So what are our interests?

1. a NEED
Necessity for survival. Needs are universal like safety, food, shelter, sense of belonging, sense of participation, love, power and influence over our life.

2. a WANT
We all have different unique set of wants (desires). Desires come from within but are also strongly influenced by our culture and the society we belong to. If we let others influence our desires to much we can end up feeling lost and confused.

3. a GOAL
The goal is individual and is based on our WANT and NEED

So, a conflict of interest is;

”When achieving my goal is interfering with the achievement of a goal for someone else”

We have different ways – different strategies – of achieving our goal, even though needs are universal, we are striving for our needs and wants in different ways. Our strategies are based on our experiences growing up. Which strategies, behaviours where helping us back then to achieve our goal?

If I grew up in a home where love and affection where given to me by my parents unconditionally and I felt safe and secure, my chances of developing healthy ways of interacting with others while achieving my goal are greater. If conflicts and discussions where dealt with constructively and if I as a child felt included and respected in my home it will increase my chances even more. That upbringing will provide me with knowledge and tools to use when my goal is threatened and there is a conflict of interest going on.

If I felt unsafe growing up, if there where conflicts going on and I feel insecure in my home that will have a great impact on my strategies for achieving my goal in the future. If conflicts, discussions and arguments where dealt with in a destructive way that will most likely also be my way of dealing with similar situations in the future.

Conflict of interests are necessary for our development as humans. We need to figure out our strength and weaknesses to develop and become better. We do that by interacting with other people as we are trying to achieve our goal. We need people that can lead with example of how that is done and we need a constant dialog about how we interact with others.

We need to increase self-awareness, self-knowledge. We can achieve that by facilitated reflection and by using feedback in a proper way.

source: Joining Together by David and Frank Johnson

2011 is coming to an end. Maybe it´s time for a survey among staff. Here are some questions that covers some of the important stuff.

1. Role Satisfaction
Are you happy with the roll you have and the responsibilities that comes with it?

2. Teamwork
Do you think that we are efficient and productive in our teams?

3. Rewards
Do you feel appreciated in our company?

4. Leadership
Do you believe in our decision makers and do you believe in our future as a company?

5. Communication
How would you describe our communication structure?
Do you feel that decision makers are accessible and available?

6. Training and Development
Are you happy with the way you have developed within our company and what are your thoughts regarding future development?

7. Knowledge Utilisation
Are we as a company using your knowledge and your skills in the most appropriate way?

8. Values
Do you agree upon values and ambitions within our company?

Do you know why your personal show up every morning at the office? Do you know what drives your staff?

For some people, its all about the money, but for most people in general, and for people  in the adverting- web- and communication industry specifically, there is a lot more to it than just the salary.

In our line of work (adverting- web- and communication industry) a lot of people have combined their hobby and their interest with their work. This days good people can be picky and they rather work with something inspiring, challenging, developing and fulfilling than work for dollars.

The Herman Group (a firm of Strategic Business Futurists concentrating on workforce and workplace issues) published a very interesting result from the most complete list of articles about employee retention in the world. They have listed the top 5 reasons for why people resign from their work and this is across industries and disciplines by the way.

1. It doesn’t feel good around here.
Culture issue, company’s reputation, the physical conditions of comfort, convenience, safety and the clarity of mission.

2. They wouldn’t miss me if I were gone.
If I dont feel important through inclusion and collaboration I lose motivation

3. I don’t get the support I need to get my job done.
Too many rules, red tape, or incompetent supervisors or co-workers,

4. There’s no opportunity for advancement (not talking about promotions …)
The issue here is learning, sharpen their skills and pick-up new ones, the desire is for training and development.

5. Compensation is the last reason people most leave. That’s a brash statement, but it’s true. Workers want fair compensation, but the first four aspects must be strong. If they’re not, but money’s high, you’ll hear people say ”you can’t pay me enough to stay here.

If you don’t now what it is that drives your staff and if you are incapable of fulfilling their incitement you will lose good people.
I´ll be happy to help you to retain them.

When you do something you do not have to because someone else thinks you should even though you do not want to – you have to re-consider!

If you feel you have to do something that you do not want – make sure that it is for your own sake and not for anyone else. Once you realize that, you will want to do it!

There are things we do for ourselves because that is consistent with how we want to be perceived. Even though it is a help to someone else it is still for our own self-image’s sake and for our own perception of how ”loveable” we want to be!

The future depends on the fact that we value our own ”loveableness” widely. The fact that we are acting in solidarity and sympathy towards our fellow human beings - FOR OUR OWN sake will be crucial …

… a friend asked me. I shared one of many theories with him …

It is easier to manage other people’s  rejection if you understand what the rejection is all about. That can actually lead a person in to a behavior that is deliberately rude and arrogant and consciously breaking the healthy social norms. Then you know the reason why people do not like you and you have some control over other people’s rejection of you. You have some level of understanding for the social systems and you control it to a certain level.

Unfortunately, it is a non-constructive behavior that probably leads to greater dissatisfaction among colleagues.

It is important that you as a colleague understand that this type of contra productive behavior is a result of having experienced not being liked and not understand why. The experience of being excluded can have deep impact in the way we interact with other people.

The recommendation is to clearly communicate your opinion of this person’s behavior. For example:
- When you formulate you like that (repeat what he or she said), I perceive you as arrogant
- When you do not respond when spoken to, I perceive you as nonchalant
- When you criticize the non-relevant content, I perceive you as stubborn and difficult to work with

Be generous and communicate the experience you prefer
For example:
- I would prefer if you express yourself in this way instead (give a concrete proposal on the formulation) Then I would feel respected by you.
- I would appreciate if you answered me when I talk to you. Then I get a confirmation that you have listened to me and I feel included
- If you can sort in your criticism and communicate that which can lead to improvements that would make it easier for me to take your criticism seriously

The purpose is to educate, support and develop your employees in social behavior. This person has probably not received the support of personal and social development as he or she needed while growing up.

There are some rules that help you give feedback:
- The I-message
Do not talk for anyone else. We think, or they think or there’s a number of people thinking that… does not work. Stand for your experience as YOUR experience.
- Do not value
Do not talk about what is right, wrong, good or bad. It is different for everyone. Try to tell us what you think. Words like arrogance, nonchalant, stubborn and uncooperative are negative experiences and he or she will most likely understand that.
- Be specific
Give clear examples of the behavior you see or phrases you hear. Then the person can make the connection between behavior and consequence
- Give your feedback one to one
There may be a number of people who share your experience but if you communicate that all at once it will probably be too much and the person will feel attacked and treated unfairly.

Hopefully you will offer a new perspective and a greater understanding and hopefully this person will try a new behavior that will make your interaction more pleasant.

Good Luck.

A group that works can do it because of different circumstances and some of them may be coincidental. However, most groups are not blessed with fortunate coincidence or events. They work because of hard work, great knowledge and high ambitions for their employees.

If we start by defining a functional group. It is a group that have well-being members, the group is in a phase where implementation and productivity are in focus and the group deliver the desired quality and reach their goals

Here are some explanations to answer the question, Why some groups work:
- Each and everyone are in agreement and agree on common goals
- Everybody wants to participate
- Each and everyone contribute
- The leader have good self-knowledge
- Members have good self-knowledge
- There is an understanding of group development among members
- Efforts are valued, acknowledged and criticized
- Each and everyone can manage feedback and use it as a tool
- The group consists of individuals who complement each other’s characteristics and motivations
- The transparency is high
- Reconciliation and monitoring is done continuously
- Responsibilities are based on, theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, motivation and capacity
- In the common objectives, there is room for personal skills development

and more …

It is a big task to create a working group and for many, far from pleasurable. I, on the other hand, thinks that the task is incredibly enjoyable.

… Google is investing again in their employees. Google provides all employees, ALL employees (23 000), a rise of 10% and a bonus of $ 1,000.

With …
- 16 restaurants in the area, all with free coffee, drinks and meals
- The opportunity to work on own projects during working hours
- Free day care for kids
- The ability to wash their clothes during working hours
- Free transportation
- And with the possibility to have Google invest several million in your idea without guarantied ROI

… makes Google the number 1 place to work at every year.

I do not think that their pay rise and their bonus offer reduces their chances to end up on top of that list again.
Furthermore, their investment is likely to increase loyalty, motivation and commitment from their staff, which most likely will show across the entire organization.

Lecture by Micke Ahlström

- 50% av all the 4-year olds in Sweden are spending time on internet

- most of the people are viewers, some are reviewers and the smallest group are contributors of the content and the conversations going on

- i am contributing and will do so even more now. I also want to view and review more than I do to day

- internet is growing with 60% every year up until now

- 1/17 people in the world have facebook

personal reflection: We need to draw the map of this new world we have created and identifying the new countries and their strategies

- at the moment there are some countries that are very powerful like google, facebook, youtube, ebay, wiki  (at least if you use the measurements of our world as we used to know it … ; )

Lecture by Jocke Jardenberg

- internet is a fantastic democratic tool

- 7/10 got the news of Michel Jackson death on facebook. The second thing they did was google Michel. The third thing they did was visiting wikipedia …

- in 2020 the internet will have the capacity of 6 billion brains

- knowing that, know that what ever we think of the internet in the future,  will be wrong

- dont be a part of the problem, be a part of the soulution

- data, information, knowing, understanding are 4 different levels of personal responsibility that you need to embrace when it comes to knowing and understanding the information and the data on internet

… and sooo much more, thanks for an inspiring day …

”Be honest, do good, make active chooses so you can be transparent. This goes for companies and private persons in professional and private situations. ”

Fem meningsfulla konversationer i veckan ökar välbefinnandet.

Det visar sig att innerliga konversationer bidrar till lycka mer än vardagligt kallprat. Forskare kan inte slå fast vad som kommer först (om lyckliga människor pratar mer innerligt för att dom är lyckliga eller om innerliga konversationer skapar lyckliga människor) men det är ett faktum att innerliga, djupgående samtal ger en positiv effekt på människans välbefinnande.

September numret av Modern Psykologi har skrivit en artikel om forskning som bedrivits av professorer i psykologi vid Washington University kring samtal, samtalets fokusområden och samtalets påverkan.

Kritikerna säger att Sveriges politik i dag handlar om ”sköt dig själv och skyll dig själv” Ett ensamt och osolidariskt Sverige.

Samtidigt, i en annan del av Sverige i Järna, tar en ung man sitt liv 21 år. Han tar självmord samtidigt som han sänder det live via sin webbkamera genom tjänsten flashback. I denna stund, när han knyter sin snara, finns det vittnen som hejar på via nätet.

Så, vad kom först? En ensam och icke solidarisk politik eller var politiken ett svar på osolidariska medborgare.

Vi är alla ansvariga för den situation som råder, vi är också ansvariga för morgondagen och vi har möjlighet att påverka den. I vallokaler men också genom vårt agerande varje dag. Vårt samhälle ägs inte av politiker, det ägs av oss.

Jag väljer därför att skicka en tanke till dom personer som i den stund, när killen knöt sin snara, skrev inlägg som ”du vågar inte, du är för feg” eller ”är det lång tid kvar, jag måste iväg till jobbet nämligen?” Ta lärdom av ert osolidariska beteendet.

Omgivningens agerande gör skillnad. Ditt agerande gör skillnad. Nej, jag tycker inte att vi kan gömma oss bakom ett icke ansvarstagande beteende ”jag trodde han skämtade” eller ”jag trodde aldrig att han skulle göra det”. Vår värld är en absurd blandning av någonting verkligt och någonting fiktivt. Gränserna suddas ut och det ställer större krav på varje enskild individ att själv bedöma den situation som råder.

I framtiden, oavsett vilket dilemma du möter tänk; hur vill jag agera, hur vill jag vara som människa, vad för slags samhälle vill jag leva i och vilken typ av medborgare förespråkar jag i mitt agerande …

Vi kan inte äta kakan och ha den kvar.
Osolidariska medborgare kan inte förvänta sig en solidarisk regering. Välfärden är beroende av demokrati ja, inte av en regering, välfärden står och faller med demokratin och solidariska eller icke solidariska medborgare.