How to Understand the Real Needs of your Stakeholders in Oil and Gas Industry

In the previous article, I outlined what it takes to establish an effective roadmap to manage non-technical risks in the Oil and Gas industry. There were six key themes identified which were considered essential in ensuring robust Non-Technical Risk Management. This article will look at the first of these six themes, True Understanding of Stakeholder Needs. It will detail the building blocks, steps and processes involved in the roadmap to meet each objective.

A Nenets herder leads reindeer under a pipeline at the gas field in Siberia.
Copyright National Geographic.  

In order to ensure that the plan you put in place works, it is important to define what success looks like. At this point, the objectives are to gain and maintain community support; to seek a competitive advantage; to have a true stakeholder value proposition in place, that was verified by them; to have streamlined regulatory processes in place. To support these four main objectives, there are key steps you need to take. 

1. The First Rule is to Know your Community

The first rule is to know the local community, key stakeholders and influencers. It is key to establishing robust building blocks for success. All too often this essential principle is either not carried out correctly, or even worse, becomes a paper exercise based on theories.

To do it well, you need to start with robust and objective Stakeholder Influence Mapping, which is designed, tested and verified with the stakeholders. It must be conducted early on, well before there is any physical footprint and well before preparations such as regulatory permits or licenses are sought. Moving forward with development without a deep understanding of the political and social landscape is fatal and will guarantee project failure, or delay.

Here is how you do it.

Establish local presence with the right people early

Having representatives on the ground who identify the key people to be involved -- who they influence and who influences them -- is a basic prerequisite of mapping out the landscape. These representatives need to be local, well-respected, politically-neutral and have strong relationships and connections with the stakeholders at all levels. 

The process of building the relationships and having direct communications with the communities and their leadership is essential to understand the facts about the country, its people and who to deal with.

Ground truthing and triangulation of facts

All too often the relationship building and gathering of stakeholder information are tainted -- or even incorrect and sometimes divisive -- as that information is either false or biased in some way. So, it is important to use multiple sources of data and ensure the validation of facts from alternate sources. Using genuine enquiry methodology and testing assumptions are key. Going ahead on incorrect assumptions can lead to serious adverse consequences for the project.

Internal controls and protocols for communications and engagements

Controlling the communication flow to ensure key stakeholders are correctly identified and engaged appropriately, together with the establishment of a protocol in communication is essential.

There must be one flow of communication, with no distractions and no misunderstanding on messaging. This will ensure that there is no overpromising and that commitments are kept to. A robust “customer relationship management system” with tracking of issues; complaints and records of dialogues is key to ensuring correct controls.

2. Community Support and Gaining a competitive advantage

Once you know your community, your key stakeholders, and the tracking system is established and working well, the ongoing effective management of stakeholder relations is a continuous marathon of time and resource commitment, which takes the consistent effort at all levels of the project.

From past experiences and histories of successful projects, the following elements are deemed to be crucial:

1. Maintaining a connection to the community face to face, on the ground and at an almost constant level. This is never “ad-hoc” or on a “fly-in” basis, but a consistent presence
2. Deliver on commitments and do as you say, this is why a robust communication protocol is so important, every commitment and promise must only be from those that have the authority and accountability to carry it out and it must be recorded, tracked and closed out.
3. Address issues early and effectively - this is self-explanatory but needs a system in place as described before. It becomes so important to build up trust and understanding with the communities and other stakeholders.
4. Personal drive and commitment to see things through- particularly from senior management, and those with the authority to make changes or get things done.
5. Proactive and personal relationships - at all levels of the project.
6. Authority and visibility of leadership - address the issues quickly and effectively. The most senior person on the project MUST have the authority to address issues and deliver on commitments without being vetoed by Head Office.
7. Build trust early - There is a need to be open with Regulators and Community on dilemmas and impacts. Tell the whole story early and be as transparent as you can. Explain what the future will look like, good and bad. Communities will fear the worst and often sharing the reality will be less of an issue than first thought. Hiding potential issues will only deepen suspicion in the community and other stakeholders. 
8. Ability to genuinely enquire and understand - is an important personal attribute that everyone on the project must have.
9. Leadership buy-in and supportive management - Investing the time and resources to resolve the issues and deliver on commitments

3. True stakeholder value proposition

Large companies often assume (to their peril) that they know “what’s best for stakeholders”, either through past experience on what has worked in other parts of the world or by not carrying out a thorough enough analysis and making assumptions.

Complying with the First Rule will ensure a deep understanding of the stakeholder needs, issues, aspirations and concerns. Only then there can be work done into the development of a value proposition by finding out what is meaningful and of value to the community. Genuine enquiry and learning from engagements and relationships will reinforce the understanding of what is required.

Fundamentally, initiatives must be aligned with community needs and not some “bolt-on” that has worked somewhere else in the world. To guarantee success there should be alignment with local, regional and national plans so that the development of any Social Investment programme is focussed on the key issues -- health, unemployment, social issues -- and create shared value. This needs to be tested and verified with stakeholders regularly, ideally through a formal community-based forum. Ideally, the project needs to get to a place where there is a solution-building with stakeholders to address dilemmas.

4. Streamlined regulatory processes

All too often projects are delayed due to the lack of progress in the regulatory processes. Often this is a result of a lack of alignment between the Project and the Regulator -- each has different priorities, that are at times in conflict with each other.

To overcome this, it has been found that having a personal connection to regulators is very important. Building the relationship to be as open as possible, where issues and long-term goals are shared, leads to sharing and solving the problems.  

Sharing what the long-term future looks like, the issues and challenges that may bring, and finding solutions to address any hurdles to progress -- make the Regulator part of the team that solves the problems.

Co-creation of a regulatory framework, with boundary conditions, reporting parameters and measurements, can lead to a more efficient system and save time and money on both sides, without compromising safety or standards. Having several different channels with the agencies to build relationships with the Government means alignment is key. All interfaces must be coordinated through a focal point.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Dyer. Recognized as someone who supports change, drives and changes behaviours, and creates a supportive environment, while encouraging risk-taking and supporting a reward culture. Phil had a key role in advising Directors on issues and stakeholder management and developed key relationships with senior management. Working at both local/national/regional and group level and managing diverse teams, both virtual and actual, he established good networking skills with functions and business at all levels in the organisation from Directors to an operational level.

The article was written specially for Think Tank AlterContacts.

The Establishment of a Schematic Road Map for Major Oil and Gas Projects to Effectively Manage Non-Technical Risks

Non-technical risks (NTR) refer to all risks and opportunities that arise from the interactions of a business with its broad range of external stakeholders. This includes interactions with regulatory, public, socio-economic, governmental and environmental organizations, for the management of related aspects of a project’s operations.

Communities' resistance is one of the key Non-technical risks

Management of Risk in Oil and Gas Companies

Oil and Gas companies pride themselves on managing risks, putting into place effective mitigation to ensure both the technical and financial aspects of any large project are identified and managed, to deliver on time and on budget. 

Because oil and gas projects are major engineering undertakings, there is the tendency to apply ‘engineering’ sense to addressing the NTRs or to underestimate its impact on project delivery and value. 

Non-technical risk does not lend itself to the logic of risk management and quantification of the way the extractive industry has traditionally managed the technical risk. Traditional risk management where engineering solutions are applied to problems will not eliminate NTRs. It might be possible through the use of technology to reduce the environmental footprint of a project but that does not completely eliminate the social impact.

However, the impact of non-technical risks on project delivery is not easy to quantify. There are numerous cases where the project manager has failed to recognise the significance of non-technical risk, or the project team and the company have a wrong understanding of what non-technical risk are, and hence, unable to figure out how best to deal with it. 

The tendency is then to focus on the technical challenges which are in the ‘comfort zone’ of the engineering expert leading the project. The non-technical issues are then left to the less capable hands within the team. They are treated as an “add-on” and not as an integral part of the project.

What is the Impact of Underestimating Non-technical risks?

Historical data informs us that non-technical risks are the most common cause of project delays ( up to 70 per cent of major capital projects are subject to significant delays or cost overruns as a result of non-technical risk (NTR)), and have the potential to cause significant erosion of project value when they manifest at project level and in extreme cases significant portfolio value erosion, when they manifest at corporate or industry level. 

According to Breemer and Mckeeman (2012), NTRs of this nature account for up to 70 -75% of cost and schedule failures in projects in the form of schedule delays and cost overruns, local deal opportunities, and a host of stakeholder related issues. 

In its study of the cost of company-community conflict in the extractive industry, Davis and Franks (2014) discovered that companies incur substantial cost and value erosion from community disruption. The study identified the most frequent costs as those arising from lost productivity due to temporary shutdowns or delay, while the greatest costs were the costs in terms of the lost value linked to future projects, expansion plans, or sales that did not go ahead. The costs most often overlooked by companies were indirect costs resulting from staff time being diverted to managing conflict – particularly senior management time, including in some cases that of the CEO. 

In the paper, ‘Managing human rights impact in a world of converging expectation’, John Ruggie (2011) illustrated how a failure to develop a cross-functional strategic response to non- technical risks related to social impact can have a devastating effect. A company in the extractive industry suffered $6.5 billion value erosion over 24 months due to non-technical risk, including community opposition and delays in regulatory approval. 

Failure to manage community relations well could result in prolonged community opposition which in turn leads to denial of planning permit by a regulatory agency. All these will result in significant project delays with associated cost overruns. Late submission of application for a regulatory permit could mean the permit is not available when project activity should commence. 

Data shows over 124 major North American Energy Projects were delayed between 2008-2014. Of those projects, 33% were delayed for purely non-technical reasons while a large majority included non-technical reasons. The total estimated cost for these non-technical delays is estimated at $118 billion USD. This is because non-technical delays take the longest to address and are the most expensive to resolve.

Understandably, senior executives across the energy industry commonly view non-technical risk as one of their top three current concerns.

How to Maximise Value and Mitigate NTR Impacts

Recognising that there were opportunities to improve the cycle of project development, significantly improve project value as well as enhance the company’s access to new opportunities, a major oil and gas company developed a company-wide best practice process for the identification and early management of NTRs at the project level. 

As the project lead, I was tasked with identifying NTR best practices and successes in projects that had enabled project delivery and use this data to develop a tool-kit to be shared with, and implemented in, the organisation. By identifying best practice, which had demonstrated success, rather than focussing on lessons to be learned, this was a unique approach.

Basic factual data, together with quantitative and qualitative information was obtained through a series of structured interviews with key project personnel who had demonstrated success in project delivery. Using more than one member of the project team in the interview process, enabled the triangulation of the facts and ensured the data was verified.

Semi-structured interviews were set up which followed a format of initial broad open-ended questions, encouraging the interviewee to tell a story and then using funneling techniques to gain more specific information on critical areas identified. The role of the semi-structured interviews was to collect facts, views and opinions from key Project personnel.

The interviews were designed to be loosely structured, the focus being on exploring the interviewees’ perspectives with the emphasis on allowing and facilitating the interviewee (s) to express ideas and thoughts on the subject being explored.

Based on open-ended questions, followed by further probing and investigation to elaborate or illustrate the answer with examples, the structure of the interviews allowed for the production of rich and complex data.

Each interview was recorded and transcribed word for word. These data were analysed to identify themes, patterns and categories that enabled the delivery of a final report that demonstrated how effective management of NTR had made these projects successful.

The Report that was developed, identified 6 key themes which were considered essential in ensuring robust NTR management. The Themes were:

1. True Understanding of Stakeholder Needs
2. Drive Front End Loading
3. Get One Team Fully Resourced
4. Work the Stakeholder Matrix
5. Ask for Help Early
6. A Real TECOP Integrated Schedule

The next articles in this series will explain each of the 6 Themes and detail the building blocks, steps and processes involved in the road-map to meet each objective and include what success looks like. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil Dyer. Recognized as someone who supports change, drives and changes behaviors, and creates a supportive environment, while encouraging risk-taking and supporting a reward culture. Phil had a key role in advising Directors on issues and stakeholder management and developed key relationships with senior management. Working at both local/national/regional and group level and managing diverse teams, both virtual and actual, he established good networking skills with functions and business at all levels in the organisation from Directors to operational level.

The article was written specially for Think Tank AlterContacts.

Literature on the Colombian Health System: An Evidence-Based View

The academy takes part in the debate on the Colombian health system with research and reflection articles that can have an effect only if they are based on evidence. What is the academic evaluation of the health system and to what extent is based on the evidence? 

Photo by Natasha Spencer at Unsplash

This article presents a systematic review of the literature, identifies the research methods used by the authors of 103 items found in Scielo, and assesses the level of evidence of published work. The literature recognizes the merit of the system consisting of the extension of coverage, and questions three aspects of the system: the weakness of public health and prevention, the rules that emphasize profitability, and the unfulfilled promise of the perfect competition as a mechanism to control costs and improve service and quality. 

The evidence is weak: there are no articles on the first (strongest) level of evidence, and the majority is concentrated on the sixth (weakest) level. The article concludes that the critique of the system and the reform proposals are based on weak evidence, which explains its rather marginal role in the political debate.

Original Article:

Carlos Andrés Merlano Porras & Iouri Gorbanev (2014) Literature on the Colombian Health System: An Evidence-Based View, Latin American Business Review, 15:1, 1-12

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271670930_Literature_on_the_Colombian_Health_System_An_Evidence-Based_View

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carlos Andrés Merlano Porras. Finance academic and business expert. He has worked for several private and governmental companies in Colombia, occupying various positions as an advisor, Chief Financial Officer – CFO and Chief Strategy Officer - CSO in economic sectors as diverse as transportation, health-care, agriculture and energy. Also, Carlos teaches financial management and economics in several Colombian universities and has published numerous academic papers in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to his broad professional experience, Carlos earned various academic accomplishments including an MSc in Economics, an MBA with a focus in Global Business, and a finance specialization with an emphasis on projects evaluation.

Would you have invested in this guy's startup (called "The Facebook") based on his pitch?

Imagine for a minute that you can jump into the DeLorean and travel back to 2004. And once you are there you have this guy, called Mark Zuckerberg, doing a one-minute pitch about his product called "The Facebook"...

Let's highlight the key elements of "The Facebook" pitch:

- Question: How big do you think your product or your service is?

- Mark: It's impossible to tell... [Author's note: great answer]. When we first launched, we were hoping for 400/500 people [Author's note: now 1 billion daily active users on average].

- Question: What is "The Facebook" exactly?

- Mark: It's an online directory that connects people through universities and colleges through their social networks.

Now let's go back to the hypothetical scenario that you are back in 2004. Would you have trusted him? Would you have invested in "The Facebook"?

Think for a minute a "no" or a "yes" for an answer.

If "no", right now you may feel the most stupid person on earth (or even worst). And if "yes" you are for sure right now a multi-millionaire having an "x" share of a 275 BILLION dollars company (and growing).

Every time that I'm in front of a founder pitching his startup, I ask myself: What if this guy/girl is the next Mark Zuckerberg? What if I say no? What if I say yes?

And this is the beauty of the startups' ecosystem. No matter how many analysis and parameters you will put in the evaluation's process, you'll never know for sure if a startup will fail or will succeed. And whether you like it or not, there is a big component of "visceral intuition" that needs to be used to make your final decision.

To conclude, when we have a founder in front of us, we should always answer the journalist's question at the beginning of this interview: Is this perhaps the next big thing? And then, based on our gut's instinct, be fast and act accordingly.

Do you agree with this?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adrian Herzkovich. "I am a Senior Executive with over 25 years of corporate experience in international multi-media, sports, esports, entertainment, digital & mobile industries. As a Reinvention Coach, I work with CEO's, Presidents, C-Level Executives, and Founders to strengthen their Personal Brand, teach them Digital Transformation processes, and ultimately, reinvent themselves. As the founder of 40+ LEAGUE, I empower corporates, executives, and professionals that are 40+ years old, in their personal reinvention process."  

The Power of Habits

Research has found that we make thousands of decisions in a day (Sahakian & Labuzeta, 2013). How is that even possible? 

Photo by Brooke Cagle from Unsplash

It's not possible because our brain will overload and shut down. However, the brain has a secret weapon - it's called habits. Up to 40% of decisions made by the brain are using habits (Verplanken & Wood, 2006), which greatly reduces the amount of active processing power the brain requires.

How Do Habits Work?

Habits work in loops. So each habit loop starts with a trigger/event. The brain then decides if this requires active thinking or recalling a habit that is stored. Once decided, an action is executed and the brain waits for feedback. If the feedback is good (reward)- it reinforces the habit, if the feedback is bad (pain/negativity), it starts to diminish the habit in the brain. In gamification, game designers use game mechanics that apply habit loops to reinforce the type of behaviors they want to see. If designed properly, gamification can help to enhance positive and constructive behaviors.

Now that we know how habits work, the next question is, what type of decisions and actions are hardcoded into habits by our brain? Most of us have this idea that habits are for actions like which hand we use to hold our toothbrush or which route we take to work. We think that habits are formed for mundane and low-level decisions or actions. However, habits are formed based on which decisions or actions is the most frequently used. The more times we repeat a decision or action, the more likely it will form habits. As such, for a sales professional, the habits that will form are: pitching to clients, handling objections, making cold calls, etc.  This means habits often take over the core functions of a person’s job.

Habits In Business Context

Here is the all-important question. Why does a lot of business growth or culture change fail in organizations? It’s because habits overpower any external effort to change the default mode of habits – often known as comfort zones. As such, unless we focus on the behavioral components of habits, any transformation program will yield little results. 

Why do training and e-learning sessions have a high failure rate of retention and sustainability in the workplace? The main reason is habits overpower any attempt by the person to apply new learning in the workplace. Participants need a space where they can unlearn, relearn and then apply the learnings while building new habits – all done before they go back to the workplace.

So then, what do we do? Habits are very hard to break, so we create new habits instead. By using gamified simulations, habit building models, and iterative techniques - we allow people to practice and rapidly develop the target behaviors and habits.

How effective is gamification in the context of learning? With one of our Fortune 500 clients, their finance team reported a sales increase of 266% across the board for 300 staff that attended or sales simulations. The way we did it was by building the right habits so that when an event or trigger happens in the workplace, the brain will access the new habits as opposed to old habits.

So if you are looking for a business or behavioral results, make gamification your top consideration when implementing a solution.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Lau is the CEO and founder of Think Codex – a multiple award-winning Gamification Startup. He is also the Vice-Chair of the International Gamification Confederation (GamFed) – which is a global community of gamification experts, academia, professionals headquartered in Europe. 

Be Inspired by Plants!

How can plants help you in your life and in your challenges?

Plants Inspirational Coaching is an innovative method to create new ideas and points of view. You get a completely new perspective that allows you to generate ideas by letting yourself be inspired by plants.

Think like a Plant 

This is a unique methodology for the development of creativity and the identification of new ideas and solutions, which feeds on the regenerative power of innovative thinking. It is a practice that accompanies the person in the search for useful and strategic elements for itself through the observation of plants to resolve problems in a moment of change. Through questions of self-coaching, facilitation, mindfulness, free observation, the person spontaneously finds in the plant behavioral characteristics that can be imitated in real life to generate solutions and new ideas. 

We were inspired by the world of plants for science and technology, why can't we inspire ourselves to train our way of thinking or developing creative thinking?

It was designed to inspire new ways of thinking about whoever is available and open to discovery, without any preparation in botany. Anyone regardless of their background can use this methodology to find new and more innovative ways of dealing with challenges. Are you in a moment of change and do not know how to proceed? Here for you, a breath of creativity inspired by nature and plants

 

Free yourself from pre-conditioning

If you lack ideas, if you feel stuck, if you want to respond differently to your inner questions, ask your plant coach for help! The Plants Inspirational Coaching helps people, to get out of established patterns and beliefs, finding new creative solutions for a work goal or for a personal problem.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stella Saladino – creator of the methodology. 

"First of all, I am a curious person and nature lover. Professional Certified Coach (ACSTH- ICF), Facilitator and Mindfulness Instructor in training at the Master in Neuroscience, Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices of the University of Pisa. I had an experience of life and work intimately linked to the world of communication. Meeting coaching, meditation, nature, and neuroscience, I began to cultivate a new vision of the world and my desire to put myself at the service of others. I worked as a freelancer in various companies as a Communication Manager and Digital Strategist. Since 2016 I work as a trainer and coach in the development of projects for personal growth, personal well-being, change management, personal branding."

A Hundred Year of Independent Schools

Waldorf School. What is it?

The first independent Waldorf school was opened in 1919. It was based on studies of Rudolf Steiner about Anthroposophy. He developed his ideas after the turning point in World War I. This year Waldorf schools celebrate 100 years.

You enter a schoolyard and see a building with contours reminding the wind. Windows frames reproduce such lines. And it seems that all the building is like a sail waving in the wind. That is organic architecture. The most vivid example of such style is Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, that was constructed by Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf schools.

Idea of Colour

You enter the classrooms and feel freedom because there is space to breathe and to play interactive games for little students. The walls are colored in different shades according to the age of students. The theory of color influence on our soul’s state was first described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Studies upon which such schools were introduced consider that our life has 7-years cycles. If we consider the second 7-year cycle when a child in Russia starts education, we can find the following colors. For example, red color can be compared with the first years of schooling, when the child gradually leaves the warm atmosphere of the children's room and develops the ability to live in a team. Orange and yellow tones are cheerful and perfect for a nine-to-ten-year-old child.

Of course, it is something superficial. Something that makes our first impression. However, even this approach to a child disposes to further immersion into this education.

Arts

In modern society these schools have to correspond to the state’s curriculum, However, they still have some possibilities to follow own direction. For example, clay modeling. How often do children model using clay? Usually, they use plasticine but it can cause allergies and it is too soft, there is no tension in a child's hands. Clay is solid. That is why when children model something using clay, they work with their will and feeling. No doubt, fine motor skill develops children’s brain. It brings harmony between the body and the brain.

Foreign Languages

What about studying foreign languages? In Russia, most schools teach English as a foreign language. But how many graduate students can really communicate using the language? Not many because they have to study plenty of rules and tables. Latin letters are new for the students. Every letter should go through all your body and brain. That is why Latin letters have their own images and stories. For example, K is the King, Q is the Queen. All the letters make up one story that can be told during a long period. In most Waldorf schools educational process from the first grade until the fourth is based on an oral approach of teaching. Children learn little poems, sing songs, make small conversations. This way they open their “ear” to the language.

Always a Student

That is just a little part of what a Waldorf school is. This world is new to me too as I became a Waldorf teacher recently. However, I am inspired to keep on working to help our students to become a Person within the world full of temptation. 

The headmistress of our school told me: “Waldorf pedagogics is space that we need to explore step by step. You cannot become a professor because you are always a student. It is important to always be in a search. First of all, you study from your students. That is why you keep on learning.” 

About the Author

Nadezhda Kamasheva is a Waldorf teacher and Ph.D. student at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The original article was published on Medium.com

7 Tips to Feel Better Inside-out

It was 3 years ago when I arrived in Barcelona with the aim of changing my life for a healthier and happier one. During this process, I had to learn that self-love is not self-confidence or egoism, but a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological, and spiritual growth.

Photo by Allie Smith on Unsplash

During my life-coaching process as a client back then, I realized that I was copying a lifestyle of giving up on my needs from my mother. I was always reachable on my phone, via e-mail and available for a coffee or dinner any time for my beloved ones. The same was happening in my professional life: I was working on the weekends, taking 2–3 shifts a day. But when it came to my own happiness, spending time with what I love, for example reading a book or rollerblading on the beach — it did feel like I was not useful, I was wasting time, felt a lot of guilt, I believed I was selfish. I could not enjoy anything that was not related to someone else’s happiness. I did not know that putting others first was a problem. I have never seen the example of self-love. What I saw instead was: unhealthy and unkind relationships, sacrifice, regrets, tiredness, stress and blame. A lot of them.

Self-love definitely changed my life. That’s why I would like to share my experiences with you.

1. Learn to spend time alone, do what you enjoy

Spending time alone is not scary nor sad, it’s healthy. 

I started to learn how to take me-time, first only spending half an hour away from my phone, rollerblading by the beach. I learned how to be mindful and stay in the present, enjoying the little things in life. Finally, I really felt the wind caressing my skin and the warm sun kissing my face, my eyes took the pleasure in seeing all the wonderful colors of the sea like never before. I am also cooking my favorite dish or taking myself out for a coffee and buying flowers for my table. Of course, I still enjoy cooking for others or being with friends, but I value myself more and I am not feeling like wasting my time on me anymore.

I have also been challenged to go for a short trip alone, which shifted my mind completely. Just imagining it was so scary that I kept on postponing it for years. This experience made it possible that nowadays I can enjoy my business trips and traveling the world.

2. Recharge instead of losing yourself

“Who are you when you are tired and tense?”

I used to work like crazy in my event management job and believed that working less than 60 hours a week is lazy or not ambitious. Then I discovered that I could not enjoy my events, I could not be there as a human being for my participants. I was a robot, tired, exhausted, tense and faking kindness. I got fed up, so I tried something new. I am now working 40 hours per week and taking time to recharge every single day. A hot bath, a massage, half an hour reading, meditation, calling my friend, going for a walk, preparing fruit juices for myself. I am also taking days off after each conference week and learned to say “no” to my business partner and friends when I do not have the energy to travel more. Inner peace is worth so much more than money! I enjoy being a kind person who can stay focused and loving during any “stressful” event of the year.

3. Make friends with your inner voice

Do not believe all that b*lls**t.

I learned to accept myself and my mistakes and I taught it to my inner voice too. So when I am making something wrong I am not beating myself up for it, but say that I am learning or practicing. I remind myself to talk like I was my best friend, so no matter what happens, I keep on being loving. I also stopped using labels for myself which are derogating, like “ah, you stupid, you!”, cause all those negative things you say to yourself can become your strongly held beliefs. It really makes a difference in how supportive your inner voice is. Make friends with her/him.

4. Find the job you love

It is out there.

After I learned about my core values which are love, freedom, connection and growth I was only focusing on jobs that are fulfilling these qualities. Spreading the world with my availability I ended up being a digital nomad (working remotely while traveling the world) and my own boss. As a coach, I am learning every day either through audiobooks, training or presentations. My purpose of supporting people to awaken who they truly are is key to life coaching and also helps to create space for innovators in my event manager role.

5. Make your healthy lifestyle fun

Find the perfect workout/ sport /meditation. 

We are all different, but there is something for each of us.

I am feeding my body with healthier food, taking less and less animal products and more fruits and veggies. I am meditating every morning, practicing yoga 2–3 times a week and walk or bike almost everywhere. I am paying attention to have 8 hours of sleep, starting before midnight. I am finally taking time to nurture my body with coconut oil, body scrubs and occasional massages. I am booking a life coaching session whenever I feel stuck or want to grow faster. I am feeding my soul with kind relationships. I have never been that energetic and healthy inside-out.

6. Set your boundaries 

Saying “no” is not mean, it will protect your relationships. Start with easy situations and practice, practice, practice.

I have seen so many examples of people giving up on their private lives just because of “love” or a job opportunity and becoming unkind persons. I have experienced toxic relations just because of the lack of self-respect. Protecting our private space is not disrespectful, moreover, I can promise, you will end up being a worse person if you are letting others take over your life. Forcing is killing intimacy, even if from outside you look like someone kind and loving, in the long term it is damaging.

Since I am setting my limits, my relationships are more relaxed and I am attracting the positive people into my life. Spending less time with negative people, who do not wanna change, just love complaining, is also a great thing. You can not help them and they are taking all your energy.

7. Train your “empathy” muscle

We are here to do our best, we are here to love.

Remember: you can only love a person as much as you love yourself.

Last year I learned to forgive and let some family members back actively into my life, can kindly relate to their situations and do not feel any anger anymore. I am so grateful for this change, as I was missing them so much and it took me subconsciously a lot of energy. I am more empathetic and believe that people just doing the best they can. This makes my life much easier and my heart lighter: ready to love.

With all these changes in my lifestyle, mindset and soul everything shifted. Today I understand what the difference between self-love and selfish is. Self-love is when you are caring about your own well-being, so you can be there for others as well in your best state, patiently, filled with love and energy. Selfish is, when you sacrifice yourself and put everyone before you and subconsciously ruin your relationships, because of your negative feelings, your tired and tense state of mind. 

What do you think?

About the Author

Bernadett Naggy is an Ambassador of BusinessGreenHouse.org - one of the initiatives of Think Tank AlterContacst. 

"I am a rebellious idealist: I have been living in 6 countries in the last 10 years, re-building my life and re-inventing myself several times. Today I still believe that one can have it all and created a life which confirms that every day. As a life coach, I am supporting my clients on-line to finally create a life they truly love." 

Is Operational Excellence Dying: 5 Easy Steps to Revitalize Your OPEX Programs

Struggling with your operational excellence program? You seem to put all the required effort, but your continuous improvement program doesn’t seem to please the executive leadership team? Even worse, your fear is that with the market down-turn, your function being a base-cost center will probably be one of the first ones to take a hit on cost cuts.

This seems to be a universal problem with today’s practitioners across different companies and across the globe. The world of operational excellence and continuous improvement seem so passé that you feel that you are still stuck in the 20th century. With all the gizmos and modern-day tech stuff like analytics, artificial intelligence, IoT, Blockchain and Robotics flooding the market, your job sounds paleolithic. It seems that Opex is dying and now destined to be retired to the annals of history very soon.

You are doomed!!

Umm, maybe not. 

In fact, you are not only NOT doomed, but you face a problem that can be easily addressed and solved. In fact, when I share the secret, you will be thinking, why didn’t I think of it myself. It is so logical and intuitive. And easy to comprehend. 

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

So, let me take you through the secret. But before I do that, I want to share some good news. And the good news is that Operational Excellence is not going anywhere, anytime soon. In fact, it will continue to exist as-long-as the early 20th-century management practices continue to exist. Division of labor and the management layer to supervise the workers are your foundation pillars that will ensure that there is always a demand for Operational Excellence.

Now that we have cast aside one of the bigger fears about the relevance of operational excellence, let’s move ahead.

Observations

Here are some observations from many companies that prevail today manifesting the endemic issue and showing symptoms of the problem.

• First of all, many organizations peg the Opex programs too low in the hierarchy to have any material impact. Opex is not an individual contributor or a middle-management quest. It has to be driven right from the top. If the leadership just provides a lip-service then do please stop with this mindless exercise and stop throwing money down the drain. Leaders have to take ownership of the program and walk-the-talk.
• Secondly, Opex is not a flavor-of-the-month recreation. It is a serious endeavor and must be diligently adopted. You can’t cherry-pick which project is an Opex project and which one is not. It is a discipline that needs to be adapted and imbibed as a culture of an organization
• Third, Opex is not a skill that you acquire just by attending a training class. You have to practice it well, repeatedly before it starts wielding impactful results. The more you engage in Opex initiatives, the better you get at it.
• Last but not least, Opex is not a certificate but it is a way of thinking. Unless your brain has adapted to think through an Opex lens, you will not be able to unleash the full benefit.

Now, let’s get back to the secret. With this secret revealed, you will be able to easily make your Operational Excellence program sustainable, exciting and make an explosive impact in your organization. 

Based on some of the best practices in leading companies and frameworks by contemporary management thinkers, here is an easy-to-understand 5-step process to revitalize your Operational Excellence Program.

A word of confession at this stage. As this is a blog and should have a small word-count, I am limited by the number of details that I can share. I have tried my best to share as much of the principle as possible here so that you not only get the essence of the framework but get an understanding by which you can start visualizing and modeling changes that you need to bring to your Opex program. 

Secret Recipe

For any Operational Excellence or a LEAN Six sigma project to get a certain level of recognition and success, it is imperative that it is supported by a proper strategy and a framework that helps a project to achieve its goals successfully. Without this framework, your project will not be able to conjure the right level of support required on its own from stakeholders and you will suffer from it. 

So, why do you need a strategy and a framework? 

Because Operational Excellence is not just a box of tools and templates. It is an organizational “Capability”. 

And now, I’ll tell you an easy 5-step approach that will help you create a definitive, sustainable and most importantly, an effective capability that will create an explosive impact on your organization.

Framework

The framework has 5 steps the need to be followed in sequence and is circular. In other words, once you reach the last step, you will come back to step one from there with new requirements.

Purpose/Strategy: The first step is to define your strategy. What is the purpose that you want to drive with your Opex program? What is the organization level problem you are trying to resolve? Why is it so important to resolve quickly? What will be the impact if no action is taken? What is the impact if incorrect action is taken?

Leadership: Once you have identified the strategy and purpose of your Opex program, the next step is to find the right set of people to lead the effort. As they say, with average leaders you will only get average results. If your Opex program is set to yield big results, then you must get the best names in the game to lead it.  Identify key leader/s who will lead this initiative. This leader is going to work on developing your capability framework further. The second group are the key stakeholders that you will need to mobilize and who will give you the key support for your program

Methodology: As and when you have the right leaders in place, the leaders can then review and determine what industry-recognized method should be adopted for your organization. The fit-for-purpose method that is relevant for your organization. Whether to follow LEAN or Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints or a hybrid method developed exclusively for your company, you need to figure out what is most relevant and what makes the most sense. You may need to get external advisors to give you direction.

Capability development path: Once a methodology has been selected and set out for development, you need to start defining a roadmap to build these new and updated capabilities in your organization. For building any new and higher-skilled capabilities, it usually takes 2–3 years. So, you need to create a roadmap wherein you will develop a complete team of people with these elements:

• Skills
• Expertise
• Experience
• Tools and Templates
• Training and Mentorship
• Framework governance
• This framework will include train-the-trainer, certification, goals and objectives, project allocation and right management support

Project Management Office (PMO) or Governance: In order to support the capability building and compliance to methodology, you will need to create a coordination and governance office. This office will be responsible for project sourcing, qualification, resource allocation, budget and control, monitoring, communication, managing steering committees, certification boards and other functions that will give teeth to the capability development program for your company This is just a high-level summary to go about building an Opex capability in your organization.

From the capability building and PMO, you will get new strategy requirements which will take you back to step one.

Wrap-up

Now that I have shared the secret recipe with you on how to revitalize your Opex programs, you can see that it is not difficult at all. In fact, when you think of the sequence, it seems so logical, isn’t it?  

I think so too. 

So, this was my 5-step secret recipe on how to revitalize your Opex program. I have now empowered you with the knowledge that you can unleash to create that dramatic impact to your Opex programs.

This framework has taken me years to visualize and fine-tune. I went through the same challenges that you are going through today. I experienced the same indifference and indignation. And that’s when I decided that I will address this problem and come up with a framework. And now with this framework, you don’t have to suffer from the challenges anymore. This framework will give you the freedom of thinking logically and ensure that there is a significant positive impact on your company. 

I hope that you have started feeling the energy of the framework already. So, what’s stopping you?  

I wish you all the very best with your undertaking. 

P.S. This is part of a book project that I’m working on which I hope to finish soon. While working on the project I got so excited about the framework that I couldn’t wait till the book was finished. So, I decided not to wait but already share it. I hope that you and your friends can truly benefit from this framework and I firmly, believe that with the right focus, we can actually revitalize our Operational Excellence Programs.

I would like to hear your thoughts and experience regarding the framework. Moreover, if you have any questions or queries, feel free to reach out to me at anirvan@fifthchrome.com. It would be great if you drop me a note when you get started with this framework in your organization. Would love to hear your story!

About the Author

Anirvan Sen led multi-million euro, high-impact, multi-functional and cross-border transformations on business process and organization optimization. Specializations include LEAN management, Agile & Scrum, process-centric M&A integration, back-office optimization, shared services and digital transformation. Focus functions include Finance, IT and HR. Worked with flagship companies like GE, AkzoNobel, Coca Cola and Stryker, as well as several SMEs. I’m a LEAN Six-Sigma Master Blackbelt and globally recognized trainer/mentor. 

Le jeu en entreprise et l’approche LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

Exemple de jeu sérieux en équipe, l’approche LEGO®SERIOUS PLAY® permet de modéliser en 3D des concepts abstraits, pour une meilleure capacité de communication, de collaboration et de créativité dans la gestion de la complexité, en individuel comme en collectif. 

Pourquoi le jeu? 

"Le jeu est la forme la plus élevée de la recherche." Albert Einstein 

Il a été reconnu par les chercheurs en science cognitives et comportementales que le jeu est une forme d'apprentissage majeure pour faire face aux transformations. Le jeu entraine la capacité d’apprendre à apprendre, il instaure des changements profonds dans les comportements et il permet d’évoluer en autonomie. Cela est vrai pour les enfants comme pour les adultes. 

Dans les organisations, le jeu appliqué à des fins professionnelles devient un «jeu sérieux», qui vise à atteindre un objectif spécifique de gestion ou de formation. 

Utiliser des jeux crée un décalage avec le contexte de travail qui aide à sortir des habitudes logico-verbales et comportementales, pour tester de nouvelles capacités comme l’association de créativité et logique, la prise des risques et le passage rapide à l’action. Par l’amusement et la surprise, le jeu déclenche l’enthousiasme et mobilise tout le monde, au-delà des barrières culturelles. 

En conclusion, utiliser des jeux assure des groupes de travail plus efficaces, car les collaborateurs participent avec plaisir, donnent du sens à l’action, utilisent l’ensemble des compétences pour trouver des solutions et testent de nouveaux comportements. 

L’approche LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® 

«Joue et tu deviendras sérieux.» - Aristote 

Parmi les jeux sérieux, la méthode LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) utilise les briques LEGO comme moyen d’expression et d’exploration de la réalité, pour développer les capacités individuelles et collectives de communication, de résolution créative de problèmes et de collaboration. 

Cette approche permet de faire face à des problématiques d’identité, d’équipe et d’organisation ou d’aborder des projets complexes, à partir de leur représentation en 3D et grâce à la contribution de chaque participant. 

Basée sur les théories constructivistes de l’apprentissage, la méthode LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® est née dans les années ’90 au sein du Groupe LEGO®, dans l’objectif de renouveler les pratiques managériales. Appuyée par les recherches de la branche LEGO Education et de l’institut IMD de Lausanne, elle a ensuite évolué de manière indépendante du fabricant de jouets et elle est aujourd’hui confirmée par les découvertes des neurosciences cognitives. 

Au cœur de la méthode 

Lors d’un atelier LSP le facilitateur invite à explorer progressivement un sujet à travers une série de questions. A chaque question le processus cœur de l’approche s’applique: 

1. Définition d’un problème pertinent (question) 

2. Construction de la réponse (individuelle ou collective) avec les briques 

3. Partage de la construction avec le groupe 

4. Réflexion et apprentissages individuels et collectifs 

Les découvertes des neurosciences prouvent qu’il existe une connexion privilégiée entre les mains et le cerveau : travailler avec les mains mobilise les capacités d’intuition et de créativité, pour plus d’ouverture dans la recherche de solutions au problème donné. 

Mieux communiquer et apprendre par les métaphores en briques 

Construire sa réponse en utilisant les briques LEGO permets de matérialiser des concepts abstraits dans un modèle concret qui aide la clarification. Les idées deviennent des métaphores en briques de la réalité ou des storytelling (séquence de métaphores) et elles sont plus faciles à partager. 

Le modèle agit tel un « médiateur » de la prise de parole et des échanges en public, pour une communication plus efficace. De plus, s'exprimer par des métaphores favorise la spontanéité et sollicite les compétences visuelles, auditives et kinesthésiques des participants, pour un meilleur ancrage des apprentissages. Enfin, l’émotion associée au storytelling aide la mémorisation, alors que le plaisir du jeu et les interactions avec les pairs motivent à aller plus loin. 

De l’individuel au collectif, la méthode facilite la participation active, les apprentissages durables et la construction d’un langage partagé sans distinction de culture ou de poste. 

Les ateliers LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® 

D’une durée variable de trois heures à trois jours selon l’objectif, les ateliers commencent toujours par l’alignement des compétences des participants : indépendamment des habilités de départ, au bout de la première séquence tout le monde sait construire, utiliser des métaphores et raconter une histoire avec des briques LEGO. 

Ensuite l’atelier instaure une dynamique rythmée pour faire progresser le groupe du travail individuel vers une construction collective. A partir des modèles de chaque participant, il est possible de construire un système de représentation du problème et de mener une réflexion partagée. Ce qui permets de garder au cœur de la synergie les idées clé de chacun, pour davantage d’engagement dans le processus collectif. 

Selon la durée de l’atelier, il est également possible de manipuler les différentes parties du système pour simuler des scenarios et tester des stratégies, afin d’analyser leur impact, d’en tirer les conséquences et d’identifier les plans d’action souhaitables. Ce processus réduit les risques d’erreur lors de mise en œuvre dans la réalité. 

Il s’agit d’ailleurs d’un outil puissant d’entrainement à la prise la prise de décision dans des contextes incertains et ambigus. 

Les domaines d’application 

La méthode LSP s’est révélée très efficace pour faire face à: 

• Des problèmes d’identité individuelle et d’équipe 

• Des réflexions créatives autour d’une thématique clé (y compris en grand groupe) 

• Des problèmes d’innovation de produit ou service en perspective UX 

• Des problèmes de construction de vision partagée d’un projet ou d’une mission 

• Des problèmes de stratégie d’organisation dans son écosystème (influenceurs, agents externes, parties prenantes, ect.) 

Les facilitateurs 

Dans la méthode LSP les briques LEGO sont des outils puissants qui facilitent l’émergence des connaissances, la prise de parole et la collaboration. Il s’agit d’abord de s’ouvrir aux autres et ensuite de défendre et de négocier son point de vue, jusqu’à trouver un accord pour réaliser une construction partagée. L’humain et la relation sont au cœur du processus, à condition de savoir en gérer les dynamiques. Afin d’assurer un atelier réussi il est important de faire confiance à des facilitateurs professionnels qui garantissent: 

• La maitrise de l’outil et de la méthode 

• La construction d’un atelier sur mesure 

• L’accompagnement des individus 

• La gestion des dynamiques de groupe 

About the Author

NADIA BENEDETTI. Coaching et formation professionnelle Facilitatrice certifiée à la méthode LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY 

Après son diplôme en marketing en Italie, Nadia s’installe en France pour développer une carrière internationale dans l’édition et les jouets éducatifs. 

Femme de terrain, en 15 ans de voyages elle encadre plusieurs équipes multiculturelles, transversales et à distance. Elle constate à quel point la réussite dépend de la capacité à donner du sens et à se réinventer face à la complexité. En parallèle, elle expérimente au sein de LEGO Education la valeur du jeu comme forme d’apprentissage majeure pour motiver à apprendre. 

A la suite de formations en coaching, facilitation et neurosciences cognitive et forte de sa certification de Facilitatrice LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, aujourd’hui elle accompagne les équipes en transformation, pour que cette dernière devienne l’occasion d’apprendre à évoluer, dans le plaisir du jeu. 

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Would you Call Yourself a Leader?

“Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.” 

― Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last

When you hear a word Leader what are the associations you have? What does leadership mean for you? I am not asking you for correct definitions, theories or google search, simply whatever your mind brings up.

My life’s greatest leaders are my Mother and my Sister. They build me up, support me, take care of me, motivate, inspire, listen, believe in me. They always bring out the best in me. They are my biggest fans, unconditional lovers, everyday empowerers. They make it possible for me to follow my dreams, they shape who I am. They are the best gifts of my life.

I have met so many leaders in my life who were literally life-changing people, each of them led me to the person I am becoming and I am truly grateful for all the words they said, actions they took and ways they influenced my growth. And every day I meet at least one leader. I can endlessly talk what leader and leadership mean for me and how I believe that every single human is, can be a leader if they choose to be, but here I want to share with you, how one random young boy I met on the street of Rome made this month insightful and all about Leadership.

This August I tried out a job in a restaurant, I worked as a hostess. I left my comfort zone and stood outside next to a restaurant - which I like, I was there five times for dinner before I started to work and started this experience - with an agenda to smile, greet and approach every person walking by.

First two days were adaptive, I had to overcome some level of shyness, I had to speak up louder, be mindful and so much more. My main goal always was to make someone smile, so I gifted my smile to everyone, I met lovely people and I enjoyed my experience and every evening I would reflect on:

1. What did I learn today?

2. What are the gifts of today?

3. What can I do tomorrow to get the best out of this experience?

On the third day, I saw a young boy and girl walking to my direction with a message on his bag: ‘SERVE, INSPIRE, CHANGE’. It was from some leadership school and when they got closer I told them:

-    That is exactly what I am doing

They asked:

-     What?

And I repeated:

-     This is exactly what we are doing here, we Serve, Inspire and Change.

They laughed and on that lovely note, they choose to stay, they enjoyed their meal and time. It was one of the brightest moments of the day. And for me, these three words became an everyday inspiration. 

If we apply this approach to our lives, in our everyday activities, is it our work, relationships, friendships, in any interaction; if we just serve others, inspire them and make a positive change - then we are leaders.

We make our job significant, no matter what we are doing. We as living humans have huge power to make an impact. Such little thing as a sincere smile or compliment, honest, joyful interaction can make a day for your employees, colleagues, guests and customers. And if you cannot find meaning in your job, ask yourself:

What is the value of being a human?

What makes you unique?

What is your purpose in life?

Your customer or any person comes to you for an experience.

If your aim to leave them in a better state than before they found you;

If you appreciate your role;

If you value people and yourself;

If you don’t forget to think of purpose when you are setting goals for your profit;

If you are ready to ‘Serve, Inspire, Change’ no matters of your position;

Then here I am recognizing you as a Leader, telling you that you matter, the world needs you and may it be empowerment for you to keep believing in yourself!

Being a Leader is not a position it is a lifestyle.

Leadership is something you bring in your position not something a position brings in you.  Every day there is a moment when we get the chance to make a positive change when we can take action, show initiative.

Simply by gifting a smile, saying a compliment, letting another person know how important they are, do something for someone, helping with a heavy bag, holding a door, taking care of ourselves, making sure someone took care of oneself, preparing a meal for someone else, paying for someones drink or ride, taking the trash from the ground and putting it into a recycling bin and the list goes on.

Serve, Inspire, Change and be a leader you wish to see in a world. 

Now, would you call yourself a leader?

P.S. Take time to reflect on people you could call leaders and feel free to share which actions (yours or of others) do you consider as an act of leadership in everyday life?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maiko Solomnishvili is an International Coach based in Rome, Italy. She provides an individual approach for every client by combining her background in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience and by applying authenticity, empathy & vulnerability. She has a rich experience of working with people from different age groups and nationalities as a non-formal Educator, Facilitator and Inspirational Speaker on topics of Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Emotional Intelligence, and Global Goals.

The original article was published on LinkedIn.