Mastering a Skill

We all have skills that we can just do without even thinking about it, they are so well practiced, they are what we call automatic.  This is due to neuroplasticity which is your brains amazing ability to learn and create new pathways, enabling you to do things without having to think about them.  

Consider the time when you first learnt to drive; how complicated it seemed with all the different controls that needed to be operated whilst having to monitor your speed, consider your surroundings and navigate streets.  Now you can get in a car and just drive, you don't need to consciously think about how to drive, you just do it - that is a great example of your brains ability to learn and create automatic behaviours.

This is great news because you can take a new skill and with practice, your brain will create new pathways allowing you to master it. The speed of the mastering differs from person to person and from skill to skill but what we do know is that consistent practice is the foundation of mastering the skill.

Helen Harding

Building High Performance Teams (Part 2)

The second question is:
What do you have to do in order to make this happen?

This often draws a blank response.  Finally someone realises that the answer is that they have to treat people the way they wanted to be treated. This is often a light-bulb moment for many people! People often have the revelation that they are clear about what they want from others, but it hadn’t occurred to them that they have a part to play. Some people look a bit sheepish at this point, perhaps embarrassed that they hadn’t considered that their behaviour can influence the cohesiveness of the team, so it is important to point out this was a common way of thinking, and move onto Steps 3 and 4 in order to move things forward. These steps are important to making building a strong team a reality. Any guesses what these steps are? 

 
Simon Pimenta

Building High Performance Teams (Part 1)

When running sessions on team building, as well as doing a number of exercises, I ask two simple questions that often prove to be very thought provoking. These questions form 2 of 4 steps to create a strong team environment.

The first question is:

What sort of team would you like to work in?

When first answering this question people often identify what they don’t want, for instance bitchiness, gossip, talking behind people’s backs. 

Part of my job is helping people to translate these statements: what they don’t want (for instance bitchiness) into what they do want instead (for instance tolerance).

When answering what they actually do want, answers can include:

Respect

Openness

Honesty

Trust

Transparency

Humour

Tolerance

Patience

Read on later in the week for the second question...

Simon Pimenta

More on the Mind-body connection

Another great video which shows the mind body connection at work:

What examples do you have of how we use the mind body connection?

Phil Parker

Action For Happiness

I’ve recently become involved in the new charity ‘Action for Happiness’ which really does take creating a happier, more contented society seriously. The charity recognises that happiness and work are related in the following key ways: 

Research suggests that there are three fundamental human needs that must be satisfied for us to function well and be healthy psychologically. These are: autonomy (the need to have choice over our behaviour and actions), mastery (the need to feel competent) and relatedness (the need to feel connected to and cared about by others).  The satisfaction of these needs has been shown to predict psychological well-being in a wide range of countries and different types of cultures.  As human beings we are all driven to ensure these needs are met. Indeed Deci and Ryan the psychologists that are best known for this research, liken these needs to "innate psychological nutriments" - things that nourish and sustain us.

For more information see www.actionforhappiness.org or contact us.

Kate Gare

Over Commitment

Growing job lists and increasing pressure are leading people to over commit themselves in all areas of their life.  Not only is this putting additional stress on individuals which in turn will affect their health and wellbeing, they are not achieving anything because they are trying to do too much.  Focus is the name of the game, chose one or two priorities and focus on them, when they are done allow yourself to recognise what you have achieved before moving onto the next item.  This will allow you operate in a much more balanced way, cross items off your job list and gain a sense of achievement.

Helen Harding

How to stall up-skilling

The CIPD’s latest Learning and Talent Development Survey 2012 reveals that ‘traditional learning methods are considered amongst the least effective ways to up-skill employees – but they still dominate many L&D programmes.’  
http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/learning-talent-development-2012.aspx


Kate Gare

Laughter

When was the last time you laughed and laughed until your stomach hurt and happy tears were streaming down your face? For me it was yesterday, it was the most ordinary, simple thing that set myself and my friend into fits of laughter and it felt gooooood!

So why is laughter so important?

• Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
• Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of wellbeing and can even temporarily relieve pain.
• Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
  

           (source: helpguide.org)

Laughter and a sense of humour are crucial when dealing with life and it's ups and downs. Once you inject humour into a problem you immediately relax and change your state of mind and body.

So surround yourself with your funniest friends, your favourite comedy sketches and book a trip to the cinema to see the latest must see comedy film - your health requires it!

To get you in the mood, here is one of my favourite funny YouTube clips- only 15 seconds long!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&feature=player_embedded


Claire Brooker

Mind-Body Connection

Interesting column by Oliver Burkeman in The Guardian a few weeks ago looks at research findings about the mind-body connection and how seeing them as one contributes to healthier lifestyles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/27/mind-body-connection-oliver-burkeman


Kate Gare

The Power of Posture!

Posture is important and can have marked effects on the hormones that our body produces.

Researchers at Columbia and Harvard¹ found that people who adopted ‘power postures’ produced higher levels of testosterone and decreased levels of cortisol (the stress hormone, which can cause health problems long term). Power postures include putting your feet up on your desk, hands behind head with fingers interlaced and elbows out.

Conversely, sitting slumped in your chair led to a drop in testosterone levels.

When we’re stressed, we tend to adopt ‘low power’ postures. These postures can create stress and tension in our bodies. When stressed, one client would sit in a hunched position, with her head to one side. She was experiencing headaches and muscle pain, which disappeared when she learnt a set of techniques designed to break patterns of stress.

So think about your posture, and if it’s a low power posture, change it!

¹ Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance

Dana R. Carney², Amy J.C. Cuddy³, and Andy J. Yap²

²Columbia University and ³Harvard University

Simon Pimenta

Phobias

A person with any type of phobia is usually a well balanced and highly functional individual. Interestingly a phobia can be seen as a great and skillful example of our brains ability to learn rapidly from just a single experience. If only we could apply this learning ability to other things like exams or learning to drive?!

So have you got a pitch or presentation coming up during which you would love to feel comfortable and confident? Perhaps it's a meeting with your boss? The good news is your fear of public speaking can be fixed.

Phobias are mental programs that run in a predictable way. There is always a trigger that stimulates some kind of external sequence, producing a familiar and predictable response. To stop a phobia response you change this internal sequence, replacing it with a new strategy that creates better choices of response to that particular stimulas.

Are you interested in resolving this once and for all? If the answers 'yes', please feel free to drop me an email: claire@philparker.org

Have a great week :)

Claire Brooker

Amazing Mind Body Connection Video

This is my favourite video and is a perfect demonstration of the mind body connection:

Phil Parker