Quantum Physics of Belief – Insightful Instincts (continued)

Since the beginning of this New Year 2012, I was writing about quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. In the last article, I specifically discussed the usefulness of utilizing our instincts in making decisions that align our personal and organizational values and lead to our desired outcomes.

This week, I will continue that discussion and write more on how we can use our instincts to succeed at work. Success at work (and in life) often involves using our instincts and mind-body connection. Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. You can have all the courage in the world, but it’s useless if you don’t know what you want out of your job and life! And, here are six steps (in no specific order) to tuning in to your inner voice:

1. Listen to your Body – pay attention to backaches, headaches, etc. Last week, I spoke at a conference on building a wellness lifestyle (organized by Leah Young) and was introduced to a wonderful intuitive guide and a spiritual coach, Joanna Albrecht - who spoke on integrating our spirit and body as well as leading us thru an amazing meditation session to achieving it. In essence, we need to give our body a chance to voice its opinion as we think about our work responsibilities, interactions with clients, and communications with coworkers. Pay attention to your physical energy every time you make a decision at work. Do you feel calm or excited or lethargic? Listening and responding to the cues your body is sending doesn’t just improve your mind-body connection, it can help you solve work problems.

2. Consider your Personality Traits. This is where your Self Awareness comes into play. Succeeding at work involves factoring in your personality and preferences. Do you like to work on your own thing, or do you thrive in a group of colleagues? Do you operate best in the morning, afternoon or evening? You are more likely to be successful at work (and enjoy your success!) if you work with your natural style and rhythms — not against them. Use your instincts by writing down the top three characteristics of your ideal job. Don’t think; just write and practice them to the letter.

3. Work – Life Balance. Do your plans to succeed at work jive with your home situation and lifestyle? For instance, if you need to take care of young children or elderly parents, then you might not be able to put a full-time effort into starting a new business. Are you relocating, changing jobs, going back to school, or dealing with a health issue? Listen to your gut instincts: you may not be up for a particular task or career move just yet. But, don’t give up hope. Just thinking about your future success can help you succeed.

4. If you don’t Risk anything, you Risk even more. To succeed at work, you need to take risks and reward yourself no matter what the outcome. A career risk can be as little as speaking up at meetings or as big as applying for a new leadership position in your company. Maybe work success means solving problems with coworkers or learning to read nonverbal signals from your boss. What do you want out of your career — and what are your instincts telling you? Learn to take risks by taking risks.

5. Evaluate what works for you. If you keep track of what is already working for you at work, then you’ll be more likely to handle difficult coworkers or challenging assignments. If your instincts are whispering about fear, self-doubt, or uncertainty, then take action. For instance, you may need to take smaller steps, resolve fears by talking to your boss or colleagues, or get administrative or managerial support.

6. Adjust what doesn’t work. If your instincts are telling you that you can’t complete a certain task or achieve a particular goal at work, then adjust your course. This is another way for your mind-body connection to jump in: listen to your inner voice tell you what’s not working, and then ask it to help you find what will work. Remember that all your experience and effort still counts… and you are just tweaking your action plan!

Using your instincts at work is about empowerment!  Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? You are the master of your own life; no one else to blame for. Trust your instincts. They’ll take you places your mind never even imagined.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Insightful Instincts

For the past few weeks, I was writing about quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. It’s generally considered good business practice to make decisions based on data rather than on our instincts. People usually believe that information holds the key to an objective and therefore superior answer, whereas our instincts introduce a subjective and therefore inferior perspective. However, we habitually believe this only because we have not learned to use our instincts with accuracy. Among other things, they are useful in choosing our teammates and partners.

We were all born with natural instinct. We cried when we were hungry; babies were not taught to cry, but it was an instinctive response to their physical need. Emotion calls on instinct too. The flight or fight response to fear is one most of us have experienced and, with the adrenaline pounding through us, we know the reaction was not the result of a calculated decision-making process.

Our natural instinct is used most in sports, drama, music and other non-academic activities. It tends to be suppressed as we mature. Instinct, or intuition, remains in us as adults, but is usually underdeveloped and under-recognized. You have surely had the experience of meeting someone new in both personal and professional situations - and having a "gut feeling" about them; or when walking into a room and sensing the "vibes" - good or bad. This is your instinct piping up, giving you a chance to "trust your gut" and "listen to the vibes."

Instinct is insight based not on reason, but on awareness. When we allow it back into our consciousness, we can become more effective in many areas of life, including our role as a leader. Allowing it back calls for a heightened sense of openness to our self and others.

"He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened." ~ Tao Te Ching

Using your instinct in your role as leader means developing a keen awareness of your team, colleagues, and clients as individuals, and recognizing that not only is each person different, but they are different from you. It means understanding what they go through on a day-to-day basis and yields insight into their strengths and weaknesses. Using your instinct, you are able to walk into a meeting and be aware of how others are feeling and reacting around you.

An effective leader blends strong leadership skills with this empathetic awareness, guiding others to meet challenges and opportunities for their own benefit and the benefit of the organization. When such a leader takes the time and effort to know all employees personally on this level, the results in employee morale, empowerment, performance, and retention are excellent.

Your staff and colleagues define you as a leader by what they see you do. Your actions are based on your decisions and your decisions can be influenced favorably by your instinct. As a good leader, you can use instinct in making decisions that align your personal and organizational values and lead to your desired outcomes.

Quantum Physics of Belief – Creating Shared Values

For the past few weeks, I was writing about quantum physics and business research to explore the correlation between the science of consciousness and patterns in the business world, to suggest innovative ways of using this wisdom to lead and succeed in a business environment that is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. When we understand the degree to which we are connected with each other, we’ll pay more attention to what we do for each other. This is called Creating Shared Value, or CSV. The shared value model is based on the idea that corporate success and social welfare are interdependent. A business needs a healthy, educated workforce, sustainable resources and adept government to compete effectively. For society to thrive, profitable and competitive businesses must be developed and supported to create income, wealth, tax revenues, and opportunities for philanthropy.

It is fascinating to see the emerging scientific research revealing the connectivity between us humans, as well as our bond with other living beings. The evidence of physical connectivity that has been proven to exist between separate beings is undeniable, and the proof of a connected memory that we all share is compelling.

Exploring the sciences of cosmology, biology and genetics help us to better understand the deep human connection to nature. Cosmologists explained how being human is an extension of the original energy that emerged from the eruption of light that occurred nearly 14 billion years ago in our universe. As the universe expanded and cooled the actual components of our bodies emerged. These components exist throughout the planet in various species and forms ranging from water to rocks. Biologists discovered that all complex life developed from an original symbiosis of four different bacteria. Three of these bacteria were incorporated into the first nucleated cells, and the fourth was the one that gave them mobility. These nucleated cells eventually fused into more complex forms including plants, fungi and animals. Biologists also described how all higher eukaryotic organisms, which are organisms containing one or more cell with visibly evident nuclei and organelles, from flowering plants to insects to humanity are thought to have descended from a single ancestral population that lived about 1.8 billion years ago. A genetic comparison between humans and other primates highlights the similarities. The typical human protein has accumulated just one unique change since chimps and humans diverged from a common ancestor about 6 million years ago. Geneticist David Suzuki speaks about how humans literally are our environment. The air that we breathe; the water that we drink; the sun that generates energy in plants that we eat; and the soil that grows these plants; all exist as elements within our physical bodies. The components of nature all exist within us.  We, humans see through our eyes that plants, animals and even rocks are separate, but if we look into a magnifying glass all of nature exists in an energetic molecular dance of chemical reactions and recombinations.  We are connected to all aspects of nature, we are one being, so what we do to others literally is what we do to ourselves. Let’s extend this pattern to business research to see a connection, if any.

There is an amazing amount of research that shows when a business engages in positive action in the form of practices that benefit society; it receives positive rewards in the form of profits. And it’s revealing that conventional researchers have not been able to determine why. By definition, a business must provide some value to society or it wouldn’t be able to generate revenue. But I am referring to benefits that go above and beyond, such as altruistic missions, environmental responsibility, and community involvement. “Social performance” is a commonly used term to indicate the degree to which a company benefits society.

Companies must take the lead in bringing their business and society together. But, most companies remain stuck in a “social responsibility” mind-set in which societal issues are at the periphery, not the core. The solution lies in the principle of shared value, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses must reconnect company success with social progress. Shared value is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to achieve economic success. It is not on the margin of what companies do but at the center.

Here is an example of corporate social responsibility done right. Tyson Foods, a major company tying its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to its core mission has committed to relieve and ultimately end childhood hunger, and in the past few years been integrating social media into its hunger relief efforts. Tyson connected with the Social Media Club and began a string of extraordinarily smart and effective efforts to enlist the community. For example, it launched a campaign in Austin in which it agreed to donate 100 pounds of chicken to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas for every comment posted on its blog. They received 658 comments in two hours and loaded up two trucks filled with chicken for the hungry. They repeated the success in Boston and San Francisco, launched a user-generated video contest in Minnesota and sponsored a day of service for its social media team. It’s noteworthy that with this philosophy, Tyson Foods was always more profitable than its competitors.

Pepsi’s Refresh Project funded 238 ideas for improving communities. The company’s “human right to water” program pledged more than $15 million for safe water across the world. Wal-Mart has pledged $2 billion in cash and food donations to food banks and, in 2009, it unveiled its Sustainable Product Index. Like Pepsi and Wal-Mart, many companies engage in a spectrum of corporate social responsibility initiatives and invest heavily in publicizing them. While the intrinsic satisfaction of doing good is important, CSR programs tend to be meaningful and sustained only when they align corporate financial needs (profit, revenue, growth) with social needs (people, community, planet).

Several cross-sectional studies spanning firms across different industries have correlated CSR performance with financial performance. The correlation is often positive, but there are also several negative and insignificant effects.

However, reviewing individual examples such as above can be confusing. But by using the technique of ‘meta-analysis,’ many studies can be statistically analyzed to determine collective results. A meta-analysis on CSR and its link to profits won the famed socially responsible investing, Moskowitz Prize in 2004. The study, compiled by researchers Marc Orlitzky, Frank L. Schmidt and Sara L. Rynes yielded encouraging data suggesting a positive link between CSR and increased profits. Their meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility, is likely to pay off… CSP [corporate social performance] appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP [corporate financial performance] than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices are more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators of CSP. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to the CSP-CFP relationship than is currently assumed to exist by many business scholars.

This deduction has far-reaching implications, not only for business but also for us as individuals and nations. In business we hear so much about the need for sustainable practices, and there is a ton of effort spent trying to demonstrate the financial payback through physical means. Yes, I do believe that social performance can improve financial performance through physical means such as reducing operational wastes, building a positive image in the market, and attracting the highest caliber employees. However, I believe the most compelling reason that will convince business leaders to embrace social performance is found through looking at what new scientific research is telling us about how we manifest our world. The science and the business research both corroborate that what we do for others we literally do for ourselves.

Quantum Physics of Belief - Win-Win Negotiations

For the past few weeks, I was writing on how scientific and business research shows that human thoughts and beliefs have an effect on the physical world. In this article, I am going to explore further on how businesses deal with communications both within their organizations and outside clients and vendors in relation to greater profitability and productivity. Sales ability determines your gross revenues, but negotiating ability determines your profit! As a result, most business leaders, at least in Western cultures, think it’s a foregone conclusion that aggressive negotiation with suppliers will yield the highest profitability. Although it’s a common belief that obtaining the lowest price should be the goal, regardless of the impact to the other party, business research and scientific discovery indicate otherwise.

When Wal-Mart sneezes, everybody catches a cold. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2011, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported a net income of $15.4 billion on $422 billion of revenue with a 24.7% gross profit margin. With its single-minded focus on "EDLP" (Every Day Low Prices) and the power to make or break, a partnership with Wal-Mart is either the Holy Grail or the kiss of death for the suppliers, depending on one's perspective. There are numerous media accounts of the corporate monolith riding its suppliers into the ground. The concept of win-win bargaining is a good and powerful message. And, what happens when you encounter someone with a great deal of power, like Wal-Mart, who is also the ultimate non-negotiable partner? Let’s look at how Proctor & Gamble executive Tom Muccio pioneered a new supplier-retailer partnership between P&G and Wal-Mart. Built on proximity (Muccio relocated to Wal-Mart's turf in Arkansas) and growing trust (both sides eventually eliminated elaborate legal contracts in favor of Letters of Intent), the new relationship focused on establishing a joint vision and problem-solving process, information sharing, and generally moving away from the "lowest common denominator" pricing issues that had defined their interactions previously. From 1987, when Muccio initiated the changes, to 2003, shortly before his retirement, P&G's sales to Wal-Mart grew from $350 million to $7.8 billion.

Another great example is the automotive industry. There is a huge difference between the manner in which the US Big 3 automakers – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – negotiate with their suppliers, compared with Toyota-way doing things by Toyota. The Big 3 aggressively pursue the lowest cost in negotiations and have created adversarial relationships with their suppliers. In contrast, Toyota-way is all about creating collaborative relationships with the suppliers. They believe in creating close-knit networks of vendors, where all companies prosper. In essence, they commit to co-prosperity.

When we have important ongoing relationships with people, it’s generally appropriate not to play a competitive game and instead play an alternative game: a collaborative, compromising, or even avoiding or accommodating negotiating game. Collaboration is the opposite of competition in most ways (see the 3^rd article of this series for more on collaboration vs. competitive): you share information instead of concealing it, you focus on the other side’s concerns over your own, and you sit side by side instead of negotiating at arm’s length. Collaboration requires rich, ongoing communication, and it relies on joint problem solving. They talk more, they listen more, they ask a lot more questions, and they make a lot fewer declarations. They are also more forgiving about waffling and take-backs, since they want to get at the real underlying issues and understand that these may not be apparent to the other side at first. The negotiating game is very different when the goal is to make sure both sides win.

Win-win negotiations are the lifeblood of business success in most organizations. Anyone you work with is a candidate for win-win negotiating, including coworkers, team members, employees, bosses, suppliers, customers, regulators, and boards of directors. The payback of win-win negotiation can be seen in traditional terms in that your partners will be more willing to cooperate better and accommodate for future concessions. However the payback can also be considered from a scientific perspective, when considering what new science is teaching us about how we shape our experience.

The implications of the physical effect of our consciousness on our world are that when a business has a consciousness based in abundance rather than scarcity, events unfold in a manner that brings higher abundance, or profitability. Businesses demonstrate a belief in abundance when they adopt win-win negotiation styles, by showing they believe there is enough for all parties to win. Chance events then occur more frequently in favor of the business, such as customers being attracted to it more strongly and employees being more likely to hit upon the next big innovation.

The implications of the research and science are that adopting a win-win mindset can lead to higher profitability, so rather than fighting to retain the most dollars in each transaction, it’s wiser to work towards ensuring that all parties win.

An important caution is that negotiation with a belief in abundance does not mean letting vendors take advantage of you. In any negotiation, always negotiate strongly, while holding the view that all parties could win.

Quantum Physics of Belief - Employee Engagement

For the past few weeks, I was writing on how scientific and business research shows that human thoughts and beliefs have an effect on the physical world. In this article, I am going to explore further on organizations that are increasingly embracing employee engagement as an important organizational goal to greater profitability and discuss how effective that is.

In the recent years, employee engagement has emerged as an accepted and significant indicator of the degree to which employees are enthusiastic about and satisfied with their work and the business for which they work. It includes elements that may be classified into two categories: 1) job satisfaction and 2) high performance practices. Job satisfaction pertains to employees’ level of contentment with compensation, job security, and management. High performance practices pertain to the degree to which employees are involved in making the business successful through process improvement initiatives and participative decision making.

There is a wealth of evidence showing that when employees are fully engaged, the company experiences a greater level of financial success. Employee engagement has three related components: a cognitive, an emotional, and a behavioral aspect. The cognitive aspect of employee engagement concerns employees’ beliefs about the organization, its leaders, and working conditions. The emotional aspect concerns how employees feel about each of those three factors and whether they have positive or negative attitudes toward the organization and its leaders. The behavioral aspect of employee engagement is the value-added component for the organization and consists of the discretionary effort engaged employees bring to their work in the form of extra time, brainpower and energy devoted to the task and the firm.

In a study published in 2003, researchers investigated the causal relationship between employee engagement and business profitability by measuring the individual elements of employee engagement over eight years and then correlated them individually with financial success over that same time period. They found that satisfaction with compensation, job security and management don’t drive, or precede, higher profitability, but rather higher profitability causes, or precedes, higher satisfaction with these elements. In contrast, researchers found that high performance practices do cause higher profitability. In other words, when businesses significantly involve employees in decision making and improvement initiatives, this causes an increase in profitability, and this is the only element of employee engagement that causes higher profitability. Therefore, if you are aiming to improve financial performance by improving employee engagement, you should focus on high performance practices. However, this is not the whole story.

It has been suggested that people who are very satisfied are not necessarily high performers, and with the constantly changing business environment, employees who are too happy and content, feel less inclined to seek improvements, change, or do things differently. In today's climate, this tends not to be a good position for any business; rather, a company needs staff that is energized, motivated and eager or willing to try something new.

Recent physics research presents evidence that is difficult for many people to accept, yet it is undeniable. As explored in my earlier articles, conditions in the physical world are being directly influenced by the contents of our thoughts, beliefs and intentions. The impact of intentionality is especially relevant to employee engagement.

Intentions are a projection of awareness toward a particular result with the belief that the outcome can be influenced. Scientific experimentation has overwhelmingly proven that human intentions significantly influence events so that they are more likely to occur in the direction of the intentions. [See my earlier articles on how this works in business.] Experimentation has provided solid evidence that group intentions can change conditions in the physical world; for example: biological systems in insects, pH level of bodies of water, and the health of cancer patients, to name just a few.

When employees are highly involved in making a business successful, they develop a feeling of ownership for the business. The success of the business becomes an extension of their personal success, similar to the way a parent would feel about the success of their children. In other words, the employee develops strong intentions for the success of the business. My premise is that when businesses significantly involve employees in making a business successful, this causes employees to have strong intentions for the business to succeed. These strong intentions then cause conditions in the physical world to be more favorable for the business, which results in the business being more profitable.

The business research tells us that employee involvement in running the business leads to higher profitability, and scientific research tells us that employee intentionality for success leads to greater profitability. So it’s logical to conclude that the real strength of employee engagement is that it causes employees to feel emotionally responsible for the business, which initiates high levels of intentionality for success.

Willing employees are a benefit to any organization, but engaged employees go that bit further; they feel more committed to the business and its customers; they take unbidden initiatives to do things better; they find it a pleasure to go to work. And that performance-enhancing goodwill will be strongest when it comes from a number of sources, namely:

·   when they understand the company’s goals, and what they can do to contribute to them every day,

·   when they know just how to please their customers, whether inside or outside the business,

·   when they can take a pride in their increasing skills year by year,

·   when they see making continuous improvements as just part of the job, and

·   when they can share in the financial success of their company.

It’s important to note that maximizing intentionality takes more than just involving employees in decision making and process improvement. It requires getting everyone to feel a genuine responsibility for business outcomes, which begins with a leadership style that is rarely practiced yet, highly precious.

If you have high engagement but low profitability, you are much better situated to recover than if you have a staff of satisfied underperformers. A high-profit business with low engagement scores is a mansion built on sand.