2 Managing Self

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2.1 Introduction

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A youn g person is often in a m anagem ent po si-t ion within a youth organisat ion n ot becauses/he wants to be a man ager, but because s /hehas th e opportu nity to serve the organisationfor a limited period of time. It is therefore com -mon th at such a person has not had m anage-men t training beforehan d. Often th is situationis the rst time the person to has had to for-mally m anage someth ing.

In this section we will consider the need toman age on eself in th is new situation; copingwith new duties, new people, new emotions.Usually the main reaction is to do th ings; try-ing to start pe rform ing as soon a s possible. Inthis T-kit we suggest you to take a minute tothink abou t you rself, your history, your waysof dealing and relating with oth ers and espe-cially with your way of learning. At the en d of your m anagemen t period in th e organisat ion,you will discover that learning has been oneof the m ain ou tcomes- both in terms of skillsand att itudes acquired an d in terms of devel-

opment of your own potent ial .

2.2 Personal awareness

2.2.1 Learning to learn There are differen t de nitions of learning, relat-ed to kn owledge and abilities or skills. There is

no on e best m ethod of learning. Learning mightbe described as gaining a n ew awareness abouton es poten tial; manifested in n ew kn owledge,new capacities, new attitudes, new skills andespecially in the combining of all these intowhat might be called professionalism.

Learn ing is not on ly an in tellectual activity. Toooften in formal schooling, pupils are taughtstudy meth ods based only on th e use of intel-lect. Being tau ght can b e con sidered a passiveactivity while learning is active. In teaching,the focus is often th e teach er, wh ile in learn-ing it is the learner. There is a signicant dif-ference. Where is the focus in training? Arewe like teachers? Peter Vall says that todaybecause we use modern techn ologies and m ore

comfortable seats, we tend to b elieve th at wedo not reproduce the formal school set t inglearning environm ent. Where is th e differen cebetween a formal education setting and the on ewe propose?

In non -formal edu cation, the term learning ispreferred to teaching. Personal learning andlearning how to learn become th en th e focus of self-development. The environmen t and otherpeople are extremely impo rtant in learning asthey form th e context and bring extra meaningto the learner.

In toda ys society inte llectu al capital hasreplaced the m ore t radit ional meaning of cap-ital needed for success in business or in life.Learning to learn is based on the recognitionthat there are different ways of learning involv-ing the whole person including elements of intellect, emotions, body and thinking abilities.

2.2.2 Experiential learning and learning styles Peter Honey and Alan Mumford have identi-ed different learning styles. Their theorysays that ea ch person learns from specic sit-u ation s. Being ab le to apply different learn ingstyles implies th at th e person is able to learnfrom a variety of situations and experiencesthus maximising their learning opportuni-ties. In some settings th en, training becom esan opportun ity to reect on ou r own experi-ence an d learn from it.

Honey and Mumford h ave developed a learningstyles qu estionn aire presenting 8 0 situationalstatements aimed at helping you focus on you r

2. M anaging self

Suggestions for training Collect sayings from dif ferent cultures

about learning, teaching, educationand tr aining (include the Europ eanUnion de nition of life-long learn-ing).

Classif y and check t hem.

Conf ront di ff erences and similarit ies.


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behaviour. The responses to the statementsare processed to provide an assessmen t of you rpreferred learning style. The originators th engive an explanation of the four d ifferent styles,the situations best suited to those styles andsuggestions for dealing with situations wh ereless preferred styles would be m ore appropriate .You sh ould be aware th at this questionnairehas been developed in the USA and some state -men ts may be cu lturally sensitive.

Hon ey and Mum ford de veloped Kolbs expe-riential learning circle, here transformed intoa spiral to stress continual developm ent.

According to th is theory, what is impo rtant isnot what h appens to you, but what you do with

wha t h appen s to you . Experiential learning isseen as a 4 step process. It does not matterhow lon g it takes, the most impo rtant is to gofrom the experience phase to the thinking itover, to t he critical ana lysis and generalisationto come to planning of the use of the newlyacquired competence.

Stage 1 Doing an d experiencing is part of everyday life but it can also be anarranged opportunity.

Stage 2 Observing an d reect ing on whathas happened to you .

Stage 3 Conclud ing from the experienceand generalising.

Stage 4 Applying the newly acquired compe-tence or planning a n ew experience.

Doing Reflecting

Doing Observing

Developmentof new competence

Fig. OM-3 : Learning (circle/spiral)

Source: Honey, Peter and M um ford, Alan (199 2) The Manu al of Learnin g Styles, p. 3, ISBN 0-950 84 44-7-0. Ad ap ted version .


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Activist strengths

Flexible and open mindedHappy to h ave a go

Happy to be exposed to new situationsOptimistic about anything new and thereforeunli kely to resist change

Re ector strengths

CarefulThorough and meth odicalThoughtfulGood at listening to others and assimilatinginformationRarely jump to conclusions

Theo rist strengths

Logical verti cal thi nkersRational and objectiveGood at asking probing questionsDisciplined approach

Pragmatist s trengths

Keen to test things out in practicePracti cal, down t o earth , realisti cBusinesslike get straight to th e poin tTechniq ue o rient ed

Weaknesses

Tendency to take the immediately obviousaction w ithout thinkingOften take unnecessary risksTendency to do t oo much themselves and hogthe limelightRush in to action wit hout suf cient preparationGet bored wit h implementati on/consolidat ion

Weaknesses

Tendency to hold back f rom di rect participationSlow to make up t heir minds and reach a decisionTendency to be too cautious and not takeenough risksNot assertive they are not particularly fo rth-coming and have no small talk

Weaknesses

Restricted in lateral thinkingLow tolerance foe uncertainty, disorder andambiguityIntolerant of anything subjective or intu it iveFull of should, ought and must

Weaknesses

Tendency to reject anything wi thout an obviousapplicationNot very interested in theory or basic principlesTendency to seize on the rst expedient solutionto a problemImpatient with wafeOn balance, task oriented not people oriented.

Fig. OM-4 : Learning styles strengths and weaknesses

Source: Honey, Peter and Mum ford, Alan (1992 ) The Man ual of Learnin g Styles, p. 47-48, ISBN 0-95 08 44 4-7-0.


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The fou r learnin g styles: activist, reecto r, th e-orist and pragmatist are linked to the four stagesof learning.

For each stage there is a preferred learning sty le.A preference for the activist style equips youfor stage 1 .A preferen ce for th e reector style equ ips youfor stage 2 .A preference for th e th eorist style equ ips youfor stage 3 .A preference for the pragmatist style equipsyou for stage 4.All-round learners, or integrated learners areclearly best equipped to manage all four stages.However, most people develop learning stylepreferences that assist with some stages andhinder others. Those style preferences verysignicantly affect the sort of activities thatpeople learn best from.

Activists learn best from exp eriences wh ere:There are n ew experiences, problems, oppor-tun ities from wh ich to learn.They can engross themselves in short hereand now activities such as business games,competitive tasks, role playing exercises.

They h ave a lot of the limelight , h igh visibility.They are thrown in at th e deep end with a task the y think is difcult.

Reflectors , on th e oth er ha nd, learn bestfrom activit ies where:

They are encouraged to watch, think, chewover a ctivities.They are allowed to think before acting, toassimilate before com men ting.They have the opportu nity to review what h ashappened , what th ey have learned.They can reach a decision in their own time

without pressure and tight deadlines.

Theorists learn best from activities where:They have time to explore methodically theassociations and interrelationships betweenideas, events an d situations.They are in structured situations with clearpurposes.They have the chan ce to quest ion and probethe basic meth odology, assum ptions or logicbehind something.They are intellectually stretche d.

Pragmatists learn best from activities where:There is an obviou s link between th e subjectmatter and a problem or opportunity on the

job .

They are shown techniques for doing thingswith obvious practical advantages currentlyapplicable to th eir own job.

They have the chance to t ry out an d pract isetechniques with coaching, feedback from acredible expert.They can con centrate on practical issues.

Once you know your preferred learningstyle(s) i t is importan t to be clear abo ut th erelative strengths and weaknesses of eachstyle. Selecting appropriate learning opportu-nities essentially involves nding activitieswhere strengths will be utilised and whereweakn esses will not prove too mu ch of hand -icap. The table on page 21 will help with youown assessment.

You r preferred learn ing style h as implica-tion s for you as a m anager, learner and train-er; most importantly you need to developyour under-developed styles so that you canlearn in as wide a range of situations as pos-sible.

It is importan t to rememb er that you ten d to use

your p referred learning style(s) while training orm an aging. To work w ell with p eop le with d if-feren t learning styles it is important to u se a mixof activities in line with the 4 learning stylesso that you can provide opportunit ies foreverybody.

Suggestions for training Distribu te th e Honey and Mumf ord

learning style questionnaire * and thescoring sheet wit hout t he denit ionof t he learning styles.

Group people according to t he result sobt ained from t he question naire

Ask each grou p t o ident ify experi-encesw here t hey have learned bestand create a pro le of learning styleby choosing only common elements .

Compare them with the learningstyles identified by Honey andMumford .

Please not e that in many cases peop ledo have more than one preferred style.

Subject to copyright. You can nd the questionnaire in Hon ey, Peter an d Mu m ford, Alan (199 2)


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2.2.3 Emotional learning Experiments on th e working of emo tions andtheir failing have given attention to the factthat emotions are important in social life asthe y inu ence ou r attitud e towards ou rselvesand others . Even though there is no agree-men t abou t the origin of emo tions, the re is agrowing evidence that fundamental ethicalstances in life stem from u nd erlying emotiona lcapacities. There are three main approachesin stu dying em otions: biological, cognitive an dconstructivist.

The biological approach gath ers emotion s inbasic categories that a re an ger, fear, ha ppiness,love, surprise, disgust and sadness. Emotionsare u niversal as they are b iological propensi-ties to act. The hypothesis of the facial feed-back says that our feelings are strengthenedby the awareness of our expressiveness andthen smiling strengthens our feeling of joy(Ekman).

The cognitive approach says that each emo-tion comes with a general sense of excitemen tand th en we classify them a ccording to social

convent ions. Therefore we learn wh ich e mo-tions are allowed in w h ich situa tions. The bio-logical propensities are shaped further by o urlife experience an d ou r cultu re. Emotions arealso ambiguou s and th e choice of nam ing themis based on the consensu s of others (Schachter).

The constructivist approach th en afrms thatemotions are only social performances gov-erned by rules for proper emotional expres-siveness.

The studies above have not yet solved thedichotomy between head and heart ; somepoint to the pre-eminen ce of hea rt, some no t.There are acts of the emotional mind andacts of the rationa l mind. In a very real sensewe have two minds, one th at thinks and onetha t feels. The se two fun dam entally differentways of knowing interact to construct ourmental life. The two minds operate in tightha rmon y for the m ost part, intertwining theirvery different ways of knowing to guide usthrough the world. These minds are semi-independent facult ies , each ref lect ing theopera t ion of d i s t inc t , bu t in te rconnec ted ,c i rcu i t ry in the b ra in . In many or mos tmom ents th ese two minds are exquisitely co-ordinated; feelings are essential to thought,thought to feeling. But when passions surgethe b alance tips.

Goleman suggests that in the human brainthere is a meeting point between thou ght andemo tion, a crucial doorway to th e deposit forthe likes and dislikes we acquire over thecourse of a lifetime. Cutting oneself off fromemotional memory means that emotionalreactions that h ave been associated with it inthe p ast are no longer triggered everythingtakes on a grey neu trality. That mea ns th at weoften m ake mistakes as we do not remem berthe emotions linked to past actions. The reforefeelings are indispensable for rational decision s;they point u s in th e right d irection, where drylogic can the n be o f less use. Emotion al learn-ing send signals that streamline th e decisionby eliminating some options and highlightothers. The emotional brain is involved inreasoning as is the thinking brain. The emo-t ional faculty guides our momen t-to-mom entdecisions, the th inking brain plays an execu-tive role in our em otions.

The old paradigm h eld an ideal of reason freedfrom th e pu ll of emotion. The n ew paradigmurges us to harm onise head and h eart. In add i-tion as we explore the connection betweenbody, mind , and spirit, we nd th at ou r emo-tional and thinking states inu ence u s physi-cally, and vice versa. Just observe your bodylanguage-wh en youre feeling up lifted, yourbod y feels light an d you r ene rgy is mo re u p.When youre depressed, you feel heavy an dyou r en ergy is down . Wh en you re feelingvulne rable, you r shou lders cave forward, yourarms tend to cross your body for protection,and so on.

Suggestions for training List the feelings that your culture

allows you to express.

Think of the feelings your cultureforces you or expects you to expressin given situations.

Describe how you are allowed toexpress your f eelings.

What differences exist in expressingfeelings betw een genders?

Compare such outcomes with other

cultures.


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2.2.4 Learning to think Is th inking a skill? Can we learn h ow to th ink an d h ow to u se ou r th inking po ssibilities? Youhave two possible answers according to wh atyou believe. The rst on e is to consider think-ing as a matter o f intelligence d etermined bygenes an d m easurab le with IQ tests. The sec-ond one is to consider thinking as a skill tha tcan be improved by training and practice.The two opposing views can be combinedrath er simply by using De Bon os den itionthinking is th e operating skill throu gh whichintelligence acts upo n expe rience.

This denition implies some considerations:

Intelligence can b e a trap in th e developmen tof thinking skills. A highly intelligent personcan take a view on a subject and th en u se hisor her intelligence to defend that view. Themore intel l igent the person the bet ter thedefence of the view. The better the defencethe less that person sees any need to seek outalternatives or to listen to anyone else. A sec-ond aspect of the intelligence trap is that aperson who has grown up with the notionthat he or she is more intelligent than thosearoun d wan ts to get the m ost satisfaction fromth at inte lligence. Reward for inte lligence is toprove somebody else wrong.

Practice is not automatically followed byimprovement. There is a need to pay direct

at tent ion to th e m ethods of thinking. Think-ing is not on the school curr iculum becauseedu cation gets caugh t up in the tradition trap.Those making decisions h ave experience andvalues based only on the past . Informationis given priority because it tells what to do.Thinking is considered impossible to teachseparately, bu t on ly linked to oth er sub jects,thus denying its own value.

Critical thinking is the most known way of thinking. It comes from the Greek meaningjudgin g. It is articulate d in t h ree ph ases:analysis, jud gemen t and argum ent. If we look at science and technology, the successescome not from critical thinking but from thepossibility system that creates hypothesisand visions.

Perception is the m ost important part of th ink-ing. Perception is the way we look at theworld. What th ings we take into account. Howwe structure the world. It seems now likelythat perception works as a self-organisinginformation system. Su ch a system allows th esequen ce in which information arrives to setup patterns. Our thinking then rem ains trappedwithin these patterns.

Thinking tools are as necessary as tools forany act ivity. The to ols are atten tion d irectingtools. Withou t th em atten tion follows the p at-terns laid down by experience and we remaintrapped.

Think of a coloured m ap. If you n eed to locatea motorway, your attention will be attractedby the line in the colour you know represents amot orway. Now you a re in a room . Some bodyinvites you to close you r eyes and asks you tonam e all the green objects in the room . Prob-

ably you will have difculty in n aming all of them. These examples show that thinking ismore fun ctional when it is directed.

Difculties arise as we use different levels of th inking su ch as logic, informa tion, sensitivityand creativity at the same time. This causesconfusion in ourselves and in communicat-ing with oth ers. For instance, if when mak inga decision we let out th ough ts evaluate wh atwe wou ld like to do, wh at shou ld be avoided,ou r feelings, etc. we could nd ou rselves in adeadlock.

Edward De Bono has suggested six thinkingroles which he describes in term s of six colouredhats:

Suggestions for training

Ask people to lay down on t he o orby creating a chain. The contact pointis head against belly. The person w iththe head on the belly of anotherperson will feel the movement ofthe belly and it is automaticallyprovoked to reproduce the samemovements.

Ask t he person start ing th e chainto laugh and you will experience

that everybody will start laughingone after the other like dominoesfalling down.

Put people in pairs, ask them to sim-ulate feelings using dif ferent expres-sions. Create a vocabulary f or t heexpression of f eelings.


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The wh ite hat expresses nu mb er, data, objec-tivity, the known. It is not allowed to expresspersonal opinion. It is just allowed to listenwithou t discussion. What is said is not alwaysvalid for everybody, it is just an indication tobe con sidered as such , in a neu tral way.

The red hat allows expression of emotionsand feelings withou t justication a nd withouta logic base. We do not need to guess otherpeople feelings, we can ask abou t it . The po s-sibility to freely expre ss feelings allows u s toturn emotions on and off in just a few seconds,without denying, hiding or modifying them.

The black h at expresses th e ne gative-logic;whatever logically cann ot function in th e givensitu ation. It can be con sidered pessimistic bu tit is logical and no t em otiona l. It explains wh ysomething cannot work and highlight risks,dan gers and gaps in a given situation o r project .This way of thinking confronts past experi-ences, puts them in relation to the presentand values th e possibility of futu re m istakesor failu res.

The yellow h at expresses positive thinking,optimism an d is constructive. It evaluate s thepositive aspects of an idea, project or givensitu ation. You sh ou ld nd as man y good rea-sons as possible to support your optimisticdeclaration. Should your idea not be fullysupported by you r declarations, it is anywayworth expressing them .

The green h at expresses the creative th ink-ing without considering prejudices, logic,critiques or interpretations. Its aim is to look for alternatives beh ind wh at sh ou ld logicallychosen. It is a m oving idea; jum ping from oneto ano ther. It provokes us to get off the usu al

thinking patterns.

The blue hat serves to control the thinkingitself. It identies the necessary thinking toexplore the topic. It organises all the otherroles, focusing on wha t is needed to deal withand to classify all aspects of the given situa-tion, by asking the appropriate questions. Itperforms th e co-ordination role, supervisingand summing up, solving the conict andgetting to conclusions.

The ha ts are tools and ru les at the sam e time.This classication of thinking is a mod el bu tremember that the map is not the terr i tory!The exe rcise below will help to clarify th e u seof the mod el .

2.2.5 Prejudice Before talking about prejudice it is necessaryto dene at t i tudes as a tendency to make aquick positive or negative reply to a specicobject or group of objects. In an attitude th ereis the con tent (the ob ject) and a value judge-men t, eithe r positive or n egative, towards th eobject. Attitudes are persistent. As prejudiceha s such cha racteristics, thu s it can be con sid-ered an at t i tude. There are three m ain aspectsof prejudice:The cogn itive aspect: th e total of concep ts andperceptions towards an object or group of objects.The emotional aspect: feelings towards anobject or group of objects.The behavioural aspect: actions towards anobject or group of objects.

We can de ne a prejudice as a specic positiveor negative attitude in d ealing with a person

when such person belongs to a specied cat-egory of people. When the prejudice is trans-lated into a specific beh aviour we can talk about discriminat ion.

Discrimination can have two n egative effects:(a) an attack to th e self-esteem (when you feelinferior, you th ink that you ha ve no value) an d(b) looking for self-failure as commitment tosuccess is proportional to the perceived prob-ability of success.

Discrim ination can a lso be positive: Th is is animportant elemen t to consider in a man age-ment environment: we behave according toexpectations and th us we full proph ecies byvalidating th e prejudices.


Individually or in a group identif y aproblem, a situ ation or a project.

Wear the hats one aft er the ot herand assume the role given.

Freely express yourself (prot ected byth e role).

Do not argue wi th t he others (peopleand/or roles).

Wear t he blue hat and come to con-clusions.


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There are 4 elem ents of social inu ence in aman agemen t (or training) situa tion:

The emotional environment the positiveconsideration towards some people

Information th e higher d egree of informa-tion released to some

Change in beh aviour m ore attention givento tho se we love most

The degree of feedb ack a clearer and con -stant judgem ent given to th e preferred col-leagues (or trainees).

There can also be institutiona l discrimin ation:Research h as shown th at th e effect of discrim -ination varies according to the place in history.

Today there is more un derstanding about m anygroups of people and social inuence haslessened its pressure towards some of them.There is also more awa rene ss abo ut on es right sand less fear abou t claiming them .

As prejudice is expressed in b eha viour, changein behaviour does not always correspond tochange in attitude. Often change is difcultbecau se prejudice is socially accepted and seenas a way to recru it new friend s or to bu ild posi-tion.

Prejud ice is norm al, degen eration is not no r-mal. Problems arise when we want to imposesomething such as our good ideas, traditionsand so on. The degeneration of prejudice isl inked to th e power you h ave and the use youmak e of it in m anagem ent or training situa tions.

You will nd ou t th at th ere are stages in deal-ing with prejudice.

The rst step is the ist situation to recog-nise and to acknowledge th at prejudice existsin ourselves and in oth er people.

The secon d step is the non-ist situa tion torefrain from behaving according to and tak-ing distance from prejud ice.

Third step is th e an ti-ist situ ation to act ive-ly invite oth er to recognise th eir prejud ice an dto change their behaviour.

From ist to anti-ist is a long journey.

For further reading you can also consult theT-Kit on intercultural learning.

Suggestions for training Divide the gro up in pair s and give to each person a role taken

from discriminated category of people. In turn one persontakes the ro le of the d iscriminat ed person or th e role of a per-son against t he discrimi nated one. One person h as t he role t oatt ack and t o say all sort of stereot ypes against and th e otherhas the role of defending her/himself. It should last around5 minut es per round. Questio ns fo r t he debrieng :

Did you change your behaviour ? How did you feel when you were attacking ? How did you feel when you w ere discriminated against ?

Were you better equipped in defending yourself or in at tacking ?


Identify the prejudices towards acategory of people you belong t o.

Classif y them as posit ive and nega-ti ve, intentional and non-intention-al, covertl y and overt ly.

List those you reinforce by sayingthem or behaving according to them.

List t hose you oppose and how youexpress your opposit ion .

List w hat you do t o convince ot hersnot to say or behave according to theprejudices you are against.


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2.3 Managing yourpersonal resources

The rst part of th is section h as allowed youto become aware and acquainted with thediscovery of you rself an d you r poten tial. Thispart wil l go into techniques on h ow to m an-age your personal resources.

2.3.1 From competence to professionalism

Essence ca n b e described as wh at is on esown; the poten tial with wh ich w e were born ,rather than what we have acquired throughour education, our ideas or our beliefs. Theenvironment both physical and human andthe relat ions in th e environment provide uswith the o pportu nities that if taken, can h elpin developing ou r potent ial and thu s becom-ing com pete nt .

The relevance of some competencies varies

by time to time. It is therefore very importan tto identify the com peten cies necessary to ourstage of development through an at tent iveanalysis of wha t is hap pening arou nd u s.

Compete nce is th e combined result of values,skills, attitudes and kn owledge and experience.Values are th e beh avioural responses or actionsaccording to the moral beliefs held by an indi-vidual or an organisation. Skills are the abili-ties that enab le you to do something. What youhave in your mind that comes out of yourhan ds. Attitudes are about th inking someth ing,this thinking makes u s feel someth ing and wereact accordingly. Knowledge is about infor-mation and un derstanding is about the abilityto man ipulate and apply knowledge. Anoth erway to describe competence is that it is theresult of knowing, doing and b eing.

Le Boterf suggests that however we describecompetencies, they d o not have a life in th em-selves. They are nothing if not linked to anindividual that makes them alive. It shouldalso be said th at th ere is a difference b etweenacting competently and the resources neces-sary for doing so. Resources can be external data , individua ls, organ isation s or intern al kn owledge, skills, qu alities, experiences, emo -tions, etc. professionalism is then the ability

to combine resources for competent actions.Human beings do not think according to alinea r structu re or just with logical operations:meta ph ors and analogies ha ve a role. Hu manbeings react to signs with a no xed a priorimeaning and with an unlimited number of meanings. Therefore we cannot control theconditions favouring th e comb ined knowledge.The real professional com petence lays in th ehighly probab le forecasting. There is no onesingle way to b e profession al in fron t of a givensitu ation. Different beh aviours can b e all goodor bad. Professionalism lays in the ability todescribe complex pictures and situations bypicking up the key elements to interpreter itwithou t redu cing or simplifying it. The richerthe image is, the high er the professionalism.

In such a complex situation as the reality of tod ay, plann ing can be replaced by navigating.In order n ot to fall into a sort of wan dering, it isimportant to x some key points. In that sen seman aging and training are not about controlbu t they becom e a way of giving meaning, sen seof direction and motivating. As we cann ot bein control of our life, this philosophy helpsyou to recognise what you can an d cannot .

There are some tools you can use to make itha ppen, e.g. personal de velopmen t plans (set-ting personal objectives), empowerm ent plans(guided taking of responsibility) or self-eval-uation plans like mapping competencies asdescribed below.

Identify you r best com peten cies (knowledge,skills and attitudes).

Put them on the Competencies map andscore them (0=n oth ing, 1= very low, 5=verygood).

Note the peaks and troughs.

Identify a job or task you nee d to perform a ndlist the compete ncies needed for it .

Compare your map with the competenciesneeded .

Look at th e gaps.

Identify opportu nities for improvem ent.

Do it again after a while and look at the dif-ferences in listing and scoring competenciesor compare it with th ose of you r colleaguesto seek for complem entarities.


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2.3.2 Self-motivation You th activities are mainly don e in grou ps.Decision-m aking is a group process in you thorgan isation s. Stru ctu re always involves com -m ittee s. Meeting is always a sou rce of emo tions,pleasure and workload. Preparation and imple-men tation of the de cisions is often delegatedto on e person. Everybody relies on he r/him forthe daily management of the organisation.Motivation comes along with group activities,bu t it is not always present in working alonewhen you feel th e pressure of the e ntire organ-isation on you r shoulders and especially you donot have anybody next to you to share your

th ou gh ts with. Self m otivation is a skill essen-tial in your work as difcu lties sometimes areseen as insurmountable because everythingseems ou t of our con trol.

Motivation is the force that d rives you t o dothings. It is linked to emotions, needs andexpectations. The concept of need th at moti-vates people h as been th e foun dation of mostmot ivation theo ry. In ou r society, for m ost of us, most basic needs have been met food,clothing, somewhere to live. There are mid-dle-level needs job security, a reasonable

wage, reasonable working con ditions. Higherlevel needs will motivate people in a lastingway.

These are the n eeds to belong to a grou p, socialstatu s, th e ne ed to b e in con trol of on es life,the need for self-fullme nt an d pride, th e needfor personal development. Further notes onmot ivation in th e work place can be foun d inthe section on Managing People.

Often you th workers and volun teers complaintha t th eir middle level needs are n ot fullled,but they stay and keep on doing their job. Isthe volun tary world d ifferent from oth er organ -isations as far as motivation is concerned? Inthe business sector people tend not to staywith an organ isation u nless middle level ne edsare fullled.

Try to think about th e elemen ts that encour-age you to perform better. Praise is a powerfulmotivator. If nobody is around you, praiseyou rself, aloud . Som etimes it is en ou gh to saywell done ! or rewa rd you rself by do ing som e-thing you especially like.

Pavlov introduced th e expectancy element int omotivational theories. His studies proved th ata suitable reward praise, a bo nu s, approval of colleagues after the required performancewill soon lead to expectations th at a su itableperformance will bring its own rewards. Inthe same way an u nsuitable performance canlead to expectations of disapproval, loss of abonus, etc.

The studies of Mayo and Herzberg showed th atmot ivation stem s from th e consideration givento people and their involvemen t in th e decisionmaking process. The feeling of being impor-tant or necessary to the organisation is a h ighmot ivation factor.


Self development plan

Identif y maximum 5 aspects of yourlif e you do not want to renounce.

Ident ify maximum 5 aspects of yourlif e you are not satis ed wit h.

Try to link t hem and identif y possiblepaths to get t o your self developmentplan.

SWOT analysis

Identify your Strengt hs.

Ident if y your Weaknesses.

Identif y Opportunit ies off ered by theenvironment.

Identify t he Threats off ered by theenvironment.


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You also h ave th e power to increase you r ownmo tivation. You can follow these step s: Realising your own worth write a ve

line description of yourself, emphasisingyour good points. Most people nd thisextremely difcult as culture teach es u s tobe m ode st! Try to n d 10 go od po ints. If n otyou might l ike to t ry the diary method.Record each day in a small pocket diarythat you carry with you, three events thatyou really enjoyed. It will help to remindyou abou t your ten good points!

Realising th at you can ch ange th ings isqu estion of moving from th e du ty stage tothe will stage. I do things not because Iam obliged to b ut becau se I want to.

Thinking positively rst of all believetha t you will succeed. Failure is an ad ultconcept, children are not afraid of mistakes.Identify an aspect you wou ld like to ch ange,write it down and then identify the barri-ers to this change and write them down.Are you sure that th ese barriers are insu r-mountable.

Setting your goals write the m d own an dremind them to yourself! Decide on themeans to achieve them and set a time scale.

Do not hu rry this process and rem ember th atmotivation is infectious!

2.3.3 Managing time Time m anagemen t is one aspect of good man -agement and is one of the most importantelemen ts in self-man ageme nt. It is imp ortantfor everyone and especially for those whohave responsibilities for others.

What is time? Time is our most important resource and

it is impo rtan t to u tilise it fu lly

Time i s the on ly resource we cannotincrease. Once i t is gone i t cannot be

regained. Everyone h as the same amou nt of time, all

the time th at is available is 24 hou rs eachday. The way we use it is the only thingth at d iffers.

Stealing time from others is inexcusable.If you create respect for you r own time youwill respect oth er pe oples time . Alwaysbeing late for appointments or meetingsmea ns th at you a re wasting oth er peoplestime wh ile th ey wait for you to arrive.

At different mom ents of th e d ay, points inyour life, time seems to pass at differentspeeds. When you are absorbed in yourwork or h aving a good time it goes qu ickly.When you are b ored or frustrated it passesslowly.

There are some b asic principles in time m an-agement. They can help you in identifyingcriteria to improve your time management. Plann ing Learning to plan each d ay, week ,

mon th, year is the rst step in learning tocontrol your workload. This also enablesyou to start being realistic abou t how m u chwork you take on, how much time it willtake an d wh at it will involve.

Prioritising Learning to distinguishbe tween urgent and impor tan t t asks andassessing which aspects of your work shou ld take priority is essential when try-ing to manage you r t ime.

A good wo rking system Learn ing to estab-lish a daily routine, dealing with paperwo rk effectively, telephone calls, communicationwith colleagues an d ling, all play an im por-tan t part .

Using yo u r diary as a too l You r diaryplays an essential part in managing yourtime an d sh ould includ e plans, action lists,important notes and any other relevantinformation con cerning your job.


Ask yourself t his questi on What orwh o mot ivates me ?

List who and what in separate li st sand group them.

If the who list is bigger t han the what list, start there.

Identi fy some areas wh ere you feelthat you could be mot ivated by th ewho identied.

Help them to motivate you. In thisway, helping them to the right atti-tude towards you, you can greatlyincrease your ow n mot ivation.


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Brainsto rm a li st of everything you wou ld need in order to complete a task.

Arrange the task list int o priorit y order in a ti me sequence.

Decide who wi ll complete the t ask.

Estimate how long it would take tocomplete each task, given your existi ngworkload.

Establi sh any addit ional resources youmay need.

Set a deadli ne for each t ask.

Transfer tasks into a daily task list inyour diary.

Learning to say NO One of the reasonswe becom e overloaded is that we have anau toma tic tend ency to say yes whe n peo -ple ask us to d o th ings. Learning to say NOis one o f th e golden ru les of time m anage-men t . Nothing is so important that wecannot take a few minutes to assesswhe ther o r not it wou ld be realistic for u sto agree.

Am I the right p erson for the job? Oftenwe agree to do something withou t assessingwhe ther or n ot we h ave th e skills, knowl-edge or condence to do what we are

being asked. We often just feel guilty andsay yes. It is u seful to assess wh eth er o rnot the task ts in with your overallresponsibilities or is in line with your jobdescription.

This exercise, if it becomes a daily exercise,will help you in rationally u sing you r time.You shou ld not forget th at th e concept of timechanges according to latitude. In som e cu lturesbeing late is un acceptab le, in oth ers is allowedor expected. Therefore ou r perception of timeis not th e sam e everywh ere. Time is also linkedto th e concept of quality, power and to expec-tations.

In whate ver latitud e you live, it is imp ortantfor you to be awa re of your way of using your

and oth er peoples time. Only if you u se yourwork time prop erly will you h ave time to rest!

Irish po em

Take the time to work, for it is the pr ice of success.

Tak e the time to think ,it is the source of strength.

Take the time to play,it is the secret of youth.

Take the time to read,it is the seed of wisdom.

Take the time to be friendly, for it br in gs h app in ess.

Tak e the time to dream , for it will carry you to the stars.

Take the time to love,it is the joy of life.

Take the time to be content,it is the mu sic of the soul.


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The telephone bothers me when I am in a meeting or preparing an import antdocumentTelephone conversations are almost always unnecessarily longMy assistants or colleagues int errupt my activities to tell me their problemsor t o have a chat

Visitors or vendors interrupt my personal work by turning up without warningWorki ng meals and receptions make me f eel heavy and sleepyMeetings last t oo long and are too f requentThe agenda of meetings is non existent or badly preparedThe comput ers break down too of tenThe secretaries are overworkedMy assistant calls me up during t he weekends and during my family holidaysI have a mountain of matt ers on my desk to deal wit hI nd it dif cult to establ ish and meet deadlines except w hen under pressureI have too many papers on my desk, the mail and ot her reading t ake toomuch timeI put off to the last moment the important tasks which demand a greatdeal of concentration from meI cant clearly de ne my objectives and pri ori t ies. They are conf used andchangeableI deal too of ten w ith secondary mattersI dont make a daily work planI dont delegate a part of my responsibili ti es to othersI have a tendency to want t o do things too well. I get too involved in detailsI often have to resolve problems which others could deal with just as compe-tentlyAdd up t he point s obt ained in each column

Mul tiply the t ot al in each column by the value which is allocated to it

Calculate t he general t ot al

TrueFig. OM-5 : A method to identify your thieves of time

The follow ing questions should help you to control your timeat work and to identify your thieves of t ime

A l w a y s

O f t e n

S o m e t i m e s

R a r e l y

From 0-30 points:You are letting yourself be robbed every dayby the thieves of time. As you do not planyour time they are stealing your capital oftime.

From 31-40 points:You t ry t o in st all a securit y syst em to pr ot ectyourself from t he thieves of time. But the sys-tem does not work sufciently or regularlyenough for you t o really succeed.

From 41-50 points:You manage your t ime well enough but younot ice some problems and weak point s in you rcont rol system t hrough which the thieves couldattempt an armed att ack on your capital of time.

From 51-59 points:Your capit al of t ime is not likely to f all into t hehands of the thi eves. Congratul ations, you area model for all those who want to learn tomanage th eir time.

= = = =

= = = ==

X0 X1 X2 X3

Acknowled gem ent of a bove d iagram is m ad e on an aw ai t clai mba sis. The copyri ght h old er ha s not been traced . An y in formati on ena blin g u s to contact the copyr ight hold er w ould be a ppreciated


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2.3.4 Managing stress Stress occurs when there is an imbalancebe tween a demand made on a person and th eresources available to respond to the d eman d.The dem and may b e real (i.e. things outside th eperson s cont rol). Likewise the resou rces m aybe real (facts) or perceived (what you think,feel, imagine, etc).

Resources includ e:

Physical ability: h ealth, tness and stren gth .

Intellectual ability: capacity for complexthinking and problem solving.

Emotional ability: accurately identifyingfeelings an d con structively m eeting n eeds.

Good stress can have a positive impact on aperson. This form of stress is achieved whenthe brain and body feel chal lenged an d wan tto extend in order to respond to the s ituat ion.This is caused when a person is feeling asthough s /he :

1. Has ideas of possible solut ions to th e chal-

len ge (Loo k at all th ese po ssibilities!);

2. Has the resources (internal and external)to solve t h e ch allenge (I can do it!);

3. Has some control over whats happening("I h ave ch oices!");

4 . Has had sufc ien t rest be tween h i s /herchallenges.

The severity of stress is the amount or levelof stress that is felt as a result of a stress or event or situation causing you stress. Thereare certain factors which inuen ce th e degreeof stress that is experienced, these have animpact on th e persons well being both phys-ically an d psych ologically.

The Factors are:

Characteristics of the stressor

You r percept ion of the stressor

Each even t or situ ation ha s certain ch aracter-istics that determ ine the severity that the stres-sor may or may not have on u s. The charac-teristics of the stressor and the severity of stress which result, include the following:

Signicance h ow critical and importan tth e even t is to the ind ividu al (death s, fail-ing an exam , break-up with b oy/girlfriend),and how much change wil l have to bedealt with. The greater the signicanceand ch ange, the h igher th e impact of thestressor.

Time length if a stressor is continuedover a lon g period of time, it will resu lt inhigher stress levels. For example, tiredness:insufcient sleep over an exten ded periodof time will result in h igher stress than th at

caused by just one n ight of bad sleep. Cum ulative Effect This is when stressors

are bu ilt up over a period of time with ou tappropriate mecha nisms to reduce or releasethe bu ild-up. For example, a long series of little irritation s and an noyan ces could resu ltin a massive blow-out betw een two peo ple.

Multiplicity A number of stressors aton e time will resu lt in h igher stress levels.For exam ple, a gh t with on es paren ts,nal exams around th e corner and loss of a loved one will be experienced as much

more stressful th an if each o f these eventshappened separately.

Approaching deadline if a demand hasbeen made a few weeks or months inadvance of the deadline, the d egree of stresswill increase as the due date approaches.For example, if you are given a projectassignm ent two m onth s in advan ce, it willprobably seem to far away to get workedup abou t. As the d eadline ap proaches, andthe work has not been completed, yourstress level will increase u ntil you do som e-thing about the project .

Each p erson p erceives a poten tial stressor dif-ferently. How a person perceives the stressor,and the am oun t of stress it invokes dependson yo u r self-conce pt, your bo dys stress toler-ance, your age, and you r external resources.This section exam ines the se in detail.

Self-conceptThis is based on the Theory of InterpersonalNeed s. It state s that e ach p erson h as th e fol-lowing em otional needs:

The need to discover our u nique identi tyas well as to be included (feel valued an dimportant) because of this unique identity.


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The need to h ave the power to control orinuence what we do and what happensto us

The need for connecting with others andfeeling liked and loveable.

Because we h ave these needs th at only otherpeople can m eet, imp ortan t people in ou r livescan inuen ce who we become and h ow we endup feeling abo ut o urselves. When the se needsare met in healthy ways, we feel valued forbeing ou rselves, compe tent, useful, admired,loved and suppo rted. The result is a positiveself-concept an d self-esteem. When the se ne ed sare n ot m et, we end u p feeling worthless, uselessor u nlovable. Th e resu lt is a negat ive self-con -cept and lack of self-esteem.

You r self-conce pt act s as a lter, an d resu ltsin you seeing the outside world in the sameway a s you feel inside. Poor self-con cept (i.e.minim al feelings of worth toward you rself) m ayresult in the perception that you are inca-pable of overcoming a challenge. Whe n facedwith a situation that needs to be dealt with,you feel anxiety and fear because you are notsure wheth er you will be able to handle thesituation correctly, or even if you will knowhow to h and le it at all!

If you feel loved and positive about yourself,your strong feelings of self-worth and belief in you r ability will give you tha t extra boo stof strength to cope in the face of a stressor!Positive self-concept provides you with inter-nal resources that you can call on wh en deal-ing with a dem and . It enab les you to respon dto stress.

Body Stress Tolerance

This refers to the amount of stress that yourbody is able to withstand withou t totally brea k-ing down. This has to do with your physicalresources: how h ealthy you r body is. This isdetermined by how t you are, how muchsleep you get an d h ow well you ea t.

Age

Each developm ental stage that a person goesthrou gh h as its own set of stressors.The infants ma in developm ental task is toestablish a sense of self and to have his/hersocial/emotional needs m et by family as m en-tioned above.

The preteen and teen age years move th e focusfrom fam ily to pe ers in th e form o f social lifeand school. Many teena gers are stressed as aresult of pressure to be cool and to su cceed.

Socially, friends and popularity can become abig stress if the young person does not haveas many friends as s/he wants. S/he may ad optbeh aviours to look (and feel) cool and pop u-lar. At school, internal and external pressuresarise.

Adult stressors are qualitatively different but

still huge in number. A single person has towork out n ance-m anagem ent, living security,work and time for socialising.

With a family, th ese are all mu ltiplied becau seone has to worry about oneself, spouse andchildren. There are so many responsibilitiesthat adults have, and it is these pressures,frustrations and conicts that result in highstress levels.

The retired person has ve main situationsth at indu ce stress: loss of health , statu s, work,

independence and fr iends, with increaseddependency on others (nancial, physical,emotional).

At different t imes in on es life, some stressorswill have a greater impact th an others becau seof the person s situ ation , ne eds an d life expe-riences.

External Resources

When you h ave to deal with a stressful situa-tion, it can decrease the am ou nt of stress youfeel if you have one o r more p eople to shareyour feelings with. It is much hard er to copewhe n you feel as if you are all alone and ha veto deal with a situation by you rself.

Until now we have been talking about stres-sors but we n eed also to consider the m eliors positive ind icators, th e exact con trary of th estressors.

Meliors are experiences th at h elp in creatinga statu s of well-being an d h appiness, increas-ing a vital inn er force. Probably me mories of such events are present in your mind. Eachperson an d each com mu nity shou ld identifyand recall their own meliors as they willhe lp the life of the com mu nity


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You may wan t to print this page andkeep it for future reference! Put it inyour journal or diary to refer to itwhen you a re feeling intense em otions.It was designed for scho ol or collegestudents but the applications for man-agers in Euro pean You th Organ isationsare obvious.

nsnsn Manage and plan your time so work and play time is balanced.nsnsn Look at how you use time: do not

waste optimal/prime thinking and cre-ative time watching TV or reading th e

newspaper, rather save those for thetime of day when your brain is leastenergetic.n

snsn Dont procrastinate wh en it comes todoing homework, projects and study-ing.n

snsn If you are prone to procrastination,organise a study-buddy and youeach check up on each other everyhou r or son

snsn Set bite-size goals and time limits soyou can see your progress and keepmoving forward.

nsnsn Drink as mu ch wa ter as possible (good

for brain functioning).

nsnsn Take a break, try to laugh with some-body (not at someb ody).n

snsn Always ask questions when you needfurther explanations.

nsnsn Understand that sometimes you willnot be ab le to do all that you want todo (i.e. sometimes school work needsto take the place of partying!)n

snsn Be active outside, breathing fresh air,as much as possible (need oxygen foreffective brain functioning).

nsnsn Write down all that you need to dobefore you start, it enables you to h avea fu ll picture of what need s to be done !n

snsn Exercise to circulate blood with oxy-gen, helping nutrients get to brain.Also, exercising uses u p th e increasedadrenaline, sugar, etc. that has beenreleased du e to stressn

snsn Eat heal thy food, i t helps you growsma rter brains!

nsnsn Talk to people you tru st to get the stress

ou t of your system

Fig. OM-6 : A checklist to help you manage stress


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2.3.5 Managing communication Everything we do tells something about us words, actions, gestures, way of looking, etc.Not only words have symb olic or convention-al mean ing but everything has a meaning givenby the cu l ture an d th e context in which i t isused. Sometimes we do not use the samesymbols or when we do we wrongly assumethat the interpretation of symb ols will be th esame.

In communicating, feelings, perceptions, pastexperience, history and expectations have a

bigger role th an wo rds as they p rovide n oiseor interference to th e m eans of commu nica-tion ; distorting or reinforcing th e message itself.

In com mu nication th ere are always the sendersan d th e receivers. The receiver role is to inter-pret the message sen t by the sender and tosend b ack a conrm ation m essage. It is there-fore essential that send er and receiver use thesame code , compo sed not on ly of words, bu talso gestures and symbols. Attention shouldthen be paid not only to the words but to al lcommu nication system aroun d you.

Johariwindow

Knownto self

Unknownto self

Knownto others

Unknownto others

Open

T e l l

( d i s c l o s u r e )

Ask(feedback)

Hidden

Blind

Unknown

Acknowled gem ent of a bove d iagram is m ad e on an aw ai t clai mba sis. The copyri ght h old er ha s not been traced . An y in formati on ena blin g u s to contact the copyr ight hold er w ould be a ppreciated.

Fig. OM-7


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Any com mu nication, in o rder to b e effectiveshou ld consider the following elements:

Contents what you want to comm un icate

Media wh at is the best m ethod of commu -nicating in this situation (spoken, written,image s, simu lation, exercise).

Signicance wh at is the m eaning for eachparticipant an d for the grou p

Direction is the message given with pos-sibility of reply or is just a comm un ication.

Effect check it with th e feedback and thenadjust the com mu nication.

This will help you to m ove from a linear com -mu nication system into a circular one.Consider now th e context physical and socialenvironmen t, interpretation of th e p articipants,identity (roles and functions) of themselvesand of the oth ers, previous events and expec-tations.

The context will allow you to better u nderstandthe communicat ion because i t a l lows pre-defined behaviour according to shared rules .The Iceberg mo del detailed in section 1 clari-es this further.

In a mu lti-cultural environm ent it is imp ortan tto double check the messages given. Oftenwhe n speaking a foreign langu age we use thesame words with different m eanings as we tryto adapt them to our own nat ive language.Asking questions becomes a useful tool formaking sure that you have understood andthat your message is understood properly.Giving feedback is an art not only a tool for abet ter un derstanding.

The Joh aris Wind ow, na me d after th e rstnames of its inventors, Joseph Luft and HarryIngham, is one of the most useful modelsavai lable when describing the process of human interaction. A four paned windowdivides personal awaren ess into four d ifferen ttypes, as represented by its four quadrants:open, hidden, blind, and unknown. The linesdividing th e fou r panes grou ping aspects of our self which are known or un known to u sand kn own or un known to oth ers are likewindow shades, which can move as an inter-action progresses.

Some degree of self-disclosure benets rela-tionships, increases self-esteem and leads to a

mo re stable self-image. By ch anging wh at is inone pa ne, you chan ge what is in th e oth ers. If you seek feedb ack from p eople, then you willlearn things about yourself that you didntknow b efore, but oth ers were aware of. Thu s,those things are shifted from the Blind Paneinto th e Open Pane. If you give oth er peoplefeedba ck abou t you rself, you will shift th ingsfrom th e Hidden Pane to th e Open Pane. Thisall involves self-disclosure, a willingness topu t you r trust in oth ers. It involves taking risks,as we reveal things to others which we havekept private up to now.

In our society the re are various limitations onself-disclosure: people of highe r statu s gen er-ally reveal less abou t th emselves to people of lower statu s; wome n gen erally reveal more towomen, than they do to men.

Self-disclosure is often seen a s an ind icator of positive ment al health . It imp lies trust in oth ersand self-acceptance, it reduces the need fordefensiveness and th e poten tial for emb arrass-ment. It shows self-condence and is oftenreciprocated. By revealing something aboutyou rself, you are likely to encou rage people to

reveal something abou t th emselves in return.You will also get to kn ow wh o you are youcan discover that features of yourself, whichyou nd embarrassing or shameful, are con-sidered by others to b e entirely acceptable; butyou will not learn t h at u nless you re willing toreveal something.

The process of enlarging the open quadrantis called self-disclosure , a give and take p roce ssbetween me and the people I interact with.Typically, as I share something about myself (moving information from my hidden quad rant

into th e open ) and if the oth er party is interest-ed in getting to know m e, they will reciprocate,by similarly disclosing inform ation in th eir hid-d e n q u a d ra n t .

2.3.6 Managing change

There are as m any d ifferent ways of m anagingchange as there are kinds of change.Change is about u ncertainty. Change manage-ment is the process of moving from th e cur-rent state to the vision of the future andinvolves a degree o f transition wh ich m ay alsoresu lt in pain. In th is ch apte r we are talkingabout personal change.


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There are d ifferent types of change.

Change can be incremental as from m an-ual recording of information (writing) tocurren t laptops with advan ced capab ility.It h as happen ed th rough several steps. Eachstep is incremen tal requ iring skills trainingand capital outlay.

Change can be of an even greater nature.Consider metamorphosis , for example,which requires a complete chan ge of stateand represents a severe shock to th e statusquo (in most cases requiring a sleepingphase to cope with th e change).

Change evokes all kind of fears and uncer-tainties. Consequently we tend to change onlywhe n we h ave to. It is difcult to get an organ-isation to change un less the people inside i tcan see th e reason for change, believe it to bevalid and accept it as n ecessary.

A catalyst h as to b e powerfu l if we are to facethe un certainty of change. Often it is difcultcircumstances that prove the most powerfulcatalyst. People resist change for lots of dif-ferent reasons and to varying degrees. Thisresistance to ch ange is often p roportionate towhat th ey feel they are loosing and the u ncer-tainty of th e situat ion they face. Converselypeople tend not to resist doing things theyun derstand and wh ich they know will benet

them. What they do resist are things whichseem to be imposed, things which they donot u nderstand and th ings which are beyondtheir control or inuence.

Key qu estions you could ask you rself:What are th e key internal catalysts for person-al change?What are the key externa l catalysts for person -al change?What are th e main barriers to personal chan ge?

The characteristics needed to succeed willchan ge and ind ividu als, like organisations mu stadapt over time. Certain characteristics areknown to identify tho se organisations wh ichare responsive to chan ge. Organisations wh ichrecognise and tackle external inuences andare responsive to chan ge tend to dem onstratecertain characteristics: Access to information if chan ge is to be

effective and people allowed to becomemore involved in th e pu rsuit of the aims of the organ isation, they n eed to h ave accessto information.

Ability to handle ambiguity any organ-isation needs to learn how to operate in

un certainty. People nee d to b e able to tol-erate not having all the answers, to learnto keep quest ioning and to be ready tochange cou rse as new opportunities emergeand th reats materialise.

Being inn ovative successful organisationsare those which release and harness theinnovative potential in everyon e.

Taking risks th e freedom to b e risk-takersmu st be part of the cul ture of the organi-sation. Th e attitu de to m istakes ne eds tobe explored th roughou t the organisat ion.

Team ethos encou raging a corporateness

rather than individuality Flexible bu t robu st system s organisationswhich manage change effectively keep theirprocedu res, policies and systems simple.

Ability to h and le conflict organ isation swhich are successful foster argumen t anddivergence and yet m anage to bring thistogeth er as a creative process.

These characteristics can also be applied tosome exte nt to ind ividu als. Our ab ility to acceptand im plemen t change at a personal level, ma ycorrespond t o on e of the following stages: Sh ock an d disbe lief the feeling of surprise

or being cau ght off balance when some-thing u nexpected h appen s. Oh n o, it can-not b e true; are you sure?

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Import ant this exercise shoul d on lybe done with a group w ho know eachother well and wit hin which there isa high l evel of t rust and sensit ivit y.

In a group ask everybody to w rite ona piece of paper a small change s/hewould like to do in order to improveher/his life.

Then ask peopl e to swap th e piece

of p aper around. Then ask one person t o read out t he

wri tt en stat ement s/he has foun d.

Then ask everybody to clap if theywish t o apply t he proposed change.

You will see that some stat ements willbe highly appreciated w hile ot hersnot.


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Guilt/anger/projection a feeling of frus-tration (why didnt they tell us?). Guilt (Ishou ld have lled out that qu estionnaire).Because we cannot deal with anger andguilt over along period of time we ten d toproject it into others. They become theenem y, and are responsible for the chan geand resulting problems.

Rationalisation we b egin to move be yondou r feelings an d start to use o ur hea ds. Beginto seek to un derstand th e problems or tomake them rational, and to develop waysto cope.

Integration attempt to integrate the m ean-ing of the chan ge into our beh aviour. Beginact ion to implement th e change.

Acceptance.

There are then 4 further stages in the imple-men tat ion of chan ge: Awareness acknowledgement that the

change is happening.

Understand ing involves open ness abou tth e pros and con s; requires invo lvem en tin the process; mu st have open comm un i-cation; opportunities for education and

training are provided. Commitment occurs when people begin

to value th e change, and u nderstand thatchan ge will make th ings better.

Action involvement in th e developmen tof implementation plans; clear denitionof roles and respon sibilities.

Culture and people are inextricably linked . Achange programme will affect the way theorganisation and th e people in it work. Peoplereact differently to change dep ending on theirown personal agenda, circumstances and un der-

standing of the process. It is easier to h ave anegative response th an a positive one . Thoseopposed to change obviously need attentionbut even those in favour of change wil l beaffected an d nee d to be m anaged properly.

Remember that organisations do not resistchan ge, people do!Unless the people in an organisation at alllevels, from senior man agemen t to employees are com mitted to th e chan ge, th en it will fail.

This is not an op tion and withou t this comm it-m en t any project is doomed . Successful changeman agement is about taking the people withyou .

The chan ge is not over wh en it is implemented .It need s careful atten tion all the wa y throu ghfrom the three big stages: un freezing (accept-ing the n eed for change), moving (planning andimplement ing the change) and then f reez-ing again (celebrating and consolidating thechan ge). This sequence can b e repeated ma nytimes. It is impo rtan t to split big cha nge s int osmall ones. It mak es them easier to ma nageand gives a feeling of satisfaction and reas-surance as the stages are completed. It alsodem onstrates that ch ange works! But rem em-ber wh en th e process is repeated too often itgives a feeling of peren nial instab ility.

Pasini and Donato p rovide u s with som e sug-gest ions for the success fu l man agement o f change of yourself.

1. Discovering the area you wan t to change.It is important to u nderstand that we have d if-ferent attitudes in d ifferent areas of ou r lives.Iden tify the area you wan t to change and check how th e environm ent you live in will let youchange.

2 . Learn ing to d ream.Changing implies dreaming something new,un known, to be invented. Dreaming someth ingbetter, imagining wh at you really wou ld like.Only then d o you need to identify the s trate-gies to achieve it.

3. Do not expect change to start from the othersIt is too easy to assume that it is somebody

elses fault if you are d issatised. You ne ed tond the inner resources to change, withoutbeing pessimistic.

4. Creating dynamic relationshipsToo often we th ink in stab le relation ships. Eachof us chan ge and it is because of that tha t wesometimes prefer to deal with strangers insteadof friends or colleagues. However, makingchanges along with oth ers both requires andcreates dynam ic relationships.

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P R E P A R I N G F O R C H A N G

E

A c t

i v e

E M O T I O N A L R E S P O N S E

T I M E

P a s s

i v e

I m m o b i l i s a t i o n

D e p r e s s i o n

D e n i a l

A n g e r

B a r g a i n

i n g

A c c e p t a n c e

T e s t i n g

N E G A T I V E R E S P O N S E

A n e g a t

i v e r e s p o n s e

t o c h a n g e

i s t o b e e x p e c

t e d

.

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i s d i f f e r e n

t a n

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i t o n p r i n c i p

l e , w

h a t e v e r

i t a c

t u a l l y m e a n s

f o r

t h e m .

P E O P L E

S o u r c e :

J o n e s ,

N e i

l R . (

1 9 9 5 ) T h e M a n a g

i n g

C h a n g e

P o c k e t

b o o k , p . 5

6 . M a n a g e m e n

t P o c k e t b o o

k s L t d .

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P R E P A R I N G F O R C H A N G E

P E S S I M I S M

T I M E

U n i n f o r m e d

O p t i m i s m

I n f o r m e d

P e s s i m i s m

H o p e f u l

R e a l i s m

P O S I T I V E R E S P O N S E

E v e n

t h o s e

i n f a v o u r o

f t h e c h

a n g e - s u c h a s

t h o s e s t a r

t i n g

a n e w

j o

b ,

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t t o b e

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h a n g e

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i l l n e e

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I n f o r m e d

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S o u r c e :

J o n e s ,

N e i

l R . (

1 9 9 5 ) T h e

M a n a g

i n g

C h a n g e

P o c k e t

b o o k , p . 5


t P o c k e t b o o

k s L t d .

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P R E P A R I N G F O R C H A N G E

E N V I R O N M E N T A L

S T A B I L I T Y

M A N A G E M E N T A D A P T A B I L I T Y T O

C H A N G E

M

E A S U R E M E N T

( B a s e

d o n

t h e w o r k o

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)

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R G A N I S A T I O N

A L R E A D I N E S S

T O

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i s a

t i o n a l c h a n g e s t y

l e

P r o a c t i v e

H i g h

H i g h

L o w

L o w

A v e r a g e

R e a c t i v e

S t a t i c

S o u r c e :

J o n e s ,

N e i

l R . (

1 9 9 5 ) T h e

M a n a g

i n g

C h a n g e

P o c k e t

b o o k , p . 6


t P o c

k e t b o o

k s L t d .

F i g

. O M - 1

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2 Managing Self

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