Unusual Connections

How to Have a Successful Team-Away Day

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Getting together for a concentrated period of time can be incredibly beneficial for a team. During team-away days, those issues and concerns that are never a priority but that need to be discussed can finally be addressed. Team members can find out how everyone else is getting on and help each other through sharing advice [...]

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Why You Shouldn’t Lose Any Sleep Over It

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:04 +0000

It’s official. Sleeping is essential for survival. We still don’t know exactly why we have to sleep but we know that it is essential to keep us healthy and alert. Our immune system is replenished during sleep. Our neurons fire away making sense of the day and retaining what we’ve learned. A friend of mine [...]

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Laughter Decreases Pain

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:22:34 +0000

I admire people who come up with creative solutions to their problems, so I wanted to share this Scientific American article with you. The authors of the scientific study were trying to understand why laughter makes us feel good. One of their theories was that when we laugh, we release endorphins, our internally manufactured painkillers. [...]

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To Change or Not to Change

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:49:39 +0000

Sometimes we think we could be happier if… I’m sure more stress is caused when pondering over what could or couldn’t be done, what we should or shouldn’t change, than by the actions of doing and changing. Some years ago, I came across a way of tackling this that has helped me enourmously to remain [...]

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Roll Out Your Happiness Carpet

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:42:23 +0000

The Globe awards have just been awarded, the BAFTA nominations have already been announced. With all this talk of glamour, maybe it’s time to roll our your own happiness carpet. It might sound a bit hippy-dippy, but happiness at work continues to attract the interest of psychologists and neuroscientists alike. I set up a training [...]

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HELP! Book Review.

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:18:41 +0000

HELP!: How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Little Bit More Done by Oliver Burkeman If the title (or the cover) makes you smile, then you will enjoy the book. For not only is this a sober review of self-help (personal and professional) literature which also sits well in the genre it is [...]

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Five Reasons Why You Should Welcome Resistance During Change

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:09:49 +0000

Blatant resistance to change is obviously a hindrance. But it can also be a sign that there is something we have overlooked, something we have missed. Far from immediately dismissing a “no” or “I disagree”, we’d be better off asking “why?” and then listening (really listening) to the reply. None of us like to encounter [...]

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Kindle Wellbeing

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:48:57 +0000

I’m no technophobe (I don’t even have a smartphone) but i have become a complete advocate of the Kindle. It’s doing wanders for my mind, my creativity and my back (it’s lighter than a paperback). If you own a Kindle but fear that you are not getting the most out of it or you are [...]

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Is it time to find a replacement for “leadership”?

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:16:36 +0000

At the beginning of the month I ran a day session for a finance leadership team who wanted to address their personal impact, in preparation to decide the kind of impact they wanted to have as a team. Most of those at the session were responsible for other people, but there were a few new [...]

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Taming the Psychological Contract

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:12:39 +0000

The psychological contract is the perception -and this is the key word – of an employee of the mutual obligations they have with their organisation. These perceptions are influenced not just by the formal contract of employment (that would make things relatively easy) but by all the implicit and explicit promises made during his/her time [...]

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