How a Lunch and Learn Program Can Create a 10/10 Business
Last month, I welcomed the excellent Kev House from The Art of Brilliance to speak to the accessplanit team about how to be brilliant (or, rather, even more brilliant than they already are).
The Art of Brilliance ‘specialise in training and development to make you a more positive, motivated and brilliant person.’ Or, to put it another way, their trainers and coaches ‘remind you how to be your best self.’
I mean, how many of us operate at 10-out-of-10 at all times of the day?
Being our best selves all the time starts with…
Happiness.
That’s the secret behind confidence, productivity and morale. Work is no place for, as Kev would put it, ‘mood hoovers’. You know, the sort of employees whose pessimism and cynicism has the potential to bring down entire teams (or departments. Or even companies).
Anyway, according to the brilliantly artistic Kev, when your staff are happy, they’ll be more…
· Productive
· Creative
· Helpful
· Motivated
· Resilient
· Energetic
…And that’s just the beginning.
Already the possibilities for business owners and managers is exciting, right?
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: This journey starts with learning (and followed by lunching).
The lessons of learning
One of the key values my business holds is to ‘learn and improve’. As part of the training industry for over 20 years, I’ve always believed that continuous improvement was vital — whether it’s discovering new abilities, nurturing talent or even developing new features for our training software.
It’s all about creating the very best version through constant assessment and refinement. That requires honesty, transparency and — arguably most important of all — time to focus. To really understand an issue and how to tackle it. That’s why I introduced ‘learning projects’.
Everyone here, from developers to the support desk (and yes, even the MD), dedicates a set number of hours each month to learning skills that benefit both the individual and our business. So, here at accessplanit, the whole team has engaged in training, webinars, events and getting stuck into a good book or three — I strongly recommend Steve Peters’ excellent The Chimp Paradox.
The results have been startling.
Culture, confidence and morale
In a very short space of time, I’ve noticed a dramatic change.
Confidence. It’s everywhere.
Every member of staff goes far, far, far, far, far (did I mention far?) beyond what’s required of them. They’re completely sure of their capabilities — even if it’s not part of their ‘typical’ job description. They’ve self-discovered the tools they need to perform tasks, transforming the way we — and they — operate.
That confidence, in turn, has boosted morale to a phenomenal level; higher than ever before. Ok, the pool table in the breakout room helps, but these sort of transformative initiatives always start with the self. It’s about shunning the mood-hoovering traits and aiming to be part of that 2% of people who are their best self 100% of the time.
In the pursuit of a meaningful workplace culture (and not just one where the atmosphere is painted on the walls), learning was the key driver. I’m starting to think of the whole process as a circle, where learning defines the culture, then the culture is reinforced by the learning.
So, it wasn’t long before I started considering how to encourage and cement the principle of workplace learning.
Lunching, learning and being brilliant
And that’s how The Art of Brilliance’s Kev House came to visit us for the inaugural accessplanit Lunch & Learn. Lunch & Learn provides a fantastic opportunity to focus on our biggest asset: Our people.
So, we gathered together in The Hub, all of us — even those who often don’t professionally interact — to discover the secret of happiness (hint: it resides within). As the very first speaker for our new Lunch & Learn sessions, Kev provided invaluable insights into not just the importance of being happy, but a roadmap for getting there.
Just imagine you were operating at 100%, 24/7. You know the one. Smart, affable, irresistible. That confident and charismatic you that you reserve for special occasions.
That’s your very best self.
Now, imagine your entire team operating at full throttle. Imagine what you, your staff, and your company can achieve together. But how do you become your best self?
Well, according to The Art of Brilliance, it’s all about pants.
Seriously.
We all have special pants in our drawer, right? Sure, we’ve got that work-horse underwear we pull on most days. Maybe they’re a little worn out, a little rough, but they get the job done.
But stashed at the back are our ‘special’ pants. They’re softer, more comfortable. They make us happy when we slip into them. And yet, we postpone that gratification. We save them for special occasions — just like our 10/10 selves.
And Kev’s advice was simple:
‘Life’s too short. Quit waiting for happiness.’
Every day, after all, should be special. And that means every day should be treated like a ‘special pants’ day.
That begins with defining what the 10/10 version of you actually is. So, to get started, The Art of Brilliance urges everyone to answer these simple questions…
· What does the 10/10 version of you look like, sound like, feel like?
· What 3 qualities describe you when you are at your absolute best?
· How often are you at your absolute best? (Honestly!)
· What is stopping you from being your best self?
Equipped with that information, each of us in the room started contemplating exactly who we want to be — and the unlimited possibilities it offers. An exciting start, then, on a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement.
Hungry for more?
When setting up Lunch & Learn within your business, I’d recommend…
· An engaging speaker
Whether you’re bringing in a professional or one of your team is presenting, they need to electrify the room in a way your dull geography teacher never did.
· The right learning
Look, I might love learning about Preston North-End’s statistical chances of winning the FA Cup again (one day!), but that sort of content probably isn’t relevant to the majority of the room; they won’t get much out of it.
· Defining a goal
Speaking of which, consider what you want your team to get out of Lunch & Learn. Without an objective in mind, and a core theme for the session, you might as well put your holiday photos into PowerPoint and present them.
· Unpacking that learning
After the session is complete, once your team has had time to process it all, revisit the lessons learnt and the takeaway messages. Obviously the ‘lunch’ part is a good time for this, but you could do this a few days afterwards, along with prepared materials such as slides from the presentation.
· Maintaining that momentum
Perhaps the hardest challenge for businesses introducing Lunch & Learn projects is to keep that momentum going after the event. It’s all too easy to let all those lovely lessons slip. So, even before you’ve lunched and learned, consider how you’ll instil that learning — for instance, post-L&L, we run a series of TED Talks thematically related to our main event. It keeps that learning fresh in our minds, while continuing to open ourselves up to new ideas.
If your company has implemented Lunch & Learn projects, I’d love to hear about your experiences and trade ideas for future sessions.
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