Let your body show you the way

Ellen Meredith is an energy healer, conscious channel, and medical intuitive who have helped over ten thousand clients and students worldwide. Ellen helps her clients engage with the body’s energies to activate healing. Ellen feels we are being forced by our own inner nature and the awakening happening all over the planet and the conflicts were running into. There are a lot of changes and people are shifting in what they want to do and how they want to do it. We are being forced to go inward and reevaluate and ask ‘What’s my part? What do I want to choose moment by moment? What do I want to do with this life?’ Beyond that there is a rising yearning to know ourselves in a deeper way. It's a very exciting awakening or time of change but it also means letting go of a lot of habits and ways of thinking and being social that don't work anymore.

Energy medicine uses energy to heal. We are all made of and fueled by energy and, under the surface of our awareness our body, mind and spirit are constantly communicating using energy. This communication is a language literally something we can learn to participate in and speak. It influences our health and wellbeing and what happens around us to a certain extent by learning to speak the lingo. Ellen’s latest book is about activating the inner guidance system that's built into the body mind and spirit and accessing inner knowing learning how to navigate change using energy tools. The body communicates using chemistry and energy and your energy influences your chemistry but your chemistry doesn't necessarily influence your energy. It’s an emerging field but one that's been around 1000s of years in the guise of acupuncture, yoga or tai chi. There are lots of different practices and traditions that have used the energy communications of the body.

Everyone will say I don't have any energy today. It’s a rare person who says there is no such thing as energy. What’s really going on is a blowback. We’ve been in a long period of outside in thinking where we look outside ourselves for authority. We want science to tell us the truth, we want religion to tell us the truth, we want external forces to validate our truth. We live in a culture that says our objective reality is more real than our subjective reality. That's out of balance. What’s shifting now is the rising awareness that there is a role to be played by inner knowing and inner awareness and the choices that come from within us or from our own experience rather than from statistics about what’s a good life, how you should live or what’s healthy. Something that's healthy for me might not be healthy for you.

All of us have been socialised to think that the outside in reality is more true, more accurate, more correct than something that arises from our own experiences and knowing. We are out of balance and need to activate our ability to access out own inner wisdom because right now we are in an age where technology are enabled us to her everyone’s opinion. We are bombarded by group things such as social media so if we don't have access to our inner wisdom, our inner knowing and our inner truth moment by moment, then we are at the mercy of charismatic but not very balanced people. There is a big move on the planet of authoritarian government and people wanting to turn to authorities who will tell them what the right thing is but there is also a counter move to say no, we need people power, we need to wake up and jointly make these choices and decisions for our own mutual benefit.

Energy medicine has lots of tools for shifting the dynamic of energy that makes us up. It's a very healing thing. Our culture helps us believe that if we have a headache we can get rid of it with a pill but we have trouble in believing that doing something like a yoga pose will also get rid of the same headache. It has to do with our culture and how we are raised. Energy medicine has lots of activities and tools that influence the energetic exchanges of the body and between the mind, body and spirit. We can learn what’s needed, by letting the body show us what’s needed.

Symptoms are your body speaking to you and telling you that it needs something. We all have to learn how the body communicates and how to respond appropriately but we are pretty clueless about that. If we are tired we think we’d better have a stimulant such as coffee but adding coffee to fatigue doesn't address why – are you fatigued because you’re not loving what you’re doing, because you’re doing too much, because you’ve used up your available energy or because you’re really bored? We have to be able to understand these communications so we can find out what we need and make adjustments to live a healthier more receptive life.

Ellen comes from a background of creative writing and feels we don't always need something that's always calming. Sometimes we need to create something big and bold that runs the whole gamut of possibilities. It isn’t always about applying the same technique when you feel bad, it’s about attuning to what your body, mind and spirit is asking and making different choices moment by moment. We make micro choices all day long. Do I pick up my phone or look out the window? Do I grab something quick to eat or consider what my body really needs at this moment? We need to be awake and aware to get more precise about what we need and listen to the things our body is asking for throughout the day to make us more effective, efficient and passionate in each thing we do.

 You can find out more about Ellen at  http://www.ellenmeredith.com.  

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Ellen’s books are Your Body Will Show You the Way and The Language Your Body Speaks. 

Training and development – just as important for older workers

With the UK government making plans to try to attract the over 50’s back to the workplace, it’s essential that businesses are ready to give older workers more training and development opportunities.

The UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently stated there are currently 6.6 million “economically inactive” people in the UK, with one million of those aged between 50 and 64. Whilst getting some of these people back into the workforce may well help reduce the current number of vacancies, a large number of the over 50’s already in the workforce are suffering a form of ageism through a lack of training and development opportunities.

Ceridian’s 2023 Pulse of Talent survey shows that as a worker’s age increases, their chances for workplace learning and development opportunities decreases with 31% of respondents aged 45 – 54 and 54% of those aged 65+ saying they hadn’t received any such opportunities over the last year.

Although employers often assume it’s more important to invest financially in training younger staff, on average older workers stay in their jobs longer which provides an extended period for employers to see a return on the initial cost of training. Additionally, many older workers require training that builds on their existing skill set and this can considerably improve the productivity of experienced staff. There is also the loss of a vast amount of information, both technical and organsiational, that older workers possess so it's a huge missed opportunity if their knowledge and experience isn’t passed on.

There are significant returns for companies that invest in growth opportunities for older employees. These can include greater productivity, higher engagement, and less customer turnover through the stronger business relationships older workers often build. The key to achieving this is to have an inclusive approach that makes the most of training resources and having employees of all ages participating fully in the appraisal programme.

No matter what their age, all employees require learning and development opportunities throughout their working life. As the population’s median age increases so too will the average working life. Its therefore essential that older workers are supported and encouraged to stay in the workforce for their personal growth and for the organisation's success.
 

Healing from sexual abuse

Cindy Benezra is an author, inspirational speaker, entrepreneur, and sexual abuse advocate. She co-founded and runs a luxury event company with her daughter and she spends much of her time creating beautiful spaces for some of the most important events in people’s lives. Currently, she and her husband live in Seattle, Washington and are the parents of four adult children with their youngest son having special needs.

Cindy is also the founder of CindyTalksTM, a platform where she discusses healing tools and stories of hope for other trauma survivors.  She grew up in a family in middle America but her Father was a pedophile and her memoir, Under The Orange Blossoms is about her experiences growing up and the long process of healing she has gone through to help her deal with the sexual, physical and mental abuse she suffered.

Cindy thinks pedophilia is still a very taboo subject and one that people are very resistant to talking about but she wants to find a platform to have discussions about sexual abuse predators. Cindy feels comfortable talking about what happened to her now because she doesn't define herself by the abuse and has had a lot of therapy.   She doesn’t want to be seen as a victim and there is nothing holding her in that place anymore.  She has no grief or shame about it and feels free of any words, feeling or emotions around it.

It wasn’t until she was writing her book that Cindy found out that her father was also abusing her sister and other neighbourhood children. She didn't find this out until she was an adult as she travelled a lot and didn’t return to the US until she was 18. When she met up with some of her old friends they shared with her that her gather had abused them and how it had destroyed their lives, marriages and sexuality. She had thought she was the only one who had gone through it but to listen to other people and how it had destroyed them left her with incredible guilt. Didn't know what to do but could just hold space for them. She had empathy and understood but it was hard not to feel responsible for them.

Cindy’s mother was a very loving and affectionate person but Cindy recognises that she had faults and that she rationalised a lot things that she saw in the household. The abuse started when she was five years old but when she was ten Cindy confronted her mother.  She was taken to a woman’s shelter where she was examined where it was found that her hymen was intact and she didn't have any broken bones so, although she had bruises on her body, it was her fathers word against hers and she was put back with the family. Her mother was terrified of living and working on her own and her father used this to control Cindy - if you share this it’ll shame your mother, everyone will know and she’ll lose her home. In the 1970’s social standing was very big on how you appeared in society, what you looked like, what you did for work and how you dressed. 

Cindy went through a lot of different therapy. At the beginning she went to a family therapist then sexual abuse and trauma specialists.  Therapy evolved and she found there was a specialty for everything as she developed from a young adult to a mother. She also dabbled in alternative therapies and found some of them very helpful but she feels that the culmination of everything was healing from reading and listening to other people, the willingness to heal and the degree you to which you want to do it. It’s a matter of choice and how much you want to dig in to your past and what happened. It’s not fun digging in the past and dredging up old things.

Cindy did it in the hope that she would find other people, probably people that she would never meet but that if she could give hope and let them know that you can have an amazing life, be a professional, have a healthy relationship, can choose how you want to be and show up in this world. To Cindy it was such a long journey that she thought it was a shame not to share with someone else that there are choices, we can  all can heal and that it’s up to each individual wants to go how far they want to go. There is no right or wrong in the process.

Some people define the victim status and choose to self-identify but in a victim who has gone through this experience, a willingness to heal is an essential part of the acceptance phase. It’s also part of growing up, the evolution of just being human and going through it. There was a pivotal point when she was ten years old and she felt so stuck and so trapped. She would talk with her mother and sister and fantisise about how it would be if her father didn't exist and if he was here what we could do to get rid of him. She watched an episode of a murder series where someone poisoned her significant other with arsenic and Cindy remembered thinking that's it. I’m going to get rid of him. She thought of different ways she could do this but going through the thought process she realised she was scared just like her father.

Cindy was stuck in fear and behaving just like him and wanted to hurt someone all the time as he did.  It was a true aha moment and she saw that she had become her father and become the monster. She didn't recognise who she was and started thinking about how could she do or be the opposite of what he was. It was an early stage of how she did not want to become like him and clearly shows the dilemma of children brought up with a strong sense of values but how with an abusive father the values serve to control.

You can find out more about Cindy at https://www.cindytalks.com

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

What Web3 Can Bring to the Digital Workplace by Bash Sarmiento

Workplace digitisation is one of the most significant and far-reaching changes that technology has brought to the business world. 

 The digital workplace, which is made up of a range of tools and technologies to help people collaborate and communicate with each other effectively and efficiently, is becoming the norm in organisations across all industries. And Web3, the decentralised internet, promises to take this revolution even further by bringing advanced cryptography-based technologies to the workplace.

The Web3

While Web 1.0 focused on providing static content and Web 2.0 centered on social networking and interactivity, Web3 is poised as an alternative version of the internet that prioritises privacy and security of data.

It is powered by blockchain technology, the same technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, referring to the distributed ledger technology that records and stores digital data in an immutable and secure manner.  

Web3 is designed to give users full control over their online identity and data and the ability to interact directly with content creators and services without the need for intermediaries. Additionally, it introduced new protocols that enable faster data transfer speeds, improved scalability, better privacy controls, and more efficient communication networks— features that are set to revolutionise the digital workplace.

Potential application of Web3 in the workplace

Web3 has several functionalities that make it an ideal technology for businesses looking to further optimise their digital workplaces. 

Here are some of the potential applications of Web3: 

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are digital agreements stored on the blockchain and executed automatically once certain conditions are met. Organisations can use this feature of Web3 to automate contract-based processes such as onboarding new employees, paying vendors, and releasing payments for services. It streamlines tedious paperwork and legal processes and reduces the risk of errors or fraud.

Decentralised Applications (DApps)

Another advantage of Web3 is creating and deploying decentralised applications (DApps). These applications run on a distributed network of computers instead of a single server, making them more secure and resilient than traditional software. With this, businesses can utilise DApps to create custom applications tailored to their specific workplaces, such as task management and workflow solutions.

Identity Management Solutions

Since workplaces are no longer limited to physical spaces, identity management has become a critical issue in employee access control. Web3-based identity management solutions allow organisations to create and store digital identities on the blockchain that they can use for authentication and authorisation purposes. This ensures that only authorised personnel have access to sensitive information to reduce the risk of unauthorised data breaches.

Tokenisation

Tokenisation is creating digital tokens used as a form of payment or exchange. This Web3-based solution permits companies to develop their own digital tokens that they can use for a variety of purposes, such as incentivising employees or customers, managing loyalty programs, and paying vendors. Furthermore, tokenisation reduces transaction costs and increases efficiency by simplifying the transfer value between parties.

Decentralised Storage Solutions

Compared to cloud-based storage solutions, Web3-based decentralised storage solutions offer enhanced security and privacy. Businesses can encrypt data and store it in multiple computers across the globe, eliminating the possibility of hackers gaining access to sensitive information and reducing the risk of data loss, corruption, or other cybersecurity threats. This Web3 feature is an excellent asset for businesses with large amounts of sensitive data and those that need to comply with data protection regulations.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Lastly, with Web3, businesses can use artificial intelligence (AI) to automate mundane tasks such as data entry or accounting and free up workers’ time for more creative or complex activities. Additionally, AI can aid businesses in workplace mentoring and training through virtual reality systems and improve customer service with AI chatbots and personal assistants.

Conclusion

The potential of Web3 in the digital workplace is vast. The technology offers significant improvements in critical areas in the workplace, like data security, communication, collaboration, and automation. 

By leveraging the features of Web3, businesses can create secure digital workplaces that are more efficient, productive, and cost-effective. And as this technology continues to evolve, we will likely see more applications arise that make the workplace even more connected and responsive.

Organisations that invest in Web3 now can get a head start on their competitors and reap the benefits of this new technology sooner rather than later. With its immense potential, investing in Web3 is an opportunity no business should miss.

Guest Author

Bash Sarmiento is a writer and an educator from Manila. He writes laconic pieces in the education, lifestyle and health realms. His academic background and extensive experience in teaching, textbook evaluation, business management and traveling are translated in his works.

Reinventing your brand.

Rocky Buckley is an entrepreneur and a hybrid coach and consultant who primarily works with solopreneurs – experts, thought leaders, authors, speakers, coaches or consultants as well as people who are successful corporate executives or service providers looking to reinvent themselves into that space. Rocky helps them with their business models, personal brand and how they package themselves as a soloprenerurs and experts.

Rocky had another business for over twenty years where he was primarily working with very large publishing companies and their authors in a consulting role by helping to take ideas and intellectual property and packaging it into different products. He worked with the biggest publishing companies, produced over 3,000 projects and built a successful business but wasn't happy or fulfilled. He has always had a desire to help people, particularly those who were stuck, people who had very high potential, who always thought they could have been someone, had big dreams and ambitions but also had the talent to do it. It was a crossroads moment for him and he decided to reinvent himself and his business. He figured out that strategically the people he could help the most were entrepreneurial, aspirational people who had talent, personality, and leadership ability but were trapped in their business model. He wanted to teach them how to unlock that model and change their life and business.

The context Rocky uses for a solopreneur is as part of the social media age where they must be online and must have a personal brand. There is a celebrity element to it now. He was a solopreneur for many years and nobody knew who he was because he worked behind the scenes and did not have a public presence at all. When you put yourself out there today, the way you promote yourself, the way you get your message out and market your business is through online means. You need to figure out how to communicate what you do to the right audience, to message it properly, be able to engage people and show a different side of your personality. We are all living in a social age where having a public persona is no longer a choice. We are all forced into it and the question is how do we maximise ourselves and put that best version of ourselves out there.

The market is very crowded now especially after Covid when a lot of people realised that what they were doing offline could be taken away from them very quickly. A lot of people pivoted and now there are so many more people coming online and there is still a lot of the world not even online yet. If you look at a phone where you can only have so much information on a feed, the structure makes it highly competitive. We can only look at so many things in a day or have so many messages coming to us. The more people there are on the feed it becomes more difficult to stand out.  Rocky’s aim is to help people figure out how to be the best version of themselves so they do stand out. In a period of rapid change that is only getting faster, the business models and strategies that are successful now might be obsolete in six months. Having to change and reinvent yourself is a skill and knowing how to do that and do it well over and over again is really a core skill of the 21st century.

Many of the people Rocky works with already have their own business but they sometimes get stuck. Typically, the people who start businesses have had a job that they become very good at and then decide to go out on their own as their own boss. They have the idea that they want to be their own boss, to work and build something for themselves that will create more free time and a better life. Often though if they are good are what they do and become successful they are swamped with work, busy all the time and stuck in the day-to-day of their business. They can’t work on their business because they’re working in their business.

People get out of this by making structural shifts in their business, and choosing a different market that is more lucrative. Things such as changing the way you deliver your product or service so instead of working one on one or change to a group setting or a digital product that gives you more leverage or going wider to use promotion and marketing to get your message out further than you did before. Most people starting out are dependent on referrals so you’re looking for the business to come to you. Breaking out of that and using the leverage of marketing allows the business to grow.

Differentiating yourself in a packed marketplace is a systematic and strategic process. People understand they need to get out there and create content but then find it doesn’t get a lot of engagement so they get frustrated. The mathematical aspect is that you have to put out a lot more content than you think but there is also the question of what makes a piece of content or persona engaging. It requires an in-depth, inward looking process to figure out what it is about me that makes me different. What is that sense of purpose I have that makes me more animated and bring s out my charisma? What are other people in the market saying or doing? How do they sound and what assumptions are they making about the people they are talking to and how can I cut against that?

You need to become strategic about the strengths you have and the things that other people tell you you’re really good at. What are the things you’re interested in that would make you more colourful, interesting and fascinating to people? It requires a step-by-step strategic process to develop and create that best version of yourself. It’s a creative process and most people never think or do anything about it and that is the critical step for everyone.

Entrepreneurs need resilience and one key element in building this is to tap into your sense of purpose which is what drives you and creates resilience. When you emotionally tap into the thing that drives you and you stay connected to it, it will drive you forward and also animate the way you appear as the natural passion, enthusiasm and desire to help people is what draws other people to you. Staying tapped into purpose from a resilience and personal charisma standpoint is the essential centre of this world. If you drift from purpose its really hard to succeed.

Once you tap into purpose and start to understand it a deeper level it becomes a life, business and personal vision with identity and belief shifts that stream from purpose. If you remove purpose from life you’re looking at a very grey world with no joy or change.

You can find out more about Rocky at rockybuckley.com

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Gen Z. Do they have the skills to thrive in the workplace?

Ever since Gen Z entered the workforce, concerns have been raised as to whether this online generation possesses the soft skills necessary to thrive in the workplace. The underdevelopment of these skills is blamed on an overuse of technology and time spent online but research has shown that large numbers of Gen Z realise that these skills are missing and are keen to take on the training and development needed to enhance their career prospects.

With few in-person opportunities to observe how the workplace ‘works’ or to experience formal and informal in-person interactions during the pandemic, its little wonder that Gen Z are behind on the skills needed to thrive in the workplace. They have learned to work independently with little collaboration or interaction and, without regular practice, we all lose the ability to communicate  – to make a point clearly and confidently, contribute effectively in meetings, take part in discussions calmly and rationally and to be confident talking with peers.

Gen Z priorities have been shaped by vastly different experiences and upbringing. Their values and attitudes demonstrate that authenticity, empathy, inclusiveness, and flexibility are important to them but they also hold learning opportunities among their top priorities. This of course creates an opportunity for organisations to attract, cultivate, attract, and retain this new talent.

The World Economic Forum expects that by 2025 Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce so it makes sense that organisations are seen as an attractive proposition to this new generation. Gen Z-ers are looking for companies that will support them through a continuous learning process that will help them reach their goals. Whether that’s through formal training, coaching or mentoring, Gen Z want to ensure their employer gives them the best chance of a stable, long-term career.

Messages from Angels

Lorna Byrne was born in the 1950’s in Ireland and was growing up, like many at the time, in a monetarily poor family. Despite being severely dyslexic with the help of speech recognition software and assistance with proofreading and editing, she has written seven highly successful books, with the first Angels in my Hair becoming an international bestseller.

Angels have been in her life from the moment she was born. She didn't realise they were angels but she remembers reaching up to try and touch them when she was in her cot. Later, when she was with her brother playing with blocks in front of a fire their hands touched and at that moment angels circled them telling her that she must keep them a secret. She was very young at the time but the angels told her that her brother had died before she was born and was a soul. Lorna thinks keeping it a secret was one of the things that the angels were doing to protect her. 

From a very early age, the angels told Lorna that she would write a book about them. She used to laugh when they said it, telling them it was unlikely because she had dyslexia and could not read or write. Because of her dyslexia she was put in the bottom class at school and never finished primary school education after doctors told her parents she was retarded

Some people see angels as a metaphor for goodness, kindness wisdom and knowledge but Lorna talks about actual entities and sees angels physically with clarity. When she was a child she didn't know they were angels and it wasn't until they told her that her little brother was a soul that she started to understand. Even then she still thought her parents could see them but the angels kept reminding her to say nothing. Lorna sees angels as a beautiful light and sees them tumble down from the heavens and stop before they land.  She can’t really describe them further but says they give a human appearance in the light but that they can be very faint. Sometimes they tell her their names but because they are always around people and give the impression they want to help even with trivial things, she gave them a name of the unemployed angels.

Lorna doesn’t know why she can see angels. She thinks perhaps it is because she was considered retarded. No one talked to her and she was very silent and quiet so the angels became her teachers. They also made predications about her life. They told her when it was time to write a book but at the time she was busy being a mother. When she was about 10 years old, an angel showed her the man she would marry and told her that he would die young so in some ways Lorna feels her life is predetermined and that she has no free will like everyone else but she realises that to do that the world has to play its part so she can play hers.

Lorna feels that it’s to do with spiritual growth, connecting the soul with the human person. She feels everyone has a soul and that it is waiting to intertwine - the soul exists and the human attaches to the soul so when someone dies, the soul continues with all knowledge of that human person. The soul is the life force. The human body gets weaker but the soul never weakens. She also thinks that everyone has a guardian angel that never leaves them while other angels or the soul of a loved one can come or go. The guardian angel tries to help and give guidance to make life a little easier. Connecting into that is really important.

For many people their resilience comes from their ability to believe and having a path laid out for them. Lorna feels her angels have helped her to push ahead and given her the courage and resilience she has needed to overcome the obstacles in her life. This has taken her to incredible places and extraordinary experiences and people and shows that being limited in some ways in terms of skills doesn't mean you don't have the capability to achieve great things. When her first book came out a number of young people who had learning difficulties approached Lorna and told her she had helped give them the courage and resilience to achieve what they wanted to achieve.  

Lorna doesn’t know how she has achieved what she has and has needed courage because she has been ridiculed by any people but she says she loves them anyway because the love she has for mankind and for nature overcomes all of the negatives. This represents the idea that if you are secure in yourself it doesn't matter what other people think about you. It doesn't matter what the source of the security is, whether it's a rational, cognitive thing or a faith, belief or spiritual, the idea of being a strong version of yourself is important.

Lorna set up a children’s foundation in 2015 that supports the work of charities around the world in helping children who are suffering from poverty, illness, grief or war and has also helped to set up a online sanctuary for people from around the world, of all backgrounds and beliefs to come together.

Over the years Lorna has met with a lot of scepticism but many other people have visited or contacted Lorna, seeking healing or wisdom through God and the angels. She feels the scepticism doesn't matter because she just wants to help to change people’s lives.

You can find out more about Lorna at lornabyrne.com

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Women’s health – a priority for employers.

During 2022 there were over fifteen and a half million women in the UK workforce and, in areas such as health and social care and retail, female workers dominated. However, for many years there has been little awareness of the issues that can impact on women’s health.

Women can have complex and varying health concerns throughout their life including, fertility, miscarriage, pregnancy and menopause as well as endometriosis, breast or cervical cancer, post-natal depression and peri-menopausal anxiety. Despite the large number of women in the workforce however there is often a stigma around these issues with some women feeling so embarrassed or ill equipped to discuss things with their manager that they avoid the conversation all together!

Since the pandemic partnerships and parenting have become more equitable than ever before but the challenge of balancing work and home life still remains. Women often end up compromising on the quality of their personal and professional lives but in a competitive employment market expectations around health and wellbeing are growing. Now, if an employer is to build a truly diverse and inclusive workplace they need to support female health and wellbeing by being proactive in providing flexibility and choices that allow women to remain in or return to the workplace. Organisations that overlook these factors may well suffer from reduced productivity, engagement and retention levels as well as increases in absence or even skill gaps.

As we move further into 2023, it’s the perfect time to focus on making women’s health and wellbeing needs a greater priority for employers. Organisations that can demonstrate they are addressing the challenges women face by offering a more inclusive working environment, support, guidance and access to benefits and services, will retain their female staff and help them reach their full potential but also attract the best new female candidates.

Empowering Change. Lessons I Learned from the Tortoise.

Donna P. Dahl is a master empowerment coach who works with individuals looking to take a step forward into the realm of confidence and enthusiasm. She is also a professional book development coach and feels stepping in to the foray of building a manuscript is a very special and intimate process that deserves all the care that can be brought to it.

It had never occurred to Donna to write a book herself but ten years after a car accident she was invited to write an article for a magazine. She didn't think she was qualified or an appropriate choice or that what she had to say would really matter but she started working on it. Writing and putting words together on paper had become a very difficult exercise post accident and it took three weeks to write a thousand words. When she finished it, she hesitated about sending it but her husband finally said ‘just send it’. She did and five minutes later the publisher sent a message back saying it was perfect.

Donna wasn’t sure she wanted to do it again as the bench mark had been set really high and she didn’t want to set herself up for failure. She wasn’t very confident in her ability to do something twice let alone three times but when the article came out she was challenged to make it into a book. She wasn't certain but she kept being prodded until finally she decided to see if she could do it. The first draft was fifty-three pages and she decided she could work to make it into a book and fourteen months after the article was published she launched a book and that book launched a coaching enterprise and that's what she’s been doing for seventeen years.

Sometimes something as unfortunate as an accident can provide choices and opportunities although it doesn’t feel like that at like that at the time. Donna went through a long grieving process for the things in her mind that she thought were lost - her former career and the social environment at work. She was in a situation where she was alone and needed to find a way to support her belief in herself and that she could heal. When people around you cant see there is anything different, its difficult for them to understand that what’s going on inside is different.

Donna had lost functionality in her right arm and hand in the accident and had difficulty with walking, with short-term memory and being able to engage in conversations. She could tell you that had something for breakfast that was round, that you could peel and came out in sections but someone the word orange wasn’t in her memory. In situations like this people can see how you deal with a lack of right arm functionality but when you have a mind or brain impairment people cant see it so its very hard to deal with. It's a challenge for people to be able to articulate and get treated for this type of situation.

As soon as we attach the word mental to something people seem to want to go into denial.  Because we can’t see, feel, smell or touch it, its vague but Donna feels that neural science is making tremendous advances and that we can do things in our work environment as teams, as leaders or as freelancers or entrepreneurs that we can do for ourselves in order to maintain our wellness of mind.

Many people feel they have a book in them but never start it. Donna feels it’s important to start with the ‘why’. Why would I write this book? Would I be writing it as a legacy for future generations of my family? Am I writing it to help support the realm of wisdom in the particular area I’m excited about? Would this be a children’s story that has value in the lessons that it beings or opportunities for discussion? Whether its sharing recipes you made with grandma, bedtime stories you told your children or something in the area of thought leadership, are you building something that has some sort of remarkability about it? Something that engages and invites people to the conversation. It doesn't really matter what the topic is, it's the why that will drive and motivate you to commit to the task and get it done.

There is more resilience required in writing than anything else because it brings together being judged and critiqued about what you've written very personally. Even if it's a non-fiction book that critique is about something you generated yourself. It’s very hard to separate ourselves from the words we’ve written and the content we’ve delivered. If you remember a time in your life at university for instance where your examination was being graded, there were times when you felt as though the evaluation that appeared on your report card exhilarated and empowered you to do even better next time but there were other times when you felt diminished, disheartened and that quitting would have been the best choice.

Donna cautions people if they are looking for critiquing to choose their critique wisely because there is no one size fits all. Donna prides herself on her ability to bring out the best in the people she works with who are becoming authors so that at the end of the exercise they can take a deep breathe and say yes! Whether it moves towards the stage of being published or not is their personal choice. What she is dealing with is fulfilling the goal to complete the manuscript.

Donna’s book ‘Lessons I learned from the tortoise’ contains twenty-two lessons that Aesop didn't write about.  One of the stories is about multitasking and how if you’re moving from one thing to another you are simply moving from one level of distraction to another so at the end of the day you feel you have accomplished nothing. Sometimes it can feel as if we are being drawn in different directions but we need to just focus on one thing, get that done and then move on the next. When it comes to having a multiplicity of choices in front of you try to think of them as individual purchases you are going to make.  How would you prioritise the purchase list? Which one would come first? Part of the problem is that we are governed by other people mistakes and we need the discipline to do deep work.

There is another aspect that is important. Research tells us that when we continually shift our focus from one thing to another we are encouraging our brains to not be able to sustain attention to a task and that is critical in teams of workplace wellbeing if we expect our team members to sustain attention to a task for fifteen minutes of each hour. This the beginning of how we develop things like neuroplasticity not just doing different things but doing them to a high level and not just skimming over the surface.

 You can find out more about Donna here.

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

The growing importance of ESG in recruitment and retention

Companies may risk losing talent if they don't take account of the greater ethical awareness of younger jobseekers and employees, with the majority willing to sacrifice earnings for their value.

Over the past few years we’ve seen businesses move their priorities to embrace environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Whilst it may not seem like the most exciting element of a remuneration package, increasingly job seekers are highlighting that its effective implementation is one of the reasons that leads them to initially accept a position and then stay with an organisation.

The influence of millenials and their commitment to social contracts is already being felt across business. Research by Robert Half shows that 38% of employees would look for a new role if they thought their organisation was not doing enough on ESG issues, and this rises to 47% of 18-34-year-olds. 53% said they would never work for an employer they thought was unethical, regardless of the salary on offer and this increases to 59% among the younger group.

When it comes to attracting new talent, it’s no longer as easy as offering the most competitive remuneration package. 22% of the 18-34-year-old group listed corporate values as their leading concern when choosing a new role, with 50% saying they research potential employer’s corporate values before making an application.

In a tight recruitment market a clear ESG strategy is becoming a vital tool for differentiation. If it came down to two employers offering the same salary, 69% of the 18-34 group said they would review the companies’ corporate values before making their decision.

Young professionals are looking to make a positive impact, in the workplace through the work they do and the choices they make. To attract the best and brightest talent, it’s vital to remember that todays and tomorrow’s job seekers aren’t just considering salaries and benefits. ESG has become a critical part of recruitment and retention especially among younger employees who want to work for an organisation that has a clear, demonstrable ESG plan in place with tangible, measurable actions.

Preparing the mind for difficult situations

Lt Col Brian L. Slade started as an enlisted man in the US Army as a diesel mechanic. After he got his commission as an officer he then stated flying Apache helicopters. Shortly after a very long and arduous deployment he decided to transition into the Air Force in an attempt to save his marriage.

His first deployment was for twenty-three months and he had only been married for five months prior to that so for the first two and a half years of the marriage they were separated for two. The problem is often not the separation but when you come back together again and military personnel who are dealing with potential trauma in a very strong comrade type team often find it very difficult to go back to a routine husband, wife and children environment.

Brian’s ex-wife had also had a mental disorder borderline personality disorder so the relationship was really tumultuous. In some ways it was more traumatic than some of the things he was being asked to do in the military because he wasn't as prepared for the dynamics. The military prepares you for certain dynamics that you are going to experience. You are used to a certain regimentation and interaction that didn't work with the relationship.

Brian’s book is about trauma and the reason he wrote it was because when he was deployed as an Apache pilot there were crazy, traumatic, intense experiences that he was exposed to. He started asking why would he experience post-traumatic growth rather than the post-traumatic stress we always hear about. He looked at his peers and although they had the same stimulus they had different results. Brian felt he had grown from his experiences and that they increased his resilience and his ability to see things as opportunities rather than obstacles that would drag him down. Other guys on the alternative end of the spectrum were thinking about taking their own lives - that's a very big spectrum for the same stimulus

Brian’s book outlines seven principles. Things like growing a healthy perspective, how do you do that when you experience things that pull you into a myopic perspective but need to maintain that macro perspective?  How do you build a healthy support system and what does that look like. What are we talking about when we say we need to release hate? That's a big one that we don't really talk about. There are a couple of meanings to it. When you are at war, when you have to kill someone it makes it easier to de-humanise them and make them into something they aren’t. Harboring a hate for them is a coping mechanism but it’s not a healthy one.

As well as releasing the hate for the enemy you have to release the hate for yourself. As we start doing the things that the ugliness of war calls for we start painting ourselves as ugly to, that that's part of who we are. You need to remember that just because you’re there doing things other people wouldn't do it doesn’t make you an ugly person - it makes you a proxy for the people who aren’t suited to doing it or cant do it.

This is similar to a disassociation technique and it plays back to one of the other principals of defining and embracing your honorable mission. Brian’s honorable mission wasn't really to get Osama bin Laden, that was what got him on the plane but realised his honorable mission was to make sure that as many of his brothers and sisters in arms made it back. You are going to do ugly things at times to make sure that your honorable mission is accomplished,

How do we avoid festering, emotional wounds? If you're a banker and go to work and you have a transaction or something happens that's interesting you go home and talk about it. It’s so much harder to do when your job is blowing up twelve people but the fact still remains that your honorable mission is to make sure the ground guys make it home safely. It’s harder to talk about it but that’s how you avoid the festering emotional wound. You just talk about it in a matter of fact way.

Building resilience is never ending. With an honorable mission there’s a beginning and end. There are moments of high adrenaline and then lots of time doing mundane things. The mission allows you to compartmentalise things. There is the focal point that we are looking at and around that are lots of ugly things but when we pull the trigger we have just completed our honorable mission. We know there is lots of auxiliary stuff in there but that stays there because you’re in the ugliness because of your honorable mission. You don't have to take that home with you. Part of that is sharing it. You share it as matter of factly as you possibly can. You use humor because it makes it easier to share. Brian realised humor was his stepping-stone to talking about it seriously. In a way it’s doing the same thing with hate – you’re coping but it’s a positive emotion for coping not a negative one. It's a lily pad to being able to talk about it.

Brian also uses chair flying which is an aviation technique. He added the meditation and role playing pieces to the visualisation aspect. A lot of people will struggle with anxiety if they are visulising a very stressful event so you control the environment through meditation and create a safe space where you plant the things you want to grow and get strong. Breathing exercises help to get in the right headspace and then start to visulise an emergency procedure.

One exercise has a co-pilot and engine getting shot out. In a matter of seconds you need to react to the rotors going down. The co- pilot is screaming in the background and you automatically think that's the first thing to deal with but in fact its number three on the list. The rotor is most important. The flight controls are jammed so that’s the second action then the co-pilot but it all needs to happen in one or two seconds. You don’t get through that by thinking about it. In the leadership world they practice so they get it right, in the military they practice so they don't get it wrong. Things do go wrong but the risk reduction is there. The noisy drama is not always the first thing to do!

You can find out more about Brian at https://www.clearedhot.info/ or find his book Cleared Hot.

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Managing Financial Stress with 8 Budgeting and Self-Care Tips by Katie Pierce

When it comes to money, everyone can have varying goals, needs, and priorities. But one thing everyone can all agree on is that managing your finances can be one of the most stressful things you can do, especially if you’re not sure what to do or how to get out of debt, save money or make more.

There are a lot of things that can contribute to financial stress, but there are also just as many things you can do in order to manage it and make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.

How do you deal with financial stress?

Financial stress is a natural part of life, but it can be managed with the right mindset and practices. With enough patience and discipline, you can develop strategies for managing your finances that will help you achieve the financial stability you want. Here are some tips to help you manage your finances and reduce stress:

Set financial goals.

Setting financial goals is a great way to manage your finances and reduce stress. Having goals can help you focus on what’s important, which can make it easier to make decisions about spending, saving, and investing. It also gives you something specific to work toward, which in turn can improve your self-esteem and sense of security.

As you set your goals, be sure to make them specific and measurable. This will help you track your progress toward achieving them and make it easier to determine if you’re on the right track or if you need to make adjustments along the way.

Improve your financial literacy.

Financial literacy is the ability to use financial knowledge and skills to make sound decisions about the money. It’s a vital skill that can help you manage your money and make the most of your financial resources. The more you know about money, the better equipped you’ll be to manage and take control of your finances.

A little education can go a long way towards an overall better financial literacy since it will help you learn to recognize opportunities for saving and investing, avoid costly mistakes with credit cards or loans, and plan for major purchases like buying a home.

Automate your savings and investments.

David Bach, author of “The Automatic Millionaire,” recommends automating your savings and investments so that you don’t have to think about them. He says that this approach can help you build wealth faster and more effectively than if you rely on willpower alone for investing and budgeting.

By setting up automatic contributions from your paycheck into retirement accounts, for example, you won’t be tempted to spend the money before it goes into your account. This approach is especially helpful if you have a hard time sticking to your budget or saving money. It will also help you avoid making rash investment decisions that could cost you in the long run.

Get a financial advisor.

A financial advisor can help you create a plan for your money that’s tailored to your personal goals and unique situation. They can also provide unbiased advice on the best way to achieve those goals, whether it’s investing, saving, or paying down debt. Financial advisors can also act as a resource for you as you work to manage your money.

They can help you make the most of your finances and give you the tools and knowledge to take control of your financial future. This way, you can feel confident that you’re taking the right steps to make sure your money is working for you instead of against you.

Invest in your well-being.

Financial stress can take a toll on your health, so it’s important to take the time to find ways to manage your stress levels through proper self-care and mental awareness. This can mean taking time out of your day to exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep.

By taking care of your physical and mental well-being, you’ll be better able to manage your finances and reduce any stress caused by it. Remodeling your brain for happiness and self-care will also help you better navigate financial challenges and meet financial goals.

Create an emergency fund.

It’s important to have an emergency fund that you can use in case of an unplanned expense or a loss of income. This can help you avoid taking on debt or using credit cards, which can put you at risk of falling into a cycle of debt and repaying larger sums than you borrowed.

The amount of money you need in your emergency fund will depend on your expenses and financial situation. Experts recommend that you have at least three months’ worth of personal living expenses saved up in case of an emergency, with six months or more being ideal.

Create a budget prioritizing your needs.

A budget will help you make choices about how to spend your money. It can also help you identify areas where you’re spending more than necessary, which may be contributing to your financial problems.

A good budget is flexible enough that it allows you to put aside money for savings and unexpected expenses while still allowing you to meet your basic needs. This can help you feel more in control of your finances, which can be especially helpful if you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed by debt or financial insecurity.

Find activities to de-stress.

In addition to focusing on your well-being, finding hobbies and activities to de-stress can help you feel calmer, more relaxed, and more able to cope with stressful situations. A fun way to do so is through gaming.

Whether it's through casual mobile games like word games or more immersive online games you can play with friends, playing games can help you take a break from the stress of your financial situation, and find some much-needed fun. In addition, there are lots of games available that can help you learn new things and improve your cognitive skills, which can be a great way to keep your mind active and healthy.

Final Thoughts

Although money can be a source of stress, it doesn’t have to be. By being intentional and finding a balanced lifestyle that focuses on financial literacy and self-care, you can take control of your finances and feel empowered to make the most of what you have. And although there may be plenty more ways you can manage financial stress, these tips are some of the key fundamentals that will get you started on the right path towards financial wellness and stability.

Guest Blog Author

Katie Pierce is a teacher-slash-writer who loves telling stories to an audience, whether it’s bored adults in front of a computer screen or a bunch of hyperactive 4-year-olds. Writing keeps her sane (most of the time) and allows her to enjoy some quiet time in the evening before she walks into a room of screaming kids (all of whom she loves dearly) the next morning.

Understanding infertility. The importance of Progesterone.

Amy Beckley, PhD, is the founder of a fertility testing company. She herself had a personal battle with infertility and suffered seven miscarriages before having two rounds of IVF, the second of which resulted in her son. Although Amy was able to access IVF, she realises how difficult this can be – it's a very expensive procedure, you have to be located near a clinic and be able to take leave from work for the treatments.

When Amy decided she wanted another child (without another round of IVF) she asked her doctor ‘Why can’t we figure out why I can’t have a successful pregnancy?  Lets have a conversation MD to scientist to try and figure it out’. As well as a PhD in Pharmacology, Amy had been studying hormone signalling for about ten years and with her background she realised that they were not tracking her cycle fully. It turned out she didn’t really need IVF because she had a hormone imbalance that meant her body was not making enough of the hormone needed to support pregnancy.

Amy thinks the problem is that doctors are very reliant on blood tests which is fine but when you have a hormone that is increasing and decreasing as the cycle goes on you miss certain things. Blood tests showed she was ovulating and making progesterone but not that the progesterone was falling too fast so by the time the embryo came to be implanted the uterine lining was starting drop off. It was a timing issue. Once Amy knew what the problem was she started taking an inexpensive progesterone supplement, with the result being her daughter.

Instead of letting her fertility issues consume her, Amy decided to empower other people with what she learned in the process by creating better diagnostic tests for people who want to build a family – to take science and hormone monitoring and changed it into something that can be done at home non-invasively.

Proov, is the first and only FDA-cleared test to confirm ovulation at home. It’s a suite of at home testing products that allows a woman to understand and track her menstrual cycle. It answers questions like how many eggs to I have left? Am I timing intercourse correctly? Am I ovulating successfully meaning do I have a high progesterone marker in urine though the entire implantation window and have a healthy cycle? Proov also provides other answers. Women are waiting longer to start families, they are having one child instead of two or three. By providing information such as how many eggs they have left and whether they should freeze the eggs if they want to put off starting a family woman means they have more information about their cycles and their bodies.

It’s not just about conceiving. If women have really heavy or painful periods, PMS or going through peri-menopause these are all cycles and hormone changes so the same balances that cause infertility can also cause these. Amy has been creating a platform where woman can understand their hormones try to optimise and balance their hormones. Once you have results you can take them to a GP or holistic health provider for further help.

It’s really about having the information and power. There was some recent research on teenagers where one set tracked their cycle and the other didn't. By just knowing and tracking their cycle the first group were less depressed and had less suicidal tendencies. They knew that based on their previous cycles they were going to start their period, that when they did that they felt depressed but that three days later they were back to normal. They knew that it was coming so could prepare themselves.

It can also help women in peri-menopause who may leave the workforce because they cant function at work, they cant take on the same mental capacity or remember things, are having hot flushes to know that your body is going though hormonal withdrawal.

You can find out more about Amy at Proovtest.com

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Stress, anxiety and depression are the most common form of work-related sickness

At the end of last year the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published its annual statistics for work related ill-health and workplace injuries for 2021/22. The figures showed that there were 914,000 cases of stress, depression and anxiety and this made up around half of the overall number of workers suffering from a work-related illness. This was the most common category of work-related sickness, accounting for 51% of cases, with higher than average rates in the public administration, defence, health, social work and education sectors.

The report also found that the effects of the pandemic were a major contributory factor to work-related mental ill health with 77% of the illnesses caused or made worse by Covid-19. Prior to the pandemic, working days lost due to self-reported stress, depression or anxiety had been fairly stable, but the rate from the last report shows a significant increase. These increases are serious not only to the individuals concerned, but also for the organisations they work for and the country as a whole with 17 million working days being lost due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/2022.

On a daily basis, employees can experience stress from a range of workplace activities and stressors, such as deadlines, communication problems or workload pressures. Continued high levels of stress can have a serious impact on the physical and emotional health of employees, in some instances, leading to cases of high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. As well as the impact on their physical and mental health, stress can also affect their behaviour, performance and work relationships.

Whilst it’s impossible for all sources of stress and anxiety to be alleviated, leaders need to tackle workplace stress head-on. Taking steps to counteract its effects and create a more positive work environment will not only increase employees’ levels of job satisfaction and wellbeing, but will also help a business run more efficiently and effectively moving forward.

Leadership skills for the smartest person in the room

Christian Espinosa is an entrepreneur, a cyber security engineer, a certified high-performance coach, a professor, and a lover of heavy metal music and spicy food. He’s also an Air Force veteran and Ironman triathlete. Christian used to value being the “smartest guy in the room,” only to realise that his greatest contribution to the fight against cybercrime is his ability to bring awareness to the issue through effective communication and leadership training. Christian is a speaker, coach, and trainer in the secure methodology, helping to make the smartest people in the room the best leaders in the field.

Christian has spent almost 30 years in cyber security, initially in the military before forming his own company in 2014.  He found that most of the problems he had in his company were not because his staff lacked technical skills or processes, frameworks or procedures, it was because they didn't have people skills. He was hiring staff because of their technical aptitude and not looking at the cultural fit or their interpersonal skills and this opened him up to the problem or challenge that faced the whole industry. He realised that this was a recurring problem and one he needed to solve in his organisation - to bring back people skills to compliment his staffs already high IQ.

Christian feels that a lot of people want to proliferate the idea that if you are super smart, rationally smart with a super high IQ that you don't have any people skills. This idea has been tolerated for so long that it has become mainstream and acceptable but like any other skill it is something you can learn. A lot of people who are super high IQ will brag about how smart they are but, if you are super smart, you should be able to learn people skills. Somehow though they are resistant to this, perhaps because it is outside their comfort zone

When he looked back at his own career Christian realised he was trying to be smarter than other people. He realised that he was part of the problem and thought that if he could improve people skills or emotional intelligence it would help him go further in his career. Additionally, when you own your own business you have to also manage your team and use a different skill set than just hands on the keyboard. With your own business you need to be very practical, show empathy and insight, be able to explain and communicate and deal with conflict. These are often referred to as emotional intelligence or soft skills but they are not soft skills, they are fundamental to leadership.

Christian feels there should be a programme around developing leadership skills that tie into people skills and emotional intelligence.  A lot of companies will take their best engineers or technicians and promote them to a leadership position without giving them any training  - they assume that because they were good in a technical role they’ll be good in a leadership role.

They are however two dramatically different skillsets. If you are going to promote someone to a management or leadership role there should be a lot of training and awareness that just because someone is good as an operator it doesn't mean they'll be good as a leader.  Christian feels there is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership is about leading yourself first and then leading and influencing others to accomplish something whilst management is about keeping everything on track and less about influencing people.

There is also a feeling that as we skill leaders up to be more sensible and rounded, somehow their rational side diminishes as we improve one the other falls away.  In the past technical staff wouldn't want to take a leadership role because their technical skills would reduce and they would become obsolete. This needs to change. The technical skills will still be there because they maintain the high rational intelligence but they are just adding the people skills. You can pick up the technical skills again if you need to but if you add well developed people skills you will be an awesome leader because its rare for someone to have both skill sets

There has also been an idea that if you promote your best technical or sales person and put them into a management role, it’s somehow seen as a lesser career. Perhaps this is because those skills are more transferable or easier to acquire but you can always fall back into your technical side if management doesn’t work out but these things are massively important in themselves

Cultural, life and people skills and emotional intelligence has an infinite shelf life. Technical skills though have a finite shelf life because there will be new technology and updates. From a investment of time perspective, it makes more sense to learn skills that are always going to be applicable in a broader spectrum, skills that will help you across everything otherwise you are pigeon holing yourself into one specific thing.  If you develop people skills then they will applicable for the rest of your life. Dealing with conflict or having crucial conversations will be situations that will play out for the rest of your life. That’s why they have an infinite shelf life. If you get better at a specific cyber security tool or a specific technical aspect at some point that thing will change and the skill set become obsolete.

The first thing Christian learned about emotional intelligence was the awareness that he was part of the problem. We all want to be understood, appreciated and significant and in the past he felt significant by knowing more, being faster and by achieving more but he realised once he had the awareness that he was causing conflict with relationships by always trying to outdo somebody. He was never able to belong to anything because he was always trying to achieve more than everybody else. Reflecting back on his own journey was pretty sobering but he now has awareness but the awareness needs to be actionable or it doesn't really matter – knowledge is not power unless you can do something with it.

We all have unique skill sets and the goal of a leader is to work harmoniously with those skills. A lot of this requires a baseline level in people skills. We don't need to develop everybody to the maximum but if you are going to collaborate, communicate and deal with conflict it helps if we have some tools especially if someone isn’t used to having these sort of conversations. If we can communicate effectively, we are working on the solutions to the challenges, which in turn help the overall organisation.

Christian’s book ‘The Smartest Person in the Room’ is available here or you can find out more able Christian at https://christianespinosa.com/

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.
 

Upskilling to retain your top talent.

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 50% of employees worldwide will need to be reskilled as the adoption of technology continues, whilst LinkedIn’s ‘2022 Global Trends Report’ reveals that upskilling and development opportunities were top priorities for employees.

As we move into 2023, in the UK economic uncertainty, and a competitive labour market means businesses face an on-going talent shortage. The pandemic changed job requirements and left many people feeling unprepared as businesses quickly reorganised and traditional learning and skills development tried to adapt.

The global labour market is also changing. A report from the McKinsey Global Institute says 14% of the workforce will have to change their careers by 2030. With so many employees looking for new jobs, employers have to be creative in their retention strategy and upskilling is an effective way of retaining top talent in the organisation.

Acquiring new skills or knowledge in order to improve job performance or career opportunities is advantageous to both employers and employees. For employers, identifying skills gaps and then investing in training initiatives to upskill the current team moves the priority to talent development rather than recruitment. This helps the business to remain competitive, increases the efficiency and productivity of the current team, boosts employee motivation and job satisfaction which results in improved employee retention. From an employee perspective, it not only offers the opportunity to develop or learn new skills, but also to increase their value and enable them to take on more responsibility or higher-level, better-paid positions within their organisation.

As we move into 2023, it’s clear that employees need to be prepared for the ‘future of work’ and that businesses will need to be resilient to the economic problems ahead. Upskilling can become an important part of a businesses workforce planning, talent acquisition and retention strategy and those that show a commitment to employee growth and implement better learning and development opportunities will be the ones that attract and retain top workers.

Improving Connection - Humanising the Remote Experience

Dr Amy Mednik is a psychiatrist working in her own private practice in New York. She grew up in New Jersey and went to college at MIT in Boston where she studied, and became fascinated by the brain and cognitive science. She then attended medical school and and fell into psychiatry halfway through the clinical rotation. She received her medical degree with Distinction in Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from MIT.

As a psychiatrist she mainly focused on medication versus psychotherapy. This developed into psychopharmacology, giving medication and seeing what symptoms can be quieted down so people can become their best self.  She wanted more to offer her patients so she then got involved with TMS which uses magnets to create electrical fields to intervene on the brain. She had just got up and running with in-person office based treatments when Covid struck and she had to shut down her office.

In 2020 she started working online with her patients, students etc. A colleague then invited her to write a book about an idea she’d had about the remote experience - what is wrong with the remote experience, why it makes us feel exhausted, why we have trouble focusing and why do we feel what we feel socially. They spent a year writing and living it and it was finished in 2022.

Brain science used to be very much about ‘this is where that happens’ and ‘that happens in that one part of the brain’. Things were learnt because when someone had a stroke and they couldn’t recognise faces that must be where faces are stored in the brain. Now we’re learning it’s not that simple and it’s really very network based. There is not one thing, there is a lot of communication between different areas and feedback loops that's great because networks are something that can be intervened on so that that network gets healthier and can be improved.

Amy is very interested in the use of psychopharmacology for anxiety and depression but with each of these things there are medicines that work well for people. When its done correctly negative symptoms are turned off and when you talk to the people you’ve prescribed for they can tell you what they experience and describe what the feeling in their head is really like. When the prescription is adapted, they can then describe the change and what that feels like.

There is a range or spectrum for drugs that also depends on the disorder. Anxiety and trauma really straddle the chemical responses to medicine versus environmental situational responses to therapy. With both of these you have symptoms that you can take and turn everything off so patients don't feel anything. If you are precise though there are a wide range of doses and sometimes a little does a lot so we just quiet the noise, we turn the volume down on the anxiety or trauma that's talking and not serving you. People begin to feel they have more access to themselves, their minds and to their creativity because the fight or fight response that should not be going is turned down. They can then engage better in therapy and in life and do more things. With trauma though its not always safe to go into those parts of your brain, your brain wont always let you into those parts before you build the scaffolding with a little bit of medicine, do the work, break the things down build them back up and then you might not even need the medicine.

Amy feels the maximum between sessions is six months but on average she sees patients every three months. If you are taking medicine and it’s helping you to feel better that's great but if it’s making you feel worse then it’s worth review. These things have side effects but it is not one or another – if your life has changed and you've done well in therapy and things are different to when you started the medicine its also worth reviewing. There is no right answer. Some people stay on them for live because they really help them to be their best self.

Amy’s new book about the virtual experience is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections This looks at how we can foster wellness, raise engagement, and strengthen connections in professional contexts as our interactions become increasingly remote. Amy feels that as humans, we’re simply not wired for flat, two-dimensional virtual settings, that we’re built to connect in the real world. When this need isn’t met, we inevitably become stressed, struggle to focus, work harder, and burn out.

There are a lot of ways we can improve the remote experiences, but we need to learn the signs that our needs aren’t being met in our virtual interactions, for example why Zoom calls are physically exhausting, why what we intend to say gets lost and distorted in virtual settings and why being part of a remote team can increase stress.

To understand what is missing from these remote interactions, we need to understand how we use space, sensory cues and group dynamics and the challenges people face when their innate need for human connection is unmet.  Amy and her co-author Dr Diane Lennard used research and case studies, to outline the paradox that the digital technology we use to connect with others can leave us feeling less connected.

Amy’s book is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections and you can learn more at www.HTRE-Book.com or you can find out more about Amy at dramymednik.com

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Organisational transparency. A key trend for 2023?

The last few years have been uncertain ones for organisations and employees, and this has led to many people becoming anxious about their future. In fact, 53% of workers in a recent Gallup poll said they were looking for jobs with more security whilst the Qualtrics 2023 Employee Experience Trends Report showed a fundamental change in employee expectations.

Research seems to show that the talent market is favouring the candidate over the employer so many employees are looking for a clearer picture of what the future looks like for their organisation and what their place will be in it. The way we read it, employees seem to feel empowered to expect higher standards of care and attention through health, wellbeing and work-life balance initiatives such as remote, flexible or four-day working options. They also want some reassurance on the business’s stability and the opportunities for their own career growth.

Having transparency about the organisations goals and vision can help to ease some of this this anxiety. If employees have a broader view of the organisation’s performance and goals, they can more clearly understand the work needed to achieve them. They can also see how their own responsibilities and role connects to, and supports those of their team and organisation. If managers communicate this effectively through regular reviews and feedback, they will provide an understanding of the impact and value of the employee and their work, which in turn will help boost morale, engage staff and improve retention.

Although economic conditions in 2023 may be difficult, employers will need to engage with their employees on what the future holds and also demonstrate their commitment to their wellbeing and growth. Employees are demanding greater direction from their employers and if they don’t receive it they may well go elsewhere to find it. What do you think?

Buddhism to navigate grief and loss

Kimberly Brown is a meditation teacher and author and leads classes and retreats that emphasise the power of compassion and kindness meditation to reconnect us to ourselves and to each other. Her teachings provide an approachable pathway to personal and collective wellbeing through effective and modern techniques based on traditional practices. She studies in both the Tibetan and Insight schools of Buddhism and is a certified mindfulness instructor.

Kimberly came to these practices after she struggled with panic attacks and other anxiety issues herself. She had a lot of therapy which was helpful and then found meditation and that acted as a complement to the earlier work.

The difference between the Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions of meditation is that in the Buddhist practice there are also teachings that align with the meditation practices. These teachings are simply encouragement to understand reality, that all of us will get older, get sick and die, that we all have struggles and that nothing is permanent. This emphasis on seeing reality can be useful in alleviating the suffering that comes from wanting things to be different than they are.

There are some similarities between the Buddhist and Stoic views. One of the distinctions though is that Buddhism doesn't suggest that the fact we are going to get older, get sick and die is terrible and that we have to just ‘suck it up’. Buddhism says ‘well that s OK’ and once we know and understand that, we can live a very happy life with less resistance or things that we don't want.

Buddhists also approach grief and loss in a different way. The traditional westernised view is that it’s something that's not talked about, something that’s slightly embarrassing and that if we talk about it, it might happen sooner. Buddhism seems to integrate ‘passing on’ in a more obvious way so people are less ashamed to talk about it and to remind ourselves that life is brief and that we can use our words and actions to benefit ourselves and other’s. In the US there is a struggle to know how to grieve and how to talk about it. There is a superstition about it so people who are grieving have little access to tools to help them develop resilience in the face of that change.

Death is a natural part of our cycle and there are many different Buddhist views of what happens after death. Some like the Tibetan tradition really emphasise the idea of reincarnation - that we all have many incarnations as different insect’s animals and people and that we will again. Others such as the Japanese Zen tradition don’t have an answer for it.

Although we would not wish grief of suffering on anyone it is in the nature of life. It is neither good nor bad. It is the nature of being human and being able to be able to know that you might choose to live your life a little differently having realised how precious it is and what is really important to you.

In the Buddhist view there is an idea that is similar to psychological safety. They feel that each of us can become a reliable support for ourselves and that most of us learn this from the outside world – getting what we want, depending on someone else, managing or controlling everything that happens outside – and that somehow we can create a situation where we are going to be safe. We can do this to a certain degree but we are still going to get older, may lose our job or get divorced etc. The idea in Buddhism is to use the tools and practices it teaches such as compassion and wisdom to create a refuge in your own self. To start to develop a way to have resilience, to have tools as we are trying to control people and circumstances, almost all of which aren’t in our control.

The Buddhist tradition is to develop our minds so we have the ability to not get lost and develop the compassion to each other. Both mediation and compassion are processes and wisdom is an output of these but you can also cultivate wisdom. From the Buddhist view, wisdom is not just knowledge, it’s being able to ascertain and meet what’s happening in each moment and being able to meet it with an appropriate response and a beneficial action.

Resilience is a process that allows you to bounce forward and not just back every time there is a setback in life. An inherent part of the resilience process is learning. The easiest way to develop wisdom is to start to learn mindfulness, to be able to be present in what is in your senses and your thoughts. If you can practice this for a short time you will very clearly start to see the truth of life – that everything is impermanent. You hear a sound and it goes away, an emotion comes that goes away to. Everything is constantly changing so you start to see that wisdom of impermanence; you also start to see the wisdom of your own neediness, greed, dislike and disillusion to see the biases of the mind.

Finally, you start to see who you are. Someone who is constantly receiving information, creating ideas and thoughts and in each moment this is ever changing. We have the possibility of lessening our suffering and walking through the world in a way that is more beneficial to ourselves and others.

Kimberly’s new book is Navigating Grief And Loss: 25 Buddhist Practices to Keep Your Heart Open to Yourself and Others 

 You can learn more about Kimberly at her website, www.meditationwithheart.com. 

    You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Setting goals so your resolutions work for you

Well, we’re already a week into January and many of us will have already blown our New Year Resolutions! A multitude of things could have got in the way - a lack of time, too little planning, bad communications or day-to-day routines – but the underlying cause is that we don't set goals.

Resolutions are doomed to fail because deep down we know there’s a very good chance they won’t happen – our objectives aren’t based on a clear assessment of what we are doing right, and what we could improve on. We need to set goals, to regularly check on those goals and to put the structure around them that ensures that they don’t just become another “things to do” list.

We’ve found these five simple points are really helpful when setting goals - and also in keeping our resolutions! 

1. Give yourself a timeline

A timeline can make goals seem achievable. It will help you to put a plan in motion, evaluate your progress, and ultimately see your goals realised.

2. Be specific

Be specific about a goal and make it concrete. For example, ‘losing weight’ doesn’t really give you something specific to aim for. If however your goal is to lose a particular amount of weight in a specified time through the improvement of your diet (by reducing your blood sugars) and increasing your exercise, you’ve really got something to go for.

3. Keep your friends and family informed

Regular conversations are a great opportunity to discuss your progress and to share any concerns, questions or feedback. If you need extra support, they will help you find it. It’s also a good way to ensure long-term goals and strategies are kept to the forefront of your mind.

4. Be realistic

Goal setting is essential providing you are realistic about your targets. Unattainable goals only lead to disappointment so regularly reviewing your long-term goals and taking stock of what worked and what didn’t allows you to adjust your goals accordingly.

5. Time for you

A healthy work-life balance demands time out. All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster. If you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, diary some regular time to "meet with yourself" and stick to it.

In short, making resolutions is the easy part. Keeping them is tougher but with realistic, actionable and attainable goals by the end of 2023 you may find all the boxes ticked