The Importance of Effective Critical Feedback

People seem to have contradictory feelings about critical feedback. Most people will say they hate it, but some studies show that most of us would like more feedback than we currently receive even if it’s critical. However, many leaders are hesitant to share critical feedback because they worry about how the person on the receiving end will react.

What Can Happen If We Don’t Share Critical Feedback?

Perhaps we have a team member who has a performance issue. We are aware of this, but we can’t quite steel ourselves to tackle the problem. However, by not facing the difficulty head on, we are also impacting the rest of our team, who have gradually lost respect for the under-performing team member and for ourselves because we failed to do something about it. 

We hope the problem will just go away, but instead it escalates until, eventually, the offending person’s employment is called into question. We finally are forced to talk to the team member about the problem, but by that point, everyone is so frustrated that the team member is destined for failure. It’s impossible for this individual to improve quickly enough, and they will probably lose their job. 

Refusing to Share Critical Feedback Is Unfair and Unkind 

We may have a team member with a long history of treating co-workers and customers poorly. Despite numerous complaints, no previous managers had addressed the issue with him because they were afraid he would respond aggressively. Because no one told him there was a problem, he naturally kept behaving the way he always did. 

By the time we decide to address the issue, the train is probably too far down the tracks, and the person simply isn’t able to change his behavior. The outcome is that he loses his job. This situation could most likely have been avoided if previous team leaders had done their jobs properly and shared the critical messages that needed to be shared.

Sugarcoating Tough Feedback Doesn’t Help

If we are in charge of a problem employee, we might be tempted to share critical feedback infrequently and cautiously. Under the guise of kindness, we might try to soften feedback by downplaying the issue in the following ways:

·       Even when we know the issue is the cause of major problems, we “sandwich” a critical message between a couple of compliments, so the person leaves feeling happy. 

·       We sympathize by saying we’ve all made similar mistakes in the past. 

·       We dilute the message by beating around the bush or saying too much.

·       We touch on the problem but end the conversation by telling the employee that they are doing well. The necessary critical feedback is entirely lost amidst fuzzy compliments.

Unfortunately, the more justification we provide and the more we downplay a difficult message, the less likely the person is to receive the news we’re trying to impart.

When sharing a hard message, it’s best to be assertive and direct. That doesn’t mean we should never share genuine positive messages along with more negative ones. However, when we do, we must be abundantly clear with our direct feedback to ensure the core message is not lost.

By sharing direct and candid feedback, a problem employee might realize the significance of the problem and be motivated to alter his behavior and thus keep his job. 

We May Have a Misguided Sense of Kindness

We seem to be hardwired to believe that critical feedback is unkind because it could hurt the recipient’s feelings. However, employee problems can occur if we give in to a misguided sense of kindness because we value our personal emotional comfort over another’s growth. 

But think hard about what is more unkind. We can be honest with someone and, in the process, allow them to improve. Or, we can set them up for failure because they have not been made to fully realize that there is a problem.

Unfortunately, if our overwhelming fear is causing emotional pain to someone, we may leave many bodies in our wake. We are potentially lowering the quality standards of our organization, permitting problems to fester, and causing people to get fired when they might have been able to improve.

In her book Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, former Netflix Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord, who doesn’t believe in Chief Happiness Officer, sums up the problem perfectly:

One of the most important insights anyone in business can have is that it’s not cruel to tell people the truth respectfully and honestly.

If we can embrace that idea and redefine the notion of kindness to include candor, we will enhance the development of our team and our organization. 

Critical Feedback: Final Thoughts

Giving critical feedback is difficult, but it’s also a very selfless thing to do. We need to put more value on another’s growth and less on our personal comfort. 

Our next article will follow up on the subject of critical feedback and discuss ways to be candid without coming across as insensitive.

For additional reading, check out these great books on feedback:

Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson

Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen

Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott

Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Finally, if you want to improve your leadership skills including the ability to apply effective critical feedback, Shaping Development can help. Contact us today to learn more.

How to Succeed as a (Newly) Virtual Leader

Previously, we discussed how it’s possible to communicate remotely and get work accomplished with the aid of ever more innovative digital technology. We then examined why this new way of working can present a challenge not only to virtual leaders but also to their team members. So let’s continue to explore more helpful ideas that can assist you in managing your virtual team in the best way possible!

Reset Roles and Responsibilities

Some people really love working remotely and have no desire to go back to normal office life. However, others may lack motivation or feel challenged in other ways. It might not be obvious who is struggling at first, but your job as a virtual leader is to assess how each team member is coping. So, during your one-on-one meetings, ask questions along the following lines:

·       How are things going for you?

·       What challenges are you facing? 

·       What is it you need to be successful? 

·       How can I, or other team members, help?

These discussions will give you the chance to re-evaluate each individual’s particular strengths and weaknesses. For example, you may discover that it’s necessary to move jobs or responsibilities around or enroll those who feel less comfortable in training sessions.

·       Example: One of your team members excels at running meetings in person but lacks either the facilitation or technical skills to conduct them remotely. 

·       Example: You have a team member who participated actively during in-person meetings but says hardly anything in virtual meetings.

Handle Change Carefully

Because change - like taking on new work or exchanging roles - can bring on sensitivities in people, it’s essential to shape any suggestions you make as opportunities to grow in the job. Your aim should be to diagnose your co-worker’s strongest and weakest points and provide them with guidance when they are struggling. By placing them where they can best succeed, you will be helping your colleague develop, and your entire team will become more productive. 

In your talks with each team member, ask for their thoughts and feedback on how the team can be improved. Remember that authenticity, respect, and empathy form the foundation of strong leadership.

Keep the Big Picture in Mind

When working remotely, it’s all too easy to stay glued to your computer, fielding email after email, in an earnest but completely unorganized fashion. With your to-do list squarely in front of you and no work colleagues to pull you out of your head, it’s tempting to stay buried in the weeds. 

However, you are a virtual leader, and people need to rely on you for direction, especially in these uncertain times. This means that you may have a multitude of small tasks filling up your calendar, but you need to be able to pick your head up and keep at least one eye on the bigger picture.

Carve Out Some Time for Strategy

Be sure to set aside some time to work on your organization’s business strategy vs. working in its business operations. For example, you can choose to block off some time on your calendar to think about strategy. Or, if your thoughts are already clear on that point, schedule a strategy session with your team. 

Use this time to revisit fundamental questions about your organization and the business it’s involved in. Ask yourself the following:

·       Do our customers (or clients) see our value proposition clearly? 

·       Can we find opportunities to enhance our business model? 

·       Are my team members sufficiently engaged, inspired, and productive to do their best work?

Here’s an idea from Michael Porter’s classic piece, What Is Strategy? He wrote:

“New [strategic] positions open up because of change…new needs emerge as societies evolve.”

What can you take from this? First, the changes you are experiencing because of the Covid-19 crisis will probably open up opportunities for your organization and you as a leader. Second, in a time when it’s easy to focus only on defense, it’s up to you as a virtual leader to take the offense and be on the lookout for new opportunities. 

Strengthen Your Company Culture

Right now, your team needs to feel connected to each other and also to your organization’s mission. A good way to accomplish this is to routinely schedule sessions for each team member to shine a spotlight on and share “wins” delivered to customers, the team, or the business as a whole.

Your aim should be to tie the sharing of these “bright spots” to the organization’s values, vision, or mission. At the same time, you should restate the organization’s purpose and the essential role played by everyone in striving to achieve it.

·       If time for meetings is tight, a quick email, slack page, or other non-verbal communication types can be used.

You also might want to consider prioritizing some team-building pathways that were somewhat less essential before your team members were scattered remotely. Some ideas are virtual social hours, fitness challenges, art sharing clubs, book clubs, meditation groups, team musical performances.

·       Even something as simple as beginning a meeting by asking people to share a video, a meme, or a photo that gives them joy can foster camaraderie. 

Virtual Leadership: Final Thoughts

Is there a silver lining to our current business environment? I would say yes. The virtual leadership skills you are building now in a time of crisis will still serve you after Covid-19 is finally in the past. While there is probably no reverting to exactly how things were before, new opportunities will continue to open up. 

We may be heading to completely virtual workforces on a scale we’ve never experienced before. But, thanks to this unforeseen time we are in, your virtual leadership skills can rise to meet the challenge.

If you feel you are way behind with the virtual skills necessary to lead effectively in this era of remote work, Shaping Development can help! Contact us to learn more.

Team Building: 8 Ways to Ensure Everybody Feels Included

Managing and motivating your team members is difficult in the best of times, but it's especially so when a large percentage of your workforce may be working remotely. However, if you want your business to thrive, finding ways to keep your co-workers engaged is necessary. Here are eight team-building tips to help you create a more inclusive atmosphere.

1.    Use the Right Communication Tools

There are many tools that make communicating with your team easy, including phone, text, email, direct messaging, video conferencing, and project management systems. Ensure each member of your team uses the same technology and knows how to use it well. They also need to be aware of any protocols involved, e.g., sending sensitive information over email without using end-to-end encryption is a big no-no.

2.    Allow Employees to Make Important Decisions

Delegating work trains your teammates to have the confidence to manage specific tasks without you. Letting employees make decisions impacting your company's culture and future will make them feel trusted and respected. For example, empowering an employee to decide which vendor to use can propel them to trust their own judgment and motivate them to take further initiatives. 

3.    Recognize Each Employee's Contribution

Don't just hand out an assignment to a team member; explain why they've been chosen. For example, Client X was extremely pleased with their website design, and you have another client who could benefit from the team member's unique skills. Share feedback not only from clients but also from co-workers, other team leaders, and higher-ranking executives. Passing along positive customer reviews and comments also helps with team building.

4.    Encourage Each Person to Contribute During Meetings

We've probably all been in meetings when we felt the urge to speak up, but we kept quiet. If this happens a lot, eventually you start to think that your voice isn't valued. As a team leader, prevent that from happening by encouraging each employee to share their thoughts and opinions. Assign your meeting attendees specific duties so they remain involved. Regularly ask for feedback, invite questions, and make meetings interactive and productive. Be an active and empathetic listener, and let people "own" their ideas. 

5.    Make Your Team Members Brand Ambassadors

If you plan to attend an upcoming industry event, have one of your team members participate in your place. This will make the chosen person feel valued and empowered as your company's brand representative. This is especially motivational for remote workers who risk feeling more isolated and less valued. You can also ask a team member to attend job fairs, speak at a school's career day, or sponsor their membership in a professional organization.

6.    Provide Professional Development Opportunities

A Gallup poll found that 87% of millennials want to be able to develop professionally. So, make sure all of your team members have opportunities to refine their existing skills and learn new ones. Provide a platform for them to share what they've learned with others. Also, allow your team to embark on a shared experience by attending classes or workshops together.

7.    Foster Workplace Friendships

Jobs provide more satisfaction when employees have opportunities to form friendships. So, an important part of team building is providing your team with time and ways to discuss non-work-related subjects, such as weekend plans or hobbies. Create shared activities that allow your team members to interact and bond - going on a retreat, working out together, having lunch or dinner, volunteering. Celebrating personal events, such as birthdays and the coming of a new baby, can also build camaraderie.

8.    Perk People Up

Everyone enjoys perks. Perks make employees feel as if they're part of a company family. Perks can be anything from gym memberships and free meals to unlimited vacations. It depends on what your employees would like, whether the perks fit your company culture, and what your budget allows.

Team Building: Final Thoughts

No business has succeeded without a solid team of people who feel involved. Ensuring that employees don't feel ignored, overlooked, or left out will foster motivation and help increase your bottom line. 

Shaping Development can help you with your team-building strategy. We can also show you how to develop organizational processes for your team so that all members work better together. Get in touch with us for more information.

Managing the Invisible Worker

One major result of the COVID-19 pandemic is the rise in the number of employees working remotely. This represents a revolutionary transformation of the workplace. After all, before the advent of modern technology, the only option (and the pre-COVID norm) was for people to work together under one roof. Accordingly, management techniques have relied heavily on physical proximity and “face time.”

As more companies become location-independent by integrating remote working into their business models, managerial strategies need to change. If you are increasingly finding yourself having to manage remote employees, here are some helpful strategies.

1.    Let Go of Face Time

One key feature of traditional management has been the reliance on face time as a performance indicator. During fixed hours of the day, people viewed in their office chairs are assumed to be working (whether or not they really are!). So if your team members are working remotely in their pajamas, how can you tell who is really working? And what if you have some employees in the office while others are working from home?

What is necessary here is a move to focusing more on management by objectives. This technique should be used for everyone, regardless of whether they are working remotely or in the office.

2.    Treat Remote and In-Office Team Members Equally

A major component of successfully managing a team with remote and in-office workers is equal treatment. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of out-of-sight, out-of-mind when you can’t see some of your team members.

This strategy doesn’t just apply to teams with a mix of in-office and at-home workers; it also applies to any dispersed company. If you are not in the same room or on the same floor as everyone else you work with, you need to develop the mindset that everyone is a remote worker.

You may already be halfway there in this way of thinking. If you have to take an elevator between three or more floors or walk between buildings in the rain, you behave as if the other person is remote by typically using email or the phone instead of face time.

3.    Adapt Traditional Management Techniques

All remote managers should actively use traditional management techniques such as regular one-on-one meetings, recognition for work done well, development of trust, delegation of authority, and regular reviews with no surprises. However, to manage today’s increasingly remote workforce, virtual connection and collaboration skills are essential to build solid relationships, drive accountability, manage projects, and deliver results.

The Benefits of Effective Remote Management

·        Improved worker retention: Remote working options enable people to have more control over where and when they work best. This is widely acknowledged to increase employee engagement and satisfaction and reduce employee turnover. Moreover, people can continue to work for an organization even if they relocate, removing the need to fill vacant positions.

·        A wider applicant pool: Remote work enables companies to hire the best person for the job, regardless of location. It also attracts qualified people who cannot or don’t choose to commute to an office - think a parent with young children, a caregiver with an aging parent, and individuals with disabilities.

·        Emergency preparedness: If coworkers are situated in one physical office, then there is an organizational single-point-of-failure. However, teams can continue to operate in a virtual environment even if the company’s physical building is closed or if transportation is disrupted by strikes, snowstorms, earthquakes, or some other significant event.

The Future of Remote Management Is Here

Statistics about remote work show that before the pandemic, many people were working from home occasionally. The number of remote workers has continued to grow and has been greatly accelerated by COVID-19.

The reality faced by managers today is vastly different from that of previous generations. In today’s day and age, many organizations have dispersed teams that may extend across different cities, states, and countries. Remote working is here to stay, which means you need to develop expertise in remote management techniques.

Need Help to Develop Your Management Skills?

Shaping Development offers you Personal Development Coaching tailored to your unique needs. Let us help you shape the skills necessary to lead and manage in this new era of remote working. Contact us for more information!

8 Simple Strategies to Avoid Leadership Burnout

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities and the amount of work that keeps piling up? If so, you may be heading for full-blown leadership burnout. 

·      According to a Gallup study, a whopping two-thirds of full-time workers have grappled with burnout.

·      The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified work-related burnout as both an ‘occupational phenomenon’ and a ‘syndrome’. 

How Do You Know if You Have Leadership Burnout?

With escalating stressors, speed, and supercharged connectivity encompassing the modern workplace, you may reach the point when you feel like you just can’t work another minute. 

Symptoms of burnout include feelings of exhaustion or energy depletion, a lowering of confidence, decreased motivation, and more negativism. Plus, there’s a higher likelihood that you’ll take a sick day. 

The Good News – Self Help for Leadership Burnout

You don’t have to give in to burnout. You can learn some ways to self-soothe when your job seems to be spiraling out of control or when you think you just can’t take it anymore. Here are eight tips to help banish that helpless feeling and put you back in control. 

1.    Pay attention to your breathing. As soon as you feel stress hitting, turn to conscious breathing – deliberately take several slow and deep breaths, and concentrate on your breathing. This helps to expel tension and prevent it from getting stuck in your body.

2.    Visualize your stress away. Envision a stream of pure white light coming from the top of your head and a flood of darkness flowing out from the soles of your feet. This is one of several visualization techniques to help reduce overwhelm and produce more positive and productive energies.

3.    Give yourself some comfort. Just as a mother might console her baby by patting his/her chest, you can comfort yourself by placing your hand over your heart. This behavioral shift can give you something to focus on by feeling your heartbeat and chest breathing in and out.

4.    Talk to yourself positively. Don’t allow fear-based or negative thoughts to get in the way of believing in yourself. Instead, shift negative self-talk to positive self-talk, e.g., This is only a transient situation. I will come up with the best way to handle it, and everything will turn out okay.

5.    Be your own witness. The whole you is bigger than any fear, anxiety, or self-doubt. Tell yourself: I am not this emotion. I can center and calm myself and free myself from this state of feeling overwhelmed. And I can bear witness to my own experience. If you can master this technique, you will relax and gain a new and different perspective.  

6.    Accept others’ behaviors, experiences, and actions as their own. Everyone deserves the dignity of walking their own path. By accepting this affirmation, you will more readily take people for who they are, appreciate their life experiences, and avoid taking their actions personally.

7.    Be self-compassionate. The way you think makes a profound difference in your life. So don’t beat yourself up when you feel overwhelmed; exercise a little self-compassion instead. Be gentle and kind to yourself. Allow yourself some personal time, nourish yourself with rest and relaxation. Cut yourself some slack and tell yourself that you’re doing the best you can. 

8.    Body Scan.  Imagine a scanner going from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes.  What are you feeling, seeing, hearing in your body as you go through the scan.  Focus on the specific areas of tension that you are noticing.

More Ways to Self-Soothe

Self-soothing means doing things that make you feel food. For example, spend time with family and friends, dote on your kids and your pets, take a nature walk, curl up with a good book, binge-watch your favorite TV show, savor a special drink or food, meditate, pray. Do whatever resonates with you.

·      Most importantly, understand that with some simple strategies and a little daily practice, you can self-soothe and stop leadership burnout. However, you may need some support from Shaping Development to help you with overwhelm. Working with a coach can help you avoid burnout and improve your leadership skills.

Organizing Your Inbox: An Email Fanatic's Guide

We recently wrote a post entitled Performance Improvement for Behavior Change. One way to have performance improvement in your own life is to take control of your email inbox. So we thought we would explore the topic of organizing your inbox in more detail.

Why Organizing Your Inbox Is a Good Idea

Are you familiar with that sinking feeling you get when you return to your email after being away for a few days (or even just a few hours)? You heave a big sigh when you see the volume of unanswered messages that have piled up in your absence. Yikes, your inbox has reached unmanageable proportions!

An out-of-control inbox can feel like a deep hole that you'll never be able to dig yourself out of. But it doesn't have to be like that! With just a few simple steps, you can get your inbox organized, take control of your incoming mail (instead of letting it control you), and seriously reduce your email stress.

·      Clear It Out: Use snail mail as a way to think about your emails. If you deposited every letter or package you receive on your kitchen table without throwing anything out or filing anything away, your table would soon be buried under an unmanageable pile of papers and parcels. Your inbox is like that table - it's most useful when you get rid of things or place papers in your filing cabinet. Here's how to go about organizing your inbox.

·      Delete: Delete any emails you'll never want to access again (e.g., the announcement of this week's sale on business class flights to Honolulu - alas, not this year!). Be careful though, and avoid deleting items representing a record that you may need later for your expense account (e.g., a receipt for your trade magazine subscription).

·      File: Place the emails you need to keep in appropriately labeled folders (for Gmail users, archive them).

·      Unsubscribe: The biggest inbox clogger is the stuff you get sent on a recurring basis. So, next time you throw out a bunch of emails without even opening them, pause and consider what you're deleting. If you trash emails from the same source three times without reading them, it's time to hit the unsubscribe button (or to send them to spam). Your inbox will thank you.

·      Consolidate: Increasingly, people are dealing with more than one inbox. In most situations, it's required that you keep your work and personal emails separate. But if you have some flexibility, consolidating your various email addresses will mean fewer sites to log into and manage. One choice is to do away with your older addresses. You also have the option to have an email sent to one address forwarded to another.

·      Put Your Inbox to Work: Train your inbox to know where to file an email. This way, when you're looking for something later, it's easy to find. You can also use Gmail to have some emails automatically skip your inbox. For example, if you auto-pay your membership in a professional organization, you can automatically archive the email under the label "Memberships."

·      Plan for Later: This applies to those emails that you know you can't get to until later, but you don't want to forget them. There's now a useful plugin aptly called Boomerang (currently available for Outlook and Gmail). You can schedule an email to disappear and return later when you're ready to deal with it.

Boomerang has some other life-changing features. You can schedule an email to be sent later, and it also allows you to set up recurring emails. The tool can also remind you if someone doesn't get back to you. For example, if you email Katie on Tuesday about a report you need by Friday, you can ask Boomerang to make that email chain reappear at the top of your inbox at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday if she hasn't responded yet. And if she does respond, Boomerang understands not to bring the email back.

Make a Start

Are you inspired to get started? Carve out some time this week to pay attention to organizing your inbox. Giving your inbox a thorough overhaul might take up a few hours, but the time (and stress) you save in the long run will make the effort worth it.

Organizing Your Inbox: Final Thoughts

There's more to being organized than getting control of your email inbox. Let Shaping Development help you shape up your work life and become a better leader. Book a talk with us to learn more.

Performance Improvement for Behavior Change

Why aren’t my employees doing what they are supposed to do?
They’re getting paid to work, so why don’t they just do it?

The above is a typical thought process in the brain of a frustrated leader. The big question asked in thousands of organizations is, why don’t they do what they’re supposed to be doing? Companies pay big bucks to try to uncover the reasons why employees aren’t doing their jobs properly. Consultants are often hired, suggested changes are made, and victory is claimed. However, the result is often improvements that do not last, leaving an even more frustrated manager with the same problems as before.

A myriad of tools, techniques, models, philosophies, and concepts are given to leaders to use for performance improvement. Unfortunately, performance issues persist in many cases, and all of those investment dollars have yielded little to no improvement.

Behavioral Science Has an Answer

Some methods can result in genuine performance improvements. This is not a secret; it’s a science! There’s a science behind how humans behave.

Ask the Right Questions

In 1996, Dr. John Austin researched how experts in performance improvement solve problems. Experienced managers from various organizations and experts from well-regarded management consulting firms were given performance problems to solve. The results of this study led to twenty questions to ask when trying to solve a performance challenge.

Performance Improvement: The Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC)

These twenty questions evolved to form a methodology called the Performance Diagnostic Checklist (PDC). The PDC is now regularly in use by professionals in the field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), management consulting firms worldwide, and organizational leaders who have adopted this science.

 When asking these questions, a practitioner must first identify the performance issue needing to be addressed and then work through the checklist. The aim is to collect input from various individuals who have a vested interest and insight into the performance issue. Only a simple “yes” or “no” answer is required when the questions are asked. A “no” indicates a need for improvement in that area.

The Benefit of the Performance Diagnostic Checklist

The PDC is designed to help solve problems and lead to positive performance improvement in organizations across various performance challenges. It has been employed to help develop solutions to improve employee satisfaction, customer service, productivity, sales, and safety. So, the next time you find yourself challenged, don’t just take an uninformed stab at the problem; use the PDC. It may save you time and money while resulting in a positive outcome.

You can find Dr. Austin’s handbook on applied behavior analysis on Amazon. You can also find much more reading material on this subject by clicking on this link.

Performance Improvement: Let Shaping Development Help

A behavior analyst can work with you to assess and improve your leadership style so that your employees do end up doing what you want them to do. Sign up here for a sixty-minute chat (at no charge) to learn more.

How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance

Are you the first person to arrive at your office in the morning and the last to leave at the end of the day? Do you regularly work through lunch or skip it altogether? Do you find yourself continually checking your email on vacation (presuming you even take one)? If the answers to these questions are affirmative, your work-life balance is obviously out of sync.

But, you say, I'm working hard to help my company stand out and get ahead of the competition, what can be wrong with that? Unfortunately, lots of things!

Work-Life Balance Out of Whack Affects Productivity

Workaholic behavior makes you prone to loss of sleep and increased stress levels, a combination that can make you far less productive. What's worse is that, as a leader, you might be encouraging your team members to follow in your footsteps, thus creating an out-of-kilter work-life balance at your company.

·      Example: Your team member feels compelled to burn the midnight oil to work on a project proposal, only to return to the office at 6 a.m. However, her work-life balance has gone haywire, and she's running on empty and more apt to make errors. This causes her to misquote the estimate for a project, leading the client to drop your company. 

It may be time to get your work and your life into a more manageable position. Here's how you can tip the scales to be more in balance. 

Delegate More

Are you a well-meaning but workaholic leader who is often unwilling to relinquish control? Resist the temptation to get involved with your team's projects more than is necessary. Learn to trust your coworkers to get the job done without micromanaging them. They will perform better if you're not continually checking up on them. Offer support but let them manage their own projects. 

Reduce Employee Conflict and Turnover

Increasing pressure to perform lowers morale and creates a work environment where tension and conflict can quickly rise among colleagues. This inhibits teamwork and productivity. Even if your team manages to avoid inter-personnel conflicts, overworked employees will eventually run out of steam and may quit. Turnover from employee burnout lowers productivity and is costly.

Moreover, your company's reputation could suffer. With a high employee turnover and ex-employees sharing their negative stories with others, it may become increasingly difficult to fill empty seats.

·      Example: Because your team is perceived as weak, an opportunity for your main competitor has been created. They begin recruiting your most competent and talented workers, enticing them away with higher pay and the promise of a better work-life balance. The productivity of your team goes way down.

Change Your Behavior

Build mental breaks into your schedule and take them. This includes vacation, lunches, and even coffee breaks. You come back to your desk refreshed and ready to work. Give your team a breather with a team coffee break and keep the focus off work-related topics. And, please encourage your staff to take advantage of their allocated time off.

Resist emailing outside of office hours. If you must email, let your coworkers off the hook by informing them that you don't expect them to respond until regular working hours.

Talk to Your Team

Ask your team members for creative solutions to improve their work-life balance. By involving them and asking for feedback, they'll feel more valued. However, be ready to act on good suggestions; otherwise, they may feel even more disheartened.

Put an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) in Place

An EAP is designed to provide professional support for you and your team on issues such as dealing with stress and improving work-life balance. With access to an EAP counselor, an overly stressed employee can speak to someone who is not directly involved with the stressful situation. This could potentially help your team member understand the root of their problem and improve their overall mental outlook.

Work-Life Balance: Final Thoughts

With a dedicated approach to a better work-life balance, you'll be on a path to improved leadership and a better culture within your organization. You'll reap the benefit of increased productivity because of less stressed and happier employees. 

Shaping Development can help you and your team develop organizational processes to help carry out your organization's mission, enhance your company's culture, and improve productivity. Talk to us to learn how we can help you shape a more sustainable work-life balance. 

Time Management for Leaders: 7 Tried and True Tips

As a leader, it seems that many things conspire to prevent you from focusing on your main roles – increasing sales and propelling your organization forward. This is why effective time management for leaders is crucial to your success. And, it's not just about getting everything done – it's also about having a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day and avoiding burnout. The following are seven time management tips for leaders to help you balance your responsibilities.

1.    Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

Prioritizing what you want to accomplish is your number one time management for leaders step. Commit to writing the most important tasks you want to get done this week and this month. You can even go further out and include this quarter or even this year. Your list should be confined to the level of tasks (not projects.)

·      Example: Your project might be preparing for an upcoming tradeshow. Your tasks might be training your staff to manage your booth or getting your marketing materials ready.

Give each task a deadline but leave some blank time to cope with those unexpected tasks that will inevitably pop up to steal away your time and attention. 

2.    Avoid Robo-Checking Your Email

Your email inbox is waiting to enslave you! Don't let yourself be subjugated. Set aside regular times to read and reply to messages. Let your co-workers and employees know when you will be electronically available. Request that they only contact you during your offline hours by calling or texting with urgent issues. And don't be tempted to respond to those email pings and pop-ups that will keep alerting you even when you've gone home for the day. Silence your phone when you retire for the night or leave it in another room.

3.    Organize Your Emails

You'll spend less time in your inbox if it's organized. Here are some ways to keep your inbox from taking you over.

·      Delete emails you're never going to read again.

·      Unsubscribe from those recurring emails you never read.

·      Use folders and categories to keep your inbox organized. Use labels such as Action Items, Reference, Waiting, and Archives. If you have no problem keeping on top of your folders – particularly those labeled Action and Waiting – use them as your daily to-do list.

·      Have your mail automatically sorted into particular folders as soon as it comes in. 

·      Make use of a helpful app such as Boomerang for Gmail. With Boomerang, you can draft an email and then schedule it to go out later. You can "boomerang" a message out of your inbox and have it return later when you actually need to address it. You can also receive a reminder if you haven't received a reply from a recipient after X number of days.

4.    Use Your Calendar Wisely

Choose the kind of calendar that works best for you - on your computer, on your phone, or the old fashioned way - on paper. Better yet, use a calendar that you can access on your desktop and on all of your devices. Immediately transfer any appointments you quickly jot down on paper on to your calendar. You could also use your calendar to schedule specific times to complete a task or a project. 

Most electronic calendars also allow you to create several overlapping calendars, e.g., a personal and a work calendar. This is a helpful feature to avoid double-booking yourself. Some people like to have a planning calendar. When there's an event you might attend, or if you're going back and forth with someone to schedule an appointment, you put it on your plan calendar. So they look tentative in your schedule, assign a light color to your plan calendar appointments. When plans firm up, you can transfer them to your work or personal calendar.

5.    Make Your Meetings More Productive

Every leader knows how hard it is to get anything else done when spending most of the day in meetings. When you head up a meeting, make it more productive and efficient right off the bat by clarifying the meeting's goals and objectives from the outset. Before heading to the conference room, ask yourself the following questions:

·      What am I looking to achieve?

·      What do I want agreement on? 

·      How can I best get a list of action items?

6.    Book Meetings for Less Time

Just like household items expand to fill a larger house, meetings tend to stretch out to fill up the available time. If there's a sense of time constraint because of a shorter meeting time, people are more likely to get to the meat of the matter and wrap up their points more quickly. Remember, when the meeting ends and attendees still have questions or concerns, you can always sit down with them individually or schedule a follow-up meeting.

7.    Schedule All Your Meetings Back-to-Back

It's harder to concentrate on other things when you're anticipating your next meeting. You're less likely to be at your best if you frequently have to interrupt what you are doing. So, if you can, set up all your meetings back-to-back. This way, the rest of your day won't be broken up by another conference. 

Time Management for Leaders: Final Thoughts

There's a lot of time-saving advice on time management for leaders out there. Please remember that what works for others might not feel right for you. So, don't feel guilty if you abandon a strategy that doesn't suit your personality or needs. If you find that you are struggling with time management, let Shaping Development help you manage your time. It’s worth your time to book a consultation with us to see how we can assist.

How Artificial Intelligence Means More Efficient Leadership

These days, there’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (AI). Is this revolutionary technology here to help us or to take us over? Some people are really excited about an increasingly technology-driven future; others imagine there is no future with humans in it. After watching the latest sci-fi flick imagining our apocalyptic fate, it’s very easy to believe that AI threatens our intelligence, our jobs, and even our very survival.

Artificial Intelligence and Efficient Leadership

AI provides us with ways to do our jobs better and smarter. This transformational technology is still in its infancy, but already it is making radical changes in the workplace, all the way up to leadership. If you are a leader, AI shouldn’t be relied on to do your job for you. However, it can certainly help you do a better job. 

One thing is sure: adaptation to this increasingly digitized world is no longer a question of choice; it’s a necessity. So, let’s take a look at how you can use AI to complement your strategic vision. 

Data-Driven Intelligent Leadership

Great leaders understand that leadership is a lifetime role informed by continuous learning and transformation. Outdated leadership models are no longer effective in today’s modern world. As technology evolves, the day-to-day responsibilities of leaders must evolve along with it. AI is powered by machine learning that provides leaders with more access to data than ever before. 

If you are a leader in a data-driven industry, you may think there’s not as much for you to do. However, AI isn’t meant to do away with your oversight. Think of it as leveraging your intuition with accurate information. Data allows you to make better and smarter business decisions. In other words, it enables intelligent leadership.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Turn You Into a Smarter Leader

Here are just a few of the ways AI can benefit your leadership:

• Increase collaboration across departments.

• Reveal inefficiencies in product design.

• Pinpoint holdups in a workflow.

• Assess cost-effectiveness.

• Reduce customer churn.

• Predict probable outcomes based on several different starting points.

• Sort through hundreds of résumés to find top job candidates.

Artificial Intelligence Gives You More Time to Lead

Do you have a seemingly endless to-do list? AI can liberate you from routine tasks that can easily be automated. This cuts down on stress, leaves you time to focus on the big picture, and increases your productivity.

Artificial Intelligence Reduces Decision Fatigue

Have you experienced depleted energy levels, unexplained bouts of anger and frustration, and impulsive decisions? Do you recognize these signs as the high price of being a leader? You might just pass these symptoms off as the consequence of a demanding, high-stress job, but what you are actually suffering from is decision fatigue. 

When people have to continuously make one decision after another, there’s a biological price to be paid. The more decisive you have to be during the day, the harder it is on your mental capacities. Eventually, your overloaded brain will look for a way out – you will either make a reckless decision or do nothing when you should be doing something. 

Algorithms Don’t Get Tired

There is one significant way that algorithms are different from humans: they don’t get decision fatigue. They can keep on making infinite numbers of decisions more accurately and faster than people are biologically capable of. So look upon AI as a partner and a competitive advantage that can make you a trailblazer in your industry. 

AI should not be regarded as a one-size-fits-all solution to every leadership problem you may face. You need to understand your limitations and AI’s advantages and sensibly amalgamate the two. If you do, you will be traveling down the high road of intelligent leadership.

If you are interested in learning more about how Artificial Intelligence can help you in your business and you aspire to more intelligent leadership, Shaping Development can help you. Book a consultation call with us today to learn more.

Leadership and Management: Is One Better Than the Other?

Is leadership a higher calling than management? This topic is somewhat controversial. Many who weigh in position themselves on one side of what they see as the great chasm that yawns between leadership and management. They tend to praise leadership and look down their noses at “inferior” management. However, even though leadership and management are not exactly similar, they are both necessary and essential for any organization to function well.

It’s not difficult to unearth examples of alluring leaders who ultimately led their followers to disaster or gifted managers who did not have the skills necessary to inspire and lead. This post will discuss what differentiates leadership and management and why it might be optimum to have a combination of both.

What Is Leadership?

Leaders are able to persuade others to aim for a common goal. Leaders tend to have a vision and share three characteristics:

• They can inspire others to have faith in their vision.

• They are able to encourage and motivate others to follow them in pursuit of that vision.

• They assist others in eliminating stumbling blocks along the path leading to the fulfillment of that vision.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want

done because he wants to do it. - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Three Leaders That Inspired Others

Let’s look at how a trio of great leaders achieved their visions. 

Mahatma Gandhi’s vision was to free his country, India, from the British Raj. He led the Indian campaign for independence by employing nonviolent actions of civil disobedience. Gandhi was faced with the staggering challenge of trying to unite a country that contained many competing factions and religions. Through his visionary leadership, he inspired the Indian population to set aside what divided them and focus on what all groups had in common.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision was to win civil rights for the black people of the United States. He also used nonviolent methods to work toward his goal. King had to meet the challenge of diverse groups within the movement, some of whom did not go along with his philosophy of nonviolence. As a leader with great powers of oratory, he used this skill to focus attention on the second-class status of black people in the United States so that, in time, this could no longer be ignored. 

Maria Theresa is not someone you may have heard of. However, she earned the accolade of outstanding leadership after becoming the head of state of Austria in 1740. At the time she ascended to the throne, Austria was poorly governed and in financial straits. She possessed the leadership skills necessary to put together a contingent of skilled advisors to whom she delegated responsibilities. She turned around the flailing economy, modernized the military, and mandated education for women. All of this while birthing sixteen children and coping with a couple of wars!

What Is Management?

Management is concerned with regulating or dealing with people or things. The emphasis here tends toward things rather than people. Managers need to be methodical and approach things in a systematic manner – they need skills pertaining to organization, planning, and coordination. They also need to be analytical so that they can take the measure of their progress and make any necessary adaptations.

What’s measured gets improved. - Peter F. Druker, Management Consultant

Three Great Managers

Highly successful managers often have more laurels heaped upon them than great political or social leaders. Let’s look at three of the greatest.

Henry Ford introduced the United States to car culture. Not only that, his approach to the manufacture of automobiles influenced many other industries. Ford’s production approach was a revolution at the time – the creation of the modern assembly line. This innovation brought about an increase in efficiencies and a reduction in the cost of manufacturing materials. The final result was a product that could be affordable to the average US citizen.

Walt Disney began his working life as an accomplished cartoonist but, over time, became an unmatchable figure in the realm of global entertainment. His success was achieved by his managerial ability to recognize and utilize the talent of others. He assembled and oversaw teams that created a collection of iconic motion picture characters that are recognizable worldwide.

Madam C.J. Walker is a name you are probably not familiar with. During the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, this African-American woman created and marketed hair products for an underserved market - African-American women such as herself. She is a perfect example of someone with managerial gifts who recognized a neglected niche and had the entrepreneurial and management skills to fill it successfully.

Why Combined Leadership and Management Skills May Be Best

You have probably realized from the above examples that certain attributes belong to both strong leaders and effective managers. In fact, it is often necessary, according to circumstances, for leaders and managers to function in both roles at different points in their careers. 

So, What Is Our Conclusion?

It’s clear that an exceptional leader is not more worthy than an accomplished manager or vice-versa. Therefore, any person whose job includes responsibility for others will be more effective if they possess a blending of leadership and management skills in varying proportions depending upon their position and circumstances.

At Shaping Development our vision leads us to help individuals and organizations shape their personal or organizational skills. Whether you are a leader or a manager, or you realize you sometimes need to be both, we can help you become more effective. Get in touch with us for more information.

Can Personal Development Coaching Improve My Leadership Skills?

Arguably the essential leadership skill is self-awareness. Without self-knowledge, it’s impossible to effectively develop or improve on any other skill. Personal development coaching aims to increase your self-awareness and help you cope with your work challenges. It will also assist you in establishing and achieving your career goals and aspirations. You will learn to assess your strengths and weaknesses so that you have the self-knowledge necessary to improve particular areas of your leadership style.

Why Does an Athlete Need Coaching?

Think about an athlete (you may even be one yourself). An athlete enlists the help of a coach to support and train them to achieve their sporting goals. Similarly, a personal development coach will support and encourage you to reach your life and work-related goals. You will learn expert techniques to help you feel confident and at ease in any changes you want to make as a leader or any changes that are forced upon you. A coach will teach you to be happy and proud of where you are and help you with any skills you wish to improve.

How Does Personal Development Coaching Work?

A personal development coach will strive to help you recognize not only where you want to be in your business life but how you can get there. A coach is skilled at identifying the potential that already exists within you and that you might be only partly aware of or completely unaware of. This is often accomplished via a series of questions designed to help you recognize, accept, and build upon your strengths and weaknesses.

Are You Happy With Your Progress?

You will be provided with the opportunity to assess your level of emotional well-being and how you are progressing in your working life. You will be encouraged to consider whether you are reaching your goals and are happy both with yourself and with your relationships with your business colleagues and coworkers.

A Personal Plan

Personal development coaching is not an authoritarian enterprise. A coach won’t tell you exactly what to do or necessarily offer you direct advice. Instead, they will offer support and guidance through a tailored personal development plan. You will learn how to set realistic goals for yourself and continue working on your self-development journey outside of your coaching sessions.

If you’re considering personal development coaching but are still hesitant, ask yourself the following questions:

·      Do I wish I could communicate better with my team?

·      Am I lacking in self-confidence?

·      Do I need to be more motivated?

·      Am I lacking a specific skill that is hindering my ability to be a better leader?

·      Do I want to be more content and happier as a leader?

Throw Out the Clutter

Personal development can be likened to a thorough reorganization of your house or apartment. You go through your home and throw out all of those things that are causing clutter and holding you back from a better living environment. A coach will help you evaluate aspects of yourself, throw out those cluttering up your mind, and put the useful ones in order of importance. Personal development coaching is particularly valuable in helping you reorganize your thoughts, wants, and aspirations and rating them through an objective point of view.

For personal development coaching to be effective, you need to feel ready to begin making permanent changes in your leadership style and be dedicated to achieving them.

How Shaping Development Can Shape You

A behavior analyst can help you accept your strengths, work on your weaknesses, build confidence. They will work with you every step of the way on a journey towards change and a more effective and happier leadership style. Shaping Development offers personal development coaching to enable you to develop your leadership skills. Sign up here for a consultation call to learn more.

Overwhelmed? Just start.

Life is busy. It's full of responsibilities, it's fast paced, and it's overwhelming. The phrase “sick and tired of being sick and tired" is commonplace. We live in an age where we have to intentionally prioritize slowing down. Our nervous systems are still evolving to the new fight or flight.  Instead of the sporadic threat of a predator, we have to process how to avoid a head on collision going 70 mph daily, while balancing busy professional and personal lives. This sounds like a simple evolution, except it's not. "Threats" are now continuous and they are everywhere. In an effort to combat constant stress and burnout, many people are seeking respite in mindfulness, self-care, and personal development. 

Having to take on the mental load of sorting through and determining what changes to implement into our daily lives guarantees that a lot of people just don’t. For many people, the investment of time (and often money) doesn’t seem worth it for an unknown outcome. For example, I’m a busy professional and I want to implement positive changes into my daily routine and lifestyle. I have very little knowledge in this arena, so I sit down and Google “self-help”, “healthy changes” or “self-care.” I am greeted with hundreds of websites directing me to implement daily meditation, gratitude journals, yoga classes, dietary adjustments, energy healing, shadow work, aromatherapy, and goddess bath routines. Immediately the sense of overwhelm consumes me. Where do I even start? With a few simple tips, I am confident you will feel less overwhelmed by this task and will be healthier for it.

1.      Just start.

Pushing through the overwhelm and implementing a single positive change, is by far the BIGGEST step. It often takes very little time to see improvements, which is both motivating and encouraging!   

2.      Listen to your intuition.  

When choosing which adjustments to make, pay attention to what FEELS important to you in the moment. Take note of what seems to be popping up for you. Maybe you keep seeing an ad for an application that provides seven minute guided meditations and think to yourself “seven minutes a day is not too bad!”. Also note what sounds effortless or fun.  Perhaps you know that you need more movement throughout your day but going to the gym sounds time consuming and inconvenient, but dancing sounds invigorating and fulfilling. Implementing something that resonates is more likely to stick and ultimately be more impactful long term.

3.      Make one small change at a time

It’s very easy to get into a motivated mindset and create a brand new life on paper. However, it’s often difficult to maintain a completely new routine with several unfamiliar tasks. Take dietary changes for example. How often do you hear a colleague or friend beaming about their new diet and workout routine and how wonderful they feel from it, only to hear them announce several weeks later that they fell off the wagon and need to get back to their diet and exercise starting Monday? This is to no fault of their own, but they overwhelmed their body and mind with too many changes. An alternative and more reasonable modification would be to add more whole foods into their diet or implement “meatless Monday”.  Naturally, as something becomes part of your routine, it becomes more intuitive, requiring less brain power, and allows you more mental space for additional adjustments.

4.      Hire a coach!

Sometimes we need a support system to make routine changes. Working with a coach takes away some of the guesswork and provides accountability. You will be met with compassion and a personalized plan that works for your very unique lifestyle and goals.

Life is already overwhelming, making lifestyle improvements should not feel burdensome. Do you have any tips for someone getting started? Please share in the comments!

5 Tips for Supervision

As a supervisor for trainees in supervision to get board certified, I often get asked for strategies on how to stay organized when completing supervision. These tips are specific to the field of behavior analysis, however; I think you can apply them to most coaching situations! Here are my recommendations:

1) Read the Guidelines

Read the experience documents on the BACB website. Make a list of specific questions from your supervisor about the rules of supervision.Watch the experience tracker youtube video from the BACB website to learn how to use the experience tracker.

2) The Experience Tracker

Fill it out starting from day one, and ask for feedback from your supervisor. At the end of each night, ask yourself "Did I do something behavior analytic today?" If yes, then before you go to bed, log your time in your tracker. (It may help to have it downloaded to your phone in the office excel app).

3) Create an Organization System

Keep a binder (or computer folder) with dividers for each assessment you learn to complete, relevant research you read, or sample data sheets/resources from your supervisor.

4) Help Yourself for Later

Something I have my supervisees do (because I wish I did this when I was in supervision), is from a sample assessment such as the VB-MAPP, PEAK, ABLLS-R, etc, create a generic "goal bank" from the assessment. Generate data sheets that would be tied to these goals. This should be done with feedback from your supervisor, and of course, individualized if you pull from it for future clients, but this is good practice in writing therapy/IEP/treatment goals, and will help you have something to reference when you pass the test and get out there into the field. This can also apply to other activities that you will do often after you become board certified…your supervisor can also give you some more ideas!

5) Practice, Practice, Practice

Ask your supervisor for "homework," if they aren't assigning you any, so that you can practice data analysis, graphing, assessment writing, and training others...because one day you will become the supervisor.

If you’d like to schedule a call to discuss remote supervision or your supervision questions, schedule here!

*PLEASE NOTE: THE BEHAVIOR ANALYST CERTIFICATION BOARD (“BACB”) DOES NOT SPONSOR, APPROVE OR ENDORSE SHAPING DEVELOPMENT, LLC, THE MATERIALS, INFORMATION OR SESSIONS IDENTIFIED HEREIN.

Why Teaching Others May Be Our Greatest Legacy

By: Beth Garrison, Senior Consultant

I have been thinking a lot as I finish my first term as a PhD student about my own personal mission and vision for my future.  I want to make a difference in this world, to “save the world with behavior analysis,” as they say, but have no clue where to start.  Thinking back on our own beginnings in the field, which began with B.F. Skinner’s work, I realized, it starts with teaching.

In 1958, Skinner published "Teaching Machines,” in Science magazine after being inspired by observing his daughter’s math class in 1953, to where he did not observe individualized learning, nor immediate reinforcement for correct responding (Barrett, 2002).  It was here that one of his great, but not well-known work started  in The Technology of Teaching (Skinner, 1968).  Skinner envisioned a world where learners could learn at their own pace, and receive immediate feedback on work.  Unfortunately, he never saw this vision turn to reality, and in 1993, right before he died, he stated in personal correspondence, “I think education is the greatest disappointment of my life (Barrett, 2002, p. 42).”

Thinking on this today, I thought about my own personal mission and vision to “save the world with behavior analysis,” and realized that we may be able to do so by teaching others.  As teachers, supervisors, and mentors of aspiring behavior analysts, and also the people we support through our field, we are leaving a legacy….but “with that power comes great responsibility.”  Though we are the generation making contributions to the field of behavior analysis and beyond (social justice, business, education, psychology, social work, diversity, machine learning, and politics), we are also shaping the behavior of those who will come after us, who will continue our work when we are gone.

It is in teaching others that we may leave our greatest legacy, and in doing so, save the world with behavior analysis.

Schedule some time to talk to me about behavior analysis and mentorship! We also have coaching available for people who need support!

References:

Barret, B.H. (2002). The technology of teaching revisited: a reader’s companion to B.F. Skinner’s book. Concord, MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

Skinner, B.F. (1958). Teaching machines. Science. 128, 969-977

Skinner, B.F. (1968). The technology of teaching. East Norwalk, CT, US: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

How Self Care May Increase Productivity (Though We Aren't Really Sure)

In the media lately, self care has been a hot topic.  "Self Care Sunday" is a popular hashtag, with people posting pictures and ideas for how they spend their time in self care.  Mindfulness and meditation is often tied to this concept, as well as fitness and wellness exercise.  Sometimes self-care can also involve treating yourself to an ice cream sundae.  The most important piece of self care, is that it is self initiated.  It is yours.  It doesn't need to be shared with the world, since it involves just you in the process.

Ultimately, I have found that by creating space in my daily schedule for self care activities such as running or meditation, or reading my favorite trashy romance novels, have allowed for the other parts of my day that are scheduled for work and teaching to be more productive.  During productivity periods, I find I am more focused on the task at hand, and can complete tasks quickly.  

Interestingly enough, though there are ample self reports of self care being a way to increase productivity, there are very few studies documenting this.  The Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy published some articles documenting its benefits with specific populations in the late 1990s to 2009, but when searching for research for this blog, it was difficult to find empirical studies documenting its benefit.  

Clearly more empirical research needs to be done in this realm to test the thousands of self reports on social media about this topic.  

So what do you think?

How a Convergence Cured "Writer's Block"

I have not had the motivation nor the desire to write for the last month.  Nothing changed in my life to set up this change in behavior, but I guess I encountered that condition that many go through--"Writer's Block."  Ultimately, I replicated the results from Dennis Upper's groundbreaking 1974 study "The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of Writer's Block (Upper, 1974)."

With that said, during this month's time, I was able to experience "The Convergence of Human Training, Animal Training and Technology," in Seattle.  This conference gave me a lot to learn in the two days of inspiring and motivating speakers, and I have pages of notes, of which I'm sure will translate to multiple blog posts in the coming weeks.  I learned about  the accomplishments behavior analysis produces when applied to multiple populations, species, and industries through the use of clicker training, shaping, positive reinforcement, virtual reality, machine learning, and data analysis.  

In providing a space for all of these sectors to mix and discuss our science, for the first time we began to see that maybe we can indeed "Save the World with Behavior Analysis."

Click.

References

Upper, D. (1974). The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer’s block.” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7(3), 497. http://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1974.7-497a

How Can Behavior Analysis Assist in the Study of Machine Learning?

Recently, we have been contemplating the relation between machine learning and behavior analysis.  Interestingly enough, this topic of the collaboration of machine learning and behavior analysis is not new.  William Huchison, in 1998, discussed "Computer Simulations of Verbal Behavior," and compared the learning of verbal behavior in computer simulations to that of a human learning verbal behavior, proving that "operant learning is sufficient to produce verbal behavior."  Fast forward to 2012, and in Huchison's work, "The Central Role for Behavior Analysis in Modern Robotics, and Vice Versa," it is observed that most computer "systems assume basic foundations of operant conditioning (Huchison, 2012)."

Howard Rachlin (2012) also discusses the similarities between the IBM computer, Watson, and a human being, in his work, "Making IBM's Computer, Watson, Human," outlining that the basic needs of humans and computers are the same:  we need an energy supply, protection from the elements, maintenance, and our bodies to be maintained at a reasonable temperature.  He theorizes that by creating a "Watson II" with more characteristics of human beings (i.e. being able to "override its own logical mechanism" after establishing "rules"), ultimately:

"those who would see Watson II as nonhuman because he was manufactured, not born, might go on to say that it would be worse for humanity were we all to be made as Watson II may be made. To me, this would be a step too far. We are all a conglomeration of built-in and environmentally modified mechanisms anyway. And no one can deny that there are flaws in our current construction." 

In both of these articles, Huchison and Rachlin, create a call to action, discussing the need for collaboration in computer science and behavior analysis, as computer science evolves to machine learning and artificial intelligence.

So how do we do this?  Ultimately, computer science majors interested in programming, should receive training in behavior analysis.  Currently, this is not happening, as most computer science programs have adopted more of a "pop psychology" background in their current research and practice (see Ink's article:  "MIT Researchers Use Reddit to Create World's First Psychopath AI).  What this further demonstrates, is not only a need for the dissemination and training of our science to the computer world, but also a need for a similar ethics code in the shaping of behavior when programming, as we do as behavior analysts working with human beings.

So what do you think? Comment below!

References:

Hutchison W.R. (1998). Computer simulations of verbal behavior for research and persuasion. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. 15:117–120. 

Hutchison, W. R. (2012). The Central Role for Behavior Analysis in Modern Robotics, and Vice Versa. The Behavior Analyst, 35(1), 29–35.

Rachlin H (2012).  Making IBM's computer, Watson, human. The Behavior Analyst. 35:1–16

"Why Are We Not Acting to Save the World?" ACT and Mental Health

The topic of mental health has been addressed through multiple outlets this week, especially with the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.  This blog post will focus on this topic, looking through the lens of behavior analysis, to pose some questions on shaping and developing adaptive mental health practices.

In their book, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change, the authors Steven Hayes, Kurt Strosahl, and Kelly Wilson, have a chapter dedicated to the "Dilemma of Human Suffering."  In this chapter, they shed light on the decades of focus by psychology and modern psychiatry on diagnosing mental disorder and pathology through symptomatic processes.  With the rise in these disorders, the authors ask if the statistical prevalence of mental illness is due in part to the fact that human suffering is actually just a part of all human life.  Is it actually something that we need to address more through behavior change procedures and skill teaching, rather than focusing on its treatment through a traditional medical perspective of diagnose, treat with medication, and measure symptomatic change?  Admittedly, this is a controversial discussion and viewpoint.

Human suffering is indeed something that is always present.  It is a topic explored through many practices, including Buddhism (see our blog on how Buddhism and Behavior Analysis are related) throughout the history of human life.  Interestingly enough, Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson also touch on suicide in their chapter with the fact that human beings are the only "animal" that engage in this behavior.  If this is the case, is developing strategies and behavior to respond to personal human suffering in adaptive rather than maladaptive ways, the answer?

Through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a therapy with principles rooted in contextual behavior science, psychological flexibility is a skill that is taught through established and empirically validated behavior change procedures.  If we know these strategies work, and they teach adaptive responding to stimuli that set the occasion for suffering, why is it that so many people don't know and have never learned about these skills?  The answer lies in dissemination.  

In the words of B.F. Skinner (1982), "Why are we not acting to save the world?" and in this case, provide support for and skills to respond during events that set the occasion for human suffering.

Why You Should Not Eat Alone

In 2016, I read Keith Ferrazzi's book Never Eat Alone, and it changed my perspective on networking and creating professional connections.  I read it right before going to our field's annual conference that year, and it was probably one of the best books I had and have ever read in networking.  Before heading to the conference, I made the commitment that I would "Never Eat Alone," and I would find new people to network with.  Fast forward two years later, and I am still using the strategies in this book to connect with more people in our field.

Three of the takeaways from this book are the following:

1) Never Eat Alone

Find someone to eat breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner with when you are at conferences, even if you just met them.  This is a great way to connect, and if there is awkwardness, eating can take away some of those pauses!  Ferrazzi also recommends this for the typical work day.  Instead of eating lunch at your desk, grab a bite with a colleague or coworker to continue the connection.

2) Follow Up is Important

At a lot of conferences or work events, people often hand out business cards and promptly lose them, or put them somewhere, and never reconnect with those people.  Set up a system where you can input contact information electronically, and every few months "ping" them to reconnect and find out where they are and what they are doing.  It is important to reconnect as well right after the conference, to keep the conversation going!

3) Don't Be Afraid

Be brave!  Connect with someone that you admire but have never met before.  At conferences, we can do this in person (most of the time the person is not going to ignore you, but probably shake your hand and say hello), or on social media.  The worst thing that can happen on social media or through email is they never respond, and then you are just where you started anyway!  Sometimes being brave and reaching out can lead to a great collaboration, project, or learning.  

What are strategies you use to network?  Comment below!