Are you dealing with a workplace that has tried everything and still has
issues? I'm Adriana Girdler, I'm a Productivity
Specialist, President of CornerStone Dynamics and MyVisualVision.com. And
in today's video, you're going to hear an interview that I did with Barb DiGiulio
from the Night Side, talking about how to solve this exact problem.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Barb DiGiulio onThe Night Side News
Talk 1010 on how to stop this pattern and cycle that most organizations and
workplaces are facing all the time. And this new approach is called the MVP
Approach. For more information, you can also check out my website. I have the
link below. But the in-depth information really is in this interview, so please
sit back and enjoy. Workplaces today face increasing demands and challenges with
many employees subjected to deliver more and deliver more for less. These
expectations not only promote high stress levels that may result in low
effectiveness, creativity and productivity in employees, but also
declining office morale. The complete opposite of what a workplace wants.
Joining us to talk about this: President and CEO of CornerStone Dynamics. It's
Adriana Girdler, welcome back to the show. Hi Bard, how are ya? I'm good thank you Adriana. And I think
it's an interesting time right now, because business really is changing as
companies try to find efficiencies, people are doing more, they're getting
paid less. How is it that companies can approach this in a way that will create
a healthy work environment? Well, I think it has hit the nail on the head, that's
the healthy work environment. For years, companies have always been trying to get
better at what they do and productivity is not new. I think what's new now, is
that we're looking at things slightly different. And that is from this whole MVP
Approach - bringing in a really connectivity through visioning, but more
importantly, bringing mindfulness into the workplace. What exactly does that
mean "bringing mindfulness into the workplace"? You know, I'm glad you
asked that. The actual definition, and it's not my definition, it's Jon
Kabat-Zinn's definition, who is a researcher from University of
Massachusetts, who actually kind of started this mindfulness movement and he
defines it as an awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in
the present moment, non-judgmentally, to the unfolding universe of experiences
moment by moment. And so really what saying there is about being here now and
not allowing things to kind of take over it's kind of like that voice in the head,
right! Where obviously we get stressed and it takes over and you know you're
not you anymore. So mindfulness is a techniques that allow you to really be
present, calm, and in the moment. And that is so critical in our workplaces today.
And mindfulness is is the M in the MVP Approach, that you talk about. So let's go
through the other parts of it. Yeah, so M is for Mindfulness. V
is for Visioning. And this is also another interesting one because a lot of
organizations have vision statements, but they are these
30-second elevator speeches they really don't mean much.
They're very obtuse, and if you actually ask every single department what does
that vision mean to you, they'll all come up with these different definitions. And
I've done this, I've done these surveys and studies. And then companies wonder
why every department acts in a silo and why their organization is not kind of
running towards the same goal. Because the vision actually has to be a lot more
in-depth it has to inspire, if you go to definitions it's all about the
inspiration and connecting people really the heart of business connecting people
is to their purpose why are they there. So that whole visioning part is really
getting a more in-depth vision that people actually use as a tool, and litmus
test. So there's the mindfulness of the person connecting to themselves and
ensuring that they can reduce stress levels. But then connecting back into the
organization, which is where the visioning comes in for the V. All right,
and the third part of it is the P which is Productivity. Yeah and and you know
it's great to be in the present moment. It's a wonderful to be connected to what's
going on. But like everything else you have to be able to do things better,
effective, more efficient, particularly with the demands of the competitive
business world that we have today. We are at a global scale. Our competitors aren't
just our neighbors, they're actually across in different countries. So
organizations have to be more effective they have to be more efficient. But they
don't have to be effective and efficient at the expense of the people. In fact,
this why bringing this approach was a very
new and innovative way of looking at business, is a very holistic approach,
let's look at our business challenges but let's do it from a perspective of people
who work in the organization are the answer, so why don't we help reduce they're
stress by teaching them mindfulness. Why don't we be, collectively as a group,
understand really who we are more about by better visioning. And then bringing
those great productivity methodologies that we've all been using and there's
tons out there. I have my old personal favorite, but bring that in together
collectively as a full program, you will see shifts and changes changes in
organizations. More so than if you just focus on one. Uou work with a lot of
companies and I know people often feel like the company, the managers do not
care about employee morale. What have you seen? You know, yes I've seen that, so
I'm not gonna say that does not exist. Yes it does exist but this is what's
really interesting. I find it exists when you have organizations that are very ego
based, and what I mean by that is when you're solely focused on yourself,
particularly in senior management, only worried about how it's going to look on
me, versus focusing on those who are working for you. Ultimately getting to
the goals that you need to have done, without them you wouldn't be able to do
what you do. But when we focus on ego, it takes us away from connecting and
having compassion for those around us, and this is why this whole mindfulness
aspect. This is not new coming into the business world, if you actually start
going on to the internet, in Google, and do research on mindfulness,
it's starting to come to the forefront, and you have organizations like Google
who have been bringing in mindfulness into their organizations because the
research behind it is quite remarkable. It actually brings a greater sense of
well-being, increases compassion, increases resilience, it allows for teams
to actually be more cohesive, and teaches people how to let go of ego and that is
actually at the crux of why a lot of organizations tend not to
connect with their employees. It's the efo part. So with mindfulness we can
teach our self how to let go of that, and start not looking at the me but at the
we. The workplace in general has really changed people are no longer getting
these, you know great jobs, with pension and great benefits, a lot of people are
being brought on as independent contractors. Are you hopeful about the
workforce moving forward? Definitely, you know, like I think everything in
life, there is always good and bad, pro and con, up and down. I mean you know
there's always yin and yang going on, and to reflect on the past and saying the
past was the answer, is to really not be able to look at the future and see all
the amazing possibilities that are out there. But more importantly, even just
being able to look at the present moment that we have now, you know there are
organizations that still have people working there for a very long time.
Particularly organizations that are very connected to their people, so it really
is going to be dependent upon who you are as a person and what the
organization is all about. But I have a lot of faith, I think there is a
shift in the work force. There is more independence but, I think with that
independence, how you look at it, actually can bring you a lot more freedom as an
individual to. Adriana always great to talk to you, thank you so much for this.
Well thank you so much Barb, I always appreciate when you call on me, thanks.
Alright, we'll talk to you soon. Adriana Girdler President and CEO of CornerStone
Dynamics. I hope you enjoyed the interview that gave more in-depth
information on this new innovative approach that will allow for most
organizations to stop that cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and
over again. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up, as well subscribe
below, because there's more videos coming with some information to help you, and
more importantly, please share it with your friends, family, and colleagues. Thank
you so much, and see you at the next video, thank you!