In an organisation this includes bullying, power play, narcissistic leadership, corrupt or criminal activity…it could look like expense fiddling, phone hacking, abuse or harassment, neglect, grossly inflated remuneration…

Sound familiar?

Workplace stress is on the increase, and there are a lot of reasons for this. But one is what happens to you if you’re working in a Downward Focus organisation…you know ‘stuff’ is going on but can’t do anything about it.

Or think you can’t.

The more people acknowledge, talk about and deal with Downward Focus, the more it throws light on the shadow.

Have a listen to the latest podcast about Downward Focus in organisations.

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe”, a part limited in time and space

Albert Einstein

Empathic approaches overcome the barrier of Inward Focus. Small empathic acts of kindness towards someone else will make their day, and — research shows — yours too.

Act when it’s not expected of you, and when you expect nothing in return.

• Offer to do something for someone
• Pay a stranger a compliment
• Give a small gift
• Express your appreciation

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted

Mother Theresa

Find out more about overcoming Inward Focus in your personal and professional life.

So keep an eye out for Inward Focus…here are a few key indicators:

• you can’t listen to others without drawing everything back to “me”
• you tend to interrupt people
• you have difficulty seeing another perspective

Not good for personal or professional relationships.

If you’ve spotted any Inward Focus indicators, listen here to break through the barrier.

Listen and find out whether Downward Focus is affecting your workplace…

Simon Baron Cohen recognises 2 components to empathy — the cognitive element (putting yourself in another person’s shoes) and the affective (the appropriate emotional response to another person’s thoughts and feelings).

Lack of empathy is found in personality disorders, but a lack of empathy afflicts many more individuals than this and, some would say, more than ever.

We live in a culture that discourages empathy

Barack Obama

We overcome the barrier of Inward Focus by using empathic approaches, which can be very simple, but may require a profound shift in our thinking.

Try these at work:

• How quickly do you respond to email? Even if you can’t give a full reply, keeping others informed shows you’ve considered them
• Do you expect others to be a mind reader? When informing others, make sure its from their perspective, not yours.
• Are you always late? Rather than excusing it as your inherent lack of time management, consider what this says about your attitude to others?

Empathy is the most valuable human resource

Simon Baron Cohen

Find out more about overcoming Inward Focus for personal success and in your business

Not long ago people would say “what are soft skills?”…now people say “where are soft skills?”

In one study after another soft skills are shown to be essential to success, but lacking everywhere.

Here are a few examples of latest findings:

1) Recent research tracked 20,000 new hires, and found that 46% of them failed within 18 months…and 80% of the time this was due to lack of soft skills.
2) Another major report shows that soft skills will be considered the key workplace skills by 2020.
3) This study, looking at senior executives 6 months after they’d been put into post, found it was those who inspired and motivated others, who were self-aware, who got on well with people…in other words, those who had great soft skills were producing the highest returns.

These are not “nice to have” skills…they are necessary.

And they impact the bottom line.

That’s the same whatever the size of your business.

Meanwhile, many companies are clear about the skills they identify as being in greatest demand. Hays, who operate in 31 countries, say their clients tell them “candidates do not have a sufficient standard of soft skills.”

There are a multitude of reasons for youth unemployment, but lack of soft skills is a barrier that’s cited again and again by those who employ.

Yet still education policy hasn’t got it, and is rooted in 20th century thinking.

Meanwhile, those at Davos warn of “not a crisis, but a disaster.”

However, more than half of them (54%) believe that social media has caused a deterioration in graduates’ writing skills (83%), ability to focus on a task (79%), and verbal communication skills (78%).

They’re rather like us here in the UK.

And elsewhere around the world.

Bit of a pattern:

• life nowadays requires us all to have better soft skills
• life nowadays is causing a deterioration in our soft skills

Oh dear.

He says that education isn’t geared up to these skills…a shift in attitude is needed — in the ways that soft skills are promoted, and how they’re assessed; the old ways won’t do.

I agree.

I’m knocking on doors…

Recent posts have focused on the barrier of Inward Focus…and the latest podcast is about Inward Focus in organisations.

This barrier messes with all kinds of communication skills — one of which is networking.

With the latest figures showing graduate unemployment at a 15-year high, Liverpool, along with other UK universities, believes soft skills such as networking, are more important than ever. Paul Redmond, head of the careers and employability service, says that employers now demand much more of prospective staff:

The competition for jobs is so intense, and often the differentiators are soft skills.

Experts on social mobility are concerned that young people from less privileged backgrounds are being put at an even greater disadvantage. At Barrier Breakers, we’ve worked with such young people through our charity for a long time — yes, soft skills are crucial for everyone, but the impact is even more profound when you’ve not had the advantage of a ready-made network to ease you into the workplace.