August 19, 2008
So the Olympic Games are in full swing and I think it’s safe to say ‘so far so good’. True, there is a nagging feeling that the greatest show on earth is being stage managed a little too precisely by its hosts, but despite this the Games are doing what only the Games can do – creating a real ‘feel-good factor’ that connects almost all the countries of the world. True, Football’s World Cup does have this feel-good element, but it’s only for the select few who have qualified – so there’s no doubt that the Olympics really are unique.
And what about Team GB? As I write this blog we are third in the medal tables behind China and the USA with 16 Gold medals and more almost certain to follow. That’s the best result since London in 1908 and something that was unthinkable before the start of the Games. In fact, the British Olympic Association (BOA) had stated a goal of fourth place for the 2012 Games in London – not for Beijing. Add to this, the startling fact that the two Countries at the top of the table, USA and China dwarf Great Britain in every way: China has a population of around 1.4 billion compared with the UK’s 60 million and this is also reflected in the size of the teams - both China and the US have teams of over 600 athletes compared with the UK’s which is under 350.
All of this means that Team GB’s achievements so far are all the more remarkable and certainly makes it one of the strongest pound for pound teams at the Games. This starts to explain the positive buzz that these achievements are creating back home in the UK - the performances, achievements and emotions at the Olympics are creating a genuine sense of national pride that is offsetting the bleak economic and weather outlooks this summer. As in our working lives, the hardest achievements are valued the most.
Success for team GB also creates connections and a greater sense of togetherness among the members of the United Kingdom – Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England. When the Olympics are not around it’s so easy to focus on our local rivalries – even down to the level of rivalries between cities (football supporters are the prime example). But when we see people from all over Great Britain representing us and doing us proud these divisions are blurred or removed altogether. It would be nice to think that some of this pride and togetherness could roll forward after the Games. It also sets an example for organisations – aspiring to develop a sense of pride among our workforces similar to that which is generated by our Olympic achievements has to be a good thing.
One more thought – I think a word of congratulations has to go to our Government for the investment they have made in Olympic sports such as swimming, cycling and rowing. You don’t achieve the kind results we have seen in Beijing by getting lucky with talented athletes. It takes investment and more than a little dedication from those who are charged with implementing the plans – the managers, coaches and, of course, the athletes themselves. I’m looking forward to seeing how much better it can get and this is all before 2012 in London!
No Comments » | 
Talent, Well-being | Tagged: China, feel good factor, managers, Olympic games, USA, workforces | 
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Posted by Cary Cooper
August 7, 2008
With just a day to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics the run-up feels very different to the last two Games. In 2000, we had the excitement of the millennial Games in Sydney which was so well organised that the biggest question mark was over the size of the firework display. Then in 2004, the Greeks pulled it off, answering the doubters who said that they wouldn’t be ready in the best possible way. Looking back, both hosts delivered the one thing that all Olympics must deliver – the feel good factor!
This time, as the athletes travel to China it’s much more difficult to predict how the Games will play out. At home we’re all affected by the gloom of the credit crunch, the terrible weather and a summer without the buzz of the England Football team being involved in a major tournament. In China, there are concerns about human rights, the occupation of Tibet (and arrests following protests), the smog, a terrorist attack in Xinjiang and allegations of certain websites being off-limits to members of the press. All this makes the questions that were asked in the run-up to the Athens games look easy!
At the start of the games it’s hard to know how the world’s biggest sporting festival will play out. The Chinese people are undoubtedly looking forward to it and it’s almost certain that the event will be very good for their already burgeoning economy. There’s also a good chance that the westernised nature of the games will give the Chinese a taste of a somewhat more liberal society, but it will be interesting to see whether the Olympics will have a real impact on Chinese society and the happiness and well-being of its people. Like the rest of the world, I’ll be watching with interest over the next two weeks….. no doubt more Olympic posts will follow!
No Comments » | Well-being | Tagged: Beijing Olympics, feel good factor, happiness, liberal society, Olympics, Well-being | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
August 1, 2008
In my last post, my colleague Ivan Robertson wrote about how UK plc is doing in relation to working smarter. On a lighter, but related note, I have noticed a major shift to more informal dress for men in the workplace. In particular, far fewer men seem to wear ties these days, which gives the workplace a much more informal and relaxed feel – I, myself, stopped wearing them years ago so, generally speaking, I support this move!
But I was talking to someone about this trend recently, and they explained it to me as a very positive signal that there is more flexibility and autonomy in the workplace – as well as lower levels of formality. But then I also noticed that The Financial Times just carried a piece about the sales of ties bucking the downward trend in high street sales – and actually increasing! Their explanation was that just as politicians like Gordon Brown and Barach Obama have reverted to wearing ties to project a more serious countenance during the downturn or running up to an election, working men are becoming worried about their jobs and have decided that “smartening up” might help them to avoid redundancy. This is backed up by sales figures from Moss Bros., Tie Rack, Jermyn Street’s Hilditch & Key and John Lewis, who have all reported significantly increased tie sales.
So, if this is true, the more casual approach to wearing ties is not a symbol of new ways of working or the new informality of office life – but instead it indicates that men who adopt it are supremely confident about retaining their jobs!!
You can see the article from the FT at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/69725d96-4962-11dd-9a5f-000077b07658.html
1 Comment | Personal Resilience, Well-being | Tagged: autonomy, flexibility, Ivan Robertson, The Financial Times | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
July 30, 2008
Once again I’m really lucky to be able to share my blog with Professor Ivan Robertson, I hope you enjoy his post!
Professor Ivan Robertson
A new report by CIPD on Smart Working set me thinking about the big changes that are taking place in our workplaces. In particular, which ones are important, which are not? For example, globalisation and the latest technology are generally seen as good things, but they also mean that many people have to work long and unsociable hours to communicate with customers or colleagues in other countries.
In their report, the CIPD authors focus on several key areas which can drive smarter ways of working, such as job redesign and high performance work practices. They describe smart working as:
“An approach to organising work that aims to drive efficiency and effectiveness in achieving job outcomes through a combination of flexibility, autonomy and collaboration, in parallel with optimising tools and working environments for employees”.
According to the report the kinds of things that exemplify smart working include more flexible working practices (such as home-working and tele-working), increased autonomy and empowerment for employees, greater latitude in decision-making and more participation for employees. The report also makes it very clear that there is no single or simple collection of changes that move organisations smoothly towards smarter working practices.
So, we’d all probably agree that these are generally good things to be aiming for, but when we look around the workplace what should we make of new ways of working such as tele-working, empowerment and flexible working? Things are definitely changing, but maybe not as quickly as elsewhere. The Equal Opportunities Commission recently accused British companies of being among the least successful businesses in Europe in terms of flexible working practices and a study that they released last year showed that just 20 per cent of UK employers allowed workers to tele-work, compared with about 40 per cent in Germany, Sweden and Denmark. And apparently, flexi-time is available at only about 48 per cent of UK companies, compared with 90 per cent of German and Swedish employers. So maybe we haven’t come as far as we thought!
If we are lagging behind in terms of important changes in the workplace – that may help to explain the “productivity gap” between the UK and many other developed countries and also why the UK consistently is ranked low in worldwide and European Happiness Indices.
To find out more about the CIPD report go to: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/corpstrtgy/orgdevelmt/_smrtwrkgri.htm
No Comments » | Guest Blog Spots, Productivity, Well-being | Tagged: autonomy, CIPD, collaboration, employees, European Happiness Indices, flexi-time, flexibility, Flexible Working, productivity gap, smart working, tele-working | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
July 21, 2008
I’m no golf fanatic, but I couldn’t help but be struck by the remarkable events of the last four days at Royal Birkdale where the best golfers in the world battled it out by the sea in the wind and the rain.
The tournament was remarkable for several reasons – not least for the sensational performance delivered by Greg Norman as he bid to become the oldest ever winner of the British Open at 53, competing as only a part-time golfer. He led after the first round (a nice story, but surely he’d fade away as the full-time pros got used to the conditions?); he led after the second round (this was getting interesting!); he led after the third round going into the final day and he even held the lead jointly going into the last nine holes. Although, in the end, the brilliance of last year’s champion Padraig Harrington came through, Norman’s third place has been widely hailed as one of the great Open performances of all time.
It’s also testament to the powers of physical and psychological well-being. Norman looked in great shape for a 53 year old (he looked ten years younger) and he also looked incredibly happy and relaxed. Much has been made this week of the bitter divorce that cost him dearly. On the other hand his recent marriage to former tennis star Chris Evert has reportedly been the key to his rehabilitation, he spoke in interviews about the strength and balance he took from having his ‘soul-mate’ around.
During his glittering career in the ‘80s and ‘90s he was the World Number 1 for over five years (a record), but he only won two major tournaments and earned a reputation as someone who threw winning positions away under pressure. Norman’s battles with his demons were well known, but this weekend they were banished - I suspect permanently. He displayed a mental approach that was characterised by well-being and positive psychology, as he coped with the enormous mounting pressure. And you could see him using his maturity to enable him to smile when things didn’t go his way – he was resilient.
Unlike, the eventual winner Padraig Harrington, Norman had no official right to be walking onto the 18th green at Royal Birkdale to receive the adulation of the huge and appreciative crowd on the final day of the Open. Although he didn’t win, I suspect that as someone who never thought they would experience that buzz again he feels like a winner this morning!!
No Comments » | Personal Resilience, Well-being | Tagged: performance, physical well-being, Positive psychology, psychological well-being, resilient, Royal Birkdale, under pressure | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
July 9, 2008
Have you ever dreaded going in to work in the morning? And I mean really dreaded it. I’m not talking about those mornings that we’ve all had when we’d rather stay in bed and avail ourselves of the infamous ‘duvet day’. I’m talking about something more fundamental than that – where a particular aspect of your job makes you feel so anxious, uncomfortable - or even fearful - that you just can’t face it.
Joseph Heller, the author of Catch 22, captured this feeling in his book Something Happened when he wrote the following about life in the office of his main protagonist, Bob Slocum:
If you asked any one of them [employees] if he would choose to spend the rest of his life working for the company, he would give you a resounding No!, regardless of what inducements were offered….. If you asked me that same question today, I would also give you a resounding No! and add: “I think I’d rather die now.”
Elsewhere Bob adds “Something did happen to me somewhere that robbed me of confidence and courage and left me with a fear of discovery and change and a positive dread of everything unknown that may occur.”
While not all of us have experienced this feeling at work, I’d be willing to bet that there are plenty of people out there who have done or are doing right now. There are many sets of circumstances that can cause these feelings – work relationships, feeling that you are going to lose your job at any minute, lack of role clarity / sense of purpose, unrealistic workload / timescales, unbalanced working hours, the general climate / atmosphere of the workplace, your depressing working environment / office, the level of autonomy you have over your deliverables …..the list of potential causes goes on and any combination of these that might lead to feelings of dread.
What’s interesting is how many of these ‘sources of dread’ stem from relationships – particularly that with your boss which, of course, can be such a key determinant of what work feels like. Other aspects influenced by your boss include level of pay, whether you know what’s going on higher up in the organisation and whether work feels like fun.
But what you can do if you feel this way? The first and most important thing is to take control. Stand back and look at the situation to understand which of the above factors are at play. But also consider your own role in this – have your needs gone beyond what this department in this organisation can offer you? Have you played any role in causing this situation?
Once you understand how things have got to this situation you have to take appropriate action. You may need to discuss the matter with a work friend to get a reality check and find out whether others share your perceptions. You may need to speak directly with your boss and find a way to raise the problem in an open and honest way. Or you may need more help with understanding the problem from a counselor or welfare officer. You may simply need to leave. The important thing here is that you move yourself on, that you don’t accept the status quo and drag yourself to work every day for the next five years hating every second. Taking action will change your perspective and help you to generate options for change: Change the job design, change the environment, work in a different part of the organisation or even a different organisation. The bottom-line is – if you don’t like it, change it.
Most importantly, don’t be like Bob Slocum who said “No one understands that carrying on bravely was the easiest thing to do.”
No Comments » | Management, Personal Resilience, Well-being | Tagged: Anxious, autonomy, Bob Slocum, Confidence, control, Joseph Heller | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
July 7, 2008
Wow, what a spectacle the men’s single’s tennis final at Wimbledon turned out to be yesterday!! It had everything – Federer, the five times (in a row) Champion reduced to 2-0 down in the first hour; an heroic comeback to draw level at two Sets apiece and then two great players matching each other’s brilliance in the deciding Set before Nadal’s raw strength, talent and determination brought him through as a worthy winner. And the tension was compounded by two rain breaks which gave the both players time to think…..and for the pressure to mount!
Personally, I found the psychology of the final, hailed by the press as the best ever, fascinating. It showed how intense pressure (driven by the desire to win, the fear of losing, the size/prestige of the prize and the crowd) in the contained context of the match took both players, and ultimately the game of tennis, to new levels. And this is what pressure in all forms of work can do - as long as you have the right support around you, it doesn’t last too long and you have the personal resources to cope with it.
We are all like Federer and Nadal to some degree – extreme pressure asks us difficult questions and drives us to find answers we didn’t know we were capable of coming up with. And that means that we find levels of performance we didn’t know we could deliver. You can’t be under pressure 24/7 but, as in tennis, the most spectacular results can emerge from relatively short bursts of intense pressure followed by respite.
I think that Chef, Gordon Ramsay summed up the constructive role that pressure can play in life when he said the following in an interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio FiveLive last year – also note the pressure doesn’t have to come from an external source:
“… I put myself under immense pressure - I’m very healthy, but I need that pressure. It only becomes stressful when you can’t handle it…..and boy, do I love handling it!”
No Comments » | Stress, Well-being, pressure | Tagged: determination, Federer, Nadal, performance, pressure, psychology, respite, support, Talent | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
July 2, 2008
One again I have the pleasure of sharing my blog with my good friend and colleauge Gordon Tinline who is a Director at my University spin off company Robertson Cooper - I hope you find Gordon’s post of interest and as always I welcome your comments!
Understanding how to balance Control and Support is critical for managing pressure and maintaining a sense of well-being – indeed, both are acknowledged in the Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards for Work-Related Stress. Research shows that when work demands are high the difference between the highest and the lowest levels of performance is largely predicted by perceptions of control and the extent to which employees feel supported.
However, it seems to me that there is quite a difficult balance to strike between these elements. This is because performance outcomes are influenced by multiple factors – including your line manager’s behaviour, your behaviour and the context you are operating in.
I’ve recently been working with a team of professional footballers at the very highest level of the game. They encounter a version of this issue as they try to maintain control over the direction of their careers when surrounded by agents and other advisers who present themselves as essential sources of support. The risk here is that an over-reliance on these sources of support turns the puppeteer into the puppet – the result is that situations where agents end up exerting a controlling influence over the player are commonplace. This is understandably frustrating for many football managers, who are keen to educate young players to be able to make good judgements about when to exert control and when to draw on their support network.
There are obvious parallels here with the workplace situation – we need to be given enough space and autonomy to do our best work, but at the same time we need to know that we are not alone and can call on our manager / organisation for support when we need it.
Over-reliance on support means losing control. The solution lies in understanding where you need to exert control and where you need to seek the advice of others with more knowledge of a particular area - or whom you trust as truly having your best interests at heart. You are at the centre of the axis and to get the balance right you have to make good judgements about what you need as you go through your career.
Gordon Tinline
No Comments » | Guest Blog Spots, Leadership, Management, Productivity, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: autonomy, control, Gordon Tinline, HSE, managing pressure, support, Well-being, work related stress | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
June 20, 2008
This week Labour MP Tom Harris hit the headlines after he wrote a blog post entitled “Heaven knows we’re miserable now”. He suggests that although we are richer and more secure, we are actually less happy and more miserable than we were decades ago. He implies that even with the credit crunch we are wealthier and relatively more secure than ever before - because in the past we had the fear of nuclear war, poverty and the average wage was much lower. In some respects, I agree that we are better off now and that this hasn’t led to corresponding increases in happiness – the well-rehearsed ‘money and material goods doesn’t buy happiness’ theory!
However, I disagree that our cynicism, whinging and apparent pessimism is part of the intrinsic British makeup. On the contrary, as an American who has lived and worked here for over 30 years, I think we have become more optimistic, less cynical and less whinging. The ‘70s saw the height of pessimism, conflict and cynicism - but since the ‘80s we have progressively become more positive and the benefits of a positive mindset have been demonstrated and acknowledged in the fields of professional sport, business and our language – for example, the proverbial glass ‘half full’, ‘positive mental attitude’ from the ’80 and ‘90s and more recently ‘positivity’.
In my opinion, what we are seeing today is not ‘national miserableness’, but a reaction to an underlying concern about our security. The insecurity of our jobs, financial insecurity, insecurity because we live in a world where we know terrorists are prepared to give up their lives to destroy others, the lack of community as we hunt the almighty ‘buck’ to look after ourselves and our families.
I suspect what is happening is that people at the moment don’t feel they have much control over their own lives. At the same time, they don’t feel that the ‘significant others’ in society (e.g. government, employers, Bank of England, FSA, etc.) are in control of events either. This lack of control - whether it relates to the cost of fuel and food or the decline of the economy or the rising influence of the EU - causes concern and anxiety for people. So, this so-called nation-wide ‘miserableness’ is a means of expressing our worries, a reaction to a specific way of life that characterises our society – it’s not an intrinsic national negative personality trait!
Read Tom Harris’ Blog post at http://tomcharris.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/heaven-knows-were-miserable-now/
No Comments » | Productivity, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: credit crunch, happiness, harris, miserable, unhappy, Well-being | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
June 19, 2008
Last month Personnel Today reported research from Frankfurt University showing that ‘professional smilers’, such as flight attendants, sales personnel, call centre operators, waiters and others in contact with the public for extended periods of time, were at risk of seriously harming their health. Professor Dieter Zapf, a psychologist and researcher into human emotions at Frankfurt University, said that fake friendliness led to depression, stress and negatively affected the immune system. The implication of the findings was that every time a person is forced to repress their true feelings, there are damaging consequences for their health.
This is hardly surprising, but for me puts the spotlight on recruitment decisions – those of both candidate and recruiter. For the recruiter, it’s critical to know what you’re looking for and how to identify it in the candidate. For example, if you are looking for a friendly, sociable flight attendant you need to understand the enduring personality characteristics that drive the behaviour you are looking for, as well as checking that the person has the skills to interact with passengers effectively. If someone has a personality characterised by high levels of neuroticism and introversion they are very unlikely to behave in the manner you require – no matter how well they perform in the role play at the assessment centre. Learnt skills can mask true personality in the short-term, but it never lasts.
Which brings me to the candidate’s responsibility in these situations: No matter how much someone wants the job there is no point in them pretending to be someone that they are not. If you like to spend time quietly problem-solving, analysing data or writing reports you are unlikely to enjoy the kind of work that requires a lot of human contact, outgoing behaviour and constant smiling. So it’s important to be honest with yourself and the recruiter and to self-select out of the process when this kind of mismatch occurs.
For people, who are naturally outgoing (in personality terms, extroverts who are open to experience and have low levels of neuroticism) I doubt that working in these roles would be inherently stressful, as the Frankfurt study claims. However, for someone who wasn’t completely honest during the recruitment process, or got the job as the result of a poor selection decision by the employer, these kinds of roles could become excruciating. I’d like to see the results of a study like this that controlled for personality type.
http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/05/16/45890/enforced-smiling-in-the-workplace-puts-health-at-risk.html
No Comments » | Management, Recruitment and Selection, Stress, Well-being | Tagged: Depression, personality, recruitment, Stress, stressful | Permalink
Posted by Cary Cooper
