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

How tough are you?

Resilience at work

If there is one thing that managers and leaders have  experienced over the last 18 months it has got to be dealing with constant pressure and change.  Ironically, it seems the only constant is how many times  this topic is mentioned as a top challenge. (Including our latest research)!

From my experience, leaders are challenged to drive for consistently improved performance, while finding ways to embrace new ways of thinking and behaving. As I referred to in a previous note, the days of a steady job, with a predictable workload, are over. Instead, we need talented, resilient, adaptable, imaginative and trustworthy people (these five traits forming the mnemonic TRAIT) to help achieve success. And I would call out ‘resilience’ as being  first among those.


As a leader, by managing your personal resilience and acting as a role model, you have considerable influence over your team’s culture.   The goal is to develop these coping skills within your team, gradually shifting the mindset to one where change is viewed as a positive challenge and something to look forward to.

But this is not just the realm of managers. All business professionals need to build their own resilience and ensure they are working in a positive and sustainable way. The trick is getting the balance right between managing and sustaining optimum levels of pressure, without getting unduly stressed. If the business can get this right then it can ensure people deliver sustainable and positive performance regardless of the environment.

This has become such a hot topic recently that we have introduced two new resilience courses into our portfolio to help people develop in this area:

• Building Resilience and Sustainable Team Performance - For Managers and Leaders
• Working Positively and with Resilience for Business Professionals

But that’s enough promotion, there are certain things we can all do to build our resilience at work…

• Know the difference between pressure and stress – Google 'stress indicators' and be aware about how you respond to pressure.
• Understand the impact of the language we use on others – Before you give someone some work to do, put yourself in their shoes, how will they best respond to your message?
• Try to be self-aware and be mindful of your emotional state - Stay positive and deal with uncertainty (after all it’s the new normal, so you’d better get used to it)… Remember to assess what you can impact/influence and what is out of your control – it is a wasted emotion to get stressed about things out of your control (although we all do it to some degree – it’s natural ;-))

So, next time you are faced with a stressful situation, see how you can approach it differently and pay attention to how people respond to you.