Length of Course: 2 days
Number of delegates per course: 8-10

Objectives
This new and innovative course will massively improve concentration skills for people working in safety-critical and related roles where the ability to concentrate is paramount.

Benefits for your organisation:

-    Minimising the risk of accidents caused through lack of concentration and impaired performance
-    Reducing the number of incidents, especially in the safety-critical workplace
-    Preventing the loss of property, life and reputation caused by accidents or incidents
-    Protecting your workforce

Benefits for attendees:

-    Learning and practising new skills to maximise your ability to concentrate
-    Understanding how stress, sleep and diet affect your ability to concentrate,  remember and focus clearly
-    Making small and easy changes to your lifestyle to make a huge difference to how well you concentrate
-    Keeping you safe in the workplace

Background

Arcadia Alive is a training and development consultancy that specialises in delivering exceptional human factor consultancy, training and development via a fusion of two disciplines: psychology and management. Our specialist facilitators bring a wealth of expertise to the task of enhancing the performance and results that people deliver.

Arcadia Alive has been delivering concentration training for the last 10 years. Delivery has been focused in the Rail Industry, helping train drivers improve concentration skills by enhancing their focus and overcoming barriers to concentration.

Arcadia Alive are specialists in this area. The need for excellent concentration skills goes beyond the Rail Industry and Arcadia Alive is now launching a new concentration skills course to meet the needs of a wider range of people, building on the all the knowledge and experience of the last 10 years.  This brand new course contains the latest and most up to date psychological and management  knowledge on concentration and the areas that impact it.

This course can make a huge improvement in performance for anyone whose role requires high levels of concentration.

Course Content

•    Mind set
•    Awareness of when concentration dips
•    Awareness of what causes concentration to dip
•    Managing assumptions
•    Dealing with distractions
•    Memory
•    The role of sleep, diet and exercise in concentration performance
•    Identifying and dealing with harmful pressure and stress
•    The impact of communication on concentration
•    The impact of conflict on concentration
•    Making the changes needed to enhance concentration

Attendees will learn:

•    The crucial role that concentration plays in performance and understanding how the mind can help or hinder that . A high level of performance requires concentration and focus.  In safety-critical areas a dip in concentration or focus at the wrong moment could have catastrophic consequences.  Understanding how the mind works is the foundation to build the ability to concentrate and focus.

•    The importance of perception and attitude in influencing performance and concentration. This part of the course explores perception and attitude to help identify the underlying factors that impact performance and the ability to concentrate.

•    New techniques to improve concentration and focus, manage assumptions and distractions. Using the latest psychological tools and techniques will give you the ability to concentrate on demand, manage distractions and assumptions.

•    Memory. Remembering when you need to raise your levels of concentration and alertness.  If you are driving along the motorway and realise your have missed your exit – that’s inconvenient, but not a major problem, you just go to the next junction and turn around.  But in a safety-critical environment that lapse in concentration at the wrong moment could be devastating.  In this section you will learn a set of easy but powerful techniques to remember when you need to raise your levels of alertness.

•   The crucial influence of sleep on performance and concentration. We all know how tiredness impacts our levels of alertness; being able to get a good restorative nights sleep even when working shift patterns is essential for good performance. This section covers physiological and psychological factors that impact your ability to get a good nights sleep.  It also provides numerous techniques to help you get the sleep you need to perform and concentrate at your best.

•    How diet impacts concentration and performance. Did you know that a 2% drop in hydration can lead to a 20% drop in concentration ?  Your diet can have a massive impact on your alertness and concentration levels.  Have you ever noticed how drowsy you feel after a big Sunday roast ?  This section offers practical advice and tips on what and when to eat to stay alert.

•    How exercise impacts performance and concentration. The final element in the lifestyle section looks at exercise and how this impacts performance, alertness and concentration.  Increased levels of mental and physical resilience come from exercise and exercise helps your body and mind function more efficiently.

•    How to recognise the effects of harmful pressure, understanding the stress response and it’s impact on performance. When we are under too much stress our performance can be dramatically impacted.  This section details the stress response – how to recognise it, what our differing reactions to it can be. Being able to identify your response is the first step to combating the negative impact it has on your performance.

•   Tools and techniques for managing stress. Once you know that stress is impacting your performance and concentration you can take a number of simple and effective steps to deal with it.  This section looks at tools and techniques you can use almost anywhere and at any time to address stress.

•    Awareness of the issues with traumatic events at work. A number of safety-critical roles may bring you into contact with traumatic events in the workplace and here we explain what impact this might have and what steps you can take to recover from such an event.

•    The impact of communication on performance. All our interactions are impacted by communication.  Understanding how communication impacts us in terms of both the external and internal dialogue.  This section examines communication filters, verbal communication, body language, listening skills and assertiveness.  This will enable you to improve your communication skills and manage the impact of communication on performance and concentration.

•    The impact of conflict on performance and concentration. Conflict, or any situation that raises anger, can have a hugely negative impact on performance and concentration.  Understanding how you react in these situations, why you react the way you do and how you can manage your reaction to avoid this negative impact is covered in detail.

•   Making the changes needed to enhance performance and concentration. Bringing about the changes you have identified from the material covered in the course can be challenging.  The final part of the course provides a proven methodology for making the changes you need, quickly and easily to give you the sustainable results you want.

Quotes from attendees on recent Arcadia Alive courses…

‘Leaving with a better insight into myself, how I do things, and how this affects those around me.’

‘I wish I had come on this course years ago. It’s been really useful for stuff at home, not just at work.’

‘This has definitely helped me with my concentration. I didn’t realise how much I was being influenced by things around me until it was pointed out to me.’

‘It’s made me think about and recognise what I can be in control of and responsible for.’

‘The course was very informative. There are many different techniques and strategies that I am keen to try out. I should think that there is something in this course for anyone with an open mind.’

‘The course includes many things that will directly improve my performance at work, as well as in other areas of my life outside work.‘

‘I found the content very useful. I have learned some new tips to perform better in my job. I especially liked the nutrition and sleep advice.‘

‘This training course was excellent. I have learnt many new techniques which have made a difference not only to help me to perform better in my job, but improving home-life as well.‘

‘I particularly enjoyed being made aware of why we do the things we do.‘

‘The first things I will implement back at work are the techniques to aid concentration and banish intrusive thoughts’

‘I will be implementing the skills learnt to enhance concentration.’

‘The overall approach and professionalism was excellent. I would recommend this course to any employee.’

Todays workforce need to be working more efficiently than ever, with greater performance and focus, while minimising the risk of incidents and accidents.

This new concentration course can quickly and powerfully solve that problem by boosting staff confidence in being able to apply effective new skills.

Act now and book this course for your organisation. Phone 0845 2600126 and ask to speak to Richard.

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• Driver Support Programme

JUST FOR TODAY

By Sybil F. Partridge

Just for today I will be happy. This assumes what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.

Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.

Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse or neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.

Just for today I will strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways. I will do a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.

Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticise not at all, nor find fault with anything and try to regulate nor improve anyone.

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appal me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.

Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.

Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.

Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be a afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and believe that those I love, love me.

As the seven dwarfs clearly understood in the Disney film ‘Snow White’ when they sang “Whistle while you work” that a happy worker is a more productive worker. -but is that actually true? Well, the recent surge of research on the subject of well-being at work over the last few years certainly indicate there is something in it -and we are now developing a better understanding of the link between positive emotions & enhanced performance at work.

In the past positive emotions have been seen as purely an effect of positive functioning. (“Things are going well, so I feel good”) however, in recent years we are now realising that positive emotions are a cause of positive functioning. (“I feel positive so I perform better”). The opposite would therefore also be true –I feel negative, so I produce poorer performance. Which of those two emotions have the greatest impact?

The Charted Institute of Personnel & Development conducted a survey of over 2000 employees that compared a range of emotions that people reported alongside several key performance indicators of job satisfaction, meaningfulness of work, engagement with the tasks at work, loyalty, performance & commitment. Interestingly, with the exception of job satisfaction, the results showed that positive emotions appear to have twice the impact on these key performance indicators than negative emotions.

What this means is that it is clearly important for organisations to create a climate at work that promotes positive emotions. There are a number of ways this can be done, though the idea that first comes to mind for most people, that of pay increases, has a limited effect in terms of sustainable impact. In truth increased pay has consistently been shown NOT to significantly increase levels of positivity at work past an initial reaction that soon subsides. Interestingly, according to the psychologist Oliver James an expert in this area, it would appear that once you reach a certain level of annual salary around the £15,000 to £20,000 mark, increasing affluence has no impact on whether you are likely to be happier in both work & life in general. In fact, Oliver James has found that the more you earn, the less likely you are to be happy.

So ruling out pay increases, which in these times of recession are fewer and far between anyway, what can managers do to raise levels of positivity at work?

Here are Arcadia Alive’s 5 top tips.

• Find out from your staff a) are they happy at work? (& if not, why not?) & b) what would make them happy. This can either be done through large-scale staff surveys, or a team leader facilitating a discussion on it in a meeting, or simply a manager & member of staff sitting down together and having a chat about it.

• Make sure there is an opportunity for managers to provide positive feedback to staff. Even if it’s just a quick “Keep up the good work” comment, that is better than nothing. In many organisations the only feedback staff get is negative feedback. This culture is often associated with poor morale & a lack of positive feeling among staff.

• Ensure that staff motivators are not all stick & no carrot. In fact the more positive rewards over negative punishments there are, the better response you will get. This does not mean going “soft” on discipline & turning a blind eye to poor performance –that will only undermine the morale of those staff who are achieving, but organisations need to ensure there are rewards in place for excellent performance.

• Managers need to blend the right levels of support with challenges. Not enough support & staff become overwhelmed with the demands of their job & will feel isolated & disconnected from the organisation & it’s goals (this can even lead to resentment towards the organisation). Not enough challenges & staff can get bored, disillusioned & distracted from work that isn’t engaging.

• Staff need to feel valued not just through words, but actions also. Clear investment in staff through provision of the right tools for the job, an acceptable working environment & appropriate & stimulating training are all valued by those who receive it –and for those who don’t it can become another gripe that negatively affects attitudes in the workplace.

Arcadia Alive run a number of training courses that increase positivity at work including:
• ‘Motivation at work.’ A course for managers which looks at how to engage staff at work, reduce workplace stress & engage staff more effectively.
• ‘Stress Management’ for individuals to better management the demands placed upon them at challenging times.
• ‘The Driver Support Programme’ a programme specifically designed for train drivers, which encompasses a wide range of well-being & performance enhancing areas including conflict management, managing stress & lifestyle issues.
• Developing Leadership skills –a course that includes the wide range of core skills modern managers & leaders require –including those that foster more positive attitudes & culture at work.

Additional Arcadia Alive courses related to this area include: Communication & Conflict Management, Performance Management, Time Management, Coaching Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Executive Coaching & Developing Managerial Skills. For further details on any of these courses, if you want to discuss a course tailored to your specific needs, please contact our team.

Further reading.
A Book: The Science of Well-being by F.A. Huppert et al. Oxford University Press.
A Report: Working Life: Employee Attitudes & Engagement. CIPD, 2006. (Available on the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk)
An Article:The Role of positivity & connectivity in the performance of business teams. M. Lasado & E. Heaphy in the ‘American Behavioural Scientist’ Vo.47 #6. Feb 2004.

As the seven dwarfs clearly understood in the Disney film ‘Snow White’ when they sang “Whistle while you work” that a happy worker is a more productive worker. -but is that actually true? Well, the recent surge of research on the subject of well-being at work over the last few years certainly indicate there is something in it -and we are now developing a better understanding of the link between positive emotions & enhanced performance at work.

In the past positive emotions have been seen as purely an effect of positive functioning. (“Things are going well, so I feel good”) however, in recent years we are now realising that positive emotions are a cause of positive functioning. (“I feel positive so I perform better”). The opposite would therefore also be true –I feel negative, so I produce poorer performance. Which of those two emotions have the greatest impact?

The Charted Institute of Personnel & Development conducted a survey of over 2000 employees that compared a range of emotions that people reported alongside several key performance indicators of job satisfaction, meaningfulness of work, engagement with the tasks at work, loyalty, performance & commitment. Interestingly, with the exception of job satisfaction, the results showed that positive emotions appear to have twice the impact on these key performance indicators than negative emotions.

What this means is that it is clearly important for organisations to create a climate at work that promotes positive emotions. There are a number of ways this can be done, though the idea that first comes to mind for most people, that of pay increases, has a limited effect in terms of sustainable impact. In truth increased pay has consistently been shown NOT to significantly increase levels of positivity at work past an initial reaction that soon subsides. Interestingly, according to the psychologist Oliver James an expert in this area, it would appear that once you reach a certain level of annual salary around the £15,000 to £20,000 mark, increasing affluence has no impact on whether you are likely to be happier in both work & life in general. In fact, Oliver James has found that the more you earn, the less likely you are to be happy.

So ruling out pay increases, which in these times of recession are fewer and far between anyway, what can managers do to raise levels of positivity at work?

Here are Arcadia Alive’s 5 top tips.

• Find out from your staff a) are they happy at work? (& if not, why not?) & b) what would make them happy. This can either be done through large-scale staff surveys, or a team leader facilitating a discussion on it in a meeting, or simply a manager & member of staff sitting down together and having a chat about it.

• Make sure there is an opportunity for managers to provide positive feedback to staff. Even if it’s just a quick “Keep up the good work” comment, that is better than nothing. In many organisations the only feedback staff get is negative feedback. This culture is often associated with poor morale & a lack of positive feeling among staff.

• Ensure that staff motivators are not all stick & no carrot. In fact the more positive rewards over negative punishments there are, the better response you will get. This does not mean going “soft” on discipline & turning a blind eye to poor performance –that will only undermine the morale of those staff who are achieving, but organisations need to ensure there are rewards in place for excellent performance.

• Managers need to blend the right levels of support with challenges. Not enough support & staff become overwhelmed with the demands of their job & will feel isolated & disconnected from the organisation & it’s goals (this can even lead to resentment towards the organisation). Not enough challenges & staff can get bored, disillusioned & distracted from work that isn’t engaging.

• Staff need to feel valued not just through words, but actions also. Clear investment in staff through provision of the right tools for the job, an acceptable working environment & appropriate & stimulating training are all valued by those who receive it –and for those who don’t it can become another gripe that negatively affects attitudes in the workplace.

Arcadia Alive run a number of training courses that increase positivity at work including:
• ‘Motivation at work.’ A course for managers which looks at how to engage staff at work, reduce workplace stress & engage staff more effectively.
• ‘Stress Management’ for individuals to better management the demands placed upon them at challenging times.
• ‘The Driver Support Programme’ a programme specifically designed for train drivers, which encompasses a wide range of well-being & performance enhancing areas including conflict management, managing stress & lifestyle issues.
• Developing Leadership skills –a course that includes the wide range of core skills modern managers & leaders require –including those that foster more positive attitudes & culture at work.

Additional Arcadia Alive courses related to this area include: Communication & Conflict Management, Performance Management, Time Management, Coaching Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Executive Coaching & Developing Managerial Skills. For further details on any of these courses, if you want to discuss a course tailored to your specific needs, please contact our team.

Further reading.
A Book: The Science of Well-being by F.A. Huppert et al. Oxford University Press.
A Report: Working Life: Employee Attitudes & Engagement. CIPD, 2006. (Available on the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk)
An Article:The Role of positivity & connectivity in the performance of business teams. M. Lasado & E. Heaphy in the ‘American Behavioural Scientist’ Vo.47 #6. Feb 2004.

Members of staff.

Duration:

1 day.

Logistics:

The ideal number of participants for this training is 9 to 12.

Objective:

A reduction in the amount of time wasted at work, along with a reduction in the interpersonal tensions and stress reactions that often accompany it. More effective employees can then devote essential time to planning long-term improvements, instead of ‘fighting fires’ all the time. Participants’ self-awareness and self-esteem is increased as they feel they are more ‘in control’ and can take charge of their work day.

Overview:

This course builds awareness of fundamental time management principles and provides practical strategies that reduce time wastage at work, on an individual level as well as from a team perspective. Participants learn a more effective use of time through the ability to plan and organise activities and to handle the human dimensions associated with time usage.

Participants will develop an understanding of:

• The essential strategies for effective time management.
• What their personal time-wasters are and how to deal with them.
• The importance of creating time to think, plan and organise tasks in advance.
• The human element of time management.
• The Golden Rules of assertiveness.

Participants will learn key skills to:

• Handle interruptions and the demands of others.
• Beat procrastination and other time-wasting mental habits.
• Create and continually monitor a time management plan.
• Flexibly respond to challenging and changing situations.
• Apply stress management techniques when external factors take over.

Managers and team leaders.

Duration:

1 day.

Logistics:

The ideal number of participants for this training is 9 to 12.

Objective:

To equip managers and team leaders with both fundamental and innovative strategies which enable them to develop and grow existing teams. Participants will be able to challenge the status quo and the ineffective communication habits that often set in with existing teams, in order to create a more cohesive and motivated team than before.

Overview:

The emphasis will be on practical analysis of the current team situation, with the learning of tools and strategies to improve on the current situation be it from a performance point of view or a people point of view, or both. Participants will learn not to be held back by the current team’s ‘history’, but rather break through existing patterns of behaviour, their own and that of their team members.

Participants will develop an understanding of:

• How to develop and implement a new vision for the team
• The range of intervention styles to be adopted according to the needs of the situation.
• How their attitude unawarely influences the outcome of every interaction with team members.
• Their own communication and team-management style.
• Their individual team members’ needs and expectations.

Participants will learn key skills to:

• Involve team members in re-shaping their roles and the overall direction of the team.
• Redesign effective and meaningful communication systems.
• Influence the attitudes and expectations of the team towards these changes.
• Nurture and guide team members towards the new goals.
• Develop conflict resolution strategies and assertively handle tough feelings that may come up due to the changes.

Managers and team leaders.

Duration:

1 day.

Logistics:

The ideal number of participants for this training is 9 to 12.

Objective:

To equip managers and team leaders with both fundamental and innovative strategies which enable them to create effective teams. Participants will be fully equiped to take on a newly formed team or even put one together from scratch, and prepared to take from the very beginning the important steps needed to ensure that the various team members’ strength gel and complement each other.

Overview:

The emphasis will be on practical theories of team leadership, task setting and team composition that can be applied to build highly motivated and productive teams. Participants will get a chance to examine their own ‘baggage’ in terms of negative team experiences and dealing with ‘difficult’ people, so that these can be learnt from and put aside.

Participants will develop an understanding of:

• How to develop and implement a vision for the team
• The range of intervention styles to be adopted according to the needs of the situation.
• How their attitude unawarely influences the outcome of every interaction with team members.
• Their own communication and team-management style.
• Their individual team members’ needs and expectations.

Participants will learn key skills to:

• Provide individuals with a clear role and direction within the overall framework of the team.
• Put in place effective and meaningful communication systems.
• Influence the attitudes and expectations of the team.
• Nurture and guide team members to be able to work together well.
• Develop conflict resolution strategies and assertively handly new or difficult team members.

Managers and team leaders.

Duration:

1 day.

Logistics:

The ideal number of participants for this training is 9 to 12.

Objective:

To give managers who are either already involved in project management or will occupy key positions in the future, the opportunity to delve into the responsibilities attached to the design, implementation and evaluation of projects. As a result, managers will be more confident and motivated to take responsibility and authority, maximising their chances to lead future projects to fruition.

Overview:

This course outlines the vital steps taken by different stakeholders during the course of a project to ensure high performance and a successful outcome. Managers become familiar with the different phases of a project and the opportunities and traps that arise at each level. They also get a chance to evaluate the development and outcome of past projects in order to learn from their own and others’ experiences.

Participants will develop an understanding of:

• What makes or breaks high performance projects.
• The full project cycle and how to distinguish between the different phases.
• Project management terminology.
• The importance of leveraging project stakeholders and potential partnerships.
• Their options in terms on getting their team on board.

Participants will learn key skills to:

• Define inspiring project outcomes.
• Generate innovative and creative ideas that both complement and fit in with organisational vision and culture.
• Model leadership and good team management skills.
• Get things back on track when necessary.
• Transfer experience and knowledge gained from one project to another.

Members of staff.

Duration:

1 day.

Logistics:

The ideal number of participants for this training is 9 to 12.

Objective:

To give employees the resources needed to meaningfully participate in the delivery of long-term, organisation or department-wide programmes without loosing steam or getting veered off course along the way. Participants will have a better awareness of what is required of them as individuals and as a team on such long-distance undertakings and will be more motivated to see themselves as part of a whole working towards a common goal.

Overview:

This course outlines the vital steps taken by different stakeholders during the course of a project to ensure high performance and a successful outcome. Participants become familiar with the different phases of a project and their particular role in each one. The focus is on how their own attitude and level of participation can make a difference to the end result, however remote and distant it appears.

Participants will develop an understanding of:

• What makes or breaks high performance projects.
• The full project cycle and how to distinguish between the different phases.
• Project management terminology.
• How their choices and decisions affect the final outcome.
• The importance of keeping in mind the bigger picture.

Participants will learn key skills to:

• Become aware of and communicate their personal and work needs in order to achieve effective teamwork.
• Challenge thoughts and feelings that may hinder them.
• Keep focused when things get though.
• Self-monitor and take responsibility for their own part.
• Ackowledge and celebrate small wins on the way.