Resilience In The Workplace: Are We Bouncing Back?

Updated August 18th 2023

Did you know that since 2015 serious and common mental health issues have been in the top four most cited reasons of taking sick leave from work?

According to RTE (2020), the highest incidence of sick leave was due to stress in 18-24 year olds with 22% having to take time off.

How do we stop this?

Developing your own RESILIENCE is one thing that could help these shocking statistics.

For many of us, there is nothing better than knowing that our colleagues feel content and fulfilled at work. We believe that Covid-19 has made many people realise that our number one priority in the workplace needs to be employee wellbeing and resilience. We have certainly seen this in the workshops, programmes and immersive learning tech projects we have been working on with our clients.

What is Resilience?

Resilience is our ability to become strong, healthy or successful after something bad has happened. It is the bounce back ability from difficult challenges These challenges can also be positive such as bouncing back to work from a really good holiday. The concept of resilience also involves the ability to regulate your thoughts and emotions and the ability to observe a challenging situation as not a set-back but an opportunity to grow and improve. Resilience involves enabling better problem-solving skills and helps maintain motivation in the workplace. These challenging situations could be mental health issues, job changes or loss and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Misconceptions of Resilience

A common misconception of resilience is that a person that is resilient DOES NOT experience psychological stress. Most if not all resilient people have gone through psychological stress. Often, the road on the way to becoming resilient involves emotional pain. Some people possess traits that make them more likely to be resilient than others.

And indeed a really interesting fact is that some people thrive from these challenges and changes. “The old understanding of stress as a unhelpful relic of our animal instincts is being replaced by the understanding that stress actually makes us socially smart — it’s what allows us to be fully human.” – Kelly McGonigal

An individual’s resilience is based on a combination of genetics, personal history, environment and situational context. Professor of psychiatric epidemiology in Harvard’s T.H Chan School of Public Health, Karestan Koenen said that “there are temperamental or personality characteristics that are genetically influenced [on resilience] such as risk-taking or whether you’re introverted or extroverted”. So this means whether you’re introverted or extroverted or a risk taker plays a part in how you develop your resilience and how much resilience you have already developed due to your genetics.

Why is resilience so important in the workplace?

There are many reasons why resilience is so important in the workplace:

First of all, it gives the employees a better ability to handle changes and challenges. Resilience reduces negative thoughts and stops them clouding judgement and logic meaning employees will be better able to handle challenges and changes in the workplace.

Next we have improved communication. Employees who encompass higher levels of resilience than others are usually more self-assured and confident. This means they have the ability to speak up and contribute to discussions and can express their needs and their ideas more constructively and logically. If ideas are shared in a business it allows for opportunities to explore all avenues and encourages creativity among the workforce.

The third reason why resilience is important in the workplace is that employees who feel resilient will be more open to upskilling and development.

A study by CV Library showed that 40% of employers see value in the skill “willingness to adapt”. Resilience promotes a growth mindset where employees will seek out new opportunities to upskill. If a business aids growth in employees then the business will grow.

See our next blog where we share some tips on how to build a resilient workplace…

Are you interested in helping your team find and develop their resilience? Reach out! You can find us at info@adaptastraining.com. We love hearing from you, and we would love to discuss how our one to one or group training programmes can help.

Virtual Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence In Our New Virtual World.

Is everyone else tired of ‘Zoom’, ‘Google hangouts’, or ‘Microsoft Teams’?
Do you feel like the connection is lost with people across these virtual platforms?
Maybe working on improving your ‘Virtual emotional Intelligence’ will re-invent the
experience for you and your colleagues.

With particular relevance now, understanding virtual emotional intelligence grows in
importance. Similar to a physical meeting or classroom, an effective virtual facilitator or
manager must be aware of the emotional dynamic.

Top Tips for Better Virtual Conversations:

Look into the camera (not at the screen).

Look into the camera (the virtual version of ‘making eye contact). Doing this is going to make your audience feel spoken to directly, thus, building a better connection. Find a balance between looking into the camera and looking at your audience’ faces. This will allow you to monitor the emotional dynamic of the meeting.

Focus on values and purpose first.

Begin conversations with discussions on values and purpose, rather than measures and financials. These discussions can come later in the meeting. For example, start with ‘what has gone well for you this week?’ or ask questions regarding goals for a project, or how the project aligns with the vision or values of the company. Research suggests, that by starting conversations in this way, you allow for open-mindedness, and prevent your colleagues from shutting down emotionally, perceptually, and cognitively (Boyatzis & McKee, 2011). It is crucial that we all feel connected to our work. When we are curious or excited about projects, we feel more engagement. Keep this in mind for when face-to-face meetings resume, as this is still relevant in that context!

Be ready to work to maintain engagement.

With communication reduced to virtual platforms, emotional cues are lacking, particularly in relation to body language. A virtual facilitator or manager must now pay attention to other cues, such as asking and answering questions, engagement with the chat feature or comment boxes, and what is being said but also how it is said (Brake, 2017). For example, speaking vaguely with little detail might indicate disinterest or disengagement. Are people looking away while they are speaking? This may be a hint that they are distracted by other items on their to-do list. Perhaps asking them a question to draw them in or ask their opinion will help them feel more involved? Paying attention to how people are saying things will allow you to better monitor the emotional dynamic of your meetings.

Don’t let ‘Zoom’ tiredness get in the way of engagement at meetings…Take ownership and develop your Virtual Emotional Intelligence to save your virtual meetings.

Interested in more tips on confidence, leadership, and engagement at work? Follow us on social media!

@adaptastraining

Understanding the “Self” in Self-Sabotage

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.

Alvin Toffler

After nearly twelves months of covid-19 we are all familiar with adaptability and resilience. We’ve pivoted, we’ve adapted, we’ve come back stronger. We see the value of staying open minded and are generally willing to unlearn and relearn our way to stronger skills. Yet, the struggle of creating real, lasting change in ourselves remains stubbornly real. We have a theory about why that is.

One of our biggest blocks to change is our own identity.

As Adaptas continues to work with individuals and groups to facilitate mental wellbeing through effective habit change, we have noticed a trend. It seems that for most people, the main obstacle to successful change is the way they see themselves, or in other words, their identity. To understand this more fully, let’s look at an imaginary individual named Jane.

Jane is serious about her new years resolution this year. She is going to shed her excess weight and start looking after herself. This means healthier eating, regular workouts, and taking up running. For real this time. The problem is, in setting this goal, Jane has not considered how her identity could get in the way. Alongside many other aspects of her identity, Jane sees herself as a person who always puts other people first, who struggles with motivation, and as someone who strongly dislikes running.

Identity is a cognitive shortcut for decision making.

Our brain uses our identity as a cognitive shortcut to speed up decision making. If we see ourselves as someone who is not athletic, then it’s a no-brainer to say no to joining the lunch football team at work. If we are someone who always puts other people first, then it’s a no-brainer to say yes to babysitting our sister’s kid even though we have a zoom workout class to attend. Or, if we are someone who hates running, then it’s a no-brainer to decide we don’t have it in us to run today. Even if we have set a goal to do so.

You can probably see where this is going. Even though Jane is serious about her goals, her identity will continue to “assist” her in making choices that don’t align with her goals. She is likely to prioritize other people and leave herself with little to no energy to exercise or change her eating habits. She is likely to take every moment she doesn’t feel motivated as proof that she isn’t good enough, and she’s likely to avoid choosing to run because someone who hates running doesn’t choose to run very often. As a result of all of this, Jane is not likely to make great progress towards her goals and eventually give up, leaving her feeling frustrated and confused as to why she can’t make these changes happen for herself.

Can we re-learn who we are?

So, the question seems to be – can we unlearn and relearn who we are? This is a step further and deeper than unlearning and relearning information. It involves challenging the very foundations of what we value and know about ourselves. What makes this especially challenging is the fact that unhelpful identities can speak up loudly in their own defence. “You have to put other people first to be a good person!” Proclaims our inner people pleaser. “Running is horrible, I’m saving you from discomfort!” Says our inner running-hater.

Separate. Assess. Shift.

The key is to separate yourself from these identities. They are part of you, but they don’t define you. Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset tells us it is always possible to change ourselves, if we are willing to apply strategic effort. In this case, this means intentionally deciding on a new identity and effortfully building a relationship with that new identity as you work towards your goal.

If Jane was to do this, she might decide to become the type of person who sees value in putting her needs first more of the time. Or, someone who doesn’t rely on motivation to take action, and who is learning to enjoy running. In doing so, she would start to create a new set of short cuts for her brain. It will begin to seem like a no-brainer to say no when she doesn’t have the time or energy, to stop worrying about her motivation levels, and to choose to get outside and run more often.

We need to practice recognising our identities, understanding how they align or don’t align with our goals, and consciously shifting those identities. If we can do this, then we will be one important step closer to successful change and, as we now know very clearly, change is a key skill for the future.

The Power of Vulnerability

I’ve been having a lot of conversations about leadership and vulnerability recently.

The word ‘vulnerability’ raises so many objections. Many people who are leading others are terrified that if they show any vulnerability it will make them seem weak.

What is Vulnerability?

Brené Brown defines vulnerability as ‘uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure’.

And leadership is all about uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.

Leadership and vulnerability have a lot in common!

The Link Between Vulnerability & Leadership

Just like vulnerability, leadership requires us to step up, step forward, constantly stepping out of our comfort zones.

“Vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage.” —Brene Brown

Most of us were brought up to believe it’s not okay to admit weakness. However, we can see everywhere the most authentic leaders are the ones we admire. Authenticity requires developing true self-awareness.

This takes courage and can be challenging, and sometimes painful. In developing self-awareness, we have to admit all sorts of things to ourselves. Transformation cannot exist without courage. Courage, in turn, requires vulnerability. That is, an openness to uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure. Much of the literature and research relating to creativity and innovation in organisations shows successful results from cultures where ‘risk taking (within safe boundaries) is encouraged and where there is an acceptance that not all innovation will be successful.’

This type of culture enables ‘psychological safety, such that staff feel confident speaking out about errors, problems and
uncertainties and feel empowered and supported to develop and implement ideas for new and improved ways of delivering services.’ Psychological safety evolves when leaders display vulnerability. Otherwise it will never feel okay for others to make mistakes and admit uncertainties.

When we talk about vulnerability in leadership, the objection is often the fear of having to expose our deepest and darkest fears. However, this is not the expectation.

For example, vulnerability can simply be any and all of the following three:

1. Admit you don’t have all the answers. This encourage others to share their ideas.

2. Share that you have struggled with something in the past and what you did to rectify that struggle. This encourages growth mindset and openness to learning in others.

3. Discuss what is important to you – your values. This will help others to share their values and recognise you all have more in common than it may seem.

Is doing any of the above weak? I don’t think so.

Try ‘vulnerability’ on and let us know how it goes for you…

Embedding Learning When Change and Adaptation Is More Important Than Ever!

Updated August 17th 2023

Imagine if I proposed that the absence of a vital element could render all the investments your company makes in employee learning and development futile, both in terms of time and money.

A recent conversation with a friend got me thinking about this problem.

During a zoom lunch date (one of the things I am doing to give myself some work-life balance while working from home),

I asked her what she had going on at work that afternoon.

Her face shifted to irritation and, with an exaggerated eye-roll, she said:

“Ugh, we have another training workshop… this time on motivation during Covid-19. I could not be bothered.”

As a performance psychologist I am fascinated by motivation and so this statement made me laugh. I was immediately reminded that we should never assume people are interested in the same things as us!

Further questioning clarified that my friend had been subjected to lecture-style training sessions with little interaction and no opportunity to apply what she was being taught. These sessions felt like a waste of time to her, and in fact they were, because afterwards she never felt able to implement the knowledge.

The Power of Habits

We now know that at least 40% of our daily actions are habits. Habits are a combination of automatic
thoughts, sub-conscious reactions and established routines. The longer we have been following these
routines, the harder they are to change. Even when we have the desire and the best intentions to
change, the sheer strength of our established neural pathways pull us back to our old ways of doing
things. When we don’t understand the processes behind this, we are left feeling powerless to make our
desired changes a reality. This feeling of powerlessness feeds a fixed mindset, which whispers to us
there is no point in trying hard to change as it won’t make any difference.

But why is learning such a struggle?

Implementing new learning is, at its essence, a struggle against our established habits. It requires a
strong clarity of what you are looking to change and the sheer discipline of repeatedly choosing a new
way of acting or thinking until it becomes your new habit or way of being. Contrary to previous research
which suggested it takes 21 days to form a new habit, we know now that this process can take anything from 3 weeks to
to six months, depending on our focus, determination and how our individual brain works.

So, the problem is this: learning and development training can be waste of time and money if we do not
give people the tools to understand their own learning, take control of their behaviour and implement
what they have learned.

Figuring out how to do exactly that is a priority at Adaptas. As a team, we teach learning and habit
change as a core element in all our training, from presentation skills to higher business performance. We
have seen the benefits of this approach, with clients often reporting back to us that through
understanding their own learning and habit change challenges they were able to take control of their
choices and behaviours and make long-term, impactful changes in work and in life.

The crucial ingredient, as we see it, is habit change.

See more about learning and habit change in Celine’s book ‘Our Learning Brain’.

Certainty in an Uncertain World

VUCA – Uncertainty Is Just One Element

For many years those of us working in the leadership arena have found ourselves discussing VUCA.

VUCA is an acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This combination of qualities taken together, characterise the nature of difficult conditions and situations where change is accelerating on a rapid level; technology, economics, warfare, world leadership, extremism, conflict, political dysfunction, social media, automation etc.

We have recently been witnessing VUCA together on a global scale due to Corona Virus Disease 2019.

Every single one of us have adapted in so many different ways.

But there is still a level of uncertainty, because business and life is not what it used to be, and will never be again.

We all have many questions: What’s coming next? How will this effect our lives long-term? What is the impact on our relationships, communities, organisations, economy, health?

Adapting at the speed of change that has been required has put pressure on us all in so many different ways.

To thrive in this VUCA world, uncertainty is the new normal. In life, so many of us try to control situations and to create stability and security. As we can see right now, there is so much that is beyond our control.

I’ve been thinking about a few things each of us can do to continue to get used to living in this VUCA world.

Here are 3 tips:

1. Control

What one thing can you create in your day that you can be certain about and that gives YOU a sense of having some control. This could be as simple as ‘regardless of what is going on around me, I eat an orange every day at 8am’, or ‘I get 15 minutes of air every single day at lunchtime’, or ‘I call one friend or colleague to check in at the start or end of my day’.

2. Flexibility

Having built in one thing that you can control. What can you do to help yourself have a more flexible approach to life, relinquishing some need to control? You may have a plan but one thing is certain, you will need to shift and change with the circumstances. We are all having to continue shifting to the new circumstances. Many of us are continuing to self-isolate. Many still have to entertain children while schools are closed as well as doing all their work from home. Many are having to re-think our roles and businesses.

As this new life and world continues to evolve, I recommend checking in with yourself on a daily basis and asking yourself ‘In what ways could I be more flexible?’ or ‘In what ways could I relinquish control? – ‘with myself, with other people and with the situation I find myself in?’ Things don’t’ have to be done the way they have always been done, clearly. Nevertheless we are creatures of habit, and we will fall into assumptions, expectations and judgements. This VUCA world is likely to continue, so how can you become more flexible in how you go about life?

3.Media Consumption

Be careful what media you are following. What are the facts? And be careful with your level of intake of the various media. Do you really need the updates every few minutes, every hour or even every day? There is only so much negative information our brain can interpret and our mind can digest before our mental health is affected.

I have found it helpful to check in with myself on all three items weekly and sometimes daily. Give it a go and let me know how you get on?

Wasting our Minds on Fortune-Telling

Since our lives all changed earlier this year, I, like many of you, found myself troubled by the impact this current situation would have on people’s well-being and mental health.

Before Covid-19, in my work I saw the impact of stress on a weekly basis in organisations and the teams and people we work with. So much of what we do at Adaptas is about helping people get to know themselves better so that they can manage emotions, and their decisions and communicate effectively with others.

What has been happening in the world is the stuff that in the past many people only ‘catastrophised’ about or watched in movies. Some of us were naturally good at rationalising it out, knowing most of our fears would not be realised. And some of us had techniques to help us stop and rationalise it out, recognising eventually that the catastrophising we were doing was highly unlikely. However, in recent months some of our deepest fears have being actualised.

We have been told to stay indoors, to socially isolate, to stay away from friends and family. We don’t feel like we have autonomy to make the decisions about how we live our lives, other than between the four walls. Many people have lost their jobs and as we all look into the future there are continuing fears around further job loss, financial insecurity and general uncertainty. 1 in 4 restaurants in the USA are expected to never re-open. Airbnb had to let 1900 people go globally recently. Our fears are for sure being realised.

Regarding our fears becoming a reality, things might be worse than we could have imagined?.

“We think of the world as how we left it. But that world is gone”

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian (18^th May)

There is possibly some light at the end of the tunnel. So many people have realised during this lockdown that life did not need to be the way it was. Many individuals don’t want to go back to the way it was. It was too busy. There were too many demands. There were people spending two hours commuting to and from work. Numerous people were grabbing takeaway every evening, staying in the office late or going home and logging back in before going to bed. A lot of people were working hard to pay for the big house, the new car and the holidays. Many were just trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Interestingly, several people who suffered from anxiety, including social anxieties report experiencing their symptoms decrease as there is now less pressure on them.

All in all, can we take this pressure and reduce it for the long-term?

For some people it will be less commuting, or having two or three proper meals instead of rushing the takeaway sandwich for lunch and dinner. For some it will be a job or career they hadn’t imagined themselves in, or more time with their children. For some it will be a focus on how we can improve lives for others who are less fortunate. For others, it will be making some hard decisions about career, partner, living situation and possibly setting oneself free from the shackles that were holding us tight.

The lesson for me in this is to never allow my mind to catastrophise again. It is complete fortune telling and we cannot imagine what is next or around the corner. When we take anything to an extreme, we have a problem. We cannot actually fortune tell how bad it can get or how good it can get. None of us know what is around the corner and there is no point guessing. All we can do is make the best of today.

What is there to be afraid of?

What Working with Adaptas has Taught me About Learning and Habit Change

Updated August 17th 2023

After ten years of working as an equestrian sport competition coach and two years training and working as a performance psychology consultant, I know that change is difficult. It is challenging to correct an athlete’s incorrect leg position on a horse once the body has formed the habit of holding it the wrong way.

Likewise, it is even more challenging to change the way an athlete thinks about themselves once the mind has formed the habit of thinking a negative way.

In our current climate, many of us have had to change the way we do things overnight. Whether these changes involve thoughts or actions or both, for most of us, this has been difficult. In short, underlying these challenges is the fact that changing the way we move, behave, or think requires changing our habits.

In the past, I was guilty of underestimating the power of habits on our behaviour. I knew making the change was difficult, but I did not fully understand why.

Since I have had the opportunity to focus on the psychology behind habit change through my work with Adaptas, this process has become much clearer to me. It has also given me the opportunity to equip myself with effective tools to help my clients understand their own learning and make lasting changes.

I now understand that habit change is a foundational element of learning in sport, business, and life.

A habit is a deeply ingrained pattern of thought or behaviour. In fact, more than 40% of our daily actions and decisions are ruled by habits. They are both incredibly useful and terribly inconvenient. From an evolutionary perspective, habits keep us safe and free up our brain to tackle complex problems. However, these same mechanisms can get us stuck in unhelpful patterns of thought or action. Because so much of habitual reaction is sub-conscious, we often do not realise how the habit is controlling our thought or behaviour.

I believe that learning about habit change allows us to become more meta-cognizant, to see our own thoughts and reactions from another perspective. Once this has occurred, we can effectively make use of habit change techniques.

Right now, as we continue to navigate the impacts of COVID-19 on our lives, many of us are trying to use this time to do things differently. Pay attention to the old habits you may have left behind and consider what new habits you might be forming to support these new behaviours. If you have been struggling with change, try to figure out what old habits may be holding you in old patterns of thought and action.

This is the strength behind the Adaptas approach: by including information about learning and habit change, I can now empower clients to take control of their thoughts, decisions, and outcomes.

In conclusion, It is truly amazing to see the positive difference this makes in peoples’ experience of making changes in work or sport and the impact this has on their performance and well-being.
Annika McGivern

If you are interested in learning more about how the brain works, check out the Adaptas book page

The Interesting Relationship Between Mindset, Resilience and Confidence

Updated August 17th 2023

We could all use a little bit of extra confidence right now. It has been six weeks since the world flipped on its head. It is challenging finding the confidence in yourself to help you thrive despite the impending challenges ahead. So, we wanted to share what we feel is the secret to confidence!

Confidence is the result of the story we tell ourselves about ourselves.

What is your story? Are you someone who accepts the inevitability of change, setbacks, and challenges? Who believes in their own ability to adapt and succeed regardless? Or are you someone who is at the mercy of challenging, negative events?

Thinking of our ability to adapt to challenges as a product of the way we think about ourselves can be illuminating. But of course, there is nothing straight forward about life and what it throws our way. Even when we accept that challenges will occur, they can still surprise us and knock us sideways, leaving us feeling temporarily out of control.

The fact is: yes, many of the events of our lives are outside of our control. We are all intimately aware of that now more than ever. But the way in which we react to and interpret these events is entirely within our control. There are two key frameworks in psychology that can help us begin to change our stories and shape our own confidence.

1. Mindset

Our MINDSET is a set of beliefs that subconsciously influences the way we react to failures. The idea of failure often feels catastrophic, something that will destroy our confidence and therefore should be avoided at all costs. However, this way of thinking blocks us from understanding the secret, wonderful truth about setbacks.

Setbacks are an amazing learning opportunity. They are a springboard that can launch us forward to a better version of ourselves.

Through failing and improving, setback and response, our confidence can grow in leaps and bounds. Change your relationship with failure and setbacks by changing your mindset. Very quickly you will find yourself looking for problems instead of avoiding them.

2. Resilience

Resilience is not an innate ability to set our shoulders and plough our way through the hardship life throws our way. It is the ability to feel the sadness, guilt, shame or anger of a setback and take a deep breath (or several!). It is the power to begin the hard work of discovering the learning opportunity and recognizing how what you have learned will make you stronger next time.

This ability is honed by developing the habit of asking yourself: what can I learn from this? By focusing on this question, the storm of powerful emotions surrounding the problem will start to diminish. As these emotions lessen, your rational brain can get to work on finding your opportunity for growth. Every time you succeed at this process, your confidence in your own ability to deal with failure and setback will grow. In this moment, more than ever, it is important to work on our mindset and resilience. This work will feed our confidence and self- belief. It will help you know that you have whatever it takes to thrive despite the challenges you face.

At Adaptas, we believe that confidence, mindset, and resilience are deeply connected and constantly influencing each other. We see the influence of personal stories and how they affect our clients again and again. We have seen first-hand the incredibly positive outcomes that are possible through changing these stories. Furthermore, we have all grappled with the challenging work of confronting and developing positive habits to change our own personal stories. It is hard yet incredibly valuable work and we encourage you to give it a try.

The Unexpected Side Effects of Habit Change

Anyone who has set, worked towards, and eventually gave up on a new year’s resolution knows that behaviour change is not easy.

We set out with the best of intentions and yet the drag of our established habits inevitably pulls us back into our old way of doing things. Habits sit at the foundation of our daily behaviour. When you look at this process closely, you see that successful behaviour change and learning comes down to successful habit change.

At Adaptas, we incorporate habit change education into all our workshops so that our clients can learn how to create long-term lasting changes and experience the benefits of positive, constructive thoughts and behaviours at work and in life. Through this work we notice that by learning how to effectively change their habits, our clients experience a host of often unexpected, exciting side effects.

Positive Thought. The way we think about ourselves comes down to habit, just like the time we wake up in the morning. Through habit change education, our clients learn to recognise and disrupt negative thought patterns. They often report to us that they feel lighter, are more content and experience enhanced enjoyment of work and general life.

Supportive Beliefs. Our beliefs about ourselves and the world are formed through habitual thought and behaviour. Challenging and changing habits around unsupportive beliefs can completely change someone’s life. Building supportive beliefs allows our clients to move away from fear-based decision making and this can have a hugely positive impact on happiness and performance.

Increased Confidence. Clients often tell us they experience a sensation of increased control over their choices, environment and emotions as a result of understanding habit change. This has a positive impact on their self-confidence as they feel better equipped to deal with challenging situations at work and in their personal lives.

Increased curiosity. Habit change work conditions us to continuously ask ourselves questions about our thoughts and behaviours. This results in enhanced self-awareness and a sense of curiosity about our own learning and potential. Approaching problems from a state of curiosity, rather than fear increases creative problem solving for our clients.

Reduced stress and anxiety. Habit change teaches us about how fear and anxiety is hard-wired in our brains as a form of self-protection. Understanding this process, recognising triggers and learning how to move our thoughts away from our flight or fight response gives our clients the power to reduce their anxious responses with time and practice.

In short, habit change is about so much more than performance. At Adaptas we believe that understanding habit change is a key ingredient to building a happier, healthier life at work and at home. Let’s get started!

Are Your Beliefs Stifling Your Confidence at Work?

In our careers, success and confidence often seem inextricably linked. This can be stressful as confidence is a tricky thing to hold on to. Too often we allow our confidence to be dictated by the events and people around us.

Here at Adaptas, we believe the missing piece is the understanding that confidence is something we control for ourselves.

At its essence, confidence is a sense of “sureness.” Feeling sure that we are equal to the task at hand. This sureness comes from preparation and deep-seated beliefs about ourselves. Confidence is not the complete absence of fear, worry or self-doubt. When we are trying to feel more confident, we often focus on technical preparation, failing to tackle the core beliefs that are fuelling our feelings of self-doubt in the first place. Why? Because they are big, intimidating things to tackle, and because sometimes we aren’t aware of them. Here is the problem: if we don’t tackle the beliefs, we can get stuck in a long game of bluffing ourselves and playing a part, all the time feeling like an impostor.

Our core beliefs act as a life blueprint. Forming the foundations of how we interpret the world, core beliefs shape how we react to success and struggle and the way that we see and understand our thoughts and actions within the context of our lives. Sound a little complicated? Well, it is! It can be tricky to identify our core beliefs and understand how they are influencing us. The best place to start is by analysing the thoughts that pop into your head un-invited.

“I won’t be able to answer the questions they ask me at the end of the presentation.”

“I don’t know enough about ________ to be in this meeting.”

“I am terrible at speaking in front of people.”

These unhelpful thoughts are little clues to the core beliefs that are creating them. Identify a negative thought and ask yourself: why do I think this? Follow the thought back into your mind. You’ll know when you stumble across a core belief because it will feel 100% true, even if you wish it didn’t.

I am stupid.

I am not good enough.

I don’t deserve success.

We call these types of negative core beliefs ‘Limiting Beliefs’ because they prevent you from reaching your full potential and they are not true. They feel true but they are not. These beliefs are a habitual way of thinking about yourself, built on faulty information. Like all habits, they can be changed. Our workshops build confidence by guiding participants through the process of confronting and changing their limiting beliefs around important work-related behaviours, while also teaching the tricks and tools of long-term habit change. This empowers our clients to continue the process of developing their confidence long after the workshop is over.

A Look Inside An Adaptas Workshop On VALUES

Updated August 3rd 2023

Values

Values are a buzz word these days, but what are they, really? They are identified with single words like honesty, integrity and loyalty. But even with those words to hand, we can struggle to get a handle on what a value is and what it means to us.

Often the serious ones come to mind first. These are sometimes the values we are taught to hold by our families, communities and jobs, values that are heralded in films, love stories and fairy tales. These values are valid, but do they truly represent what is most important to us? What about adventure or enthusiasm? What about stability or calmness, compassion, brilliance or wonder?

Let’s take a quick look inside an Adaptas workshop on values.

A group of coaches-in-training sit with pen and paper in hand. You can feel the pensive nature of everyone’s thoughts as they sift through the layers of words representing the many values they have heard of, taken on board or dismissed over the years. Which ones are mine? Which are the most important to me?

When they are done, each list is as unique as the individual themselves. The next step is to get to know their chosen values a little more personally. Choosing one of their top three values, everyone goes through a short interview process that allows them to dig into what that value is for them. What does it look like? Feel like? What does that value like and dislike? How does that value help? How does it hinder? Thirty minutes later our trainee coaches are deep in conversation. Someone had a burst of realisation at the end of her interview: she wasn’t living to her chosen value as closely as she thought. Another individual reflects on the contradictory nature of two of his values and shares that understanding this has illuminated the contradictions in some of his decision making.

“I find that the ‘ah-ha’ moments that people have, come in when they start to recognise the decisions they are making in their own lives based on values that they either took for granted, or had never named. And it is often a mind-blowing moment. This is because, generally, we take our values for granted and don’t really think about them.”

Dr. Celine Mullins

Orienting to our values can be a powerful source of motivation and clarity. Conflicts are often based in opposing values and by understanding our own values we can find more empathy for the other person’s values and perspective. Difficult decisions can be made clearer by following the guiding light of what is truly important to us. Here at Adaptas, we think and talk about values a lot and we encourage you to do the same!

You never know, there could be some interesting self-discovery waiting just around the corner.