Ensuring a Balanced Development for Our Adolescents

Parents and educators alike continuously search for ways to give the best education there is for their kids. It’s becoming more and more urgent for schools to provide not only the standard academic curriculum, extracurricular activities, but also specific programs for character development that are intermittent in the curriculum. You’ll find wide ranging extracurricular activities, from performing arts to sports. Youth leadership programs are also provided for those involved in the student council and other organizations or clubs. There are many non-academic activities available for our adolescence, why are they important?

photo credit: almightydad.com

Adolescence Being Engaged and Active Outside of Classroom

There are many reasons behind the provision of extracurricular activities for teenagers. Occupying students with activities outside of classroom has been proven to give positive impact for them. Aside from providing purposeful time and helping teenagers steer away from negative influence due to idle time, non-academic programs help them explore multi-faceted talents they might not experience in class otherwise. The skills they learn from these activities are invaluable for their lives ahead, may it be the technical skill of playing the piano or playing soccer, or the soft skill of interest in arts and spirit of sportsmanship.

Facts about Physical, Mental and Spiritual Balance

Plenty of research have shown that teenagers need to learn not only from inside of classroom, but also from outside of classroom. Being involved in sports, theaters, scouts, musical, dance will positively affect a teenager’s physical, mental and spiritual health. Outdoor activities have been scientifically proven to boost a teen’s self confidence and self esteem. A team sport is a wonderful avenue for teenagers to learn about competitiveness, teamwork and sportsmanship. The more obvious fact is that active kids can improve their health significantly, and can reduce risks of obesity, heart problems and diabetes in the long term.

Why Learn in the Outdoors?

When a teenager goes on an outdoor program like Outward Bound, not only will they encounter physical challenge but essentially they will learn about life skills. Through physical strive, they will discover their strengths and potentials, they will learn about perseverance and to condition their minds in order to beat their own mental inhibitions. They will find new outlook and self-esteem about themselves.

Through team challenges, teenagers will learn to work together and build relationships with others, strive for a common goal versus personal ego, and also importantly, they will learn about compassion for others. Being sensitive to the needs of others is not an innate trait that everyone is born with or automatically has – it’s a learned skill that can be practiced. In an outdoor program like Outward Bound, teenagers will learn the skills and insights of personal growth as well as inter-personal relationships.

It’s essential that our teenagers be introduced with a wide variety of activities and interests; to keep them active, to keep them healthy, well-versed, for them to have different interests in life, to expand their potential, to develop their character, attitude and inter-personal skills and lastly to equip them with life skills they will someday use in the future. So for parents and educators alike, keep our adolescents active and help them develop and grow holistically.

This article has been published on Outward Bound Indonesia’s blog http://outwardboundindo.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/ensuring-a-balanced-development-for-our-adolescents/

Conflict as a Relationship Building Agent

When we hear the word conflict, we automatically get worried or scared like it’s some kind of a disease. Yes, so it does have a bad association, but it may not be as bad as it sounds. One of the definitions of conflict according  to Webster’s dictionary is opposing action of incompatibles, antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons). Many researchers say that conflict can have a healthy effect on relationships, on a personal level or professional level. In fact, in some group development models, conflict is a required ingredient in order for a team to reach optimum productivity.  Some people believe that it’s good to have arguments during courtship to see how compatible you really are with your partner. But the most important part of a conflict is how we resolve it when it happens.

Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there!

I was advising a company in their relationship building strategy when one of the executives said to me “Ya, this is all good, but our staff never have conflict. We’re all fine”. Many people misconstrue conflict with problems. Just because two people never have an argument, doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem – it might just mean they’re not addressing it.

Conflict comes from all sorts of reasons, differences in value, background, upbringing, personality type to differences in habits, preferences, ego, jealousy. Conflicts are part of life, they’re part of a (healthy) human relationship. Haven’t a married couple had a disagreement about either to squeeze their toothpaste from the bottom or the top? Haven’t we all had a disagreement with our best friend about what movie to watch? At work, haven’t we had disagreements with our colleagues about strategies of completing  a project successfully?

Why can conflict be good in strengthening relationships and improving productivity?

When we have a disagreement with someone, it means we have a different opinion, desire or perception, we see the same thing with a different eye. At work, different reasons can trigger conflicts; miscommunications, misunderstandings, lack of role definition, leadership problems, company culture, personality clash. Our attitude towards conflict resolution is what will determine if the relationship will be strengthened, and if we will reach optimum productivity. Some people take the avoidance route in dealing with conflict, while others face the problem and address it. Just be mindful that conflicts continue to fester when ignored, they don’t go away just because we don’t deal with them.

I took an Outward Bound course in high school. During one of our lake expeditions, my canoeing partner and I found ourselves in a stalemate. We were way behind our other teammates and lost our way. We were exhausted, hungry and extremely hot – and to make things worse, we couldn’t seem to row in a straight line or agree on which direction to go. We bickered until we got tired and stayed quiet in the striking heat. Finally we started communicating again and this time really tried to listen to each other’s views. We came to a decision and stuck with it. Before long, we were back on the road (water), found our way and caught up with our teammates.

Conflict Resolution Lesson #1: Problems don’t vaporize into thin air!

I learned a valuable lesson that day, that when we avoid each other and not address the issue, we literally stand still, and nothing gets achieved, and when you come back to it later, it’s still there. When you have an issue with someone from Accounting or Marketing or anyone in your team or company, you need to open communication and address it with them.

Conflict Resolution Lesson #2: We have 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason.

The other valuable lesson I learned that day was that conflict resolution is an opportunity to grow. When we try to resolve a problem, 2 things are required: speaking and listening. Doing both of them effectively will help in how the conflict will be resolved tremendously.

Speaker: State your views clearly, calmly and respectfully in a non-judgmental manner. Tell them how the problem makes you feel. Sometimes it’s good to acknowledge our emotions if we feel them, such as anger, frustration, disappointment, to get them out of our system. By so doing, it helps to clear the air and to not be holding grudge towards the person in the future. The power of conflict resolution is also humility. Admitting that we’re wrong and apologizing can go miles and miles in restoring and strengthening a relationship.

Listener: Listen, listen, listen! Some conflicts occur because a person just needs to be listened to. One of most important skills in conflict resolution is listening. Sounds easy (no pun intended!), but a lot harder to do. Good listening is really listening to what the person is saying, rather than to what we’re saying in our heads. Also, the other side of humility is forgiveness, and there’s great power in it.

In business, family or friendships, respect is first and foremost. Respect each other’s views, opinions, positions especially during a disagreement.

When we try to resolve an issue with someone, we are opening ourselves to new perspectives (theirs). By listening to their views and accepting them and/or compromising ours, we’re expanding our horizons. We don’t have to agree with their views, but we can agree to disagree. When we try to resolve a conflict, we’re developing our communication repertoire with that person – and essentially building relationships with them.

This article has been published on Outward Bound Indonesia’s blog: http://outwardboundindo.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/conflict-as-a-relationship-building-agent/

Q1 Review: Does Your Business GPS Work?

First quarter is coming to an end. It’s again time to do a quarterly review on your business performance. We ought to do it, and many of us do, some of us don’t and others don’t even know why it’s important or how to do it.

Quarterly reviews are something that each member of your Organization should partake in. If you don’t evaluate your performance, how else will you know if you’ve achieved your targets, whether you’re doing it right or wrong, or how you can improve it.

A business review is like an organization’s GPS device. It’s your navigation system that provides location of whereabouts your business is and helps guide you towards your destination. It’s a powerful tool but if you don’t use it or use it correctly, then it doesn’t give you the most benefit in reaching your goal.

What is your final destination?

Goals are a very important part of business. Without which,coordination, synergy, a sense of direction & purpose, and growth will be an impossible task. The benchmark of your quarterly business reviewis your annual goals. These must be aligned to your final destination which is your organization’s vision and mission. Business goals must address growth/expansion, profitability, quality/customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, market share and social impact. Always be mindful that your goals be SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. When using a GPS, if you key in a name of a city as your destination, you will get a broad geographical view. On the contrary, if you key in an exact address, you will get a zoomed-in view of the streets, intersections and landmarks in reference to that address.So establishing a SMART goal in your organization is not only criticalbut also helpful.

Business Review is your GPS

You spent hours upon hours in the goal setting process last year, and it will be wasteful if you don’t review it regularly. Business reviews are a tracking system to measure your success, it is your organizational navigation system. It indicates where you are and how far you are from your destination. Establishing a Key Performance Indicators (KPI) or Key Success Indicators (KSI) system will effectively help monitor progress. Goal tracking softwares are available in the market which can make your lives and work a bit easier.

Small businesses that can’t afford sophisticated computer systems can certainly set up a simplified, more manual version (use a map instead of a GPS).Start with the crucial queries that address your financial status, operations, sales & marketing and human resources.

Zoom out your View!

When you’re reviewing your quarterly performance, it’s important to take a step back fromall the grind, and assess where you are before you take another step forward toward the next quarter. Because you get caught up in your day-to-day work, many times you deviate from the course you had originally set out and essentially get lost or lose sight of your destination. A business review is a “time out” and re-aligning process and perhaps even an opportunity to create a new route altogether to reach your destination. It is a chance to zoom out your view in the navigating system, to see the big picture of your journey.

It’s important when you’re doing your Q1 review, you’re asking these questions:

• What have we accomplished during the first quarter?
• Any disappointments or setbacks? What can we learn from those experiences?
• Are there any goals or projects that need to be adjusted? Any goals that just need to be axed?
• What goals have fallen off the radar? What can we do to get them jump started again?
• What are our priorities for the next quarter? How will we adjust our plan to meet our goals in the next few months?
• What resources or tools do we need to have a successful second quarter? How will we get those resources and tools?

Engage your Team to Stay on Course

All team members should be well aware and be engaged in the organization’s goals, not just their own individual units, so they can see the entire picture, understand the strategic business objectives and can support each other.Reinforce your team members to take ownership and be accountable for the goals, and have them present the progress.

A business review as your GPS will help guide you to reach your destination, but the actual driver is still you.You determine how fast to go, if you should take a turn or when to take it, when to maintain the machine etc. If your company doesn’t have a GPS device yet, I’d suggest you set up some kind of a navigation system to track your business performance whether it be hi-tech or manual. Once you have one set up, turn it on and use it properly! Do a review regularly such as every quarter, that way you won’t be saying in December “What happened this year? What went wrong?”