Short Term Sacrifice; Long-Term Sustainability

Short Term Sacrifice; Long-Term Sustainability

Updated 24th July 2023

As I drove recently through a state in middle America, which will go unnamed for fear of offending some of my nearest & dearest, I observed, as I do every time I visit the USA how unhealthy the lifestyle is. It is totally acceptable to drive everywhere; there are drive-thru fast food venues on every corner; there are few walking paths and no cycle paths; there are advertisements everywhere for every across-the-counter drug under the sun. And for too many people who were born and raised here it is a way of life, and they do not question it. The level of obesity is frightening, with young children and teenagers, never mind fully grown adults waddling, because they cannot walk properly due to their size. It seriously reminds me of the animated movie WALL-E (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/). People don’t seem to realize that there is a different way to live one’s life. If children are born and reared in this environment, how can they expect to know any differently?! Call me mean, but I know that when people eat this amount of sugary and salty food and get no exercise, they are more likely to have severe health problems in time, that could otherwise easily be avoided.

What has this got to do, you may ask, with organisations and staff training?

Well my stay in the USA, got me thinking; what are the habits in organisations that people think are acceptable and healthy? People become institutionalised very quickly and often those with the best of intentions in a new role, get stuck into the way it’s always been, and they either stop questioning, or they put their head down and get on with it for the sake of keeping their job. They stop asking questions and stop looking for answers. People constantly tell me how they have settled into and accept things such as the following;

-Accepting gossiping within the department;

-Listening to a ranting team-member/ manager who blames everyone else for everything that goes wrong rather than taking responsibility themselves.

-Ignoring customer needs a) as much as they can get away with or b) because they have been indoctrinated into focusing on processes and procedures.

These are only a few examples of course, but people accept it all because this is how it’s always been and this is how it always will be. There is little consideration for the fact that rising stress levels due to these seemingly simple issues cause people to become less productive and/or ineffective. Over time the newbies become ingrained into what has always been the norm at that organization. How dangerous is this a) for the health of the individual and b) for the progress of the organization?

It is one thing to be aware of what is wrong and ineffective. In certain parts of the USA, how life is lived unhealthily by many is acceptable, with no questions asked. It is often only people who have left this particular state, (the one I am visiting), or who educate themselves about life outside of this and surrounding states and outside the USA in general, that realize that this way of life is not healthy. And even with awareness, it is difficult for them to make healthy decisions for themselves to make changes and decisions that their friends and families will also agree to. So it’s one thing to have the awareness, it’s another to have the confidence and conviction to expect anything different in behavior or to promote change, and to make sure it is seen through.

The only reason many organisations admit to needing help from external bodies or individuals, is when they record a massive drop in profits and when customers think on their feet and go to the competitor. Many organisations are reactive, rather than actively looking to get people on the same page, and improving the awareness of individuals before it gets out of control. It’s often too late by then.

Many Americans in this area, whom I have met, and seen, need to make some short to middle-term sacrifices in their lifestyle to adjust to a new way of living for the sake of long-term health. Likewise, long-term sustainability in organisations comes from short to medium term sacrifice at all levels of the organisation. Would you agree?

How Empathy Impacts Business

Updated July 3rd 2023

After being invited to provide a psychologist’s perspective on empathy at a business event last year, I began to reflect on something that I had previously taken for granted. I realised that the concept of empathy is becoming increasingly relevant in the business world, yet there are still many individuals who either overlook its importance or lack the knowledge of how to cultivate empathy with their colleagues and clients. Exploring this topic in depth would require multiple blog posts, but for now, I encourage you to contemplate both your own and your colleagues’ capacity for empathy. Do you truly grasp the essence of empathy?

Empathy can be formally defined as the aptitude to recognise and comprehend the circumstances, emotions, and motivations of others. It entails our ability to acknowledge and understand the worries and concerns that others may have. Empathy can be described as “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” or “viewing situations from someone else’s perspective.”

There are now numerous studies that link empathy to business results, making it no longer a touchy feely topic to discuss in business. At its core, empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. Studies correlate empathy with increased sales, with the performance of the best managers of product development teams and with enhanced performance in an increasingly diverse workforce. When it comes to staff training and client retention or customer service training courses, an understanding and development of empathy is imperative. If you are interested in reading into this topic further all the studies mentioned can be viewed here (http://www.eiconsortium.org/).

Empathy allows us to create bonds of trust, it gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking; it helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, it sharpens our “people acumen” and informs our decisions.

Bestselling author, Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age) predicts that power will reside with those who have strong right-brain (interpersonal) qualities such as inventiveness, empathy, and meaning. He cites three forces that are causing this change: Abundance, Asia and Automation. “Abundance” refers to our increasing demand for products or services that are aesthetically pleasing; “Asia” refers to the growing trend of outsourcing; “Automation” is self-explanatory. In order to compete in the new economy market, Pink suggests six areas that are vital to our success. One of which is Empathy; the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position, to imagine what they are feeling, to understand what makes people tick, to create relationships and to be caring of others: All of which is very difficult to outsource or automate, and yet is increasingly important to business.

Dr. Daniel Goleman isolates three reasons why empathy is so important in business today: the increasing use of teams, (which he refers to as “cauldrons of bubbling emotions”), the rapid pace of globalization (with cross cultural communication easily leading to misunderstandings) and the growing need to retain talent. “Leaders with empathy,” states Goleman, “do more than sympathize with people around them: they use their knowledge to improve their companies in subtle, but important ways.” This doesn’t mean that they agree with everyone’s view or try to please everybody. Rather, they “thoughtfully consider employees’ feelings – along with other factors – in the process of making intelligent decisions.”

We recently developed some trademarked processes which we use in our staff training and in particular our customer service training courses take “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes” to a whole new level. Let’s have a chat to see how you and your team can work out who’s shoe it is anyway!!.