Lending a Hand

It’s a phrase we all know. Whether you’re being asked to lend a hand, or offering to lend a hand, it’s one of the most rewarding ‘give and takes’ that comes with having a circle of friends and family around you. You are not alone, you have someone to help you and rely upon. And, indeed, someone who needs you. These acts of helpfulness seem to be all around us, particularly at this time of year. We think nothing of being asked to ‘lend a hand’ when it comes to even the smallest of tasks – helping out with dinner, wrapping a present, or even the dreaded...’can you give me a hand with these lights’.

Yet, for others, the concept of needing a hand is a very serious matter. Research data indicates that there are as many as 1.3m people living in the US with some form of amputation, with hand or partial hand loss being the most prevalent. Yet, it is estimated that only 50% of those affected receive any form of prosthetic service. These numbers, obviously, grow exponentially on a global scale, where combinations of land mines, disease, and birth complications result in even more instances of hand loss.

Recently, our HF/Demos team in Australia designed and deployed a Helping Hands program, in conjunction with a partner called Odyssey Teams. This program, a 10-week Advanced Leadership Program for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, took traditional team-based learning to a whole new level through a workshop that guided participants through assembly of prosthetic hands. In the program, participants built prosthetics for children who have lost limbs in land mine accidents. In total 6 hands were built by the team, and have already been shipped to change the life of a child somewhere in the world. A perfect outcome that symbolizes so much about the spirit of cooperation and helpfulness that so many leaders strive to attain in their teams.

As learning specialists, we often spend countless hours contemplating, with our clients, the precise requirements for new skills that are needed to drive team improvement and business result, often concentrating on the very predictable subjects of delegation, performance management, time management, etc. Oftentimes, all that really matters is how well the team works together and demonstrates what can be accomplished when there is a shared purpose that all can rally around.   I am proud of what our team in Australia has accomplished with this innovative program. It is an inspiration to what can be achieved through more progressive learning, and how a differentiated experience can lead to real enhancements in team dynamics.

If you’d like to learn more about the Helping Hands program please watch the video clip.

As we are asked to lend a hand to someone this season, let that be a reminder to us of the greater need that many in the world face, and the more literal translation of the  phrase, ‘lend a hand’.  

On behalf of the entire Hemsley Fraser team, I hope that all of you has a joyous and safe holiday season!

Todd

Our life should to tell a story…

Without getting philosophical, spiritual, or religious about things, at a basic level we all have the gift of life and surely our aim should be to tell a story!?

Whether that story has a big impact on society, the world, or just those around you.  Or whether the story is more personal, is up to you.

One thing is for sure though, none of us want a boring or stagnant life do we?  So, we should all challenge ourselves to think ‘what story am I telling and is it how I expected or wanted it to be?  Is it interesting to me?’

I had opportunity last week to participate in an amazing client experience – one of those programs that doesn’t come along every day, where the client wanted to make a difference and wasn’t afraid to take risks – or our counsel – on how to do it.  The result – an amazing leadership program that not only satisfied the stated learning objectives, but went far beyond in terms of creating momentum and a spirit with the participants.  Interestingly, a large part of our approach focused on how to tell a story – and how to tell a different story when organizational change is a stated goal.   Immersive environments, professional actors, and illustrators all combined with one goal – to re-write the story.

Sometimes just such a break from the past is needed to re-launch our story or to ensure that its constant evolution is on the path that we desire (professionally or personally).  If constant ‘change’, in our personal and working lives, is here to stay… How can we embrace and use this to find opportunities and steps we can take to enrich our life stories and achieve our goals?

It’s just too easy to fall into the trap of stagnating – and we are all guilty of doing it at one stage or another – unless you find time to take stock and look at life through a different lens, with a fresh perspective.  We have to take positive action to navigate to a new part of our story… This could start with learning or experiencing new things, thinking differently, or visiting somewhere new and inspiring.  Look for opportunities to intentionally put yourself outside of the ‘norm’ or your comfort zone.  You may be surprised where this takes you…

Learning new things, thinking differently, and being inspired are great places to start.

I have an idea…

These are likely the 4 words most dreaded by anyone who has ever worked or lived with me, as they are typically used in conjunction with some home or workplace beautification project.  I’ve actually heard tell of former employees warning current teammates to steer well clear of being sucked into a renovation project with me.  It seems people think I’m difficult to work with on such projects – I personally have no idea why.  I will point out that they all seem to enjoy the resulting product when it is done, so hopefully we can at least agree that the end justifies the means.

I have an idea!

I have always been a firm believer that a great working environment brings out the best in people.  When done correctly, it not only looks better, but space is utilized more efficiently, team communication improves, levels of professionalism seem to rise – the overall mood of the place is lifted.  Believe me; I’ve proved this many times over.

Folks at Hemsley Fraser heard me utter the dreaded 4 words a little over a year ago.  In my opinion, if we were to embody our corporate strap, ‘learning is changing’, it simply wasn’t enough to continue our focus on great content and great facilitators, but equally the environment for learning had to be perfect as well.

What makes a best in class, class?  After considerable research and polling of our delegates, we think we know:

• Mobile furniture configurations, allowing the classroom to be mixed up
• More free space for thinking and working in small groups
• Fun zones that spur creativity and innovation
• Modern technology (including flat screens for easy viewing)
• Quality audio 
• Paperless, or paper ‘light’, courses utilizing videos and apps to bolster learning
• Bright and fresh décor, increasing energy levels
• Time and space for networking, and learning from others
• White board walls – no longer constricting big ideas to little flip charts

As a result of this vision, I’m proud to say we have invested significantly in all of our core facilities (London, Cornwall, and Washington).  We have shown that a next generation classroom is effectively a place where clients can free their imagination.  If you want to see how (and see me learning to play Jenga), click here!

Now we have gone further…

Before we even get to the venue, the learning starts well in advance, during our creative design process. As with most professional services firms, our standard practice has always been to go to the client.  It does seem the most polite and customer friendly approach after all.  But is it the most effective?   I don’t know why the light bulb was so slow to go off for me, but during our recent office refurbishment and after many meetings with our building designers - each time them bringing me sample books of the carpet, wallpaper, and furniture books they thought I would like – it finally occurred to us…why aren’t we going to the showroom where we can see everything in one place and hopefully find some inspiration?

And in just the same way, as an L&D provider we can only take just so much when going to the client.  What if their needs are slightly different than what we anticipated?  What if their budget is different?  Frankly, what if they aren’t sure what they want yet?

At this moment I realized that we needed not only a next generation venue, but a design showroom as well.  I had an idea!

I’m proud to say we have now created just that – a first-class Learning and Development shop window – right in the heart of London.

In this space, just now opening, clients can see all that we have to offer.  For one thing, technology is transforming the creative design process. Interactive design boards allow you to create, play, share and approve your designs; knowledge assets all on display; standard content and alternative delivery media all ready to be previewed.  Quite simply, this is game-changing the ‘art of the possible’ in learning design.

Of course it has to spur imagination, so throw in ‘inside/outside’ space, a client creation zone, some AstroTurf, and Underground ‘quiet carriages’ and you’ve got something very different to experience!

Whether a customer is looking for a high-end customized solution that challenges their thinking, or simply a chance to innovate and improve company-specific learning programs, we have seen our new visual and interactive approach to design really help push the creative envelope.

When you can experience an ideal learning environment, talk to subject matter experts on learning, and participate in game-changing design, isn’t that worth leaving your office for?

Plus, our fresh coffee and pastries are pretty good too ;-)

Ready, Set, Engage!

Over the past several months I have written about the significance of learned and ‘unlearned’ behavior, and more the notion that how we are conditioned as children has unintended consequence on how we behave as adults in our professional lives.

The difference in a child’s excitement and wonderment is even more evident at holiday time.  I recently had the pleasure of spending time with my extended family over the holidays, and it reminded me just how easily children get excited and engaged in something new – and how contagious that can be for all that are around them.   When is the last time you experienced that level of excitement about something at work?

In some ways, as adults, we can tend to be less enthusiastic about getting involved in new things, perhaps as conditioned from past experience.  This, in turn, impacts how we view opportunity and risk, and how comfortable we are in stepping out of our ‘comfort zones’.   In my experience, this presents a danger of people getting ‘stuck in a rut’.   In fact I read recently that as many 26% of employees in US businesses are reported as being ‘disengaged’, with a subset of that being reported as ‘actively’ disengaged.   If that’s true, what are we missing in terms of organizational productivity? Imagine if you had 26% more resource available to accomplish your business objective….for free!  You do, you just have to figure out how to tap into it.

Engaged employees perform better and stay longer, and this, in turn, leads to greater productivity and higher customer satisfaction levels. So, tackling employee disengagement can create a lot of positive energy.  The problem is where do you start?  It’s not easy to get people to feel passionate about their work or connected to their employer, especially in a virtual workforce (an increasing reality for many of us).

Numerous studies indicate that the number one driver of employee engagement – or disengagement as it may be– is our relationship with our immediate supervisor. So improving that relationship, and specifically teaching our first line leaders how to motivate and excite employees to encourage engagement, seems a logical place to start.

You can go further though…I have recently witnessed as an exciting new piece of work drove higher levels of engagement in my team.  Just as importantly as the project, was the nature in which we decided to tackle it -- fast-paced and energetic, with everyone having an opportunity to pitch in using their strengths, regardless of formal role or assignment.   It was as if team members ‘caught the bug’.  Individuals that were disengaged became curious.  Folks that were already engaged became even more so.  Even people that were productive and working on other things, started to look at what they were doing by comparison and to make connections about how their products could be improved.  It seems you can also boost employee engagement by ensuring that they have projects to work on that challenge and inspire them, and by ensuring that you engage them in it fully from the start.

Best of all, these things cost little and not only improve organization productivity, but also make for a happier work atmosphere as well.

So, as we start 2014 remember the path to greater engagement has to be ignited somewhere, and could easily begin with some small steps.  Get your leaders ready, set yourself up for success, and look for opportunities to engage the wider organization more fully.