glas window
may 2020
treading water
We look at “where we are” from what you’ve been sharing with us - and what drives this.
Features:
How Am I Feeling Download
Video of GLAS Grid
Ideas to move from surviving to thriving
Links for the GLAS Understanding Assessment
Statistic from our research
Try the online “Understanding” assessment and receive your free report for you and / or your team.
We’ve gathered a great amount of data from our online assessment and research, and wanted to focus this month’s GLAS Window on understanding where most people are.In addition to our own research, there was a Harvard Business Review article focusing on motivating employees and teams which stated:
40% of people say their company has not asked them how they’re doing since the pandemic began.
Our assessment could be the way to engage with teams in a meaningful way. It has certainly helped people to voice how they’re feeling and gain self awareness in terms of how this changes week by week. We can create quantifiable data for the “ups and downs”.
FROM OUR RESEARCH
WHERE ARE WE?
First of all, let’s see WHERE WE ARE in terms of the 3 areas of the GLAS Grid (shown right).
Within these axes there are 3 areas. Starting in the bottom left of the grid, these are:
Quick Fix
this area is about survival, and is shown in pale orangeWhat Now?
this area is a temporary one, and is shown in pale turquoiseSustainable Success
this area focuses on clarity, confidence and thriving, and is shown in pale purple
We’ve observed in our research that 41% of people are currently in the Quick Fix section (bottom left) - which represents people feeling very impacted and isolated. It is a combination of chaos and doubt, which leaves us feeling overwhelmed and stressed. We liken this area to feeling a little like drowning - just fighting to keep going. There is no progress other than existing. We simply want someone to make it go away for us.
Our statistics match those found in the HBR research stated at the beginning of this feature.
At the opposite end of the GLAS Grid in the Sustainable Success section (top right), there are currently 12% of people. This represents those individuals who have driven forwards - not just in what they’re doing, but in how they feel and approach life - with all 7 GLAS elements “thriving”. In terms of the ‘drowning’ analogy, these people are swimming in a clear direction. It’s created by a confidence of who we are, and clarity of a purpose and direction to head in.
The remaining 47%, and highest number, of people are currently sitting in the What Now? section (middle area).
‘What Now?’ is the most common question on peoples minds right now, and this section represents a combination of individuals; not being able to see ahead, or being able to deal with what’s happened fully, both of which result in feeling unstable.
These individuals may feel like they are treading water; spending lots of energy trying to figure things out and asking what they should “do now’, but without getting anywhere. This area is uncertain, and feels less than stable. It is a temporary state. This ‘What Now?’ section is the area we are going to focus on.
what now?
THE LONGER WE STAY IN THIS STATE, THE MORE LIKELY WE ARE TO EITHER:
A) START SWIMMING IN A DIRECTION TO THE TOP RIGHT
B) BEGIN TO STRUGGLE AND DROWN IN THE BOTTOM LEFT
The 3 areas shown in the GLAS grid apply to all areas of; life, business, sport, financial planning, diet, fitness etc… You can map anything - clients, products, staff, and so on.
We would recommend 5 things that work with regards to improving swimming AND dealing with the here and now:
Get your head in the right place (physically and emotionally)
Balance is critical for buoyancy and to be able to ‘swim’ (deal with What Now)
Don’t underestimate the benefits of quality breathing, especially in stressful situations
Do not over-reach - aim for steady, small and consistent improvements. No one becomes an Olympic swimmer overnight!
Use the water (environment / situation) to increase your power. Water can be your friend or your downfall just as COVID and any other impact can be.
the grey area
The element with the most imbalance (after EXTERNAL IMPACT which goes without saying), is our GUIDING DRIVE. This is shown in the diagram to the right, where EXTERNAL IMPACT (blue) is clearly the most imbalanced element (in other words, the most affected area of life), followed by our GUIDING DRIVE (grey). Our guiding drive can also be described as "motivation".'So what drives our basic behaviour? What is influencing where we are?
Well, at GLAS we started considering this question long before Covid19, especially as our origins stem from family business work, where extreme and often bizarre behaviour occurs.
We’ve found over a couple of decades that there are 5 basic drivers for all human behaviour, all of which can be BALANCED, IMBALANCED (insufficient) and IMBALANCED (too much). They are:
Gather
To have all the resources, food, shares, toilet roll and pasta needed.Protect
To look after what (and who) we have and need such as our health and communities.
Understand
To have the required information in order to progress such as the instruction to stay home or wear masks and so on.Bond
To build the strongest connections and trust with those around you.
Experience
At a deep level, have a way of knowing how you feel about things to indicate any necessary action required (joy, sadness, fear etc).
We’ll cover these in more detail in a future edition of The Window.
THE GRID EXPLAINED
We refer to the GLAS Grid in our reports, working with teams and individuals. It’s a way of explaining, in a visual sense, exactly where people, products, customers, teams and services are.
For this edition of The Window, we focus on the 3 areas of the Grid and how it takes time and effort to progress from bottom left to top right - and how when we're in the middle of these two, we have a choice; we can slide backwards or put the work in to moving upwards. This is true for us all each and every day. Some days we feel like we’re swimming in a clear direction and other days we simply want someone to throw us a life saver.
WATCH THE SUPPORTING VIDEO - click below
UNDERSTANDING YOUR TEAM
Our research has focused on individual feelings, alignment and balance, but have you considered what happens when you put it all together in a team scenario? We are working with teams to understand where they are individually and as a collective - and what this means for the future.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in for your team or even your clients, drop us a line and we’d love to talk you through the process.
Right is a snapshot of the report you will receive, with all your team members mapped on the same scale, giving you a clear idea of where all of your employees are right now.
We’ve created a download sheet for you to try. You can print these off and decide where you are overall for each of the 7 elements, daily or weekly.
This download is a manual version of the online assessment. To the right, you can see an example of completing a sheet
