Think Stride

30/01/2023

Jeff Bezos makes an important point in this video:
People don’t hate working hard - what people actually hate is being controlled!

Not just adults, even children dislike being controlled. The moment a person feels like they are being controlled, we actually end up losing their cooperation and voluntary efforts.

Leader who want to get their best out of their people, need to remember not to control but empower their team members to have reasonable control over how they work & live. There is no golden rule as to what level of empowerment is ideal - but it is about being open to having a dialogue and figuring out what is a mutually win-win arrangement.

The only reason why so many leaders justify a culture of ‘control’, is out of the fear of losing control themselves and the fear of letting go (Ironically!). But leaders who are willing to work through the fear of giving up control, eventually end up winning the trust of their team mates, creating a culture of ownership and a culture of open conversations about what works & what doesn’t!

Question is how willing are you as a leader to embrace what feels uncomfortable or even scary?

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02/11/2022

Leaders who would rather have questions that can't be answered are better off, than leaders that have answers that can't be questioned.

It is critical to understand the fundamental flaw in human perception - "We don't see the world as it is; we see the world as we are!" (i.e. through our individual beliefs, values, mindsets, stories etc). Yet, on a day-to-day basis, we take our 'perceived truth' to be absolute, and we spend a lot of time defending it, trying to prove it is right, trying to find solutions around it (& fail most times as a result, or assume incorrectly that we have found the answers), ruminating over it, etc.

It is no wonder we live in a world where organisations are devoid of innovation, critical thinking, unbiased decision-making etc, and abundant in fixed mindsets, unproductive conflict, lack of inclusion/biases, lack of wholistic/systemic problem-solving etc.

This is a famous quote by Richard Feynman, the Nobel -winning scientist known for challenging the so-called 'scientific' principles used by people in his community:
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool"

Interestingly, every child is born with this sense of wonder and curiosity, and explores the world for what it is...until they are socialised out of it. It is important that each one of us takes responsibility to challenge our points of view, have the courage to challenge other points of view and bring back this child-like curiosity to truly learn, see & experience life for what it is and make a meaningful impact to the world around us.

This is particularly key to meaningful leadership growth and development.



p.s. If you are curious about Richard Feynman's famous principles to master critical thinking, this is a great blogpost:

Richard Feynman was one of the great scientists and physicists of our time, truly one of the great minds of humanity. Here, we collect much of his wisdom in one place.

25/09/2022

Success of remote working is dependent on a human helping hand, especially care demonstrated by managers rather than creative strategies or cutting edge technology says Satya Nadella.

He says by investing in manager capability development, they know they are investing in the right place to make this new workplace arrangement work.

- How much is your organisation investing towards leadership development?
- Has it increased significantly post COVID?
- If not, why not?

Integrating new members into a remote team? Microsoft's CEO says one factor matters most for successful remote onboarding.

08/09/2022

Everyone is talking about the need for a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) or the need to improve Employee Experience (EX), to attract and retain key talent.

With the talent shortage widening and too many ideas on what to do, it is important for organisational & HR leaders to play the right kind of game so that they can maximise their chances of winning the talent game.

19/08/2022

Yesterday, I was watching an episode of 'Tidying up' with Mary Kondo. The change journey that people go through in the process of letting go (of not just their material 'stuff' but plenty of limiting habits, beliefs & values), and in turn welcoming a whole new version of themselves & their surroundings...was a pleasure to watch.

I especially loved the idea of not feeling 'guilty' about the current reality and instead expressing gratitude towards it, for teaching us what we don't value or need anymore. That way, letting go becomes less painful and instead sparks joy about the future.

I am certainly going to apply this 'gratitude' mindset towards things that don't serve me anymore while wanting to make personal changes, to make it easy for myself. After all, being consumed by guilt takes energy away from the actual process of change.

I think this can be helpful in an context too, to ease the pain of letting go of old values, identities, and habits.

What do you think?

09/08/2022

"My team tends to drop the ball unless I follow up" is a common pain point for a lot of team leaders.

If you are curious to find out how you can create a culture of personal accountability and ownership within your team, then read on...

Do feel free to add your insights, and please feel free to share it with others who might benefit from it.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-your-team-members-taking-ownership-what-do-madhu-jeyakumaran/?published=t&trackingId=vYl9Q7RJRdyCywderjq6mg%3D%3D

28/07/2022

It was inspiring to hear the story of how the Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide tranformed the way they support customers during the height of COVID.

The stories of how they came up with innovative & quirky ways to entertain people who couldn’t step out of their hotel rooms and how the staff went out of their way to support Afghan refugees during the pandemic really touched my heart. ♥️ What an outstanding example of !

As always, met some really wonderful people at the event . Thanks to Business SA for another amazing networking night.

25/07/2022

Yesterday I had a conversation with someone who was frustrated dealing with people at work, who were not doing what they were expected to do. They asked “Some people are so used to the old ways of doing things at work, that they are reluctant to using technology. While it may be a small inconvenience for them, at a larger level it then becomes a bottleneck for maintaining accurate reporting. How do we resolve this?”

Behavioural change is a messy, and challenging process. It isn’t easy to let go of habits and thinking that have been carried over many years. Fact is, those behaviours and thinking has worked for them for so long, that they don’t see any reason to change.

This is the key reason why adoption of technology or any form of organisation change effort or even learning programs fail.

It isn’t enough to train people on the ‘skills’ required and expect them to comply. It requires a whole system approach (and insight into how our brain works) to install the new way of thinking and doing, until it becomes a anew way of being:

1. Demonstrate that the gain > pain:
Our brain is wired to move away from anything that is perceived as pain. Only when adults are able to perceive that the pain is worth the gain, they will begin to make change. The personalised benefits of the new behaviour need to be clearly demonstrated, understood and bought into.

2. Reinforce through formal mechanisms and incentivise the behaviour change:
Our brain responds to that which is rewarded. Reward need not necessarily be monetary- but anything that brings us a sense of significance, appreciation and a sense of connection, triggers us to do more of those behaviours. Unless the system encourages the new way of being and discourages the old behaviour, no meaningful change happens.

3. Role-modeling:
We want to see the behaviours we are expected to adopt, are being modelled by leadership. This is why walking through talk from the top (or the lack of it) can significantly impact rate of change adoption. Something doesn’t become a lived reality for the majority until it becomes a ‘serious’ priority/value for the leadership.

4. Support necessary skill building:
Last but not the least, providing necessary training is foundational to bridging skill gaps and easing the person into the new way of being.

Skill development alongside the above mentioned systemic change is key to enabling successful behavioural change.

What change do you expect to see in your organisation?

Which of these factors have been addressed?

Which ones need to be prioritised to make change a lives reality?

Image source: McKinsey & company

11/07/2022

Kindness is an important leadership virtue. But what it means to be kind as a leader, can be grossly misunderstood.

Kindness is NOT
- tolerating all behaviours of team members
- always having nice things to say (or not sharing critical feedback)
- overstretching to compensate for team’s lack of ownership

A kind leader is someone
- who engages in dialogue when things are not ok, listens and empathises before choosing their response
- who sets healthy boundaries, and in turn respects the boundaries of their team members
- cares enough to give timely and clear feedback to help their team members succeed
- empowers team members to take ownership by creating a safe environment where it’s ok to make mistakes

Kindness is different from ‘people-pleasing’! People-pleasing is a selfish need; whereas kindness focuses on common good.

28/06/2022

THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW, TO KEEP YOUR BEST PEOPLE FROM LEAVING...

The key to retaining your best people is NOT additional bonuses or perks...

Watch this video for three simple things, that most managers overlook, but are fundamental to building trust and engagement with your teammates...

And if you do these three things well, your people will happily turn down offers in the market to work with you.

3 tips to retain your best people

03/05/2022

The simple truth about what drives our well-being…

The Harvard study of adult development (the longest study ever undertaken) that tracked the lives of 724 people for more than 75 years - as a way to study what makes a good life and what causes happiness, demonstrated that connection is most important for human well-being. Here are the three findings from the study:
- social connections make us happy, and loneliness kills
- it’s not the number of relationships, but the quality of them that counts
- connection not only improves our emotional and physical health, but protects our brain & sharpens memory

If connection is the #1 driver for well-being,
- why is that we don’t have enough of it in workplace?
- why is that people can’t count on each other and their leaders, to feel safe, to speak up?
- why do leaders still motivate through fear, and not empathy?
- why do we have performance management systems that promote internal competition, and not connection?
- why are authentic connections, belonging and relationships- not given as much importance as KPIs, and goals?
- why are we searching for fancier ingredients to promote employee well-being and employee experience ; when we can focus on what really matters?

In fact, not all workplaces lack connection. In fact, the best employers / top performing organisations understand this so well, that it part of their DNA - they deeply care about all their stakeholders - not just customers, but employees and even the society. They understand that their existence is rooted in the well-being of others.

A Wharton study conducted on investor returns over a 3 , 5, 10 -year period showed that ‘firms of endearment’ (organisations that cared equally about all their stakeholders) showed significantly superior performance over the long-term over both S&P 500 and the ‘good to great’ companies.

I’d invite every person reading this post, to think if you have your priorities right in life and at work - are you focusing enough on genuine connection ?