Our working culture is obsessed with the idea of constant progression.

Our targets move up, number of work hours increase, our abilities are stretched constantly leaving no space for us to breathe (and sometimes leading to a ‘silent suffering’).

Please allow me to share with you a little unspoken truth about the process of ideation and creation: The life cycle of birth and re-birth embodies strong intuition.

Contrary to common belief, intuition is not woo-doo… It is our ability to understand something instinctively without the need for a conscious reasoning. That doesn’t mean it is coming from an unknown place… It is exactly the opposite: it is opening doors to a process that gives us the ability to know something directly without going through systemic thinking like analytic reasoning and it allows us to bridge the gap between the conscious and non-conscious parts of our mind, body and soul.

Intuition is shy though… It only and truly shows its face during slower times, at times of serenity, peace and solitude, and when we experience a healthy doze of self-doubt and falter. It is during those ‘down’ times (which are really active times, we just sense it differently – like sleep), intuition kicks in to point us to certain key values, overlooked perspectives and slims down possibilities, guiding us to a greater clarity of purpose.

The illusion of permanent progress inflicts a particularly damning strain of despair and derail on our creative processes. It also hurts our ability to remain connected, collected and caring – both for ourselves and for others.

Business will always need to happen tomorrow, but if we want to engage in innovation and/or build long, lasting results (such as capability building, productivity gain and/or market share growth), we need to NOT let the sense of urgency bound us into a trap of time.

Because that giving in alone guarantees retake on creation…

I was recently in the presence of a corporate executive I respect deeply.

I had a secret, a hidden agenda to find out what makes this leader stand out in a room of hundreds… Ssshhh, I do that sometimes. I am an organizational psychologist, remember? ?

This leader I have seen at work has a very unique way of ‘being’ and I was determined to find out about the secret sauce… ?

As a consultant, I was surely at the groups’ presence on duty and at the same time, I was experimenting quietly in my mind, taking silent notes on paper…

What I recognized over a course of full day is that the leader was so consciously ‘kind’ and ‘soft’ in their way of being, there was a sense of ‘serenity’ and ‘peace’ to their presence.

The leader was clearly the authority in the room. It was fully acknowledged by the group and owned by the leader; yet, at the same time, the leader was able to step back with just the right amount of confidence to let others’ space to simply ‘be’. When the leader moved or spoke, for example, it was done with so much attention and personal care, it felt as though the leader was remaining consciously mindful to not intrude into someone else’s presence, thoughts and behaviors. The lead was eloquently inviting others’ to move around, think creativity, speak up while holding ground in confidence (of their role and final authority). That elegant movement of energy, to me, felt like a beautiful dance between a diverse group of souls, orchestrated by a wonderful maestro.

There was a perfect combination of give and take – of leading with purpose, courage and mastery and of listening with wonder and compassion, it truly felt like magic!

For those of you who have read Oliver Sacks’ The Island of the Colorblind, my specific experience of this observance was one similar experience to how he describes his interaction with nature (and especially with trees) at times… Serene, refreshing and beauty-full…

Coming back, I wondered:

• What would our leadership practice look like if we could acknowledge our role (as the leaders of our organizations) is more about internal energy management and about our ability to guide others (despite our authority)?
• What would it look like in behavior to support a diverse group of individuals in becoming a better version of theirselves?
• How would our employees’ experience shape to if we, as the leaders in a given room, paid attention to not being part of any one program or agenda, but, all?
• What would our work experiences feel like if we evolved our intent to simply observing rather than proving or disproving any thesis?
• How would the world evolve in our new way of ‘being’?

Just wonder with us a second…

Isn’t wonder one of the kindest, the most compassionate and most forgiving sensations of all?

I joined Chris Dyer of PeopleG and the author of  “The Power of Company Culture” on his live Talent Talk radio show in California back in June along with my colleague Kevin Grossman, the President of Global Programs at Talent Board HR.

We chatted about trends we are seeing in the workplace, as well as what companies and business leaders need to be thinking about as they look into the future years of 21st century.

You can listen to our conversation here.

Hello dear friends and colleagues,

We are back from our annual holidays and rested as a team; we hope you are enjoying your summer in return.

Some of you may remember roughly a year ago we had created a YouTube channel for Whirling Chief, hoping to build a few prototype videos to gauge for on-going interest.

You may appreciate the process of creation is often a lonely process — one that demands a ton of solitude and patience; however, we are humbled by the fact that not only ~800 of you subscribed to our channel, asking us to continue the work, we found ourselves now in company of many incredible partners like Science for Work and Stanford University’s CCARE to support out cause.

Together with these wonderful organizations, we desire to explore new and revolutionary business and people practices in their richness and depth as they may best fit into our 21st century, complex, and dynamic lives.

We want to usher wellbeing, wisdom, and compassion into our workplaces and help build work environments, where more of us can experience benefits of finding meaning, inspiration, safety and joy day to day.

On this video channel then, we will present you with short (3 to 5 min.) videos on evidence-based people leadership and organizational management practices. In the back end, we will engage in thrill search and analysis of the latest scientific research (on neuroscience, biology, I/O psychology, etc.) and curate simple, yet pragmatic summaries that will:

• provide nuancing,
• present data and evidence,
• provoke critical thinking,
• help ask the “right” questions,
• bring in a balanced perspective.

The next step in the process is, of course, to find strong, credible sponsors, who will share our enthusiasm and passion.☺

We want to make work experiences better and we ask you to join us in the journey!

You can support us through subscribing to our channel and by simply sharing our content. We thank you in advance.

It is that time of the year again.

After a very busy first half of 2018, we are now off (in rotation) for our summer holidays until the end of August.

For those who are looking to catch up on reading, please find some of our ‘most-hit’ articles below:

• A Job For All: Making Our Work Experience Better
• A Human Way of Leadership
• Awakening Humanity at Work
• Dispatch From Davos

For those interested in following us on LinkedIn, please find some of our ‘most-hit’ blogs below:

• Living in the Moment
• Meaning is Inside of Us
• Trust and Psychological Safety

And those on Twitter, please connect with us here.

We wish you a joyful, healthful, heart-ful summer to come… Cheers!

Whirling Chief Team

When an employee fails or even just performs poorly, as people leaders, we typically do not look for a fault in ourselves.

The employee doesn’t understand the work, one of us might contend. Or the employee isn’t driven to succeed, can’t set priorities, or won’t take direction. Whatever the reason, the problem is often assumed to be only the employee’s fault—and the employee’s responsibility. 

But is it? Sometimes, of course, the answer is yes. Some employees are not up to their assigned tasks and never will be, for lack of knowledge, skill, or simple desire. But sometimes an employee’s lack of performance can be very closely tied to motivational elements supported by people leads, organizational elements and/or culture.

Human beings are far more complex than we give it credit to. Our performances are complex. Yet, there is valid science behind maximizing performance. If we are looking to improve performance – individually or collectively, we need to consider many levers in a systems’ context.

Some of us refer to ‘traditional’ performance management processes as “messy”; some refer to it as “unnecessary” and some are eager to try a new standard. We would like to pass on a caution that though a good number of organizations are trying to evolve their performance management practices, it is too soon to say what will be the impact of current trends. And none, thus far, have abandoned their practices. It is important for us to keep in mind when we adopt a one-way view into outcome(s), we end up decreasing the complexity of substantial issue(s) into single entities. When we narrow our focus into specific cause(s), we often unintentionally end up building organizational practices that potentially birth process biases.

Today, we want to take some of the offline conversations around performance management public; and provide a safe platform for us to exchange ideas on!

Perhaps the right question is not whether we should “do-away” with our performance management processes, perhaps the right question is what may be the factors moderating or mediating the effect of human performance in the workplace?

Sharing CEB data below, wanting to brainstorm together: Tell us about a behavior, a thought, a motion, a culture that’s helped you or someone you know/ you’ve led truly flourish and reach a higher potential?

One of our clients we respect deeply asked us in the previous weeks how to better ‘control emotions’ in the workplace.

This is a subject majority of us struggle with in life, especially in context of our work environments, where stress levels are often too high. Therefore, we wanted to share some pragmatic tips.

First and foremost, we invite our leaders to rethink terminology. The word ‘control’ in the context of emotions implies there may be a ‘right’ way or ‘wrong’ way of being; where in reality, our human way of being is quiet complex and natural.

We find it often helps to rethink the vocabulary around how we understand, connect to and better manage our emotional states if we want to build stronger will to gain emotional agility. When we accept the complexity of our various states and allow ourselves space to just feel, we grow mental and physical capacity to better navigate through our emotions. On the other side, when we grow a judgment around how we may be feeling, we literally incapacitate ourselves and push our natural states to ‘become’ a particular way.

Designer Ingred Fetell Lee puts it beautifully in this example…

“Adults, who exhibit genuine joy are often dismissed as childish, too feminine, unserious, or self-indulgent, so we hold ourselves back from joy.”

Dr. Susan David of Harvard Business School writes in depth about how our emotional state develops, the why and the how of understanding our insights in her book, Emotional Agility.

It is equally important to recognize emotions are incredibly valuable and offer a bounty of benefits. When we are able to recognize and process them correctly; when we grow skill to cope with them effectively, we can learn a lot about who we are, our unique needs and desires.

Emotions send us key messages at critical times, which help us connect to our core way of ‘being‘.

There are five specific traits or behaviors we often observe from people leaders who are recognized for their emotional agility in the workplaces we serve:

1. They keep clear boundaries in regards to their values,
2. They are not afraid to show up to their emotions (they will get to the very bottom of why they are angry and nicely, for example),
3. They are mindful about creating space to respond to the emotion and not react,
4. They are willing to initiate a conversation and/or to act if something needs to be said or done,
5. They show and share desire to shift to positive state of mind after effectively managing conflict.

Recognize there are two specific pre-requisites to growing emotional agility (that’s not specifically called out above): getting clarity around one’s values and practicing courage. Without those two attributes, it becomes that much more difficult to grow emotional insight.

If you are looking to learn more about your unique way of being, if you want to grow emotional agility in the workplace and/or want to rethink how you should up as a people leader, please note an executive coach (of credible background and experience !!!) can be of great help.

To that end and with their permission, we would like to share a few names of accredited, capable and confident coaches (in no particular order) we and/or our clients have worked with in the near past and we have received great value through the experiences:

• Kristen Harcourt
• Siobhain Tapley
• Mark Crowley

If you find yourself in need, do seek one out.

You’ll be amazed how much you can make progress with company in your journey.

The role of a people leader in the workplace is one of the most significant in terms of impact on organizational performance. When we are presented with an opportunity to build direct influence over others, we hold a vital role in not only aligning capabilities towards organizational goals; but also in shaping organizational culture.

It is an unfortunate fact that in today’s corporate environments, such vital roles are still being handed to a few who may or may not be fully ‘ready’ to lead… As a result, we see employees exiting outside of organizations left and right.

If we look at the traditional definition of a ‘manager’, their role include tasks of setting goals, organizing work, communicating information, measuring impact and developing others*, yet in the 21st century, can we really treat people as cogs anymore?

Understanding the impact language has on our brain processing, is ‘manager’ really suitable title for people leadership roles?

The term ‘manager’ implies we execute control via our assumed power and authority while the term ‘leader’ implies influence via shared purpose and inspiration.

Further, do our people leads really know how to (1) set objectives, (2) delegate, (3) communicate, etc.? Gallup studies show, for example, a strong link between consistent managerial communication with higher engagement levels, with those combining face-to-face, phone and communication tools seeing the best results. However, evidence shows 69% of managers report feeling uncomfortable communicating with employees in general?

How fair is it to promote individuals into positions of influence without fully equipping them to lead?

At Whirling Chief, we believe a conscious and conscientious development of competent and caring leaders has become necessary.

For this, we have been building a leadership engagement tool (a chat bot) that allows on-demand self-learning for first time people leads. It is being designed and built in collaboration with I/O psychologists and UX experts to provide scenarios that can build up capability through emotional engagement for people leads. In support of our prototype development, we are interested in your experiences and thoughts:

1. Which situations/ behaviors do you find your people leads to struggle with most?
2. If you were to pick a character for our tool, which of the two animals below would you choose?

We tend to think, especially in HR, investing in leadership development is inherently a good thing. While there may be some truth to that… The first question to address is WHY.

WHY do we have hundreds of learning catalogs and people still suffer through their leadership experiences?

WHY do we have such exotic development courses while employees struggle to receive basics from their leaders?

WHY do we continue to promote people into leadership positions without adequate preparation?

WHY do we continue to turn a blind eye into ill leadership practices?

The most powerful thing we can do for our global workforce at this time is to be mindful about who we place in roles of influence.

The second most powerful thing we can do is to help those we intend to promote prepare themselves to use the best of their natural talents, adding skills and knowledge to develop and apply their strengths.

In today’s world, the executive’s job us no longer to command and control but to care, cultivate and connect the actions of others. It may be that our terminology and practices were born out of economical focus years and years ago, but we believe it is time to take back the responsibility for our employee experiences.

Imagine we had an education system that helped everyone discover their uniqueness and taught them how to develop a sense of ‘being’ grounded in multiple passions and how to share it with the world without having a need to calibrate self against others.

Imagine what our work experiences be like if we had people leaders, who could say “it is great that you are different”; “show us more of your uniqueness so we can all grow from it.”

Imagine we had organizational cultures that embraced the rebel in each one of us, knowing we are deserving and capable; trusting we can be both confident and gentle at the same time.

Elie Weisel, a Nobel Laureate and a holocaust survivor once said:

“We must always take sides as neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

We are a growing community of business and thought leaders taking a side: The human side of business.

Please enjoy a copy of our Q2 Newsletter and if you are interested in making work a human experience, please consider joining us!

The past two weeks have been tough on many of us with two high profile suicide cases. I, personally had a tougher time with one over another. Though I choose to not question one’s decision to conclude their life, I will always question whether I/ we could have done anything to make them feel differently…

We have a certain way with our language. The words we choose to exercise and the meanings we load onto them bring upon power over us. In many occasions and I am not certain always with cognition, we have created and pushed upon each other certain very powerful concepts that are literally eating us alive. I genuinely feel the concepts of ‘success’ and ‘happiness’ are two of the biggest…

Majority of us believe the only way to achieve success and/or to be perceived as ‘successful’ is to reach a certain level of income or status in life and that ‘happiness’ is an end. As a result, we make choices (consciously and unconsciously) accordingly.

We put ourselves into jobs we don’t necessarily care for. We push ourselves to engage with situations that don’t support our way of being or with people whose values we don’t align to… We literally force ourselves to work in ways and inside environments that take the joy out of our pure hearts. Most of us put on a work faces and/or leave a part of our personality, inner lives at home, when we go into office – every day. And by doing so, we literally undermine our need to be whole, to know (at all times) that ‘we’re enough’, as well as to share things that scare us without fear of recriminations.

Because when we try to suppress, we only end up amplifying our emotions and when we choose to disconnect (from self and others), we intoxicate our inner experiences.

In today’s video, Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist, Zen priest and the Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history shares three key findings for what drives healthy, joyful and productive lives for us as human beings:

1. Social connections: The more we are connected, the healthier we are, the happier we feel and we live longer.
2. Quality of our connections: Being in (psychologically) unsafe environments and around lots of conflict is ‘not so good’ for our future states.
3. Secure attachments: Protective and trust based relationships have a positive impact on both our bodies and our brains in the longer turn.

I firmly believe some of the most beautiful questions about our experience at work is yet to be asked and that we need a critical mass to start exercising optimism and start BEing different at work. I believe when we do, some of those conversations, experiences will serve as a catalyst to many of our inner experiences.

Success has nothing to do with our roles inside of a company or the make up of our cars; success is about our ability to live with intention, in line with our deepest values. 

Happiness is not an end, it is a means. It is also not an individual choice, it is an interconnected one. 

If you have a few minutes of reflection this week, please do ask yourself:

• Could it be that we are truly taught all the wrong things about success and happiness?
• Could it be that the way we bring these powerful concepts into our work lives is putting us in a loop hole?
• If we were going to invest in our best selves, where would be put our energy, thoughts, and hearts?