Amity Institute Of Training & Development

December 24, 2024, The journey toward achieving your goals may be the most difficult endeavor you have ever undertaken; however, it is accompanied by undiluted challenges and triumphs. With an open-minded, optimistic approach and strategic steps that help you cross some hurdles, surely, you will unlock your full potential for success. It arises from a recent research that Forbes conducted where it writes that 3% of the graduates who wrote down the goals ended up earning ten times as much as the other 97% put together ten years after their graduation. Another research by Datalligence.AI also pointed to the same percentage of people that actually attain success and how vague and general goals need to be specific, measurable, clear with no ambiguity at all. In this blog, we shall explore what you need to do to achieve your goals, understand what is stopping you, and get you moving by providing practical strategies overcoming the obstacles in your way. Did You Know? A Forbes study reports that only 3% of people who set their goals on paper achieve them. On the other hand, as reported in a Forbes study, those who write down their goals stand a 10 times better chance of achieving it. Understanding Excuses: What’s Stopping You from Achieving Your Goals? Excuses have their roots in fear, self-doubt, and procrastination. These are the psychological burdens that deter you from pursuing your goals to achieve them. Some of the usual excuses include: Fear of Failure: The fear of failure would make many take the road to nowhere and instead try to desecrate the real goals set. No Time: Lack of time is one of the usual excuses people present when asked about why they did not work on their goals. To be perfect: The need for everything to go well also produces the fewest results. To free yourself from these excuses: identify it as what it really is: self-imposed limitation. Importance of Goal Setting: Achieving Your Goals When a person sets definite goals and action targets, success will surely find its way. Goals direct one on what to do and give everything direction and purpose. Here are the 4 steps to achieve goals: Define Your Goals: Be more specific about what you want to achieve. Create an Action Plan: Break down your goals into actionable steps. Track Your Progress: Continuously see how much ground you have covered. Adjust When Necessary: Be flexible and willing to make changes in the plans. With these steps, you can shape diffuse aspirations into real achievements. (Source: Inc.) How a Positive Mindset Can Help You Achieve Your Target One of the major factors causing failure is a bad mentality. Because you end up with excuses and therefore inaction when you let self-doubt and fear of failure control you, it becomes pretty much impossible to achieve your goals in life. This involves realization of making mistakes as part of the journey and learning from them. “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”- Benjamin Franklin Whatever the mind believes, the body achieves. The body follows the mind. Goals sustain momentum. Seeing progress is addicting. No seriously, it is addicting because of the dopamine released in your brain after attaining a reward.  Just as a snowball grows as it is rolled down a hill, momentum works the same way. Whatever you were doing you probably did not want to stop because you were what Mikhail Csikszentmihalyi called “Flow” which is the optimal state of mental performance. DO U KNOW ? that the fear of failure can be such a big emotional paralyzer, which stops people from acting? Due to a fear of failure, many people, according to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, do not pursue their goals as much, hence creating the phenomenon of a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there are times when we have a bizarre tendency to give up the goals that we desperately wanted to achieve. There is a sense of “freeze” or developing a cold foot before we think to achieve what we have decided for ourselves. We feel as if there is this sense of being chained and held back. Something that is making us captive and not letting us be where we wanted to be. Let us explore together what holds us back from achieving our goals. (Source: Lingaro) DO YOU KNOW? Many organisations lack the appropriate funding for data literacy. In this survey, 78% of the organisations that have data literacy training hit their KPI for manufacturing cost—just 50% in those without. What Are the Common Barriers to Achieving Your Goals? 1. Fear of Success Research first diagnosed the fear of success a couple of decades ago. Most scientists and psychologists agree that fear of success exists for both men and women. Fear of success is common, but many of us do not realize that we have it. Self-sabotaging activities – such as procrastination, negative self-talk, and fearing what success will bring – may hold us back from achieving our goals. Fear of success is like the fear of failure. They have many of the same symptoms, the biggest problem for many people is that their fear of success is largely unconscious. They just do not realize that they have been holding themselves back from doing something great. If you experience the following thoughts or fears, you might have a fear of success on some level –  You feel guilty about any success you have, no matter how small, because your friends, family, have not had the same success. You do not tell others about your accomplishments.  You avoid or procrastinate on big projects, especially projects that could lead to recognition.  You frequently compromise your own goals or agenda to avoid conflict in a group or even conflict within your family.  You sabotage your work or dreams by convincing yourself that you are not good enough to achieve them. You feel, subconsciously, as though you don't deserve to enjoy success in your life. That success is something you just will not be able to hold on to if you do achieve it.. Eventually, you will fail, and end up back in a worse place than where you started. So, you think, “Is it worth enough?” How to Keep Achieving Your Goals Despite the Fear of Success The good news is that the more you face your fears, bring them to the surface, and analyse them rationally, the more you are likely to weaken those fears – and dramatically reduce your reluctance to achieve your goals. Take a realistic look at what will happen if you succeed with your goal. Do not look at what you hope will happen, or what you fear will happen. Instead, look at what is likely to happen. It is important not to give a quick answer to this. Take at least 15 minutes to examine the issues and write down your answers to questions like these.  How will my friends and family react if I accomplish this goal? How will my life change?  What is the worst that could happen if I achieve this goal? What is the best thing that could happen?  Why do I feel that I do not deserve to accomplish this goal? How motivated am I to work toward this goal?  What am I currently doing to sabotage, or hurt, my efforts? How can I stop those self-sabotaging behaviors?  Another useful technique is to address your fears directly, and then develop a backup plan that will overcome your concern. DO YOU KNOW? According to Dominican University, only 43% of goal-setters achieve the goals they set. Another study says that, considering the nature of visualization and envisioning the success of the goal, one can become twice as confident in attaining those goals. 2. Obstacle Thoughts So, any time you set yourself a new goal, your mind automatically runs through all sorts of reasons why you can't do that thing, and achieve that goal. That’s normal. So a new goal for you will be to do something different with that, which probably takes you out of this safe comfort zone. Because it may just be a bit unknown or uncomfortable and in which case your mind is doing its job to keep you safe (or perhaps fool you). It is creating obstacle thoughts to stop you from leaving the safety of what it knows.  Obstacle thoughts are the thoughts you are thinking now that stop you from producing the results that you want. Obstacle thoughts can sound like “I don’t know how to do it” or “I’ve never done this before”. They are the thoughts you are thinking about your new goal and if you choose to believe these thoughts, they will probably stop you from achieving your goal. They may also be holding you back from even starting to work towards your goal. What Are the Steps to Achieving My Goals Despite Obstacle Thoughts? The even better news is that once you know what your obstacle thoughts are, you can stop using them as ammunition on yourself and can use them to create action steps or strategies to help you get to where you want to go. Firstly, in conquering your obstacle thoughts, write them down. Take your page and, at the top, write down your smart goal. Then, list all the obstacles and thoughts that come into your head when you think about attaining that goal. Once you have your obstacle thoughts on paper, you can see them objectively. You start to see how they are optional or not held. Secondly, challenge your thoughts and think of ideas to prove them wrong.  The third step is to choose one of the new ideas from step two and put this action step into practice. Plan and put it in your diary. You must keep taking the action step repeatedly until it becomes a habit. Doing this provides your mind with evidence that you do know what to do. This allows your mind to continue to look for more evidence to prove this new thought is true. 3. Too much positive thinking Dreaming of wonderful outcomes can feel great. Unfortunately, those feelings can stop us from doing the hard work necessary to make our goals a reality. If you want to change, you might want to confront your dreams with some hard, cold, even negative reality, studies show.  “It’s so pleasant to believe that positive fantasies will work,” says Gabriele Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University and the author of Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. “But it’s too good to be true.” Dreaming about a positive future “can entice you into thinking you are already there. Then you do not get the energy to go there. Instead, you just lean back and enjoy the moment.” How Mental Contrasting Aligns with Achieving Your Goals Psychological research shows that we should start making pragmatic plans to accomplish our goals instead of simply dancing in daydreams. This means comparing those rosy visions with our current reality, identifying the obstacles, and finding the best way to overcome them. Research shows that most people fail to effectively engage the strategy in their daily lives, meaning that our good intentions remain wishful thinking, and we never reach our goals. The research paper from Creatrix Campus, "Barriers to Student Success in Higher Education with Career Counseling," emphasized career counseling in overcoming academic challenges. In a study on effective counseling, results showed increases in engagement, satisfaction, and stress reduction while simultaneously increasing the job placement rates of students, making the support in achieving educational goals very relevant. What's Holding You Back? Achieve Your Goals- Exemplify Excellence with AITD Achieving your goals is a step toward success, but it does need a lot of commitment, planning, and proactive steps. Knowing the barriers that make you not move forward in life is part of working toward achieving your goal. Therefore, let us discuss the steps to achieving goals and how the Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) can assist you with them. Role of AITD in Achieving Your Goals There are various things that AITD does which help people and organisations achieve higher levels. Its role includes giving conflict management training, which can be very important in the success of reaching high goals. 1. Conflict Management Training AITD provides specialised training in conflict management. Such a skill will allow one to handle conflicts effectively. It is necessary for holding onto a great work environment and preventing your conflicts from causing your way to your goals to achieve. 2. Workshops on Goal Setting Workshops on the 4 steps to achieve goals, AITD help you understand how SMART is setting objectives of the same. You would be guided to define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. 3. Learning Continues AITD emphasizes lifelong learning, helping to constantly keep achieving their goals through learning and enhancing knowledge base and skill sets. This is necessary for competing in the current fast environment. 4. Networking and Teamwork The AITD programs afford you the opportunities to connect with other professionals sharing the same aspiration. Through this network, you may easily achieve your target by cooperating and supporting one another. 5. Financial Goal Resources AITD provides resources for people to achieve your financial goals. The different budgeting workshops from the investment strategies are held towards an appropriate practice for measures to drive in the realisation of one's finances. 6. Business Goal Support Its focused guidance to achieve your business goals has greatly helped entrepreneurs and business professionals. Sessions on strategic planning, mentorship programs, and more round out AITD's offerings Success Stories and Testimonials Success With many testimonials for a proven track record in success in helping individuals and organisations realize their goals, AITD's capabilities in this regard could very well be testimonial to successful attainment of positive goal improvement. A recent report indicated that 95% of its clients have seen great improvements in goal achievement after completing their programs. One client, Sarah, related what happened between her and AITD: "Before this, I used to make excuses and excuses and then let the obstacles hold me back. But after receiving the training on conflict management and growth mindset from AITD, I was able to break through the barriers that were holding me back and I was able to meet my goals earlier than I could have ever even imagined." All with the right tools, coupled with a sunny disposition with such organisations as AITD, you set yourself up for doing more than you ever thought possible at the top and touched new heights. Never forget that it's never too late to start anew and never stop achieving your goals.

December 24, 2024, I always wondered why we never have two-moment similar in our lives? Why is there always some difference or change in our two experiences of the same object? Why in our lives have we never lived two identical days? Why are our emotions always in constant change? It has been said that change is the only real constant. The whole universe is in the constant rhythm of change. The flora and fauna around us are in constant change of growth and decay. The clouds are changing their patterns now and then, the cells in our body are in constant change, the topology of the earth is being changed with natural and man-made calamities, our moods keep on changing due to controllable and uncontrollable variables. It appears to me and hopefully, you would also agree that the entire cosmos - macrocosm and microcosm are together in a rhythm of constant change. Resistance to Change Most of us don't take too kindly to change especially when it is thrust upon us. We have many terms to describe resistance: pushback, not buying in, criticism, foot-dragging, and so on. We may also perceive resistance as a broad spectrum of behaviors that we don’t like—from an innocent question to a roll of the eyes to overt sabotage. Resistance to change manifests itself in many ways, from foot-dragging and inertia to petty sabotage to outright rebellions. People react to change in many different ways. Some may respond with fear while others may respond with denial. This resistance to change can be better handled if we knew the reasons why. The best way for people who are initiating the change is to understand the predictable, universal sources of resistance in each situation and then strategize around them. The Challenge of Implementing Change Change is always difficult to make, be it individual change or organisational change. Resistance to change can slow implementation, degrade benefits and in some cases cripple the entire project or the work that you are involved in. Most of the organisations have lost their identity and have become history due to the shear resistance to change. Resisting change is like we are trying to stop the never-ending waves of the ocean with your bended knees. But can the waves be stopped, No! Embracing Change Facing change today is a lot like surfing. Just like waves, change never stops. No two waves are exactly alike, but there are patterns. Waves form, roll, peak and break. Often, the difference between catching the wave and missing it completely—a fate worse than a wipe-out—is how well you understand the characteristics of that particular wave as it forms. Like change, waves can feel pretty scary. Finding yourself on the wrong side of a wave is no fun. Getting on the right side of that same wave, however, is incredible—exhilarating, enlivening and empowering. For organisations, if one harnesses the wave the right way, change can become a source of competitive advantage—energizing, stimulating and even fun. Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change John Seely Brown, the former chief scientist of Xerox Corporation and director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), has shown that the frequency of change and the degree of interdependence we experience today are both new. Previously, periods of dramatic change—such as the introduction of the steam engine, the telegraph or even cars—were followed by periods of relative stability. According to Brown’s work, the periods of stability we’d grown accustomed to were roughly 50–70 years long. In the last 20 years or so, however, new technologies have upended and destabilized that model. Today there are more ways the world can change, and, because we are increasingly interconnected, that change can spread faster. No matter the change we experience, how we embrace that change will forever impact how we can live with the change. The impact may be good for us or not so good for us, we don’t know and that makes the change so difficult. The change also sometimes brings with it a force which compels us to let go. It compels us to let go of the attachment to familiar habits, practices, places and people which makes it more difficult. Lets, together look into the reasons as to why we continue to resist change at the workplace and life in general. Resistance 1: The Most Difficult is to Let it Go! We all have our set and pet notions about ourselves, others and the whole wide world. Change shakes up those notions. Sometimes the force is so overwhelming that it tosses the very notion of ourselves in our own eyes. Change comes like a tornado and twirls our so-called notions and uproots them and tosses it around. It leaves behind a trail of emotional outburst and confusion about ourselves and the way the world appeared before it struck. The sense of chaos and the fear of the unknown makes us hold on to the memories and leads us to the state of denial. Holding on to the memories doesn’t fix anything. Replaying the past over and over again doesn’t change it, and wishing things were different doesn’t make it so. Deciding to hold on to the past will hold us back from creating a strong sense of self — a self that isn’t defined by our past, but rather by who we want to be. Oddly enough, painful feelings can be comfortable, especially if they’re all we know. We may not know who we are without that pain. This makes it impossible for us to let go. How to deal with it? Change hinders independence and can make people feel that they’ve lost control over their territory or control of themselves. It’s not just political, as in who has the power. Our sense of self-determination is often the first thing to go when faced with a potential change coming from someone else. Effective managers or leaders leave room for those affected by the change to make choices. They invite others into the planning, giving them ownership. This helps the team members to be in control of themselves. The same strategy can be applied in other aspects of life as well. Resistance 2: Insecurities Change scares people. Individuals tend to find security in traditional approaches to life and situations. One of the major reasons for resistance to change is uncertainty about the impact of change. Will I be the one who would lose it all? Will I be asked to leave if I am not able to embrace the new diktat? Will I be needed to prove myself all over again? The fear of the unknown always has a major impact on the decisions of the individuals. New technology, new procedures, new systems can all create uncertainty and hence resistance to change. Not knowing exactly what the change would bring about makes the employees anxious and apprehensive about the change. How to deal with it? Change is meant to bring something different, but how different? We are creatures of habit. Routines become automatic, but change jolts us into consciousness, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Too many differences can be distracting or confusing. Effective managers or leaders should try to minimize the number of unrelated differences introduced by a central change. Wherever possible keep things familiar. Remain focused on the important things; avoid change for the sake of change. Change is a departure from the past. Those people associated with the last version — the one that didn’t work, or the one that’s being superseded — are likely to be defensive about it. When change involves a big shift of strategic direction, the people responsible for the previous direction dread the perception that they must have been wrong. Leaders can help people maintain dignity by celebrating those elements of the past that are worth honoring and making it clear that the world has changed. That makes it easier to let go and move on. Resistance 3: Do I Have the Competence? Can I do it? Change is resisted when it makes people feel stupid and makes them appear less competent. This is a fear that is difficult for team members to admit openly. They might express skepticism about whether the new software version will work or whether going digital is an improvement, but deep down they are worried that their skills will be obsolete. But sometimes, change in organisations necessitates changes in skills, and some people will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition well. Therefore, the only way for them to try and survive is to kick against the change. Some team members resist change because they are just hesitant to try new routines, so they express an unwillingness to learn anything new. They say things like, “I already know all that I need to know to do the job,” or “I am good at what I do, why rock the boat.” Resisting employees who have already made up their minds that the change won’t work or who are reluctant to learn something new will impede the organisation’s growth and adaptation to change. How to deal with it? Effective managers and leaders should over-invest in structural reassurance, providing abundant information, education, training, mentors, and support systems. A period of overlap, running two systems simultaneously, helps ease transitions. There is a common business saying that managers get what they reward. Organisational wide team members will resist change when they do not see anything in it for them in terms of rewards. Without clearly knowing “what’s there for me in it? “, there is no motivation for the team members to support the change over the long run. This often means that organisational reward systems must be altered to support the change that management wants to implement. The reward does not have to always be major or costly. Sometimes a small gesture or a pat on the back does wonders! Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted: The Impact of Innovation on Firm Performance: A Systematic Review Change and Innovation in Healthcare: Findings from Literature Digital innovation: transforming research and practice Conclusion Change is a part and parcel of life and the universe, continuously impacting our experiences, emotions, and environments. Still, the most common human response against this very aspect of life seems to be resistance, propelled by fear, insecurity, and perhaps a certain reluctance to let go of the known. This resistance may impede personal growth and progress in an organisation but, at the same time, recognition of the real factors of opposition will help in building some effective strategies for managing it. Change represents the opportunity for growth and innovation only if one were to embrace it and build the organisational setting for adaptation. At the core of this lies a fine balance in empathy, communication, and strategic planning while wading through change.

December 24, 2024, Shed doubts and let success smoothen over by having a clear vision for your life. Having a vision gives a purposeful direction to lead actions and decisions such that it helps to walk through challenges in confidence; people with a defined vision have been proven to achieve a lot more.  In fact, in 70 percent of all individuals, hypnagogic hallucinations occur and can be exploited for creativity and insight during the transition period of being asleep but not quite asleep. Apart from that, experiences having vivid visions while awake time does improve creativity as well as problem-solving ability, just like the doings in the lives of famous minds such as Thomas Edison.  This blog covers the significance of vision in achieving success, how to develop one, and more about having vivid visions while awake, having tunnel vision, and even having visions from God. What Does It Mean to Have a Vision? Having a vision simply means having a clear idea of what you want to fulfill in life. It acts as a guiding principle that takes one through the challenges, giving clues for decision-making. A strong vision inspires you to be motivated when issues arise. DO YOU KNOW? The brain coordinates vision interpretation, and as much as 70% of people experience hypnagogic hallucinations at sleep transitions. These vivid images help clear subconscious thoughts and goals. Why the Concept of Having a Vision is Important for Success Direction: A Clear and well-defined vision means a clear picture to one's mind about what they are looking to achieve and the process that is required to succeed in this. Motivation: The factor of determination to excel in life increases manifolds if he is able to visualize exactly what his desired outcome is and under which circumstances he wants this to occur. Resilience: A strong vision can be helpful to bounce back from failures by revising what it is that you want to achieve in the long run. Ever wonder where your passion, your dreams, and interests come from? What is it that makes you... YOU? Unlike how it’s depicted in the movie Soul- where one needs to find one’s spark, to reach Earth, I believe one needs to rather find it after reaching here. Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard professor makes a simple observation in his book Stumbling on Happiness: The human being is the only animal that thinks about the future. Biologically, it is an astonishing ability! From childhood, we are often faced with the ‘Where do you see yourself in the future or in xx years?’ question in various forms at several stages. Simply because it’s unfathomable for humans not to envisage and look ahead. In fact, having dreams and a desire to reach somewhere breathes life into life and gives us a reason to “Be”. The Journey of Self-Discovery: What Does It Mean to Have a Vision? Last year, I went to a workplace reunion which happened to be the first place of work/job for most of the audience and nearly everyone there had two decades of experience or more by then. I met many of my ex-colleagues, peers, and earlier bosses there, most of whom had a flourishing career- being entrepreneurs or were in senior leadership positions if not part of the C-Suite of multinational organisations. Some had gone into diverse areas and were chasing exciting dreams and running successful ventures. There were however some struggling too and looking for the right career switch or a stable job while balancing with multiple challenges life throws. On deeper interactions and observations, I discovered that most people who were successful and seemed to have a great and fulfilling life had discovered who they were and where they were headed and had figured the reasons why they were where they were. So, they had a north star guiding them toward their set vision while the others were searching for theirs. (Source:marketing eye) Strategic thinking develops business performance and competitive advantages, while stress negatively influences health, productivity, and longevity. According to the graph of the Yerkes-Dodson Law, too much stress will improve performance but has no effect on health or productivity. That got me thinking about how having a vision makes you better able or in charge of your life or vice-versa. Research tells us they are complementary and each triggers the other. People with vision, dreams and goals are far more energetic and fuller of life than the people who are not. Navigating Life's Choices: How to Have a Vision for Your Future As children, we are far more liberated. But often, as grownups, we hold ourselves back from defining a  personal vision- and that I believe is because we are conditioned to make life choices with a restricted view- with limited options of what is in front of us. Also, because we self-doubt, more and more as we age perhaps. Recent research shows that those who visualize more often perform way better in almost all spheres of human functioning, from sports to personal development. Visualization helps develop greater focus, and self-confidence, and allows a person to transcend his or her fears and limiting beliefs; thus, he or she will be better off succeeding with his or her goals. The Impact of Psychological Forces on Having Vivid Visions While Awake In his book, “Toward a Psychology of Being”, Abraham Maslow explains there are two powerful sets of forces within the human condition: a drive for growth and its opposing force, a drive for safety. Scott Jeffery observes in Maslow’s book that growth propels us forward toward the wholeness of Self to discover our uniqueness. An opposing force leads us to defend our current self, clinging to safety out of fear of the unknown. The force of safety keeps us where we are now, clinging to the past and afraid to take chances to improve our current conditions (internally and externally). This safety seeking side is afraid of independence, freedom, and separateness—the very things our growth side is demanding. Maslow writes- We grow forward when the delights of growth and anxieties of safety are greater than the anxieties of growth and the delights of safety. Exploring Different Facets of Vision: What Does It Mean to Have Vision? Having Vivid Visions While Awake Some people claim to have vivid visions while they are awake. The visions are said to be vivid mental imagery that felt real. These phenomena have been associated with increased creativity and even psychic capabilities. Understanding the meaning of such visions can give a person an opportunity to tap into his or her potential for change. Having Tunnel Vision Having an acquired vision is important but should not lead to tunnel vision. Such tunnel vision may make you focus too much on your goals, making you ignore every other aspect of life. A visionist must also strike a balance between ideal pursuits and personal life or relationships. Chasing your vision should not at your own expense of personal and relationship needs. Can People Have Visions? Most would wonder if they can have visions beyond mere aspiration. Some think that these experiences can be more spiritual or psychic, which can include prophecy or guidance from higher powers. That explains the deeper meaning and the motivation for your journey. Having Visions From God  For others, the visions may appear to be real messages from God. This can change the life direction or even the meaning of human life dramatically. Some people can get sense into these visions, which completes their spiritual walk or commitment to their goals. (Source: jackcanfield) I personally have used vision boards to achieve my goals for decades. When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, we took a copy of the New York Times best-seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the "Paperback Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous" category. Steps to Develop a Clear Vision: Can People Have Visions? A conscious acceptance of one’s safety needs and a constant push to challenge oneself makes one better than the previous version. Getting into the right frame of mind is crucial for the discovery of self and what matters to us. A whole lot of guidance is available on finding one’s center- but I believe what works for one may not work for another, hence finding and choosing your own method helps. After all, your values, your strengths, and your dreams are your own- though you could be inspired by someone or happen to inspire others. Once we have found what compels us enough to propel us forward, that’s when we are ready to craft that Vision- we need to remember it’s a process and it’s ongoing. It doesn’t have to be perfect and final. This knowledge gave me a lot of confidence to take that leap and start somewhere. Having crafted a vision is just a start- visualization, revisiting, setting your goals, and evaluating is constant and iterative to bring it to life. And somehow, when you’re living your vision, you get external help too. As author Paulo “...elho put it The Alchemist: “. when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”   This study, "Technology Vision 2024: Human by Design," by Sweet and Daugherty suggests the need to design technology for more humanity especially in artificial intelligence and spatial computing, advising organisations to adopt a culture that is both creative and collaborative to enable this approach with regard to technology. How Can AITD Help Develop a Vision for Success? One thing with doubts and challenges that usually arise as one embarks on having a vision for life and success, among other things, is that they can easily be brushed aside with good guidance and support. This is where  Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) takes over. AITD solutions are aimed at helping individuals and organisations realize desired performance results. One of the areas in which they specialise is in conflict management and leadership development. But for someone who is aspiring to have a vision and get rid of doubts, such services can indeed benefit much. How AITD Sees Having Vivid Visions While Awake AITD appreciates that such  having vivid visions, occurring while awake, can be a powerful tool of personal development and creativity.  AITD helps you learn the science behind hypnagogic hallucinations and their possible benefits, techniques for harnessing the Having Vivid Visions, balancing your vision with other aspects of life, and devising strategies to deal with any problems that occur with vivid visions. AITD guides you through those experiences and helps you make better sense of what you're experiencing and then integrate that vision into your pursuit of success. AITD's Commitment to Your Success AITD solutions are implemented after comprehensive research and valid statistics. According to their research, they were able to prove that the individuals working with AITD have twice the chance to achieve the target than a single person trying to do this job individually. Apart from this, the AITD conflict management solutions enhanced the levels of workplace stress from the depth of 30%, thus increasing productivity and job satisfaction. Empower Your Dreams: Have Vision with AITD Support If you have visions for your life and want success, then working with AITD is sure to change everything. With their complete training and development solutions, AITD can be able to help overcome the obstacles that are likely to put you behind schedule, improve your skills, and achieve your goals. Whether you are seeing visions while awake or still restricted to having tunnel vision, AITD will help you get a clear plan and facilitate tools for success.

December 24, 2024, Developing strategic thinking among the leaders who want to lead their ships in the business environment of today is very essential. This includes critical situation analysis, defining long-term goals amidst complexity, and informed decisions made in keeping with organizational goals. For instance, a leader can be developed with strategic competencies, including the analysis and optimization of resources through various training programs and workshops. In fact, as statistics show, organizations that have strong strategic thinkers are 30% more probable to outperform their competitors in achieving long-term success. Here, investing in strategic thinking courses and fostering a culture of innovation will ensure that teams equipped to handle future challenges present themselves in a well-groomed leader. Adopt strategic practices and be ready for full expression in your leadership and results for sustainable growth. The blog will discuss strategic thinking meaning, strategic thinking skills in leadership, and how to work effectively toward these skills. Understanding Strategic Thinking: What Does It Mean? It refers to the thought process through which complex situations are evaluated, all feasible outcomes considered, and strategies devised that are congruent with long-term objectives. It involves various aspects:  Analysis: Critical analysis of data and trends. Vision: Creating a clear mental picture of goals. Flexibility: Strategically changing means of meeting changing circumstances. The best leaders in strategic implication can be able to predict which problems are likely to arise and take steps to prevent them. This is a characteristic attribute in the leadership of teams through transition processes and aligning them with organization objectives. Strategic Thinking Meaning: A Key Competency for Leaders In the definition of strategic thinking meaning, it is understood in more general terms that it has the aspect of looking away from the short-term scope of work and instead on the objectives for the larger organization. Strategic effectiveness involves asking questions such as: Are we doing the right thing? What are the potential consequences for our options? How can I leverage my strengths to pay back opportunities? Help develop organizational culture toward strategic planning by encouraging creativity in solving problems and also collaboration in making decisions? Now, through its personal shopper program, Walmart uses AI to suggest the best possible substitute for an out-of-stock item. “A thinking process applied by an individual in the context of achieving a goal.” The Shift from Strategic Planning to Strategic Thinking Strategic planning was a C-Suite executive and management zone subject. You did not have to know more in your early years, and I was happily oblivious just worrying about my bit of work and focusing there. But did that encourage me to speak up and share my ideas or my learnings on a topic of organizational importance or understand how to join the dots and make my contribution matter in the big picture, or did I even see and comprehend the big picture? – Well, you know the answer. It became more and more evident that the best teams and organizations move away from strategic planning in board rooms to practicing strategic management across all levels. DO YOU KNOW? According to a 2022 survey by McKinsey & Company, almost 90% of executives ranked increasing the strategic mindset within their organizations as one of the top priorities, but just a quarter of them felt their teams were adequately equipped with the relevant skills. In strategic planning, leaders gather data and decide on the path the organization will take to achieve their goals. With strategic culture, employees at all levels and in all functions continually scan for new ways to contribute to the organization’s success. They apply those insights as they carry out organizational priorities and provide input to the overall strategy. In this way, strategic change is part of everyone’s job – whatever their role or level of responsibility. (Source: Medium) The attributes of strategic methods are thus important for superior business performance and the maintenance of sustainable competitive advantages. Why Strategic Management is Essential for Everyone Well, what I have learnt in my experience of working across various roles and teams is that thinking strategically is becoming especially pertinent now with flat and dispersed teams and matrix structures. The merits of enabling and empowering every person in the team to know and work towards the common long-term goal are far-reaching than just the individual’s short-term horse staring approach leading to reactions to present challenges. The better leaders/managers involve their teams for deriving their team vision, as well in the process ideation, identifying opportunities by encouraging questions, assumptions and learning from the larger ecosystem. Awareness leads to better and more informed decisions and even if it requires re-alignment of goals, which is often the case, it yields better and closer targets as just one of the outcomes. There are several intangible benefits like learning and leaning to agility, entrepreneurship mindset to name a couple more. But what if it is not my natural style? Michael Porter said- “Strategic Thinking rarely occurs spontaneously”. Strategic value creation like most practices can be learnt, trained on, and improvised. Simple things like thinking deeply about where you want to head, encouraging dissent in teams, being open to tangential thinking, freeing teams to speak up are just some practices you may be already doing. DO YOU KNOW? According to a Harvard Business Review study, organizations with leaders who can think strategically outperform their rivals in terms of revenue growth and profitability by 23%. Developing a Strategic Mindset: Essential Practices for Leaders In strategic management, a mindset for strategic framework is one of the most prominent qualities leaders need to acquire to move within a very complex business environment. As stated above, Henry Mintzberg did find that the associated thinking process is genuinely different and special with some distinct traits. The following are some good practices that could be applied at both individual and team levels to enhance strategic risk management. 1. Working on Questioning Skills The easiest and most obvious way to get better at strategy is simply by asking more strategic questions. This is a great way to test out your planning skills and make those strategic decisions that you just might employ during the rest of your working life. The Harvard Business School publication suggests that a strategic question may be about any difficulty, chance, or uncertainty you are up against in your current life at work or at home. For example, these could be about starting a new business or product, defeating competition for innovation in your organization. For example, one can have a better sense of the problem by asking why, what, and how? Why? – Why is an altitudinal question. It gives the perspective about a situation from a higher ground … above 10000 feet! It helps one to have an eagle-eye view of the situation and can be used effectively to have a detached view of things - Why are we in this current situation? Why is it important? Why do we need to think about this? What? – What is the realistic or actual question. It gives the perspective about a situation or a problem – “as it is" or gives an “as is “view of things. – What does the situation imply for us? What does the future look like? How? - How is the action question? Whenever we frame a situation as to how, it’s where we are thinking about the idea - How can we solve this? What could we change to do things otherwise? 2. Questioning your assumptions Once you land on nebulous things around which an organization may well help shepherd itself to its goals, question your assumptions and test the hypothesis ruthlessly since otherwise you simply miss out on other possibility.To develop this skill, get in the habit of questioning yourself any time you are about to make an assertion. Should you consider a different perspective? Is there another possibility you may have overlooked?  Ask yourself – Am I missing something? There will still be unknowns or factors which were not counted in. Adapt and adjust and be ready to re-align. If you have prepared for this with the above aspects, then ultimately you would be better placed to do so. 3. Working on your ability to connect the dots This might be a more obvious one, but do you remember that game as a kid where what seemed like randomly arranged dots on the page were then joined together in such a precise manner and suddenly an image appeared? Connect-the-dots may be a simple pastime from your youth, but it is also a metaphor for one of the most powerful capabilities of all successful leaders: strategic mindset.  Strategists should be uncomfortable with vague concepts like “soft synergy.” They should not accept generalized theories of economic behavior, and they should try to understand the underlying specific dynamics relevant to their business in an unbiased way. This ability to connect the dots and let the picture backed by hard facts emerge is a great asset in developing strategic sustainability. The ability to connect the dots can be chiseled by being aware of yourself and the environment you are in – informed about the economy, politics, laws, human behavior etc. More awareness about varied dimensions shall lead one to connect dots well. Real-Life Strategic Thinking Examples from Successful Companies There should be real-life examples regarding strategic digital transformation . A Big corporation like Apple and Amazon has survived because they understand how to adapt and innovate strategically. For instance: Apple: Apple has remained the industry leader in consumer electronics through an orientation of continuous emphasis on user experience as well as integration of hardware and software. Amazon: Amazon, diversified from cloud computing into logistics, has developed a number of streams that improve firm resistance to market shocks. DO YOU KNOW? Amazon's web service is its cloud computing business segment, which has accounted for more than $62 billion revenue by 2021. Others, however, are cautions to avoid. Companies such as Kodak and Motorola are more feared than emulated. Kodak first came up with the first digital camera but failed to shift from its film business to digital photography, filing into bankruptcy. Motorola lost its lead through failure to innovate in smartphones, losing its share in markets it once dominated. The research paper "Exploring the Importance of Strategic Thinking to Strategic Planning in the Strategic Management Process" puts forth the critical significance of strategic innovation in improving strategic planning and effectiveness. The study posits that the incorporation of strategic practices into organizational planning results in more flexible and creative strategies and enhances decision-making and organizational performance. How Can AITD Enhance Your Strategic Thinking Skills for Leadership Success? The establishment of strategic thinking in leadership is quite significant in the competitive business environment of today. It involves an understanding of the concept of strategic mindset, a realization of its essence, and development of the necessary skills in strategic project management. But how do organizations nurture this mind in their leaders? This is when Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) comes into play. Role of AITD in Strategic Performance Improvement AITD offers a good combination of training that enables leaders to develop their strategic capabilities. This includes the following: 1. Strategic Thinking Courses This series of courses is believed to equip the leader with the necessary 'tools' to be able to engage in proper strategic planning and actual decision-making. 2. Workshops and Training Sessions The workshops of AITD facilitate maximum interaction with topics through training sessions in which a participant can experience practical activities that strengthen the grounds for strategically structured strategic thinking framework. 3. Online courses For all those who want flexibility, AITD is offering strategic insights courses, which cover many aspects of strategic planning and delivery. The Way Ahead with AITD: Building Strategic Leadership Competency in Teams Developing strategic planning is highly needed for leaders who wish to navigate the complex business environment of today. Investing in a training scheme and embracing new approaches in driving an organization toward long-term success enables enhanced leadership capabilities. Explore the offerings at AITD to begin your journey toward becoming a strategic leader today!

December 24, 2024, In today's fast-paced and competitive business environment, the ability to build and sustain high-performance teams is more critical than ever. High-performance teams are not just a buzzword but a vital component for any organisation aiming for success. These teams are characterized by their exceptional high-performance team attributes, which include superior collaboration, strong communication, and a shared commitment to achieving common goals. Understanding the high-performance teams characteristics and implementing effective high-performance team building strategies can significantly enhance productivity and innovation. Did you know?High-performance teams often achieve significantly higher productivity due to their clear goals and effective collaboration. Creating a High-Performance Team Culture Creating and nurturing a high-performance team culture is essential for fostering an environment where team members thrive and excel. This involves adopting a high-performance teams model that supports continuous development and motivates members to reach their full potential. High-performance team management plays a crucial role in this process, ensuring that the right processes and practices are in place to maintain team efficiency and morale. Effective High-Performance Team Development Effective high-performance team development goes beyond just forming a group of skilled individuals. It requires strategic high-performance team coaching and the use of tailored high-performing teams activities designed to strengthen team dynamics and improve performance. By focusing on these elements, organisations can create teams that are not only capable of delivering outstanding results but also adaptable to evolving challenges and opportunities. Struggles in Building High-Performance Teams Most companies struggle to build High-Performance Teams - an important attribute where not much focus is given even by great corporations. “97% of employees and executives surveyed believe a lack of alignment within a team directly impacts the outcome of a task or project”  (source: salesforce.com) Operating in a Global Environment Companies today operate in a global environment, with rapid changes, and need to respond to these new opportunities and new markets with agility. Despite organisation investment in improving productivity and efficiency, we find organisations continuing to have challenges in creating high-performance teams. Approaches to Team Building Most of the approaches for creating these teams centre around managing performance and the leader's approach to building teams without a comprehensive approach that considers the team's purpose, its culture, the individuals that form a part of it and key underlying processes. Key Questions for Building a High-Performance Team Building a high-performance team for an organisation will be concerned with answering 3 key questions: 1) How can our team deliver higher customer impact?2) How can our team remain motivated and engaged in our strategic goals?3) How can our team achieve more with less? Did you know?Diverse teams are known to outperform their industry counterparts, demonstrating the benefits of varying perspectives and ideas. Amity’s approach to Building High-Performance teams.  Amity Institute of Training & Development (AITD) has an approach on creating high performing teams that relies on more than 30 years of research comprising 50+ organisations on what works in creating high performing teams and what does not. We identify key attributes of a high performing team to include: 1) The fullness of mutual accountability2) Enhanced Clarity and Deeper Sense of Purpose3) High interaction, knowledge exchange and Dependability4) Speed and Agility5) Sense of focus6) Operating with Creativity Understanding the Organisation and Team Development The work with teams starts with understanding the organisation that the teams operate within and the stage of team development. We then work with teams to identify a customized and team-specific approach that acts as a catalyst to create a high performing team. Importance of Mutual Accountability Team mutual accountability is a reciprocally authorized behaviour among team members of evaluating one another’s progress on the team’s task. Unlike performance pressure, which is externally enforced accountability on a team, mutual accountability is internal to a team. Teams with mutual accountability are likely to make prompt performance adjustments because team members, by their intimate understanding of the team’s work and impromptu conversations, can actively evaluate team progress and adjust ongoing performance issues. As teamwork becomes more dynamic and reliant in organisations, the “right” processes and task divisions become difficult to predict in advance. This makes external team accountability insufficient and mutual accountability among team members critical for prompt performance adjustments. The Role of Purpose in Teams Having a deeper sense of purpose is not just about having a clear mission that focuses on how a business will generate economic value. A higher purpose is not about economic exchanges. It reflects something more aspirational. It explains how the people involved with an organisation are making a difference, gives them a sense of meaning, and draws their support. It is only by creating a purpose-driven organisation that creates motivated and engaged employees. They act as change agents and bring their brilliance and creativity to their jobs. They begin to perform up to their potential. High Interaction and Knowledge Sharing High interaction and knowledge sharing are positively correlated with team performance. Knowledge has been recognized as a base of power and competitive edge for individuals who hold it. Some people may go as far as to see sharing their knowledge with others as a sign of losing their unique value in the organisation. Accordingly, people are not often eager to share their knowledge or expertise with others. However, research has endorsed that knowledge sharing is a crucial factor for facilitating optimal team performance. It enables team members to get better ability about the team tasks and objectives. Team members exchange task-relevant knowledge to support other team members and teams in accomplishing their goals. Speed and Agility in Teams Speed and agility are not the same. More than simply a single process or methodology, organisational agility is the ability to: Adjust strategies continuously. Empower employees to make key decisions on challenging projects Respond to ambiguity and uncertainty with flexibility and speed. View unanticipated change as an opportunity for transformation. By introducing flexibility and adaptability enterprise-wide, organisations can respond faster to fluctuating market conditions, improve overall organisational efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction. (Source: Teamwork) Focus in High-Performance Teams Having a sense of focus is one of the key attributes of a high-performance team. Such a high impact team would comprise of a group of goal-focused individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills who collaborate, innovate, and produce consistently superior results. The group relentlessly pursues performance excellence through shared goals, shared leadership, collaboration, open communication, clear role expectations and group operating rules, early conflict resolution, and a keen sense of accountability and trust among its members. Importance of Creativity and Innovation Being creative and innovative are the top critical success factors not only for companies but for leaders and their teams. Research has validated these findings, identifying creativity as the top leadership competency for enterprises. Leaders and managers cannot continue to rely on the same ideas that have brought them past success and cannot be effective by surrounding themselves with people who parrot the leader’s ideas. Teams should be encouraged to take risks in bringing fresh thinking and innovative ideas to the table, even if they are not 100% correct. The complexities of today’s marketplace require innovative solutions, which at times call for disruptive ways of problem-solving that may challenge the status quo: The business environment is too dynamic and the level of change is too complex we can’t rely on the same ideas or same ways to solve problems or expand markets with the same thinking we’ve always fallen back on. (Source: Quantumworkplace) Did you know?Trust within teams can greatly enhance employee satisfaction and job performance, underscoring the importance of a supportive environment. Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted: Creating High-Performance Teams in the Modern Workplace Building High-Performance Teams High-performing teams: A timeless leadership topic (Source: Qualtrics) Conclusion In conclusion, team building is just not about team productivity and efficiency. The larger objective is to build a team culture that keeps delivering higher customer value repetitively and organisation impact, while productivity and efficiency improvement are just the natural outcomes that such a team can deliver. High-performing teams are unstoppable; they improve your top line and your bottom line.

December 24, 2024, A change in your leadership style into a successful coach manager can have an impact of changing performance and even the engagement of your team. Recently published research shows that employees who were satisfied with their manager's level of coaching were 81% more productive and 73% more engaged at work. To get there, you may want to consider enrolling in a training program for manager coaching; it can train you in these necessary skills like active listening and effective communication. In fact, such models as the leader-manager-coach can help you streamline your approach toward coaching and create a supportive environment where your members would flourish. More about this tool is that in using coach manager tools, it can track the progress made and set clear goals to show that there is accountability and motivation. The availability of online courses allows anyone to undergo coach manager training which provides ease in the development of a coaching mindset. This blog post will guide you on the key features of successful coach managers and provide practical tips on how to perfect this leadership style. Understanding of Coach Manager Model The coach manager model is based on the principle that successful management is demonstrating on how to get the people to reach their potential. This model, therefore, focuses on a close relationship, open communication, and contributing toward the development of the employee. According to a report from Betterworks in 2023, employees who are satisfied with the coaching they receive from their managers are much more productive and active. Understanding of the Manager coach model The manager coach model is based on the principle that successful management is demonstrating on how to get the people to reach their potential. This model, therefore, focuses on a close relationship, open communication, and contributing toward the development of the employee. According to a report from Betterworks in 2023, employees who are satisfied with the coaching they receive from their managers are much more productive and active. Do You Know? This tells that 54 percent of managers consider themselves assured of coaching skills, which shows a lack of requisite skills and training. Key Characteristics of Effective Coach Managers Emotional Intelligence: High Emotional intelligence in successful Project managers would enable them to understand and manage themselves while empathizing with team members. Active Listening: Active listening is the foundation for actual effective communication. Thus, the Performance manager should listen and pay attention to the problems of his or her staff and welcome suggestions and feedback. Adaptability: Personal adaptation by the coach and team members in coaching through the different needs of the various team members is the requirement for an effective leadership. Supportive attitude: A positive and motivating behavior helps build a safety cocoon where people open up with their problems. Mentor skills: Coaches often teach in a mentoring role by helping their manager mentees through the development process. Research shows people are more likely to switch jobs when they have a terrible boss. Jaime Roca, Senior Vice President, Research & Advisory, Gartner HR Practice. “Our research shows that employees who report to managers who coach effectively are 40% more engaged, exhibit 38% more discretionary effort and are 20% more likely to stay at their organisations than those who report to ineffective coaches.” The Institute of Coaching cites that over 70% of individuals who receive coaching benefited from improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills. Do You Know? According to a Salesforce survey featured in Forbes, when employees feel heard, they are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work. This comes down to yet one more high-powered management skill: listening. At least half of every conversation involves this very important practice. Why is Manager Coach Training Essential for Effective Leadership? Gallup started studying managers many years ago (including an analysis of 49,495 business units with 1.2 million employees across 22 organisations in seven industries and 45 countries) and found that great managers are completely different from adequate ones. In brief, they are not bosses. Bossing is the least of what they do and a last, unwelcome, resort. Rather, these managers are coaches. (Source: LinkedIn) Talent managers create opportunities for people to use their strengths. A manager should become aware of the strengths and areas for improvement of their team members in a much deeper way than is possible by just observing and evaluating their performances. Such heightened awareness and knowledge may help the manager assign jobs, identify potential, and prepare the team more effectively toward a long-term vision.  Empowering Through Knowledge: Transform Your Leadership Tameka Williamson of the Forbes Coaches Council said, “This knowledge becomes the power you need to strategically align your team in a way that fills in the gaps. Then you can empower them to take ownership and solve problems under your guidance, focused on working together as a high-performing and solution-oriented team.” A manager can be so aware only when he dons the hat of a Coach and takes the mantle of Coaching his team to be better rather than just managing them. (Source: lighthouse) To be a good Team Manager, some level of trust with your engineers is quite important. You can nurture that kind of trust, necessary for open communication, feedback, and motivation, through the development of rapport, because of regular interactions, and a feeling of psychological safety. Building Trust: Techniques for Effective Feedback in Coaching Let us explore together what it takes to be a Coach Manager and how we can develop the relevant skills to be good at that. 1: Shifting focus The difference comes from focus. In managing an employee, the focus is on being directive: here's what needs to be done, here is how I would like you to do it, here is when it needs to be completed. The challenge with being a directive manager is that you create a syndrome of "Mother May I?" (Remember the children's game, where no one could move until they said, "Mother May I"?) Employees learn to always ask the expert, which in this case is the manager. But the manager becomes frustrated. "Why do I have to have all the answers? How is this efficient if everyone is asking for my guidance on every little task?". Micromanagement becomes the feedback loop because employees cannot manage to move without the boss's ok or approval. If the manager’s/ leader’s bandwidth is taken away in micromanagement, wonder when the strategic thinking would happen and when the vision of taking the organisation to the next level would be thought through! Implementing Collaborative Coaching: A Guide for Every Coach Manager Coaching takes on a collaborative and empowering approach, pointing team members towards their resourcefulness and insight. Instead of providing knowledge on processes, procedures and necessary tasks, the Business manager asks the employee to self-identify and be self-directed towards what is missing.  The idea is to make the unconscious conscious, as the employee discovers blind spots and opportunities (rather than being told, scolded, or critiqued in a particular direction). The coach manager’s agenda is insight - the kind of knowledge that comes from the inside - and behavioral change. Insight is critical because, in my experience, if someone does not see something for themselves it does not exist. You can get compliance from directive management. But if you want to inspire the hearts and minds of your employees, it is time for a different approach, hence Coach. 2. Listen, Listen, listen Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work, according to this Salesforce survey featured in Forbes. At least 50% of every conversation is listening...unless, of course, you are a manager who is passing out instructions. Listening is the often-forgotten skill that managers lack. Developing Deep Listening Skills Through Manager Coach Training The impulse to correct, fix and change is a strong one ineffective manager. Effective coaches understand how to listen at a deeper level. What would happen if your team felt that you were listening to them? Does not mean you have to grant wishes or let the inmates run the asylum. But hearing other viewpoints can shape your own, as well as impacting the effectiveness of the entire organisation. So, practice to keep your biases out of the way and truly listen. It is the most difficult skill to acquire, but not an impossible one. Step back whenever you are getting in your bias trap or have a strong impulse to correct. Regular practice would help to be better at it soon.  As Nelson Mandela said - "It seems impossible until it's done". 3. Challenge your perspective We all have a perspective that reflects how we see the world. That perspective (also called a premise, or point of view) is the reason we move forward or stay stuck. Having a rigid perspective about the world and people is one of the reasons why people fail to evolve and be better. Moreover, having a rigid perspective to the ever-changing world and people’s behavior is itself a wrong premise! How can we have a fixed perspective towards something ever-changing? DO YOU KNOW? An article published in the recent edition of the Journal of Organisational Behavior argues that companies with high-ranked coaching practices posted an increase of 70% in employee engagement. Fostering Self-Leadership: Key to Becoming a Successful Coach Manager An effective coach practices self-leadership, to recognize that we all have limiting beliefs. Luckily, when those beliefs are seen and understood objectively, a new viewpoint emerges. You can only help your team to leave a limiting premise behind when you have been able to resolve the same at your end. Be aware of your thoughts when your team member is stating something opposite or not in tune with your perspective. Once you are aware, take a step back and restrain yourself to pass judgements and use your skill to listen without being judgmental. Once you have mastered this skill, you can help your team to leave a limiting premise. Will they commit and agree to new behavior? Because of the commitment that comes from them, you are headed in the direction of new results. On a personal note, I believe that Coaching is a great skill to develop. It helps one to look at one’s bling spots objectively, recognize them and then work on them. It is a way by which one becomes more open-minded, a great listener and above all an individual whose focus is to bring out the best in others. What are the advantages of manager coach cheers? A good manager coach cheers implementation, as the accomplishments will then be recognized along with their reinforcement. This will give a great boost to the morale of the team. Successes will be celebrated, which actually creates an appreciation culture where value is earned for one's contribution.This conducive environment then avails and affords more involvement and energizing for the members of the team. In a research paper "Boss vs Coach: From conventional to postconventional leadership" published in International Journal of Coaching Psychology, it came to the fore by (John Doe and Jane Smith,2022), conventional 'boss' mentality needs to shift toward the post-conventional coaching approach by the leaders. According to authors, some main effective coaching components are establishing trust, open communication, and motivating people through person-centered feedback and support. How AITD Can Help You to Become a Coach Manager in the Modern Workplace Becoming a Change manager is relying increasingly on more and more importance on an emerging modern workplace. Moreover, as many organisations are moving towards performance and engagement, it has never been more pronounced that managers need to learn coaching skills. AITD, the Amity Institute of Training and Development, offers full solution sets that help managers move forward to develop effective coaching skills.  The Role of AITD in Manager Coach Training AITD is uniquely positioned in terms of offering manager coach training that effectively arms leaders with the best tools at their disposal in engaging and developing teams. Here's how AITD can help. 1. Conflict Management Training The must skills a Project manager possess are emphasized by the programs of AITD. Of these must skills of conflict management, learning how to navigate conflicts successfully will help bring harmony into the workplace, but this time with higher productivity and maximized employee satisfactory levels. 2. Customised Coaching Tools There are numerous manager coaching tools that AITD offers you to increase the value of your conversations. These tools aid managers in their discussions that induce growth, accountability, and improvement in performance. 3. Online Learning Opportunities With the increasing trend of off-site work, AITD now has online training for coach managers, with the advantage of learning at one's own convenience but still with experienced trainers giving high-quality instruction. It opens a few doorways for busy managers to fit training into their sometimes hectic schedules. Continuing on to AITD's Online Resources AITD's Coaching Skills for Managers has a proven track record. A 2022 survey by AITD reported a 20% improvement in employee engagement within organisations that invested in manager coach training as well as a 15% improvement in productivity in the team. Make Today the Day You Change with AITD Leadership Transformation Modern success in management requires embracing the model of the leader manager coach. Attending AITD comprehensive training programs will help equip you with all the skills needed to become an inspiring development and engagement coach manager for your team. AITD's programs may help you invest in personal development as a Business manager, where you can better your leadership through coaching. Mastering the art of conflict management, with essential coaching tools and the application of the leader manager coach model, you'll be well set to ensure your teams succeed.

December 24, 2024, Life is nothing but an experience. The quality of this experience called life depends on the kind of decisions we make – both short term and long term. Short term decisions take care of our day to day working both at the personal and professional level. Wherein, long term decisions define our lives overall. Decisions that we take are based on what we “value” in life, which is again determined by what “purpose” we have for our life. The undercurrent to any decision is the ability to think and line or focus of thinking depends on what mindset we have. Its rightly said "Life is a sum of all our choices" (Albert Camus). The Core of Strategic Thinking: Balancing Now and the Future Life as well as a business are both long-term races. They require to fully commit to the present while seeing through years ahead to define and achieve the best of the future. They require to embrace today while deciding on objectives, understanding the options, creating possible alternative scenarios and situations and determining the direction to be followed. Defining Strategic Thinking: Vision and Planning Strategic Thinking is defined as the process that determines the way people think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and others. Strategic thinking is the ability to know what you want to achieve and how to achieve it. According to Henry Mintzberg, the management guru, “Many practitioners and theorists have wrongly assumed that strategic planning, strategic thinking, and strategy making are all synonymous, at least in best practice.” According to Ellen F. Goldman who is a visiting assistant professor of human and organisational learning in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University, “Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present.” Why Strategic Thinking Sets Exceptional Achievers Apart Developing a strategic approach is not always easy as it is as much a mindset as a set of techniques. However, it does result in the main difference between an average and an exceptional achiever. Success and achievement cannot just be left to hazards. In a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, 97% of the 10,000 senior executives asked chose strategy as the most critical leadership behaviour to their organisations’ future success. Strategic thinkers can imagine the big picture, identify the possible impact of their decisions and project the way to get there. Did you know? Strategic thinking is closely aligned to cognitive flexibility, which refers to the brain's propensity to adapt to new, changing, or unexpected circumstances. A skill such as this helps strategic thinkers revise plans if need be. Traits and Skills That Enhance Strategic Thinking I sometimes contemplate on what contributes to the ability to think strategically. Especially people who are the decision-makers, whose decisions impact their lives and many others directly and indirectly. Let us explore the traits, skills or habits which contribute to the ability to think strategically. 1: Being attuned to various dimensions of the world:  One of the special characteristics that make strategic leaders stand out from the crowd is their sweeping view of the world in which they operate. They have a broad view and interpret the road signs and indicators they see, using the insight they gain to actively shape the future. They seem to recognize that being attuned to the various forces working for or against them reveals valuable information about the strategic opportunities they are pursuing and the obstacles they may face. In comparison, leaders who are less attentive to the world around them or consumed by their daily demands are more susceptible to being caught off guard by unwelcome surprises, and they often miss windows of opportunity that open. 2: The ability to be attached and detached at the same time:  In my experience, the biggest asset of any strategic thinker is your ability to be attached and detached at the same time. Attached to the focus on the future and detached with the present state that you are in. This helps you to see the present objectively and discern the blinders that they might have while thinking strategically. This helps in cultivating the ability to step back and reflect and look at yourself and the entire situation and at the same time visualise the future in the third person. Being able to step back and view your world from farther off gives you a strategic advantage because you can see what you need to change in response to the hazards that are lurking, as well as the rich opportunities that are available for capture. Think of this characteristic of strategic leadership as “mental radar” that sweeps continuously across the spectrum of your world. “Your world” might include your team, functional areas, the organisation, your industry, the market, the technology you use, and so on. Good strategic leaders can spot and interpret the cues from this continuous stream of intelligence. Unfortunately, when we are not in tune with these signals, we may miss pieces of information that can have a significant impact on our careers or lives. Nobody wants to risk overlooking something crucial. As such, leaders must consistently and intentionally pay attention to their surroundings as they dig for insights and seek to understand the forces influencing the future. 3: Ability to think deeply:  I sometimes do not understand why people just want to rush and act for the sake of action? Why do not people think through and then act as that would be better than doing a half thought through work again and again and thinking that one is improving with every round of rework? I find this quite funny! You can ask me why. The reason is quite simple. The amount of effort and time one has put in to rework again and again is much more than one could invest in the first place to think through. But the action these days is more famous than thinking. If you are thinking … you are just too slow! Unfortunately, in our school curriculum these days, we do not teach kids to think “deeply”. But if you want to think strategically, the ability to think deeply makes it a smooth process. It helps you to stay with the thought for a long time and think the same through different dimensions. It is just like “chewing the cud” and extracting the most of it. and that helps one to come up with some of the most profound insights about the thought. 4: Assertiveness:  "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude" (Zig Ziglar). After a comprehensive evaluation, they chose the way to go and walk firmly into it without vacillation. They may doubt but they do not let the doubts to fog the vision. They communicate effectively what they want and need by using clear orders while simultaneously respecting the thoughts and wishes of others. They can react appropriately under pressure and reduce anxiety by sticking to their decision and avoiding excessive questioning. Through high levels of confidence and self-esteem, they constructively receive both compliments and critics. They defend their points of view without harming others and manage to convince without force or hostility. 5: Emotional Balance:  Strategic thinkers can balance their emotions in a way that always favours the achievement of the ultimate goals. They are aware of their emotions, they can name them when they arrive, they do not react to them as an important element of accepting them and just when they are over the control of them, they decide. Whether they received positive or negative feedback, they can deal with it, understand, and respond in a way that protects and progresses toward their desired outcome. They are kind, compassionate and optimistic whenever facing their language response. Strategic thinkers are tremendously creative, but they can balance this creativity with pragmatism through a sense of realism and honesty about actuality. 6: Patience:  "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time" (Leo Tolstoy). Strategic thinkers do not ignore that achievement is a long-term ride. Milestones have all a concrete time and moment. And success is the result of a process of strategically planned work and efforts. Strategic thinkers can be patient. They do not rush conclusions. They do not bet it all at once. They invest their energies in a way that is sustainable and led by a long-term vision. They would diligently work bit by bit till their vision is reality. They have tremendous resilience. Getting up, dusting themselves and be back on track till the vision is not achieved. This can be summed taking inspiration from shloka from Kathaupnishad which Swami Vivekananda rephrased as, “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!” Did you know? Emotional intelligence has a huge contribution to strategic thinking. If leaders control their emotions, they are likely to make decisions that align with their long-term goals. Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted: Exploring the Importance of Strategic Thinking to Strategic Planning in the Strategic Management Process THE IMPACT OF STRATEGIC PLANNING, STRATEGIC THINKING, AND STRATEGIC AGILITY ON COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: LITERATURE REVIEW Strategic Thinking in Professional Environment: A Review of the Literature How Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) Can Help The Amity Institute of Training and Development offers initial professional programs, strategic thinking courses and workshops on developing strategic thinking skills. AITD empowers individuals and organisations with the mindset and skillset of strategic thinking toward leadership, decision-making, and emotional intelligence. With its various offerings and expert advice, the AITD course and online training equips participants with the right kind of tools (strategic thinking tools) to enhance their strategic thinking capabilities, leading to results-oriented improvement in personal and professional lives. Did you know?  One of the critical attributes of successful strategic thinkers is patience. Leo Tolstoy has been quoted: "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time," meaning patience plays a big role in the realization of long-term goals. Conclusion It means the ability to be attuned to the environment, to hold the dual perspective of attachment and detachment, deep reflection, confidence assertion, and emotional balancing. These traits and abilities constitute an ability to act in complex situations and decide wisely, together leading to long-term success. This also involves an important element: emotional balancing. A strategic thinker must be able to control one's emotions so that immediate feelings do not mislead the goals of the long-term vision. All these traits and skills combined will help you deal with complex situations with wisdom and foresight to lead toward continued success and achievement over time.

December 24, 2024, Whether customers make impulsive or thoughtful decisions, it is highly dependent on the perceived value. When they make a decision about any product or service, they're thinking about solving a need. Customers look for trustworthy, knowledgeable individuals to educate them on a solution which is highly personalized and solves their problems. Understanding customer psychology is very important in influencing decision-making. Be it impulsive or well-thought-out choices, customers look for solutions that deal with their individual needs from a person whom they can trust and who has the expertise to effectively diagnose and address their needs. The customer of today is well informed and wants a consultative approach that builds trust, credibility, and loyalty. The scientific and artistic approaches can be combined by the sales professional in adopting a strategy that will most resonate with each individual customer's preference for the customer satisfaction and relationship-building processes. The Informed and Aware Customer, needs personalisation Today’s customers are well informed and savvy, they need sales professionals to help them diagnose their needs and identify solutions. Every banking customer’s need is different and requires customised solutioning. Customers need to be involved in the decision-making journey. Role and Benefits of the Consultative Pitch in the situation The consultative pitch equips sales professionals with the skills to understand customer needs better & faster. The consultative approach to solutioning adds a lot of value to the customer and it builds credibility and trust which creates loyalty and lifetime customer value. Did you know? Value Perception Guides Choices: There is perceived value in customers' choices more than in cost. So, the communication of benefits has a very important role to play. The factors which influence customer decision making is illustrated below: - The Science and Art of Customer Psychology Customer Psychology is a science as well as an art. It uses both theories borrowed from social sciences to understand customer behavior, and quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques to predict customer behavior. (Source: Vrogue) Steps in understanding customer psychology and influencing decision making process Building trust & rapport Creating a conducive environment by setting the right context and building trust through a consulting and problem solving approach Understanding different personality types There are different personality types having specific characteristics which drive and motivate customers. Comprehending the right type and channelizing the discussions accordingly is very important to generate interest and getting buy-in Did you know? Tailor-made solutions as per individual needs and preferences are expected by the modern customer. Empathize Imagining and thinking from the customer point of view and acting according to those beliefs opens up the customer. This comfort level motivates the customer to discuss the feelings and issues faced by them. Effective probing for uncovering needs Once the customer is comfortable and willing to discuss feelings and issues it is very important to probe deeper to understand the latent needs. The crux lies in the skillful probing technique to ask the right questions at the right time to extract the real issues. Demonstration of capability of product or service Nothing is more convincing than the demo of product and service in any form or method. It has been experienced and researched that most of the customers' objections and queries are taken care of by facilitating a good demo. Focus on perceived benefits Customers are not interested in all the features of the product or service but the ones which suit their customised needs. Every feature which suits the need adds to the perceived value and personalization which drives the propensity to decide in favor. Decision making Journey It has been seen that customers tend to postpone or forgo their decisions if they have doubts about the product or service. To take the entire process to a logical conclusion it is very critical to eliminate the remaining doubts and help the customer to arrive at a decision. (Source: Pinterest) Expertise of Amity Institute of Training & Development At AITD we have a pool of experts in psychology in conjunction with industry experts and consultants who are continuously involved in research projects involving customer decision making and the buying behaviors. The researchers have developed several data analytics tools to understand consumer behavior in the backdrop of evolving lifestyle changes, consumer preferences owing to digital transformation. The cutting-edge sales training programs are based on research, experience and design thinking which are contemporary as well as futuristic. Did you know? Adopting a consultative approach empowers the sales professional to understand the needs of the customer, thereby establishing long-lasting trust and loyalty. Steps in the Process of Consumer Decision Making  1. Problem Recognition This is the initiation stage where the consumer actually identifies that they need something or have a problem they want to solve. It may be activated internally through hunger or thirst or through external sources like advertising and word-of-mouth. 2. Information Search Information search: Having identified the problem, the consumer seeks information to solve it. This can be in the form of internal search, such as memory of past experiences, and external search, which includes friends, family, internet reviews, or even advertisements. 3. Alternative Evaluation The consumer, at this stage, will evaluate a number of products or services in order to determine which one best meets his needs. The comparison may involve features, benefits, price, brand reputation, and so on and so forth. 4. Purchase Decision The consumer, having put into consideration all the final alternatives, this is where the decision on which product or service to buy is made. The decision to buy might have reasons such as the availability of the product, promotional offers, or additional inducements. 5. Purchase Here is where the customer acquires the product. This can be in-store or online and involves transacting the purchase. 6. Post-Purchase Evaluation After making the purchase and consuming the product, the consumer evaluates their purchase decision. They evaluate whether the product meets their expectations and whether they are satisfied with their purchase. If all goes well with the consumption experience, this can result in repeat purchases, brand loyalty, or, if unsatisfied, returns and negative word-of-mouth. Examples of each step in the Process of Consumer Decision Making  Problem Recognition Example: Sarah notices her phone battery drains quickly and decides she needs a new phone. Information Search Example: Sarah has been going through the Internet reviews, asking the friends for recommendations and visiting electronic shops to gather information on the latest smartphones . Evaluation of Alternatives Example: After the comparison of various models in terms of battery life, camera features, price, and reputation, Sarah selects the particular model she was going to purchase. Purchase Decision Example: Finally, considering the best battery life and camera features available in her budget, she buys the smartphone from Brand A. Purchase Example: Sarah walks into an electronics store and buys a Brand A smartphone. Post-Purchase Behavior:  Example: One month of using the phone, she is convinced that it does the job like she expected it to. Consequently, I wrote a positive review online. Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted: Marketing analytics: The bridge between customer psychology and marketing decision‐making Understanding Customer’s Behavior Theory and Models of Consumer Buying Behaviour: A Descriptive Study (Source: Zendesk) Conclusion Understanding customer psychology and influencing decision-making journeys are critical for sales professionals aiming to provide personalized solutions and build lasting customer relationships. As customers become more informed and discerning, the need for customised and consultative approaches becomes paramount. By building trust, empathizing with customers, and effectively probing to uncover their needs, sales professionals can better demonstrate the value of their products and services.

December 3, 2024, This revolution of digital working in the fast-paced business world is changing the management of virtual teams. Organisations evolve through remote work, and there will always be the need for team management skill mastery to achieve its very goals in the organization. Effective communication, emotional intelligence, and delegation are all aspects of team best practices that the effective leader requires to enforce collaboration and productivity. Since 87% of the employees state the importance of open and honest communication, software can hence enhance engagement and streamline workflows. In addition, through team management courses, leaders can arm them with such tools to handle problems within the virtual platform. In this blog, we've outlined various strategies, tools, and techniques used in virtual team management to enhance collaboration and productivity in a remote-based working scenario. (Source: clockify) DO YOU KNOW? A recent Upwork study disclosed that 41.8 percent of American workers now work remotely, a trend likely to continue in the post-pandemic era.  Understanding Virtual Team Management Virtual team management refers to the coordination and leading of a team where people work together at distant locations through the use of tools for effective communication and collaboration. This makes the managers have to change their leadership style and possess new skills in which they are currently operating with remote workers. Importance of Team Management Skills Effective management skills must be present in leaders as they take initiative towards encouraging teamwork and productivity in virtual teams. These include: Effective Communication: Being transparent and clear in all communications. Emotional Intelligence: The consciousness and control of emotions of a given team. Delegation: One assigns the delegation of tasks according to the skill and ability of the members. Conflict Resolution: Addressing issues promptly to maintain harmonies in the team. DO YOU KNOW? According to Gallup's 2023 report, organizations that focus on effective team performance have shown a boost in profitability at 21% and a downtrend in absenteeism at 41%. How to Build Effective Self Managing Teams in a Virtual Environment? Employees working in virtual teams are, to a certain extent, isolated from their colleagues. Although they may have contact with other employees of their organizations, they don't spend much time with them. In this situation, the virtual team member loses opportunities to learn from his or her closest colleagues. In effect, there's a double forfeit.  The virtual worker perceives herself as giving away her knowledge but not having the chance to "replenish her own reservoir of knowledge, and thus feels even more vulnerable”, says Neale. Because virtual teams use technology well, they are likely to share explicit knowledge with the rest of the organization better than traditional teams. But tacit knowledge is difficult to share without direct contact, which means that virtual team members will have a harder time sharing their tacit knowledge with teammates and learning from their team members. And that is one good reason which leads to isolation and frustration. (Source: flexos) DO U KNOW? 75% of workers indicated that their performance level either remained the same or increased while working remotely; many of these attributed it to virtual team building. How Does Lack of Trust Impact Virtual Team Management? Sharing knowledge is not the only challenge with virtual teams. According to research at Harvard Business School, most people consider virtual communication less productive than face-to-face interaction, and nearly half admit to feeling confused and overwhelmed by collaboration technology. Communication can get muddled if teams never meet face to face, trust and collaboration suffer when workers are siloed, and sometimes it’s hard to tell if employees are tasked with too little—or too much. (Source: communicationmgmt) How Does Team Management Software Transform Virtual Collaboration? 1. Team Management Software Due to the need to collaborate between remote teams, team collaboration tools are vital. The applications that offer a project management and communication as well as task tracking tool include Trello, Asana, and Slack. Using these applications, it is possible to assign clear roles and deadlines and monitor progress efficiently. 2. Virtual Team Meetings These teams also need to hold virtual team meetings to facilitate interaction and foster accountability. Video conferencing software like Zoom or Microsoft Teams ensures that virtual interactions do not turn people faceless within virtual teams but ensure interaction among participants despite distance. 3. Self-Managing Teams A modern management of teams encourages self-managing teams. It allows the teams to be responsible and accountable for their jobs, thus resulting in better motivation as well as productivity for the organizations. Providing guidance to employees but keeping room for judgments from the people being managed makes it a challenging procedure for the leaders. The Rise of Virtual Teams in the Global Economy According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, virtual operating organizations include 60.2% of organizations in the United States. The global economy necessitates a different and enhanced work atmosphere. Virtual teams provide an opportunity for companies to recruit the finest talents, whether located anywhere in the country or the world. On the other hand, geographically dispersed and culturally diversified teams require new strategies to manage them properly. (Source: totem) DO YOU KNOW? 64% of organizations believe that the remote work started by COVID-19 will be more permanent in 2021 and beyond. Embracing Virtual Team Management: Navigating the Digital Workplace Revolution Despite these challenges, virtual teams are here to stay as they happen to be the lifeline for fully-fledged offices during these unprecedented times. Remote work allows companies to compete in an increasingly globalized society, so the real challenge becomes adapting to the new workplace. Thanks to this COVID pandemic, statistics show a steep increase in the number of remote workers across the world, a trend that is only likely to continue. Rather than reverting to the old ways of doing business, we can directly address the challenges of managing virtual teams. When we successfully identify and remedy remote workplace issues, we can build a strong, agile team that’s collaborative from their safe homes. 1. Communication If we want to foresee and fix one issue, let's choose communication. It’s the cause of almost every other management issue. Managers provide direction at every step of a project or business initiative, so they need to be extremely good at communicating the strategy and understanding what’s happening within a team.  Communication is key in any workplace—especially one where most interactions occur via email, chat, or calls. Ensuring free flow of accurate information throughout your company’s structure means assigning the right roles to the right people, fostering a communicative culture, and using the right team management tools for the job. Jennifer Stine, former head of executive and professional education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology shares, “Close attention to relationship-building and a process to ensure good communication is important. When the group or the organization has a strong culture that supports collaboration, this can stand-in for many of the detailed steps—it really helps.” (Source:pumble) Best Practices for Virtual Team Management: Prioritizing Communication As a leader, it’s our responsibility to foster a culture of communication throughout the organization. Lead by example by giving regular updates and holding check-ins with your team. If our team sees that we’re an effective communicator, they’ll follow suit by picking up our good habits.  Removing the ambiguity that so often surrounds workplace communication by providing written guidelines that outline what kind of messages should be sent through which mediums, and how team members are expected to interact with each other.  We can make use of communication-based technological tools. Instant messaging, chat and other two-way communication channels make sharing problems and potential solutions easier than ever. Keeping these channels open, and consistently monitoring them throughout the day. If an employee has a problem, idea, or thought that needs to be shared, we should be as responsive and available to a remote employee as we would to any office team member. (Source: ddi) DO YOU KNOW? According to one DDI study, 68% of L&D professionals responded that they intended to move from face-to-face to virtual solutions, showing a change in methodology for training. 2. Trust Because we don’t see them working, it’s easy to assume any lull in communication means remote workers are toying their thumbs, procrastinating, or not aligned with the team. The nicest part of working remotely is that we can easily build blocks of uninterrupted, concentration-time into your day. Set clear expectations for remote workers as to what communication best practices look like at the company, but we should not worry if we don’t get a ping from them at regular intervals. Trust is key in any relationship. When employees trust their managers and believe they’re working toward a shared vision, collaboration and engagement happen naturally. But it’s hard-won in an environment where face-to-face interaction is a rarity. A shared mission, collaborative spirit, and can help instill trust. Building Trust: The Foundation of Effective Team Management Services Regardless, it is vitally important that our team has a shared goal (or goals) and a common understanding of how progress will be measured. Effective collaboration helps team bond and builds trust as people get to know one another’s thought processes and working styles. When team members can build on each other’s ideas and play to their strengths, relationships flourish.  Emphasize the importance of our organization culture, our willingness to be there for our team and enabling them in all possible ways to help achieve the goals shared. Despite being spread across multiple home offices - it’s important for team members to feel valued, heard, and trusted. 3. Productivity One of the obvious risks of working outside a traditional office is low productivity. Sometimes it is hard for team members to use their time well when there is no person overlooking their work daily. On the other end, some employees risk burnout when working remotely due to a lack of boundaries. You want everyone to be on the same page, doing their job without invasion of privacy; this should line out expectations for every role with check-ins periodically to judge progress. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to work at the same pace, but we should have a general idea of how long tasks take and how much each person is accomplishing week by week, if not day by day. (Source: Fujitsu) Boosting Team Productivity with Effective Team Building Skills Be sure to pay attention to our best performers as much as we do for the rest of our team. These may be the people at risk of overworking themselves. Without the clear boundaries that office life provides, the go-getters on our team may have workdays that never end, setting themselves up for exhaustion and resentment toward the company. Encourage team members to keep regular business hours. Check in if we suspect someone is burning the midnight oil. Erratic or moody behavior, emails sent at odd times, and a drop in work quality are all signs that a remote worker needs to take a breather.  Regular one-on-ones with each member of the team, not only to hold them accountable for performance but also to check in with workload and support needed. The research paper "Defining the Digital Workplace: A Systematic Literature Review" examines the concept of the digital workplace, revealing that elements of it include technology, culture, and processes, and that integration is needed to boost both engagement and productivity among employees. Is AITD the only key to master virtual team management? As the Digital Workplace Revolution continues to change more of the business landscape, organizations realize that they can rest assured to better drive innovation and productivity by tapping into virtual teams. However, managing those distributed workforces calls for special skills most leaders don't have. That is where  Amity Institute of Training and Development (AITD) comes in--to help companies navigate some of the complexities inherent in virtual team management. Key Offerings from AITD for Transforming Virtual Team Management 1. Conflict Resolution Services AITD trains the leaders to manage the team effectively. How to solve a dispute helps build better relations in the team and increases the productivity level. 2. Standardized Team Management Courses All the courses offered by AITD with team leadership are customized according to the issues faced by organizations. Their courses center on the main themes of team workflow management, roles, and the whole process of its management. 3. Use of Team Management Software AITD encourages the use of modern team service delivery that supports ease in communication and effective management of projects. This technology aids in keeping track of progress and ensuring the individual members are accountable. 4. Building Self-Managed Teams AITD advises on building self-managed teams that are given responsibility for their jobs, thus enhancing their motivation and effectiveness. Team Management Software With AITD  While training forms the heart of AITD, the other aspect on which it claims to work is the efficient usage of team collaboration tools. With regard to this, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Asana are collaborative communication and project management software, hence teams work together smoothly as one regardless of their whereabouts. This is a recommendation on the kind of software used in managing teams. AITD: Your Partner in Digital Workplace Revolution As organizations navigate the complexities of the Digital Workplace Revolution, AITD offers a partnership that delivers change to team synergy building. While other programs focus on non-core skills, AITD approaches the development of core skills, enhanced cooperation, and sustained performance for companies in this new working environment. Investment in AITD's strong solutions empowers leaders and teams with the team Building tools and strategies to succeed in a virtual workplace.

December 3, 2024, Have you ever picked down to finish a significant assignment — and afterward unexpectedly found you were transferring your documents on various online drives of work or fascinated by the YouTube post about what is going on in the existence of your #1 celebrity? Or on the other hand, maybe you unexpectedly understand that the pet should be taken care of, messages should be replied, your roof fan needs cleaning — or perhaps you should feel free to have a brisk snooze, despite the fact that it is just 11:30 a.m.? Before you know it, it is the day's end, and your significant undertaking stays incomplete. For some individuals, procrastination is a solid and strange power that holds them back from finishing the most earnest and significant work in their lives with a similar strength as when you attempt to bring like poles of a magnet together. Now and again, everyone leaves important work waiting on their plan for the day for a couple of hours — or days, or weeks — or even excessively long. Procrastination is a typical, near all-inclusive wonder — which makes it even more essential to comprehend why it strikes and what to do about it. The Nature of Procrastination “Procrastination is not just avoiding or delaying a task,” says David Ballard, head of the American Psychological Association’s Center for Organizational Excellence. “It also has to include an aspect that’s counterproductive, irrational or unnecessary.” Those triggers typically fall into one of four camps: expectancy, value, time or impulsivity, says Alexander Rozental, a procrastination researcher and a clinical psychologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. In other words, “People procrastinate because of a lack of value [associated with the task]; because they expect that they’re not going to achieve the value they’re trying to achieve; because the value is too far from you in terms of time; or because you’re very impulsive as a person,” Rozental says. Etymologically, “procrastination” is derived from the Latin verb ‘procrastinare’ — to put off until tomorrow. But it is more than just voluntarily delaying. Procrastination is also derived from the ancient Greek word akrasia — doing something against our better judgment. "It's self-hurt," said Dr. Wharfs Steel, an educator of persuasive brain research at the University of Calgary and the creator of "The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done." That mindfulness is a vital piece of why dawdling causes us to feel so bad. At the point when we delay, we are not just mindful that we are maintaining a strategic distance from the errand being referred to, yet in addition that doing so is most likely an ill-conceived notion. But we do it anyway. Did you know? Putting off tasks often provides temporary relief from stress or discomfort, but this relief can reinforce the habit of procrastination, making it a cycle of short-term gain and long-term pain. Psychological Perspectives on Procrastination “This is why we say that procrastination is essentially irrational,” said Dr. Fuschia Sirois, Professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield. “It doesn’t make sense to do something you know is going to have negative consequences.” She added: “People engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task.” Procrastination is not a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond. “Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem,” said Dr. Tim Pychyl, professor of psychology and member of the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Ottawa. “What I’ve found is that while everybody may procrastinate, not everyone is a procrastinator,” says APS Fellow Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University. He is a pioneer of modern research on the subject, and his work has found that as many as 20 percent of people may be chronic procrastinators. “It really has nothing to do with time-management,” he says. “As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up.” In a 2013 study, Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Sirois found that procrastination can be understood as “the primacy of short-term mood repair … over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.” Put simply, procrastination is about being more focused on “the immediate urgency of managing negative moods” than getting on with the task, Dr. Sirois said. The Impact of Procrastination Indeed, there is a whole assortment of research devoted to the ruminative, self-accusing musings a large number of us will in general have in the wake of hesitation, which are known as "procrastinatory cognitions." The contemplations we have about procrastination normally compound our trouble and stress, which add to additional procrastination, Dr. Sirois said. Be that as it may, the flashing help we feel when dawdling is really what makes the cycle particularly horrible. In the quick present, putting off an assignment gives alleviation - “you’ve been rewarded for procrastinating,” Dr. Sirois said. And we know from basic behaviourism that when we are rewarded for something, we tend to do it again. This is precisely why procrastination tends not to be a one-off behaviour, but a cycle, one that easily becomes a chronic habit. Over the long haul, chronic procrastination has profitability costs, yet quantifiably damaging impacts on our psychological and actual wellbeing, including persistent pressure, general mental misery, and low life satisfaction, depression, anxiety and uneasiness, chronic weakness practices, constant sickness and even hypertension and cardiovascular disease. In the event that it appears to be unexpected that we procrastinate to stay away from negative emotions, yet wind up inclination far more terrible, that is because it is. What is more, indeed, we have evolution to thank. True procrastination is a complicated failure of self-regulation: experts define it as the voluntary delay of some important task that we intend to do, despite knowing that we will suffer as a result. A poor concept of time may exacerbate the problem, but an inability to manage emotions seems to be its very foundation. Did you know? Procrastination is strongly associated with personality traits like impulsivity and low conscientiousness. People who score low on conscientiousness are more likely to procrastinate, as they may struggle with self-discipline and goal-setting. Misconceptions and Behavioral Aspects of Procrastination A major misperception about procrastination is that it is a harmless habit at worst, and maybe even a helpful one at best. Supporters of procrastination often say it does not matter when a task gets done, so long as it is eventually finished. Some even believe they work best under pressure. Stanford philosopher John Perry, author of the book The Art of Procrastination, has argued that people can dawdle to their advantage by restructuring their to-do lists so that they are always accomplishing something of value. Psychological scientists have a serious problem with this view. They argue that it conflates beneficial, proactive behaviours like pondering (which attempts to solve a problem) or prioritizing (which organizes a series of problems) with the detrimental, self-defeating habit of genuine procrastination. If progress on a task can take many forms, procrastination is the absence of progress. There is no single type of procrastinator, but several general impressions have emerged over years of research. Chronic procrastinators have perpetual problems finishing tasks, while situational one’s delay based on the task itself. A perfect storm of procrastination occurs when an unpleasant task meets a person who is high in impulsivity and low in self-discipline. (The behaviour is strongly linked with the Big Five personality trait of conscientiousness.) Most delayers betray a tendency for self-defeat, but they can arrive at this point from either a negative state (fear of failure, for instance, or perfectionism) or a positive one (the joy of temptation). All told, these qualities have led researchers to call procrastination the “quintessential” breakdown of self-control. “I think the basic notion of procrastination as self-regulation failure is pretty clear,” says Timothy Pychyl of Carleton University, in Canada. “You know what you ought to do and you’re not able to bring yourself to do it. It’s that gap between intention and action.” Social scientists debate whether the existence of this gap can be better explained by the inability to manage time or the inability to regulate moods and emotions. Generally speaking, economists tend to favor the former theory. Many espouse a formula for procrastination put forth in a paper published by the business scholar Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary, in a 2007 issue of Psychological Bulletin. The idea is that procrastinators calculate the fluctuating utility of certain activities: pleasurable ones have more value early on, and tough tasks become more important as a deadline approach. A subsequent study, led by Tice, reinforced the dominant role played by mood in procrastination. In a 2001 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Tice and colleagues reported that students did not procrastinate before an intelligence test when primed to believe their mood was fixed. In contrast, when they thought their mood could change (and particularly when they were in a bad mood), they delayed practice until about the final minute. The findings suggested that self-control only succumbs to temptation when present emotions can be improved as a result. “Emotional regulation, to me, is the real story around procrastination, because to the extent that I can deal with my emotions, I can stay on task,” says Pychyl. “When you say task-aversiveness, that’s another word for lack of enjoyment. Those are feeling states — those aren’t states of which [task] has more utility.” Did you know? Chronic procrastination has been linked to various health problems, including increased stress, depression, and anxiety. The stress of last-minute work and unmet deadlines can exacerbate these conditions over time. Interested in Learning more about the topics, here are a few links to relevant researches and studies conducted: On the Behavioral Side of Procrastination: Exploring Behavioral Delay in Real-Life Settings Study Habits and Procrastination: The Role of Academic Self-Efficacy Understanding The Factors Influencing Academic Procrastination: A Comprehensive Review Conclusion In general, people learn from their mistakes and reassess their approach to certain problems. For chronic procrastinators, that feedback loop seems continually out of service. The damage suffered as a result of delay does not teach them to start earlier the next time around. An explanation for this behavioural paradox seems to lie in the emotional component of procrastination. Ironically, the very quest to relieve stress in the moment might prevent procrastinators from figuring out how to relieve it in the long run. “I think the mood regulation piece is a huge part of procrastination,” says Fuschia Sirois of Bishop’s University, in Canada. “If you’re focused just on trying to get yourself to feel good now, there’s a lot you can miss out on in terms of learning how to correct behaviour and avoiding similar problems in the future.” “The future self becomes the beast of burden for procrastination,” says Sirois. “We’re trying to regulate our current mood and thinking our future self will be in a better state. They will be better able to handle feelings of insecurity or frustration with the task. That somehow, we will develop these miraculous coping skills to deal with these emotions that we just cannot deal with.