Craffies Coaching

During the past few months I were exploring the science of the brain and the link to our behavior, must say at this point the only thing that I know is how little I actually know of the field of Neuroscience.

However I would like to share the following information that changed my way of thinking and engaging, from the work of David Rock and discussed as my own interpretation. Research has proofed that at all times wê are engaging in one of the following types of thinking:

•Vision (Dreaming and creating new things for the better of the world and ourselves.)

•Process (Developing and optimising processes. The how of achieving. Building quantum relationships.)

•Detail (Thinking and talking about the detail. The rule is not to ponder to long, in this thoughts as one will not get to doing.)

•Problems (Thinking and discussing the things that are not working. Somebody had once said that this type of conversation is like water standing, it is no good and will shortly be invested by all types of insects and viruses, so let the thoughts move like a running river.)

•Drama (Thinking and discussing all those bad things that happened and will still happen and forgetting to open the Present in the moment.)

The research confirms that our thinking needs to be focused on vision and process. So my challenge to you is for the next month, reflect everyday were you were hanging around in your thoughts.

Philippe Croizon, become the first quadruple to swim across the English Channel. All the basic elements to be successful were present; Practice, support team, right resources, planning, a passion and so we can go on. Looking at this inspirational YouTube clip the courage and perseverance of Philippe is phenomenal. Enjoy the 2 min clip.

Gossip is like spreading a bad virus.

 The following words from one of the Veggie Tale songs discribes the impact of gossip and spreading of rumours so well:

It starts as a story. Maybe it’s true, maybe not, but once you repeat it it’s hard to defeat it. Now look at the mess that you’ve got! I’m a rumour weed! I’m a rumour weed! A tiny little story is all I need to make a big mess.

Next time before you start a rumour, remember you are becoming a rumour weed!

The past week I had the privilege to be part of an Emotional intelligence workshop where we explored our own Emotional intelligence and then explored the teams emotional intelligence. As we started to have the crucial conversations on what stood in the way of the team to operate as a High Performance team, the critical stumbling block where Trust.

Personally I believe Trust starts with personal trustworthiness. The next question we can then most probably ask is how can I be trustworthy. Ken Blanchard shared the following ABCD formula to be trustworthy:

Where the A stands for being ABLE, being competent in what we do.

The B represent the ability that other can BELIEVE us, so standing for what we say and also living for what we stand for.

The C represent that we CONNECT with our tribe, our team and our people in a manner where we really care for them. I would say to be a servant leader, to be a source of energy for our people.

Lastly the D stands for being DEPENDABLE.

Looking at the ABCD of trust it sound so easy, so simple, so much commonsense! However is commonsense, common practice in our interaction and our relationships every day?

“A warrior of light always keeps his heart free of any feelings of hatred. When he goes into battle, he remembers what Christ said: ‘Love your enemies.’ And he obeys. But he knows that the act of forgiveness does not mean that he must accept everything; a warrior cannot bow his head, for if he did he would lose sight of the horizon of his dreams. He accepts that his opponents are there to test his valour, his persistence, his ability to make decisions. They force him to fight for his dreams. It is the experience of battle that strengthens the warrior of light.” From Paulo Coelho’s Manual of the Warrior of Light

Steve Job’s  share a few thoughts on: How to live before you die. He share some of his own life experience.

I attended a leadership talk last week by Prof. Rija and these are some of the thoughts and insights I had:

He talked about how to create organisations that evolve, grow and dominate the market..

The key is to unlock the energy of the people in the organisation and the community!

How can leadership unlock this energy?

Herb Keller said the following: “The main role of leadership is to continuously energise the people.”

The question then is: Am I as a leader putting on the lights “energy”, or turning of the lights? Secondly am I energising (influencing) my team/group towards effective results?

The processes must be efficient and sustainable.

How can a company create a competitive advantage?

• Add value
• Product/service must be difficult to imitate or duplicate
• Keep on innovating to stay ahead of competitors.

With a constant changing environment, the company must have the energy (attitude) and ability to continually ensure alignment to be able to execute effectively. The company must have people that is committed, have the talent(Ability) and Attitude(energy) to execute.

To be able to create this there must be a legal contract of employment but also a contract of accountability that can only happen if there is employee engagement/belonging.

Key to sustainability is the company’s ability to be responsive to change. The agility to change (ability to anticipate change, to respond to change, to be able to change) is determined by the learning culture of the organisation. The  quicker the learning curve the bigger the change of the organisation moving from change, to survival, to success, to sustainable results, to significance in the market space. It is also important for the company to create a learning environment for individuals to learn / experience.

The individuals in a group or team will form the group intelligence.

Each member of the group is a leader as such.

To conclude the Leader and the learner make the difference. Leadership must be intentional and not accidental at all times.

A study done by Dr. Micheal Cavanagh revealed the following behaviour between Low performing and high performing teams:

What is the language that is that is being used in your team? Remember the conversations of today create the stories of tomorrow!

So make sure that the conversations in your team are creating a legacy that you and your team can be proud of !!!

Most probably 90% of all problems can be traced back to trust. The oxford dictionary describe trust as follow:

• noun 1 firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. 2 acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation. 3 the state of being responsible for someone or something.

Personally I do believe trust is like the old story of what comes first the egg or the chicken, meaning that trust starts with own trustworthiness.

Know what must I do to be trustworthy, I do believe firstly one must be consistent, secondly one must be dependable and lastly competent.

Consistent: There must be congruence between one’s personality and personality, so what people see everyday will be authentic to how we feel inside our bodies. That will lead to us to be consistent in our behavior.

Dependable: What we say and what we do is the same thing. We would rather say no, than yes, and never do it. This also reflects a part of really caring for people and also respecting other.

The above talks for me to character, I do believe in abundance, I want to serve other, I want to contribute to other with my gifts. I can offer something unique to the world.

Competence: I can not do something, if I do not have the skill, ability or the resources.