Category Archives: Team

Posted on

Have You Experienced Vujá dé

Fact: You Have Experienced Vujá dé … so what is it?

by

“That’s just what I needed to hear” I proclaimed to a friend as we all shared a meal together. My wife looked at me incredulously, “I have been telling you that for years, then ‘THEY’ say it and you think it is a great idea”. Deep down inside I knew it was true but I could not help the feeling that it seemed to make MORE sense NOW than BEFORE.

Everybody has heard of Deja vu, right? That “I have been there before” feeling. The French origins actually directly translate “already seen” (déjà, already + vu, seen)

But have you heard of its opposite ‘Vuja de’ (pronounced as “voo zha-day”)”.

Vujá dé is that moment of clarity when something becomes “all of a sudden clear” You discovering something new in something you’ve already seen a million times before.

In our innovation seminars, we often discuss a technique called “Fresh Eyes”. Which was aptly described by the French novelist Marcel Proust when he said, “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.”

I am sure when the young Isaac Newton saw an apple fall from a tree in his mother’s garden in Lincolnshire, it was not the first time that had occurred in his life. It was not “WOW I have never seen an apple fall before” moment. Rather, Newton experienced a Vujá dé moment, had fresh eyes and went on to devise his theory of gravity after witnessing an apple falling from a tree.

Right Time Right Place

In my life, I have often been surprised by those moments where knowledge turns into insight. Call it what you like

  • A Eureka moment
  • An Epiphany
  • A moment of clarity
  • A moment when a thought moves from the head to the heart
  • A revelation
  • A moment of insight

What has been surprising is the fact that for some reason old information makes sense at a level it did not before. Despite the fact you have known a concept for years, like a ‘bolt of lightning’ the right person, in the right place and the right times says it in the right way and you have your Vujá dé moment.

You then respond, “Wow, what a great thought”. It then impacts us in a way that is enlightening and its motivational force is profound. People look at you “What is the big deal”.

The big deal was prior to that time your mind was not open or ready to receive the information. You did not really believe it. Then one day it hits you like a sledgehammer. On that day you were at a point in your life when you were ready to hear it, ready to absorb it and ready to act on it. Thus, it created the illusion that it magically made its appearance at that particular moment. 

Leaders FLICK the SWITCH and FACILITATE VUJADE

We often encounter people who make dramatic changes in their lives. It may be fitness, diet or some level of success that is impacting. It is impacting because it was a struggle for the person and then a metaphorical switch gets flicked and their lives change.  A common denominator you will notice is they were ready.  They were ready for success, ready for change, ready to see themselves better than they were.

Many have heard of the old maxim “When the student is ready the teacher will arrive.”

This alludes to the moment when we are ready to gain insight. The teacher is not necessarily a person but rather metaphorical. That moment when you see a situation slightly differently and it hits you like a ton of bricks. That moment of clarity. An epiphany. The essence of Vuja de is not merely seeing things with fresh eyes. It is getting yourself ready to receive an insight that is more than head knowledge. It is facilitating a moment of clarity.

It is a leader’s role to facilitate this ‘Readiness’’ for people, teams, and organizations.

How do Leaders Facilitate

Here are four tips for cultivating VUJA DE.

(more…)

Posted on

Cooperation The Shortest Distance To Achieve Goals

3 Secrets to Cooperation

by

Fred sat in his office contemplating the line from the movie, Jerry Maguire, “Help me help you.” Fantastic line but far from reality. It seemed he was always trying to crowbar some form of cooperation from staff. Fred was sure he was not alone in his desire to see people working together rather than at odds with each other. He knew that ‘Cooperation’ was the shortest distance to achieve organisational goals but eliciting meaningful long-term cooperation seemed to be a mystery.

GraphIt is interesting to note that the use of the word “cooperation” has increased dramatically since the times of the industrial revolution. It is as if the Industrial Revolution cued the ‘Need to Ask’ people to work together for a common purpose aka cooperate. Businesses became aware that success demanded cooperation and as the demands of business increased, cooperation became essential. Bizarrely prior to this cooperation was an assumed part of life.

Cooperation emerged as a primary task of leadership that focuses on getting people to work together in a systematic way. Having skilled players on a sports team does not guarantee success. The coach needs to find the magic that gets the team performing. Harnessing talents and actions of various players to produce a result that only working together can achieve.  Even the best CEO’s stumble in their attempts to encourage cooperation when they do not understand the secret ingredients. Those foundational secret ingredients that cannot be observed but essential to success.

Unpacking the Secret Ingredients to Cooperation

Why did the request for cooperation increase after the industrial revolution? (more…)

Posted on

Does Your Team Have Energy Vampires?

6 Glass Ceilings of Team Performance and How To Break Through them. (Numbers 2-6)

by

Are you ready for a surprise?  You blink about 15-20 times every minute —so frequently that our eyes are closed for roughly 10% of our waking hours.  Now, consider the 10 blink per minute average applied to a 15-minute drive, you would have blinked 150 times. That means on average you drive with your eyes closed about 10% of the trip. Who knows what you missed out on in those 150 blinks.

The phrase ‘Blink and you will miss it’ is very apt when it comes to the subtleties a leader needs to monitor to ensure team performance. Some of the subtle hindrances to team performance can easily go unnoticed.

Every team has ‘plateau points’ where they come up against a glass ceiling hindering their potential. Points where the performance will begin to Plateau for reasons that seem irrational. They are very subtle and if they are not monitored they cannot be remedied. This can leave you frustrated with why your team is not performing to the level that you know it is capable of. Being aware of these six ceilings enables the appropriate actions to be taken.

In the last Blog, we dealt with the first glass ceiling, ‘The Communication ceiling’. Today we will cover the remaining five.

2. The Energy Ceiling – Do you have an Energy Vampire?

(more…)

Posted on

What are the 6 Glass Ceilings of Team Performance?

and How To Break Through them. (Number 1 )

by

Sometimes a little insight can mean the difference between success and frustration.

I was sparring with a friend who was a multiple title holder in Mixed Martial Arts. I was getting a pummelling and bewildered by his speed. He was super-fast and seemed to be able to predict all my moves and counter them before I had even begun to execute my techniques. In a thinly veiled attempt to get some respite from the pummelling, I asked, “How did you develop such speed?” Thankfully he paused and delivered some insight. “I am not actually that fast” he explained. Yeah right, I thought but resisted saying that out loud just in case he ended the lesson and resumed the training. “I am just observing what you are missing.”

He then went on to explain where the focus of his attention was. Once you have the fundamental skills of sparring you need to place your attention on much smaller cues. The “tells” that inform me of your intentions. That way I can react earlier than others do. My attention was on his fists, which seemed natural considering that was what I needed to avoid. The problem was his fist were halfway to my face before I realised what he was doing. Again and again, my reactions were just too slow to get out of the way. My defence was informed by watching his gloves. By contrast, he explained his attention was on my hips and shoulders. “They are the earliest, “tells” of your intentions. Before you throw a punch you will be loading up your hips or shoulders. That is what I am observing and why I am able to read your moves so early.”

Likewise once the fundamentals of teams are in place you need to begin to read some of the subtle “tells” that may hinder performance. I call these the 6 glass ceilings of team performance. Leaders can find themselves banging their heads on these glass ceilings unnecessarily. These ceilings can be broken through but first, you need to know that they are there and what you are dealing with.

The First Glass Ceilings of Team Performance

Every team has ‘plateau points’ where they come up against a glass ceiling hindering their potential. Points where the performance will begin to Plateau for reasons that seem irrational. They are very subtle and if they are not monitored they cannot be remedied. This can leave you frustrated with why your team is not performing to the level that you know it is capable of. Being aware of these six ceilings enables the appropriate actions to be taken.    (more…)