had yet to do" and what it stood for, its values. The second critical element that the authors uncovered was an entrenched philosophy that sought to achieve operational autonomy with a focus on stimulating progress.

This second component comprised of "visionary ambitions" or, in the language of Built to Last, Big Hairy Audacious Goals or BHAGS. These visionary goals were set by all of the Built to Last companies. They focused on ambitions that would stretch the organisational capacity, give people a sense of excitement, be a little more than most thought the business could achieve and would, on a continuous basis, move the organisation towards the achievement of core purpose.

These companies recognised that in order to find one thing that would substantially move the company forward they would need to try many things.

The encouraged a sense of fearlessness around pursuing new and innovative ideas, providing they supported the core purpose and sustained the values that were part of the core ideology. In another watershed publication, The Living Organisation by Arie de Gues, the author reviewed the experience of the Shell Scenario planners who identified a very similar set of capacities.

This group of people (and many of their subsequent successors) was responsible for postulating a whole range of possible scenarios for the Shell Group of Companies and then for analysing the various factors that would or wouldn't make such scenarios possible. In the course of their research, they uncovered a very small number of organisations (40 in all) who had existed for as long as, or longer than, Shell, ie. one hundred years or more. They came across such companies as the Swedish Stora which today is a major paper, pulp and chemical manufacturer.

Research revealed that it had had the character of a publicly owned company from its very early beginnings, more than 700 years ago, as a copper mine in central Sweden. They also looked at the Sumitomo Group which had its origins as a copper casting shop founded by Riemon Soga in the year 1590.

The conclusion of the scenario planners was that the evidence was sufficient to suggest that the 'natural lifespan' of an organisation could be as long as two or three centuries. Consider the life span of an organisation today.

A company is considered successful if it sees out fifty years or so. Over time, reflecting back on such research, de Gues came to the conclusion that there were four key components to longevity. They included:

• Sensitivity to the environment (which) represents a company's ability to learn and adapt
  
• Cohesion and identity (which represent) aspects of a company's innate ability to build a community and persona for itself
  
• Tolerance and its corollary decentralisation (which represent) symptoms of a company's awareness of ecology; its ability to build constructive relationships with other entities, within and outside itself
  
• Conservative financing (which represent) the ability to govern its own growth and evolution (by controlling the source of its own capital).

Again, independent research identified the power of internal cohesion and a clear sense of identity (Collins & Porras's Core Ideology) as distinguishing capabilities of sustainable organisations.

Conclusion

Visions, both personal and organisational, are critical to the wellness of individuals, organisations, communities and nations.

With a positive sense of the future, we become engaged in the act of creation. We enjoy a sense of personal "belonging", knowing, to greater or lesser extents, that our actions contribute to something more than we alone could achieve. Without a personal or organisational vision that we feel ownership over, are motivated by and have a sense of our power to contribute towards, the daily task of living can become an overwhelming, sometimes painful and often banal, mountain of largely meaningless trivia.

With a vision, and action to support it, we can change the world.


This article was reproduced with the kind permission of Dattner Grant Pty Ltd -     www.dattnergrant.com.au

Derek Sivers: How to Start a Movement

"No man is an island" wrote 17th century English poet John Donne. This indelible phrase, which has flitted from mouth to mouth for too many years to count, is beautifully expressed in this TED presentation by entrepreneur Derek Sivers.

Sivers take us to a warm, sunny day where an uninhibited 'lone nut' rattles his body to the sound of music while a dazed crowd looks on. In less than three minutes Sivers explains how a movement is made and shows us the essence of Donne's wise words -- that it takes more than one to start something truly amazing.

Written and submitted by Jasmin Walker

A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

The Tiger: 
A True Story of Vengeance and Survival 
by John Vaillant

A Review by Ron Cacioppe

This book is both a compelling story about a tiger that hunts and kills people to seek revenge and an education about mankind abusing nature and causing its own demise.

It was a last minute decision to read this book.  We were leaving on a week’s holiday and I needed a novel to read.  I was in the Bodhi Tree and about to leave in 5 minutes.  I had plenty of books to take with me but they were about Zen, philosophy and having honest conversations and I wanted a novel, one that would be interesting, informative and entertaining.  This book fulfilled all three.

I found ‘The Tiger’ book on the bottom shelf of the novel section and its cover showed red blood on snow.  The words ‘vengeance’ and ‘survival’ didn’t seem to fit with the Kalbarri by-the-ocean vacation we were starting on but a strange force kept it in my hand when I went to the counter.  I found myself walking to the car with that feeling of adventure (a safe one) and mystery that comes with buying a new book and having time to read it.

The first page got me in.  It described a man going back to his secluded cabin in the Far East of Russian wilderness and he is attacked and killed, along with his hunting dog, by a tiger.  The rest of the book describes the story of this tiger that for some reason decided to stalk and kill this man and another person a week later.  The Tiger Inspection team lead by Yuri Trush has to track and kill this tiger.  The tiger attacks Trush and almost kills him but he is saved by the sharp thinking and shooting of his teammates.

The book is really two stories; The first is a story of how the Tiger Inspection team lead by Trush, tracks down and kills this tiger which attacks humans to wreak vengeance on them.  After examining the body of the tiger it is clear that he has been shot and wounded a number of times by humans and probably by the first man he attacked and killed.  The tiger hadn’t gone mad, it was just seeking revenge on the man who tried to kill to make money.  Man had overstepped its bounds with this animal and it got him to back off - permanently.

The second story in this book describes the magnificence and desolation of the Russian Far East and what has happened and is happening to nature and the humans who have lived there over the last thousands of years.  It is a story of the Russian, Chinese and Cossack history in the region and how the human economic systems of communism and pestroika have caused despair and carnage to humans and the environment alike.   The book captures the power and mystery of the tiger as well as its everyday living habits in a way that you come to know intimately the ‘umweld’, the inner world, of the tiger.

John Vaillant has a captivating writing style.  He brings to life the starkness and beauty of the forest, the bleakness of the cold (forty below zero is common) and the details of a harsh and difficult life for humans in the Russian wilderness (called the tiagra).  He also has a unique ability to describe a situation.  For example, he describes a tiger pouncing on a person as similar to having a piano drop on you from the second floor of a building.  But with a piano, that is the end of this experience, with the tiger it is the beginning.

This book provides the history of a region most Westerners know little about as well as an exciting true story of the relationship between a magnificent animal, the tiger, and a group of men.  Vaillant’s background and discussion of the environment and this true story, provide a powerful case for preservation of tigers and the wilderness they inhabit. Only 3,200 hundred tigers exist in the world today (down from 75.000 in the early 1900’s ) and approximately 450 are still alive in the Primorye, the Far East of Russia. The Chinese have a strong desire for the organs and body of the tiger for medicinal and potency purposes while hunters and poachers in the area need to kill animals in the region just to earn enough to live.  Add in logging, industrialization, Russian bureaucracy and corruption and the growing human population and it is a perfect formula for extinction of the largest of the cat species alive on this planet.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read novels based on true events, history of unknown parts of the world and a love of the environment.  This story is educational, sad, beautiful, intriguing and artfully written.

Here We Grow AGAIN!

Personal Assistant Required

• Leading consulting firm – Osborne Park
• Flexible work environment
• Part-time role

Integral Development (ID) is one of Perth’s most unique and successful leadership and management consultancies. We are a niche consultancy who is dedicated to providing exceptional service, products and programs. Our clients include several high profile companies, government agencies and not for profit organisations.

An opportunity exists for an energetic and motivated person to join our team. To succeed in this role you will need to be highly organised, have outstanding interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently. You will also require sound editing, writing skills and exceptional administrative skills. This will be linked with strong interpersonal skills to effectively interact with our customers and team of professional consultants.

This opportunity will suit someone with previous administration experience and a high level of comfort with technology. We encourage you to apply if you are a self-starter and enjoy a challenge.

Key responsibilities of the role are to:

• Proactively manage two of the Senior Consultant’s schedules, appointments and commitments
• Finalise / edit / prepare high quality and timely materials for program presentations
• Type and edit key documents for clients
• Support the consultants in their role to ensure the clients receive fist class service
• Provide administrative support in all areas of client relations
• Ensure that the communication link with the customers is effectively managed

This position is a part-time or full-time position, five (5) days per week. Hours are flexible dependent on the individual and days of work will be negotiated with the right person. Starting salary will be dependent on experience, expertise and negotiated hours.

For further information regarding this position, please contact Barbara Gibson on 9242 8122.

Please visit our website www.integral.org.au

Please email your resume to: barbara@integral.org.au

12 Secrets of a Happy and Productive Workplace

The Gallup organisation has recently compiled results from questionnaires and interviews of more than one million employees over 25 years (Onsman, 1999). Using factor analysis, regression analysis and concurrent validity methods the researchers identified which factors would indicate whether employees were likely to be satisfied and stay with their employers.

 These 12 ‘core elements’ attract and retain productive employees and can be summarised by these questions:

1.  Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the past six months, have I talked to with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had the opportunity to learn and grow?

According to the Gallop researchers, these questions are particularly important to productive, talented workers and less so for under-performing staff. As the results show, pay does not even get mentioned and most of the 12 involve the quality of workplace relationships – with colleagues, bosses and workplace friends.

Yet many managers today do no have the ‘soft’ skills or willingness to tackle interpersonal issues. Many managers are uncomfortable with the people side of management, preferring to focus on objectives and tangible tasks rather than the subtle areas of human emotions and motivation.

These twelve factors give leaders a clearer idea of what their employees need to experience job satisfaction and to be productive. To start, employees want to be told what is expected of them in clear and straight-forward terms (although 70% currently indicate they are not clear what their managers expect).

According to these results those leaders who help people have constructive and supportive relations at work will help that workplace become a great place to work.

Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire

Book Review by Ron Cacioppe, Managing Director, Integral Development

"Leadership Presence does identify one of those important things that do matter, the natural and obvious – but eerily overlooked – connection between leading and acting."

-Warren Bennis, Leadership Presence, pg. xiii

Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire
By Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar

Unlike most leadership authors Belle Linda Halpren and Kathy Lubar do not come from a strictly business school, military or academic background. The authors are highly skilled actresses and taught acting skills in Repertory Theater. Many of the students they had were various professionals including teachers, doctors, businesspeople and others. Because these individuals were able to use the theatre skills they acquired effectively in the workplace, the authors founded the Ariel Group in 1992. Since that time the Ariel Group has presented workshops to over 30,000 executives. This book is a result of that effort and the results achieved.

The main theme of Leadership Presence is simple yet profound. The authors define Leadership Presence as the “ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others in order to motivate and inspire them to achieve a desired outcome”. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the word “authentic”. According to the authors, presence and authentically can be developed in leadership roles.

The book adds something very important to the literature on leadership. It explains clearly and simply what is "presence" and how to develop it in yourself. Whether you call it "stage presence," "command presence," "charisma," or one of the several other names we've give to the concept, it is a concept that has generally been difficult to convey to someone who doesn't already possess the talent. 

We know it when we see it. 

But how does a person become someone that is so intensely "there" that you can't miss them? What can you do to inspire attention and respect just by walking into a room? Doesn't every leader want his followers to believe him, trust him and do what he asks willingly and enthusiastically, just because it's him that is asking? 

Is there really a way to get that special something for ourselves? 

Almost every author on leadership tries to pin down the elusive nature of presence and hold it still long enough to observe how to build these skills into a package.

When you talk, you want others to listen, right? Whether it's a now-or-never event (making a key point in an oral argument, for instance) or one in a long stream of communications over time, getting your point across and making some sort of advance in what you're doing is probably at the top of your list every time you open your mouth.

How you present yourself, how you communicate, how you listen, how you connect, and how you respond to feedback you receive creates leadership presence. Think about stage presence, that indefinable something that makes magic as soon as an actor steps onto a stage. Leadership presence is the business version of stage presence.

This is not a book about motivating or manipulating others by using acting skills or pretence. It is a book that focuses on learning to authentically connect with the minds and hearts of others to effectively lead. Far too many business leaders conduct themselves in ways they think their executive roles require, rather than being themselves based on their heartfelt values. The result is that they come across as inauthentic and this breeds a lack of trust. 

Leadership presence can be cultivated. Halpern and Lubar outline the PRES model in the Leadership Presence, which includes these aspects:

P - Being Present. 

Being "present" means being fully focused on what's going on in the time and space you're occupying, so that you're able to respond to whatever happens, however unexpected it may be.

R - Reaching Out. 

Leaders must listen to others and build authentic relationships. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in reaching out to others in a genuine and effective way.

E - Expressiveness. 

This involves using your words, your body language, and the tone and rate of your speech to express your message, and ensure that each of these routes for communication is congruent with the others. We've probably all seen someone who shakes his head in a "no" gesture while saying, "What a great idea," or a manager who stands in front of a group to announce an "exciting new initiative with lots of opportunities for us to do well," while her body is slumped and her voice is halting and quiet. Harness the power of communication and express your message clearly.

S - Self-knowing. 

The foundation, building block skills of Leadership Presence start with the concept of self-knowledge. Effective leaders tend to be self-aware, authentic regardless of situation or circumstance, and guided by core values and priorities. A leader who knows her True North (her calling) and acts accordingly will exhibit a stronger presence than one who shifts based on context.

The authors encourage the reader to practice using "PRES" when he or she interacts with other people over the next few days. Notice how you feel and how others respond to you. Notice where you feel comfortable and where perhaps you need additional practice. And notice, most importantly, the effect your presence has on your leadership.

Leadership Presence was written to teach techniques that will help leaders motivate, inspire and reach out to others. It will help the reader to enhance relationships, build collaboration and flexibly deal with challenging situations. The book is composed of nine chapters divided into four sections suitably called “Acts”. Act I discusses how one can learn to be completely in the moment. Act II analyses the skills available to build relationships. Act III examines the appropriate way to express emotions and feelings. Act IV focuses on being yourself and reflecting your values in your behaviour. Most chapters end with a section on exercises or practice guidelines to cement the information taught in the preceding chapter. Numerous personal stories and examples keep the material interesting and practical.

The authors of Leadership Presence make it easy to understand and utilize the ideas presented in this book. They strongly believe that leadership presence is key to effectively running a successful organization of any size or kind. Much of what they say isn't new. Even the idea of using actor's techniques has been used before. It's how they package their ideas makes it understandable to the average person.

Practical Relevance for Leaders and Organisations

Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar have been running workshops in leadership for over ten years, applying the principles and techniques they learned and developed in theatre arts to the realm of business. Reading their book is like participating in their workshops. The stories, examples, explanations and instructional material are presented in the same format they use in their seminars. The book also includes exercise pages for the self-development so many of the techniques can be learned without attending the workshop.

Each chapter of Leadership Presence  is completed by clear, effective and well-formatted practices and exercises.  This book can be of great help to those managers who want to explore interesting techniques to further develop their leadership skills.

This book makes tested strategies available to all readers, from high-profile CEOs to young professionals. It teaches: 

• How to express yourself dynamically to motivate for results
• How to build relationships to enhance collaboration and business development
• How to handle tough situations with heightened confidence and flexibility
• How to integrate personal values into leadership communication to inspire followers

This book applies the elements of acting and theatre to a business leadership context. This may initially seem unrelated, but the parallels are intriguing and well illustrated by the authors who call on the many skills and techniques that actors are trained to use to communicate with their audience. They demonstrate how these techniques can be developed by individuals in workplace leadership roles to increase the effectiveness of their communication, and inspiration of others.

We know presence can be developed because there exists a whole group of people who work diligently and successfully to develop it. That group of people is actors, and their success, even their livelihood, depends on presence. They must excite us when they step onstage, or they will fail. For the actor and performer, presence is not a happy accident of genetics or upbringing; it's the result of training and practice.

The authors also point out that great leaders, like great actors, must be confident, energetic, empathetic, inspirational, credible, and authentic. That leaders and actors share some skills and characteristics should come as no surprise. Actors and leaders face a common challenge. They must be prepared to play different roles, as the situation requires. They must be prepared to influence and move people every day.

Warren Bennis is one of the most recognised and wise authorities on leadership.  His forward to this book he talks about how American Presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Regan had an extraordinary presences as well as ability to play the role of ‘the President’  His quote at the beginning of this review shows how much he values the relation between acting and leadership. 

Limitations of this Book

I found the exercises, guidelines, and activities excellent but overpowering.  There were so many of them and so many good insights and things for me to do to develop my leadership presence that I didn’t know where to stop or start.  The book was so workshop oriented that I really wondered if I could get all of this by just reading the book and looking at or doing the exercises.  I felt I needed an acting coach or to attend a 3 day workshop with the authors to really experience some of the creative and emotionally challenging exercises.

Some managers might feel the acting world is too far for them. Certain Jungian/Myers Briggs Types like an ISTJ (Introverted-Sensing-Thinking-Judging) Type might find these exercises too personal, too creative and too feeling.  These types might need the skills and attributes more than any other type but this book may be a bit too ‘out there’ for them to read it. 

The authors do an excellent job referring to great artists and theatre to make their points and they have confidently expect the reader to be convinced.  The book doesn’t provide any research, studies or results other than personal examples about how effective the translation of acting ‘presence’ skills is to leadership.  University MBA programs may need some harder evidence before they introduce acting classes into their curriculum. 

A number of Australian managers will ask the question is the PRES another American biased approach to leadership.  The strong expressiveness and feeling skills that are held up as ideal for leaders may have a bias toward the American ideal of leadership which a number of studies has show is a cultural bias towards individuality, low power distance, achievement, and charisma which are not as highly rated by Australian and Asians as they are in the United States.    

Finally some managers might ask the question; How can we learn to be more authentic from people who lie professionally? After all, isn't that what acting is really about at the end of the day? Isn’t an actor faking a role he is playing?

Ultimately, however, acting is really an unrelenting search for the truth about the human condition, and therefore actually one of the most honest endeavours one can undertake.  Acting is the paradox that, in order to pretend, the actor must be real. That requires the actor to delve inside himself, because the only way an emotion can be authentic is if it comes from within the actor. Actors, consequently, are probably more aware of authenticity than anyone else, because they've studied it, and themselves, so carefully.

Conclusion

Now more than ever, we need our business leaders to be truly inspiring. In the 360 Leadership and Management Profiles that we conduct at Integral Development with over 5000 managers, the ability to inspire and bring out the best in others is one of their lowest rated skills.

This book can help managers become more inspiring—by applying the skills similar to professional actors. The book’s innovative approach brings the techniques of the stage into the boardroom and can give leaders the tools they need to connect authentically and dynamically with the hearts and minds of those they lead. Major corporations around the world, including General Electric, Mobil Oil, CapitalOne, and Deloitte & Touche have hired them to coach executives one-on-one and lead workshops, to give employees the advantage of Leadership Presence, to achieve success. 

Today managing is not enough. The stakes are higher, the competition fiercer and the pace faster. In an increasingly uncertain climate people are looking to leaders for more than just competence, they need to believe in the leader fully. Leaders need to demonstrate confidence and integrity in their every move. They need to authentically shift between leadership roles depending on the circumstance.

These times call for true leaders who live and work authenticity. People want leaders who are comfortable in their own skin, who don't forget where they came from and who lead based on profound self-knowledge. To inspire followership leaders must connect authentically and stir the emotions not just the intellect.

Whether the reader is new to the study of the leadership or has read a number of books, this book provides an innovative and useful perspective on leadership. Leadership Presence is one of those unique books that helps you to step back and look at the forest because it gets to the very heart of leadership…authentic behaviour and values.

If you want to develop and hone the skills that can make you valuable to your colleagues and your company, the lessons found in the Leadership Presence book are very worthwhile. 

The Integral Leadership Book Forum

Leadership involves keeping up-to-date with the latest ides and thinking throughout the world. The Integral Leadership Book Forum provides an opportunity for senior managers and leaders to learn new ideas in leadership and have lively discussions about current thinking in leadership and business.

The bi-monthly forum includes a brief discussion ona book with a small group of your peers, debating ideas and sharing insights on how leadership ideas can be practically applied to business leadership.

The forum offers:

• Six insightful and relevant books on leadership
• Exposure to a small group of senior leaders and managers who will discuss each books’ insights and applications
• A light, organic breakfast

Presenter

Ron Cacioppe is managing director and founder of Integral Development. He is a leading expert in leadership and has more than 25 years’ experience in conducting leadership development programs in Australia, Southeast Asia and the United States. Ron holds a BSc, an MBA and a PhD and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University’s Australian Sustainable Development Institute.

Workshop Dates

(click to reserve a place on the desired date):

Friday 7 October 2011

The Times and your People, they are a'Changing

Generation Y (born between 1978 and 1994) have a unique set of characteristics that challenge many managers. As a baby boomer, Managing Director and a Gen Y Executive Assistant working together every day, we are very aware of the differences of our behaviours and world views. Gen Y employees are becoming a significant proportion of the workforce and they bring a distinct culture into a workplace that can be used for positive advantage or cause considerable difficulty.

Gen Y employees tend to be enthusiastic, engaged and ambitious and can make practical, innovative contributions to their employers. While their confidence sometimes outweighs their skills they are often fast learners, pragmatic and enterprising. Peter Sheahan, in his book, “Generation Y: Thriving and Surviving with Generation Y at Work”, describes gen Ys as “stimulus junkies” who need fast-paced, varied, exciting work, have multi-tasking abilities and a tendency to get bored easily. 

Gen Yers also have a reputation for being demanding, impatient, materialistic and at times, manipulative. They tend to disregard seniority, experience and authority and have little inhibition when it comes to questioning existing tradition and protocol. They want their leaders to earn respect rather than expect it. Throw in a dash of self-centeredness, the need for constant feedback and instantaneous communication and take away good old fashioned organisational commitment and you can have a very difficult to manage employee on your hands.

Gen yers want a flexible work week, an opportunity to do work that makes a difference, excellent market –competitive pay, room for growth, learning and career progression, travel and intrinsic value  and are not afraid to ask for it. As Sheahan says when gen Yers don’t get what they want “they talk with their feet” and hence retention of a Gen Y employee is a major challenge for a manager.

Despite their materialistic nature and focus on competitive remuneration, generation Y are less likely than their predecessors to see work as a means to an end and often search for deeper meaning and opportunity to be creative at work.  Success in attracting and retaining Gen Yers occurs if you design varied roles, set high motivating goals, facilitate their engagement and allow gen y employees to influence the decisions that affect them. Gen Yers, like most people, want to meet their basic human needs – they just demand it a bit more loudly!

Talented generation Y employees can add value to your organisation since they bring a refreshing perspective and confidence that anything can be accomplished. Many have more formal education than their bosses and as a result of job-hopping, have a wide range of experience in the short number of years they have worked.

A lot of Gen Y individuals grew up in divorced households, had both parents working; their childhood years were defined by rapid change, globalisation and technological innovation including high exposure to social media.  Growing up in a complex, and demanding world, they have skill in sorting through vast amounts of information.  

 

Because they have grown up with change they are often more adaptable to social, technical and competitive changes that their older colleagues and managers. Sheahan argues that when it comes to change; baby boomers resist it, generation X accept it and generation Y seek it. This ability to embrace change can help business weather bad storms.

Often referred to as “Generation Why?”, younger employees want to know the reasons behind what they are being asked to do. If this attitude is properly managed, it can help align strategic plans with everyday activities, one of those feats that many managers fail to achieve. 

With the retirement of baby boomers, and the increased number of generation Y employees moving into middle and upper management positions, the skills and mind set they bring with them will be significant. The difference between companies that will survive or thrive lies in the way today’s leaders engage and manage this undeniably tricky and ingenious group of humans in the future.

 

Ron Cacioppe & Ange Titlestad

Integral Development get's a new look for the Perth office

Integral Development has recently grown thanks to the incredible efforts of all involved during the last year.  We have some new faces joining us and we'll be introducing you to them all in the coming weeks, but the big news today is the great new look our office has been given!

Gone are the rounded cubicle style desks we had and in their place is this amazing sleek central desk.  We can now seat up to 10 people which effectively doubled our workspace without increasing our footprint.

The low central partition enables us to work closely together and collaborate more easily, and the feedback so far has been very positive.

Keeping everything up above the desk actually increased the amount of workspace for each person, and with dual monitors there's more room to work than ever.

Now we just need to see how long we can keep them clutter free!