Well-being at work
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 14/03/2012
I’ve been reading Thinking, fast and slow (Kahneman, 2011) … I’ll write a more full review of the book as I finish it (just one more chapter to go!). One of the things that caught my attention yesterday was the importance of social relationships at work. I certainly remember from First break all the rules (Buckingham & Coffman, 2005) and the importance of having a “best friend at work” and the importance of that factor on productivity … and I was curious to read something very similar in Kahneman’s book, although this time was about mood … (p. 394):
Mood at work, is largely unaffected by the factors that generally influence general job satisfaction, including benefits and status. More importantly are situational factors such as an opportunity to socialize with coworkers, exposure to loud noise, time pressure (a significant source of negative affect), and the immediate presence of a boss ( … the only thing that was worse than being alone).
Here’s some questions to ponder:
- How much does your mood affect your productivity?
- How can you increase the opportunities in your workplace to socialise with co-workers?
- How does building design / layout influence opportunities to socialise?
- What small step could your organisation take to increase these opportunities to socialise?
References
Buckingham, M., & Coffman, C. (2005). First, break all the rules : what the world’s greatest managers do differently. London: Pocket.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. London: Allen Lane.
Zappos Picture Gallery
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 07/02/2012
- In: Employee Engagement | Motivation | Teams
- 2 Comments
Read my article: Visiting Zappos
Read my book review: Delivering Happiness
From the outside:
A non-descript building – giving no indication of the riches held within.
Reception:
Within reception is a a massive iPad – with Angry Birds playing.
Complementary water and popcorn.
The offices:
It seems that everyone can decorate their cubical however they like. I think redecoration happens every 6 months as people move around to develop their skills (leading to an increase in pay). Sadly my photos just don’t capture the atmosphere.
The business leaders are also in the open plan office – albeit with a little more greenery.
Most sections have offices. Departments were given funding to decorate – and they look stunning.
There’s a life-coach encouraging people to reach their goals, and one stair-well contains people celebrating their personal achievements.
Efficiency at the fore
This may all “look” very nice, but underneath there is a massive structure and a focus on business numbers:
Teamwork: the importance of ‘storming’
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 05/02/2012
- In: Change | Emotions | Leadership | Teams
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Warm & fuzzy
I’ve written blogs on high performing teams (see blogs on: Peak Performance of Teams, 3 Differences of High Performing Teams), and have often focused on the importance of support and encouragement, as often I’ve noticed that it’s the area that’s been lacking, however ….
Phases of team development
It’s been a while since I’ve been a contributing team member (because recently I’ve either led teams, have delivered training or have coached others)– but a recent experience of being trained, and being a team member reminded me of the importance of different phases of team development, and why if you’re leading or managing teams you should ensure there’s an outlet for ‘storming’.
An oft used tool in team development is some form of understanding of how groups of people develop into teams – the typical phases of team development. There are several different phases of team development – and in my experience a tool that many have heard of is Tuckman’s: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing model (see below).
What happened
Over 10 days, two teams of four had to develop skills in volleyball – and compete to win a monetary prize. The volleyball experience in the teams was varied – but apparently volleyball is a true team sport whereby the strongest team can compete and win against a disparate group of individuals … certainly at the amateur level.
- The teams were randomly selected and played together for a couple of days, before a bit of a change of personnel. I expected this – as often when training this point is made to demonstrate how quickly the team reverts to the “forming” stage.
- I was on a team with a talented leader an experienced volleyball player who praised and encouraged the team, created a supportive environment, and asked powerful coaching questions to work with each of us on our mindset. Self learning was encouraged, we focused on both our successes AND our targets for the next game – what our personal bests would be. In teamworking terms we had so many “essentials” in place: strong leadership, clear goals, an action plan, a supportive and inclusive environment, yet we didn’t seem to “gel” as a team.
- Rebel without a cause
Perhaps there was nothing to rebel about – everything was so supportive and encouraging. I watched as the other team experienced leadership difficulties – and how as they came through the other side they became a cohesive team with 4 leaders, rather than one leader and 3 followers. Perhaps there was something about me “giving away” my power, and “just” following – but it’s harder to “storm” when there’s nothing to storm against!
- If you’re a skilled and supportive leader, like the lady who lead us in volleyball – then I might ask you the question: “how can you shake the team to ensure that you get the best out of them?”
- I was reminded of the importance of the ‘storming’ phase.
How have you provoked storming in a team you’re leading?
More info
Tuckman’s stages of team development
| Stage | Forming | Storming | Norming | Performing | Transforming |
| Characteristics | Feeling eagerHigh expectationsSome anxiety
Focus on self Dependent on authority Need to establish oneself |
Discrepancy between hope & realityConfusionCompetition for power or authority
Focus on self Frustration Conflict |
Resolving discrepanciesGenerating agreed ways of workingDeveloping competence
Focus on team Shared responsibility |
Performing at high levelsWorking collaborativelySelf-aware
Self-critical Focus on team Focus on the group winning as a whole Cooperation Excitement |
PartingCelebrationClosure
Looking forward to next task/job |
| Role of the leader | Define group goals & structureFind out team members’ skills & motivationGet everyone involved | Defuse conflictChannel energy/people to relevant areasMotivate & encourage
Get ‘buy-in’ to ideas |
CommunicateCoachEncourage
Provide resources Help people grow (through experiment & review) |
Be accessible but not interferingProvide guidance if requiredGive feedback
Stand back |
Acknowledge team’s achievementsReview overall performanceCelebrate
Reward Point to the future |
How have you provoked storming in a team you’re leading?
Visiting Zappos
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 28/01/2012
Zappos is an on-line retailer in America. The company started out selling shoes on-line, although now offers a wider selection of products, not just shoes.
If you’ve already come across Zappos, or have come across the book Delivering Happiness, you probably already know that Zappos has a reputation for AWESOME customer service, and a “quirky” culture.
The story of how the company was developed is described by one of the founders, Tony Heish in the book Delivering Happiness. The book describes the company ethos, and the significant levels of empowerment that employees have to make decisions. The book gives a flavour of the recruitment process and how after the induction programme they offer a cash incentive for people to leave, to ensure that people who stay fit with the culture. I wrote more on the book after I first read it.
Earlier in January I was fortunate enough to visit Zappos and take a tour of their building, and meet some of the people who work there.
First impressions
A warm welcome, a bottle of chilled water, some popcorn. Name badges were efficiently distributed – and we all willingly entered our email details into the system. From the business perspective this is an efficient way of gathering these details, we did it willingly, accurately, and now we’re “on file” as a potential customer.
There was an initial film of how the company was founded. A great way to ensure that visitors (or as Zappos describes us “guests”) have the same understanding – and of course delivered in a very efficient manner. A very minor criticism was the fast speed of the speaker – who was hugely enthusiastic, but I was glad I’d read the book because the bits of the presentation I heard provided good memory jogs – but it was just a bit too quick for me to take it all in.
Exactly as the film finished our guide returned to start the tour of the building.
Expressions of individuality
The first thing that is striking is the absolute control that people have on customising their workspaces.
Fairy lights, tin foil, plastic foliage were just a few of the individual touches, which seen together provides for a jaw dropping first impression.
Contrast this with many organisations have “clear desk” policies, and hot-desking which allows companies to reduce the numbers of fixed desks, and allows a more flexible workforce to share a smaller number of desks.
Formal benefits
The package of benefits offered by Zappos is broad and varied. There’s a full healthcare package – which for families can amount to a significant cost …. all free to Zappos employees. The canteen offers free meals most of the week. There are free snacks available. I heard that that employees can borrow luggage for holidays – certainly saves on both expense and storage.
Thank you
Only in America
Zappos only delivers to America and Canada, because what they noticed that was that as their packages of happiness travel over national boarders control of logistics is lost – and their ability to deliver to delight customers is part of what makes Zappos unique.
References:
Zappos: http://www.zappos.com/
Delivering Happiness: http://www.deliveringhappiness.com/
My blog on Delivering Happiness: http://suzannehazelton.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/delivering-happiness/
Hsieh, T. (2010). Delivering happiness : a path to profits, passion, and purpose (1st ed. ed.). New York: Business Plus.
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Spiral Dynamics
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 15/01/2012
- In: Books | Change | Employee Engagement | Leadership
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Spiral Dynamics was a book that I’d wanted to read for a very long time. I had been warned that it was heavy-going, and so previously the book had never made it to the top of my reading list. However I’ve been doing some broader reading about stages of development of which Graves’ theory is one approach, and the first approach that I came across back in 2003 when I studied NLP.
I’ve been using the concepts from Spiral Dynamics in a very practical way without reading the book. Individuals – even within the same group can have different value systems – which can provide a challenge for leaders, so understanding the concept of the spiral, and managing within it has been very useful to me. I’ve also been intrigued at how people develop to the next level within the spiral. Previously I’ve found as much information as I wanted here: http://www.spiraldynamics.org/pdf_resources/SD_MiniCourse_H.pdf
But my research gave me an excuse to buy the Spiral Dynamics book and plunge in and read it. I have to confess that on the whole, I was disappointed. I found parts of the book heavy-going! It could be that the topics covered are very broad, they cover theoretical application in management and world affairs, taking politics and social development in along the way. I think it’s a book for those very dedicated in wanting to know more about Spiral Dynamics as there are far clearer explanations available. I think if I return to the book – it might be in more of a “dipping” capacity. I suspect most people would gain the most from reading Section 3 first, and following up with Section 1. If you have read the book – how did you read it?
References
Beck, D., & Cowan, C. C. (2006). Spiral dynamics : mastering values, leadership and change : explaining the new science of memetics. Oxford: Blackwell.
There’s lots of free information on the Spiral Dynamic website: http://spiraldynamics.org/aboutsd_overview.htm
I’ve found some of the short articles very useful: http://www.spiraldynamics.org/pdf_resources/SD_MiniCourse_H.pdf
Spiral Dynamics picture from –> http://www.spiraldynamics.net/
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How full is your bucket?
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 08/01/2012
Overall I found it a delightfully simple book. It starts by talking about the extremes of what happened to the American POW of the Korean war and how the human bonding was lost. The remainder of the book is about what sorts of things you can do to increase these bonds so essential for thriving – the book uses a great metaphor of buckets.
1. Are you filling another person’s bucket with goodness or are you taking from their reserve? Think about your interactions with others – and ensure that you add to their bucket even if it’s only in some small way.
2. Depending on the context, actively look for what’s going well with someone else, be enthusiastic in your responses … which leads us to
3. “Make best friends”
5. When filling another’s bucket – it’s useful to remember that things like recognition needs to be personal to the individual – whilst some compliments and acknowledgements can be done privately – ensure that you know what the individual wants before inviting them on stage in front of hundreds.
The book is solidly grounded in scientific research, well written with some great examples.
References
Rath, T., & Clifton, D. O. (2005). How full is your bucket? : positive strategies for work and life (International ed. ed.). New York: Gallup.
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Even better relationships
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 01/01/2012
“I’ve got some good news!”
How do you respond when people share their good news with you?
Researchers (Gable, Reis, Impett, & Asher, 2004) have found there’s a really effective way to respond. It’s called “Active Constructive” – and essentially it means that you actively make constructive comments.
I’ve seen the following example used in a workshop – and remember it’s the top left box of “Active and Constructive” that works. Yes really, the passive and constructive doesn’t work – you may think you’re being supportive – but research shows that these comments are not enough – so us silent types better be more enthusiastic.
What’s in it for you?
Of course there are the people in your life for whom you’re delighted to share in their good news – and there doesn’t have to be anything in it for you!
But I thought you might like to know that the research shows that this “active and constructive” communication is positively associated with better relationship quality. In academic speak the active and constructive responses were positively correlated with commitment, satisfaction intimacy, and for men trust.
Take the approach further
In positive psychology there is an intervention known as savouring, where you really allow yourself to enjoy the experience. Where it’s an appropriate situation, you can facilitate the person with the good news just to remember and re-experience the situation. The research also shows that more likely to engrave the experience on their memory.
“I’m so pleased you had a great evening, tell me about it, what was the best bit?”
References
Gable, S. L., Reis, H. T., Impett, E. A., & Asher, E. R. (2004). What Do You Do When Things Go Right? The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(2), 228-245. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.87.2.228
The “right” sort of visualisation
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 31/12/2011
- In: Coping | Focus
- 2 Comments
As I write this, the year is drawing to a close. Traditionally the start of a new year brings a host of “resolutions” to do things differently. I think there is much to be said for setting, and working towards goals – although I don’t believe it has to be done on a particular calendar date. I’ve recently read some interesting stuff on visualisation, and how it important it is to do the “right” sort of visualisation, that is if you want to achieve your goals!
Be sure to visualise the entire process of reaching your goal – and not just the goal itself!
Visualisation
Many self-help books encourage the use of visualisation, typically the books encouraging you to imagine you have achieved everything you ever wanted, to luxuriate in the feelings of success and so on. I wondered what research there was supporting visualisation.
There is much research supporting the notion that when hypothetical events are imagined, people are more likely to believe that the event will 
occur. And it’s not just belief that the event’s will occur. There’s an interesting study (Gregory, Cialdini, & Carpenter, 1982) that demonstrate that people are more likely to purchase cable TV if they’d visualised it first. So there is some scientific research supporting visualisation, however the way it’s carried out is important.
Not all visualisation leads to results
I found some research on different ways of visualising (Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998). In the experiments they conducted the goal had been set for all participants, and one group visualised having achieved the goal– i.e. focusing solely on the “outcome”, whilst the second group visualised what they needed to do in order to achieve it, they visualised the obstacles and how they would overcome them the researchers described this as visualising the “process”.
The research found that the value of visualisation comes from anticipating problems and being able to handle them (i.e. those participants in “the process” group achieved higher levels of success in reaching their goal). Indeed those that only visualised the outcome achieved lower scores ….
I think there are two important points. Firstly, I suggest that one important aspect to visualisation is that it “forces” one to have a goal or an outcome in mind. With that outcome in mind, when visualising, be sure to anticipate the steps one needs to go through in order to achieve your goal. So like the athlete who visualises winning gold – they’re not just visualising the feeling of running over the finish line, they’re imagining their perfect race, from the starting blocks, step by step.
References
Gregory, W. L., Cialdini, R. B., & Carpenter, K. M. (1982). Self-relevant scenarios as mediators of likelihood estimates and compliance: Does imagining make it so? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(1), 89-99. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.43.1.89
Taylor, S. E., Pham, L. B., Rivkin, I. D., & Armor, D. A. (1998). Harnessing the imagination: Mental simulation, self-regulation, and coping. American Psychologist, 53(4), 429-439. doi: 10.1037/0003-066x.53.4.429
Swim with the sharks
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 29/12/2011
without being eaten alive
Yes, I seem to be on a bit of a book roll … I think this is my third book review in as many days – I’m not normally such an avid book reader. I’ve been reading journal articles as part of my studies of positive psychology. I’m broadly interested in the concept of success, achievement and flourishing – and like to read about successful people, and how they’ve achieved their success. As a bit of a seasonal break from my studies I’m enjoying munching my way through a few of the books on my bookshelf. I will continue “normal service” with my studies from tomorrow.
Swim with the sharks is a business book by Harvey Mackay. The original date of publication was back in 1988. The book is a collection of short “lessons” (typically less than 2 pages) with short anecdotes either from the writer – himself a successful businessman or from peers, with additions from (American) sport or politics. I found this format to be very readable. There were a couple of suggestions I found myself disagreeing with, but they were so short, I recognise that times have moved on, and I thought there was enough in there, presented in good size nuggets to make it a worthwhile book.
If you’ve read the book, it would be great to hear from you – which lessons have you found pertinent? Or which do you think are now a little outdated?
References
Mackay, H. (2004). Swim with the sharks : without being eaten alive. London: Sphere.
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My life in advertising
Posted by: Suzanne Hazelton on: 28/12/2011
- In: Books | Negotiation
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A fascinating autobiography of Claude Hopkins, a man considered to be a founder of modern advertising. Although born in 1866, many of his approaches seem to have stood the test of time.
This book was an easy and informative read. If you ever have to “sell” yourself, or a product – this is good background read, advocating the statement of actual facts and figures in advertising.
Claude Hopkins was a strong advocate of small scale (local) tests of adverts to ensure a good response rate, before going nationwide.
He “invented” the use of coupons, and had a good understanding of the concept of FREE! All the more pertinent because the previous book I read (predictably irrational) looked at the scientific research supporting our irrational behaviours when presented with a “something for nothing” offer.
Claude seemed to have a strong understanding of what propels people to buy. He recognised for example that people don’t buy “preventative measures”, that people don’t like selfishness and boasts in sales claims “by my brand” or “be sure to get the original”. He instigated ads with “real people”, showing the processes in the factory demonstrating the importance to the customer.
Given that Claude wrote the book in 1923, and died in 1932, his examples perhaps are a little outdated – or are they?
I encourage you to read about the advent of the beauty industry, the change in the way tyres were advertised, the changes to advertising floor sweepers … chemicals, cars, shaving foam, cereals, toothpaste …. a broad range of examples
References
Hopkins, C. C. My life in advertising : and Scientific advertising: McGraw-Hill,
Image from: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/2-old-metal-trade-tokens-for-palmolive-soap
