Engagement Archives - Page 6 of 7

True connections at work

Engagement, Mindfulness, Positive Psychology, Productivity / My Holland

Well-connected people with strong social relationships are healthier and happier. Close ties with family and friends provides us with support, self-worth and add meaning to our lives. Networking can help us feel as though we belong to something significant. So why then, does social media and an age of feeling constantly connected to hundreds of friends, sometimes leave us feeling lonely and isolated? The Internet era means that we can message friends in real time, see photos of a relative across the globe on Instagram and read your sister’s reaction to her favourite TV programme on Twitter, despite a physical distance between you. But technology doesn’t include the physical contact that benefits our well-being. While social media provides us with a network of social connections which has been shown to decrease mental illness as we get older, it is the quality of the social connections that are important. Humans are social beings, and this involves physical contact such as hugging, and seeing facial expressions face-to-face. Chris Peterson, one of the founders of positive psychology said “other people matter” but does the count of Facebook ‘friends’ or Twitter ‘followers’ equate to happiness? Take the example of Instagram star Essena O’Neill. The Australian had over 600k Instagram followers and carved her career via the social media site. She posted regular pictures for her followers to comment on. Recently she decided to quit social media and revealed some of the deceit and fakeness attached to her online world. Her social media connections were not friends and the world and career she had built was not making her happy. Taking action to strengthen our relationships and build meaningful connections is essential for happiness. Ways in which to work on the quality of your relationships, and not just the quantity include: Two-way support – giving and receiving Shared activities Openly talking about feelings Shared experiences – the good, the bad and the ugly While messaging online, sending a text message or talking over the phone means we can interact easily with friends and family, the quality of the interaction is important and investing in your relationships will help improve your health and wellbeing. Emails are often referred to as ‘single strand’ interactions, while face-to-face relationship involves a more complex interaction and body chemistry. Ways to boost this include a meal or drink with a friend, going to the cinema, shopping or a holiday to visit a friend who lives further away. Building more connections can include joining a networking group for your career, volunteering with a group, a new hobby or taking part in a protest. According the recent Emotional Needs Audit of the UK, by the Human Givens Institute, 24.1% of people did not feel emotionally connected to others, 34.8% did not feel connected to the wider community. Loneliness can make you unhappy, unhealthy and shorten your life, so take the time to invest in the people that are important to you.

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Weapon of mass distraction: lack of attention at work

Engagement, Leadership, Mindfulness, Positive Psychology, Productivity / My Holland

Grabbing our attention in the workplace According to psychologist Tim Pychyl, author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle, procrastination (or a lack of attention) is largely an emotional problem and the way we cope with stress when it kicks in. If business leaders want the best from their employees, they need to figure out the best ways to engage with them and grab their attention to make them more work focused and productive. This is no easy task, especially when we are given so many ways to distract us, such as technology. At the Boston Attention and Learning Lab in the US, cognitive neuroscientists Esterman and Joe DeGutis have developed a training programmed to help wandering minds to stay in the zone. This has proved especially helpful for those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), brain injuries and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Numerous studies have shown that we can train our brains to improve. Willpower and attention can be strengthened like a muscle, through exercises and practice. That’s the good news! The US training program targets the brain’s ‘dorsal attention network’, or the prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex. The idea is to become ‘meta-aware’ and stop the mind from wandering by stimulating sections of the brain and working to train it to prolong this attention span. In a 2010 study, psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University conducted an attention and wellbeing experiment by interrupting people throughout the day to ask what they were doing and how happy they felt. Those day dreaming about something pleasant were only about the same level of happiness as when they were on task. Mind wandering can be a hindrance to productivity but even made people unhappy. Thomas Davenport and John Beck have studied attention management for many years. They have realised that attention is widely misunderstood among business leaders and that in the same way that industries such as advertising, print and TV capture and sustain our attention, so too should businesses in the workplace. This can be achieved in a number of ways, according to Davenport and Beck … Engage with emotion One of the most important ways to gain attention, but also sustain it, is to tap into the emotions of employees. Those who feel praised and recognised, will respond with improved concentration. Fear As primates, we are programmed to fear certain things. Business managers can tap in to this natural fight or flight reaction in small measures to hold our attention – a reward for hitting a deadline or pointing out cause and effect of project work, for example. Play on competitiveness People are naturally competitive and businesses can utilise this to capture and hold attention in the workplace. Engage, do not distract People are easily distracted, so do not throw too many tasks at one person if you want them to concentrate. Instead, help them feel engaged and able to focus on a task and then reward them before moving on to a new task or project. Personalisation A great way to grab attention is to personalise a message – this can be as simple as using an employee’s name in an email rather than copying in several employees. A happy and productive workplace needs to have focused staff. Grabbing the attention of staff and ensuring that this is sustainable, is crucial if you want results, and this often comes from the management end. Take the time to think about how you engage the attention of your employees – this part of your job might need some of your own attention!

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Keeping Employees Engaged and Happy Leads to Business Success

Engagement, Leadership, Wellbeing / My Holland

If you pull back a bit, take a minute to think of the critical elements that are common among successful companies, you will, of course discover many. But one you’ll most likely recognize as being of utmost importance is employee engagement. An engaged workforce who has quality relationship with its superiors and co employees tend to perform with better productivity. What Research Shows In Australia, while boasting to have one of the highest employee engagement figures of 24% as per World Gallup’s State of the workplace Report, 2013, there is still a huge 60% who are not engaged and 16 % who are actively disengaged. For reference, these types of workers may be described as ; Engaged – those displaying a passion for their work, a closely, dearly-held connection to their company and a tendency to drive innovations. Not engaged – are seen as “the walking dead” just going through the motions of their work, putting in the hours but with neither energy nor enthusiasm. Actively disengaged – they’re not just unhappy at work, they make their unhappiness seen and felt, oftentimes undermining the accomplishments of their engaged co-workers. It makes practical sense to conclude that the last two groups can actually mean that a company which has them is not drawing their fullest potential and in fact may be leading to lost opportunities and business. The figures may vary but management experts are of the opinion these losses can run to hundreds of millions of dollars. Employee engagement continues to be a hot subject among managers. A lot continues to talk. The smart ones, aware of the huge losses low productivity can cause companies, have begun to do something about it. Foremost of these involves creating a company culture that encourages friendship among co-workers and developing supportive and trusting relationships. Start the Ball Rolling If you own a business or are one of your company’s key managers, you may want to adopt the following tips that have been proven to help employees be engaged and happy at work : Define and share your vision with your employees. Let it serve as everybody’s roadmap with all its twists and turns. This will have everybody moving in the same direction. Provide them with what they need. Instead of assuming they have all the tools, training and support from immediate superiors, go talk to them in person and take a few minutes to find out. Communicate clearly and often. You can take advantage of regular meetings, memos, and workshops to present your vision. Ask questions. If they can’t get it, rehash and reformat the way you’re communicating. Coach and lead for success and practice spur-of-the-moment acts of kindness. Positive feedback is a terrific motivator, especially when you say “thank you” for a task well-done. So is negative feedback when expressed in an objective, constructive way. Get everybody engaged (…and we’re not talking about getting into the dating game or romantic match-pairings here). Work out a way to have every employee engaged and participating in the planning and decision making. This way they’ll have a sense of ownership of the project and make sure it succeeds. Respect and create trust. Act fairly. Don’t make like a henchman of the ancient Roman ships fast-beating the drums to set the pace of the slave rowers. Remember, at the end of the day, the more engaged and happier your employees are, the likelier it is for your company to succeed. Sources: http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/leadership/145/Australia-boasts-high-employees-engagement-levels http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/australians-disengaged-at-work-report/story-fn59niix-1226735435897?nk=464c113a262faa7a201607adf0931535 http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-work.aspx

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5 Smart Tips On How To Be Happy At Work And Bring Down The Daily Pressure.

Emotional Intelligence, Engagement, Leadership, Productivity / My Holland

Somebody once quipped that the happiest workers in the world are traffic cops. They whistle while they work. An even wiser man said .. find a job you’ll really enjoy doing every single day and you won’t feel like it’s work. Unfortunately, we can’t all be loving our work like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Taylor Swift and make lots of money while enjoying a terrific rush swinging a golf club, a tennis racket or belting out a country song. We, modern slaves of the bundy clock will have to be a little more creative and innovative so we don’t drag our feet on the way to the office as if we’re headed for the dentist. And, we’re not talking of salary raises and promotions either. Of course, that helps too but that doesn’t happen everyday. Below are five of the most popular tips that are known to have had positive results among people who work under much pressure and stress: Make the choice to be happy at work. Being happy at work is essentially a choice. It’s true. Think positively about your work .. how it contributes to the company and what important role it plays to the satisfaction of a customer or client. Focus on the facets of your job that you like doing. Go with co-workers whose company you enjoy. Psych yourself up. Even in the midst of pressure and deadlines, you can choose to be happy at work. Get rid of negativity. Making a choice to be happy in the office means staying away from gossip, negative talks and disgruntled people. You can feel positively great at work but negative people can have a dramatic impact on your attitude. Don’t let these types of people get you down. Take responsibility for your own professional development. The person with the most to gain from continuing to professionally grow is yourself. So, take charge of your career growth. Don’t stay put. Seek some meaningful help or feedback from your superiors and as you see them complementing your planned goals, work them into your plans. Strike a happy balance. Your job is only a fraction of your life. It is not your total life. You cannot and should not get into a go-to-work-go-home-and-back-to-work cycle. Outside of work, find and do something that interests you, a hobby or a sport, or Friday nights out with friends that’ll serve as an outlet for relaxation and enjoyment. Create a pleasant work station. If you’ve got your own office, desk or cubicle, arrange your surroundings so it gets to be nice and comfortable for you to be there and work. Make your area pleasant. Tack on a few personal mementos, a cute little plant at the corner or Brad Pitt’s photo if it’ll make you happy. These will add warmth and meaning to your work station and ease up the daily pressure of the job. If none of these ideas help to make you a bit happier at work after applying them over time, it would make sense for you to reevaluate your employer, your job or your whole career. You wouldn’t want to spend the rest of your life in a job you can’t stand in a work environment that’s unfriendly. Go look for another job with a smile.

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Can you change? Are you stuck with your habits?

Engagement, Productivity / My Holland

We’ve all heard about ‘Brain Plasticity’ or ‘Neuroplasticity’, but what does it actually mean? Recent scientific research shows that rather than being ‘fixed’ and inflexible by adulthood, our brains are actually making millions of new connections every day in response to our experiences, all throughout our lives. This pliable nature means that it’s not out of the realms of possibility to retrain our brains! By consciously practising new thoughts and new actions, we actually physically, and functionally, change and build new neural pathways in our brains. With these changes, our brains then direct our thoughts, actions and therefore our feelings. With dedicated and consistent practise we can create our own desired feelings of happiness, wellbeing and productivity. The brain is designed to protect us from harm and therefore doesn’t like risks and change. It also does what it knows best, so the challenge is that unless you put the effort in to literally change your mind, it will fall back to well-worn habits. The good news is that YOU are in charge of this powerful tool! Your brain’s malleability can work to serve you if you give it clear and consistent instructions over time; it can’t help but mould to your commands. The more you think, act, believe and feel positively, the more you perceive the world to be so, and meaningful changes come about in the physical world around you. You can retrain your brain to keep you happy, healthy and wealthy! So get to work on your mind, so it can work for you.

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Engagement

True connections at work

Weapon of mass distraction: lack of attention at work

Keeping Employees Engaged and Happy Leads to Business Success

5 Smart Tips On How To Be Happy At Work And Bring Down The Daily Pressure.

Can you change? Are you stuck with your habits?

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