Leadership AdvantEdge: Leadership | Influence | Ta

We all want an inspirational leader. Someone to look up to, to give us hope and direction. A leader who engages us as individuals and treats us well. But most of all makes us want to be better. But what if that leader is you?!? And today, You’re just not feeling up for it? Welcome to this Joy@Work AdvantEdge Guide to Find Your Mojo Again by harnessing the power of your inner chemistry. Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. And today you're feeling a bit blah. Everything's sort of "meh" and you'd like to just hang in there for the time being and let Future Self take responsibility for that. We all go through phases in life when our mood is uplifting, positive, dynamic and we feel like we could conquer the world. And then there's that "meh" moment, when everything is a little bland, and what would be really really nice is if someone else would just take charge and be the one to inspire and engage and buck us up. To choose to switch your drive and motivation on so that you can inspire others, we're going to delve into the neuroscience of how your brain works, learn what drives you (and everybody else) and then we're going to take charge of the chemistry cocktail bar inside your brain. The Neuroscience of your Get Up and Go (aka your MOJO) Your brain is not your best friend when it comes to feeling positive, enthusiastic and inspired. In fact, neuroscientific evidence shows that our brains are hard-wired to make us feel mentally crappy most of the time. Let me geek out with some acronyms for a moment - it's interesting stuff. Briefly, your brain is survival focussed and it is controlled by the Sympathetic Nervous System (the SNS) and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPPA). Both the SNS and HPAA are reactive systems. That is, they register any (and every) possible threat and fire you up chemically to respond. This is fantastically useful in keeping you safe but it has the rather unpleasant side effect of making you feel anxious, stressed, disappointed and generally low spirited. Today's living environment for most of us, especially in urban areas means that both your SNS and HPAA are fired up much of the time in response to the daily challenges you face on your daily commute, in noisy, crowded offices, surrounded by beeping devices and with a boss imposing impossible deadlines... Modern life is taking a large toll on your peace of mind. Yet, you have another system available to you called the ParaSympathetic Nervous System (PSNS). And when your PSNS takes charge you feel great: calm, relaxed, chill, tranquil, clear-headed, and well, happy. Yes, the name of the Sympathetic Nervous System is a little misleading in our modern understanding of the word "sympathetic", but it is the system that makes you feel stressed or basically, crappy. OK, so a quick summary, your brain automagically, or rather, unconsciously, reacts to environmental stimuli through your Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and/or your Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPAA) to prepare you to deal with any threats. Once the threat passes, or you choose to consciously engage it, your ParaSympathetic System (PSNS) switches on to calm you down and get back to other important stuff like digesting your food, maintaining homeostasis, slowing your heart rate and so on. Just make a note that you can choose to consciously trigger the PSNS. I'll be back to this at the end. Before that though, let's remember what actually drives you. i.e. what gets you getting up and going? As you know, we all have six foundational drivers that are at the heart of practical neuroscience. Of course, your brain is an incredibly complex organ and variations of human behaviour are an endless ocean of subtle differences. But we can identify six neuro-scientifically founded basic needs of human beings and how these influence our motivational behaviours and how we interact with the world around us. As human beings, we have developed to use the environment to its best and allow for reproduction and the furtherment of our species: our survival and growth. Your six drivers are: * Physical Survival! Our physiological needs of hunger, thirst, sleep and sex. * Maximising Pleasure and avoiding pain to feel safer and more secure. * Growing Attachment, so that we have a better sense of belonging. * Increasing our Control.Which helps satisfy our need to matter. * Boosting our Self-Esteem: Which helps satisfy our need for self-actualisation. * Being of Service to others. We are only truly satisfied when we help other people. Each of these stimulates different neuronal circuits and will activate different regions in the brain. Let me briefly share a little more about each of these needs and then we'll examine how we can consciously and deliberately affect them and hence, our FEELING of drive, inspiration and engagement. You can easily remember this using the SPACES acronym. For a full reminder about SPACES and details of each of your drivers: Is Your Battery Running Low? Understanding the 6 Essential Human Needs of Your Team for Successful Leadership Now, we’ve reminded ourselves about what drives you, it’s time to geek out on some chemistry… What's chemistry got to do with my feeling driven and inspired? Well everything! How you FEEL in any situation is your conscious interpretation of the physiological response of your body, triggered by the combination (or cocktail) of chemicals released as a result of your conscious thinking and your SNS, PNS and HPAA and unconscious responses. It's a lot more complex than the five chemicals I'm talking about here, but understanding how these affect you will help you understand the essence of how a change in the balance of these chemicals inside you changes how you feel, and hence your motivation and desires. You will already know much about adrenaline and cortisol - your key stress hormones. And just in case you don't, I have a wonderful little whiteboard video you can watch. But you also have some "happy" chemicals. These are Oxytocin, Serotonin and Dopamine. Five chemicals you need to know about: * Oxytocin - regarded as the “love” hormone. Makes you feel "loved", "trusted", "cared for". * Serotonin – closely linked with your mood amongst many other vital functions. Makes you feel "proud", "satisfied", "content". * Dopamine – triggers the joyful hope of anticipated reward. Makes you feel "happy", "joyful", "driven"or "motivated". * Cortisol – our stress chemical. Makes you feel "stressed", "anxious", "on-edge" * Adrenaline – creates arousal and readiness to ‘fight or fly’. Makes you feel "frightened", "scared", "angry", "stronger", "alert". Good times, bad times, you know I've had my share... (whoops, a little Led Zeppelin slipped in there.) When our thinking and perception of the environment is associated positively to our own experiences, this triggers the release of our "happy chemicals" : serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. On the other side, when we feel stressed, anxious or upset about the fulfilment of our basic needs, this is the result of cortisol, Norepinephrine (the brain's 'adrenaline') and adrenaline. On the positive side: * Increased self-esteem means more serotonin. * Greater orientation and control means more dopamine. * Having a trusted attachment means more oxytocin, and * When pleasure is maximised we get more dopamine. On the negative side: * Lowered self-esteem means more cortisol. * Reduced orientation and control means more cortisol. * Little or reduced attachment increases adrenaline, * as does pain increase adrenaline. Your approach to your six basic needs may not be the same as mine of course. Generally speaking, I am a very positive and optimistic person. Someone else might be more negative and pessimistic about it. These approaches are known as your motivational schemata. Motivational schemata Motivational schemata are the instruments and methods that a person will develop through their lifetime to help satisfy their basic needs or to protect them. Within this there are two base schemata. On the one hand the approach schema which is a result of a person striving to fulfil their basic needs. On the other hand if a person strives to protect their basic needs this is known as an avoidance schema. What does this mean? Depending on your approach, you may be someone who continuously seeks to fulfil your personal needs, or someone who focuses their attention on avoiding the bad things. The way you speak, as in the words you use habitually, often reveal your schemata or approach. By the way, neither is right, nor is one necessarily better than another, expect to say that we tend to get in life, what we focus on. Thus if you focus on avoiding pain, you'll probably experience (or be aware of) more pain than someone who focuses in the exact same circumstances on pleasure. Dale Carnegie summed this up beautifully: Two men looked out from prison bars, One saw the mud, the other saw stars.” Are you happy or unhappy? Happiness is a perception of how well the world matches your expectations and desires. Stress, in contrast, comes from the expectation that our resources are not enough to achieve our desires, There are days when we don't feel as if we are progressing towards our purpose. Heck, many people don't consciously know their purpose, but unconsciously we are all aware of those days when something just isn't right. we have no sense of progress or fulfilment. These are the "blah" days. the days when we don't feel like "getting up and going". The days when we have lost our mojo. Well those days are days we have incongruity between our perception of the world and how well you have fulfilled your basic needs. Any mismatch between your current motivational schemata and your perception of the world defines your feelings, behaviours and actions. Whether you act with the intention of fulfilling your needs or protecting what you perceive that you have. You sense a need for change. And maybe, just maybe, the world will see fit to make that change happen to you. Some call this luck, or karma, serendipity or synchronicity. But in the 99.9% of times when that lady luck doesn't happen to call on you today, you'll want to be able to pull yourself out of that funk and reignite your engines. As a leader, it is your job to inspire others, to engage them and motivate them to do the things that matter. And that's awfully difficult to do when you are not feeling inspired, engaged or particularly motivated. And you already know that it's unlikely that someone else is going to lift you up right now. Sure it would be nice, and I know that you deserve it, but here's the rub: your boss isn't inspiring you because they ain't feeling it either. So let's choose to take charge of life and choose to switch the motivation engines on. We can even measure how well we are aligned to our basic needs by assessing how much each of the six needs matters to use personally and how well that is currently being fulfilled. I'm sharing a simple SPACES assessment tool that you can use to measure the congruity between your current work environment and your preferences: Now this is going to be a whole lot easier for you if you already (consciously) know your own life purpose (that is you are a eudaemonite). Per chance you don't have clarity on that then here's a podcast and guide for you. In the meantime let's switch on your motivation engines shall we? If you're busy paying attention to something else right now, like emailing, facebook trawling, driving a vehicle wait until you can take five minutes out. I'll need your complete attention. Ready? Breathe! Yes, I said: "Breathe." Deep, long, slow breaths. In through your nose and blow it from your mouth. Surely I'm kidding you? You've been doing this all the time and feeling "meh". Yes, there is more to it, but right now just breathe. Give it a few more seconds of deep breathing. ... Powerful huh? Breathing is your first step to Relax! Now as you continue focussing attention on your breathing, I'd like you to touch your lips with your (clean) fingers. You might like to lick your lips with your tongue. Now, you can choose what to do for the next four minutes. * Practice deliberate physical and mental relaxation * Meditate * Pray * Bring your attention towards sensations in your body * Focus attention on immediate sensory experiences and feelings (also called mindfulness) Choose one of the five. I like to spend my time meditating on a verse from the Bible and praying to God. Whatever you choose, be aware of your breathing, deeply in through the nose and blowing sharply out through your mouth. Pause the podcast and do it now, safely of course. Come back when you are done and I'll wrap this up with why it works. Good to have you back (or maybe you're going to do it later.) What just happened? Your brain needs a lot of oxygen because it burns a lot of energy, 20% of your body's calorific burn for a 3 pound mass! You just increased the availability of oxygen in your body and hence available to your brain. Breathing out sharply through your mouth reduces cortisol in your body, which reduces your stress and anxiety. Because you have taken executive control (by deliberately choosing what to do instead of your body reacting to the environment) you have reduced adrenaline production. The threat must have passed if you aren't concerned about it! With the two key stress hormones reduced, you then touched or licked your lips, which triggered your PSNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) to get working - remember this is the system that slows your heart rate and calms you down. You're clearing your thinking brain to consider positive, uplifting thoughts and ideas. Touching your own body (especially the lips) also stimulates the release of oxytocin - better still when you do this with your life parter. This makes you feel more loved, trusted or cared for and increases your feeling of attachment. Thinking positive, uplifting thoughts stimulates dopamine and serotonin production and you are believing that you have taken charge of the situation, which increases your self-esteem and sense of orientation and control. You will also begin to feel greater pleasure whilst reducing pain through this very simple exercise. To find your Mojo again, Take 5 All it takes is 5 minutes to breathe and either pray, meditate, be mindful, or simply be relaxed to regain that sense of control, to engage and re-ignite the fires of your motivation. And if it doesn't happen in the first 5 minutes. Take just 5 more. If you need an outside voice with a fresh perspective to challenge and empower you, your team, or business to a new level of performance and engagement then let’s talk now. And if you know someone who you know would benefit from this Joy@Work Guide, please share this with them. Just click the share button. Be blessed and have an awesome day. Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

Abraham Maslow proposed a sixth level in his renowned five level hierarchy of human needs, which behavioural neuroscience has since confirmed. These levels explain the essential drivers of our behaviours, actions and reactions. For leaders to be successful, they should first ensure that their own needs are met, and then understand and help their team members meet their needs. To do this, a leader needs to understand that their team members have 6 essential needs - physiological, safety and security, belonging, mattering, self-Actualisation and transcendence. Each of these needs must be fulfilled in order for an individual to reach their fullest potential. Leaders should strive to provide their teams with meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and an environment of trust, collaboration and respect. Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Only by understanding and meeting the essential needs of their team members, a leader can develop a successful and productive team. Why you need this You need to be able to help your team fill their own power cell and ignite their destiny. Every team member has different needs and motivations and it’s the job of the leader to understand and meet those needs through different strategies. They need to feel accepted, respected and that their ideas matter. Leaders should be mindful to include emotional intelligence in their leadership strategy. They should be cognizant of the emotional needs and psychological dynamics of their team and give team members the space to express their feelings. Leaders should use empowering language and be mindful of their team’s limits. Each team member should have meaningful work and have opportunities for growth. Leaders should also be conscious of what their team members value and strive to provide them with those things. It is also the leader’s job to foster a team environment where team members can collaborate, solve problems and grow together. Leaders should recognise the importance of building trust and rapport within the team, and ensure that all team members are treated fairly and equally. Finally, leading a team requires understanding the different needs of each team member. A great leader is someone who has the ability to empathise and be compassionate with each team member and see things from their perspective. By doing this, the leader can help each individual in the team realize their full potential, and maximise the collective potential of the whole team. Abraham Maslow wanted to add a sixth level to his renowned five level hierarchy of human needs. Today, with our increased understanding through behavioural neuroscience, he was right to want to include it. These 6 human needs are THE essential drivers of our every day behaviours, actions and reactions. What does this mean for you as a Leader? Every leader needs to understand: * How to fulfil their own needs, and * Their role in helping all of their team members meet their essential, human needs. Ultimately, by doing so, those leaders can fulfil their own need to help and serve others. Is Your Battery Running Low? Imagine that your needs are like a discharged battery that you are able to charge through your life activities. When the bottom cell is sufficiently filled, the next cell can be charged. All human beings have 6 essential needs, or power cells. Though, some people have faulty power packs - with a corrupted sixth cell that has been taken over by a leaky fifth cell. That is, they care less about other people because their self-esteem is so overfilled they hold others in total contempt - because they matter less than me! Beware overfilling any one cell: Gluttony and Obesity with an overfilled Cell 1, Excessive risk taking for Cell 2. And many have a leaky battery, where their own needs never get filled. What does this mean for you as a Leader? Every leader needs to understand: * Your own needs need to be met BEFORE you have enough to give others, and * Whilst things may look OK on the surface - people tend to hide their emotional needs fearing that they are the only ones who have them. By this, you’ll be better able to ask the right questions and better positioned to serve others and help them fulfil their real needs. Empty Power Pack If your needs are not met, you are an empty shell. Imagine that your brain is being powered by a rechargeable power pack. The very first thing that you need when you are born is air. Soon after you need food, warmth and shelter. Sorry to tell you, but you were born needy and totally dependent upon others for your basic survival, and that is our first and primary need… What does this mean for you as a Leader? * If you’re running on empty - you’re not much use to anyone! * As a leader, you help your team understand what they need and how you can help them satisfy those needs. Physiological Needs Basic Survival means that you have air to breathe, are properly fed and watered, you are in good health, have suitable shelter to stay warm and rest and your sexual needs are being met. As a responsible leader you owe a duty to yourself and your continued good health to ensure that you enjoy good rest and sleep, exercise regularly and eat healthy, nutritious food. What does this mean for you as a Leader? * If you don’t look after your health, exercise, sleep and nutrition - you won’t be able to achieve much. * Encourage and guide your team into a healthier lifestyle of good nutrition, suitable exercise and proper rest and sleep. Safety and Security Needs We all need to FEEL and be safe and secure and be free from fear. In organisations, Psychological Safety is the #1 differentiator for personal and team effectiveness! What does this mean for you as a Leader? * If you do not feel safe and secure and free from fear - then you are likely to make this even worse for your team. * As a leader, allow your team members to speak up without any negative repercussions. Protect them from other leaders. Encourage all members to speak up freely and always encourage useful conflict and opposing ideas. Encourage everyone to build on previous statements with “Yes, and…” (NOT “No…But…”) Belonging Needs We all need to truly belong to a tribe of people connected to us and who help us meet our needs. A tribe where we have equal value and treated as equal. What does this mean for you as a Leader? * You need a tribe too! If it’s lonely at the top - you ain’t leading, you’re on a walk! * Treat all team members equitably - they may not be equals but they have equal value! Encourage sharing, and proactively acknowledging each other. Mattering Needs When our base needs are being met, we need to be recognised that we matter and that what we do matters. What does this mean for you as a Leader? * Learn to recognise and appreciate yourself. Respect yourself and achieve mastery in your leadership walk. * Go out of your way to “Catch them doing something good!” - and deliberately recognise all team members achievements, individually and specifically. Not a catch all - “great job team!” - that’s about as genuine as it seems to you. Show complete respect for others and especially your team members. Coach them for mastery in their roles and beyond. Self Actualisation Needs When we are healthy and safe, we belong to a tribe and we matter: we need to pursue our God given talents, to be creative and to fulfil our destiny What does this mean for you as a Leader? * Leadership develops daily! Pursue excellence and keep learning how you can be and do better. Think before you speak and remember to Pause and Breathe. * Encourage, Develop, Guide and Empower your team members daily! Your task is to make them better than you. That’s what will be noticed by those higher up the food chain. Transcendence Needs When we are personally fulfilled, we transcend to think more about others than ourselves. We need to give and to serve and to fulfil our spiritual selves. What does this mean for you as a Leader? * You will only be truly fulfilled when you give and give some more. If you have yet to uncover your purpose in life - here’s a clue that will save you many hours - “it’s not about you! You were born to serve others.” How you serve them - that’ll be your gifts to them. * As a Leader your job is to serve others and when your power pack is filled to bursting, you can charge them up and help them find out and practice how they too serve others. If you would like to learn how AdvantEdge Coaching can help you, your team and your organisation, then join me for a Complimentary Discovery Session by applying here. Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

In this AdvantEdge Guide we’ll discuss how establishing Command Intent is a more specific way of setting goals than SMART goals, as it has an embedded purpose. It involves imagining a successful future in each of five areas of life (your Rocket Ship for Life), and focusing on the senses of sight, feel, smell, taste, and sound to create a captivating and rich picture. For teams, the unit in charge of military simulations for NATO recommends asking themselves "if I do nothing else tomorrow, I must ____, so that ____". AdvantEdge Coaching can help to further equip and empower individuals to reach their Command Intent goals. Why do we need a Rocket Ship for Life? The Rocket Ship for Life came about because I used to suffer from a major problem. Basically, I was easily distracted. Teachers’ could rarely get, let alone keep, my attention. I’d start a new project only to quickly get bored or frustrated and move onto the next shiny object. If ADHD had been popular back then, perhaps, I could have gotten myself medicated for it! Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. It wasn’t because I lacked goals. I had much that I wanted to achieve in my career. But, for some strange reason, I was always looking for something. I couldn’t get or keep focus long enough to stick with it and finish. The big issue it turned out was not lack of clear goals, not an inability to focus it was that there were gaps in what I was trying to achieve. There was no balance. What many have badly described as work/life balance - but what I prefer to call work/life integration. It’s where you identify your desired intent in the five key areas of your life as the drivers of the things that you do every day, steered by your values and aligned to your overall purpose or mission in this life. If you ask most people what they want from life, they’ll tell you a variation of “to be happy and successful”. What the Bible calls “Good Success”  in Joshua 1:8. Some people think that more money will make them happy. The problem is money is a great servant but a lousy master. And so what if you achieve great success at work if you spend all your time at work and neglect your family and health? As I mentioned, we have identified five key areas in life that, when attended to fully, will bring you real happiness and success as you fulfil them. What are the five key areas? These five key areas are like the engines of a rocket ship that you ride towards your life purpose. Your values are the way you steer and choose which paths you are following. The five areas that we’ve uncovered through our research are: 1. Family and Relationships 2. Health and Wellbeing 3. Spiritual Fulfilment 4. Personal Development 5. Work and Career As you can imagine, like most people, I’d paid great attention to Work and Career and found it increasingly difficult to keep steering straight. I was working 80 plus hours each week (this was in the days when I was in the hotel and restaurant business) with no breaks, rarely a weekend off and scant holidays. I got away with it health wise for a good few years, but it shouldn’t have surprised me when my body rebelled and finally got me to pay a lot more attention to my health and wellbeing when my heart threw a hissy fit on July 4th 2014 at 11:33! When you neglect an engine, it’s always going to be much more difficult to keep going towards your purpose, and very easy to get blown off course. It’s why your life and work are “off-balance.” In the many years I have been coaching, fewer than 20% have anything remotely resembling “balance”. And they’ve usually been coached before or have had their own health or personal life crisis. There’s many a successful person in the boardroom whose family life is in shambles. Why these five areas and is one more important than the others? As you think about each one you’ll realise that if you stop feeding one of these areas and consider the repercussions in your own life: If you show no ambition in your work, your career stagnates and it just becomes a routine you could do with your eyes shut. Your brain becomes inactive and you are simply marking time until one day you retire… and then what? Or you don’t bother with personal development after school or college and you learn nothing new. Now everything in your life stagnates. Your brain is bored (it is a learning machine). When your brain is bored, you get depressed through lack of Serotonin and Dopamine and opt-out of everything else life has to offer. Neglect your spirtual man and there’s a big hole in your life. An emptiness that you can’t quite put your finger on. You’ll try and fill it with all sorts of other things but nothing seems to satisfy. Neglect your health and well-being and your body will, one day, sooner or later, quit entirely. Your brain tried to keep you not dead (that is it's job) but somehow you resisted that urge until it too gave up fighting you. Neglect your family and or relationships and you will soon be alone. And humans are social animals. You have an innate desire to belong to a tribe, to matter to others. We all need all of these engines and just like a vehicle engine, you need to keep it maintained properly. The trouble is, everyone is fundamentally lazy. Or perhaps fairer  to say that your brain is fundametally lazy. If there’s a “do nothing option”, your brain will take it because doing anything requires effort which burns scarce energy. So, if you do not deliberately attend to each of your engines, your brain will neglect them until something breaks. If we’re going to burn fuel in these five areas, you're saying that we need to have a reason for doing so. Each engine needs a driver or motivation for the brain to switch from it’s default “do nothing” to “do something” to get... whatever we intend to get. So we need to tell our brain specifically what we intend to get once we do something. Then your brain is prepared to spend precious fuel in that area. Why not set a simple Goal? Or even a SMART goal? Goals are great, and SMART goal even better. However, Command Intent is usually more suited to changing situations (which is real life) and, very importantly, has an embedded purpose. This is what turns your brain on to motivation. I've written extensively on why goal-setting matters - here for those wanting to know more. Establishing Command Intent in each area Really Matters then? Absolutely, noone climbs aboard a space rocket ready to launch into the heavens and then asks, “so where shall we go today?” And noone replies, “I don’t know, let’s just start her up and go from there.” No. Everytime there is a clear command intent for the mission and each and every engine has a very precise role in achieveing that intent to help the rocket ship and crew fulfil that mission. What’s the difference between purpose, mission and intent? We don’t have time here to delve into the difference between purpose and intent, suffice to say for now - your purpose is why you were born (it's your overall mission), your command intents are what you achieve along the journey to fulfill your purpose or mission in life. Let’s get practical: How do you Establish Command Intent in each of these five Areas of Your Life? Ask most people what they intend to achieve in their career (their career goal), for example, and you’ll probably get a vague answer about money, position, happiness level, and maybe a job title. Honestly, that’s about as useful as telling a blind footballer that the goal is at the end of the pitch. “Which end?” you ask. And many other questions besides, not least is “how will you know when you have scored a goal?” So we change the question… Establishing a Command Intent for anything is simply a case of answering the question: What does success look like? And when I use the word “look” - I mean all your senses (look, feel, taste, smell, sound). And be as specific as you can be. And, when we’re asking what does it “look like” - we mean literally what do (will) you see with your eyes in reality and in as much detail as you can. Repeat with feel (emotions AND touch), smell (the most evocative and immediate of your senses), taste and sound. And if it’s not evident in your answers: “How will you know that you have acheived it?” (i.e. how will you measure your acheivements?) Ask, what will you Win or gain (and lose) when you have achieved it? (This is the embedded purpose). And lastly, “by when?” Now that you have a very rich, sensory description, you will have a captivating picture of your future. And You Do this for all Five Areas of Your Life? You’ll find it helpful and inspirational to have a clear command intent in all five areas of your life: Your work and career; your family and relationships; your spiritual life; your health and your personal development. Making sure that they support each other and are congruent. Miss one area and you risk struggling to steer your life purposefully forward. You said, “by when?” - is this just for the long term future? It’s best to have Command Intents for the short, medium and long term. Most clients also find it helpful to establish these command intent’s in three time frames of short, medium and long term futures - whatever is short, medium or long term for you. A little aside on future time frames - most teens struggle with a long term time frame of 10 years, as do most young adults. As we get older, it becomes easier to imagine further into the future. What’s next? If you lead a team, then you are responsible for identifying a worthy and compelling vision and articulating it to the team. People continually need to be shown the team's compass clearly and creatively so that their actions align, and they stay motivated with a captivating picture of their future. In their book, “Made to Stick”, Chip and Dan Heath share help from the unit in charge of military simulations for NATO, the Combat Maneuver Training Center, who recommend that officers arrive at the Commander’s Intent by asking themselves this question. I’ve adjusted this for use with your personal intents: “If I do nothing else tomorrow, I must . . . , so that . . . Answer this question in each of your five key life areas and every day, you will have that often elusive, almost mythical: balance. Where can you go to learn more now? As an AdvantEdge Coaching client, we’ll help you fine tune your Rocket Ship for Life so that you have a crystal clear picture of the future you and what your success in each of these areas of your life look like and we’ll guide you on the path that will equip and empower you to achieve them. Apply for your complimentary AdvantEdge Discovery session today. Or you can take up our 6-part Rocket Launch Coaching Program which is designed to help you Establish Your Command Intent in each of the five key areas of your life, then help you identify the core values, beliefs and habits to support your mission. You’ll be more equipped and empowered to achieve your purpose with a practical, systematic and proven approach to transforming your life and moving you closer to the future you. Apply for your complimentary AdvantEdge Discovery session today. Thanks for reading Joy@Work! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

A change focused neuroscience approach for genuine results in your leadership, work and life that truly Empowers! All AdvantEdge Coaching is based on our unique and powerful AdvantEDGE leadership development process based on Neuroscience Research in how people learn, change and develop: EDGE stands for Encourage, Develop, Guide and Empower. It’s based on my post-grad research into effective management learning and development methods. EDGE isn’t a silver bullet or a magic pill that gets instant results but based upon the latest neuroscience and social cognitive psychology research, EDGE is like a recipe for a pragmatic change focused approach to help clients realise genuine, sustainable results in leadership, work and life. EDGE isn't only a model for coaching. You can use EDGE in any communication situation where you want to empower change or influence others. We will use the EDGE development model in all our GuidePosts, and, as well as explaining the EDGE model we’ll also clarify two other critically important aspects that enable us to help you get those results: That is, 1. to clarify what coaching is (and what it is not!) and 2. how AdvantEDGE coaching truly empowers you to sustain your results.

The Purpose of this AdvantEdge Guide is to help you make better, informed decisions as you consider coaching to develop yourself or your team and organisation. There’s a lot of very convincing marketing out there that coaching is a panacea for all that ails business and organisation.  Your Payoff will be you can understand for yourself, if coaching is suitable for you, and what type or style of coaching might best suit your needs. You’ll also challenge some of the common assumptions that you may have been making. The truth is, coaching is not for everybody, and there are very good reasons. Here’s the top 10 I hear from clients, in reverse order and coming in at number 10, but still a biggie: For the Full AdvantEdge Guide, all the links mentioned in the podcast and easy access to the (free!) resources mentioned, please go to the AdvantEdge Coaching System Website here.

It's not that there is this thing called the “Great Resignation” where an unprecedented 44% of people intend to quit their jobs this year. (58% in Singapore!)  It's not that there is a global problem for CEO’s and leaders of many organisations who want their staff back in the office and are finding that impossible. Some, like Elon Musk, even after threatening to fire them all. And it's not really about greed for more money, though when you get approached and offered a 20% pay hike for crossing the street, it is a temptation. It's not even that it's your best and brightest talent who are abandoning ship first. Even though they are the first to be hunted and poached. It’s a lot more systemic than the headline numbers suggest. The devil, as they say, is in the details. During covid we all learned to keep our distance from people because they might just be a tad toxic. We avoided buildings and gatherings and events and restaurants, all so we wouldn’t accidentally meet someone toxic. After 2 plus years we’re tired of avoiding people. And yet, there's one place many still want to avoid going, and that's their workplace. The underlying problem? It's considered a toxic workplace. And not because there's covid lurking in dark corners but because there are loud and proud managers who think that disrespecting staff is a motivational weapon, that inequity is unavoidable and diversity is a fad. They seem to think that inclusion is exclusive and ethics are a matter of political expediency. If your talent are quitting for more pay, it's because someone else is willing to pay them more and dangling a glimmer of hope that this new place won't be toxic, or at least, not as toxic as the current place. But there is something that leaders and managers can do. And if you want to plug your talent drain, you might want to listen up to this AdvantEdge guide: READ THE FULL GUIDE HERE 

The purpose of this guide is to help you align your leadership so that you use your power to most effectively and joyfully achieve what truly matters to you and your team and organisation. The power of your payoff when you put this into action will be people will look to you for leadership and direction to help them grow as (seemingly effortlessly) as you. https://My.joyatwork.coach/5qleadership 

Imagine that your needs are like a discharged battery that you are able to charge through your life activities. When the bottom cell is sufficiently filled, the next cell can be charged. All human beings have 6 essential needs, or power cells. Though, some people have faulty power packs - with a corrupted sixth cell that has been taken over by a leaky fifth cell. That is, they care less about other people because their self-esteem is so overfilled they hold others in total contempt - because they matter less than me! Beware overfilling any one cell: Gluttony and Obesity with an overfilled Cell 1, Excessive risk taking for Cell 2. And many have a leaky battery, where their own needs never get filled. What does this mean for you as a Leader? Every leader needs to understand: 1. Your own needs need to be met BEFORE you have enough to give others, and 2. Whilst things may look OK on the surface - people tend to hide their emotional needs fearing that they are the only ones who have them. By this, you’ll be better able to ask the right questions and better positioned to serve others and help them fulfil their real needs.

This is Part 3 of a four part series asking the question: "Are you In Control" or "Controlling"? In this edition os the AdvantEdge Joy@Work Podcast, we're learning how wee can break free from the "Controlling" cycle and get "In Control". Stress, worry, and perfromance anxiety can be crippling your life. It's not always easy to break free of the spiral of anxiety but there is a simple solution for most people that does not involve medication or therapy. It's so shockingly simple that many people scoff at the idea. But the thing is, it works. It's how your brain works and this is a simple technique that you can employ immediately to break your brain out of the Controlling cycle and give your Frontal Lobes a chance to oput the breaks on and stop your stinkin' thinkin.  When you understand what is happening in your brain you'll see why it works, and, I absolutely guarantee, you can do this. This is not like getting your body fit by going to the gym 6 times a week or training to run a marathon. It's even easier than going to the toilet and takes about the same amount of time. In fact, you can even do this whilst doing your toilet business. In fact, that's a particularly excellent time to practice.

This is Part 2 of a four part series asking the question: Are you In Control or Controlling? In this guide, we are digging into the roots and what is happening in our brain when we enter the Controlling Cycle. We'll learn what happens inside our brain when we face a challenge and how your unconscious mind immediately reacts to this challenge as a threat - triggering your freeze, flight or fight response. We'll learn how our brain then shifts the challenge into worrying and anxiety UNLESS your frontal lobes put the brakes on and you choose to be In Control rather than attempt to fruitlessly control others or the outside world. We'll learn that EVERYONE on the planet faces the same choices every single day and we'll learn how worrying gives us the illusion of control making us feel good about worrying - as if it ever did us any good. We'll learn why the Pre Frontal Cortex struggles to intervene and shout down the worrying cycle. See the previous episode for Part 1 if you have yet to do so. And remember to subscribe on your preferred platfrom and please rate this episode, it helps others find it and learn too.

This is the first of a four part series asking the question: Are you In Control or Controlling? Listen or watch or read now to understand what triggers your stress and anxiety so that you can then learn how to be In Control and a master of your emotions. Everyone experiences stress and performance anxiety. Nobody likes it, and some people suffer terribly from it. Some stress is necessary for our survival. As cave dwellers, stress and anxiety caused by external threats were excellent drivers of survival behaviours. The trouble is, in the modern world, from your brain's perspective, there are many more perceived threats and the pace of life doesn't allow sufficient downtime between "threats" to recover perspective and get yourself back to a place of choice: whether you are going to remain in control, or be controlling of people or things in the world outside. In this four part guide we're discussing that fundamental question: Are you In Control or Controlling? This First Part we are finding the roots of everyday stress and performance anxiety according to behavioural Neuroscience. We begin with an important understanding of Locus of Control and its implications for your brain. We'll discuss why choosing to be In Control or Controlling is critical and how you respond to the many and varied challenges and obstacles you face every day

Double Blessings to you this new year. Ask what they want from the coming new year and most people are seeking to be happy and successful in the year ahead. We see the new year as a fresh start where we can put the past behind us and move ahead. Sadly, most people never achieve happiness or success and, in large part, that’s down to the way we set goals and commit to new year’s “resolutions”. The problem is a lack of motivation and a lack of balanced prioritisation. Resolutions tend to be negative shifts of behaviour that we “should” do for our own good. Things like: get fit, lose weight, quit smoking, quit drinking, be kind to everyone, stop complaining. All things that our flesh just screams to keep on doing because we don’t like change - or at least our brain does not like change - and your brain was getting something it liked from the “bad habits” of last year. Your brain would rather “do nothing” than “do something, anything, taxing”. And those new goals, we try but they tend to throw us even more off balance than we were already. What we need is to re-consider goals across all key aspects of our life. And those goals need to have an embedded, motivational purpose - our reason for achieving them, our “why” I should put in all this effort. Without which, our brain quickly defaults back to its preference of “do nothing”! We need a crystal clear, compelling picture of our future and what success looks like in each of the key areas of life. What is called a “Command Intent” and we need one or more for each of our five key life engines. Listen, watch or read the podcast now - it’s in a new format which we hope you like. It’ll be 15 minutes very well spent. I hope that you enjoyed a joyful festive season and you are ready for the excellent challenges that 2022 may bring. Be blessed - and remember - let us know what you think of the new podcast format.

Welcome to the AdvantEdge Joy@Work podcast with me, Dr. John Kenworthy. In this guide to developing your five essential qualities of expert hybrid leadership: we're learning why your attitude to hope and how you communicate it, determines how your days and those for your team will unfold. Welcome to Hope and Mirrors.   In this episode of the AdvantEdge Joy@Work podcast, we're looking forward to a future in hope and expectation of something new and exciting in the days ahead. And how you can choose to be the leader who inspires hope for yourself, and for others. Full episode and show transcript here: https://joyatwork.coach/hope-and-mirrors The choice is yours. I stick to my favorite verse to start every day from Psalm 118, Verse 24, in the New King James Version.  This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.   All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet? What kind of reflections do you want to see?   To learn more about AdvantEdge Coaching so that you can have Joy@Work and your team becomes United in Trust and Collaboration. Contact us through the link on the show notes and arrange a complimentary, confidential, no obligation Discovery Session. https://joyatwork.coach/apply

Welcome to the AdvantEdge Joy@Work podcast with me, Dr. John Kenworthy. In this guide to developing your five essential qualities of expert hybrid leadership: we're learning why your attitude to hope and how you communicate it, determines how your days and those for your team will unfold. Welcome to Hope and Mirrors.   In this episode of the AdvantEdge Joy@Work podcast, we're looking forward to a future in hope and expectation of something new and exciting in the days ahead. And how you can choose to be the leader who inspires hope for yourself, and for others. Full episode and show transcript here: https://joyatwork.coach/hope-and-mirrors The choice is yours. I stick to my favorite verse to start every day from Psalm 118, Verse 24, in the New King James Version.  This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.   All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet? What kind of reflections do you want to see?   To learn more about AdvantEdge Coaching so that you can have Joy@Work and your team becomes United in Trust and Collaboration. Contact us through the link on the show notes and arrange a complimentary, confidential, no obligation Discovery Session. https://joyatwork.coach/apply

Welcome to the Joy at Work Podcast with me, Dr John Kenworthy. In this guide we're learning the: Four questions every leader should be asking, if they want to improve performance. Introduction Improved performance requires growth. And without growth, our career is doomed to stagnation and eventual death. Am I exaggerating? Well, stop watering your plants for a few weeks and see what happens. Organizations that don't get better, don't improve their performance year on year are stagnating too. If you has a leader, don't grow, then your career will stagnate. You may be exceptionally good at what you do, but if you want to move up the hierarchy, you need to grow into that position before you get given it because afterwards is far too late. Plus you won't have developed your team to take on your job. So how can they promote you? How, then do we raise performance easily? Purpose Our purpose and payoff being prepared to learn and change, and put in the necessary effort, is a critical step in growth and improve. And getting yourself and team members to regularly consider what's going well. And what needs work is essential. If you want to improve performance. Process To do this, I'm sharing Four simple yet, oh, so powerful neuroscience-based questions that work to stimulate personal growth and the resulting conversations will take you in just five to 15 minutes of your time. Payoff Use it once now, as I guide you and you'll immediately gain one benefit with a very clear action for next week. Use it with your team members once and you'll gain one improvement in performance next week. Use it weekly. And you'll gain 52 improvements this year. The improvements don't have to be huge. Small gains add greatly. Before I start with the four questions, grab yourself a pen and paper or a iPad with a pencil, anything to make notes and be ready to pause as we go through this. The four questions starting off with keeping the good stuff. The Four Questions If I were to ask you to tell me how was work for you this past week or so the chances are very high that you would reply along the lines of : "it was okay, good. not bad, fine, or terrible. It's dull, boring, and not at all helpful. Instead, I'll ask: " Tell me, what three specific things that you enjoyed and, or believe that you did really well at work this week? So here, I'm going to give you a few moments to consider your answer, pause the player. If you're listening and write them down. If you can. Pause the player and write down your answer to the question. If this is your first time, you are probably finding this a little challenging. If you're replying nothing, uh, stop and find something go further back in time, if you need to, but do the work here. You'll thank me later. Got three things. Fantastic. If we were in a live coaching here, I'd be probing into your answers to help you dig out the beautiful gems. For now let your magnificent mind mull on these and let's get to the easy part. What Needs Work? Identifying what needs work. Now, if you struggled some with answering that first question, you are in very good company. Pretty well, all of my clients struggle with that first question because, well, we're so used to dwelling on this next part. What needs work. Ready? Here's your question: What is the one real challenge for you that if you improved or changed would have the greatest positive impact on your performance, now? Let me repeat that. And then I'll pause. What is the one real challenge for you that if you improved or changed would have the greatest positive impact on your performance, now? Again, pause the player and write down your answer. Got one? Not two or more choose one. Is it about somebody else changing? Then think again, this is about you, your performance. Great. Awesome. If you and I were in a coaching session right now, I'd be digging in to make sure that this is the real core challenge. So I'm going to add on a quick question to help you right now. Is there anything else that is the real, real challenge for you here? Now, before you rush off and start, I have two more questions for you. Next, let's get you motivated. Finding the Drive Finding the drive. What exactly do you want to achieve? If you or somebody of whom you're asking with this is struggling. Here's another approach. That's more specific to the change. What will you achieve by changing this one thing? Pause and write down your response. Many clients find this difficult to answer, principally because we're not taught to think like this. Yet the most successful leaders do know what they want to achieve. Write down your answer. Now that you know, let's ignite the touch paper and send you on your way. True Empowerment True empowerment. How can I help you? Here's your question? How can I help you? When you were asking this of your team, this question tells them that you are here to help them succeed. And do please remember empowerment and delegation are not the same thing: you delegate authority to someone to do something. You empower someone with the, to do the thing and the authority to do it. Delegation works fine when they know what they need to know and how to do what they need to do. If they don't, then and they need the power, which is the tools, the resources, the ability, the knowledge, as well as the authority to do it. And if you need my help get in touch. How and When to use This How and when should you use this? Well, you gain one immediate benefit using this just once for yourself. Use it once with your team and you'll get one improvement next week. Use it weekly and you'll see, 52 improvements next year! Those improvements may be small, but they quickly add up and soon enough, your team will be doing this for themselves continuously and multiplying your impact and your performance. What's Happening in The Brain? Let's go and check in what's happening in the brain. See, if you've been going through this exercise, your brains, just gone on a bit of a roller coaster ride. At the beginning by considering what you have done well, you're remembering positive, affirming strengths that you have displayed and you are feeling encouraged and good about yourself. Thanks to some Serotonin and Dopamine. It also, thanks to the Dopamine, reinforces those positive things to being repeated. Then, by considering what needs work, your brain takes a bit of a dive. A little Cortisol is triggered, maybe some Adrenaline too. If it's an unpleasant memory and your motivation levels drop, you're causing a deep thinking, pause and reflection, weighing up and prioritizing changes that will have a real impact on your performance. And you're already working out how to use your strengths, that you just talked, about to really lift these weak areas. By asking what you want to achieve, we reopen your brains motivation circuits to think of the future and your uncles. You begin to feel good about this. Thanks to more Dopamine and Serotonin, maybe some Endorphins too. And then by offering your help to your team members, they'll feel great in belonging and trust from Oxytocin, and you'll be able to truly empower them so that they lift their performance, feel motivated,more Dopamine, and you'll be lifting their ability to lead themselves and others too. Multiplying the impact you're having. And all it takes is five to 15 minutes of your time. Time that you're more than recovered within a few weeks, simply because you and your team are performing better. I know, it's amazing, isn't it? Summary So here's a quick summary of those four questions. "What three specific things that you enjoyed and, or believe you did well this week?" Question two: "What is the ONE real challenge for you that if you improved or change would have the greatest impact on your performance, what would that be? " Number three: "What do you want to achieve?" And 4th: "How can I help?" How Can I Help You, Now? Let me wrap this with that same last question. How can I help? I'm really asking this time. I use this approach with every client of mine at the start of every coaching session. They prepare for it with a simple worksheet so that it takes very little time so that we can spend more time on encouraging, developing, guiding, and empowering them. Now, if you're not ready for live coaching, we have a fabulous asynchronous coaching program for this, and you can start a one month trial by filling in the registration, which is linked here. Be greatly blessed. Bye for now. I'm thrilled that you joined me here for this Joy@Work Podcast, as I guide you in the Art and Behavioral Neuroscience of Expert Leadership, so that you can have Joy At Work and your Team has Purposeful Unity of Cohesion and Effort.

Welcome to the Joy at Work Podcast with me, Dr John Kenworthy. In this guide we're learning the: Four questions every leader should be asking, if they want to improve performance. Introduction Improved performance requires growth. And without growth, our career is doomed to stagnation and eventual death. Am I exaggerating? Well, stop watering your plants for a few weeks and see what happens. Organizations that don't get better, don't improve their performance year on year are stagnating too. If you has a leader, don't grow, then your career will stagnate. You may be exceptionally good at what you do, but if you want to move up the hierarchy, you need to grow into that position before you get given it because afterwards is far too late. Plus you won't have developed your team to take on your job. So how can they promote you? How, then do we raise performance easily? Purpose Our purpose and payoff being prepared to learn and change, and put in the necessary effort, is a critical step in growth and improve. And getting yourself and team members to regularly consider what's going well. And what needs work is essential. If you want to improve performance. Process To do this, I'm sharing Four simple yet, oh, so powerful neuroscience-based questions that work to stimulate personal growth and the resulting conversations will take you in just five to 15 minutes of your time. Payoff Use it once now, as I guide you and you'll immediately gain one benefit with a very clear action for next week. Use it with your team members once and you'll gain one improvement in performance next week. Use it weekly. And you'll gain 52 improvements this year. The improvements don't have to be huge. Small gains add greatly. Before I start with the four questions, grab yourself a pen and paper or a iPad with a pencil, anything to make notes and be ready to pause as we go through this. The four questions starting off with keeping the good stuff. The Four Questions If I were to ask you to tell me how was work for you this past week or so the chances are very high that you would reply along the lines of : "it was okay, good. not bad, fine, or terrible. It's dull, boring, and not at all helpful. Instead, I'll ask: " Tell me, what three specific things that you enjoyed and, or believe that you did really well at work this week? So here, I'm going to give you a few moments to consider your answer, pause the player. If you're listening and write them down. If you can. Pause the player and write down your answer to the question. If this is your first time, you are probably finding this a little challenging. If you're replying nothing, uh, stop and find something go further back in time, if you need to, but do the work here. You'll thank me later. Got three things. Fantastic. If we were in a live coaching here, I'd be probing into your answers to help you dig out the beautiful gems. For now let your magnificent mind mull on these and let's get to the easy part. What Needs Work? Identifying what needs work. Now, if you struggled some with answering that first question, you are in very good company. Pretty well, all of my clients struggle with that first question because, well, we're so used to dwelling on this next part. What needs work. Ready? Here's your question: What is the one real challenge for you that if you improved or changed would have the greatest positive impact on your performance, now? Let me repeat that. And then I'll pause. What is the one real challenge for you that if you improved or changed would have the greatest positive impact on your performance, now? Again, pause the player and write down your answer. Got one? Not two or more choose one. Is it about somebody else changing? Then think again, this is about you, your performance. Great. Awesome. If you and I were in a coaching session right now, I'd be digging in to make sure that this is the real core challenge. So I'm going to add on a quick question to help you right now. Is there anything else that is the real, real challenge for you here? Now, before you rush off and start, I have two more questions for you. Next, let's get you motivated. Finding the Drive Finding the drive. What exactly do you want to achieve? If you or somebody of whom you're asking with this is struggling. Here's another approach. That's more specific to the change. What will you achieve by changing this one thing? Pause and write down your response. Many clients find this difficult to answer, principally because we're not taught to think like this. Yet the most successful leaders do know what they want to achieve. Write down your answer. Now that you know, let's ignite the touch paper and send you on your way. True Empowerment True empowerment. How can I help you? Here's your question? How can I help you? When you were asking this of your team, this question tells them that you are here to help them succeed. And do please remember empowerment and delegation are not the same thing: you delegate authority to someone to do something. You empower someone with the, to do the thing and the authority to do it. Delegation works fine when they know what they need to know and how to do what they need to do. If they don't, then and they need the power, which is the tools, the resources, the ability, the knowledge, as well as the authority to do it. And if you need my help get in touch. How and When to use This How and when should you use this? Well, you gain one immediate benefit using this just once for yourself. Use it once with your team and you'll get one improvement next week. Use it weekly and you'll see, 52 improvements next year! Those improvements may be small, but they quickly add up and soon enough, your team will be doing this for themselves continuously and multiplying your impact and your performance. What's Happening in The Brain? Let's go and check in what's happening in the brain. See, if you've been going through this exercise, your brains, just gone on a bit of a roller coaster ride. At the beginning by considering what you have done well, you're remembering positive, affirming strengths that you have displayed and you are feeling encouraged and good about yourself. Thanks to some Serotonin and Dopamine. It also, thanks to the Dopamine, reinforces those positive things to being repeated. Then, by considering what needs work, your brain takes a bit of a dive. A little Cortisol is triggered, maybe some Adrenaline too. If it's an unpleasant memory and your motivation levels drop, you're causing a deep thinking, pause and reflection, weighing up and prioritizing changes that will have a real impact on your performance. And you're already working out how to use your strengths, that you just talked, about to really lift these weak areas. By asking what you want to achieve, we reopen your brains motivation circuits to think of the future and your uncles. You begin to feel good about this. Thanks to more Dopamine and Serotonin, maybe some Endorphins too. And then by offering your help to your team members, they'll feel great in belonging and trust from Oxytocin, and you'll be able to truly empower them so that they lift their performance, feel motivated,more Dopamine, and you'll be lifting their ability to lead themselves and others too. Multiplying the impact you're having. And all it takes is five to 15 minutes of your time. Time that you're more than recovered within a few weeks, simply because you and your team are performing better. I know, it's amazing, isn't it? Summary So here's a quick summary of those four questions. "What three specific things that you enjoyed and, or believe you did well this week?" Question two: "What is the ONE real challenge for you that if you improved or change would have the greatest impact on your performance, what would that be? " Number three: "What do you want to achieve?" And 4th: "How can I help?" How Can I Help You, Now? Let me wrap this with that same last question. How can I help? I'm really asking this time. I use this approach with every client of mine at the start of every coaching session. They prepare for it with a simple worksheet so that it takes very little time so that we can spend more time on encouraging, developing, guiding, and empowering them. Now, if you're not ready for live coaching, we have a fabulous asynchronous coaching program for this, and you can start a one month trial by filling in the registration, which is linked on the show notes. Be greatly blessed. Bye for now. I'm thrilled that you joined me here for this Joy@Work Podcast, as I guide you in the Art and Behavioral Neuroscience of Expert Leadership, so that you can have Joy At Work and your Team has Purposeful Unity of Cohesion and Effort.

Collaboration is when an effective team harnesses the best out of individuals working together and appears to be disarmingly simple: “to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something” But everyone in the team comes with their own personality, their culture and way of doing things and their own competitiveness, their fears, their concerns and their needs. For successful and fruitful collaboration, the leader needs to help the team be actively engaged in what they are doing, and that they trust one another by setting the groundwork to build a solid foundation and then maintaining it rigorously. Many thousands of leaders have failed to create team unity, trust and engagement through team building courses and enforced jollity of casual Friday or a virtual happy hour. But the buzz from that ropes course wears thin after a few days when your brain recognises that what it wants and needs is still missing. How do we fix that? Well, before we get to that let’s check in on what your brain really wants and needs: What Your Brain Wants and Needs: Fortunately, we know that every human being shares a fundamental need for three things in life: The need to feel safe The need to belong to a group or tribe, and The need to believe that they and what they do, matters Getting a team to be actively engaged, to trust each other and collaborate takes plenty of leadership time and effort - so why would you destroy it before it has a chance? Purpose In this guide we’ll understand how to build and maintain the critical foundation's of Safety, Belonging and Mattering by Listening Deeply so that the team can trust each other and, with clarity of their own purpose and direction, be actively engaged and collaborate to achieve the desired results. Process We'll look Pat Lencioni's famous work on the five dysfunctions of a team and see how further research shows that Safety, Belonging and Mattering are crucial to your brain and thus to your ability to trust and collaborate. We'll then look at how listening deeply is the ONE missing ingredient that all leaders can do and use to help build the foundations and hence, ultimately, get the results they desire. Payoff When you start to listen deeply you will begin to dismantle any climate of fear or the lack of safety felt in too many organisations. Team members will learn that they can speak up and help the leader build and maintain the edifying climate to guide themselves and other team members towards effective trust and collaboration.

Collaboration is when an effective team harnesses the best out of individuals working together and appears to be disarmingly simple: “to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something” But everyone in the team comes with their own personality, their culture and way of doing things and their own competitiveness, their fears, their concerns and their needs. For successful and fruitful collaboration, the leader needs to help the team be actively engaged in what they are doing, and that they trust one another by setting the groundwork to build a solid foundation and then maintaining it rigorously. Many thousands of leaders have failed to create team unity, trust and engagement through team building courses and enforced jollity of casual Friday or a virtual happy hour. But the buzz from that ropes course wears thin after a few days when your brain recognises that what it wants and needs is still missing. How do we fix that? Well, before we get to that let’s check in on what your brain really wants and needs: What Your Brain Wants and Needs: Fortunately, we know that every human being shares a fundamental need for three things in life: The need to feel safe The need to belong to a group or tribe, and The need to believe that they and what they do, matters Getting a team to be actively engaged, to trust each other and collaborate takes plenty of leadership time and effort - so why would you destroy it before it has a chance? Purpose In this guide we’ll understand how to build and maintain the critical foundation's of Safety, Belonging and Mattering by Listening Deeply so that the team can trust each other and, with clarity of their own purpose and direction, be actively engaged and collaborate to achieve the desired results. Process We'll look Pat Lencioni's famous work on the five dysfunctions of a team and see how further research shows that Safety, Belonging and Mattering are crucial to your brain and thus to your ability to trust and collaborate. We'll then look at how listening deeply is the ONE missing ingredient that all leaders can do and use to help build the foundations and hence, ultimately, get the results they desire. Payoff When you start to listen deeply you will begin to dismantle any climate of fear or the lack of safety felt in too many organisations. Team members will learn that they can speak up and help the leader build and maintain the edifying climate to guide themselves and other team members towards effective trust and collaboration.

Collaboration is when an effective team harnesses the best out of individuals working together and appears to be disarmingly simple: “to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something” But everyone in the team comes with their own personality, their culture and way of doing things and their own competitiveness, their fears, their concerns and their needs. For successful and fruitful collaboration, the leader needs to help the team be actively engaged in what they are doing, and that they trust one another by setting the groundwork to build a solid foundation and then maintaining it rigorously. Many thousands of leaders have failed to create team unity, trust and engagement through team building courses and enforced jollity of casual Friday or a virtual happy hour. But the buzz from that ropes course wears thin after a few days when your brain recognises that what it wants and needs is still missing. How do we fix that? Well, before we get to that let’s check in on what your brain really wants and needs: What Your Brain Wants and Needs: Fortunately, we know that every human being shares a fundamental need for three things in life: > > The need to feel safe > > The need to belong to a group or tribe, and > > The need to believe that they and what they do, matters Getting a team to be actively engaged, to trust each other and collaborate takes plenty of leadership time and effort - so why would you destroy it before it has a chance? Purpose In this guide we’ll understand how to build and maintain the critical foundation's of Safety, Belonging and Mattering by Listening Deeply so that the team can trust each other and, with clarity of their own purpose and direction, be actively engaged and collaborate to achieve the desired results. Process We'll look Pat Lencioni's famous work on the five dysfunctions of a team and see how further research shows that Safety, Belonging and Mattering are crucial to your brain and thus to your ability to trust and collaborate. We'll then look at how listening deeply is the ONE missing ingredient that all leaders can do and use to help build the foundations and hence, ultimately, get the results they desire. Payoff When you start to listen deeply you will begin to dismantle any climate of fear or the lack of safety felt in too many organisations. Team members will learn that they can speak up and help the leader build and maintain the edifying climate to guide themselves and other team members towards effective trust and collaboration. Patrick Lencioni’s Leadership Fable about the Five Dysfunctions of a Team should be on every leader's “read it" list. In it, Pat shares how an “absence of trust” feeds a “fear of conflict” (the antithesis of collaboration), which often leads to a “lack of commitment” (aka no engagement) and then “avoidance of responsibility”. Ultimately meaning that there is an “absence of results”. The Five Dysfunctions is brilliant and true. And it’s also what is more visible. If Trust is so critically important to a team functioning and hence collaborating effectively, I was more interested in why there was an absence of trust in the first place? My research pointed to the less visible foundations of trust and collaboration - those of meeting the brains three fundamental cravings: Safety, Belonging, and Mattering. Without these in place, there is no trust, without trust, there are no results! And who is actively engaged if they don’t believe that they belong and matter? In our Team Leadership AdvantEdge Model, Collaboration and Trust are central to the success and effectiveness of the team - made manifest as “Team Unity of Cohesion and Effort”. (It's the “How to…” for the Five Dysfunctions). Our research into successful teams and organisations over the past four decades shows that this is true only when Purpose and Values, Talent and Potential, Command Intent and Influential Communications are all aligned to achieve that success. But all of these are moot if the foundation isn’t properly built and maintained. And that foundation is the sense of Safety, Belonging and Mattering. Your job as a leader is to make sure that everyone (including yourself) feels safe, that they belong to the team and that who they are and what they do, matters. Let me briefly explain that our brains have two key parts as far as we are concerned as this will help us understand what is going on. ### Inner-Child and Smart Brain What some mistakenly call our reptile or more primitive brain - the part that is concerned with the lower essential functions of our survival - what Christine Comaford, aptly calls the Critter brain, I refer to as the Inner-Child brain. And we have our adult thinking brain, or the executive brain, the Neocortex complete with the Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC) which is not fully developed before age 23-25. Our Smart Brain if you will. Your brain (and the brains of your team members) have one single primary concern: to keep you in the “not dead” state. That is its first and foremost function. It really doesn't matter how high your potential, or talented you are when you are in the "dead" state. When the world around us becomes even a little uncertain, your brain is marvellously designed to allow your “Inner-Child Brain" to take charge of survival (a task to which it is well-suited). In a time of crisis, the “Inner-Child Brain" rules the day until you deliberately choose to intervene using your Smart Brain. On any normal day your “Inner-Child Brain" is assessing the environment asking three questions: Am I safe? Do I belong? and Do I matter? This isn't a once in a while process, it is every minute of every single day. "Am I safe?" is simply checking your surroundings for threats. An "all is well" response allows your brain to relax for a brief moment and if this extends for some time, you will physically relax and your brain waves will slow down. When "Am I safe?" gets the answer: "No" then the amygdalae are brought swiftly into the action, the stress hormone norepinephrine triggers your body to produce adrenaline ready for "freeze, flight or fight". If the threat is not judged to be imminent, the "Do I belong?" question may get out to check on the whereabouts of fellow tribe members. After all, who wants to face a ravenous wolf alone? If there is a wolf, the "Do I matter?" question probably doesn't even get a cursory glance. Every Leader needs a sign on the wall that reads “Safety First”. Because without it, nothing else will really matter. Surely, you’re exaggerating, John? Not at all. It’s most evident in a time of crisis: A crisis is, by definition, a time of intense difficulty or danger. Even if you experience it only through a social media feed or a news bulletin. Our safety is being threatened in a crisis. And in times of difficulty or danger, we're usually better off with our tribe on our side. At least then we might stand a chance of survival, let alone emerging triumphant and ready for the post-crisis world. A great leader knows this, listens to the concerns of the team, and pulls and energises the team together towards a clear and tangible intended goal. Even when there is no immediate crisis, Safety is the single, most important factor in determining team performance success. As Google discovered in their Project Aristotle. Psychological Safety is the #1 factor in determining a team’s effectiveness! Google’s “Project Aristotle” sought to find the secrets of effective teams and the surprising finding was that Psychological Safety was, by far, the most important factor that determined whether a team would be effective or not. Dependability (belonging) was #2 and Meaning and Impact (mattering) 4th and 5th respectively. Structure and Clarity was found to be the 3rd factor and that's something we discuss in our Command Intent Guide. Safety is a big deal; it’s why we seek committed relationships or high-paying jobs. That’s also why it’s devastating when spouses leave and jobs are eliminated. Billy Graham Amy Edmondson’s research on Psychological Safety bears this out. As did Edgar Schein’s research all those years ago in the 1960’s! And Dale Carnegie wrote THE book with the answer 100 years ago! That is. We’ve known for many decades that psychological safety is a critical foundation for team effectiveness, trust and collaboration and yet… Well I have a little news for you. It might be a bit of a shock. Unless you are LISTENING DEEPLY to your team members. They are not feeling safe, that they belong nor that they matter. It’s possible they have enough chutzpah and self-love to deal with it and still deliver, but you’re not getting as much from them as you could be. I’ve gotten ahead of myself so let me backtrack: Think about a leader you personally admire Preferably someone who has been a leader in your life, but if that’s not possible, how about someone you know well enough, even if they’re in the grave. Remember how they made you feel safe. How they made you understand that you were a valuable part of the team. Remember how they made you believe that you truly mattered. How did they do that? Here’s my guess after posing this question to thousands of clients and participants: They asked you questions and they listened to you as if you were the most important person** in the room.** Do you do that for others? Do you ask questions and listen to them as if they were the most important person in the room? What about your customers or users? Do you listen to them deeply? Do they feel safe, that they belong (loyal to your brand) and that they matter (their opinions, desires, wants)? What about your bosses? Your peers? Simple, but not easy Asking question and listening deeply as if they are the most important person in the room seems simple enough, but it's not easy. Listening Deeply takes effort and most leaders, most people even, are too lazy to bother and we all have a listening villain. Learn more about your Listening Villain and Deep Listening at Oscar Trimboli's website here. “… as if they were the most important person in the room” And, of course, there is a danger here. I’ve met more than my fair share of smarmy politicians through life who appear to do just that. They give the impression they are keenly interested in everything that you say, they nod in all the right places, and you open up to them as if they were a real friend. Later, you meet them again and the whole ritual is repeated and you realise that they didn’t take in a word. That’s not what we’re advocating here. Instead you act as if they are the most important person in the room, because at that moment, they are. The best and wisest leaders take on board what they hear and act on it - but that’s for another day when you are ready for the whole of the Leadership AdvantEdge. But it’s not my job! And true, you might say to me, but John, it’s not my job to be making my boss or peers feel safe, belonging or mattering. In fact it’s my boss’s job to do that for me. Just remind yourself of these corporate failures: VW’s emissions scandal Wells Fargo Bank account fraud scandal Nokia’s Failure Columbia and Challengers Shuttle Disasters Tenerife Airport Disaster Uber’s Record Breaking Scandal History Meltdown at Chernobyl Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Enron Scandal Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Want something even more recent? Wirecard All are well documented examples of how the lack of open, candid, deep listening by senior leadership at the very top of and thropughout the organisation and created a climate of fear of speaking up - even when lives were at stake. And there are countless others, including (current) Governments and Ministries, who tread the knife edge of disaster with cover-up, sleight-of-hand and obfuscation. If you want to undermine engagement and destroy trust, collaboration and joy@work before it can even dare take root, the answer is so simple that anyone can easily do it by NOT Listening! Sadly, most leaders are already, unwittingly, following that advice. So, if you don’t start listening deeply and asking questions, who will? #joyatwork #deeplistening #safety

At this point, you know what your audience Knows and what the Need to know. You've got a handle on their Opinion and remember that they need to be right, and they need to belong and you will be encouraging their positive self-image. But you recall the saying it's not what you know but who you know? In this section we'll cover: 1. Stakeholder Mapping 2. Action Types Stakeholder Mapping Stakeholder or audience mapping uses a simple 2x2 matrix with Low to high power on the vertical axis and low to high interest across the horizontal. Consider the specific individual members of your audience and place them on the grid relative to each other. Include, where appropriate, stakeholders who might not be personally present but sending a representative (aka spy). Your focus in your presentation are those individuals who are most interested in your topic and have the power to affect the change you desire. When you are preparing a sales presentation, for example, it pays to know who is the key decision maker (powerful) and the most interested. Not always the same person! I often find myself presenting to greatly interested people with little power and the person with the actual power isn't even in the room. I think of this as a gatekeeping presentation and once through the gate, I have a chance to pitch to the person with the power. When you have a clear idea about the power and interest in the room, it's time to establish how you call the four different audience types to action. Nancy Duarte says that there are four audience types, each requiring a slightly different call to action: There are: Doers, Suppliers, Influencers and Innovators. - A Doer is someone who instigates activities. You should ask them to assemble, make decisions, gather, respond or attempt. - A Supplier is a person who controls resources. Ask them to acquire, fund, support or provide resources. - Influencers change perceptions. Ask them to activate, convert, empower or promote. - Innovators generate ideas to add value to and spread your ideas. Ask them to create, discover, invent or pioneer. How do you call to action if you don't know their type? Intuitively you can see that these four audience types make sense. When you know your audience well and have experienced presenting to them before, it's relatively easy to pin them down to a particular type. But there will be times when you don't know them well enough. In such a situation, make sure to sow those key action verbs throughout your presentation noting who responds to each, usually shown through greater attentiveness, a smile, a nod or simply paying attention. Note also any of the verbs that appear to fall on deaf ears, you might not, for example, have any innovators in the room. Above all, be sure to establish the audience type for the most powerful interested stakeholder and focus on getting the right call to action to them. Of course, all of this is moot if you don't actually have a call to action Your call to action for this episode is to identify your audience, map them on a simple power/interest grid and work out, if you can, their audience type. I use post-its on a whiteboard (Here's my Blank Miro Template you can use) to help me in planning. And once I have identified the key stakeholders (high power and high interest) I take a little longer to get to find out what they know, and specifically what they need to know and take a little extra effort to understand their opinion and create a call to action that will activate them to fund the resources we need to make the change they need. On that template, you’ll also map your Trust and Respect Matrix actions.