As we know, trust is essential for organisations to succeed, thrive and deliver exceptional outcomes, while culture is played out by what people say and do every day and is therefore central to maximum productivity and success. Being really open to and aware of how people ‘are’ with each other in your organisation, taking a step back and objectively evaluating what you see can be a great trigger to making positive changes.

The definition of a high trust culture is when everybody is truly collaborative and respectful, sure and confident that each member of the team will do a superb job and there is no need to doubt or check on this. People have absolute faith in their colleagues’ ability to get the job done well in a timely manner to everyone’s satisfaction.  When you have great team spirit and can trust your co-workers, you promote feelings of safety and security that enables everyone to engage fully and encourage each other to reach their full potential and succeed. Trust in your fellow workers and a blame-free culture also leads to more open communication which then extends to an increased trust in the organisation and management, too.

This happens when the entire team is equipped with what we, at MGI, refer to as the Optimal Mindset, where everyone is equipped to willingly step up and take ownership and responsibility for their roles, they are optimistic that solutions, options and alternatives can always be found, they appreciate that all feedback is invaluable and have respect for each other’s point of view, alongside a firm belief that they really make a difference. When your people are equipped with the tools to ensure they have this Optimal Mindset, they can deal with anything that comes their way with confidence and capability – and it’s also a solid foundation to thrive through change and upheaval.

Four key building blocks

There are four key building blocks to create a high trust culture and promote better teamwork, stronger relationships and improved problem-solving skills.

1. Awareness – Having a strong sense of self-awareness and self-management of ourselves and everyone around us builds optimism, motivation and a sense of value and self-worth. Being able to recognise our strengths and weaknesses makes us more aware of our emotions, thoughts and behaviours and empowers us to recognise when we need to take a step back from challenging situations and consider our options. Having a real awareness of ourselves and others makes us more empathetic and appreciative of others’ perspectives and personalities, which in turn helps us to be more productive, confident, proactive and motivated. Leaders can use this awareness of themselves and the way people are interacting in the organisation to take stock and consider the positives and the opportunities for developing higher levels of trust.
2. Mindset – At the heart of everything we think, feel, say and do, our mindset impacts every aspect of our lives, shaping our response and reaction to every situation that comes our way, and driving our interactions and relationships with others. Highly productive and successful teams have a shared mindset of ownership and responsibility, optimism, respect and belief in their capability, so that they’re able to appreciate and act positively upon feedback. They can really listen and show respect by considering what others have to say, recognising the value of feedback and seeing setbacks as critical learning tools.
3. Collaboration – This is where we see a tightly knit workforce working well together with active involvement – questioning, challenging and supporting one another while truly respecting the value of each other’s viewpoints. Collaborative teams can happily pull together so that problems are solved, and barriers swiftly overcome as people are motivated by a sense of purpose and achievement. Being open and honest allows working relationships to flourish on a foundation of mutual respect and trust.
4. Communication – Positive, clear and engaging communication skills build two-way trust which leads to effective collaboration and stronger relationships. It’s always important to use positive, influential language and ensure that the first thing you say is constructive, empathetic, positive and solution focused as this demonstrates inclusion and respect and builds trust. Having the ability to communicate in a more confident, optimistic and capable way helps you to construct the right message for the most successful outcomes as well as more harmonious and healthy relationships, too.

When all four building blocks are firmly embedded in your teams and demonstrated through their everyday actions, it will be clear that everyone is working together effectively with the same aims to produce outstanding results and outcomes. People will have more insight into how they work and how best to work with others – they are empowered to communicate in a more collaborative and constructive way and ultimately build a productive and positive high trust culture.

Truly collaborative teams drive innovation and high levels of employee engagement, customer satisfaction and productivity. Ensuring your teams have the right tools and resources to hand will enable everyone to stay focused, overcome obstacles and excel in their roles with confidence and perspective, and a true commitment to excellence for the benefit of all.

To learn how MGI’s unique Positive High Trust Cultures Toolkit can provide your people with the self-management and communications tools, templates and strategies to consistently grow higher levels of positivity and trust, please get in touch here.

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When we talk to people at all levels in organisations about their company values, we find that almost all agree that they are a good description of how the organisation should be perceived both internally and externally. The challenge for leaders is that many frontline team members and managers alike say they are unsure how to apply them to everyday working practice.

Here are 3 steps you can use to bring the values to life through focused activities.

Step 1 – Take stock

A good starting point is to take stock and objectively evaluate whether the behaviours that you see every day in your organisation do reflect the values. You can consider how customers and stakeholders perceive your organisation when they look in and experience it; what emotions do they feel as they walk away, reflecting on what they heard and saw? Is their overall experience consistent with the company values you want to promote?

When values are successfully ingrained in a company’s culture, they should serve as a guiding light for how people behave, ensuring that every customer receives consistent service that reflects those values in a sincere and genuine way. Ultimately, the words you choose for your values are exactly how your people should wish their service and behaviour to be described. Listening and observing behaviours objectively against the values provides a good starting point for seeing whether you are satisfied that your team are living the values in their interactions with each other and customers.

Step 2 – Articulate the positives, and any gaps

When you have an objective view of how the values are being demonstrated, you can articulate the positives, what is working well and where you are seeing great demonstration that the leadership team agrees on how your values should be lived. Conversely, it is also important to articulate where you are not seeing or hearing the behaviours; what would you like to move from and to? By having this objective view, you can use it to take stock again in the future to evaluate the effectiveness of any training or other activities you do to embed the values into your culture.

Step 3 – Provide specific how-to tools and resources

When you have identified the gaps, providing some specific training and support to help people to demonstrate the values in a way that is authentic to them will create a momentum and fast track the organisation’s cultural development. Working with organisations across many sectors and cultures has made it very clear to us at MGI that there is, in fact, a mindset and approach to communication that can be used to demonstrate the values of any successfully functioning organisation. There are two important factors here – the fundamental mindset that each person has and the ability to positively communicate that mindset to others through language and actions.

Empowering everyone with a mindset of ownership and responsibility, optimism, respect for others and a belief in the value that each individual contributes to achieving organisational goals has been proven to be the foundation for living organisational values. This is complemented by having the ability to communicate positively with a solution-focus, whatever the situation, in order to consistently demonstrate the values. When we have reviewed our customers’ organisational values, we have been able to show the alignment of these two important factors to each set of values.

MGI’s Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit can be aligned to any positive, responsible and professional set of values and can be used as the fast track to help everyone understand how to live organisational values through what they say and do. By giving people tools that equip them to demonstrate your values in their own authentic way, you will close the gap between understanding and buying into the values and actually feeling confident that they demonstrate them in all they say and do.

How can we help?

Find out how our Mindset Language and Actions Toolkit can be tailored to provide your people with a clear pathway to the guiding principles of your company’s values and purpose – book a chat with us today. 

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The benefits of listening to understand

We know that when we truly listen to understand and give the other person our undivided attention, we strengthen our bond, building rapport and trust while demonstrating that we care about what they are saying and feeling. It also helps us understand more about the other person and what they want from the discussion – and knowing more about someone else’s thought processes improves our ability to interact with them meaningfully. It also increases the likelihood that the other person will listen to us, giving us the ability to truly collaborate and positively influence outcomes.

Try this simple check list

We invite you to pause and consider whether you and your teams need to take stock, revisit, and refresh your listening skills. Try this simple exercise:

1. Ask your team to focus on their listening skills for one day, and then review how they think it helped at the end of the day.
2. What did they hear that they might not have noticed or been aware of the day before?
3. What did they notice in the responses or reactions of others who felt they had been heard?
4. What benefits did they experience and what benefits do they think others experienced?
5. Was the effort worthwhile?

Even from this brief exercise, we would say the answer to the last question would be a resounding ‘yes’ from everyone involved.

Some helpful tips to re-focus our collaborative listening skills

We all know what we should be doing when it comes to being good, effective listeners. Here are some easy to remember tips to help us re-focus our minds to ensure we keep our listening skills on track:

• Ensure our body language shows we are listening and are not being distracted by other things; this is just as important on digital communication platforms such as Zoom or Teams.
• Encourage and acknowledge the other person’s comments so that we actively show we have heard and appreciate what they have said.
• Ask appropriate questions to clarify and ensure a good understanding. When we really examine our listening skills, are we good at asking questions and then listening carefully to the answer to increase our appreciation of the other person’s point of view? We will be familiar with the importance of simply using open questions, and just adding in a couple to any discussion can significantly improve and enhance our opportunity to listen.
• Take the time to really make sure we have understood what we are being told by clarifying our understanding. This enables us to pause for a moment and reflect back to the other person what we have heard.
• Finally, repeat important points and summarise to ensure the other person feels heard and that we have heard them correctly.

When we consciously work to re-focus and increase our motivation to listen well, relationships improve and are more productive because our exchanges become as clear and effective as possible. As active, collaborative listeners we can absorb and consider everything the other person is saying so that we are well placed to capture ideas, amplify, energise and clarify the other person’s thinking for truly effective collaboration and high trust relationships.  Imagine a team of excellent communicators whose dialogue is based on brilliant, two-way interaction, completely respectful and supportive of each other and wholly invested in collaborating effectively to create successful outcomes and productivity.

How can we help?

Find out how MGI’s Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit with Supercharged Communication can help your team to excel in every interaction they have with colleagues and customers.

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Once again, drawing on the strategies for positive, solution-focused communication is key, as well as understanding that we can enhance feedback culture and resulting performance improvements by ensuring we always give feedback with a calm, positive and optimistic mindset while clearly showing the other person that we value them. We have created some tips to help increase confidence in giving feedback internally to ensure it is appropriate to do so, and to give the best chance of it being well received.

Do you think there are things that people are aware of in your organisation that if brought into the open and discussed would improve performance and collaboration? Do you have a feeling that if people shared what they know more openly then service, engagement, wellbeing and effectiveness could increase significantly? Building a culture where people feel comfortable to give feedback safe in the knowledge it will be received with an open mind and valued is an important building block to creating a positive, high trust culture.

A great starting point is taking the time to think about how we each give feedback and put some simple checks in place to make sure it is coming sincerely from a positive with a strongly constructive intent. Here are some tips to help you assess your approach to giving feedback to complement your skills in how you receive it:

Preparing yourself

When you have an opportunity to give feedback, take time to check this is the right moment to do so. Consider where your emotions are right now, and if you are not in a calm and stable state, then stop, regroup and take a pause to give yourself the time to formulate any feedback constructively, empathetically and positively.

It is important to consider your ownership and responsibility to share feedback in an appropriate way with the intention to improve a situation. Make sure the feedback you are considering giving is going to be a service to you and the other person. Choosing the right time to give feedback and doing it with the right intention lays the best foundations.

It is worth thinking about how the feedback you are giving will affect the other person in an immediate and practical way. Will they be able to take action to rectify or influence an alternative, or might they feel the situation you are discussing is outside their control or influence? Consider preparing some actions, options and ways forward they can take. This can be a helpful opportunity to show you are happy to invest time in helping the other person.

Ask yourself some constructive questions to help you decide if and how to give the feedback. Starting with ‘what’s my goal?’ and considering other elements of the situation such as what you may or may not be able to influence or control will help to formulate how you give the feedback in a considerate and positive way to ensure the right impact.

How to deliver your feedback with care and consideration

Step 1 – Remembering how important it is to start on the positive, you could open with a positive statement about your intent and confidence in working together to find a good way forward.

Step 2 – Then, clearly describe the specific feedback you wish to give. It could relate to a situation or a behaviour that you would like to raise with the other person.

Step 3 – Offer a way forward to improve the situation showing you are happy to support and collaborate to find a good outcome, while showing mutual respect by acknowledging the situation as a useful learning opportunity for both of you. If appropriate, follow up with simple and effective ways to keep communication and collaboration happening to ensure a successful and well-rounded conclusion to your feedback.

When we take care in how we deliver feedback to colleagues to ensure it is given in a constructive and helpful way, and with empathy where appropriate, we create firm foundations for a positive feedback culture where continual improvement and learning can thrive and grow. Mutual respect, honesty and open-mindedness lie at the heart of strong, resilient and high trust relationships which are key to delivering excellence in everything we do.

How can we help?

Find out how our High Trust Culture training programme and Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit can empower your teams with the skills to thrive no matter what comes their way at work. Book a consultation here.

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Preparing yourself carefully for the different conversations you need to have with others is much easier to do with our six-step model which can be used as a guide to help you maximise upon every opportunity to shine and provide excellent service, whatever comes your way. Here it is, in essence:

Step 1 – Be in a calm and positive state of mind

Give yourself the best chance of success by managing your emotions and behaviour before you start by checking in and asking yourself, where am I emotionally … am I calm and positive? Am I ready and prepared to embark on this conversation with purpose and clarity? If the answer is no, then it’s important to take a breath and make sure you take the necessary steps to move yourself into the right mindset to really listen to the customer or colleague so that you can respond positively and with confidence, whatever the situation may be. Having an element of control or influence and the ability to consciously self-manage our emotions is motivating and powerful.

Step 2 – Be clear on the goals

When we are clear on our goals it is much easier to keep on track and to bring others along with us. It’s also important to consider what the other person’s goals might be and how they are hoping to achieve them, as this helps us to come up with the most appropriate solutions to help them and address their specific needs in a positive and timely way. Having as thorough an understanding of the situation as possible prior to the conversation will add to your confidence in driving things forward to a positive outcome.

Step 3 – Possible solutions, options or alternatives?

Think about the goals you have identified in Step 2 and what obstacles you may encounter if the situation requires you to come up with alternative and unexpected solutions. It’s important to take a moment to consider carefully the solutions you can take ownership and responsibility for, including the things we are able to do as well as other aspects the customer or colleague might be able to do to help themselves. It’s beneficial for everyone concerned when we encourage others to take ownership and responsibility where relevant, too!

Step 4 – Step back – who, what and when should you influence?

If you are preparing for a conversation where you need to influence someone, take a moment to consider your timing and method of approach. If you’ve had contact with them before, would they respond better to an email or a phone call? What other information have they had from you or the company, and does what you are about to say fit into their experience of the company to date? It’s vitally important to check through any notes and history to see if there are any other things that may be ongoing that you should be aware of. Taking time to prepare and avail yourself of all relevant facts and history will ensure a confident and professional approach and give you the best chance of a positive response from the other person.

Step 5 – Prepare a positive strategy to deliver disappointing news, and keep listening out for feedback

If you are going to be delivering disappointing news, have a clear plan to hand so that you can present the solutions and options you came up with in Step 2 quickly and effectively. When offering solutions and options that are different to those the other person is expecting or hoping for, you should always start with things you can personally do to help as this shows you are stepping up willingly and taking ownership and responsibility. Listen carefully for clues on how the colleague or customer is responding and be open to any feedback they give you. Looking back at the possible obstacles you considered in Step 3, make sure you are ready to acknowledge and welcome any feedback or complaints. If the customer begins to express negative emotions, showing empathy can really help, but this must be done with care and purpose; we will cover this in more detail below.

Step 6 – Get the people skills/technical balance right!

It’s vital that your conversation starts with good people skills such as influencing, persuading, listening and empathising – by being friendly and welcoming, before moving on to the more technical aspects of the situation. Being overly technical at the start by quoting policies, processes and techniques can make us appear cold and indifferent, that we are just ‘going through the motions’ in a scripted or robotic way, and this will alienate the other person. Using warm, confident and reassuring language is much more likely to elicit and maintain a positive and open response and provide the best chance of working together to find the most appropriate and efficient solution.

Empathy – getting it right

There are times when we need to acknowledge challenging circumstances using appropriate empathy, and it’s important to do this with sincere yet careful intention. When we are expressing empathy with customers and colleagues it is helpful to empathise about the circumstance or situation and the impact of that, rather than getting too involved in the emotions surrounding the situation, which is what we might do with more personal relationships.

It’s advisable to start with a supportive, considerate and sincere statement such as “I’m so sorry to hear that,” or “I can really appreciate the impact that must have had” – ensuring the person really hears that you mean what you are saying – before moving straight onto the positive actions you are able to take to help them and progress the situation straightaway. This will reassure the other person that they are in safe and capable hands which makes that memorable difference to the customer, while moving swiftly on towards a constructive and positive outcome.

These six steps briefly encompass the framework required to enable us to prepare for and even embrace any conversations that come our way at work, at all levels – whether they be straightforward or challenging.  When we are equipped to respond or reach out naturally and sincerely and converse with appropriate levels of confidence and empathy, we automatically assure our colleagues and customers of our commitment and capability, that we will get the job done to the best of our abilities, while positioning ourselves to deliver outstanding outcomes, whatever comes our way.

How can we help?

To chat with us about how MGI’s Mindset, Language and Actions Toolkit and tailored Learning Journeys can empower your teams with the skills to ensure confidence in everything they do at work, please book a consultation here.

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The key is to plan well using the right tools and strategies, and we thought it would be useful to outline a model that can be used to gauge one of the most important aspects of successful team building, which is a healthy balance between the focus on tasks and the essential motivating people aspects of our working day. We call this getting the P/T balance right.

“Outstanding collaborators shine because bringing out the best in others is how they found the best in themselves.”

Margaret Heffernan

We know that excellent teamwork and collaboration relies to a great extent on strong social cohesion and having positive interactions with colleagues and customers that develop over time.  It’s all too easy for the scales to tip heavily onto the task or technical side when people are working remotely for significant periods of time, resulting in a lack of social and people skills or activities such as demonstrating empathy and respect, as well as taking the time to really listen and respond with sincerity.  In extreme cases, isolated service staff can become de-sensitised to the point where their service feels cold and indifferent and lacks the vital aspects of a positive, feel-good experience for the customer.

Community matters

Excellent people skills translate into powerful, positive communication which increases our abilities to collaborate effectively.  They help us to think more creatively and ensure our virtual relationships with colleagues can continue to be meaningful and productive.  With an increasing need for your teams to have great people skills, being able to demonstrate empathy, patience, excellent communication skills and the ability to build a rapport with others alongside a strong sense of community will be a powerful foundation for future success.

It takes careful planning, time and effort to ensure a healthy balance of people aspects of our working day and the task or technical side. Our Mindset, Language and Actions Toolkit incorporates specific tools and strategies to ensure a smooth and thorough process.  The correct focus and emphasis on this vital balance of people and task focus ensure successful long-term hybrid working that maximises on the positives while ensuring that we don’t lose those hugely important and worthwhile benefits of regular conversation and interaction.

The first step is to use these techniques and strategies in the Toolkit to take a close look at your hybrid environment and assess whether the balance has shifted away from collaborative, cooperative working, which is the people sided focus that is crucial to strong working relationships and teamwork.  For example, everyday issues that might have been managed through in-person conversations are now dealt with via email where it can be challenging to assess the nuances of a particular situation which makes a successful outcome harder to achieve.

Some practical strategies

If your assessment shows that the business is out of balance with a lack of collaboration, interaction and general social cohesion, it’s time to take action to re-establish a healthy balance of people and task as quickly as possible. Alongside a robust training programme to equip everyone with the right skills and resources there will always be practical strategies you can implement straight away to address any imbalance and increase positive employee engagement and interaction, as well as the many benefits of a happy and motivated workforce.

Examples include:

• Introduce regular team sessions to recreate some of the communication opportunities that would have taken place in the office environment, and where appropriate, add an element of fun or light heartedness.  This could be online or a blend of remote and office-based staff who get together regularly for those valuable informal chats about their work.
• At MGI we scheduled regular virtual coffee break sessions during lockdown periods to ensure those important social conversations can still happen.  Some of the greatest ideas evolve around breakout areas and it’s essential to maintain these vital opportunities for informal interaction.
• Plan and schedule with care so that you can ensure certain colleagues who need to work or collaborate most closely together can be in the office at the same time for maximum benefit.  This is particularly important for mentoring or personal development purposes.
• Where relevant, implement regular team coaching sessions covering various topics to ensure skills are continually honed and developed.
• 1-2-1 sessions to talk through work and wellbeing are especially important so that remote workers feel supported and listened to and have ample opportunity to voice any concerns or queries.

‘No man is an island’

Everyone has a part to play in being alert to the many things we took for granted that were valuable, everyday opportunities to connect, collaborate and engage with others and ensure we are not at risk of losing too much. Where necessary we should be encouraged to challenge ourselves to find ways in which we can be creative to keep ourselves connected with colleagues and team members and ensure we are not losing that crucial balance of people and task.  It’s also important to look out for tell-tale signs of potential wellbeing issues we might readily have seen in others in-person that could be missed through purely virtual communication and address them with the right levels of empathy and support.

It takes careful planning and effort to ensure this healthy balance in a hybrid environment, and leaders should be looking at the long-term benefits of a robust and detailed plan that supports everyone so that they are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to be people-focused as well as technically adept at completing their work tasks. Teams that can collaborate, engage and connect positively with each other and display a healthy balance of people and task focus across everything they do will increase the likelihood for outstanding service and outcomes for themselves, their customers and colleagues.

How can we help?

To find out how MGI’s Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit can empower you with strategies to plan and ensure a healthy balance of people and technical skills across your hybrid teams, please get in touch here.

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Awareness

When we have a strong sense of self-awareness and self-management of ourselves and everyone around us, we can build optimism, motivation and a sense of value and self-worth – all vital components of a balanced and successful team able to relate to the views of others and build strong relationships with customers and colleagues.  Having the ability to recognise our strengths and weakness makes us more aware of our emotions, thoughts and behaviours so that we can recognise when we need to take a step back from challenging situations and consider our options.

Here are some things to think about when considering your own levels of awareness.  On a typical day at work, are you able to:

• Notice and manage your emotions – how they fluctuate throughout the day in relation to certain triggers and situations
• Have insight into how you are coming across in the workplace
• Consider the situations and emotions of others around you, including customers and colleagues?
• Understand how much control or influence you may or may not have in certain situations?
• Evaluate situations objectively with confidence and capability?
• Choose how you respond to challenging situations?
• Carefully consider everyday goals and outcomes and the most sensible steps to take to reach them?

Having a real awareness of yourself and others makes us more empathetic and appreciative of other people’s perspectives, which in turn helps us to be more productive, confident, proactive and motivated, particularly when we are part of a team made up of many different personalities.

Mindset

Our mindset is at the heart of everything we think, feel, say and do and impacts every aspect of our lives.  It’s a framework that can shape our response and reaction to every situation that comes our way and drives our interaction and relationships with others. 

In the same way that we need a fit and healthy heart to pump blood around our bodies, it’s also vital to have a fit, healthy and resilient mindset to ensure optimum performance across everything we do. Having a positive, optimal mindset equips you to:

Step up and take ownership and responsibility for your role, empowered by a determination for successful outcomes and to see a clear way forward whatever the challenges and obstacles to progress – and certain you have done your best and treated the customer as you would like to be treated yourself.

Be optimistic knowing there is always a solution and a positive outcome in any situation.  Having optimism means buying into the future of the business with a positive attitude, confident in the team’s ability to work together with strength and resilience, even in the face of adversity.  Optimistic people radiate happiness, humour and understanding, leading to increased productivity and wellbeing.

Be able to really listen and show respect by considering what others have to say.  People who recognise the value of feedback, seeing setbacks as critical learning tools rather than threats and irritations will strive for long term solutions rather than shortcuts and quick fixes, understanding that positive actions show customers you really listen and genuinely care about their goals.

Be highly motivated with a firm belief that I really do make a difference – confident their contribution is worthwhile and recognised and demonstrate a strong sense of purpose.  They can rise to new challenges with confidence, safe in the knowledge that individual contribution is valued and a key part of the team dynamic and outcomes.

Imagine the power and outcomes of a team where every person is equipped with the tools and techniques necessary to have an optimal mindset … problems are solved, customers are satisfied and working together is a motivating, rewarding and successful experience. 

Collaboration and Co-Creation

Great collaboration between team members who are bonded by culture and a shared sense of responsibility is key to the success of any organisation.  Collaboration is about a tightly knit workforce working well together and at the top of their game – showing active involvement, questioning and challenging skills and being supportive of one another.  Being open and honest gives everyone the opportunity to be engaging, co-creative and inclusive so that working relationships can flourish on a foundation of mutual respect and a sense of belonging. 

When a team or group can happily pull together, problems are solved, and barriers swiftly overcome as people are motivated by a sense of purpose and achievement.  Having certainty that every member of the team is equipped to take ownership and responsibility is a key element to success, as a rock-solid knowledge that everyone can have full trust in each other to do a great job is the foundation for a rewarding team culture where collaboration, kindness and fun are key.

Communication underpins everything

The way in which we choose to communicate lies at the heart of whether we succeed in and make the most of our dealings and opportunities with others, whoever they may be and whatever the situation.  Positive, clear and engaging communication skills that build two-way trust are powerful and an essential foundation upon which to build excellent awareness skills, an optimal mindset, to achieve effective collaboration and build strong and meaningful relationships. 

Whatever the thrust of the conversation, it’s important to use positive, influential language, always ensuring that the first thing you say is constructive, empathetic, positive and solution focused as this demonstrates inclusion and respect and builds trust.  When we start on the positive, we encourage the brain to be more receptive, open to solutions and ready to listen.  Whether we’re dealing with a challenging or straightforward situation, there are tools and techniques that make it easy for us to fully consider every option and keep us moving forward in a calm and positive manner.

Having the ability to communicate in a more confident, optimistic and capable way also helps us to maintain our composure when under pressure.  Whether you are actioning a request, looking to better understand a situation, gathering more details, communicating disappointing news, managing a complaint or explaining what you can do, having superb, positive communication skills at your fingertips can help you to construct the right message for the most successful outcomes, and therefore more harmonious and healthy relationships, too.

MGI Learning’s Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit explores and ingrains every aspect of the characteristics your people need to excel in their roles, successfully embedding the four important building blocks so that they become a natural and inherent part of everything they think, feel, say and do.  Our engaging and enjoyable Learning Journeys provide people with the self-management and communications tools, templates and strategies to consistently grow higher levels of positivity and trust so that everyone can excel in the workplace, whatever comes their way.

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Ensuring new skills become a way of life for your people takes focus and dedicated embedding activity. A practical approach is required when enhancing or changing any behaviour, which is easy to understand, easy to practice, and easy to implement. How many times have you felt that the impact of a training programme was lacking? Or short-lived? Have you been on training courses and forgotten what you learnt a few weeks later (we have!)? Most likely, it’s happened because the training was delivered in silo without the wrap-around embedding support that is the vital ingredient to creating lasting behavioural change.

The steps to changing behaviour

If you are working with a training provider, ask them how they plan to ensure the training will stick? How will they secure long-term positive impact and use of the skills they are teaching? At MGI Learning, our programmes are underpinned by a deep understanding of the steps to changing behaviour. This is vital to design a compelling and complete learning journey, that includes activities before and after the training course itself.

Before the training programme is implemented, it’s crucial to ensure your people understand the “why” behind it and have both the desire to undertake the learning and the optimistic view that it’s worthwhile for them. Without this, you may face pessimism about the effectiveness of the training and lack of engagement from employees. Once the training session is in progress, it must be easy to take part in and participate, and be stimulating and engaging to encourage interaction. This will help overcome common barriers to taking part such as the training being too complicated, or the participants lacking the motivation. Post-training, it’s essential to ensure orchestrated follow-on activities are put in place. This is the vital stage where you begin the work of embedding, through positive reinforcement for using the skills and by supporting the development and use of their newly-gained knowledge in everyday situations.

Why embedding is so important to a successful outcome

Actual behavioural change is achieved through the constant, consistent and collective use of the skills and tools, which creates a culture of trust where everyone demonstrates the necessary behaviours and believes their team members will do a great job.

Embedding activities of any employee training programme need to support your people in the following areas:

• To ensure managers lead by example
• To continuously learn the skills and use the tools
• To practice using the skills in day-to-day real-life situations
• To refresh knowledge and understanding
• To see and experience the positive outcomes of using the skills
• To maintain motivation to use the skills
• To provide the tools needed to use the skills everyday practically
• To collectively use the skills as a team sharing successes and learning from each other
• To measure their use of the skills and identify any barriers to their use and areas of development

Ultimately you want your people to be motivated and bought into using their new skills knowing that they are adding value to their day-to-day work. To check how your people are doing and how effectively the embedding is working you can ask the following questions and take action on the invaluable data you will collect as a result:

1. “What did I think about it?” – allow for immediate feedback alerting you to what is going well and any barriers
2. “What do I remember?” – analyse immediate knowledge recall
3. “How confident am I?” – Self-assessment of learning, identifying gaps
4. “What extra support do I need?” – deepening activities like guides, group work, refresher training
5. “What did I learn?” – test understanding and application to really show the benefit of taking part

Ten embedding tactics to ensure the skills stick

There are many elements to include in a rounded training programme to ensure the learning journey continues to move forwards and develop. Together, these will help drive positive change, ensuring your people believe in, and see the value of, using the skills they have been taught.

Here are ten tactics you can implement to ensure the skills stick:

1. Refresher training – continuous, scheduled re-visiting of the training and tools and a regular basis.
2. Micro-learning – short, sharp bite-sized learning sessions to deepen knowledge.
3. Practice sessions – practising the skills in everyday situations and scenarios.
4. E-learning – accessible online teaching, accessible to all, anytime and on any device.
5. Practical tools – frameworks, processes and interactive tools to use in everyday application.
6. Digital and printed materials and resources – available to recall when needed or refer to in the moment.
7. Group huddles – group sessions as a team to discuss, collaborate on and practice the skills.
8. Lead by example – management must demonstrate the use of the skills themselves and help mentor their people in using them.
9. Measurement – ensure development and progress is regularly measured and any knowledge or support gaps are identified and dealt with.
10. Reinforcement and feedback – show positive reinforcement for using the skills such as praise or rewards, ensure your people can always see the positive outcomes and listen to, and act on, their feedback along the way.

The next time you implement a training programme ask yourself – How do I know it’s really making a difference to my business metrics? Are my people truly bought into it? Will things have changed six months from now and how can I sustain that change? If there is any doubt, take a look at your embedding plan and see if you can include some of the suggestions here.

If you need to help your people adapt to change, build stronger working relationships or self-manage their wellbeing, get in touch for a free consultation so we can show you how.

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Every waking day, our mindset has the capacity to propel us high above the waves to a place of success, adventure and fulfilment or leave us floating aimlessly in a sea of indecision and frustration … and at times, it can make or break our potential for progress.

A myriad of tangible benefits

Whatever our starting point, it’s always possible to boost our mindset to ultra-positive and equip ourselves with a fresh and invigorated outlook where we can embrace new and existing challenges with optimism and enthusiasm.  The secret to achieving exactly this is to learn and absorb certain tools and techniques that enable us to respond positively and calmly to anything that comes our way; to take a step back, evaluate with clarity and work through the options available to us in a solution focused way, confident in our capabilities to get the job done.  Employees who understand and strive for an optimal mindset will bring a myriad of tangible benefits to your organisation and rapidly prove to be worth their weight in gold.

Empowering your greatest ambassadors

With the right balance of people and technical skills your customer service team can be your company’s greatest ambassadors, driving customer satisfaction levels above and beyond with significant increases in results, customer loyalty and ultimately your bottom line.  Employees with an optimal mindset will act confidently and efficiently from the start, with a full and inherent awareness that a mix of empathy and understanding with the correct protocols and actions will enable the situation to be dealt with effectively and professionally.  They will be motivated to take responsibility and have pride in everything they do and will strive to see the process through from start to finish.

A vital pump for optimum performance

These employees will know that just as our hearts need to pump blood around our bodies to keep us alive, it is our mindset that supplies our overarching motivation and vigour, determining how we choose to live our lives and directing our choices and behaviour at work and at home.  So just as you want to have a fit and healthy heart, it’s also vital to have a fit, healthy and resilient mindset to ensure optimum performance across every aspect of your life.

Take a look inside

We know how important an optimal mindset is for a firm foundation of strong relationships and people giving great service all of the time – but how can you tell if it’s alive and well in your organisation?  If you lift the lid, take a look inside and observe what your people are saying and doing, what appears before you?  Do you see people taking ownership and responsibility with optimism and enthusiasm, or are they passing the buck at any opportunity?  Are they listening to each other and your customers with respect and understanding, or do you see pessimism and negativity, with feedback viewed as annoying, a threat or something that just gets in the way?  Are they buzzing happily around the organisation making a difference or going through the motions of playing out their roles … and do they truly believe in the value that their contribution adds?

By looking at the four main elements of the mindset it will be clear to see if your people are consistently displaying the characteristics of an optimal mindset.  And if they are not, then it’s time to turn negatives into positives and start reaping the benefits of employees who are committed, fulfilled and motivated to work together and do the best job they possibly can, whatever the circumstances.

The four components of an Optimal Mindset

A healthy, optimal mindset is a combination of the following:

1.     Ownership and Responsibility

With the right mindset, people will actively seek out and embrace responsibility and are happy to take ownership of their roles.  They are empowered with a determination for successful outcomes and see a clear way forward when faced with new challenges and obstacles to progress. Their driving motivation will be to see the process through from beginning to end in a solution focused way, providing a sense of achievement and satisfaction – certain in the knowledge that they have done their best for the customer and treated them as they would like to be treated themselves.

2.     Optimism

Underpinning this desire for success and progress lies a firm belief and optimism that there is always a solution and a positive outcome in any situation whether it be with a customer, colleague or supplier.  Having boundless optimism means buying into the future of the business with a positive attitude, confident in the team’s ability to work together and show strength and resilience, even in the face of adversity and challenge.  Optimistic people consistently demonstrate happiness, humour and understanding in action in the workplace, resulting in a myriad of benefits for everyone including increased productivity and wellbeing.

3.     Listening and Showing Respect

The ability to listen closely, understand and carefully consider what others have to say is a key component of an optimal mindset.  People who have respect for the views and insights of others and can recognise that all feedback is invaluable, seeing setbacks as critical learning tools rather than threats and irritations will be empowered to develop customer centric skills for long-term customer loyalty and rapport.  Teams that are equipped to provide solutions that fit customer needs and not their own convenience will strive for long-term solutions rather than shortcuts and quick fixes, understanding that positive actions show customers you really listen and genuinely care about their goals.  Having the ability to communicate openly and trust that genius will emerge from the group and not from any one member is a great and powerful team dynamic.

4.     Making a difference

People with an optimal mindset are highly motivated and have a strong and inherent belief that they really can and do make a difference; they are confident their contribution is worthwhile and recognised and demonstrate a strong sense of purpose.  They feel secure in terms of future career prospects, can look out positively towards broader horizons and clearly see a pathway to ongoing professional growth and development.  Having the ability to rise to new challenges with confidence and competence, safe in the knowledge that individual contribution is recognised and valued will generate more optimism and drive, leading to increased productivity and more successful outcomes.

Motivation, reward and success

With an optimal mindset, problems are solved, customers are satisfied and working together and alongside each other is a motivating, rewarding and successful experience.  People are ready and willing to power through any challenges that come their way with enthusiasm and confidence.  They are trained to see the bigger picture; to take a pause, listen, observe and evaluate the situation in a solution-focused way, calmly considering all of the options before implementing a solid, realistic plan for a swift and efficient outcome.  They are committed to providing outstanding service to each and every customer and challenge that comes their way, taking responsibility to see things through and doing whatever it takes to reach a positive solution.

Ensuring that an optimal mindset is inherent within every member of your team is one of the most important foundations you can put in place to ensure the overall success of your business.  An optimal mindset is also tangible and observable; we can measure it by simply observing what people say and do in their daily interactions with colleagues and customers, particularly around the language they are using.  And the great news is that it’s easily achievable in any organisation with the right toolset and approach.

Achieving an Optimal Mindset is central to MGI’s eLearning Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit. See how we can help your people to thrive here.

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When talented people with shared ambitions and a strong sense of themselves and others work together towards a common goal, amazing things can happen.  They are able to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, build team spirit and eventually become unstoppable.  Whichever way your team is working – remotely, in co-working spaces, office or retail-based – collaboration and teamwork continue to play a crucial role in the success of any business.

Embracing diversity

Effective teamwork and collaboration can build a powerful sense of community, stimulate creativity, improve problem-solving abilities and lead to greater productivity and innovative ideas and solutions.  Collaborative teams appreciate and understand the value of diverse communication styles, ways of thinking, skillsets and capabilities; they know that coming together creates a much greater sum than the total of individual efforts.

When we talk to customers, they completely buy into the importance of having strong, collaborative, co-creative and co-operative relationships where people are working comfortably and productively together.  When we dig a little deeper, we often see that challenges exist around people accepting the differences of others in a broader sense – their preferences, thinking patterns and personality styles – meaning they may find it difficult to appreciate just how valuable this diversity is in terms of how successful any business will be.

Lifting the lid on your organisation

So, what happens when you lift the lid on your organisation, step back and take a good, long look at the groupings and dynamics, the body language and the type of conversations and exchanges that are taking place on a daily basis?  Do you see a positive, dynamic environment where people are pulling together, taking ownership of their roles and working seamlessly towards that shared goal?  Or is there a dysfunctional element to the relationships within … do you see an environment awash with personality clashes, differing opinions, people working against each other and a simmering culture of blaming others when things go awry?  How certain can you be that your people are working together with the very best interests of the customer and your organisation at heart?

In situations where people don’t listen to others and where preconceived ideas about other people and their capabilities are allowed to take hold, the result will be a downward spiral with ever increasing losses in time and efficiency, frustrations and division, and a significant negative impact on metrics and productivity.  If this is the case in your organisation, it’s time to take action!

Self-awareness leads to a positive, high trust culture

In order to build really strong and productive relationships in the workplace, you need to start with a clear and honest understanding of yourself.  Having self-awareness of your own preferences, motivations and how you present yourself to others every day at work gives you a really firm foundation to look out and understand how others operate, and how best to work with and alongside them.   This is one of the key building blocks for creating strong relationships and a high level of trust.

In a positive, high trust culture, everybody is absolutely certain that each member of the team is doing a superb job and do not need to question this.  If you have great team spirit and are able to trust your co-workers, it provides a feeling of safety and security that enables everyone to open up and encourage each other.  Trust in your fellow workers also leads to more open communication which then extends to an increased trust in the organisation and management too.

Four steps to better teamwork

1) Start with yourself by making sure you are continuously developing and nurturing a strong sense of self-awareness.  Increased levels of personal awareness enable you to assess and improve upon your strengths and capabilities while recognising more challenging areas where skills and expertise can be improved.

2) This leads naturally into more effective self-management of your emotions and behaviour so that you can consistently enable a calm, confident and professional response to colleagues and customers whatever comes your way.

3) Broaden your thinking to an increased awareness and appreciation of others so that you can value all feedback, respect others’ views, insight and knowledge and build mutually respectful relationships on every level.

4) Equip yourself with the ability to communicate positively with influence and correct language and expression, so that you can collaborate with great questioning skills and a strong focus on finding the right solutions together.

Collaborative feedback is invaluable

Our experience has shown that an underpinning philosophy for great teamwork is to understand that all feedback is invaluable, and this includes a full appreciation that other people’s views should be respected and listened to, and that we all have much to learn from each other’s insight and knowledge.  In this way, disagreements and hostile challenges and conflicts are replaced with respectfully robust and meaningful discussions which then lead to calm resolution, greater innovation, problem-solving and much more positive outcomes.

The right training solutions for success

Equipping your people with proven, targeted learning solutions will strengthen the team’s capability to build strong relationships with each other and your customers, giving them powerful and practical ways to work together, manage new demands and challenges and work in different and more innovative ways.  The impact of these hugely improved relationships is dramatic, giving everyone the ability to thrive in their roles, be more productive and embrace anything that comes their way at work with confidence.

Reaping the benefits of strong relationships

Any investment in building strong relationships within the workforce will reap dividends for any organisation or customer service.  People will come to work each day energised and ready to tackle their responsibilities with commitment and enthusiasm.  They will aspire to reach their goals safe in the knowledge that everyone is working with the same aims to produce outstanding results and outcomes, to the benefit of all.  They are equipped to stay focused on those goals, overcome obstacles and perform with excellence in all that they do using their initiative with confidence and perspective.  These are the people who come together to accomplish higher quality work with efficiency and verve, achieving desired outcomes with a steady and unswerving commitment to excellence.

Find out more about how our training programmes can help your people thrive here.

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