In a few days I’ll be speaking at the 3PUK Conference in London.  The conference aims to spread the understanding called the Three Principles – a simple and pre-existing logical understanding of the human mind that both explains Life, and can also transform our experience of Life. I believe there may still be some tickets left.  You can find out more here:  https://3pconference.org/

The theme this year is Life 2.0.

It’s called this because when we see some simple truths about the human experience, it’s like an upgrade to our operating system.  I’m speaking specifically about Business 2.0 and I’ve been reflecting on the key differences between the way I used to work with my business clients, and how I work with them now.

There are several important differences.  Here’s just one:

I used to make things very complicated!

Sometimes this was entirely my fault.  Sometimes I colluded with clients to make it more complex than it needed to be.

As Leaders and HR/OD departments get more and more sophisticated, with more and more conceptual frameworks, theories and models – there’s a tendency to carve everything up into smaller and smaller pieces.

This is an X problem.  This is a Y problem.  This is because the Myers-Briggs profiles of the team aren’t right.  This is because leaders aren’t creating the right culture. This problem is caused by a shortage of commitment, accountability or will.

So often, the problem is identified as a skills gap.  When I used to consider myself a Trainer, everything looked to me like a skills gap of course.  When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I know people in my field for whom the ‘solution’ to any performance problem is ALWAYS to hold a Town Hall meeting, or carry out 360-degree feedback, or measure everybody’s SDI profile.

Now I see it much more simply.  There is only ever one problem:  A simple misunderstanding about where our experience is coming from.  This creates ‘noise’ in the minds of people working there – things like stress, insecure thinking and behaviours driven by the ego – and therefore a lack of fresh new thinking.

When the people I work with are coming from a place of clarity and well-being, they easily create brilliant ideas about how to tackle the challenges they face, no matter what they are.  And quite often, the “problem” identified by my client isn’t real anyway – it’s just temporary distorted perception – and can dissolve the next day when the client’s thinking changes.

Let’s take just one example in the field of Talent Management.

I saw some research recently that suggested that these are the key resignation triggers:

1. Poor relationship with boss
2. Want a new challenge
3. Dislike culture
4. Location/commute
5. Salary or benefits
6. Lack of confidence in direction of organisation
7. Poor relationship with colleagues

It used to look to me like these were the true and real reasons people resigned.  And if you believe that, then it makes sense to come up with a whole load of different strategies to remedy them all.  Because, on the face of it, they look like different things.

But they’re not.  They’re all just different symptoms of believing that our job satisfaction comes from something in our circumstances, rather than from our moment-to-moment thinking.

So now (often with my expensive help in the past), the business comes up with seven new strategies to tackle each of these things.  Now, there are even more policies and procedures – more noise in the system.  More focus groups, more working parties, more internal communication, perhaps a visioning off-site for the top team.

Let me clarify what I’m NOT saying:  I’m not saying that these things are never useful… they can be.

Neither am I saying that people would never change jobs if they understood where their experience was coming from.

From a place of clarity, they may well decide to move on for any number of reasons – but it won’t be from the misunderstanding that their current job is “making them unhappy”.

Here’s another example from this week.  A client that I’m working wants to reduce the number of accidents happening at work.  They’ve done substantial research on the types of accidents that happen, and the causes of these accidents.  They have a list of 18 causes.

Now, they’re at the stage of coming up with 18 different strategies to tackle each cause separately.  I delved a bit deeper – and what became obvious to me (and now, to them) is that 95% of ALL the accidents in the last twelve months happened because the person concerned was away in their head, rather than being present in the moment – using their in-built system for detecting threats and avoiding harm.

We tend not to trip over things in our path when we have clarity of mind – because we see obstacles in time to make adjustments.

We tend not to punch co-workers in the face when we are feeling OK, calm and ‘home’.

We tend to notice that the equipment we’re operating needs maintenance before it breaks down, rather than being spattered with hot oil.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to show your people how to live from a place of clarity, rather than introducing yet more ‘fixes’ and sticking plasters?

Want to learn more about the understanding that’s proving a game-changer for 1000’s of people?  Join me on my 3-day He’Art of Thriving workshop – next taking place 27 – 29th September.  Or contact me for a conversation about how this understanding could make a real and lasting difference in your organisation.

Final words from Kate Knight, a Leader who came to my workshop in May:  “This workshop uncovered a simple logic and truth about how we all experience life that’s beyond profound – and has already been transformative for me”