tried&tested

Tim Kiy was talking to John Ruskin

Achieving Success Without The Stress

Tim Kiy, marketing director of Corporate Barclaycard, explains how he used the Superworking course to reach peak performance while retaining a work-life balance.

Superworking

Superworking designed and delivered by: Suzanne Rix Development

On Test

In whatever industry, in whatever walk of life, you can't help observing that the tension today between the pressures of the working environment and the need to sustain a balanced life away from the workplace is a central dilemma for many people.

My personal impression of the Superworking course is set against 20 years of working with Barclays. During that period I've seen an ever-increasing workload and, by climbing the corporate ladder, a wider and wider brief.

The office environment has become tougher for most of us in the past decade – not just at Barclays – with increasing pressures to achieve more in less time. For example, e-mail has accelerated communications in a beneficial way, but has also resulted in a relentless deluge of extra work that has to be fitted into the working day. It is difficult sometimes not to start feeling overwhelmed by it.

I became interested in Superworking initially through previous involvement in the bank's equality and diversity work.

Along with a number of other senior executives in the Barclays Group, I'm keen to see it progress across all fronts – gender, race and so on. Similarly, we want to provide a good working environment for our staff and work-life balance is key to that.

Apart from recognising what individuals can contribute to the organisation, we need to encourage staff to develop other aspects of their lives too. So when the opportunity to attend the Superworking course arose, I wanted to make my own assessment for the bank.

It was brave of Barclays to trial a technique that previously had been proven only in Australia, and not in the UK where we have it now. Created by management consultant and behavioural scientist Suzanne Rix, the course is about work-life issues and a whole lot more.

Having looked at a range of techniques that can help the individual with handling work flow such as time management, and at the full spectrum of training opportunities available, Superworking seems to offer something unique that brings together a number of different life strands in a holistic solution.

UTOPIAN IDEAL

It is not just about doing more in the time available, it offers the chance to do the right things in the right way. We were all chasing the utopian ideal – and if it lived up to its promise this course looked as thought it might provide real benefit in enhancing my performance and increasing my stress-hardiness.

Superworking, in headline terms, exceeded my expectations. I have attended various courses and undertaken distance learning, and what I'd previously found is that, as good as some of them were, their inherent weakness was invariable that when you got back to the normal office environment, you quickly forget.

Superworking is run as four one-day workshops, spread over a month, which gives you enough momentum to absorb new techniques and maintain them. The opportunity to go back into the same peer group and refresh the learning is effective.

Highlights were the practical benefits that Rix made available – with almost instant payback. Some of the exercises demonstrate a measurable increase in performance and efficiency. The principles can be taken straight back into the workplace and there's a good deal of practical application in addition to the theory.

A good example would be some of the relaxation techniques she teachers, resulting in high energy level's I've certainly been able to get through still higher workloads since attending, and others on the course who'd suffered from insomnia for years were suddenly able to enjoy a full night's sleep. A greet deal depends on how open-minded the individual is at the outset.

What Rix does is to blend a series of different types of stimuli and learning. It's the first time I've been on a course that has brought together so many different aspects of life.

Superworking doesn't rely on any one source of thinking. Rix calls upon the results of the latest international research. She supports practical advice with well-grounded theory from experts in their field and the mix appals to the heart as well as the head.

As she says: "Whether in the international stadium or in the boardroom, it is not marks in an MBA that give top achievers the winning edge. It is that elusive quality that communicates with influence, inspires a sense of direction, produces the most innovative solution, predicts future scenarios and is able to sustain mental agility in all conditions. It is the ability to use the mind and creative skills most effectively.

"We're pushing the boundaries of our abilities. To do this, we need to use the latest technology and research to hone the skills we have," she says.

"Just as athletes train in mind and body techniques, the mental athlete needs mind and body training for the workplace.

"Within the human mind, the tow hemispheres of the cerebral cortex essentially operate as to separate brains: the left for step-by-step processing, calculations and language, the right for problem solving, decision-making and interpretation. It is the right brain that sees the overview, draws on non-verbal input and processes multi-factor information simultaneously to generate new ideas or solutions to complex problems.

"During sustained concentration and learning, the type of brain activity is not the same as during moments when creative ideas are generated," said Rix. "Most of us leave it to chance that the brain will work in the way we hope it will when the need arises.

"Consider those moments when you have a flash of insight or genius, when you were functioning at your peak. Moments such as when the great idea emerged, or the speech went brilliantly, or the negotiations where successful beyond your dreams. In sports psychology it is called 'flow' or 'the zone' – and that's what is regularly achievable in the work environment as well as in everyday life. Superworking focuses on developing that ability."

Most of us invariable adopt left-brain thinking for problem-solving at work. But how much more powerful that becomes if the right side of the brain can also be engaged on the same issues, through relaxation which lowers stress levels and heart-rate. The result can be a 'Eureka' moment that is unlikely to b e achieved by conventional thinking. This may all sound ethereal and unreal until it's proven to produce marked improvement in measured performance across a range of numerical workshop tests. You have to experience it to understand how it all comes together – but it does.

IMPLEMENTATION

Healthy living is also part of the overall mix. One of the things I determined to do during the course was to get back into good physical shape. I resolved to run a marathon for the first time this year, for instance.

Implementing the course learning back in the real world of the office environment means tackling the embarrassment factor. For instance, a core element is the adoption of "brain breaks" during the day – which isn't something you can do during a boardroom meeting or in an open-plan office. It helped that it was a Barclay's course – we brought in a number of people from different parts of the organisation, so we had common cause and common issues. We've all shared in trying to make it work back in the office. It was useful to be able to talk with colleagues about any problems of implementation that had arisen during the previous week.

Devoting time to relaxing during the day can, in fact, repay far greater benefits in terms of higher and more creative output. It's more effective than working perpetually flat out – but you do need the trust of your colleagues to enable you to follow it through. I can see the advantage in a group of people from the same area attending at the same time.

VERDICT

Superworking does just what it says on the tin – achieving peak performance without stress.

In the period since I've done the course, my workload has increased markedly while one of my line managers has been on maternity leave. I've been covering her role as well as my own.

I know the workload I'm getting through at the moment is something I would not have been able to sustain previously. It's thanks to the Superworking techniques I've taken on board that I've been able to respond so positively to a period at work that's been even more challenging than usual.

I'll be able to start addressing my own goals for work-life balance when my line manager returns to the office – and I'm looking forward to that.

Key:

* = disappointing, ******* = excellent

Training Magazine May 2003