The Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning: #6 FEEDBACK – Everyone needs Feedback!

“It takes 21 days to change a habit!”
How many times have we all heard this?

Jeremy Dean (Making Habits, Breaking Habits: Why We Do Things, Why We Don’t, and How to Make Any Change Stick) has collated research around habit change, and found that it takes on average 66 days (not 21 days!) to change a habit, with people often taking beyond 230 days of repetition to change habits long-term!

As discussed in the ‘REPETITION’ step of the 7 steps to learning a few weeks ago, we know that the brain forms a model of the brain connections that contribute to a good try. Repetition strengthens the connections between neurons engaged at the same time. Additionally, we know from the ‘MEMORY’ step, that the more we can create meaningful, emotional and elaborated opportunities to practice the more likely long-term learning is to occur i.e. emotional connections create more permanent memories.

Be it 18, 21, 65 or 265 days it takes to create change, let’s call a spade a spade…it is difficult to commit to practicing in order to embed change! Not only must the brain receive feedback on good versus bad tries. We NEED feedback from others on good versus bad tries…we need feedback and support to know it’s working! FEEDBACK on performance and acknowledgement from others encourages us to repeat.

It’s about recognising what needs to change, then doing it repetitively, and getting feedback, especially with a focus on how improvement is being noticed by others. We all like to be told we are doing a good job! Constant monitoring of progress by oneself, one’s peers and one’s superiors is tantamount to long lasting change.

In my experience, most people in management positions just don’t have or prioritise putting the time in to do this. People remember how they feel. If you make them feel good for attempting to make changes, they are much more likely to succeed. People must see results – one of the jobs of a manager should be to support and coach.

We need to be reminded that it is working, even when we ‘fall of the wagon’. We must track behaviours, and get feedback on how that behaviour is being noticed by others and how it is impacting on others.

It is important therefore, to work with people over a period of time. If that means writing reminders to check in with your colleagues on the change they are looking to make, do it…you might be still checking in with them on that change they were looking to make in 6 months time, but accountability and repetitiveness lead to new habit forming. It may take 21 days, it may take many many more. But imagine the difference it will make!

Thank you for reading. We’d love your Feedback. Leave a comment or share on your social pages.

The Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning: #5 REPETITION| Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!

Updated July 28th 2023

We are what we repeatedly do.
A common thing I hear from people I am working with is something along the lines of ‘I’m too old to change’ or ‘I’m too old to learn anything new’, or ‘The damage has been done, it’s too late for me’ or ‘ you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’!

In the 4th step of the 7 steps i.e. ‘Memory’, a few weeks ago, we learned that incoming data is held in short term, or working, memory and will be quickly lost if not consolidated. How well we encode a memory is critical to how effectively we will be able to recall it at a future point. And this my friends, is regardless of what age we are!

As Alfred Edward Perlman says; “Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century”.

Storage of information takes place in SEVERAL neurons at the same time. You have to give your neurons the chance to repetitively communicate with each other so that the learning sticks.

Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show the important role of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the learning process.

Dopamine is the brain’s chemical reward and is triggered in response to positive feedback during the learning process. When we eat in response to hunger, feel the warmth of the sun, or receive a smile for an action taken, the brain releases a short dopamine burst to signal its pleasure and give us a quick reward for gaining it. This dopamine reward mechanism serves to reinforce the neural connections in the associated network, strengthening it with each repetition of the thought or behaviour that caused it. This is the biological process that embeds learning.

In other words, we have to repeat, repeat, repeat, because initial changes are only temporary. Stronger and faster connections between neurons form through repetition and the feedback about the outcome of the try, versus what the brain wants.

The challenge for us is to actually repeat, because sometimes we just didn’t grasp the learning the first time, and sometimes we just don’t think we can prioritise repeating new behaviours because other things take precedence i.e. just getting through all the things we need to do every day.

Ultimately, it comes back to how badly you want something. As per the first step ‘Imagine’, have you imagined what you want the outcome to be? Or if you are managing other people, have you assisted them in imagining what they desire the outcome to be; how it will benefit them; how things will be different? People will only repeat new behaviours if they can clearly see the personal gain or benefit.

One of the jobs of a manager, in my opinion, (for everyone’s gain), is to keep noticing, and to continuously support and coach to encourage repetition. I’m also a great believer in some type of buddy or peer system, where people are held accountable to doing what they need to do to make the learning stick, i.e. repeat, repeat, repeat.

One of my favorite sayings is “Amateurs practice until they know it, Professionals train until they OWN it!” Clinton Swaine.

You can teach an old dog new tricks…just follow the 7 Steps to Learning 😉

The Learning Challenge – The Ageing Brain and Ageing Workforce

Updated July 28th 2023

In this weeks blog post, we bring you a post from our special guest Nigel Paine, whose book, “The Learning Challenge” features a case study written about Adaptas™ CEO Dr. Celine Mullins. Nigel gives us his thoughts on the Ageing Brain and the Ageing Workforce.

Three things came together to stop me in my tracks. The first was reading that if the incidents of Alzheimer’s disease continue to develop in proportion to the ageing population in Japan, the entire GDP of the country will be consumed treating those patients by 2050. This is, of course, a national catastrophe.

The second was visiting rural Japan and being astonished by the number of elderly Japanese citizens sitting quietly in front of their houses with apparently nothing to do. Rural communities seem void of younger people, work opportunities and, indeed, of life.

Third was a quotation by Dr Joel Kramer of the Osher Centre for integrative medicine at the University of California San Francisco from a lecture that he gave which was filmed and put on the excellent University of California TV channel on YouTube. He said:

“Ageing can have a significant impact on brain structure and function, but these changes are neither universal nor inevitable.”

There is now a massive research effort being conducted by neuroscientists around the ageing brain and what we need to do to keep the brain healthy. What seems to be emerging are some clear indicators that the critical dimension of brain health is to maintain neural plasticity throughout life. Neural plasticity builds, what Joel Kramer refers to as ‘cognitive reserve’. Cognitive reserve is the ability of the brain to react to trauma and to disease and attempt to maintain functionality. The Osher Centre has looked at the evidence for Alzheimer’s in ageing brains and discovered that identical patterns of Alzheimer’s can debilitate one individual, whereas another individual can function pretty much as normal. One brain is able to route around the Alzheimer’s plaques, the other is not.

Clearly Japan and other countries with growing ageing populations should invest not only in medical research to discover a “cure” for Alzheimer’s, but also in ways it can work with 50 and 60-year-old adults to develop some of that cognitive reserve which seems so powerful in helping the brain cope with trauma.

This immediately impinges on the world of work. Most organisations slowdown their ageing workforce in the years before retirement. They offer them few challenges and let them cruise quietly as they prepare them for life in retirement. The research would seem to indicate that this is entirely the wrong approach. To maintain neural plasticity the brain needs challenges, and above all it needs to continue learning new things. An alert and physically fit individual, motivated and taking on new challenges right the way through to retirement is probably the best insurance policy against dementia, and possibly the best protection against the effects of early Alzheimer’s. Four things to suggest going forward:

1. We need to work with large employers on new programs and new activities for their ageing workforce and track their progress longitudinally and certainly into retirement.

2. We need to inspire our L&D professionals to develop new learning pathways paying attention to the 70:20:10 model for their older staff teams.

3. We have to look at work organisation to ensure that the diversity of the four generation workforce is celebrated and leveraged.

4. As the research conclusions emerge about the ageing brain, much more needs to be done to share, debate and draw practical conclusions for action.

It would seem the height of common sense to invest real money into these programs because the costs of not doing this on a national economic, and personal lifestyle level, are catastrophic. If we do nothing, Japan points the way to disaster.

In my recently published Kogan Page book: The Learning Challenge, the chapter on neuroscience explores this in much more detail. You can buy the book at a special blog readers 20% discount from the Kogan Page website using this code: TLCAD 20

Nigel Paine

The Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning: #4 MEMORY – Encoding, sorting & retrieving information.

Updated July 28th 2023

Memory is crucial for learning.
“Memory is a process of encoding, sorting and retrieving information” (Carlson, Martin & Buskist, 2004).
The brain creates predictive models about where it thinks it is going, models about performance during an attempt and models that reflect cumulative learning of those attempts to create the desired outcome. The actions that are attempted and those that resulted in better performance must be remembered. Otherwise learning cannot occur.

Theorists of memory agree that there are various stages of memory; 1) short term memory (STM) or working memory and 2) Long term memory (LTM).

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store memory model (1968) states that we take information from the external environment through our sensory organs (e.g. eyes, ears, skin etc.). This information gets moved to the STM where it stays for a short time (i.e. less than one minute; STM has a limited capacity and duration). Only with rehearsal can information be moved to the LTM. Peterson and Peterson (1959) found that the more time information goes unrehearsed in the STM the more difficult it is for participants to retrieve this information.

“Short term memory is the set of processes that we use to hold and rehearse information that occupies our current awareness” (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2008).

LTM consists of:

Declarative (explicit) memory: Knowledge of facts and events.
Procedural (non-declarative, implicit) memory: Knowledge of how to do things.
Skills and abilities.
Conditioning and subconscious responses.

Other than rehearsal, there are other ways to help the encoding of information from the STM to the LTM. For example, mnemonic devices are “special techniques or strategies consciously used to improve memory – make use of information already stored in LTM to make memorisation an easier task” (Brunswick & Buskist, 2004).

These devices do not simplify or lessen information, they create a more detailed version of the information in such a way that the information is easier to retrieve at a later time. This is possible because of the way in which the information is elaborated upon. The information is strung together in a meaningful way.

Most approaches to training soft skills in people are missing an approach that enables learners to elaborate on what they are learning in the classroom. In my experience, the solutions are as follows:

A) Learning must be ‘applied’ in the training room, i.e. create more meaningful, emotional and elaborated opportunities to practice while in the training room, to engage both hearts and minds.

B) In line with the 70:20:10 rule, make sure that people get the opportunity to apply and practice in the context of work. In his excellent book, ‘The Learning Challenge’ (2014), Nigel Paine refers to ‘at the moment of need’ and ‘just in time’ learning, and quotes Nick Shackleton-Jones approach to learning ‘for people who care’. Here people care deeply about learning something because they have been challenged and want to/ need to solve the problem, and therefore are motivated to learn.

For a case study of the approach taken by Nick Shakleton-Jones (Director of Online and Informal Learning, BP) see Nigel’s book. You might see Adaptas mentioned there too ;-).

Ultimately, there is no point in sending a person to attend a training if they are not going to be able to apply their learning immediately (either actively in the training or ‘on the job’), because it will not get stored in their Long-Term Memory, unless they get a chance to use the information supplied immediately.

Plain and simple, we all forget what we have learned unless it is dynamic, motivating, emotionally stimulating and useful in the here and now!

Click here for more Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning

The Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning: #2 MOTIVATION | The Power of Knowing ‘WHY’

Updated July 28th 2023

MOTIVATION – For change, we need to be clear on our ‘Why?’
We recently published the 1st of our 7-Steps to Learning. We received a great response to our IMAGINATION blog, where we explained that ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’, so to continue as promised, outlined below is the 2nd Step – MOTIVATION.

MOTIVATION is a key factor in brain plasticity: It can be looked at as a cycle where thoughts influence behaviours and behaviours then drive performance; an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. It is the driving force that causes the change from desire to trying to achieve in life. If you are going to commit to making changes in your life, then it requires dedication and practice to create lasting change. Understand your motivation and you’ll understand the process that arouses, sustains and regulates your behaviour.

In Step 5, you will see that repetition is the key to making stronger connections. Repetition will only occur if people are motivated. People need to see a personal need, or a reason for them in making the change. For change, we need to be clear on our ‘Why?’.

People must think about two things in answering this question. Emotionally, what we can gain, by creating this new behaviour, and what do we stand to lose by not creating it? Performance impacts thoughts.

Our role as educators and learning leaders is to help people to become aware of what is not working for them or where the gaps exist, why they want and need to change (emotionally and logically) and where that will take them in their life and career. If someone does not want to learn, no change will take place.

The question then is, what is stopping them from wanting to learn? I refer back to point Step1: Have they been given the opportunity or given themselves the opportunity to IMAGINE & dream big?!

Click here for more Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning

The Adaptas 7-Steps to Learning: #1 IMAGINE

Updated July 27th 2023

Have you ever considered yourself and your learners as potential addicts?

Have you ever heard of the neurotransmitter Dopamine? Dopamine is a chemical released when people are doing something they enjoy. Dopamine consolidates new circuits and causes addiction.
Addiction is a plastic change in the brain.

Imagine for a moment, if you could turn all the people you are looking to develop into ‘learning addicts’. They are so addicted to learning, they cannot wait to apply everything they have learnt so that they can come back and learn more. The impact of the “learnings” would then ripple across the organisation, affecting the bottom line, as your training budgets would expand twofold, threefold and more. Wouldn’t that be something? From my perspective, we should be looking to turn everyone into addicts who enjoy learning and thus consolidate new neural pathways, which in turn leave people wanting more. We all know how challenging it can be to change an existing habit.

I recently spoke at The 2014 Learning Technologies Conference in London. Following that talk, they asked me to write an article for their Inside Learning & Technologies & Skills Magazine which was published this June. In this speech I outlined 7-Steps or areas that need to be considered and applied in learning to make it addictive, to enable people to learn and for neural changes to take place in the brain that have lasting impact. Over the coming months I am going to outline these 7-STEPS here. They all overlap as you will see:

1) IMAGINE

Neurons that fire together wire together: The brain strengthens connections between things that happen in real time and predictions of possible outcomes. The brain blends what happens and the predictions together. The expected outcome and the reality of the outcome; the brain weaves its own explanation of reality that is the basis of new skills. Therefore, people need to get clear on what the benefits of changing their behaviour will be. We need to help people think bigger for themselves. My experience of many approaches to working with changing people’s behaviour, is that the time is just not put into this. We’ve got to allow people to dream, to IMAGINE and to see all the possible outcomes. Otherwise, there is very little chance they will commit.

We look forward to sending you the 2nd-Step in this 7-Step process. We are currently delivering an interactive workshop to teams and groups in organisations to actively assist them in applying these 7-Steps. Get in touch if you’d like us to talk you through what we can do for your organisation.

The Necessity of Learning and Embracing Change

Updated July 27th 2023

Do you know what the workplace of the future will look like?
I don’t, but I do however know one thing, it will be very different to the workplaces we see nowadays.

Many would argue that more changes have taken place in the world of how we work in the past 5-10 years than had in the previous 100 years. There is new technology, new approaches to management & new roles in the workplace than ever could have been imagined in the past.

I was present at a talk Bob Savage, MD and Vice President of EMC Ireland, gave at a recent conference (National Stakeholders Conference on Science Education).

EMC Ireland in Cork is their largest manufacturing site outside the US, spanning 600,000 square feet, with 28 business functions and 44 nationalities on site speaking 26 languages. Bob leads this Centre of Excellence’s team of highly skilled people serving the global market. Bob said, “the ability to build relationships with customers, to relate to others, is one of the differentiators for employees and companies of the future. Another differentiator is a culture which encourages people to have an openness and ability to transform their skills, with a compulsion towards life-long learning”. Many people don’t see their job as a place to learn. However, in another interview Bob did last year, he was asked what he looked for in people working for EMC. He said, “The ICT area is a fast moving environment and people need to be able to handle and embrace change.” He also mentioned that he looks for a team of dynamic players and career minded people with integrity and passion who think outside the box.

Therefore, the more responsibility we take to learn within and outside the workplace, the better our chances for success are. If you have read previous articles we have written, you will know that we see one big happy connection between learning, change and relating to others. In my mind, learning in the workplace is best looked at with a sense of wonder. The wonder at the extent of endless possibilities that could be explored when we are open to change and willing to challenge how things have always been done.

What’s more, this is further charged with more possibilities because everything we learn at work about embracing change and relating to others and ourselves, can feed into our personal lives, creating even more positive relationships with our family and friends for example. John Henry Newman once said, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” And well, if Bob and I agree with him, then he must be right 😉

How Can We Become ‘Brainier’?

Updated July 27th 2023

Has it ever dawned on you that your brain may be the best piece of technology you have?

You might ask whether we have any control over that technology that rests on our shoulders?

The answer is YES.

Brain plasticity, is a term that refers to the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience. In this technological age we live in, machines have the knowledge and know the facts. It is nevertheless down to how creatively we can use our brains to interpret and use this information to a high-level that drives our success.

This week, my colleague, Dr. Celine Mullins, is speaking at the Learning & Technologies Conference (www.learningtechnologies.co.uk) on the topic ‘Why change isn’t easy and how to help people tackle it’ Celine, together with Brid Nunn (Learning & Development Design Manager, Marks and Spencer Retail) will validate how engaging employees creatively and in a way that the brain best commits to change, makes real business sense. Positive engagement by staff inevitably leads to higher rates of customer satisfaction directly impacting on bottom line sales. Whilst all at the same time, employees are happier too!

This talk will be all about putting the employees and customers in the centre of the action. But how can we put ourselves in the centre of the action everyday? How can we engage our minds to make the best use of this technology available to us? From the latest research in neuropsychology, here are some simple no-nonsense tips:

1. Concentrate on what is working and the motivation will naturally follow When we focus on what is working more than what is not, our brains become positively charged. As a result it is less likely for negativity to set in. The brain finds it tricky to be positive and negative at the same time! When you are in this frame of mind, you will naturally be more motivated to produce really good quality work, and your colleagues and customers will enjoy being around you too. Find out what things trigger you to enjoy yourself more in general, and explore whether you can integrate them into your work in any way. That way you are creating the motivation to become the best version of yourself, inside and out. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

2. Bite-sized goals (i.e. chunking down) Why clean the house from top to bottom in one evening and be so wrecked that you are not inspired to do it again for a month? The brain likes good memories of things so when we break goals or jobs into bite-sized pieces, the memory of the ‘job’ is not so bad and we are happy to take on the task again and again.

3. Keep doing it until it becomes habit If you are having fun and chunking things down, new habits (e.g. going to the gym) will become easier to repeat. The more we repeat things and the more we want to repeat things, the more hardwired the new habits become in the brain. I liken this to programming a computer! Using this approach, we are less likely to slip into bad habits again.

4. Keep the self-judgement to a minimum Finally, if you do fall off the bandwagon with a change/new habit, don’t give yourself a hard time. Negative self-chat imprisons you in your own fear and makes it difficult to take action to get back on track again. It also blocks channels in the brain from seeing solutions as it goes into blinkered survival mode. There is always a positive way to reframe a mistake or stumbling block. Just make a decision to love learning and move on! If we are not learning we are dead!

If you have just read this entire blog, you have already begun to use many of the principles of neuroplasticity. You are on your way to becoming a very ‘brainy’ person. Go forth and conquer!

How To Thrive This Holiday Season

Updated July 27th 2023

It’s that time of year that often gets emotions whirling around in our systems for a vast number of reasons. Some revel in the excitement and buzz of the season, while others find the close proximity to family and friends challenging. Additionally, the holiday season can shed light on those who prefer a quieter existence, potentially evoking complex questions and feelings.

For some of you, it may well be just a well-deserved break at the end of the year, a time to relax and take stock. Whatever it is going on for you, we have a survival kit on hand to get you thriving no matter what.

It doesn’t have to be perfect!
The first step is to decide how you want to feel and the impact you would like to have on those around you. This step becomes easier because you will naturally be driven to be more people focused and less task-orientated. So if the decorations are not perfect or the food is overcooked, remember that the smile you bear and your ability to tap into the fun and love around you is what really matters. This will outshine any mishaps or even domestic disasters. Striving for perfection can drive us to overlook what really matters so don’t fret the small stuff!

Don’t take it personally
My favourite expression at the moment is ‘flow like water’. You see, water is pure and doesn’t stick to anything. When someone says something negative, and family really know how to get us where it hurts, shrug and let it flow off you. The other option you have of course is to take it personally, start judging yourself and others, most likely resulting in a wicked spiral of emotions and words. When we take ourselves too seriously, so do those around us! Be like Father Christmas and laugh it off; ‘Ho Ho Ho’.

Breathe and stay in the now
Many of us shallow breathe (inhale into our chest rather than into our diaphragm), which doesn’t serve getting enough oxygen around our bodies. What happens then is that our brain believes something is wrong and injects more of the fight or flight hormone (adrenaline) into our blood which heightens stress. The more stress the less success.

Become conscious of your breathing and breathe from your belly. This will ground you in the now which will enable things come to you, including the best solution for dealing with any situation.

Exercise and keep some sort of routine
Most of us are accustomed to routine so why completely change this over the holidays? Yes, we all want a break from routine and structure but at the same time it helps us feel good in and about ourselves. So if you usually take a morning run, take it, it will help release all those happy endorphins too!

Whether you are with the masses or having a quieter time this year, these tips are all relevant. We are the only thinkers in our mind, so create the Holiday you want and love yourself and others in the process.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season!

Manage Your Time And Have A Life

Updated July 27th 2023

Does this look like a lady who manages her time wisely?

Somehow for years I associated good time management with being a boring sort of person, lacking adventure and spontaneity. I even had a picture in my head of a prim and proper man waiting for a train and just as it pulled into the station, he’d glance at his watch and approach the platform. However, nowadays I’m firmly convinced of the vast benefits associated with it.

First step: Find your value behind this commitment
Finding your motivation to internally commit to good time management is key to your success at it. You need to see what values you have that are congruent with adopting this behaviour. Having a look at some of the advantages listed below could help you with this.

Be less stressed and in the flow
A focused mind
Less procrastination
Achieving your goals
Better finances
Greater self esteem and confidence
Better relationships with others
Less guilt/stress due to respecting other people’s time
Increase your productivity
Feelings of accomplishment
Enjoy and appreciate your leisure off without worrying
….And all without taking yourself too seriously because that is a serious matter!

80% of your productivity is down to 20% of your efforts
The 80/20 principle refers to the phenomenon where 80% of your productivity is brought about by 20% of your efforts. Being successful isn’t just about working smarter or harder; it’s about working smarter on the right things. The key is to focus your energy on producing the 80% of everything you do – which is also the 80% that matters.

The best time managers spend more time planning and training staff to take on delegated tasks than in a flurry of email and phone answering activism.

Some questions to ask yourself:
What is the best use of my time and energy this week?
Will doing this make a difference in the next 6 months?

The Key is Planning
With planning you can get a lot more done, more effectively and in less time. Because of this, I now find myself putting aside time each Sunday to plan my week. I begin by sourcing a piece of foolscap and creating headings which sum up the main areas of my life:

1) Family
2) Friends
3) Career/Work
4) Health
5) Significant other
6) Finances
7) Spirituality
8) Physical environment
9) Fun & relaxation 🙂

Then come the bullet points
Under each heading, I list what I would like to get done this week as it relates to each area. For example, if you would like to make more money, under the heading of finances you could write, ‘time for creative brainstorming around sourcing better leads’ and under health, ‘less burgers and more green veg’. Then with seven days to play with, you slot each ‘to do’ into a day and time. For example, go to that vegetable shop around the corner on Monday evening on my way back from work.

WARNING: Prioritisation
If your goals have taken steroids, I advise highlighting the most important ones to take precedence in your diary. We don’t want Mrs Doyle from Father Ted creeping her ugly head so there is no need to mend the roof, build a shed and organise a rock concert in one week.

With the Sunday best approach (above) however you can seriously give this theory a Father Jack kick up the backside. This is because, using this tried and tested approach, it quickly points out when you are on the wrong track.

Now you have time for a life
You cannot sustain the same output endlessly without rest and fun. Not only that but what’s the point in living life without having a life? So while you are scheduling enough time for bedtime, I urge you to put to bed the idea that work defines you or without you, things will fall apart. Apart from the fun part of being able to live a bit, when you get a rest and have fun, the brain performs better. Better still, inject fun into your work and success will come more easily to you anyway.

The Man Who Was The Victim Of His Own Assumptions

Updated July 27th 2023

Setting the Scene

Yesterday morning as I arrived into the train station, there was a young man ahead of me about to put his ticket through the machine to go on to the platform. Mid-movement (his ticket had not entered), there was an announcement on the tannoy; something about the trains being delayed. I couldn’t make out what the man on the tannoy was saying but I noticed the look of displeasure on the young man’s face. I asked him if he had heard it properly as I had not. He rolled his eyes to heaven, he sighed, and said ‘the trains are running 30 minutes late! I can’t believe this! It’s f***** ridiculous!’. He then stormed out of the station. I took my phone out and looked up the train timetable.

Another Perspective

According to the timetable the trains were running on time. Another woman came into the station behind me. She was looking to purchase her ticket. I was about to tell her that there might be a delay with the trains when she started giggling. I looked at her, and she said ‘yer man’s asleep’, referring to the guy at the ticket desk. We both giggled. I noticed how different her reaction was to not being able to get what she wanted compared to the young man before her.

The Journey

Anyway, I took my chances and proceeded through the machine and towards the platform. Just as my foot lifted from the last step a train pulled in!

As I settled into a seat with a perfect view of Dublin Bay, I reflected on my good luck and found myself thinking about the young man who had rushed off in a huff. He was now off somewhere, finding alternative arrangements to get to his destination. He probably had to walk to the other end of the village to get the bus or go home to get a car to drive to the city and park. Either way he had probably added at least a half hour to his journey, and cost himself even more money if he was making alternative arrangements having already paid for his train ticket.

His journey could have been so much simpler if he had just stopped, taken a breath and used the resources to hand (e.g. his phone), or woken the guy at the ticket desk up to ask his advice (another resource), or even asked me to check the timetable on my phone (I am happy to be used as a resource sometimes). I also reflected on how his reaction appeared to be one of victimization at the hands of the rail system, as though they planned for the trains to be running 30 minutes behind schedule.

My Question To You

Where in our lives and in work are we playing the victim? Where are we not checking the facts? Where are we making assumptions based on initial information and getting angry or upset about it? And are we actually making choices about how we react to situations and people?

Take a few minutes to reflect, because almost 100% of people we work with, regardless of background, organization, culture, and experience, rarely catch or are aware of themselves doing these things, until we draw their attention to where all these things are showing up for them. If you take the time, your train might just come in when you want it to 😉

The Funniest and Most Enjoyable Thing About Charisma Is…

Updated July 26th 2023

I have managers coming to me for coaching quite regularly, telling me they want to develop their charisma, so that they will be in the running for a position opening up for VP, director or partner. They seem to think there is a potion I can give to them that will make their charisma magically grow.

Oh how wonderful it would be if I could create this potion. We could all swallow it and become as charismatic and as influential as JFK, Oprah, Obama, Princess Diana, Gandhi, Reagan, Clinton (insert your favorite here). Love them or hate them, they’ve got charisma! And like all of us, none of them are, or were perfect!

Can you think of a charismatic person you know or have met? What was it about them that made them charismatic in your opinion? Did they talk endlessly about themselves with unbridled enthusiasm and confidence? Or was it a two-way conversation where they engaged by asking questions, showing genuine interest in your responses, and spoke about themselves only when they had information, a fact, a story, or an experience that could be of assistance or interest to you?

(If you don’t want to read this article but would like to see 2 new jokes I learnt today, skip to the end)

What most people in search of charisma don’t realise is that research shows us that charismatic people are those that display not only confidence, but consideration and empathy. They are people who offer social support to others, and are trustworthy. In organisations, they are the people who have close interaction and exchange with the people on their teams, and who build strong social networks.

Charisma and Leadership are often seen going hand in hand. Have you heard of transformational leadership? Transformational leaders are those leaders able to inspire their followers to accomplish great things i.e. to move their followers to a high level of performance by affective and inspirational engagement through idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration. To do this, they are required to be mindful of the needs and motivations of others, facilitate complex interactions in group dynamics and steer their employees forward in the course of their managerial/decision-making responsibilities.

Research finds that transformational leaders are regarded as charismatic. These leaders do the following:
• Display consideration and empathy
• Possess mature moral development
• Have close interaction and exchange with their people
• Build strong social networks within their organisations
• Offer social support to the individuals and teams they manage

Effective leaders are transformational and charismatic. Those who display traits listed above exhibit high standards of performance and ethics and are deeply trusted and respected by their followers. Because of that people identify with and want to emulate them. Would you like people to identify with and emulate you?

Interestingly, a meta-analysis of trust and effective leadership has shown that when leaders are perceived as trustworthy, this translates into perceived organizational trustworthiness and results in positive employee and organizational outcomes (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002) such as higher organisational citizenship behaviors (Krosgaard, Brodt, & Whitener, 2002).

By the way, charisma isn’t the same thing as confidence, but appearing confident can make you more charismatic because your confidence will put others at ease and inspire faith in your abilities. If people see you as a confident person, they will naturally want to be around you.

There is no magic potion, funny that!. Charisma is not about being an extrovert or about pretending to care about other people. It’s about genuinely liking other people. The emotional component of that is really hard to fake! But when you have it, other people feel important. Furthermore, if you don’t have it now but are willing to start practicing the true traits of charismatic people, you will even end up enjoying yourself more, regardless of who you are with!

Some charismatic people tell jokes!

Two snowmen are standing in a field. One says to the other: “Funny, I smell carrots too”.

That didn’t make you laugh…Ok try this:

A magician was driving down the road, then he turned into a drive way…

Ah I give up…

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