Tag Archives: openminds

Lindsay’s In Business: PART 67: Big Break

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What happens when you realise your path is entrepreneurship rather than employment? Lindsay takes up the challenge and shares an account of her journey as it unfolds…

WHOA!!!! Finally!!  Here are the headlines….   (cue heavy, dramatic drum beat)

  • Oil and gas major
  • 8 teams plus the leadership team
  • Merger and change situation
  • MIRROR MIRROR AGREED AS THE INTERVENTION TO DELIVERY CULTURAL INTEGRATION

Yes! we have verbal agreement on a multi-team cultural integration programme in the UK.  With some proposal tweaks, we expect contract signing in 2 – 3 weeks.  So, it’s not quite full celebrations yet but we are 98% there.  I couldn’t wait to share the news! : )

The story behind that is that there’s a huge change going on alongside a multi-team merger.  Our contact there is responsible for helping it all go smoothly from a people perspective.  He’s aware that there are multiple realities going on that are not aligned: different cultures, different levels of understanding around what is happening and why, different levels of exposure to the change management activities that have taken place so far.

He wants to use Mirror Mirror to:

  1. assess the extent to which behaviours (the operating culture) in the new organization are compatible,
  2. assess current perception on the shared changing context,
  3. use those insights to inform stakeholders driving the change, and evaluate the work done so far,
  4. work the data collected at a team level to improve shared understanding and behaviours, increase engagement and ownership, leading to more successful integration and change.

This is exactly what we’ve been working towards. The implications are a huge new case study that could open doors to more such work.  It’s huge and almost as if everything so far has been leading to this point, which is a bit fatalistic and dramatic, but hey.

Work should begin next month.

I’m ready.

Mirror Mirror– because a collective focus, with each team at the centre, drives performance.

Your story, our platform: If you’ve got a story and would like to share it with other Femflectors, please let us know. Femflection is all about transferring learnings to help others, be they big or subtle. We want to connect with your feelings, your learnings, your reflections or your hopes for the future – in blog or interview format. Express yourself here. Get in touch with us via anja.uitdehaag@femflection.com

For more content visit our website http://www.femflection.com

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Lateral job move

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massBy: Angie Falls

Since I am already six year with the current company I decided to make a lateral job change within my organization to gain experience and to increase the potential for advancement. Often I am being asked maybe its time to move on. You have been already so long with the company. A way too traditional mindset. I am all for thinking out of the box and exploring new ideas and different mindsets.  A job in a different department offers greater responsibilities and challenges. I can stay at the same location and be transferred laterally in another area. I choose this path instead of moving on and search for a challenge in a new company.

Reflecting on this choice makes me more determined to invest in this new function. I get the opportunity to learn new disciplines in the same branch. It gives me a new perspective with my current 20 years experience. When you have spend 2 decades in a specific discipline you develop skills which extends beyond the technical knowledge. Due to globalization and fast paced technological progress  It is more and more evident that soft skills need to be enriched along the way. One of the most important soft skill is the ability to see from another perspective than your own. Empathy is a skill to be strongly illuminated. It offers us a chance to gain insight in a topic or situation from another angle. If excersized from different angles this skill will enable us to make profound decissions. Self reflection another essential soft skill which if not possesed will restrain you. The lack of these skills can decrease employee productivity. Which soft skill are desired by companies depends on the cultural fit. In my opinion ownership is one of the soft skills which I feel the majority needs to focus on. Once I got the advice which sounds like this. In your profession you are the CEO of something whatever you’re responsible for.

Taking ownership of your work means assuming responsibility for helping the organization as a whole to succeed. I invest in the outcomes of my work, implementing ways to do things better and holding myself accountable when there is a negative outcome. I analyze, find solutions and perform on those solutions. This also gives me pride in my work and energizes me. Too often I meet people who do not enjoy their profession. Have lost passion in what they do or didn’t have the passion in the beginning. When the foundation is not solid how can we expect it will flourish. There was no ground to start with.

One of my personal challenges is my strong assertive personality. Too much assertiveness can become domineering. I am working on polite assertiveness. It helps addressing problems calmly and forthrightly and not shying away from difficult or cumbersome conversations.

To conclude my favorite list of soft skills;

  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Ownership
  • Staying Calm
  • Openness to Feedback
  • Polite Assertiveness
  • Decency
  • Integrity

Putting effort on a daily basis to develop and operate based on this soft skill set.

Your story, our platform: If you’ve got a story and would like to share it with other Femflectors, please let us know. Femflection is all about transferring learnings to help others, be they big or subtle. We want to connect with your feelings, your learnings, your reflections or your hopes for the future – in blog or interview format. Express yourself here. Get in touch with us via anja.uitdehaag@femflection.com

For more content visit our website http://www.femflection.com

 

Welcome to my kaleidoscope world.

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By: Matheen

In 2015, I’ve been medically and clinically diagnosed as living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Depression, Anxiety Disorder, and Paranoia. I’m currently taking medication for my mental illnesses. I also go for my monthly counselling with a registered Psychiatrist. My family and a few close friends do not feel sorry for me — instead, they have been supportive; they have shown understanding and compassion. In social media, I often posts articles about mental illness and encourage others not to make fun of people living with mental illness — it’s not cool to joke about someone and label them as “retarded”, “abnormal”, “paranoid”, “mental”, or even casually using “OCD” as if having it means you’re cool and fashionable to have it; au contraire, you are so not cool if you are guilty of such actions. I always think that one should always put oneself on other people’s shoes to be able to comprehend and empathize. Simply put, how would you like it if someone labeled you as such?

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