Does narcissism decrease with age?

A recent study from the American Psychological Association has found that people tend to become less narcissistic as they age. The study which analysed data from 51 longitudinal studies, measured how the levels of narcissism in 37,247 participants (52% female and 48% male), from aged from 8 to 77, changed over time.

Three different types of narcissism were measured. Agentic Narcissism which includes feelings of grandiosity or superiority and a strong need for admiration. Antagonistic Narcissism which includes arrogance, entitlement, callousness and low empathy, and Neurotic Narcissism involves emotional dysregulation and hypersensitivity. Overall, it was found that all three types declined from childhood through to old age and also that differences among individuals remained stable over time, so that individuals who were more narcissistic than their peers during childhood tended to remain that way as adults.

There are a number of possibilities that could explain a decrease. As people grow older, they often become less self-centred, more focused on others and emotionally stable which would correspond to a reduction in narcissistic traits such as entitlement and self-absorption. Life experiences, such as forming relationships, raising children, and facing career challenges can increase empathy, patience, and a broader perspective which can also counteract narcissistic tendencies, whilst roles often taken on by older people such as caregiving and responsibility for others, promotes selflessness and concern for the well-being of others.

Cultural norms and expectations can also influence personality traits over a lifetime. In many cultures, older adults are expected to be wise, generous, and community-oriented, which can encourage a reduction in narcissistic behaviour. Social feedback and the need to maintain relationships may also push individuals to adopt more co-operative and less self-centred behaviours as they age. Psychological growth including increased emotional regulation and improved coping mechanisms can contribute to reduced narcissism whilst the biological changes in the brain related to aging can play a role in altering personality traits, including a potential decline in narcissistic tendencies.

Living or working with someone who has narcissistic trait can be challenging and this new research may have implications not only for the lives of the narcissistic individuals but also that of their partners, friends, and colleagues.  However, although the research found that on average, narcissism gradually declines as people age, it does also show that narcissism is a very stable personality trait and that it can take decades to see any change.

Reconnecting with your heritage

Keywords

Resilience – Heritage – Personal Experiences – China – America – Culture – Family History

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled Richard Hsung discusses his mixed Chinese and American family history, including his grandparents who were medical missionaries in China. Richard was born in China in 1966 and was one of the first teens to leave China legally after Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Richard also talks about his personal experiences reconnecting with his heritage through visits to China and his mother's experiences during World War II. He also talks about the historical impact of the wars between China and America, the resilience of Chinese culture, and the significance of history.

 Main topics

• How Richard has reconnected with his heritage and learnt more about his family's history

• Richard’s mother's experience during the Chinese 1931 flood that killed millions

• Richard’s family's historical experiences during the Japanese and Korean wars

• The political dynamics between China and America

• The resilience of Chinese culture

• The importance of human connections within social contexts

Action items

You can find out more about Richard and his family at Yangtze River by the Hudson Bay

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.      

Negotiate differently

Key Words

Resilience  - Negotiation – Conflict Resolution – Mindset – Authenticity – Bias – Cultural Difference

In this episode of Resilience Unravelled, Dr Russell Thackeray talks to Beth Fisher-Yoshida, a global expert and educator in intercultural negotiation and communication. She’s the program director of Columbia University’s Master of Science in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution and a negotiation consultant for the United Nations. IN this podcast Beth talks about how everyone can make a difference by being open to learning how to negotiate differently.

Beth talks about negotiation and conflict resolution and the importance of having a flexible mindset when operating in different cultures or dealing with conflicts, the challenges posed by media polarisation and the loss of objective news reporting. She also touches on the importance of debate and learning from arguments, even if one doesn't "win."

Beth highlights the importance of being open-minded, adaptable, and respectful in relationships and learning, the challenges of bias and cultural differences that affect negotiations and the different contexts in which negotiations occur. She also outlines the tools and skills necessary for successful negotiations as well as the need to be both a teacher and a learner. She then touches on the concept of authenticity, emphasising that it does not mean being uncontrolled or inflexible but rather embracing all facets of oneself while adapting to different contexts.

Main topics

• The importance of having a flexible mindset when operating in a different culture

• The importance of listening and considering another person's point of view

• Tools and techniques for negotiation

• The language of conflict resolution

• The importance of debate

• How you can learn from losing an argument

 Timestamps

1: Introduction - Russell Thackeray introduces Beth Fisher-Yoshida - 00:00-00:23
2: Background - Beth talks about her background and how she got interested in conflict resolution and negotiation - 02:02-03:29
3: Language and Conflict Resolution - Russell asks Beth about the development of language in conflict resolution and negotiation - 04:32-05:53
4: The Art of Debate - Russell and Beth discuss the importance of debate and the possibility of losing an argument while still learning from it - 08:21-09:01
5: Learning and Adapting - Russell and Beth talk about the different ways of learning and adapting to different cultures and environments - 11:23-13:42
6: New Story, New Power: A Woman's Guide to Negotiation - Beth talks about her book, New Story, New Power, and its contents and structure - 17:34-20:12
7: Negotiation Tools and Techniques - Russell asks Beth about some of the tools and techniques for negotiation that are discussed in her book - 20:20-21:17
8: Real-Life Examples - Russell Thackeray and Beth Fisher-Yoshida discuss some of the real-life examples of negotiation that are presented in her book - 21:17-22:45
9: Conclusion - Russell Thackeray and Beth Fisher-Yoshida wrap up the conversation and discuss how to find out more about Beth Fisher-Yoshida and her book 24:02-25:06

Action items

•  Read Beth’s book ‘New Story, New Power: A Woman's Guide to Negotiation’ which focuses on negotiation strategies for women

• Find out more about Beth at bethfisheryoshida.com

 You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.  

Leading in the hybrid world

For large numbers of people working wherever and whenever they want is now a reality. However, whilst increased flexibility and reduced commuting times are a positive for employees, leaders are dealing with the reality of a hybrid working model.

Leading a hybrid team can be complex. Leaders have to create a collaborative, cohesive culture that merges remote workers with office-based teams. They need to maintain consistently high performance and productivity and deal with interpersonal conflict. They also need to engage and develop talent, lead and support change initiatives, establish goals and priorities and create a sense of inclusion and belonging.

Leaders need to focus on:

1.     Communication: In a hybrid workplace, communication is more important than ever. Leaders must ensure that all team members feel included, informed, and engaged, regardless of where they work. Regular communication channels should be established, such as weekly team meetings, daily check-ins, and virtual office hours. Leaders should also make an effort to communicate in multiple formats, such as video calls, emails, and instant messaging, to accommodate different working styles and schedules.

2.     Flexibility: The hybrid workplace requires leaders to be more flexible in terms of work schedules, work arrangements, and deadlines. Leaders should be open to accommodating different work styles and preferences, and be willing to adapt to the needs of their team members. They should also provide the necessary resources and tools to enable remote workers to be productive and successful.

3.     Trust: Trust is a key component of effective leadership in the hybrid workplace. Leaders must trust their team members to work independently and manage their time effectively, while also being available for collaboration and communication. This requires clear expectations, open communication, and a culture of accountability.

4.     Inclusion: In a hybrid workplace, it's important to ensure that all team members feel included and valued, regardless of where they work. Leaders should be proactive in creating opportunities for team building, such as virtual social events and team-building activities, to foster a sense of community and connection.

5.     Technology: Technology plays a critical role in the hybrid workplace, and leaders must ensure that their team members have access to the tools and resources they need to be productive and successful. This includes providing remote workers with the necessary hardware, software, and training to use technology effectively, as well as ensuring that in-person and remote workers can collaborate seamlessly.

6.     Feedback: Providing regular feedback is essential in the hybrid workplace to ensure that team members are on track and achieving their goals. Leaders should establish a regular feedback schedule and be proactive in providing both positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Overall, effective leadership in the hybrid workplace requires a combination of clear communication, building trust, flexibility, embracing technology, and creating a culture of inclusivity. With these key aspects in mind, leaders can effectively manage and guide their teams and achieve their organisational goals regardless of where they work.

Approaching change

Joe Caruso is a leadership coach who advises CEOs and leadership teams to optimise what they do and how they do it to get what they what in the fastest most efficient way possible. Most of the time if we are left on our own, we do more and more things that are less and less important to the customer. We become lost on our own thoughts and it becomes hard to think objectively about ourselves.

Any time we define a problem, we’ve immediately defined all the solutions our mind can’t consider just by the definition we choose. This type of thinking usually requires a candid experience assessment and a candid exchange of ideas.

Joe feels we need to move away from problem orientated thinking to solution orientated thinking and be able to think back to what could this could be or what else could this mean. These are the kind of questions that once a CEO speaks and gives their definition, people it as gospel. People will tell you that they like change but don't change anything. We tend to become too static in a dynamic world especially in market places that are changing every day.

We’re changing all the time cognitively, mentally and emotionally so the problem is perhaps management practices. The process of being changed or managed through change. Change is a problem in itself but change by its very nature is something we are very good at. The problem is how we approach change. The way we define it is the problem. The last thing people or businesses want to do is change identity.

Any time we define anything in our external world we use ourselves as the foundational context. Who you are affects how you define something. We start with the mind and a simple question is who am I or what have I become. Everything starts with how we think. Narrative is the foundational understanding of who I am. The more we learn about our own narrative the more we can recognise the narrative of others.

It’s about creating a corporate culture based on a compelling narrative that allows us to make sense of the world.  The first thing you need to do to create compelling is Identity. Something that everybody can agree with. Who are we as a collective mind? What problem are we trying to solve? What is our process? A leadership team is the best of what their profession is. But that's not a team that's just the top of the different divisions in the organisation. There has to be a trust and candor where everyone is able to talk on all areas. The CEO job is not to create excellence, it’s to create an environment where excellence can thrive.

 Find out more about Joe at www.carusoleadership.com,

  You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Generational stress in the workplace

Stress is part of everyday life and we are all affected by it at some point. Understanding the factors that drive stress is the key to managing it and this has become increasingly important in organisations with multiple generations in their workforce.

Each generation has its own stress triggers and handles its stress in different ways. On top of the drivers that can affect everyone - changes to the work environment, a difficult situation, a new role or manager, deadline, risks, fear of failure or even something outside of work that generates negative thoughts - there are causes of stress that affect people in specific groups. For example, employees in their 50’s may be dealing with issues such as chronic physical ill health (which can of course have a significant effect on mental health), care of elderly parents or ‘empty nest’ syndrome. Millennials meanwhile could be dealing with anxiety about career progression, social media-related issues such as “FOMO” or low self-esteem that can also lead to anxiety and depression.

Stress can cause a huge number of problems in the workplace so it’s important for leaders to know how their employees handle stress and give them the right resources, whatever their generation. Annual stress audits, regular check-ins with managers and relevant training, development and wellness programme’s, will help organisations to limit stress in the workplace and create healthier, happier employees.

Whilst generational diversity can generate new perspectives, differing values and working styles can lead to conflict and stress. By creating a workplace that doesn’t contribute to unhealthy levels of stress and helps employees to reduce stress drivers, employers will benefit from increased productivity, reduced health care costs, and a more engaged culture.

Leading an agile organisation

The increase in technology based innovation and in evolving customer expectations has driven change at an incredible pace. This has highlighted the importance of having an organisation that is ‘agile and able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing markets and requirements.

Agile organisations can reinvent their approach to business through a balance of flexibility and stability that allows them to react to changing circumstances in a future orientated way. This then enables a positive impact on productivity, quality, customer relationships, team morale, flexibility and the achievement of goals.

To ensure these benefits are achieved, teams need to realise agility is based on a willingness to embrace change. An alignment is required between existing roles and new processes and these should be seen as a top strategic priority which is reinforced across the organisations culture. Leaders need to be seen to embrace the changes themselves whilst providing an environment where employees feel safe, not afraid to fail and able to work with their leaders in finding solutions to current and future challenges.

Organisational agility is essential in today’s rapidly changing world. Organisations need to be ready to challenge and change their operating models so they are able to respond to change and create the capacity to deliver transformation and improvement. 

The benefits of workplace mentoring

Mentoring has often been seen as a great way to help new employees to integrate into the workforce but it could be used for a whole lot more.  A strong mentorship programme can help improve employee engagement, create more diversity, help with succession planning, develop leadership skills, create a strong company culture as well as impact positively on personal development and mental health.

Mentoring can be done on an informal basis by ‘buddying up’ or via a more structured programme but, whichever way, it needs to be part of the company culture. A formalised programme should be part of the recruitment process so new employees are matched with mentors straight away. Managers across the organsiation need to be onboard and the programme communicated so everyone knows it’s an important part of the goals and objectives of the organisation and one they that they can participate in.

It’s not just the organisation that benefits. Mentors have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and show their readiness for further responsibility in addition to increasing the fulfillment they get from their role. For mentees, the support and encouragement they get helps them develop new skills, improve their confidence and ultimately provide them with further career advancement opportunities.

At the moment many organisations are looking for new ways to nurture and retain their best employees. Mentoring can play an important role in this by not only providing support for new employees but also helping to create an open, inviting culture that helps in the retention of staff.

A list of upcoming podcast guests is available here or read our previous blogs.
Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

The Bullied Brain. A new perspective

Dr Jennifer Fraser has been working for a number of years on the idea that if we are raised in a certain culture, in a very intensely trained belief system it becomes very hard to separate your mind from this. Your brain on an anatomical level gets sculpted by your experience. If we are all raised in a certain culture we all come to believe its reality when in actual fact its not.

In her first book Jennifer looked literature to consider how a person goes from being a reader of culture, growing up seeped in a belief system, for example racism, religion or financial, and how this belief system scripts your brain as a child and makes it difficult to see any alternatives. How does someone switch from being a reader and consumer of culture to someone who writes culture, thinks or does things differently and then expresses this to others.

In neuro science emotions aren’t just something innate or inherent within your being. Neuro scientists now talk about how our emotions are actually constructs that are built based on our past experience. One person might look at a loss that's pending and feel overwhelmed by grief because of past scripting whilst another suffer so many loses that they build a resilience to it. They know its not going to destroy them and use another emotional concept in reaction – the idea of really thinking very consciously and purposely about how they are going to act and behave and also how they are feeling. They aren’t just going to feel how they were told they needed to feel growing up as a child. They are an adult so are going to make some choices based on the emotional concept they’ve drawn on depending on they are faced with.

This is the nature of being an adult. In today’s world a lot of mental health practioners treat their clients as children. At work we see leaders and managers treating their teams as children then go home and treat their children as little adults. Have we lost the idea of adulthood?

Jennifer feels this idea is particularly interesting in relation to bullying and abuse. She was recently asked to comment about a case in Canada where a large group of teenagers physically beat and shamed a girl then filmed it and put it out through social media. It was an horrendous act and the police wanted to press charges but It is incredibly difficult to obtain a conviction for adult abusive behaviour.. The legal systems treats adults with kid gloves, people cover up for them and protect them but the police were keen to charge the teenagers when its well documented that the brain is programmed in adolesence to the age of 25 to be risk takers and reward seekers. The pre frontal cortex is not mature and so the decision-making mechanism isn’t good nor is the ability to think about consequences. The brain is not mature or thinking nor does it have rational adult like qualities.

This may relate to the language we use. The term stress is now devalued and meaningless, there is no distinction in mental health between dysfunction, illness or mental health. Low mood or depression means you have a mental health problem. In the same way bullying has lost significance so now anybody using an unpleasant tone of voice is bullying and this detracts from the real situation. Part of the problem is that we have lost the ability to define what we mean by these terms. Being rude to someone else isn’t bullying nor is saying something on Facebook. True bullying is something that takes place over time.

Jennifer doesn't talk about bullying amongst children. She feels it’s impossible to try to solve the epidemic in the youth populations. She talks about adults who bully and abuse children which she feels is the biggest power imbalance on the planet and the most taboo subject. People don't want to talk about parents, teachers doctors or coaches bullying children.

Brain works, paradigms or belief systems train us to behave in certain ways, stop us disobeying or thinking outside the box and tell us to stick to the plan. The plan is that we tell children at a very early age.and train and sculpt their brains to believe that adults, regardless of their behaviour are to be respected. That is a fatal law right at the beginning. When we use the word bullying it is part of the whitewashing because we don’t want to deal with the situation as it makes us uncomfortable. It brings a lot of anxiety and vulnerabiities. To be an adult a lot of people believe that it means you align yourself with power.

Some of the most powerful people in the world today behave like children. That has to be changed. The public encourages this behaviour and it shows that in a cultural way we have lost some of our training around critical thinking and empathy. We need to understand that if we want to get something done about things like bullying we’ve got to start working together in a thoughtful, purposeful, mindful insightful, educated, researched and evidenced based way. You should not be in a leadership position if you cant do that.

Jennifer has come to realise that what she thinks happens is when we become childlike in our behaviour its because we don't know what to do with our brains. We ignore our brains because we cant see it so we act as if its not there. It used to be thought that concussion was a moral testing ground. If you suffered a concussion and then straight back on the rugby or football pitch it was showing you had resilience, that your teammates came first and that you’d do anything for the coach and the win. It was seen as sign of great character but in fact a person with concussion has a brain trauma which can be really serious but because we are a visual, species we can’t see it so it hasn’t happened.

We can’t see our brains so we don’t think or talk about them. We don't teach children about them or encourage teachers to find out more. We don't tell organisations that when young people come to work for them they are not mature. They have incredible creative and vast learning brains but they don't have mature brains until they are 25 so you have to work differently with them if you want to be successful.

We have two choices if we don't pay attention to our brains. We can remain a victim and turn negative, bullying and abusive type behaviour that happen to us against ourselves and develop a mind bully mentality. We don't believe in ourselves, fullfiil our potential or suffer from substance abuse. We put on a facade when we go to work, become a perpetual victim and don't know how to get better. The other group that suffer bullying or abusive behaviour in childhood and their formative years go out and align themselves with the bully and become the next bully. They are as traumitised as the victim but  they align with power and identify with  the aggressor.

If someone has been abused and then goes out in the world when they meet people they are looking for the emotion concept that helps them navigate their world and creates a sense of reality for them. When they go though their file holder and find abuser they think they know how that works, they are comfortable navigating that world, they know the feelings so they can act it out again. They are not going to choose an emotion concept that they don't have in their file holder such as respect - they don’t have that emotion concept so can’t predict it in their next relationships.To get better they have to change their brain by using neuroplascity to purposefully create an emotional concept for respectful relationship with someone.

The human brain is remarkably skilled at learning everything we want it to learn. If you put in the time you can take someone who is highly abusive and rewire and reprogramme their brain. It takes a lot of hard work but after 6 weeks you can see changes that show the brain is not defaulting to bullying behaviour because its been retrained and rewired to actually pause, take a deep breathe and choose a different path - to choose respect, empathy, compassion, diplomacy or assertiveness because we can train all of those skills in the brain. The exciting thing is that as soon as we start working with our brains we can start changing things because our brains are highly adept at healing.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.

Find out more about our innovative Resilience and Burnout solutions.

Jennifer’s first book, Teaching Bullies: Zero Tolerance on the Court or in the Classroom (Motion Press, Aug. 8, 2015), explores what happens when the bully is a teacher or coach.

Her new book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health (Prometheus Books, April 1, 2022), delves into how bullying affects the brain and how the brain can heal.

You can find out more about Jennifer at bulliedbrain.com

The shift to internal mobility

Although some sectors saw increased unemployment levels during the pandemic, many organisations are now finding it hard to recruit highly qualified candidates. This makes it all the more important to access the skills already existing in the organisation so the focus moves from external recruitment to internal mobility.

Internal Mobility programmes give employees the opportunity and training to take on a new role or even a career path with in their organisation. Through prioritising career paths, cross-training and lateral career moves, skills and experience can be transferred and nurtured internally and employees up skilled.

A successful IM programme needs to consider the organisations future strategy and then align what skills are needed now and in the future to achieve these aims. It also needs to understand the requirements of learners as well as the business so a programme is developed that engages everyone.

Studies have shown that employees are eager to develop themselves further. For some people it’s even a requirement for staying with a company. In 2022, internal mobility anchored in the company culture and made easily accessible could be the best way to develop, nurture and ultimately retain talent.

The Culture of ‘Belonging’

DDS Dobson-Smith is the CEO and founder of a SoulTrained, a consultancy with the mission to help leaders and individuals to become more of who they really are. SoulTrained was formed three years ago and before that DDS had a twenty 20-year career in HR and L&D gained in a variety of organisations including M&S and Sony Music Entertainment as well as advertising agencies and civil engineering consultancies. Because of DDS’S background and qualifications in psychology and psychotherapy the idea of bringing that into the workplace really appealed. The SoulTrained ethos of ‘training’ at a soul level believes that when we shift things at the soul level we systemically address changes in behaviour attitude and approach. The idea behind SoulTrained is that they are there to help leaders and individuals to become more of who they really are.

DDS feels that our soul is our light, the very essence of who we are as an individual. When we are born our soul is very present. People talk about how you can see the soul of a child in their early years because it’s very close to the surface. Then when we grow up and experience life we learn to cover up our soul because its either too bright for other people to handle or because we want to protect it from people who are mean or cruel to us. Over time we build up armour that we put on and wear to protect ourselves but which also stops us from connecting from other people. This is particularly true at work where many people, particularly those who come from groups that have identities that come from marginalised or historically excluded groups, cover up aspects of who they are. When we accept ourselves as we are for who we are and accept others for who they are as they are, so much gets moved out of the way. DDS feels this is congruence, of being in touch with your inner self rather than authenticity.

All living things have a soul. The collection of souls that come together become the organisations soul because an organisation is more than a piece of paper, a website or bank account. As an individual we can experience inner conflict, the world of discrepancy theory. The ‘who we think we’ are versus the ‘who we want to be’ versus the ‘who we really are’. This inner conflict we experience as individuals can be experienced at a group or organisational level as well. It comes back to congruency or being in rapport with self, with others and with life itself.

DDS uses Attachment Theory as one of the lenses through which to talk about how to create more belonging at work. From Attachment Theory we learn how to create a template for all of our future relationships through the relationship we have with out primary caregivers from the moment we are born. Connection and nurture is actually a biological imperative and that when we don't experience attachment, nurture and care in our adult life, it can have the same impact as when we don't experience it in our childhood.

There are parallels between parenting styles and styles in which we are parented and how those play out in the workplace.  Someone who is being managed might have a tendency to unconsciously act out the way they might have behaved as a child. When we are managing someone we might a tendency to act out the way in which we were parented.  So many parallels exist between our childhood and adulthood that if we are not aware of the patterns we have learned we may go and replay them in our adult life.

If you are congruent you have the capacity to belong. Belonging is something that is an experience that is part of building an appropriate culture in the workplace. The concept of belonging is particularly topical at the moment. The Great Resignation or as DDS refers to it The Great Realisation has seen a large number of people start to ask themselves some big questions about their life and whether what they do workwise fires them up or brings them light.  If the answer is no, people have decided to make a career change. Some have said yes it is what I want to do but question whether they are doing it where they want to do it or whether it is bringing meaning, purpose and a sense of belonging. The experience of belonging is what many people are seeking, somewhere they can go and be themselves so they aren’t using up energy to cover up, dumb down or suppress aspects of their personality or themselves in order to fit in.  When they aren’t using that energy to create a persona to fit in, that energy is released and available for work.

In order to have that experience of belonging you have to have the behaviour of inclusion in an organisation. That doesn’t just mean how people interact with each other it means policies, decision-making processes and frameworks. In order to have inclusion you have to have diversity. Diversity is binary. An organisation is either diverse or not. The question is ‘do I see people who are like me or not like me’. If the answer to both is yes then its probable that you have diversity. To get belonging you need inclusion. To get inclusion you need diversity but diversity might not always lead to inclusion and inclusion might not always lead to belonging.

The two most important people metrics to consider are employee attrition and employee engagement. DDS sees a correlation between the two in that when one goes up the other goes down. You want attrition to go down, not necessarily to zero because some healthy turnover is good but organisations need to look at the industry average and do better than that. You want engagement to increasingly go up. Engagement is different to happiness. It’s not about making people happy, it’s about the things that help people to feel aligned and motivated to show up.

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.

You can find out more at www.soultrained.com or DDS’s new book is You Can Be Yourself Here: Your Pocket Guide to Creating Inclusive Workplaces by Using the Psychology of Belonging (Lioncrest Publishing, Feb. 2, 2022).

Leadership in the remote workplace: Opportunities and challenges

The combination of technological advances and shifting cultural norms has resulted in the remote work trend continuing to grow in popularity as numerous companies embrace this new way of working. 

However, with the rise of remote work, there is an increasing need for leaders who can motivate and inspire team members from a distance. Effective leadership in the remote workplace requires a different set of skills than traditional office management.

The rise of this new setup in the virtual world has presented new challenges for leaders. How can leaders effectively lead a team when everyone is working in different locations? And how can they leverage the opportunities that come with a more dispersed workforce?

In this blog, I'll be discussing the challenges and opportunities of remote leadership. Leadership in the remote workplace can be difficult because leaders can't always rely on face-to-face communication. However, there are many opportunities to take advantage of when leading a team remotely. Keep reading to learn more!

The opportunities in leading a remote team

Leading a team remotely can present a number of opportunities. For example, it can allow leaders to build a more diverse team, as they are not limited to candidates who live in their area. It allows them to tap into a global labor market.

It can also allow leaders to create a more flexible work schedule, as the traditional 9-5 workday does not bind them. It can improve work-life balance. This can be a huge convenience when managing time and meeting deadlines.

Additionally, leading in a virtual world can help leaders develop their communication and organizational skills, as they will need to effectively communicate with their team members in different time zones.

Opportunities to be innovative and experiment with new ways of working are also beneficial for leading a remote team. This can include experimenting with different communication methods, such as utilizing video conferencing instead of email or developing new corporate policies based on input from everyone in the organization.

In addition to these practical benefits, working remotely also encourages a broader mindset, encouraging all members of a team to think creatively about how to succeed in their roles and what is best for the company as a whole.

The challenges of leading a team remotely

One of the biggest challenges is maintaining team cohesion. Without the daily interactions that take place in an office setting, it can be difficult to build relationships and stimulate a sense of teamwork.

Additionally, remote work can make it harder to monitor employee productivity and identify issues early on. As a result, leaders need to find new ways to stay connected with their team members and ensure everyone is on track.

Another challenge is managing expectations. When members are not present in the same physical space, it can be difficult to manage deadlines and ensure everyone is on the same page. This is why leaders need to overcommunicate and provide clear guidelines.

Communication is also a challenge. With team members working in different locations, there can be a lot of miscommunication. It's important to find ways to effectively communicate with the team, whether that's through video conferencing, instant messaging, or another method.

There can also be technical challenges, such as internet connection issues or problems with video conferencing. These challenges can be frustrating, but it's important to remember that they are not insurmountable.

Lastly, remote work can be lonely and isolating. This is why it is significant for leaders to make an effort to connect with their team members on a personal level. 

Effective strategies for leading a remote team

One key strategy for leading a remote team is establishing clear communication guidelines and protocols. It is important to set expectations around how and when leaders will communicate with the team members and ensure that everyone follows these guidelines consistently.

In addition to establishing communication protocols, it is also important to adopt different communication methods that work well in a remote setting. For example, video conferencing can be used for team meetings, while instant messaging can be utilized for quick questions or updates.

During a video conference, encourage an open webcam policy so that team members can see each other and build relationships. Participants may use an online webcam testing tool to check their setup before the meeting.

When communicating with the team, it is also important to be clear and concise. This will help to avoid miscommunication and ensure that everyone is on the same page. Make certain to provide a written record of team communication, such as in a shared document or chat log.

In addition to these strategies, it is important to foster a culture of trust and respect within the remote team. Leaders should make extra effort to connect with their team members on a personal level and set aside time for relationship building over video chat or email.

Summing It Up

Leadership in the remote workplace is a new and evolving field. There are multiple opportunities for those willing to take on the challenge, but there are also several matters that should be considered. 

Leaders in the remote workplace need to focus on communication, culture, and trust. Communication is crucial to be certain everyone is on the same page. Culture helps employees feel connected to their work even when they're not physically present. Trust allows employees to feel comfortable taking risks.

Ultimately, for anyone who is eager to shake up their routine and find new ways of working, being at the helm of a remote team can be an exciting opportunity indeed. It might not be without its challenges, but these can all be overcome with the right approach.

Guest Blog Author

Jennesa Ongkit is a content writer for VEED.IO and an all-around wordsmith. In her spare time, Jennesa enjoys reading books, watching movies, and playing with her pets.

Does employee wellbeing translate into improved productivity?

As we move further into the post-pandemic world, organisations are increasingly looking at long-term working models. Whilst some organisations found that home working led to increased productivity, others saw engagement and focus decline and productivity drop as employees experienced isolation, anxiety and stress.

Many studies have shown that higher levels of physical and mental health translate directly into greater happiness, increased self-motivation, improved staff retention and absence, better morale and ultimately improved performance and productivity. Whilst leaders are currently juggling many issues, productivity is one of the things they can’t afford to put on the backburner so developing a culture of wellbeing for employees has moved from being a nice to have to a must-have.

Building a culture of wellbeing in the workplace that helps, encourages and supports employees to practice healthy behaviours in the office will optimise employee wellbeing and positively impact on the employee experience to create a working environment where people will thrive.

Whilst in the past productivity has been boosted primarily through investment in skills and technology, now the more an organisation supports its staff in taking charge of their time and life, the happier and more productive workforce it has.

It’s not what you’ve done, it’s how you move forward

Arman Vestad is based in Trondheim, Norway and is a public speaker, father of three and a runner. Before that though he went through a lot of tough challenges. Over the first thirty years of his life he was a criminal, drug addict and debt slave but for the last fifteen he has used the experiences he gained from being on the ‘wrong side’ of life to help others stay on or get back on track.

Arman feels it was a long journey that took him into life as a criminal and that there was no one or anything he could really blame. He had parents who took care of him and three siblings, the one closest in age to him is actual a police officer. He does think though that he had some vulnerabilities when he was a child. He was bullied at school, didn’t have many friends and every so often he received some money from his grandfather. He used this to buy friends so money became the tool to get self-esteem. He had a lack of self-esteem and money was the problem solver. Money has been part of his life all the time in good days and bad days.

Arman feels that he may have had a genetic vulnerability but that he was also affected by circumstance and by friends and people he met. Critically, he moved away from his parents and lived with his grandfather when he was 13 or 14 years old. His parents lived on an island with access to the city only by ferry. Arman loved playing football so asked if he could stay with his grandfather to enable him to play more. He stayed there most of the week and he now thinks that although it was fun staying with his grandfather this was where his problems started. He grandfather was 70 and divorced and enjoyed having Arman staying but there were no boundaries or limits.

Arman now feels children need to have boundaries but at the time he thought not having them was really good. He could do exactly what he wanted and in the spirit of this he also started stealing money from his grandfather.  His grandfather gave him money but it wasn’t enough and when he did it the first time it was extremely exciting. He decided he wouldn’t do it again and would put the money back but he couldn't.  Once you break the boundaries the first time its much easier to do it the next time – he knew it was wrong but he feels that if someone had stopped him and shown him the consequences at the age of fifteen who knows what would have happened.

By the time was 18 or 19 he was a doorman at a club. Some of the customers were criminals and they befriended him. He became part of a culture and adapted to it and one thing led to another and he realised that he could make more money by selling drugs and would do that from time to time. He was a party boy who loved to dance, be happy and share joy. He was very generous so gave away money, drinks and drugs and also made his own drugs which made a lot of money and became addicted because he needed to test his own drugs to see the quality.

Over time the police became aware of him and he was arrested many times. In the mid 90s he was in the UK, Amsterdam and Poland at parties that were part of the rave culture. He didn't feel a criminal, rather he was part of a big community that was testing boundaries but after several overdoses that life had taken a completely different direction. In 2000 he was sitting in a police cell and was at rock bottom  - he weighed 70kgs when two years previously he had been 120kgs. His physical and mental health was a complete mess and he just wanted to stop living.

People standing on the outside don’t understand the power of community. Community has the power to heal and be positive but also the power but to destroy and attract people into a certain set of lifestyle choices. There is a vicious cycle of the community, drugs and crime which can be quite seductive, all partying and having fun but at the same time not noticing what it’s based on. You get caught up in the excitement and hedonism of the time. It is possible to stop the cycle but you need to stop it by removing one of the elements of the cycle and replacing it with something else that gives you that buzz.

When some people hit rock bottom they stay there but others have the resilience to make the decision to change. When he was in the prison cell Arman felt at rock bottom and wondered what have I done to deserve this – I’m just a kid who wanted to fit, be liked and be appreciated for the person I am. He didn’t feel he had enough to change things but the turning point came when he met a policeman a few months later.   Arman had gone even further down but policeman talked to him, asked him how are you today, you doesn't look very good, is there anything I can do to help, name it and I will try to see if I can make it happen. It was a very vulnerable moment and it might not have happened the day before or the day afterwards. Arman was arrested but the policeman visited him the next and that was the ignition he needed - as the policeman had said I don't see you as a drug addict I see you as a person.

Armans life didn't change at that time but when he met the next person in his journey, a prison inspector he had enough confidence in himself to realise he was worthy as a person. The prison inspector spent a lot of time with him and helped point him towards the work he does now but he still had to find his first job after he left prison. The person who hired him asked him two questions at the interview - what have you learned from the time you've been an ex-criminal and how can those lessons you learned help us solve our society responsibility. Those two questions changed the atmosphere completely at the job interview. Instead of being afraid and hiding his CV, he knew she asked about what he had learned so it was up to him to tell her.

One of Armans missions now is talking to managers or companies about hiring ex-criminals and explaining what the benefits are if you hire them. When he got his first job no one believed he would ever survive, that he would be unemployed for the rest of his live. Now, having worked for 15 years for the Norwegian government he can show its possible to change and make a difference. Ultimately it’s not about what you've done, its what it meant and how you drive it forward.

You can find out more about Arman and his work at https://www.armanv.no/en/

You can listen to the podcast in full and find out further information here. Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.

Aligning Psychological Safety, Burnout and Resilience

Psychological Safety is something that Dr Thackeray has long been fascinated by. He is particularly interested in how it aligns with Burnout and Resilience so in this podcast he discusses:

• What psychological safety is

• What it’s all about

• What it has to offer us

• Some of the different theoretical ideas around psychological safety

Dr Thackeray feels that in order to build a psychologically safe culture we probably need to have psychologically safe people. But which comes first? This is where the challenge of resilience links together. The idea of resilience is that after making a mistake or error, resilient people are able to bounce back or forwards, to weather the storm, build capacity for change and understand themselves well enough to know where their own resilience may be compromised. They are able to make a mistake and come back from it.

Psychological Safety works on the idea that you can state the mistake so you don't actually make it or if you do, you can disclose it. So if you aren’t resilient are you able to be resilient in a non-psychologically safe culture? If you are resilient part of the way a making a psychologically safe culture is having the skills of resilience. The term burnout is used to describe a situation where people become exhausted and lose their capacity to care and to cope.  If you’re psychologically safe or talking about the correlation between overwork, a lack of care and burnout this may be an organisational indicator.

This is an increasingly important part of leadership and management. Dr Thackeray feels that part of the challenge is that leaders and managers have lost the subtlety to build a culture that is adult, robust and resilient, where people can still be accountable and responsible for the management of their own feelings. That in creating a psychologically safe culture, there is a risk of disempowering a manager to do what needs to be done.

In a psychologically safe culture leaders should be able to take feedback but Dr Thackeray feels that everybody needs to be able to take feedback. If anyone’s performance has gone off track there needs to be the type of culture where what needs to be said can be said. He thinks that having an adult culture is at the heart of psychological safety.  Having the ability to say I can be accountable, I cannot feel safe from time to time but also that sometimes I have to recognise my part in that process.

The question is how much baggage does a person bring into a psychologically safe environment? When we think about auditing people we need to have a baseline understanding of the level of anxiety that exists for people and also their level of independent safety. If you feel unsafe or feel anxious in your day to day life, your baseline of anxiety is going to be higher than other people so, when it comes to working in teams, having identity, purpose, fun and the ability to bounce ideas around, you are naturally going to be more anxious.

Does a leader therefore create a psychologically safe culture at the level of the most anxious person given that the most anxious person does not always divulge their anxiety? How do you create good practice? As well as great feedback that goes both ways, there needs to be a sense of camaraderie, of purpose and of meaning in the role that you’re doing. You have to have meetings where you say what needs to be said and you’re not shut down for putting forward an idea.

People can ask a very innocent question and someone can take offence or see a threat where there is none. There is a need to build intentionality in the culture, where people state that their intention is to build something but there may be times we it goes wrong but that shouldn’t mean we stop trying even if it isn’t always perfect. Dr Thackeray feels we have to test the culture and test the individual attitudes to anxiety before we start. We also need to have a sense of direction, a sense of meaning in the job and be able to speak out and share ideas without being laughed at.

When Dr Thackeray looks at the confluence of psychological safety, resilience and burnout, one of the key areas he considers is meeting’s. Often in meetings the happiest person is the one running it. People are there but they don't know why. It’s not relevant, it’s inefficient because it’s not the right medium. Meetings are where we can start to spot the issues. If people aren’t saying this meetings not for me, this meeting’s too long, do I need to be at that meeting they need to be more robust about the idea of return on investment and what they produce and where they invest their time. An adult culture allows anxious people to see the value in the time they are spending and making choices in where to spend that time.  So when a leader or manager asks where is the value of your contribution over the last week, that person can say this is the value of what I’ve achieved and this is where my value has diminished because of these effects.

There are always going to be meetings that need to be attended but there are numerous casual or careless meetings where people have just got into a routine. Meetings are where most people come together so if you cant challenge the team and speak out then there is an argument that you don't have psychological safety. If you don't have the confidence to talk to your manager directly, then that may be more of an issue between you and your manager. It might be down to your level of anxiety or their ability to lead you well. On a one-to-one level there is an equal responsibility to look at those things in both ways.

The question is how do we take leaders and managers to produce leadership, management and process that allows culture to be what we need it to be? 

You can listen to the podcast in full here.Our upcoming guest list is also available along with our previous blogs.