E-LEARNING FOR SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL SKILLS: PROS AND CONS

For many years now, researchers in educational fields have been trying to understand the influence of technology in the classroom. After all, technology is not in the classroom today, technology is the classroom. Discussions with online educators and trainers yield that despite their best efforts in trying to make the session innovative and experiential, it was evident that they were struggling to keep their participants engaged. “It’s so much harder [especially] with the younger members to engage online,” is a common statement.

E-learning is especially challenging when the subject we are trying to teach is Social and Emotional Learning. After all, the reason we focus so hard to build social and emotional skills is often because of the negative effects of technology.

How E-Learning Might be Helping

All challenges considered; it just would not be true to assume that because online education has underperformed in the past, it necessarily means that it will do so again in the future.

A) Learners learn at their own pace: . . . . . . . . . . . . . This is perhaps the most beneficial side to e-learning. In in-person classrooms, the pace of learning (whether too fast or too slow) is often a root cause for behavioral issues (in bored learners) or being overwhelmed (in slower learners). E-learning offers the opportunity for each learner to move at their own pace without knowing the progress of the rest of the classroom.

B) Material can be adapted to meet needs of different learners: . . . . . .. . . . . Different learners often learn best from different teaching styles and content. A teacher can offer the same lesson in multiple formats and learners can respond to the method that suits them best. While this can certainly be a lot of work on the front end, perhaps this year will present us with an opportunity to develop an initial virtual version of our content which teachers can add to in future years.

C) E-learning is more cost-effective: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Virtual learning is far more cost-effective than its in-person counterpart. Online learning presents institutions and organisations with an opportunity to cut costs, especially if the learner-teacher ratio can be increased without a loss of personal connection.

D) The future of online learning is bright: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Technology’s greatest benefit is that it is innovative. It is always progressing and improving. Advances in technology offer hope that future online courses can respond to the needs of learners, meeting them where they are in their learning and engaging them in higher education even better than in-person courses are currently able to do.

How E-Learning Might be Harming

A) Online learning is not performing well… yet: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The track record for online learning has not yet caught up with our needs. Online learners seem to do substantially worse than learners in the same face-to-face course. They earned lower grades, were less likely to succeed in subsequent courses, and more likely to drop out.

B) Underprepared learners are vulnerable: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perhaps the greatest negative in the e-learning column is that it is disproportionately effective on learners of high socioeconomic status. Reports on the effectiveness of online education have found that the results of e-learning are questionable among some learners. While online courses may have the potential to differentiate coursework to meet the needs of students with weaker incoming skills, current online courses, do an even worse job of meeting the needs of these learners than do traditional in-person courses. Even though online learning offers access to everyone, the benefits of it are not yet available to everyone.

C) Distraction is the greatest drawback of technology: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 2018 article in Psychology Today presented an interesting finding: A new study revealed that students who used technology in class did worse on their midterm and final exams than students who did not use technology in class. The study also found that students were negatively affected by the presence of their cell phones in the classroom even if they never looked at it. Though relevant from a school standpoint, its relevance across all learners does provoke a thought.

D) Learners suffer from “Online fatigue.” : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For learners, virtual classrooms create the illusion that you are being watched at all times, which can create fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Although some technology is working to change this norm, it is unlikely that having 20 squares of people all staring at you on a regular basis is going to change anytime soon.

Ideas for Improving SEL in the Virtual Classroom

Though there are positives and negatives to e-learning, the reality is that the virtual classroom is here to stay. So how do we make the most of the positives and minimize the negative effects?

A) Provide opportunities for students to learn at their own pace: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If we want to create a successful e-learning experience for our students, the progress and pace will have to be determined by them. The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning. Thought:- How could we create opportunities to allow learners to move at their own pace through the material?

B) Utilize screen time to inspire in-person engagement — even at a later time: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Our screen-to-screen time should be used to inspire experiences and activities in our face-to-face time especially when we are teaching social and emotional skills. The next time we teach a social or emotional concept, make sure that the learners have a clear experience or activity to utilize in their interactions with family and friends. The best e-learning encourages real-world action. Thought:- How could we encourage virtual learners to engage in the real world?

C) Offer flexible time – more one-on-one time with learners who need it: . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . Many teachers are already doing this, but we may have to be more intentional with it. Knowing that many of our low socioeconomic status (SES) learners, or learners with other cultural challenges, may be lagging behind in the virtual classroom means that the most successful teachers will be those who actively reach out to learners who they suspect might be struggling and engage them in one-on-one learning where possible. Thought:- Which of the learners need extra help this week?

D) Utilize technology to leverage the best of what e-learning has to offer: . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . The greatest benefit that e-learning has is the progress that is being made each month in both artificial intelligence and technology. While the COVID-19 pandemic has set us back, it has also garnered a boom in education technology. There are more exciting advances in educational technology happening now than perhaps at any time in the past. Thought:- What new technology (apps/ websites/ tools) can add value in the classroom and how to integrate it into the learning process?

3 Ways To Achieve Behavioral Change Via eLearning

Behavioral change is the biggest indicator of successful learning and is the hardest to achieve. In the case of soft skills training, compliance training, even sales training, a behavioral change should be the expected output and not just completion of the training. To achieve behavioral change, we need to rethink and restructure our learning systems. Here are 3 effective ways the L&D departments could use to ensure behavioral change through eLearning.

1.- Microlearning: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . James Clear in his breakthrough book Atomic Habits gives a great example while illustrating how tiny changes give remarkable results. Imagine a plane that is en route to New York from Los Angeles. While taking off, if the pilot changes the course by 3.5 degrees to the south, no one on the plane will even notice this change. However, this tiny change will have the plane land in Washington, D.C. instead of New York. Of course, you would not want to be on this plane, but the point James Clear wants to emphasize is that tiny changes can bring out a considerable amount of impact over the time.

Similarly, Microlearning can act as a catalyst of tiny changes aimed at substantial behavioral changes in employees. Microlearning is not a technological solution to L&D; it is a learning strategy and needs to be implemented as one. A daily DOs and DON’Ts email, a weekly video about best practices, a fortnightly gamified quiz with leaderboards, a very short course about latest product updates for sales team can all become tools to use Microlearning. Behavioral Change will require continuous reinforcement. Learning is a continuous process. To implement Microlearning successfully, we need to:

        i.            Set the trajectory of the learning initiatives according to the behavioral change we want to achieve.

       ii.            Break all learning content into tiny milestones, each milestone addressing and contributing to the big change.

     iii.            Let these Milestones decide the frequency and duration of Microlearning resources.

     iv.            Use the best possible delivery platform that adheres to the new strategy.

2.- Continuous Learning: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditionally L&D has suffered through the course-based learning wherein a learner completes a course and is deemed as ‘trained’ on something. These training programs are planned once or twice in a year, or worse, when something really disastrous indicates the need for a training program. However, the volatility of business today led by technological disruption demands a workforce that is continuously evolving. To achieve this, learning continuously is non-negotiable. Micro resources need to be used to create a stream of continuous learning. These resources need to be aligned with:

        i.            Business objectives, of that year, quarter, month or week.

       ii.            Employee’s journey in the organization – for example, what’s the point of training someone on a topic that will be relevant for them only after 3 months?

     iii.            Context is the key to achieve any sort of learner engagement.

Continuous learning will help inculcate learning habits, which will then lead to creating a culture of learning in the organization. And over time, a continuous reinforcement of relevant information will bring out the sought-after behavioral changes in the workforce.

3.- Learning Analytics: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Every successful online consumer platform today is digging user data to analyze and evaluate the user behavior. Based on the analysis, they keep improving their platforms to evoke desired behaviors from their consumers.

While L&D measures the efficacy of their learning initiatives by measuring the time spent on a course and score earned by the learners. Of course, there are lots of reports generated from a learning delivery platform, however, most of the time the focus is on measuring whether the knowledge was imparted, and if yes, how much. Obviously, these reports do not give the insights into the patterns of interactions between the learners and the learning.

L&D needs to leave its patronizing position and treat learners as consumers of learning programs. We need to use Learning Analytical tools to measure, evaluate, and predict the learner behaviors. Learning Analytics will allow us to peek into each and every aspect of our learners like when are most of the learners learning – on the job or on weekends, on Tuesday mornings or Thursday evenings –, what are they searching for, what are they answering wrong, at what point they leave the learning platform, what excites them and what frustrates them. We will be able to create a lot more effective learning strategy moving forward. It is pretty simple – if we want to change behaviors, the first step will be to analyze the existing behaviors.

**Source Credits: 1) The book-  Atomic Habits by James Clear. 2) The Publication- Psychology Today (Sussex Publishers)

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

EXPLORING HUMAN BEHAVIOR THROUGH SCUBA DIVING: LESSONS AND INSIGHTS – (CHAPTER 01)

Scuba Diving is one of those activities that changes us in many ways. Not just through the training, but also by what we see and experience underwater, has this lasting effect on how we experience the world above. A lot of sports and hobbies can reinforce our character and teach us valuable life lessons. Here are some ways in which we think, Scuba Diving has changed our lives. It might be a stretch, but some of those lessons apply to management and business as well.

01) -> Equalize Your Airspaces

During descent, the pressure changes, increasing with the weight of the water, pushing on places in our body with airspaces that are unaccustomed to it. The first things to complain are the ears. We can fix this discomfort, equalizing the pressure to match the change around by pinching our nose and lightly blowing. This adds air into the cavities and canals running through our head and the discomfort dissipates. Every dive is different. Sometimes the ears complain and sometimes the build-up is in the head: behind the eyes, stemming from the nose, centred in the forehead, wherever our congestion may be. Everyone descends at a different rate depending on how their body responds. Sometimes we feel stuck above everyone else, watching them continue to their depths, while we are left behind. Other times we watch others from below, kicking up slightly, wiggling their jaws, trying any and everything to get their sinuses to cooperate.

Lesson:……………. Equalization can be correlated to life; everyone is moving at different rates, allowing themselves to become accustomed to their surroundings at different times.

We need to be patient with our self and to not worry about the other people around us. Diving with pressure-induced pain is not fun, just as forcing yourself into certain situations can be uncomfortable. If we give ourselves time to adjust, time to equalize and overcome the surrounding pressure, we will get to the destination all the same. It does not matter how quickly or slowly we descend along our paths of life, as long as we keep trying and keep practicing different techniques until we find the one that works for us individually.

Trying to muscle through the pressure and stresses of our lives can end up hurting us. And with that comes the simple notion of listening to our body, heart, and mind. Sometimes it is okay to take a step back, kick ourselves up a bit where the pressure is not so strong, and give yourself some extra time. Sometimes it is okay to say, “it’s not happening today, I’m going to sit this one out and try again tomorrow”.

02) -> Breathe Continuously And Never Hold Your Breath

While underwater, it is essential to maintain a constant breathing rate, inhaling and exhaling, that raspy, rhythmic sound filling your ears. The reason for this is that when we are diving, we are breathing compressed air under pressure. If that pressure changes, so does the volume of air. As we descend underwater, the pressure increases, compressing the air, swelling its density, causing us to inhale a higher volume of air than we would take in with a breath at the surface. When we ascend, the pressure decreases, and that compressed air, in response to the drop in pressure, starts to expand.

When we breathe normally, the expanding air is vented out naturally when we exhale.

If we hold our breath, our lungs do not inflate and deflate like they are designed to.

Our lungs are a fixed airspace, a flexible organ that can only hold a finite amount of air.

That held breath of air grows upon ascent, enlarging inside the lungs, unable to find a way out, filling them up until they can swell no further and, like a balloon that cannot hold another breath, they can rupture, causing a lung over-expansion injury that can turn fatal.

Lesson:. . . . . . . We hold our breath in life, maintaining our rigidity, not allowing ourselves to inhale new air and exhale the old. We are steadfast in our habits. We liked things a certain way and don’t want change. We are not meant to be uncompromising, inflexible, and unchanging, like the lungs stretching and straining under the confines of a held breath. We should accept the new in all its forms, accepting novel ideas and cultures and ways of thinking about things, eliminating old habits and prejudices and things we thought we knew.

When we move through life, the pressures are either increasing or decreasing, stresses are either heightening or diminishing. We need to remember to breathe. To take in all the new and good and unfamiliar regardless of what our depth is, and to release all the old and bad and comfortable, thereby making room for the new. If we hold onto the old for too long, it continues to fill us up, expanding and growing and getting bigger until we, unaware of its cultivation, burst at the seams. We should strive to immerse ourselves in new environments, surround ourselves with new pressures, growing and changing and adapting, and all the while remembering to breathe.

03) ->  Adjust Your Buoyancy in Small, Frequent Amounts

Balanced buoyancy, horizontal trim, that perfect composure of rising slightly on the inhale and faintly falling on the exhale, is what separates the good divers from the bad.

Any diver will tell you that, in order to find that perfect positioning, you have to adjust your buoyancy in small, frequent amounts. We do not need to press the inflator button for too long, filling the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) with air that wants to bring us back to the surface. Little bursts will do, and the same goes for releasing air as our tank empties and we become more buoyant throughout the dive.

Moving the weights around little by little, trying new positions on each dive, finding that ideal spot on your body to bring yourself into a sleek, straight line is something that divers do the more and more they submerge themselves. We learn to minimize your movements, quick flicks of the fin to change direction, mostly floating and flowing along with the current, frog kicking to propel yourself along a constant plane running parallel to the ocean’s bottom.

Being able to control the body and maintaining jurisdiction over its movements and manoeuvres in the water is key to be able to spot microorganisms by getting close to coral without touching it. During diving, adjustments made too quickly or drastically, can have chaotic results. Power inflating the BCD, causing us to balloon to the surface, can result in bubbles forming in the blood. Using big, clumsy kicks as we swim along can either damage coral or disturb the visibility.

Lesson:………………… Having good buoyancy carries over into our lives. Making small, intentional movements brings about a sort of self-awareness that you cannot achieve with those big, drastic changes. Think of it as biting off more than we can chew. If we make too many big changes all at once, how will we ever figure out which variables yield desired results? Making small adjustments: try this today, try something else tomorrow, find what works to bring myself out of that feeling that everything around me is crashing.

This is a secret to moving through life: small adjustments, acting with intention, understanding what actions and thoughts make you feel certain ways. It is all a process of trial and error, moving our weights, practicing as much as we can, getting better with each new discovery.

04) -> Communicate with Proper Hand Signals

We all learn the universal hand signals: thumbs up means “I want to go up”, thumbs down means “lets dive deeper”, two fingers to the other hand’s palm is asking “how much air do you have”, and the thumb and pointer making an O with the other three fingers released is a question and an answer: “Are you okay?” and “yes, I’m okay”. The main thing here is that communication is key. In an underwater world where the tongue is tied, we have to be able to say what we want with the tools we have. And, we sometimes have had to learn how to read and understand people, not with words, but by how their eyes look behind their masks, sometimes wide and fearful, other times crinkled with a smiling excitement.

Not everyone speaks the same language and not everyone communicates the same way, but, as soon as we descend, letting that water wash over our heads, our language becomes universal, and being able to understand one another can make or break the dive.

Lesson:………………………………… The same is true in our normal lives. Communication is key. Almost every major problem, whether that be on an individual, communal, or global scale, is rooted in a conflict of communication. Different words and phrases have different meanings around the globe.  Listening to each other, establishing a norm, understanding the root of what someone is saying and the reason why they would be saying it that way is something that has challenged us all. We are all brought up differently, raised to believe different things, but at the end of the day we are all trying to communicate the same thing: this is me and I just want to be accepted.

Being empathetic and understanding other aspects of communication are vital to finding and providing that acceptance: reading the look in someone’s eyes, interpreting body language, deciphering why someone may be acting a certain way. We are all floating along in a sort of shared solitude, alone with our thoughts and interacting with others when we get the chance. But understanding each other, using those agreed upon hand signals and being aware of other cues, makes or breaks our time with each other.

***To be continued in Chapter 02 (Points 05 to 10- Link Below)

LESSONS IN BEHAVIOUR FROM SCUBA DIVING – (CHAPTER 02)

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

BEHAVIOURAL LESSONS FROM THE WORK-FROM-HOME ERA

It is safe to assume that an overwhelming majority of the population has now participated in a videoconference. People who may not have even known how to start one six months ago now use them daily—and it is all beginning to feel normal. The technologies that we have all come to rely on have so seamlessly infiltrated our lives that it is easy to overlook their impact. But when we consider the repercussions of remote working, we will see that these platforms have taught us more than just how to use them. They have made us better leaders, collaborators, employees, and employers. Here are some lessons we did not realize we learned from the tools we use to work from home.

Lesson 01- Transparency is not so frightening after all: . . . .. . . . . . .  

Many of us who came of age in the business world between the 1980s and the 2010s have an innate fear of letting a client see anything before it is “ready.” As businesses, we are entrusted to lead projects that constitute millions of dollars in revenue, which has led to the belief that if work is shared with a client before it’s “perfect,” then that trust will be lost. However, after five months of remote work during the most unpredictable time in most of our lives, it’s clear that nothing is perfect and the notion that we need to pretend it is has no place in our minds. Being open and vulnerable in business isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Lesson 02- Our significance is no longer tied to our location: . . . .. . . . . . .  

Good talent is expensive. You get what you pay for, and the best talent in the world is either totally undiscovered or very successful (hence the high cost). Employers did not know what they could not see, so if you were not directly in front of them, they had no idea you existed. The global pandemic has completely changed that.

With budgets being slashed, offices closed, companies shuttering, and the gig economy being revitalized, we have all been forced to realize that remote work works. The past notions of “oh, they work in a metro/ tier 1 city, so they must be good” are gone, and as people across the country were able to refine their work-from-home setups and became familiar, even comfortable, with Slack, Zoom, Dropbox, etc., the playing field was levelled. The migration of talent and remote work reckoning will afford talented creators and businesspeople from across the globe more opportunities and shake businesses clean of the attitude that someone is less valuable if they are not in a big city. After all, in today’s world, if you have tech tools, Wi-Fi, and talent, you can get the job done.

Lesson 03- Our collaboration skills might want improvement: . . . .. . . . . . .  

Between zoom, slack, chat, messenger, texting, and a good old-fashioned conference call or two, there are endless channels for socially distanced conversations to take place. But collaboration is something entirely different, and it is important to remember that talking is not co-thinking, and co-thinking is what gets things done. Energy, attitude, and personality cannot be ‘remoted’ through even the best fiber optic lines. (**quoted – Jerry Sinefield).

Every video call platform has managed to make it more obvious than ever how often team members speak over one another. It is an honest mistake, but even the slightest lag has taught many of us to wait our turn, take a second, and make sure we are not infringing on someone’s time to speak. This small change many have unconsciously implemented has made all the things that feed innovative thinking that much better.

The truth is that as humans, we adapt. Sometimes it happens so quietly that we don’t even notice. So, the next time we notice ourselves waiting our turn to speak, being more vulnerable with a client or co-worker, or not second-guessing our value, we can say a silent “thank you” to all of our work-from-home technology for helping us make positive changes from our couch.

Behaviours That Bring More Focus

Focus seems to be the key. It’s hard to imagine achieving anything of value without given it due attention. And whether it’s in relation to family life, work or study, more focus enables more effective setting and achievement of goals. But while most of us can appreciate the benefits of focus, the path to becoming more focused is often elusive. This is especially the case in our modern world: where gadgets, social media and around-the-clock coverage of world events (and non-events) often serve to distract us.

One solution could be to simply avoid the same things highly focused people avoid. Study after study of highly focused (and not-so-focused) people has given us a good idea of the do’s and don’ts of maintaining attention and getting the job done. Here are some behaviours of focused people:

They do not focus their attention on being focused: . . . . . .. . It might seem counterintuitive, but recent research suggests the best way to gain and keep focus is not to try. In other words, maintaining focus could best be undertaken as a defensive sport. Allowing even 200 milliseconds of mental distraction (around 1/5th of second, i.e., the blink of the eye) can disturb our focus for up to 40 minutes. Getting distracted depletes both our physical energy and our brain power. For example, it uses up vital thinking resources and pushes us more quickly towards mental overload—a state wherein we are less able to make decisions. By contrast, placing effort on getting rid of random distractions regains our focus and preserves our scarce, mental reserves.

They reframe dull work to be interesting: . . . . . . . . . We are only focused when we’re interested in the topic. It is no surprise that if the task at hand is incredibly boring, we lose focus quickly. Nonetheless, seldom in life do we get to work things that are always interesting and engaging. For that reason, highly focused people reframe whatever work or tasks they have, to make them more “interesting”. For example, signing a bunch of documents might be reframed as a chance to reflect on the beauty (or ugliness) of your signature. Reading an exceptionally long and poorly structured client brief might allow thoughts of copyediting.

They never begin something without clear, realistic goals. :. . . . . . . . Goal setting is an entire sub-field of management behavioural science. One of its many insights is that setting clear goals increases productivity. However, the mechanism by which goals appear to boost productivity relates to focus: clear goals give a person an object of focus and helps them mark progress. And that leads to something else. The goal-setting literature says our objectives should be challenging; however, they should also be realistic. Goals that are set too high or too low undermines focus and, as a result, productivity.

They chase those goals with flexibility and agility: . . . . . . . .. At the same time, highly focused people do some things that seem counterintuitive. For example, they set goals but do not set rigid ways of achieving them. As a result, high focused people leave themselves open to exploiting opportunities that arise along the way. These opportunities might make their existing goals easer to reach or change them altogether. When people set out with a rigid plan of action towards achieving goals, they are mostly asking “how” and not “why”. Yet. while seemingly harmless, this subtle distinction reduces focus dramatically. For example, as we become bogged down in the details of pursuing a specific action plan, subconsciously, we get lured off-topic by distractions. Part of that might stem from frustrations in not responding to what is happening then and there. By contrast, asking “why” opens the doorway to accepting alternative approaches and revising what we are doing based upon new data. By doing all that, it helps us maintain focus out of maintained interest and engagement.

They use diversions strategically: . . . . . .. .. Diversions are not always bad. While it’s important to distinguish random distractions from those related to our undertakings, there’s even an important place for random distractions in maintaining focus. Brief, strategically timed distractions—often at various intervals while doing our work—helps us “bounce back” into focus. For example, highly focused people might walk outside to observe the hustle and bustle of city streets or go for a walk in nature or even have an irrelevant conversation as a bounce back strategy. The only caveat is if the distraction involves electronic devices—which, for other reasons—can operate on our brains through visual channels and detract from focus.

They prioritize the mind-soul-body connection:. . . . . . . .. Highly focused people understand that their physical, emotional, and even spiritual condition can influence their abilities to maintain attention. Sufficient sleep is important for maintaining focus, even though many believe “all-nighters” or crunching for deadlines are effective ways to work and focus. Highly saturated foods lead to poor focus, and even a slight amount of dehydration kills our attention and leaves our brains foggy.

Having aggressive emotions (such as produced by an argument or by reading a politically-explosive news article) can affect our abilities to reason for some moments after the event—apart from depleting our mental reserves as they arise. The many ancient practices of meditation and prayer offer different ways of gathering focus.

They never befriend their electronic gadgets:. . . . . . . .. Science shows that our devices distract our attention and deplete our focus substantially. That might seem obvious, when considering email or chats, but even the mere presence of a mobile phone near us, impairs our ability to focus. Studies have shown that our grey matter is pivotal in enabling us to switch tasks and regain focus, as well as process information, build memories and other vital functions. Not only is multi-tasking across electronic media distracting, it could progressively impair our abilities to focus over the longer term by affecting our grey matter.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION TODAY: BEHAVIOURS THAT HELP IDENTIFY

“I need to figure out how to motivate my employees.” When was the last time we thought that to ourselves? It could have been the other week when we noticed one of the direct reports dragging his/her feet on a project that’s critical to the company. Or, perhaps it was the other month when we felt frustrated that the team was not being proactive about addressing customer issues. We hear this sentiment of “how to motivate employees” frequently from managers we work with. We, as leaders, are not the only ones thinking this. Employees themselves admit that they do not feel as motivated at work as they would like.According to research, only 2 in 10 employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.

However, this question of, “How to motivate my employees as a manager?” is a misguided one. It implies that motivation is something we give another person. That is patently false. Motivation is not a thing we give to people — motivation is a thing people already have.

Employees inherently have energy, ideas, gifts, and talents that are worth being shared with the world. We, as leaders, simply need to get out of their way and create a space for that energy, ideas, gifts, and talents to thrive. The question we should ask ourselves is not, “How can I motivate my team?” but rather, “How can I create an environment for my team members to motivate themselves?”

Here are some things we can do as leaders to create the conditions for employees to motivate themselves and doesn’t undermine intrinsic employee motivation that they already have.

1. Immerse yourself in discovery.

We cannot enable another person’s motivation to flourish if we don’t know what motivates them, to begin with. As a result, a key part of effectively creating the conditions for strong employee motivation in our team is to figure out what motivates them?

Hopefully, we have got a sense of this when we were hiring them — as the interview process is very much about understanding what drives a person. However, if it still remains fuzzy, here are some questions we will want to ask during our next one-on-one meeting to figure out, at their core, what the team member is motivated by:

It is also a good idea to share these questions ahead of time, thus giving them time to think about the questions. We can say something like, “I’d love to discuss broader, deeper life questions during our next one-on-one,” and can also share an agenda ahead of time. We may continue to ask these questions as we work with this person over time. Discovery of motivation is not a one-time, one-off occurrence — it is an ongoing, consistent practice.

• Personalize everything where feasible.

Motivation is personal. What motivates one person might not motivate someone else. As a result, it is important to have nuance in the conditions we create for motivation to grow — we need to individualize those conditions. This means specifically aligning projects, goals, and incentives with what the other person is motivated by, and no one else.

This seems intuitive, yet we often unintentionally (or completely unknowingly) project our own preferences and proclivities onto another person. For example, because we find detail-oriented work very easy, we might assume the other person does as well, and we proceed to hand off a very data-focused, detail-oriented project to them.

Then, we notice that they are not motivated on the project and seem to be struggling, we wonder, “Hmm why aren’t they really stepping into it?” When we consider the individual nature of motivation, the answer becomes obvious: It was a mismatch of aligning the project to what motivates that person the most. However, sometimes, there are projects that must get done and goals that have to get met — and we cannot customize or individualize them.

• Create flexibility/ choice.

While we cannot always individualize and perfectly match someone’s project and goals with what they are most motivated by, we can create positive conditions for motivation by enabling choice in what people can do. In Edward Deci’s seminal book on human motivation theory, Why We Do What We Do, he describes how “meaningful choice engenders willingness” and results in a higher quality of decisions, and greater motivation and commitment to the task.

For example, while someone may not be able to choose their project, we can give them a choice in how they want to approach the project. Or in another situation, instead of assigning someone a set of goals, we can invite them to participate in the formation of those goals and enable them to choose it. Studies have shown that when people can actively choose their own goals, they are more likely to follow through on them.

• Discontinue surveillance.

What damages the conditions for motivation the most? Surveillance has been revealed in studies to negatively impact intrinsic motivation. Anytime we are peeking over someone’s shoulder, making a mental note of what time they log on or log off, or when they enter the office — it is not helping. Additionally, consider how deadlines and imposed goals undermine intrinsic motivation and negatively affect performance. Are we arbitrarily setting targets to create an artificial sense of “urgency” or “accountability”? Or are we trying to create a supportive environment that is truly helpful for a person getting to where they need to be?

• Acknowledge constraints and feelings.

Sometimes we cannot create a good environment for motivation. The company is tight on resources, or there is a toxic person who is dragging the team down, but we don’t have the authority to let that person go. When you know that prime conditions for strong motivation are not there, recognize that. Share with the team, “Here’s why I know that sucks” or “I so appreciate you bearing with this” and we demonstrate how much we understand their point of view. This sharing of the rationale behind why things are constraining or not feeling good helps to minimize the pressure that detracts from performance. Acknowledging the bad helps clear room for someone to try to do good.

• Clarify expectations.

On occasion, our team does not seem motivated because their behaviour doesn’t match up with our own conception of what “highly motivated” looks like in our heads. In short, we as leaders have not made clear what the real output of strong motivation looks like in our team. Does it mean that people are moving faster? Does it mean a higher quality of work? Once we have determined what the product of “stronger motivation” looks like, then consider: How well have we communicated this to the team? Do they know and are they aware that is the output and product they should be creating?

As a leader, when we are trying to figure out how to motivate employees, what we are truly trying to do is create a context in which they can act. We are creating an environment for the team to motivate themselves.

**Source Credits:-

The Book- Why We Do What We Do by Edward Deci 

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY: ADAPTING TO CHANGE AS LEADERS

Now more than ever before, leaders all over the world are facing change and complexity — the coronavirus pandemic has presented us all with new challenges, new circumstances, and new uncertainties. Adaptability is a requirement. Because change is constant and inevitable, leaders must be flexible to succeed. Adaptability is about having ready access to a range of behaviours that enable leaders to shift and experiment as things change.

Conversely, it may also be argued that inflexible leaders limit the adaptability of others. New initiatives may be halted or stifled. Resistance to change may undermine critical projects or system-wide implementation. Employee enthusiasm, cooperation, morale, and creativity are jeopardized, making it all the more difficult to run the business or organization.

Am I a Flexible Leader?

Consider our personal approach to change. How do we respond when facing change??->

If few or none of these responses describes us, we are not alone. Many of us get stuck, have a hard time letting go, or simply don’t know how to proceed in unknown territory.

The 3 Types of Flexibility That Help You Adapt to Change

We need to practice the 3 components of adaptability: cognitive flexibility, emotional flexibility and dispositional flexibility.

A) Cognitive flexibility — the ability to use different thinking strategies and mental frameworks:. . . . Leaders who have cognitive flexibility are able to incorporate different thinking strategies and mental frameworks into their planning, decision-making, and management of day-to-day work. They can simultaneously hold multiple scenarios in mind and can see when to shift and inject a change. Cognitive flexibility indicates nimble, divergent thinking, an interest in developing new approaches, the ability to see and leverage new connections, and the propensity to work well across the organization. These leaders readily learn from experience and recognize when old approaches don’t work.

B) Emotional flexibility — the ability to vary one’s approach to dealing with emotions and those of others:  . . . . . Leaders with emotional flexibility vary their approach to dealing with their own and others’ emotions — an area that many leaders often fail to consider. An emotionally flexible leader is comfortable with the process of transition, including grieving, complaining, and resistance. Adapting to change requires give and take between the leader and those experiencing the change. A leader without emotional flexibility is dismissive of others’ concerns and emotions and shuts down discussion. At the same time, an emotionally adaptive leader moves the change or agenda forward.

C) Dispositional flexibility — the ability to remain optimistic and, at the same time, realistic:  . . . . . Leaders who display dispositional flexibility (or personality-related flexibility) operate from a place of optimism grounded in realism and openness. They will acknowledge a bad situation but simultaneously visualize a better future. They are neither blindly positive nor pessimistic and defeatist. Ambiguity is well-tolerated. Dispositionally flexible leaders see change as an opportunity rather than as a threat or danger. By learning and practicing behaviors that boost your cognitive, emotional, and dispositional flexibility, you can become more adaptable and, in turn, help others to adapt.

Cognitive Flexibility: Meaning & Ways to develop

Cognitive flexibility refers to our ability to disengage from one task and respond to another or think about multiple concepts at the same time. Someone who is cognitively flexible will be able to learn more quickly, solve problems more creatively, and adapt and respond to new situations more effectively, which is why it’s so important in both educational settings and the workplace. Building your cognitive flexibility is a great way to develop professionally and keep up with the ever-changing work environment of the future. Some ways in which this can be done are:

A) Alter our everyday routine: . . . . . For instance, if we are accustomed to taking the same route to work each day, look for a different route or consider taking the bus instead of driving ourselves. If you usually get your exercise at the gym, change things up by running in the park or going for a bike ride. Even making the smallest of changes like sitting at a new spot at the dinner table or using our left hand to brush our teeth instead of our right can help us build and strengthen new neural pathways.

B) Seek out new experiences: . . . . . Each time we experience something out of the ordinary or learn something new, the brain creates new synaptic connections. New and interesting experiences have also been shown to trigger the release of dopamine, which not only increases motivation but also enhances memory and learning. So going out of our way to experience new things or engage in novel activities can go a long way towards helping us develop cognitive flexibility. This might mean travelling to another country or volunteering in a new industry, but it could also take the form of activities like learning a new language or musical instrument, taking a dance class, or even exploring a part of town we are not familiar with.

C) Practice thinking creatively: . . . . . . Another way to build cognitive flexibility is to make an effort to think in unconventional and creative ways or practice divergent thinking. Divergent thinking usually occurs in a spontaneous and free-flowing manner and involves thinking in terms of unlimited possibilities rather than a limited set of choices.

D) Don’t always take the easy way: . . . . . . . These days we have technology and apps that make our lives easier in countless ways, from spell check and autocorrect to GPS. But the truth is that making things easier for ourselves isn’t always the best thing for our cognitive flexibility. Research shows that introducing so-called “desirable difficulties” can lead to deeper learning, so by making a point of not always choosing the easiest way of doing things, we can keep our mind sharp and even learn through our everyday experiences. For instance, if you’re driving to an area you’re not familiar with, try to navigate your way using a map and asking for directions rather than using your GPS, or instead of reaching for your phone the minute you need to make a calculation, grab a pen and paper, and do it the old-fashioned way.

E) Go out of our way to meet new people: . . . . . Meeting people from different cultures and walks of life whose perspectives and viewpoints are likely to differ from our own can help us to be less rigid in our way of thinking and accept that there may be more than one “right” way of looking at things. Research shows that people who are exposed to situations that challenge their ideas about what’s right and wrong tend to have greater cognitive flexibility. So make an effort to meet people outside of our normal social circles, whether that means travelling abroad, volunteering, teaching, or connecting with people through social media.

F) Transfer our learning: . . . . . Learning to transfer what we have learned in one context into a new context can be a great exercise in cognitive flexibility, because it forces us to form new connections between previously unconnected networks of knowledge and think more creatively. Without the ability to transfer skills and knowledge to new contexts, our learning won’t have as great an impact. If we want to develop our ability to transfer knowledge, research shows that explaining a new concept in our own words not only helps us identify any incorrect assumptions, but also helps us to generalise a concept for future application. Once we are sure we understand the concept, we can look for ways to apply it in real-world situations.

G) Challenge our morals: . . . . . . Seeking out experiences that test our morals and expose us to a variety of beliefs, values, and expectations can give us a better understanding of culturally different perspectives and help us become more flexible in our thinking. Even if we don’t necessarily agree with someone’s point of view or belief system, being cognitively flexible means we will be able to think about why they might see things that way and understand their point of view. This ability will make it easier for us to communicate with people, resolve conflicts, and adapt your thinking to various situations. Of course, travel is one way to challenge our way of thinking, but even just reading about moral dilemmas and thinking about them critically can help us develop in this area.

Tips for Flexible Leaders

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

UNDERSTANDING MODERN LEARNING BEHAVIOURS

Young thoughtful man using laptop. Idea concept

The first thing we need to do, is think differently about the word “learning” itself. Learning doesn’t just happen when we are trained or taught or study something – that’s definitely the traditional view of learning: sitting in a school classroom or university lecture hall or in a corporate training room or working through an online course on your computer.  Of course, training is important – but it’s not the only way we learn at work. Research shows that people use digital tools to learn in 4 different but interconnected ways:

1. People learn through Discovery – that is by finding things out themselves (mostly on the Web) through searching or serendipitous browsing. We might also refer to this as Informal Learning
2. People learn by Interacting With Others (whether it be in their professional social networks (like Twitter or LinkedIn) or with their work colleagues. We can refer to that as Social Learning.
3. People learn fromfrom their Everyday Work Experiences. We might refer to that as Experiential Learning.
4. 
   And of course, people do learn by Being Taught Or Trained – what we usually refer to as Formal Learning. But, although this is the dominant way of learning for L&D departments, research shows that only around 10% of what people learn at or for work happens in this way.

So, when we talk about online learning, this means we need to think about how we can promote and support all of these 4 ways learning digitally or virtually. 

Research has also shown that people actually rate classroom training and e-learning as the least valuable ways of learning at work.  There’s lots of reasons for this (boredom, frustration, lack of time) so, if we simply replicate the classroom online we just repeat the same mistakes. So, here are things to consider:

Duration and Form:

If you are thinking about converting your classroom sessions into live virtual training (on Zoom, for instance) then these sessions need to be short – 30 mins works best, give or take 5 mins either side. They also need to be highly interactive (either using the platform’s own interactive features, like polling, chat or Q&A) or by incorporating other online or even offline activities. In other words, a live training session shouldn’t just be used to broadcast content.

Flexibility:

But don’t think creating an online course instead would be a better option. Rather create short flexible online resources in different formats – video, audio, even text and graphics – so that they can be used for different purposes – JIT learning, performance support, reference etc. These resources can then be used in the way that the individual wants – whether it’s working through them in a linear fashion or just dipping in and out of them. This approach reflects how people prefer to learn for themselves on the Web. Simple resources can be very effective – you don’t need to create highly sophisticated materials.

Accessibility in Workflow:

Furthermore, it’s not then about monitoring course completions in an LMS to measure learning; it’s about making these resources available in the workflow – on the intranet for instance – so that they are easily accessible (and not locked away in another system) and people can use them as they will to do their jobs- and then measure their effectiveness in terms of improved job performance.

Self-Discovery:

But it’s important to remember that L&D can’t possibly create everything everyone needs to learn to do their job or to prepare them for the future; so it’s really time to think how to help people become self-sufficient and discover more for themselves online. In fact, that’s what a lot of them are already doing – and probably more so now they are in lockdown. So, it’s about promoting incremental learning (that is gradually building on what they already know) – as an important part of online workplace learning.

One way is for organisations to start encouraging everyone to establish a daily self-learning habit. That means spending just 20-30 minutes a day discovering something for themselves (on the Web) to support their own professional goals. It might not sound like a lot of time, but it all adds up – to around 2 ½  hours a week, 10 hours a month, and over 100 hours a year – that’s equivalent to around 10-12 training days.

Learning as a Culture:

Some managers who recognise the importance of continuous and incremental learning are already giving their people time to do this, but if your own managers are not quite ready for this, then your people might be encouraged to do this in their own downtime (on their commute – if they still have one) or perhaps at a coffee break. It’s for their benefit as much as the organisation’s since there is no longer such a thing as a job for life, and everyone needs to take responsibility for their own continuous career development.

And there’s a lot that can be done in 20-30 minutes. You can read a couple of blog posts or articles, listen to a podcast, watch a video. People should do whatever suits their needs, interests and preferences – there’s no one size fits all.

The Modern Learners:

Lots of people are “modern learners”, learning for themselves in this way, others may need help to understand what’s possible and to acquire some of the new modern learning skills, like searching, curating, subscribing, sharing and so on.  But there are couple of other things the organisations can do to get the ball rolling:

1. They can curate some relevant online resources for them either to build a collection of useful stuff your people can delve into on different topics
2. They can offer some daily micro-learning – that is small pieces of curated or (even created) content to help them build their knowledge on a topic.
3. They can also provide links to key people to connect with on Twitter or LinkedIn, because building an effective professional network with whom they can regularly interact, is, as we have seen, another key way of learning – by interacting. 
4. Interacting with ones colleagues is, of course, vital too. Remote workers are, undoubtedly, now making greater use of online social platforms like Microsoft Teams, Yammer and Slack for their work, but helping teams use these very same platforms to share their knowledge and experiences with one another, so that they can continuously learn from one another online as an integral part of work – still needs some encouragement and support.
5. Teams might also benefit from support to help them “work out loud” and share their key work experiences so that the learning from the daily work doesn’t go to waste, so duplications can be spotted and people can get help from others with their projects, or their challenges and issues
6. Organisations can guide their social learning experiences and help teams learn and share as an part of their daily work, which of course is a big part of learning by experience.

Therefore, there are lots of things the organisation can do to support learning online at work – rather than just creating online courses and running virtual live training. There is a lot of value in working with teams to help them share resources effectively and discriminately on their social platforms – to make sure they don’t over-share and overwhelm one another, perhaps in order to try to get to the top of a leader board —  and how to add real value to what they share, so their colleagues get something meaningful from it.

But if the organisation still considers that an online course or programme of some sort is required, then all these elements – resources, activities, social experiences – can be combined to provide a varied, flexible online learning experience, blended into a learning campaign – which provides a varied stream of resources or challenges over a fixed period – perhaps 30 days. This is a very useful way of changing behaviours (like helping to establish a daily learning habit) which can’t be achieved by a one-off online course.

We are all going to have to adapt to new practices, habits and behaviours when we are back at work, so this is prime time to start preparing for the new world of workplace learning.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa

FLEXIBLE WORKING: COUNTERBALANCING BEHAVIOURS

The Benefits of Work-Life Balance

Flexible working is more than just a trend. It represents a huge change in the way that organizations manage their work and their people. Even before the coronavirus lockdown, many organizations were exploring new ways of operating that allow people to have a better work-life balance. Ways that increase their engagement with, and control over, their work. The lockdown has forced us to adapt to new working patterns quickly. And now, as the restrictions start to ease, we’re thinking about adopting some of these new practices in the longer term.

What Is Flexible Working?
Flexible working is any work pattern that differs significantly from the traditional, office-based, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. standard. It can involve working from home, working flexible hours, job sharing, or a mixture of all of these. The different kinds of flexible working are:

A) Working from Home

Working from home is exactly what it says: work carried out by employees in their own homes. Research shows that a large number of the workforce were already spending a quarter or more of their work time at home even before the COVID-19 lockdown. The same research suggests that the number of regular homeworkers has risen by 173 percent since 2005. Home working is most widespread in industry sectors that are not tied to a specific location. Professional, technical, financial, and information-based organizations will likely be able to offer home working as an option. Those in the manufacturing, construction or logistics sectors will likely not.

B) Job Sharing
Job sharing means that two (or more) people share the duties of one full-time job, each working part-time. Each job-sharer must have access to the same systems and information, and have the skills to carry out the job on their own if necessary. Good communication and trust between the job sharers is vital.

C) Flexible Hours
A flexible-hours scheme allows staff to work different hours than the normal company start and finish times. For example, in an office where most people work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., some might be able to work 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Flexible hours are particularly suitable for people who have care responsibilities at particular times of day, and for those who regularly work with team members, vendors or clients based in different time zones.

D) Compressed Hours
A compressed hours schedule involves working the usual number of hours in the working week, but in fewer days. For example, an employee contracted to work a 40-hour week might work four 10-hour days with a fifth day off, rather than five eight-hour days.

E) Results Only Work Environment (ROWE)
ROWE workplaces delegate responsibility for targets entirely to team members. In a ROWE , you’re measured by your performance, results or output, not by the hours you’re in the office. You have a high degree of autonomy over your projects, and the freedom to choose when and how you’ll meet your goals.

All of these formal arrangements can run alongside a flexible working policy – a set of principles or promises to be adhered to, for the mutual benefit of employee and employer. Such arrangements are based on good communication, trust, and a few absolutes.

Note: Flexible working is not the same as working flexibly , which is the ability to adjust to short-term change quickly and calmly. This should be possible – and desirable – in any working arrangement.

What Are the Benefits of Flexible Working?
Flexible working can benefit both employees and their organizations, so long as it is considered carefully in advance.

How Flexible Working Benefits Employees
For an employee, flexible working has many benefits:

1. It can help you to balance your work with your other responsibilities, like caring for children or an older family member.
2. It can also create a sense of autonomy over your work, which can increase engagement and job satisfaction.
3. Being able to schedule work to suit you can help with time management, and to combat stress.
4. Having control over where and when you work allows you to play to your strengths, particularly if you work better at certain times of day .
5. It enables you to build self-care into your daily routine, making it easier to incorporate exercise into your day, for instance.
6. Financial benefits can include being able to schedule travel on public transport at cheaper times, traveling less, or not having to commute at all.

How Flexible Working Benefits Organizations

1. In recent years, flexible working has become a key factor in the ability of organizations to attract and retain talented staff. Research has found that employees believe they would change jobs for one that offered flexible working.
2. The preference for flexible working was particularly marked in younger employees, who increasingly expect variable hours and home working to be part of any employment offer.
3. Also, since engaged employees are more likely to stay with an organization, a flexible working policy can improve staff retention and reduce hiring costs.
4. Employers can also recruit from a wider pool, as potential employees do not necessarily have to live within commuting distance.
5. Flexible working arrangements can also reduce office operating costs, as not everyone is in the office all of the time.

Benefits to Society.

1. In the Covid-19 era, traveling off-peak and working from home helps with social distancing.
2. In the longer term, flexible working may help to reduce pollution, due to a reduction in travel.
3. In addition, more people can take on a wider range of jobs, in different locations.
4. Flexible working also supports the inclusion of careers, older people, and people with disabilities or chronic illnesses in the workforce.

The Pitfalls of Flexible Working

1. Flexible working needs careful implementation and management to be successful. Although it has many benefits, it has potential problems, too.
2. Communication can be a problem when people are working in different places, or when their office hours don’t overlap.
3. It’s essential to have the right systems in place for tracking tasks and building relationships with your co-workers.
4. It’s easy for misunderstandings to happen on team calls or in virtual meetings, so make sure that you know how to run remote meetings effectively .
5. When you’re working from home, it’s vital to minimize distractions. It can be all too easy for the line between family time and work time to become blurred, for example.
6. When you’re away from co-workers and managers, it can be easy to fall into bad behaviours such as procrastination. Make sure you have a routine and a daily To-Do List to keep you on track.
7. Employers need to consider how they will fulfil their duty of care to their remote workers. For example, ensuring that they have a safe work environment and are given the appropriate training.

How to Implement Flexible Working
Regulations on flexible working will vary according to your location. Employers don’t have to grant the request but do have to show that they’ve considered it fairly. If you are managing a team or an organization, flexible working arrangements that you agree with staff members must be fair to them and to other team members. If you make flexible working available to one team member, in most cases it should be available to all.

This may cause difficulties if some teams within your organization (for example, sales and marketing) would suit flexible working but others (a production line, for instance) would not. So, it needs to be handled sensitively. Consult senior managers or your HR or People team before you make any promises or commitments. When a team member proposes a flexible working arrangement, or you think that it would benefit the way your team works, begin with an informal conversation. This should cover:

When you have a good general idea of how the flexible arrangement could work, you can hold a formal meeting to focus on specific issues, requirements, and contractual changes. Aim to nail down the details of how the arrangement will benefit the business, and how you will manage it. Put the outcomes of this meeting in writing, with explicit and measurable standards, so that everyone is clear on their responsibilities and the actions that need to be taken. Ideally, a commitment to flexible working should be rolled out across the whole organization. Even if the precise terms of the flexible working vary between teams or individuals, there should be a clear policy available for all staff to consult.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa