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 August 2007 Insights
e-zine Volume V, Issue 4
©
2007-All
rights reserved ISSN
1551-4234 Library of Congress
Goals InSight, Inc.
Facilitation &
Workshops for Organizational Team Building, Goal Setting and Business
Strategy!
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A Few Notes From Cheryl
Happy end of
summer! For those of us in the Western Hemisphere, we are
winding down toward the end of our summer. I hope that each of
you, regardless of where in the world you are located, had an
opportunity to take time off and enjoy some vacation time. I
recently went on my annual silent retreat, which was wonderful, and
inspired this month's article below. Although I must admit that
I'm kind of itching for a beach vacation....maybe soon!
As
always, we welcome your ideas for future topics, so
please feel free to drop me a note at cheryl@goalsinsight.com
.
Warmest regards,
Cheryl
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Feature Article: Has Your Team Lost its
Mind(fulness)?
I recently came back from my annual seven-day silent, mindfulness
retreat (I typically go on a mindfulness retreat once a year, sometimes
more). For those of you know what this is, you're likely saying
"ah, that sounds really, really great - wish I were there right
now"! For those of you who might not know what a mindfulness
retreat is, you're likely saying "huh - a WHAT retreat?"
Allow me to elaborate a bit, and then we'll talk about mindfulness for
your team! A mindfulness retreat is designed to help you slow
down our usual fast daily pace to a snail's pace...no phones, no
e-mail, nothing to do but BE PRESENT, in each moment. Oh yes, and
did I also mention no talking? So, here I was, at this beautiful
retreat center, in silence, doing only one
thing at a time....for seven glorious days! The benefit,
in case you're still wondering, is that when there is complete silence,
you can learn to train your mind to turn off the "chatter" and
eliminate (well, at least reduce!) daily distractions, so that you can
be present to what is happening right now - fully present - to the one
activity in which you are engaged.
Now, you may be asking "so what's the benefit to reducing the
distractions"? The benefit is that you become much more mindful, or aware of everything that you do.
You get to fully
appreciate what you're doing because you are fully present to the
experience! You also see things for what they really are -
you see the truth about things - no denial - without all of the
illusions we typically create in our lives. No assumptions, no
distractions, no illusions.....just the truth about our current
experience, feelings, thoughts, etc - right there in front of
us.
Sometimes, it's really painful to be with our thoughts, feelings, etc.,
which is why many of us distract ourselves with other things, so that
we don't have to experience those difficult feelings and
thoughts. As we all know, though, by denying that something
exists doesn't mean that it goes away - whether it's something in our
work situations or our personal lives. By having the courage to
fully experience all of our experiences, we can more fully experience
everything in life.
Ok, what does this have to do with your team? Teams are impacted
greatly by the level of mindfulness, or presence, of its team
members. Teams that are fully present with and for each other are
typically more successful.
Think about the team that you spend the most time with - your work
team, your volunteer team, a parent committee, etc. Keep that
team in mind as you ask these questions:
- On a scale of 1 to
10 (10 being the most mindful), how mindful is my team on any given day?
- In what way(s)
does my team act mindfully - i.e., in what ways is my team present to
each experience with each other? This often happens when
team members are fully present by fully listening to each other when
each person speaks, and being open to hearing each person's
opinion. Honoring and appreciating diverse opinions on a team is
a critical success factor for a team, by the way!
- In what way(s)
does my team NOT act mindfully - i.e., in what ways is my team NOT
present to each experience and each team member? A
team is not acting mindfully if the team members are talking over each
other, arguing loudly, etc. Or, when team members physically
attend a meeting by showing up, but allow themselves to be distracted
by their e-mails or answering cell phone calls while the meeting is
occurring. By definition, you can't be mindful and multi-tasking
at the same time!
- What is one
thing my team can do to become more mindful? Help your
team by asking them "how can we be more mindful and present with each
other?" By being more mindful, your team members will respect
each other more, which will increase the trust and camaraderie on your
team. For those of you who have been through our team development
workshops, you know the three most critical factors contributing to a
team's success: trust, respect and camaraderie.
As you can see, mindful teams are likely more productive and
sustainable for the long term. If your team is already fairly
mindful, congratulations - please celebrate that with them! If
your team has lost its mindfulness they can get it back - you can help them get it back
through implementing some of the suggestions above.
Of course, we are here to help you if your team needs assistance
in regaining its mindfulness in order to
improve the team's overall dynamics and results. We want to
support you, so if you have questions about your team, feel free to
contact us at (510) 482-8979 or info@goalsinsight.com .
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Upcoming
Workshops
Public
Workshops (private/corporate events are not listed here)
Monday,
September 17,
2007 6:45 to 8:15 pm
"Powerful Goal
Setting: 6 Steps to Meaningful Business & Personal
Achievement!"
Learn a process to set effective goals in
ALL areas of your work and personal life! By the end of this
seminar, you will have an action plan containing specific "next steps"
to increase your effectiveness by setting and achieving goals that are
truly meaningful to you or your team.
See details: http://www.goalsinsight.com/speaking.html
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Tuesday,
November 27,
2007 6:45 to 8:15 pm
"Communication
Skills for Excellence at Home and at Work!"
Learn the tools needed to enhance your
communication skills so that you can be more effective with your team
at work as well as your friends/family at home. By the end of
this seminar, you will have specific "next steps" designed to make sure
your messages are being received in the way you intended at work and at
home.
See details: http://www.goalsinsight.com/speaking.html
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Team
Building Events and Off-Site Meetings:
Could your team use some help to be more cohesive?
Is it time to enhance your team's relationships and
productivity?
Now is the time to
plan for Q4 meetings - our 2007 calendar is fillinq up!
Some teams know that something isn't working, but they don't know
exactly what that is or how to improve it. Some organizations
hold team building
seminars and employee retreats because they know it's time to enhance
their teams'
productivity and relationships. Do either of those statements
describe you/your team? If so, and if you
haven't already contacted us to discuss your needs, feel free to give
us a call to see if we can help you.
We offer a variety of programs to enhance the performance of your teams
as well as improve the ways in which your teams interact, so we invite
you to visit http://www.goalsinsight.com/programs/team_training.html
. This is a great
way to
show appreciation for your team and enhance their productivity,
thereby improving the bottom line for your organization!
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About Goals InSight, Inc.
Goals InSight, Inc. helps organizations
achieve their desired
results in the following ways - click on any of the links for details:
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