The effects of unconscious or unintentional bias resonate throughout the entire structure of an organisation. From the people you hire, to the processes in place, unconscious bias affects everything and everyone and most of the time it is usually unrecognised.

Unconscious bias occurs when people favour others who look like them and/or share their values. For example, a person may be drawn to someone with a similar educational background, from the same area, or who is the same colour or ethnicity as them.

It is important for leaders and managers to be aware of their own biases because of the negative, and often drastic, impact that it can have on both strategies and processes.

Prachi Thakur who is a TEDx speaker and diversity trainer who co-wrote the regional report on Gender in Tourism in Asia and the Pacific for United Nations World Tourism Organization checked in to the cafe to share her insights & experiences on "Raising Awareness of Unconscious bias & its impact on workplace" 

Prachi Thakur did mention that Biases occurs conscious as well as in unconsciousness state. This has bigger impact i the workplace culture. It is utmost priority for any organisation to bring awareness & provide training with thinking the bigger picture. She did mention some easy steps to develop such a working culture. 

Unconscious bias throws a wrench into any plans to make diversity work. That means it’s the greatest enemy of belonging and psychological safety. Which means it’s the greatest enemy of innovation. When you know your unconscious biases, you’ll have way better control of all your business decisions. You’ll think twice about hiring the person who sees the world like you do and think more about the person who’ll shake things up. You’ll start listening to the colleagues you’d written off. You’ll find inspiration. You’ll find creativity.

And what does that all do for your business? It makes more engaged employees. It makes stronger teams. It makes for a competitive advantage

Do check in to the cafe listen to the full episode.

In our hectic, modern lives, many of us focus so heavily on work and family commitments that we never seem to have time for pure fun. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stopped playing. When we carve out some leisure time, we’re more likely to zone out in front of the TV or computer than engage in fun, rejuvenating play like we did as children. But play is not just essential for kids; it can be an important source of relaxation and stimulation for adults as well. My Question is How can Play heal or Can play Heal people ?

 Loretta Veney : An Author & International Speaker, Trainer , Lego Serious Play facilitator checked in to the Cafe to share her personal experience on How Play impacted on her & her mother who was diagnosed with Dementia.

Lego Therapy is a powerful intervention designed to support children with ASD and communication challenges in developing skills in language and collaboration. Significant reduction in maladaptive behaviours including tantrums, avoidance of responsibility, physical aggression, and bedwetting.

Te explore more about Loretta Veney log on to lorettaveney.com 

When leading through a crisis, most leaders are forced to think and behave in ways that feel unfamiliar. Whether it’s a technological, financial, natural, or health crisis — at work or in the community — crises demand that leaders take an emergency response plan and adapt it as new evidence and factors present themselves. All the while, effective leaders are able to remain calm and maintain a sense of perspective. According to Gene Klann, author of the  book Crisis Leadership, “During a crisis, your goal is to reduce loss and keep things operating as normal as possible.”

 Press that Play Button & check in to the Cafe 

Most advice on parenting focuses on how to deal with misbehaviour. While helpful, this is also akin to only offering advice on how to survive after a nuclear holocaust and not talking about how to prevent one

What usually underlies bad behavior is how the child handles negative emotions. And this is something we rarely teach deliberately and almost never teach well. Showing kids how to recognise and deal with feelings prevents misbehaviour — and it’s a skill that will serve them their entire lives. It prevents tantrums at age 4 but it’s also the difference between saving college money and saving bail money later on. Look at it as potty training for feelings.

But how do we do that?

Lata Singh - Founder-director of Meraviglia EQ Academy- India Check in to the cafe & shared some important insights & experiences on the topic on "Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child" 

The secret to raising kids who understand others' feelings and empathise with them,  is to give your children the space to understand and express their own emotions. If you provide a willing ear to hear about your children's frustration or fear, they will learn to cope with emotional pain by expressing it to a loved one, therapist, or even just a journal. And maybe even more important, they'll come to understand that the way to react to other people's negative experiences. is to understand and work through them. 

One of key message from Lata is that as parent we need to respond rather react to our child. As a parent develop self-awareness  & self-regulation to understand your Childs emotions. Help them to label their emotions by showing up your emotions & explain why you’re going through it. This is the ripple effect

Press that play button & Check in to the Cafe to listen to the full Episode.

You can connect to Lata Singh via her social media & log on to www.meqacademy.com

රැකියාවේ දී මානසික යහපැවැත්ම පවත්වා ගත යුත්තේ කෙසේද ? ( How to Develop Mental Wellbeing at workplace )

අද ලෝකය ඉතා තරඟකාරී තත්වයකට පත්වී ඇත. එය දිනෙන් දින ඇතිවන ආර්ථිකමය, සමාජීය හා දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් වෙනස්වීම් වලට ලක්වෙමින් පවතී. 

මෙය ඍජු හෝ වක්‍ර ලෙස අප සැමට බලපානු ඇති. 

මෙවැනි තත්වයක අප කෙසේද මෙවැනි වෙනස්වීම්වලට මුහුණ දිය යුත්තේ? අපගේ එදිනෙදා කටයුතු සාර්ථකව කරගෙන යාමට අපගේ මානසිකත්වය කෙසේද සූදානම් කළ යුත්තේ? 

යම් කිසි පුද්ගලයෙකුට සෞඛ්‍ය සම්පන්න ජීවිතයක් ගත කිරීමට ප්‍රධාන සාධක තුනක් තිබේ. එනම් ශාරීරික යහපැවැත්ම - physical wellbeing, සාමාජීය යහපැවැත්ම - social wellbeing  , මානසික යහපැවැත්ම - mental wellbeing. 

• අපගේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතය තුළදී අපට ඇතිවන අභියෝගවලට අපි විසින්ම විසදුම් සොයාගෙන, ඒවාට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දෙමින් , ඵලදායී ලෙස කටයුතු කරමින්, එසේ කටයුතු කිරීමේදී, සමාජයට බලපෑමක් ඇති කරන්නේ නම් එම බලපෑම යහපත් බලපෑමක් වන ලෙසට, සතුටින් ජිවත් වීමත් යන කරුණු සියල්ල, මානසික යහපැවැත්ම වේ.

• අප මේ ගත කරන වර්ථමාන ජීවිතය ඉතා කටුකය. මෙය මිනිසුන් විවිධ ප්‍රශ්නවලට මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටින කාල වකවානුවකි. අපගේ වෘත්තිමය ජීවිතය තුළ, විශාල වශයෙන්  අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවී ඇත. එම නිසා අපගේ ඵලදායීතාව හා කාර්යක්ෂමතාව දැඩි ලෙස අභියෝගයට ලක්වී ඇත. මෙය අපගේ මූල්‍යමය ස්ථාවරයට බලපාන අතර එමගින් අපගේ පෞද්ගලික ජීවිතයටද දැඩි බලපෑම් එල්ලවිය හැක.   

ජීවනී වීරසේකර මහත්මිය (මනෝ උපදේශිකා ශ්‍රි ලංකා ජාතික  උපදේශකයන්ගේ සංගමය , උප සභාපති-ශ්‍රී ලංකා EMDR සංගමය.) පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ, අපගේ මානසික යහපැවැත්ම මගින් ඉහත පෙන්වා දුන් අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දීමට අපව අප විසින්ම සූදානම් කරන බවය. එමෙන්ම යථාර්ථවාදීව අරමුණු ඇතිකරගැනීම, වර්ථමානයේ ජීවත් වීම, ඔබට වෙනස් කළ නොහැකි දේවල් හඳුනාගැනීම, කාලය මනාව කලමනාකරණය කිරීම, පෝෂ්‍යදායී ආහාර අනුභව කිරීම හා ඉතා වැදගත්- විවේකය ගැනීම තුළින් , මානසික යහපැවැත්ම ඇති කරගත හැකිය.

Fun can seem like such a trivial thing. Something that “serious people” and “mature adults” and “responsible business owners” don’t have time for. The single most important thing for any business is keeping your staff happy. Building a high performance team who have a clear vision of what makes the company great and nurturing a culture that employees can be proud of is vital to ongoing success. So is this the era we take fun seriously in our business ?

Dr. Lynda Shaw- Neuroscientist, Business Psychologist, founder of "The Neuroscience Professional Development Program" Checked in to the cafe to talk around "The Seriousness of fun in Business".

Fun in the workplace will cause these employees to work out their issues in a good manner.  If they were to handle the problems in a tense environment, the results could be disastrous. Getting your workmates out of work to have fun is not a waste of time, it is a vital part of building your company or team.  It makes them feel important and creates a sense of being valued. Is your company crying out for a culture shift? Maybe a bit of fun is just what the doctor ordered!. Dr. Lynda Shaw shared people get connected with little bit of laughter, music & singing. Which can develop very good relationship at workplace. This can lead to better collaborations. Leaders always seek better problem-solving skills, creative & innovative ideas, this can developed through having little bit of fun at work, even spending some time looking at the environment around you. So FUN in serious business can leads to better performance.

Click that play button & check in to the cafe to listen to full episode.

You can get connect to Dr. Lynda Shaw via her social media platform & log on to www.drlyndashaw.com explore some of her work.

Trust is at the foundation of healthy relationships. At its core, trust is the willingness of one party to be vulnerable to the actions of another. It is an expectation that two parties will act in a way that is mutually beneficial. For these reasons, trust is a key element of effective communication, teamwork, employee commitment and productivity. It leads to stronger working relationships and a healthier organisational culture. So the question is How can we create a trusting work culture in an organisational environment?

Natalie Brown-  Managing Director at Select training & management consultancy checked in to the cafe & shared some amazing insights & experiences on developing trusting work culture. 

According to the Edelman "Trust Barometer" (a survey of 33,000 people in 28 countries), one in three people don’t trust their employer. In the same Edelman research, it was also discovered that trust decreases from top positions to the lowest. For instance, 64% of executives trust their organisations, while only 51% of managers and 48% of other staff trust their organisations. In other words, employees trust their peers more than the CEOs and upper-level executives. The higher up you go, the more critical it is for you to build trust with those that you supervise.

Natalie Shared that creating that Sense of Belonging, which is utmost thing any leader need to look out for. Create engaging conversations, having celebrations together, taking initiative on clear communication can lead to a trusting work culture.

To listen to full episode press that play button & check in to the cafe.

You can get connected to Natalie Brown through her Social media platform & you can log on to www.selecttraining.ae to explore some of her great work.

Every professional can benefit from having a coach — and serving as one for someone else. He says that A coaching relationship moves beyond mentoring or sponsoring in that it focuses on long-term values and aspirations. The best coaches encourage a positive mindset and ask probing questions to help people make the best choices, not only in their careers but also in their personal lives. But question is How we can cultivate a Culture of Coaching ?

Coaching explores the strengths and goals of your staff, stimulates creative thinking in them, and addresses their behaviours and attitudes. As a coach, you act as a conduit to elicit greatness and empower the staff that you manage.

Change is hard. Ask anyone who has tried to switch careers, develop a new skill, improve a relationship, or break a bad habit. And yet for most people change will at some point be necessary—a critical step toward fulfilling their potential and achieving their goals, both at work and at home. They will need support with this process. They’ll need a coach.

In today’s context every organisational leaders need to be equipped with Coaching. The reason is where it is no more Complied to perform, where leaders need to inject compassion to perform. With Different generation coming in to corporate world & with availability of large amount of Information available for people, it is important guide people through the platform of coaching.  One thing to remember, Providing Feedback is not coaching, coaching is about asking the right question to expand subordinates mind to open up possibilities through triggering Positive Emotional Attractors.  Dr. Richard did state that an Individual to become effective on the job what they do, they have to Cognitive, Emotional & Social Intelligence.

It is really important to understand that an organisation need to have culture of Development as well as Performance culture and these two needs to be complement each other. People needs to feel that this is the place to grow & develop. Dr. Richard points out following points

1. Separate Development reviews from Performance review: These should be two different conversation.

2. Understand the Sense of Purpose , vision & dreams of people working for you & ask them periodically for ideas to reach their desired vision. As a result you develop mutual respect & caring.

On a final note Dr. Richard Boyatzis shared that keep asking the following questions

1. If your life is perfect in 10 -15 years, what it would be like ? Ask people to dream & talk about it. Don’t get in to planning, feasibility study, there things inside you open you up.- Hope

2. Ask people to reflect, think of the people who helped you and remember it- Compassion

Hope & Compassion are primal emotions that engage human being regardless, of culture, religion or race as it is Human brain & heart issue.

Innovation does not always have to be the result of serious study and agonising progress. As Steven Johnson so eloquently argues in Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World, many of the activities and endeavours we have undertaken for pleasure have fuelled an exceptional amount of innovation and discovery. The desire to both amuse and be amused can lead to the development of technology that has wide-ranging applications

Per Kristiansen – Partner at Trivium - Denmark &  CO Founder and Board member at Master Trainers Association. Per Kristiansen is also a Master Facilitator for LEGO Serious Play Methodology checked in to the cafe to talk about how the element of Playing can really trigger Innovation. 

The power of play to inspire technology that does more than entertain reminds us that there is no specific prescription for innovation. New ideas can come from a chain of thoughts and circumstances that are not obvious in terms of what they produce. Exploring play is about understanding that innovation can happen when we are driven by enjoyment. Innovation doesn’t always have to be a serious pursuit. So if you are in a creative funk, fresh out of good ideas, try playing. Innovation always raise the bar, because when we invent a product or service, then again another need arises for us to  innovate. Technology has become an important element for innovation. It has helped us connect but then again it has made us blindly run faster, which stops us to innovate. Stuart Brown stated that “Play will prepare you for the Ambiguity of the world". Per did share that, when you play you get committed to it & when you commit you become confident as you get in to the insights which will help you to unleash your potential.

To listen to the full Episode check in to the cafe as Per did share some great insights & experiences around Play & Innovation 

you can get connected to Per Kristiansen vis his social media platform or trivium.international/  ,trivium.dk/playing-seriously/