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Grace Davis, PhD, founder of Eureka Globalization and Development is a passionate OD practitioner and industrial/organizational psychologists. For more than 20 years, she has specialized in performance evaluation, cultural learning, communication, work motivation, behavioral coaching, and analytical problem solution. She also is a published author in professional journals and a presenter in national and international conferences.

Grace Davis

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This case study details how one organization designed a sustainability program that aligned with local communities and accomplished numerous corporate initiatives—quickly and efficiently.

Case Study: Sustainability Program Spreads Corporate Culture, Resources, and Image

Q & A from the Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit

The L&D Community of Practice is pleased to announce the first-ever Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit—A full day of brain-based learning virtual events, developed especially for learning and development practitioners. RegisterThis new virtual conference is built on the idea that how you train must be based on how learners learn. And now, you don’t have to be a brain scientist to take cutting-edge information from top research institutions, straight into the classroom.Join ASTD, David Rock (Neuroleadership Institute), and neuroscience researchers from across the U.S. for this unique, complimentary online event. It features five top neuroscientists presenting new exciting research, side-by-side with practical tactics and how-tos for:Targeting adult memory to take learning retention to the next level.Strengthen goal-setting for behavior change.Creating more frequent, consistent “aha” moments in the classroom.When: December 4, 2012, 11 am – 4:30 pm ESTWhere: Online\*Update: For those who cannot attend the live event, the sessions will be available on demand beginning December 5, 2012. Event Schedule: Four Sessions, 50 minutes eachOpening Keynote: 11 am – 11:30 am, Presented by David Rock, Co-Founder & Director, The Neuroleadership GroupTrack 1: Designing LearningSession 1: 11:30 am-12:20 pm, Make Learning Sticky – Presenter: Grace Chang, Ph.d. (UCLA)Session 2: 12:35 pm-1:25 pm, Create New Habits: The neuroscience of goal setting and behavior change – Presenter: Elliot Berkman, Ph.d. (University of Oregon)Break/Open Chat/Networking: 1:25 pm-2:15 pmTrack 2: Facilitating LearningSession 3: 2:15 pm-3:05 pm, Peak Performance for Trainers: The neuroscience of managing your mental state – Presenter: Matt Lieberman. Ph.d. (UCLA)Session 4: 3:20 pm-4:10 pm, Create More 'Aha' Moments That Embed Deep Learning – Presenter: Josh Davis Ph.d. (Columbia University)Closing Message: 4:10 pm-4:30 pm, Presented by Tony Bingham, President & CEO, ASTDClick Here to Register.

Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit \[UPDATED SESSION INFO\]

Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC (aka "The Work-life Balance Expert"®) offers keynote presentations and workshops on a creating work-life balance, managing the pace with grace, and thriving in a hyper-accelerated world. He has spoken to Fortune 50 companies, such as Lockheed and IBM, as well as American Express, Westinghouse, America Online, and Wells Fargo. Jeff also is the author of Simpler Living, Breathing Space, and Dial it Down, Live it Up. His books have been published in 19 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Turkish, and Russian. For more information visit www.BreathingSpace.com.

Jeff Davidson

 The National Sleep Foundation recently found that almost 68 percent of adults are getting too little sleep, and 58 percent suffer from some type of insomnia at least once a week. These people are not simply a little groggy or sluggish, but completely and undeniably walking around as if in a stupor.As a career professional, you’ve probably already discovered that when you short change your sleep too often, your mind and body simply don’t respond anywhere near optimal capability. What you do the night before significantly effects your ability to get things done.  Only three to four hours of sleep once a week won't cause any long-term problems. You might feel terrible the next day, but you can recover somewhat by going to bed earlier the next evening, or napping if that is an option for you. You might have to force yourself to get into bed at 8:30 or 9:00 on evenings when you'd rather be up and about, but do it—your body will thank you.If you're missing out on more than 10 hours of sleep each week, decide to catch up on your sleep now before you further diminish your capabilities. Recovery could take a month or more, but it will be worth it. To ensure that your sleep time benefits are optimized, I suggest the following:Don't sleep with your head by a telephone. Remove the phone from your bedroom, or install an answering machine and switch the ringer off. Too many people sleep with their heads by phones because they are worried about the one possible call in fifteen years where they might have to arise at 3:00 a.m. Stop this!  There's little you can do at that hour. You will be better off getting a sound sleep.Once a week get to bed by 9:00 p.m. Your body will thank you. Let yourself sleep for nine or 10 hours. Remember, you're going to live longer than you think—more sleep will enable you to grow old with grace and ease.  One Friday night each month, crash after work and don't get up until the next morning. If you want to experience a fabulous weekend, this is the way to start.Avoid caffeine beginning six hours before bedtime. If you're thinking about going to bed around 10:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon is the last time you imbibe caffeine.Avoid alcohol in the evening. It'll put you to sleep quickly, but it dehydrates your body and wakes you up before you are due. You then have trouble getting back to sleep. Your sleep time is reduced, and the quality of sleep is poor.If you read in bed, do so only to induce drowsiness. But don't overdo this. Sleep and insomnia expert Dr. Jack E. Edinger says it's important to make your bed and bedroom for sleeping (and, of course, sex) only. Don't set up your bedroom as a command station—with your music, TV, or web connection—which reinforces the notion that it is a place for anything but sleep. Next week, we will discuss the power of naps.

Sleep Well and Watch Your Career Prosper

Mindfulness is beneficial for many reasons including stress relief and improved general health, but one of the most positive benefits of partaking in this practice is an increased presence. For the L&D industry, being present allows coaches to take more risks in the conversation, speak directly, and make requests that are bolder and more aligned with the work and contributions of those we coach. Emotional attunement also emerges in this hyper state of partnering with others in a thinking and creative process. It allows us to create safety, and from there, listening, questioning, and direct communication more naturally occur.Mindfulness is a practiced way of cultivating presence and of setting an intention and focusing attention so our thinking and doing are observable to self and others. Being mindful occurs in a series of “now moments” that expand our awareness of our thoughts and feelings so we consciously choose our responses. This practice invites us to more easily navigate chaos and uncertainty and find that “still-point” for accessing wisdom to better lead and care for others. In leadership, we notice this quality as executive presence, a sense we have of being intimate and trustworthy.Mindfulness is an important element for successful coaching. The International Coach Federation (ICF) has identified core competencies that must be mastered by all certified coaches. Mindfulness influences many of these core competencies in three ways:Mindfulness strengthens presence, creates empathy, and improves equanimity. Coaches are more sensitive to the needs of others and keep the emotional balance to be able to assist the client in a positive and unattached way.Mindfulness enhances active listening skills. Coaches who are active listeners can explore the client’s use of language and expression of emotion. Mindfulness will help the coach focus on the present moment and use heart-centered listening so the client can feel well-heard and cared for.Mindfulness will create clarity and focus by cutting down on the mind chatter, so the coach can become more present, alert, and able to encourage the client to take new actions and keep moving toward the desired outcomes.Mindfulness for Healthcare ProvidersIn healthcare, a state of mindfulness becomes more than a winning bedside manner. Early research indicates mindfulness is becoming a lifeline for thriving in a field with exorbitant levels of burnout.Research at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Rochester have shown that mindfulness helps build resilience and prevent burnout in provider populations. TD Shanafelt published his research about the rate of burnout for physicians, up to 55 percent in certain specialties, and how a program of mindfulness has improved mental and emotional balance and sustained improvement in physician’s well-being and quality of patient’s care.The program consisted of eight weekly 2 1/2 hour sessions on mindfulness plus an all-day (seven-hour) silent retreat, and a maintenance phase (10 monthly 2 1/2 hour sessions).Participants engaged in mindful meditations, awareness of thoughts and feelings, self-care exploration, reflecting on meaningful experiences in their practice, and bringing their values to their daily practice.The results were promising and the conclusion was that mindfulness practice is a means for health professionals to:Enhance their self-awareness, wellness, and resilience.Improve their relationships with patients and colleagues.Advance the quality of medical care they provide.Cultivating the practice of mindfulness first requires we become aware of where our attention and intentions go throughout the day. Tapping into our internal voice of wisdom, or observer-learner, we can intentionally watch ourselves and our thinking. A relatively new label for presence, mindfulness was brought to our attention by Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the first to describe mindfulness as “the awareness that arises out of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, without judgment.” Kabat-Zinn is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.Mindfulness comes from Buddhism, where it was originally taught, and has three components (or higher training elements): ethics, concentration, and wisdom. It is much more than concentrating on the present moment; it is the ability to bring mindfulness to our everyday life, and choose moment-to-moment experiences that lead to genuine happiness and a meaningful life.The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, replied: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.” He expanded this notion recently: “Those who are not well have one focus—their health. Those who are healthy can focus on many things.”Granted, his holiness lives in a world where he is somewhat isolated, yet he spends his life in practice of mindfulness in ways that have him serve others by noticing the collective of humanity as we go about our evolutionary practices. And his mirror is one that most people on the planet recognize as wise counsel.How Does It Work? Mindfulness, Neuroscience, and NeuroplasticityMindfulness works because it changes our brain. It creates new neural pathways and new connections. It follows the Hebbian theory that, “Neurons that fire together, wire together, and neurons that fire out of sync, fail to link.”Research from Harvard (Sara Lazar) showed that mindfulness could produce thickening and increased activity in important areas of the brain. Functional MRI revealed that experienced meditators had a thicker cortex than non-meditators. This was particularly true for brain areas associated with attention, introspection, and sensory processing. One of the important areas is the temporo-parietal junction, which is associated with empathy, compassion, self-awareness, adaptability, self-motivation, emotional balance, and social grace—the great qualities of emotional intelligence.Another area that lit up on MRI was the prefrontal cortex which is the center of awareness, concentration, and decision-making. This was the part of the brain highly developed in Einstein. Increased thickness in this "king of all brain regions" means many great things: far less anxiety and depression, stronger willpower, more success, more processing power, and better health.Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.The studies by Lazar also showed a reduction in volume of the amygdala. Participants reported reduction in stress which was also correlated with decreased gray-matter density in the amygdala which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress.Davidson described increase in emotional resilience by strengthening the left PFC so it sends stronger, longer-lasting inhibitory signals to the amygdalae. One way to do this, Davidson says, is mindfulness meditation, in which you observe your thoughts and feelings with the objectivity of a disinterested, nonjudgmental witness. Davidson discovered that people who are resilient—those able to regain their emotional balance after a setback rather than wallow in anxiety, anger, depression, or another negative emotion—have strong connections between the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdalae. The left PFC sends inhibitory signals to the amygdalae, basically telling them to quiet down.In conclusion, by practicing regular meditation, neural networks in the medial prefrontal cortex and the temporo-parietal junction are strengthened and stabilized. People who are experiencing high levels of stress, such as those with post-traumatic stress disorder, have an overactive amygdala and an underactive prefrontal cortex. Mindfulness meditation improves prefrontal cortex functioning and increases its activity.Richard Davidson is popularizing the idea that based on what is known about the plasticity of the brain— that one can learn happiness and compassion as skills just as one learns to play a musical instrument, or train in golf or tennis. Happiness, like any skill, requires practice and time, and because one knows that the brain is built to change in response to mental training, it is possible to train a mind to be happy.Three Ways to Cultivate MindfulnessIt is imperative that we recognize the importance of this research and provide an effective way for people to deal more effectively with chronic stress to build resilience and prevent burnout.1. Start your day sitting and breathing for a few minutes. Deep breaths where you draw in what you most want and breath out gratitude for that experience, as if it has already happened.2. Download an app. Insights, Calm, and others are tools to help guide you to a peaceful place regardless of where you are located.3. Meditate and practice mindfulness while walking. So, you feel like your world moves faster than the speed of sound? Take a five- or ten-minute walk. Notice each step from the parking lot and into your work space. Or go outside for a break in activity when needed and as possible to ground yourself. Imagine a silver chord of light moving from the sky down through your skull, into your heart space, your gut, your core, down through your legs and into the soles of your feet, filling you with light. Feel your feet in motion. Take nothing for granted. Recall each event of your day in segments until you arrive and settle into your body and still point for the next activity.Mindfulness is not a quick fix, as if there is such a thing. It is a slowing down to learn and breathe and be here now. It is a process and a lifestyle change to build resilience on all levels, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It requires discipline, daily practice, and developing the ability to see clearly, consciously discerning who we are and what we most want into our daily activity.The program described by the University of Rochester is a great way to initiate mindfulness in every hospital, every organization and every business setting. Mindfulness now has also a great role in schools, and colleges to enhance mental and emotional balance, improve attention and productivity, and promote well-being.Coaches are purveyors of hope and possibility. And it is easy for those in the learning and healing fields to sympathize with those we serve. Part of our discernment is self-care so that we can speak directly to those who most need our partnership and the highest and best we have to offer in our roles as leaders, practitioners, and coaches. The practice of mindfulness is a great place to begin again.Editor's Note: The Healthcare Coaching Institute faculty contributors include Cindi Ackrill, Mark Greenawald, Assaad Mounzer, and Dael Waxman.ReferencesShanafelt, TD. Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among US physicians relative to the general US population. Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172(18):1377-1385. Oct 8, 2012.Shanafelt, TD. Changes in Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance in physicians and the general US working population between 2011 and 2014. Mayo clinic proceedings, Dec 2015, Vol. 90, Issue 12, pages 1600-1613.West, CP, Dyrbye, LN, Erwin, PJ, and Shanafelt, TD. Interventions to prevent and reduce physician burnout: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet. 2016 (published online, Sep. 28, 2016)4. Krasner, MS, Epstein, RM, Beckman, H. Association of an educational program in Mindful communication with burnout, empathy, and attitudes among primary care physicians. JAMA. 2009; 302 (12):1284-1293.Epstein, RM, Krasner, MS. Physician resilience: what it means, why it matters, and how to promote it. A_cademic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges_ 88(3):301-3 · March 2013.Bruna, J. The Wisdom of a Meaningful Life, the Essence of Mindfulness. Central Recovery Press, 2016. Las Vegas, NV.Fortney L, Luchterband C, Zakletskaia L. Abbreviated mindfulness intervention for job satisfaction, quality of life, and compassion in primary care clinicians. Ann Fam. Med 2013; 412-420.Lazar, S, Kerr, C, Wasserman, R. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport. 2005, Nov 28, 16 (17): 1893-1897.Davidson, R. J.; Kabat-Zinn, J.; D.; Santorelli, S.; Sheridan, J. F. (2003). "Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness meditation". Psychosomatic Medicine. 65 (4): 564–570.

Mindfulness in Coaching and Healthcare

In this webcast, from the Brain-Based Learning Virtual Summit, David Rock gives an opening keynote. After, Grace Chang presents Session 1 on making learning sticky.

Make Learning Sticky

With increasing global migration and other factors stimulating demographic shifts, in the United States and abroad, the need to develop inclusive, culturally competent leaders has never been more pressing. What sort of diversity and inclusion (D&I) training should organization’s offer that will meet their needs now and into the future as well as translate to bottom-line results?A new study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), Diversity and Inclusion Practices that Promote Market Performance, found that organizations with 10,000 or more employees will increase emphasis on diversity in the next five years by nearly 40 percent and on inclusion by more than 45 percent. The study, a product of i4cp's Chief Diversity Officer Board, a working group of diversity professionals from over a dozen prominent organizations, defines diversity primarily as variations in workforce makeup (from race and gender to skills and points-of-view), and inclusion as the practice of incorporating diverse individuals into cohesive and productive working units.D&I Programs Can Support Business StrategiesTo shed light on D&I programs that support business strategies to improve market performance, the i4cp study correlated those practices to reported ratings of organizational growth in profitability, revenue, market share, and customer satisfaction over a five-year period. High-performance organizations—companies in the top quartile of those ratings—differentiate from lower performers on a number of D&I related practices, but primarily they display a genuine appreciation for the business benefits that their D&I strategy has to offer.D&I in these companies is a driver of performance and a base-level consideration when looking at human capital and market strategies. One way these organizations keep focus on D&I is by developing inclusive leaders who seek awareness of cultural differences, then seek to build relationships with people from other cultures, countries, races, and backgrounds to help them build understanding of those differences.According to the study, high-performance organizations are 23 percent more likely to integrate D&I into learning and development and 41 percent more likely to integrate it into leadership development. They also are more likely to engage in a number of development practices that increase diversity awareness, promote an inclusive culture, and support inclusive leadership behaviors. They include:continuous review of all practices, policies, and procedures as they relate to development to ensure they are being applied in the same manner across all employee populationsproviding inclusion-specific training for leaders, managers, and employees (with training for leaders having the strongest correlation to market performance)providing cultural competency trainingproviding cross-cultural/demographic cohort coaching and mentoring.In addition, they are more likely to consider D&I when recruiting, onboarding, selecting high-potentials, and in succession planning. This emphasis alone requires input from D&I and learning leaders in the areas of selection criteria, bias training, and cultural/linguistic sensitivity for both the leaders these diverse individuals will be reporting to and for the HR practitioners involved in selection and recruiting.High-performance organizations, particularly those that report having effective D&I functions, are more likely to offer D&I programs that directly impact market and leadership performance. Two specific programs stand out:education on cultural, societal, and business etiquette customs in key marketsrecognition and management of conscious and unconscious biases.The i4cp study also found that D&I and learning leaders can influence leadership development through specific practices that have strong ties to market performance, but which are less programmatic, such as recommending or facilitating opportunities for leaders to make connections with influential groups in key communities or sectors, and providing advice/guidance on go-to-market strategies for new markets or demographics.Make Leaders and Potential Leaders Aware of Available ResourcesProper training on both gathering these insights and acting on them is a module that can be easily integrated into existing leadership development programs. Making leaders and potential leaders aware of the resources available in the organization's workforce—be they employee resource groups (ERGs), diversity councils, or more informal ad-hoc focus groups made up of employees with a particular affinity—is a valuable tool once ingrained as a consideration in planning and implementation phases.And while it may be a cliché, the "think global and act local" mantra is a necessary mindset for keeping on top of today's markets. The benefits of institutionalizing the practice of building more inclusive and culturally competent leaders is not limited to global and multinational organizations or to leaders and teams from diverse regions.Andres Gonzalez, chief diversity and inclusion officer for Massachusetts-based Baystate Health, asserts in the study that although his organization operates primarily within a three-state U.S. region there is no reason not to pursue inclusion in the same way as truly global players. "You have to have that mindset," he said. "The reality is that we operate in a global market, so the patients that we're serving here are from all parts of the world. It requires the same type of attention and commitment on our part that would be needed if we were operating outside of the United States."Gonzalez describes Baystate's home office location of Springfield, Massachusetts, as a resettlement city, with large African, Asian, and Central/South American communities. "For many of these individual this may be their first encounter with a formal healthcare system," he shared. "Helping them to navigate it and have that first good experience is key." This can be especially important for promoting preventative care—the best financial option for both healthcare providers and patients. For this reason, many D&I professionals in the health services industry must promote a level of cultural and linguistic competency that rivals any global firm.Global Leaders Need Local KnowledgeAnother thing to keep in mind when putting together training for leaders is the reciprocal need for regional insights among leaders on global assignments, as was found in the i4cp/AMA study Global Leadership Development: Preparing Leaders for a Globalized Market. That study revealed that, to be effective, global leaders need local knowledge. Specifically, leaders need cultural and linguistic competencies in combination with customer insights for the markets they serve. They also need to be able to teach/coach individuals with diverse learning styles and should be skilled in collaboration, which requires openness and understanding of diverse perspectives.For instance, at American Airlines, maintaining diversity awareness and D&I involvement are important leadership expectations. Apart from other D&I modules included in specific leadership training programs, all employees at the airline—from the frontline to the upper echelons—are required to go through a regularly updated training program called “The Value of Respect.” Beyond just reemphasizing policies, this module is meant to build awareness of why a product, an environment, and a brand that is inclusive is so important to the business."It \[The Value of Respect training program\] talks about the demographics of not just our employees, but the demographics of our customer base," says Mike Waldron, managing director of diversity and talent development for American Airlines."We will talk about things like the spending power of the African American community within the United States or disposable income of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. From a pure dollars and cents standpoint, that's going to help us be successful. Every two to three years we try to migrate the content with the maturity of the organization, so that kind of training has moved from a compliance slant to much more about inclusion and business connection." Popular with leaders, this training is offered both online and in an in-person setting for those who want to facilitate dialog within their departments or teams,” Waldon adds."We report out to our senior leaders and to our board of directors on our efforts from a representation standpoint, and from an engagement standpoint," says Waldron. "We also have goals for all of our senior officers as far as attendance, involvement, and participation in diversity and inclusion events. That gets reported out to the board of directors as well."Awareness of the need to develop inclusive behaviors and cultural competencies among leaders has increased exponentially in the last decade, but if your organization hasn't made the development of a global mindset a priority, it may not recognize the talent and revenue opportunities it’s missing out on. By ingraining diversity and inclusion considerations into as many learning and development programs as possible, an inclusive and global mindset can quickly work its way into an organization's DNA and have significant impact on bottom-line results.Editor's Note: Additional insights from American Airlines and Baystate Health—along with other organizations—are featured in i4cp's Diversity & Inclusion Practices that Promote Market Performance, available exclusively to i4cp members.

D&I Training with Bottom-Line Results

 Typically, a “growth assignment” is a project or task given to employees that is beyond their current knowledge or skills level in order to “stretch” them developmentally. The growth assignment challenges employees by placing them into uncomfortable situations in order to learn and grow. Organizations use growth assignments in their leadership development and succession management efforts. Employees should seek out and accept growth assignments for personal and career development.  But if your organization isn’t directing growth assignments your way, a recent HBR Blog Network post, “Make Time for Growth Assignments in Your Daily Work” offers some advice for seeking them out for yourself. Elizabeth Grace Saunders, author of The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress, advises workers to “brainstorm the development opportunities that either currently fall within the scope of your role or could if you asked for them.” She outlines several techniques for finding the possibilities that work best for you: Look over your job description for activities that you would love to pursue, but haven't gotten to yet.Think about some of the dreams that you had for your current position before you started. What did you hope to accomplish?Set up a lunch or coffee with people in similar positions, either at your company or at a different company, and ask how they invest in learning.Survey your current area of influence and jot down opportunities for improvement. As a time-management coach, Saunders counsels workers to determine a specific focus—and stick to it. “One of the best ways to do this is to look at the value created by additional investment… Then, decide on one or two that have the most potential to stretch your skills and have a meaningful organizational impact,” Saunders writes. For more tips and advice, read the complete blog post.

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