Category Archive: Uncategorized

  1. TRUST – the reality of this Company/Personal ‘Value’

    Leave a Comment Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

    When was the last time someone betrayed your trust?  I bet you remember it clearly.  You will have experienced a series of emotions – first of all hurt then maybe anger, shock, frustration, annoyance at having trusted in the first place or maybe even pity that the person/organization was put in that position in the first place due to unforeseen circumstances. Whatever the emotional reaction there will have been some change in behaviour, however minute.  As a result you may have decided –

    • Never to trust that person/organization again
    • Seek revenge or retaliate in some way
    • Carry on but tread carefully
    • Tell everyone you know this person/organization can’t be trusted in an attempt to protect your circle of employees, friends etc.

    Outcome vs Value

    So what happened?  In his excellent article of 23rd March 2023 Payton Shand advocates that Trust should be an outcome not a value.  He argues that everything the company/person does should be geared towards building trust.  Trusting without first testing the water would appear to be rather foolish and can catch us out.

    It’s probably true to say that we formulate our approach to trust based on our own perception of it – “I wouldn’t do it so don’t expect anyone else to” which can be open to mis-interpretation and mis-understanding.

    Often trust is broken when a more important value comes into play.  We see this in governments all the time in the form of broken manifestos and in companies when profit is threatened.

    Organisational values

    Companies often pride themselves in including ‘Trust’ or ‘Trustworthiness’ in their company values but what does it actually mean?  The question to ask is ‘if I was to walk round your organization and see everyone behaving in a trustworthy manner, what would that look like?’  Trust me to do what exactly?

    • Get to work on time?
    • Meet deadlines and targets?
    • Not to overspend on budget?
    • Be kind and considerate to my colleagues?
    • Always own up when something goes wrong?
    • Keep my word?
    • Keep the office surroundings tidy?
    • Call out inappropriate behaviour?

    Trustworthiness will very definitely mean different things to different people and will almost certainly be called out when another value takes over.  Define it clearly and make it an outcome not a value!

     

    Pat Hutchinson, Quadrant 1 International Ltd  pat@quadrant1.com

  2. Harrison Assessments – The Perfect Partner for NLP!

    Leave a Comment Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

    The aspect of NLP I love most is its ethos of treating everyone as an individual – no boxes, no labels no norms!   Such freedom to develop excellence!

    As the owner of Quadrant 1 International I have integrated NLP into my leadership and management trainings and executive coaching in large national and international organisations for the past 23 years working with companies such as Associated British Foods, Network Rail, Specsavers, B & Q, Dunelm, Farmcare Ltd, The co-operative Society, XPO Logistics, Wincanton, as well as running open NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner programmes.  I am also the author of ‘How to Sell with NLP’ and co-author of Brilliant NLP, The Brilliant NLP Workbook and How to Be Confident with NLP all published by Pearson Education.

    Why Harrison is different

    I first came across Harrison Assessments as a coaching tool about 17 years ago, having been introduced to it by a highly respected colleague. To my surprise I found that, unlike some other assessments, it fits well into the NLP ethos of individuality working with behavioural preferences rather than personality.

    Harrison is an assessment that is easy to understand, highly accurate and based on 30+ years of research by Dr Dan Harrison, into what makes people successful in their work.  He discovered two basic principles –

    • People who enjoy 75% of what they do are more likely to be successful and attract other successful people to them – hence enjoyment theory.
    • That two seemingly paradoxical traits can work together to create success and flexibility – hence paradox theory.

    Dr Harrison realised that that these two principles had much more relevance to working success than personality alone.   Imagine a workplace of fulfilled engaged people, attracting other fulfilled engaged people and creating a creative, productive culture.

    Objective not Subjective

    A 20-minute online SmartQuestionnaire™ gathers invididual’s responses objectively, not subjectively, to provide highly accurate data across behavioural traits, competencies and preferences: ‘BEHAVIOURAL DNA’.

    5 ways Harrison differs from other assessments and why it fits so well with NLP

    1. No judgements, no labels, no boxes. Simply a unique picture of an individual’s behavioural preferences at that time
    2. This individuality fits with the NLP Pre-Supposition of “Respect others’ maps of the world” – who is to say who is right, and who is wrong? We get to work with usefulness alone.
    3. No two data sets are the same – completely bespoke to each individual; “you will never meet your double!”
    4. Developing paradoxical behavioural patterns can help to develop flexibility – “the person with the most flexibility controls the system”
    5. It offers a starting point to identify areas to offer NLP change methodology according to what may bring most benefit to the individual at the time

     

    If you would like to try the Assessment please email pat@quadrant1.com or call 07768 922244 if you would like to know more about adding Harrison Assessments to your NLP coaching toolkit. You can also leave us your details and we will contact you.

  3. What do you do with your time?

    Leave a Comment Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

    I often get asked to run time management courses.  Managing time should be easy – write a list of things to do and get on and do them.  So what gets in the way?

    Take a look at this Paradox graph –

    image of the overview page of a Paradox Harrison Assessment report for the avatar Andrew Jones showing the 12 Paradox graphs

    Harrison Assessment Paradox report

     

    The Harrison Assessment Paradox report explores 12 paradoxical pairs of behaviours, or behaviours which can appear as seemingly opposite. Each of the Paradox graphs has 4 quadrants which demonstrate the potential effects of the balance between the two behaviours.

    Every individual will have their own unique set of Paradox patterns; this is a sample report, against an avatar named Andrew Jones. His patterns are indicated by the red dots with the shading around, and the hurricanes, which demonstrate behaviour under stress.

    Look at the 12 graphs in the report and the 4 quadrants of each graph…

    Ask yourself what do people in each quadrant spend their time doing?

    Here are just a few examples –

    Insightful Curiosity

    (top left)

    High Open Reflective, low Certain – people spend their time going round the loop of asking for more opinions/ideas before forming an opinion.  This can appear fluffy and indecisive.  The opposite, however, may have an equally detrimental effect – people who are sure of their ideas and don’t engage with other viewpoints often spend time mopping up the mess.

    Instinctive Logic

    (top middle)

    High Analytics low Intuitive – someone with this pattern may spend inordinate amounts of time collecting data even when a similar task has been completed before.

    Opportunity Management

    (top right)

    High Analyses Pitfalls low Risking – people get bogged down with all the things that could go wrong, stay in their comfort zone and may spend their time using old methodologies rather than risk a new one.  The opposite ie, high Risking low Analyses Pitfalls – can result in more time spent unpicking when things go wrong.

     Self-Actualisation

    (2nd row left)

    High Self-Acceptance low Self Improvement – these people can spend time defending and justifying their  own point of view from those who query it.  The opposite – Low Self-Acceptance high Self improvement – these people can spend time beating themselves up for all the things that went wrong/could have gone better and are unlikely to recognize their achievements.

    Combination patterns

    If you look at each of these combinations of paradoxical traits in turn its not difficult to see how people spend their time.  Individual Paradoxes can also interrelate between each other to create further patterns of behaviour.

    One pattern which is particularly significant is a combination of high Warmth and Empathy (Coaching Mindset paradox) and high Helpful (Equity Mindset paradox). These people spend so much time looking after others, doing their jobs for them etc they often put their own jobs second.  They also invariably end up with no time to consider strategic planning in the Opportunity Management paradox (top right).

     

    If you would like to know more about the Harrison Paradox approach and how patterns can help or hinder success do get in touch. pat@quadrant1.com

    Pat Hutchinson, Quadrant 1 International Ltd

  4. 12 principles of effective training

    Comments Off on 12 principles of effective training Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

    As a trainer of, amongst other things, presentation skills I came across my notes from when I first attended NLP Trainer Training with Realisation at Stenhouse back in the day and found these principles which are oh so relevant still today ……

    Click the image to view a larger version and download

     

    1. The flipchart/Powerpoint is NOT the training (John Rogers)
    2. There are no difficult groups only inflexible trainers
    3. Excellent training comes from CAUSE not Effect
    4. Feedback feeds learning
    5. Every response is a training opportunity
    6. You reap what you Say – If you always do what you’ve always done …. the delegates will fall asleep!
    7. Trainers with high Flexibility will reach parts that other trainers don’t even know about
    8. Learning to trust your own resources is the most powerful learning of all
    9. The trainers choice: whether you believe something is possible or not you are right
    10. Inside every delegate there is a real person
    11. The key to training is NOT in your head
    12. Everybody has something to learn. Everybody has something to teach

    Unconsciously I have stuck with these principles during the 20+ years I have been training leaders and managers – they have served me well – thanks Realisation at Stenhouse!

    Are you interested in how we can help with developing these and other presentation and communication skills for yourself or your team? Check out our Advanced Presentation Skills wi th NLP course, or please get in touch at pat@quadrant1.com or on 07768 922244

  5. Assessment Centres

    Leave a Comment Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

    What are you doing about Assessment Centres right now?

    Current norms are preventing us in many cases from running traditional Assessment Centres but that doesn’t mean you can’t still identify top talent and potential leaders accurately and effectively. You may argue that there is ‘nothing like the real thing’ but we believe we can offer you an excellent alternative. So if you have suspended your traditional assessment centre approach due to current conditions do read on.

    Assessment Centre Intelligence (ACI) provides an alternative to assessment centres with a remote, automated and objective on-line assessment and screening process. It works equally well for candidate selection for a job role as for identifying potential leaders within the organisation.

    The starting point for this is a 30-minute award winning SmartQuestionnaire™ which accurately predicts behavioural preferences in relation to both jobs and Leadership competencies.

    Benefits of Assessment Centre Intelligence (ACI):

    How does it work?

    Candidates take a 30-minute SmartQuestionnaire™, which measures 9 major components. (See below)

    The system will then create an automated candidate short list, as well as a frame work for choosing your ideal candidate based on the job role. Remember, the system works equally well for internal leadership selection.

    9 major components measured in the Smart Questionnaire:

    Job Success Eligibility Factors (role specific) – Experience, education, willingness, skills

    Behavioural Success Factors (role specific) – Basic traits, environmental preferences, interests, natural tendencies

    Leadership Competencies (emerging and senior leaders) – Achievement orientation, communication, energizing people, impact and influence, innovation, leading people, learning agility, problem solving, resilience and perseverance, strategic thinking

    Emotional Intelligence (EQ) – Knowing oneself, relationship leadership, self-motivation & self-management, social awareness & service orientation

    Personality (psychometric assessment) – Intrinsic motivators, life values, predictive behaviours, behaviours under stress, underlying or hidden behaviours, potential strengths, potential weaknesses

    Quantitative Critical Thinking – Numerical reasoning, problem solving

    Engagement & Retention Factors (including intrinsic motivators) –Development expectations, social expectations, remuneration expectations, communication expectations, authority expectations, appreciation expectations, personal expectations, work/life balance expectations

    Cultural Fit (aligned to organisational values) – Aligned values (personal vs company)

    Remote Working Compatibility – Remote productivity, remote communication, remote leadership

    Assessment Centre Intelligence provides an excellent alternative at a time when face to face assessment centres are not possible. You may love it so much you will want to continue even when face to face becomes available again.

    We can help you to choose the best approach for your organisation:  

    Option 1 – Gain access to the system and be trained to run your own in-house ACI

    Option 2 – We will run and manage a full ACI for you

    Option 3 – Reports only – for development of individuals or teams and acquisition

     

    Get in touch now for a bespoke demonstration:

    Trevor – trevor@3p.co.uk – 07453 973 791
    Chrissie – christine@utransition.co.uk – 07828 496 388

Quadrant 1 International