Stefan Stern writing in the Guardian believes that feedback isn’t of much value – indeed he even quotes T S Eliot: “Humankind cannot bear very much reality” but I think he’s missed the point. It isn’t the feedback that matters, its what you do with it that counts ! You could argue that without feedback nothing changes – and change is at the very heart of the fabric of life.

What I’ve heard so far from the TV coverage of the Levinson enquiry would indicate that the conclusion will be for greater regulation of the press – read ‘less freedom, more constraints’. Surely the solution to both of these challenges is to encourage a greater level of self-leadership. The Rugby team manager may have been too ‘matey’ (and which of us that have been promoted to lead a team that we used to be part of haven’t had this challenge?) but what is it that gives the members of the team permission to absolve themselves of any personal responsibility?

The best teams are those where the members have a strong personal leadership ethic, who regularly and routinely assess their performance, attitude, resources and approach; then adjust that mindset, skills gap or response to what happens to them, building or rebuilding plans before taking action that aligns with those adjustments. Time taken considering the impact of our actions on others and on our own reputation can save a lot of heartache and embarrassment.

Perhaps if press photographers who chase celebrities had better self-leadership, then they might take a more balanced and reasonable approach to earning their money that would see them more considerate of what it was like for such celebrities to be persued in that way.

Lets hope that all concerned in these two issues take the feedback that is on offer and do something constructive with it !

I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think via the link below… or subscribe to get future blog entries.

The post The need for better Self-Leadership appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

As I was coming home one evening I was reminded of a story about a man who was in a field and found some buried treasure. On finding the treasure he covered it up, went away and sold everything he had and bought the field (a wise move). It got me thinking about two things. Firstly, his intention for being in the field in the first place. The story doesnʼt make it clear. He may have been out for a walk and stumbled across the treasure by mistake. I always assume he went into the field to find treasure. There he was with his metal detector with the intention of finding treasure.

I often talk in training sessions about peopleʼs behaviour having a positive intention, but this is usually at an unconscious level. It challenged me to think about how often I intentionally set out to do something, to find something of value in my life. It made we wonder whether our modern society has lost something and especially in the workplace. When me and my business partner set up our business we thought we had something special that we wanted to find; to discover in our business. We set out with the intention of digging for treasure. However quickly I got caught up in making sure the metal detector was working correctly. Someone came along with a set of health and safety rules about how you use a metal detector. I created some policies about when it was safe to go out on my own in fields looking for treasure. After all, you never know who might be lurking in an empty field. If we arenʼt careful we can lose our spark to go treasure hunting, to do something intentional that results in finding treasure.

And then there was what he did next. After finding the treasure he sold everything he had. Wow, what a risky investment. Didnʼt anyone tell him that it may have been a scam? Someone may have hidden a load of cheap jewellery in the field. Hadnʼt he seen Hustle? I get the impression that he knew. He had spent a long time looking for treasure and knew what he was looking for. What are we prepared to invest everything in because we know it will be worth it? Whatʼs the treasure that makes us get up in the morning and go hunting?

Letʼs cut a bit of red tape and be intentional about finding the things we set out to find in our workplaces. And then let’s invest everything we have in it. Let’s get the spark back into the thing we spend most of our lives doing. Let’s laugh again and have a bit of fun…. or we could just watch another episode of Top Gear on Dave and have an early night…

The post Treasure Hunting appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

If we can entertain the idea that we can change our beliefs, we need to begin by identifying how our current beliefs drive our current behaviour patterns. Once we have done this we need to think about which new beliefs would be more helpful in generating the behaviours that will, in turn, get the results we desire. Its a bit like a computer, (obviously somewhat simplified). If we want a computer it to behave in a new way we need to update or install new software which will allow it to behave differently. The software is selected in order to make the computer behave in a way that will produce the outcomes that we want.

So it is with changing beliefs, whether at a personal, team or organisational level. We need to begin by identifying what the beliefs are that are unhelpful and replace them with ones that get the results we seek. At Rees and England we call this unleashing organisational potential.

Of course, the beliefs we generate need to be believable and aligned with our purpose and goals. However, once we have identified what the results are that we want, it allows us to be creative in defining the most helpful and realistic beliefs that will get us there. Consider our X Factor contestant from the first blog in this series. If they are there because they want to entertain people, but quite clearly can’t sing, then having the belief that they can win the competition is never going to come to fruition (there’s a clash between their “map of the world” and the “world-as-it-is”). However, if the goal is to entertain, then the potential options of other, more believable, ways of doing it can be considered. The person could take up juggling or dancing, for example. If, however, the goal was to be famous then they might think about becoming a politician or a sports personality instead.

Imagine how creative and innovative people can be in organisations if we help them to focus on beliefs in and about the end goal rather than just the behaviours that we think will achieve these goals. Imagine how this will transform teams that currently struggle to find direction but are bombarded by organisational expectations that are neatly wrapped up in documents like “behavioural competency frameworks”. (yuk! Ed.) Just imagine how empowered individuals can be.

Sting once talked about how he is able to work with creative people in his band. He suggested that it was because he has control of both ends of the musical process. At the top he sings the melody and at the bottom he plays the bass guitar. This is a helpful metaphor in this context. If we have clear organisational, team and individual beliefs at the top and clear expectations, goals and outcomes at the bottom, then we are able to unleash immense creative organisational potential in the middle.

Depends on what you believe, I guess.

Do add your comments below and follow additional thoughts on Twitter.

The post Choosing our beliefs? appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

Our previous blogs have argued that our beliefs influence our behaviour. It would seem logical that if this were true then changing our beliefs would alter our behaviour. Whilst we believe that this is true, changing beliefs can be difficult. (a belief in itself!) However, both individuals and organisations have things that they aspire to and espouse as their beliefs. For example, a new product being launched may be believed to have the potential to generate massive income for an organisation. Whilst the belief is laudable, it is not necessarily true in the here and now. The product is not yet a success. However, in order to make it successful it may be worth considering what people in the organisation would be doing if it were successful. How would they be behaving?

By considering how people could behave in the future it is easy to dis-associate from them and become innovative and creative about potential behaviours. Once these potential new behaviours have been created could it be possible that: by stepping into them now, in the present, and continuing to behave in this way; the beliefs become real?

We can see evidence of this in ways that are often viewed as negative within organisations. For example, if we believe that a member of staff is not capable to delivering a project or piece of work, (future), then we often start to behave towards them as if it were true now. Of course it isn’t true yet because the deadline for delivery has not yet arrived. However, if we continue our hypothetical illustration to a conclusion, imagine a manager in this situation loosing confidence in the person. This lack of confidence causes the manager to check up on the member of staff more than they would usually and creates a sense of nervousness and anxiety in the member of staff. Consequently, they are more conscious of minor errors and this reduces their productivity as they become stressed in the situation. The eventual result is that the anxiety, nervousness and stress cause the person to miss the deadline that they had been set.

This is not untypical of what can happen in such situations. We call it a self fulfilling prophesy. Did the member of staff fail to miss their deadline because they were not good at their job or because the manager created an environment that caused them to fail? If the manager had behaved towards the member of staff in a way that aligned more with a useful belief (that the member of staff would succeed) then would the confidence created have generated an environment that allowed them to succeed?

Of course, this is all hypothetical…… isn’t it?

Do add your comments below and follow additional thoughts on Twitter, or subscribe to receive automatic updates:

The post Changing beliefs by changing behaviour appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

In this blog we’re going to take the theme of beliefs a stage further by understanding how they affect the way in which organisations behave.

In the world of business, understanding our own beliefs and how they impact the performance of the organisation is important. At Rees and England, we know that beliefs dramatically affect performance and consequently the ability to achieve goals.

So what kind of beliefs do we have about the organisation’s we work for? Are they good or bad, empowering or oppressive? If our beliefs have the potential to become self fulfilling prophecies then what we believe about our organisations has the potential to influence its performance. If certain beliefs become the established norms of an organisation then they collectively become an organisational paradigm that is often defined as culture. They become the maps that navigate us through the environments we work in but are often only part of what is really going on.

Taken to an extreme, cultural beliefs can take on a life of their own and start influencing individuals within the organisation. How often do we observe people behaving in ways that would not be acceptable outside the organisational context? At a belief level these are given labels such as ‘group think’ or ‘the Abilene paradox’. At a behavioural level it can present itself as bullying, authoritarian management, etc.

Obviously, these beliefs can be positive as well as negative. The reality is that a spectrum exists from positive to negative beliefs and most are not at the extremes. However, when external factors create environments that set a tone for negativity then it becomes easy for organisations to be influenced.

As the current economic climate continues to influence national thinking, then the potential for this to translate into beliefs that affect organisational behaviour becomes obvious. When we hear the rhetoric in the media that ‘the economy is taking a downturn’, read news of ‘double dip recessions’ or ‘cut backs in public sector funding’ and we believe it, (and why wouldn’t we?), then this affects organisational behaviour at every level. This consequently impacts the emotional state of the organisation at an individual and group level, which results in reduced performance.

Taken to an extreme these behaviour then creates the self fulfilling prophecies that allow us to say “I told you so”.

So: can an organisations culture be turned around from one of negativity to one of positivity by better understanding and influencing its beliefs?

As always keep an eye on @reesandengland on twitter and add your comments or subscribe below.

The post Beliefs and their effect on Organisational behaviour appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

If we believe that something isn’t possible then it follows that we will develop impossible strategies, (or perhaps no strategy at all), for dealing with the situations facing us. The phrase ‘being solution focused’ is one that is frequently used in organisations. However, being solution focused doesn’t just start with the solution itself, we need to have solution-focused beliefs, e.g. “X is possible”, “we can achieve Y by Friday”.

This isn’t some positive alco-pop psychology. It still demands hard work and focused effort. Sports psychologists have understood this for years: An olympic runner will spend four years training to take part in an event that may take less then 10 seconds to execute. They are well aware that their mental state, which includes their beliefs, is as important as their physical state. However, they don’t succeed without putting in several hours of training each day. This is also true of teams. The pep-talk in the dressing room before a world cup final match will contain messages that are belief statements about what is possible. The players are still required to turn up for training every day.

So it is with teams. In organisations we often only put the hard work into behaviours, sending staff on courses with the objective of helping them function more effectively at their work. How often, though, do we invest time in understanding the beliefs that flow around the team, or the beliefs that we have that affect how we lead them? These are some of the areas in which r&e specialise.

Not all beliefs are bad, often high performing teams have positive beliefs at their heart. However, knowing what these beliefs are; and making them explicit; can enable teams to understand why they behave in certain ways under certain conditions. This can be particularly relevant when organisations are undertaking restructuring, mergers or acquisitions. The assumption is often that; because teams or organisations perform similar roles or behave in similar ways; they will be able to work together effectively. However, while the behaviours may be similar, the beliefs that drive them may be very different and it is these differences that create the tensions and difficulties that arise in such situations.

These intrinsic beliefs are often cited as a large part of organisational culture which we will shift focus to in our next blog. Meanwhile, keep an eye on @reesandengland on twitter, leave your comments or subscribe for future updates below.

The post Beliefs and their effect on team behaviour appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.

Welcome to our blog. Each quarter we’re going to take a theme and consider a different aspect of it. Our hope is that you will then add your thoughts and comments below. You can also follow us on Twitter for additional questions and thoughts from us.

We’re starting with a biggy: beliefs and their impact on our lives and the world around us.Every belief we have; that we genuinely hold to be true; has an influence on the way in which we behave. Whether these beliefs last for a moment or a life time, during the split second we hold them to be true, they will have an impact on us and the world around us. These beliefs appear to us to be true because the very behaviours that they influence cause us to search for evidence that supports them. For example, if you believe that a member of staff you manage is not good at their job then you are unlikely to be aware of the things they do well as this would challenge the belief you hold. Instead, and because of the belief you hold, you notice the things they do badly and consequently gather the evidence that supports it so the belief appears real (a self fulfilling prophecy).

Whether these beliefs underpin the structure of our lives and the way we conduct ourselves in the world and the relationships we have, (e.g.“I believe that my children are wonderful” ), or whether they make sense of the mundane and ordinary, (e.g.“I believe that dogs hate cats” ), they are all around us, and impacting our thinking at every turn.However, as well as influencing us they also give our world boundaries and structure. They allow us to navigate through the environments we live in. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) presupposes that “the map is not the territory”. The map is our psychological blueprint that assists us and gives us routes and directions to movethrough our lives. The territory is what is really there. The map is not real, it just helps us to make sense of the territory. For example, a map of the London Underground isn’t the London Underground; in fact it isn’t even to scale. The curves and straight lines bear no resemblance to the shape of the real track. However, if I want to get from Oxford Circus to Embankment the map works perfectly.

So it is with our lives. The beliefs we hold help us to make sense of our world and navigate through it. They aren’t the world, they’re just a useful roadmap. But what if these beliefs restrict us from achieving our goals and ambitions? What if they limit us? What if they restrict our dreams and aspirations? Could changing our beliefs affect our world in a dramatic way? Of course they will not change the territory, only our perception of it. For anyone who is a regular viewer of X Factor, (it tends to be a regular feature of my family’s Saturday evening TV entertainment), some of the contestants will never be professional singers, even though they already hold that belief. The territory will not support the dream. Is it possible that our beliefs about the world around us and our thoughts about ourselves and what we are capable of achieving make the difference between success and failure? Are we victims of the beliefs we hold about ourselves that are only true because we believe they are?

To be continued… Meanwhile, join in the discussion or subscribe below:

and follow us on Twitter.

The post Beliefs and their effect on human behaviour appeared first on Rees & England Ltd.