Field & Field (previously Field Learning)

Many companies are finding it hard to find get the skills they need and some jobs are changing or disappearing for ever. Job satisfaction is of course a key issue both for recruiters and those working in those jobs. Job satisfaction is important because it can improve performance, reduce staff turnover and significantly impact the quality of our lives.

Courtesy of PsyBlog here are 10 factors that psychologists regularly find are important in how satisfied people are with their jobs.

1. Little hassles

If you ask doctors what is the worst part of their jobs, what do you think they say? Carrying out difficult, painful procedures? Telling people they’ve only got months to live? No, it’s something that might seem much less stressful: administration.

We tend to downplay day-to-day irritations, thinking we’ve got bigger fish to fry. But actually people’s job satisfaction is surprisingly sensitive to daily hassles. It might not seem like much but when it happens almost every day and it’s beyond our control, it hits job satisfaction hard.

This category is one of the easiest wins for boosting employee satisfaction. Managers should find out about those little daily hassles and address them—your employees will love you for it.

2. Perception of fair pay

Whatever your job, for you to be satisfied the pay should be fair. The bigger the difference between what you think you should earn and what you do earn, the less satisfied you’ll be.

The important point here is it’s all about perception. If you perceive that other people doing a similar job get paid about the same as you then you’re more likely to be satisfied with your job than if you think they’re getting more than you.

3. Achievement

People feel more satisfied with their job if they’ve achieved something. In some jobs achievements are obvious, but for others they’re not. As smaller cogs in larger machines it may be difficult to tell what we’re contributing. That’s why the next factor can be so important…

4. Feedback

There’s nothing worse than not knowing whether or not you’re doing a good job. When it comes to job satisfaction, no news is bad news. Getting negative feedback can be painful but at least it tells you where improvements can be made. On the other hand positive feedback can make all the difference to how satisfied people feel.

5. Complexity and variety

People generally find jobs more satisfying if they are more complex and offer more variety. People seem to like complex (but not impossible) jobs, perhaps because it pushes them more. Too easy and people get bored.

To be satisfied people need to be challenged a little and they need some variety in the tasks they carry out. It sounds easy when put like that but many jobs offer neither complexity nor variety.

6. Control

You may have certain tasks you have to do, but how you do them should be up to you. The more control people perceive in how they carry out their job, the more satisfaction they experience.

If people aren’t given some control, they will attempt to retake it by cutting corners, stealing small amounts or finding other ways to undermine the system. Psychologists have found that people who work in jobs where they have little latitude—at every level—find their work very stressful and consequently unsatisfying.

7. Organisational support

Workers want to know their organisation cares about them: that they are getting something back for what they are putting in. This is primarily communicated through things like how bosses treat us, the kinds of fringe benefits we get and other subtle messages. If people perceive more organisational support, they experience higher job satisfaction.

Remember: it’s not just whether the organisation is actually being supportive, it’s whether it appears that way. The point being that appearances are really important here. If people don’t perceive it, then for them it might as well not exist. That’s why great managers need a politician’s touch.

8. Work-home overflow

Low job satisfaction isn’t only the boss’ or organisation’s fault, sometimes it’s down to home-life. Trouble at home breeds trouble at the office.

Some research, though, suggests that trouble at the office is more likely to spill over into the family domain compared with the other way around (Ford et al., 2007). Either way finding ways of distancing yourself from work while at home are likely to protect you against job stressors (Sonnentag et al., 2010).

9. Honeymoons and hangovers

Job honeymoons and hangovers are often forgotten by psychologists but well-known to employees. People experience honeymoon periods after a month or two in a new job when their satisfaction shoots up. But then it normally begins to tail off after six months or so.

The honeymoon period at the start of a new job tends to be stronger when people were particularly dissatisfied with their previous job (Boswell et al., 2009). So hangovers from the last job tend to produce more intense honeymoons in the next job.

10. Easily pleased?

Some of us are more easily satisfied (or dissatisfied) than others, no matter how good (or bad) the job is. To misquote a famous cliché: You can’t satisfy all the people all the time.

Still, some jobs do seem better suited to certain types of people. A lot of work has been done on person-environment fit but because jobs vary so much it’s difficult to summarise.

One generalisation we can make, though, is that people get more satisfied with their jobs as they get older. Perhaps this is because the older people are, the more likely they are to have found the right work for them. There’s little evidence for this but I’d certainly like to think it was true.

If you liked this post you might like:

• Finding the right job
• Video: What drives you?
• 5-a-day for a healthy mind

Find out more about the psychology of success and proactively managing your working environment on our NLP Diploma programme.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

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Eating a minimum of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day lowers the risk of serious health problems. In 2008 the British Government commissioned a review of the work of hundreds of scientists from across the world to create a set of five simple actions which can improve psychological well-being in everyday life. The following are the 5-a-day ways to well-being created by The New Economics Foundation:

1. Connect
With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.

2. Be Active
Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

3. Take Notice
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Think like an artist and be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

4. Keep Learning
Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Take up a new creative hobby like drawing, painting or photography. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

5. Give
Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

If you liked this post you might like:

• 10 Psychological keys to job satisfaction
• Books: The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
• NLP as engineering for the mind

Find out more about making the most of your life on our NLP Diploma programme.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

You’ll find more free information down the right-hand side of this page and you can also follow us on FaceBook.

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Dan Pink on what motivates you with a little help from RSA Animate.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

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In our NLP work we often explore how our physical state influences our mind and our effect on others. Many times we come across academic research that seems to us to be catching up with the whole concept of the mind-body connection that Eastern thought and more recent studies such as NLP have at their core.

Understanding how physiology influences our state and our very perception of the world is a fascinating aspect of NLP. I’m sure you have had that experience of consciously changing your physiology and how it can change your whole approach. For example how you might ensure you’re standing upright and looking outwards just before you present to an audience. Practiced presenters know that their physical state is the key to achieving the right mental state.

Try this simple exercise. First notice where your feet are pointing (this is often easier to do standing up and certainly something to get curious about in different contexts). Next try three different positions as follows and notice how this effects how you feel inwardly and where your focus of attention is directed:

1. Feet angled slightly inward
2. Feet pointing straight ahead
3. Feet angled slightly outward

Isn’t it interesting how such a tiny change can make a difference? So where should your feet be now to create the state you would like to be in?

Here’s some more food for thought courtesy of Jeremy Dean at PsyBlog who has done a nice job of pulling together some of the most recent academic research for your interest:

1. Pose for power
If you want to feel more powerful then adopt a powerful posture. A study by Carney et al. (2010) found that when people stood or sat in powerful poses for one minute—those involving open limbs and expansive gestures—they not only felt more powerful but had increased levels of testosterone flooding their systems. Powerful poses take up more space, so spread your body and open up the arms or legs. When you dominate the space, your mind gets the message.

2. Tense up for willpower
Tensing up your muscles can help increase your willpower. In a series of 5 studies Hung and Labroo (2011) found that when people firmed up their muscles they were better able to withstand pain, resist tempting food, take an unpleasant medicine and pay attention to disturbing information. So, if you need to increase your willpower, tense your muscles. It should help.

3. Cross arms for persistence
If you’re stuck on a problem which needs persistence then try crossing your arms. Friedman and Elliot (2008) had participants do just that and found they worked longer at a set of difficult anagrams. In fact about twice as long. Their persistence led to more correct solutions.

4. Lie down for insight
If crossing your arms doesn’t work then try lying down. When Lipnicki and Byrne (2005) had anagram solvers lying down, they solved them faster. Since anagrams are a type of insight problem, lying down may help you reach creative solutions.

5. Nap for performance
While you’re lying down, why not have a nap? Napping is an art-form though. Nap too long and you’ll suffer from sleep inertia: the feeling of being drowsy for an extended period. Nap too little and there’s no point. Where’s the sweet spot? Brooks & Lack (2005) compared 5, 10, 20 and 30 minute naps to find the best length. For increased cognitive performance, vigour and wakefulness, the best naps were 10 minutes long. Benefits were seen immediately after 10 minute naps but after longer naps it took longer to wake up. Five minute naps only provided half the benefit, but were better than nothing.

6. Gesture for persuasion
The way people’s hands cut through the air while they talk is fascinating. But it’s more than just a by-product of communication. Maricchiolo et al. (2008) found that hand-gestures help increase the power of a persuasive message when compared to no use of gesture. Most effective are gestures which make what you are saying more understandable. For example, when referring to the past, point behind you.

7. And gesture for understanding
Gestures aren’t only helpful for persuading others, they also help us think. In a study of children, Cook et al. (2007) found that children who were encouraged to gesture while learning, retained more of what they learnt. Moving our hands may help us learn; more generally we actually seem to think with our hands.

8. Smile for happiness
The very act of smiling can make you feel happy, whether it’s justified or not. Strack et al. (1988) had participants holding pens in their mouths either so that it activated the muscles responsible for smiling, or not. Those whose smiling muscles were activated rated cartoons as funnier than others whose smiling muscles weren’t activated by the pen in their mouth. So, forcing a smile really does make us see the world in a better light.

9. Mimic to empathise
If you want to get inside someone’s head, you can try copying their behaviour. Those who are good at empathising do it automatically: copying accent, posture, expressions and so on. If you can copy it, you will feel it yourself and then you’ll get a hint of what others are feeling. It’s what actors have known for years: mimicry is a great way of simulating others’ emotional states.

10. Imitate to comprehend
The idea that copying helps us understand others works for thought as well as emotion. In an experiment by Adank (2010), participants found it easier to decipher an unfamiliar accent if they tried to imitate it themselves. Some psychologists go further, claiming that imitating others helps us predict what they are going to do (e.g. Pickering & Garrod, 2007).

To find out more about your own personal mind-body connection take a look at the NLP courses here at Field & Field. If you’re a complete beginner start with our 4-day fully-residential NLP Diploma. If you’ve had some NLP training already our NLP Practitioner training may be for you.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

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Buying Experiences, Not Possessions, Leads To Greater Happiness

Can money make us happy if we spend it on the right purchases? A psychology study by Ryan Howell at San Francisco State University suggests that buying life experiences rather than material possessions leads to greater happiness for both the consumer and those around them.

The study demonstrates that experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased well-being because they satisfy higher order needs, specifically the need for social connectedness and vitality – a feeling of being alive.

“These findings support an extension of basic need theory, where purchases that increase psychological need satisfaction will produce the greatest well-being,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology.

Participants in the study were asked to write reflections and answer questions about their recent purchases. Participants indicated that experiential purchases represented money better spent and greater happiness for both themselves and others. The results also indicate that experiences produce more happiness regardless of the amount spent or the income of the consumer.

Experiences also lead to longer-term satisfaction. “Purchased experiences provide memory capital,” Howell said. “We don’t tend to get bored of happy memories like we do with a material object“.

“People still believe that more money will make them happy, even though 35 years of research has suggested the opposite,” Howell said. “Maybe this belief has held because money is making some people happy some of the time, at least when they spend it on life experiences.”

NLP training is truly one of life’s great experiences as long as you choose the right provider who is truly committed to making your experience the best it can be. Learn how to experience your own life to the full knowing that that in the future you will be able to look back and really know that you invested wisely in your own life. But don’t take our word for it. Look at our video testimonials where individuals speak openly and candidly about how they valued their experience with Field & Field.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

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Do you feel you have you lost your creative self somewhere along the way? It’s a common experience and something I encounter a great deal as a Creativity Coach. There is a sense that as young children we all have the capacity for creative thought and the ability for ‘Divergent Thinking’, i.e., the ability to come up with a range of novel ideas given a certain stimulus. You have probably encountered the kind of thought experiment of coming up with as many ideas for the use of an everyday object such as a paper clip. In fact this kind of experiment is used extensively as a measure of creative thought.

Research has shown the effects of growing up on creativity. In one study the ability to generate ‘original’ responses to the ‘paper clip’ type of thought experiment showed the affect of age. In this experiment (referred to by Ken Robinson in this video) the ‘Divergent Thinking’ capabilities of children aged 5 or less was measured. Compared to typical adult abilities 98% of the children scored at ‘Genius’ level. Two years later the same group of children was measured again. This time only 50% of the children measured at the same level and the decline continued dramatically in later years.

NLP explores the way that our minds become programmed into a way of thinking that can inhibit the way we express ourselves or view our own creativity. Ken Robinson strongly argues that we are all born creative but school teaches us not to be. School prepares us for a world that simply doesn’t exist anymore (see the Ken Robinson Link for more on this).

The story that follows illustrates just one of the ways that teachers (and parents and society in general) can stifle a child’s creativity.

The Little Boy

Once a little boy went to school. One day his teacher said; ‘Today we are going to make a picture’.

‘Good!’ Thought the little boy. He liked to make pictures and he could make pictures of all kinds, lions and tigers, chickens and cows, trains and boats. He took out his box of crayons and began to draw.

But the teacher said, ‘Wait’ ‘It’s not time to begin!’ And she waited until everyone looked ready. ‘Now’ said the teacher, ‘We are going to make flowers’.

‘Good’ thought the little boy. He liked to make flowers and began to make beautiful ones with his pink and orange and blue crayons.

But the teacher said ‘wait, I will show you how’. And it was red with a green stem. ‘There’ said the teacher, ‘now you may begin’.

The little boy looked at the teacher’s. Then he looked at his own flower. He liked his own flower better than the teacher’s but he did not say this. He just turned his paper over and made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red with a green stem.

On another day, when the little boy had opened the door from the outside all by himself. The teacher said ‘Today we are going to make something with clay’.

‘Good!’ thought the little boy. He liked to make snakes and snowmen, elephants and mice, cars and trucks and he began to pull and pinch his ball of clay.

But the teacher said, ‘Wait! It is not time to begin!’ and she waited until everyone looked ready. ‘Now’ said the teacher ‘we are going to make a dish’.

The little boy liked to make dishes. He began to make some that were all shapes and sizes.

But the teacher said,’ Wait!’ ‘I will show you how’ and she showed everyone how to make one deep dish. ‘There’ said the teacher ‘now you may begin’.

The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish and then he looked at his own. He liked his dishes better than the teacher’s but he did not say this. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again and made a dish just like the teacher’s. It was a deep dish and pretty soon the little boy learned to wait and to watch and to make things just like the teacher and pretty soon he didn’t make things of his own any more.

Then it happened, that the little boy and his family moved to another house in another city and the little boy had to go to another school and the very first day he was there the teacher said, ‘Today we are going to make a picture’. ‘Good!’ thought the little boy and he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do but the teacher didn’t say anything she just walked around the room. When she came to the little boy she said, ‘Don’t you want to make a picture?’

‘Yes’ said the little boy.

‘What are you going to make? ‘Said the teacher.

‘I don’t know until you make it’ said the little boy.

‘Why, any way you like’ said the teacher.

‘Any colour?’ asked the boy.

Any colour, said the teacher. ‘If everyone makes the same picture and used the same colours how would I know who made what and which was which?’

‘I don’t know’ said the little boy and he began to make a red flower with a green stem.

Personally I find this story really sad. And it is not just in schools that this kind of process takes place. In my years spent as a creativity coach I can’t tell you the number of times I have adults come to me from classes where they have lost all confidence in their own skills and creative work. Typically they would have been to a class where a tutor has demonstrated a piece that he/she has done dozens of times before. The demonstration is done at speed with a practiced, accomplished hand. At the end of which the tutor turns to the group and says “now it’s your turn”. The class is set an impossible task – it’s like trying to copy someone else’s handwriting. And quite honestly why would anyone want to do that anyway? The students come away often having lost confidence and nowhere nearer to discovering their own unique style and way of picture making that is unique to them.

As an artist myself I know the joy of losing yourself in a painting: a wonderful sense of ‘flow’ where you are at once energised and alert, yet calm and relaxed. You lose sense of time and have a feeling of real pleasure as the work takes shape in front of you. That happens when your work comes from the heart and is a true expression of you. It happens when people overcome the limiting beliefs that have been instilled by the limiting beliefs of others. I love helping people find that place and have over the years developed many ways to help people to discover the kind of work that gives them that personal ‘buzz’.

To talk to us call 01865 600 725 or use our contact form.

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If they are listening and paying attention might be your answer… But seriously there just might be a correlation between the success of a man and his ability to recognise that his wife has stuff to teach him, including emotional intelligence.

Marcie Schorr Hirsch writes in the Harvard Business Review how she compared two sets of executives (all men) and the relative success in their careers. She contrasted men who had started at approximately the same time in the same organization and shared the same educational achievement, as well as being of the same age and race. Half the sample had reached a good deal of career success and the other half had got stuck in middle ranking executive positions. What she was looking for was what really made the difference to success using 60 variables that are frequently quoted as success factors. Each individual was asked whether each of these variables was present in their background and if so how important it had been for their success.

It wasn’t an exhaustive survey, with only 24 participants, but some interesting talking points emerged. Firstly it didn’t really seem to make a significant difference which variable was present or the degree of importance that was given to it. However the interesting difference came when asked ‘how’ each variable had affected their career outcomes.

Marcie explains:

It seemed that extremely successful participants understood the value of individual elements of their careers in different ways than their only moderately successful counterparts. Take, for example, their marriages. Fully 22 of the 24 participants reported that they were married, and all 22 put “being married” in the category of factors that were highly important to their career achievement. But when asked to explain why being married had been helpful, moderately successful participants offered responses such as, “I always have a clean shirt in the closet,” or “I never have to interrupt my work to take the kids to an appointment.” They expressed appreciation for the contributions made by their partners by offering examples of the ways in which their wives functioned as helpmates in coping with the logistical demands of life.

The highly successful group’s answers had a different character. “My wife taught me everything I know about interpersonal skills” and “I never make an important business decision without consulting her” are representative of the explanations offered by the participants from the top group. They valued their wives for educating them in important areas, or for helping them see different angles on complex issues… Instead of defaulting to generic, role-based expectations, they recognized particular talents or strengths in their partners and identified opportunities to benefit from them.

It’s a fascinating set of results and to me suggests an ability to see beyond roles, job descriptions, male ego and other limiting points of view that tend to prevent men from being fully aware of the learning opportunities present. The highly successful might appear to have a greater ability to appreciate the abilities of the people in their lives and the requisite humbleness to learn from them.

It would be fascinating to hear from a wider sample and of course compare with a similar group of women but for now it makes an interesting talking point and might get you thinking about how you actively appreciate and learn from those around you.

Now I’ll just go and check this post with Samantha before I publish it….

For the original article on the Harvard Business Review site click here.

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A fascinating video on the power of time to distort our reality. Find out how your time orientation effects your perception and how this relates to your future, past or present focus. From Philip Zimbardo and with a little help from RSA Animate.

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A short video on where good ideas come from and how chance favours the connected mind. Thanks to RSAnimate for their generosity in making these video’s available

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