Beyond the box the winning mind set

“The Winning Mind Set”

Beyond The Box Limited

Executive Summary

The Winning Mind Set resulted from some interesting research which highlighted a startling gap between Generation Y

and the older generation.

Our research examines a possible disconnect between these generations and the effects on the future of business in

terms of profitability and on-going success;

• 83 per cent of Generation Y thought that those in positions of leadership were out of touch with their skills and

capabilities.

• Whilst 72% of business leaders felt that „Generation Y‟ were less employable than they were at the same age.

It is Beyond The Box‟s belief that the up skilling of 18-25 year olds in the workplace is a paramount factor in the on-

going success of business.

It is through the nurturing of a workforce filled with self-reliance and heady with the joy of learning that business will

deliver to its customer the human experience that is required to give and answer the question of how do we move

forward?


The Executive Summary Highlights:

• In business, if we continue to rely on simplistic methods of training we are doomed to fail

• Simple repetition no longer cuts it, training must become part of a web of knowledge that interlinks with a

multitude of ideas both work based and not

• Traditional class based learning will never fall by the wayside, what is taught in them will

• We must find new ways to carry out informal learning, new kinds of thinking

• To do that we require a thinking workforce, and to that end it is time enhance training and start educating for self-

autonomy

• Individuals that have that ability rarely need to be spoon-fed, they are more likely to engage with new processes

or ideas and in doing so enhance the workplace.

• As avenues for consumption become more diverse (internet, smart phones etc), a harder working employee is

not going to cut it. Businesses in the UK need smarter employees not harder working ones

• By utilising knowledge, the knowledge worker, and knowledge management, and by becoming knowledge

organisations with an ethos of a community of practice, we all go some way to strengthening not just those

organisations struggling to outlast and grow in a recession, but also the ailing UK whilst we are at it


The Knowledge Economy and Generation Y

We are now living in a knowledge economy and at Beyond The Box we are interested in how businesses in

a knowledge economy generate wealth by utilising the power of its employees.

In essence, how does a knowledge business in a knowledge economy become successful through learning,

particularly in the case of Generation Y. (generally regarded as people between 18 and 25.)

It is an old axiom, that in the absence of decent information; gossip, myth and small talk will fill the void. If all

this holds true, then our aims at building successful businesses will require by necessity; a heavy emphasis

on the exploitation of the knowledge that we garner and propagate. This knowledge can then be utilised in all

areas of the business sphere.

However, when it comes to applying these principles to the individuals that make up the organisation,

evidence suggests we have a tendency to get it wrong, and with a new generation of workers who are

fundamentally different from what has come before, this could signal a problem that if not dealt with, will

hamper progress and profit.


It’s All About People Really…

If you have ever had bad service - a rude bar staff member or shop floor assistant, a terse individual at a

reception desk, or someone who simply doesn‟t have the decency to call back or respond by text or e-mail,

then we can safely say that that individual simply does not get where we are all going in the future.

Networking and the customer experience are everything, and people are where it is. Knowledge workers, are

often better at communicating with people of all types than those who are not.

However, how does understanding the above points help us to fixate on a future prosperity driven by

learning, both organisationally and personally, which generates growth, adaptability and flexibility through the

good as well as the bad times?

The principle of the paradox of thrift may help us in answering that question as it may illuminate where we

currently are.


The Paradox of Thrift, Austerity Unbound and the Zeitgeist

The Paradox of thrift by example states: if one household saves money, it can consume more in the future.

Therefore, if all households save money, they can all consume more in the future.

The word „austerity‟ has become part of the vocabulary of everyday life since the beginning of our troubles,

which seem such a long time ago. However, what does it actually mean?

Shrinkage in budgetary terms, belt tightening abounds and thriftiness has become the order of the day. Is

this a sign of the paradox at work?

Is the Zeitgeist really all about loss instead of gain now?

It is always difficult to grasp the Zeitgeist of a particular time, it is even harder to align our ideas and

behaviours with that zeitgeist to get the best from employees (future and present), our clients, customers,

and ourselves.

Whatever the reasons, the only solid solution to it all lies in people and learning.

There is an opportunity for learning to become work and work to become learning, as change is not just a

companion but also a partner in the business sphere enabled by communities of practice.


A Very Real Example

Recently we were lucky enough to do work with people aged between 16 and 25 and the initial period of

learning was not successful which we found difficult to explain.

On reflection, they all seemed to display an over-emotional approach to tasks and information. This

manifested in a sentimental maudlin way, as opposed to one displaying emotionally intelligence.

We recognised this was a serious impediment to the existing “training” they were receiving, making it

ineffectual and unable to grab their enthusiasm.

The learning designed for young people needs to address interpersonal sentimentality and provide them with

ideas to form new ways of thinking and reacting

This learning would encourage them to excel when working and as individuals, provoking recognition of the

need to improve their knowledge as individuals and develop this as a lifetime habit.

Immediately, within the learning environment, the emphasis on managing themselves and understanding

more critical and rigorous theories on thinking caused them to raise questions on many topics, they became

hungry for knowledge and understanding and increasingly animated. What had previously been a group of

passive receivers suddenly became a demanding group of learners.


Did We Kill Self Reliance and Autonomy?

We recognised there was a “poverty of ambition,” that made Generation Y so different from those we had

taught previously.

The emotionalisation of everyday life has profoundly altered many members of a generation‟s view of the

world and their ability to win within it. They seemed to have an infinite capacity for emotion and little capacity

for logic and cold rational, logical and most importantly critical thought.

They would say nothing until something touched them emotionally. Even then it appeared that this was not

the truly emotional, but a display of childish discomfort at what was said or how.

They hated leaving their comfort zone, an absolute necessity if true learning is to occur, and more so now if

they are to adapt in a harder business world than we have ever seen.

The very nature of learning is to take people out of their comfort zones. Change is so fast in the world of

business today that barely a comfort zone exists, at least not for long

So where did this centralisation of the self and an over reliance on the emotional come from?

Even more important, is it real and is it going to have an effect on business?


The Ascendancy of the Victim and the Emotional Self

This appears to have rippled out from a major change in early years teaching to a more „child centred

approach‟ - we can include alongside this the ascendancy of the victim and the therapeutic culture.

Our new generation of employees may well be the first in which they learned about their own emotional

wellbeing, to be centralised on the self, as a fragile and easily hurt thing. This, driven by the idea of child

centred learning, anti-competitiveness and the illusionary achievements of constant positive feedback,

ensures that most interactions become Karpman dramas as opposed to calls to arms.

This encourages an inward looking nature that does not place them in a position of “how do I make myself

the best I can be at what I am doing?” Instead, it provides for constant emotional validation of the self, a get

out when the emotional being inside is perceived as at risk, which more often than not will be by ideas or

knowledge that requires them to adapt or change.

This is not to say these young people, our future employees and leaders, are manifestations of every myth

we heap upon the young, quite the contrary.

Once given knowledge, these young people without exception, grasped new concepts ideas and

philosophies almost immediately.


Business Feels the Brunt

We as a society have let a generation down, we have given them all the tools to analyse themselves and

each other, but very few it seems to analyse the world around them.

In doing so, those future employees that will help us drive our businesses forward have been hobbled,

emotional recognition replaces self-dependency and with it traits that make successful business function.

We seem to have inspired a poverty of ambition that leaves us, as businesses, with the obligation to better

prepare them for the world of work and for winning within it.

We must resist the cultural habit we seem to have in the UK of swinging from one side of an argument to

another and be beware of rigid thinking, particularly in business, where adaptability, changefulness and

resourceful thinking are more indispensable than ever, we could ask effect this thinking had on some of the

large business failures of recent years.

The ascendancy of skills and emotional well-being over knowledge and its utilisation for the benefit of all is to

agree to a conduct of prescribed behaviours, top down and absolute, and not the inspirational and forward

thinking that business needs.


The Death Of Training

The learning that will help business develop and grow is simply not one that passes on the skills needed to

facilitate profit making. It must be one that will also inspire all concerned to achieve, participate and inform, to

think, analyse, utilise and transform everyday experiences into tangible and lasting encounters for all

concerned, and to that end training in organisations is dying.

The death of training also means its replacement by education, a dirty word in business, but one that we

must embrace if we are to survive in the coming battle for success and profitability.

Achieve that and we can cultivate a workforce who can think critically, dissect and analyse to improve things,

and make interaction with a potential or existing client and each other be rich and positive.

The learner must recognise that when the investment of a classroom-based activity is made, that it does not

simply result in new knowledge but in the addition of positive new ideas, motivation and behaviours and most

of all, an increased ability to think critically that benefits them and the businesses that they work in.

Business must recognise that the learning they carry out must go far beyond the assessment nature of an

apprenticeship and must instil thinking that is positive to the community of practice in which they work.


Conclusion

In business, if we continue to rely on simplistic methods of training we are doomed to fail, simple repetition

just no longer cuts it, it must become part of a web of knowledge that interlinks with a multitude of ideas work

based and not.

We must find new ways to carry out informal learning, new kinds of thinking. To do that we require a thinking

workforce, and to that ends it is time to stop training and start educating for self-autonomy.

It will not be easy, and an element of short-term pain and long-term gain will be evident. Some businesses

will baulk at the idea of educating rather than training, and have no doubt; they will fail because of that

thinking, rigidity of ideology has felled more than a few behemoths this last few years.

By utilising knowledge, the knowledge worker, and knowledge management, and by becoming knowledge

organisations with an ethos of a community of practice, we all go some way to strengthening not just those

organisations struggling to outlast and grow in a recession but also the ailing UK whilst we are at it.

Beyond the box the winning mind set

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