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admin/ 11 March 2025

How to give yourself more space to think!

This is a great post by the Glasers on an issue so many people have a problem with. One of the key elements of leadership is the ability to prioritise actions that improve the future, even when you are busy tactically now. Without doing this things never improve! So many of us are focused on doing mode — achieving goals and checking items off to-do lists. But better relationships, bigger-picture strategies, and creative thinking all depend on pausing and entering into spacious mode. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Megan Reitz of Oxford University’s Said Business School, and John Higgins, director of research at The Right Conversation, share their research-based tips for making it easier and safer to occasionally switch modes.

  • Give yourself permission:  Pausing requires a leap of faith at first, but soon its benefits will become clear.
  • Train your mind: A mere 10 minutes of mindfulness practice daily will, over time, help you develop a capacity to pay attention differently.
  • Practice guerilla spaciousness:  If your organization is relentlessly promoting doing, be stealthy. Develop small habits that allow you to shift into spacious mode under the radar. Try changing up your environment or scheduling pauses.
  • Ask bigger questions: Pose broader questions to yourself and others, e.g. “What have we not talked about that would help us work together better?”
  • Choose good company:  While you cannot choose your work colleagues, spend more time when you can with individuals and groups that help you expand your thought processes and see things in new ways.

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admin/ 18 February 2025

Do you have a best friend at work? The science of why friendships keep us healthy

"Do you have a best friend at work?" is often one of the most discussed of Gallup's Engagement questions. Friendships are so important, they can literally impact life and death. According to a growing body of research, friendships are critical to our health and well being. A review of 38 studies found that adult friendships, especially high-quality ones that provide social support and companionship, significantly predict wellness and can protect against mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Those benefits persist across the life span. Friendships protect to some degree by altering the way we respond to stress - NZ research found if we feel appreciated by our friends and colleagues we are 30x more likely to be doing well mental health wise. Our blood pressure can lower when we talk to a supportive friend. When we have a friend by our side while completing a tough task, we have less heart rate reactivity than those working alone. Friendships can also change our perspective. In one study, people even judged a hill to be less steep when accompanied by a friend. Fortunately, research also suggests that friendships can be forged and maintained at any age. Even minimal social interactions can be powerful. So-called “weak ties” -- interactions we have with casual acquaintances -- can boost our health and sustain positivity. Isolation during the pandemic proved hard on nearly everyone, but it did focus scientific attention on how important human connection is across all ages and all spheres of life. We can't make people be friends at work, but we can create organisational cultures (civil and positive) and work to make space and time where people have at least weak ties that can grow into more. A key theme in engagement surveys we run is people want to work more together.

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admin/ 29 January 2025

Improve your leadership communication!

Some great tips from the Glasers! Communication is the lifeblood of leadership. So why are millions of employees exasperated and thwarted because of unclear communication from their boss?... As more employees are working remotely or in hybrid work environments, the need for successful communication has never been greater. Yet, according to a recent report by FlexOS, employees gave their managers a mediocre 7 out of 10 — basically, a C — on managing hybrid and remote teams. Worse, 30 percent said they’re blocked and discouraged by unclear communication from their bosses. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of the consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts and author of seven bestselling books, says, “As a manager, it’s your job to make sure vital information is shared appropriately and clearly, leaving no room for misunderstandings…” His advice:

  • Set expectations up front: Align with your team on the optimal use of various communication platforms. What are the ground rules?
  • Consider creating a “clarity canvas.” When starting a new project, create a set of documents that succinctly outline goals, individual responsibilities, process instructions, and key deadlines.
  • Make everything accessible. Keep meticulous records of decisions made, meeting minutes, and project statuses in a centralized, digital location accessible to all.
  • Schedule regular debriefs. After important announcements, it can be valuable to set up debrief meetings with your team. Doing so will help you evaluate how well your people understand and accept the announcements, and will give you the opportunity to clarify and address any questions.
https://www.theglasers.com/communication-capsule-blog/january-27th-2025

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admin/ 19 November 2024

Be Quiet Be, Heard

To get what you want, try saying nothing, or in the words of the Glaser's book title, Be Quiet, Be Heard, The Paradox of Persuasion. This is a great thought piece for all of us - but especially the humble and introverts who think they have to change to be effective. In a recent evaluation of coaching we completed, listening and asking good questions were perceived as having the biggest impact on people achieving their objectives. “A well-deployed silence can radiate confidence and connection. The trouble is, so many of us are awful at it.” So writes Rachel Feintzeig in the Wall Street Journal, and we couldn't agree more. Most of us rush in to fill any void in a conversation, but remaining still can reap untold benefits. Strategic silence can help in negotiations and selling. Instead of countering every point, try embracing a pause and soon you may find your counterpart jumping in with valuable information that will help you understand their needs and close. Sometimes holding your tongue can feel like going against biology. Humans are social animals, says Robert N. Kraft, professor emeritus of cognitive psychology at Ohio’s Otterbein University. “Our method of connecting— and we crave it — is talking.” For years, Kraft assigned his students a day without words, and many students also found that when forced to stop talking, they bonded better with their peers. Without pauses, we’re generally worse speakers, going off on tangents, stumbling over sounds, offering TMI (too much information), and maybe saying things we later regret. We can also put undue stress on ourselves, as talking to excess can raise our blood pressure, adrenaline and cortisol.  So, the next time you are unsure of what to say, try saying nothing at all. https://www.theglasers.com/communication-capsule-blog/silence-the-secret-weapon

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admin/ 5 November 2024

Make the most of your time off!

The number of emails sent daily has increased 34 percent since 2017. When you are on planned time off (PTO), you might welcome relief from all these messages. But does your Out of Office reply make promises you shouldn’t have to keep—like, “I will get back to you as soon as I return”? Making good on this pledge might require superhuman powers, not to mention being a waste of your valuable post vacation time. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, reporter Elizabeth Bernstein found some great examples of a more creative approach:

  • Barry Ritholtz, chief investment officer of the New York wealth-management firm that bears his name, stated in his recent out-of-office message that he was in Maine and, “During this time, I will …not [be] checking emails, avoiding texts, ignoring Slack, letting calls go to voicemail, off the grid, and generally unreachable. As such, my auto-responder is, well, auto-responding.”
  • In his standard out-of-office message, Peter Harrison explains that he is “out on PTO” and won’t be checking email. Then he encourages the recipient to follow his lead. “By doing so, you will help foster a workplace that is people first, respects paid time off, promotes balance, and dismantles always-on culture,”
  • Andrew Riesen, 33, co-founder of a Seattle start up, was on paternity leave and his out-of-office message stated that he likely wouldn’t respond to emails during his six-to-eight-week paternity leave. “There’s nothing so important that it needs to take precedence over our new little one,” he wrote. He also said he wouldn’t be checking a pile of emails” immediately when he got back.
If these replies serve their purpose, your time off may actually be your time. And returning to work, won’t be an exhausting struggle. If your out-of-office email reply suggests that you will get back to everyone…as soon as you return…it may be time to make a big change!