ideas group

Why Exercising is no Longer an Option?

2011-08-03T01:43:00.001-07:00

Summer in its midst with its intolerable heat and various events such as outings, parties, weddings, and holidays that involve food and drinks, make this time of the year an excess in relaxation time which aches our bodies, kills our mood and affects our health. Meanwhile going to the gym or doing any kind of exercise is like serving a hard labor sentence. In order to show you that exercise is no longer an option but a necessity that should become a lifestyle, we have compiled 5 reasons to motivate you to turn exercise into a habit:

To read the full blog log on ideasgrp.com or like our facebook page on facebook.com/ideasgroup

Why most training interventions fail

2011-02-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

In today's business environment, efficiency is the ultimate goal to save resources and reach effective operational cycle. Training is used among other means to help reach that purpose.

American companies spend as much as 200 billion dollars on training interventions (Carnevale, Gainer, and Villet 1990). Most of that budget is considered a waste and most importantly it does not achieve the desired objectives. As a result, businesses have diverted their focus to measure training effectiveness, and its Return on Investment.
Although researchers have tried continuously to find the magical equation to calculate training effectiveness, yet it is still an area of continuous debate. There are two schools of thought in this regard: For example, Philips (1990) devised a methodology to quantify training results and called it Training ROI. At the other bank of the river, DeSimone, Werner, and Harris (2006) stated that training effectiveness is a "relative" matter. Given both schools of thoughts, the fact remains that the squandered resources on training remain an area of business concern.

Taking a closer look into such matter, it is valid to ask why most training interventions fail? Such question was legitimized by Cromwell & Colbs' (2004) finding that "not more than 15% of learning transfer to the job, after attending any training". Such finding is astonishing!
From my experience in training management, and as a trainer for 10 years now, the reasons for training failure are:

1. Training is not designed for specific purpose. Generic training has no specific objectives to accomplish.
2. Training not related to trainees' daily work. Concepts addressed in training are not paralleled to the trainees' daily work functions and not applicable to what they do and therefore irrelevant to their need.

to read the full blog go to http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog

Overcoming stage fright part 2

2011-01-11T02:58:00.000-08:00

In Part 1 last December http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog/blog-entry/overcoming-stage-fright we wrote about 5 tips extracted from our stage fright section of our “Public Speaking and Presentation Skills” workshop:
1. Realize how your audience really feels
2. Visualize success
3. Change your physical state so that you affect your mental state
4. PPP- Practice Practice and Practice
5. Arrive early

Here are 5 more tips to help you overcome stage fright

6. Mingle with your Audience
Prior your speech try to talk to your audience in any subject. The effect of mingling is tremendous

to read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

The power of Gratitude

2011-01-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

I came across an inspiring quote sent to me by Charbel Khoury at Atlantis financials From The Secret Daily Teachings:

“It is when you no longer feel the need for money that money will come. The feeling of needing money comes from the thought that you don't have enough, and so you continue to create not having enough money. You are always creating, and when it comes to money, you are either creating the lack of it or the abundance of it.”

And Charbel explains after the quote the importance of gratitude in one’s life. Here I couldn’t just stop without sharing with you the importance of gratitude and the wonders it has done to my life.

To read the full blog log in to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Let us remember 2010

2010-12-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

Now that 2010 is over, let us remember some of the major events that have happened in the course of the year. Hoping to learn from our successes and mistakes and make of 2011 an amazing year.

We have compiled the below event in 6 different categories: Natural disasters, air crashes, economy, achievements, miscellaneous and left us in 2010.

to read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Overcoming stage fright

2010-12-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

Does your heart pounds, your hands shake, your forehead sweats, your mouth goes dry and your stomach feels like a blender on high speed every time you are about to speak or present to a group?

Well the good news is that you are in the majority, and that almost everybody shows the same symptoms when they are asked to speak or present to a large group. Even the most experienced speakers still feel stage fright at times.

The other good news is that with simple techniques you can use stage fright to your advantage.

Below are 5 tips extracted from our stage fright section of our “Public Speaking and Presentation Skills” workshop

To read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Are you effective at influencing others?

2010-11-23T02:13:00.001-08:00

In order to progress on the social and professional levels, we all find ourselves trying too hard to influence others. I have to admit, that doing so effectively is not a walk in the park, especially in the Middle East and North Africa region, where above interpersonal skills needed, the diversity of the region that is home to more than 150 nationalities creates a need for intercultural understanding.
In order to assist you doing a better job at it, I have jotted down below Influencing Do’s and Don’ts

To read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Are we born creative?

2010-10-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

Read this amazing inspiration story about creativity on www.ideasgroupblog.com

Are you on the right track to get called for an interview?

2010-10-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

How many times have you send your resume and never got an answer back from the recruiter? What is your ratio of being called for a job interview in relation to the number of resume sent?

We have advertised for a position using a classified newspaper, and you cannot imagine the responses we got. Although we were specific about the position (level, responsibilities) we got bombarded by all kinds of resumes. Some senior positions applied for an admin role, and although we have specified the location, we got people requesting jobs in different geographical locations.

Only few resumes stood out, so i thought of sharing those 5 best practices that you should do when sending your CV:

To read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

YouTube - ideas group profile

2010-09-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

YouTube - ideas group profile

Using Criticism; a Leader’s success attribute

2010-09-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

The first thing that most people do when criticized is to jump on the defensive side and justify themselves, trying to prove that the other party is completely wrong. What these people don’t realize is that by blocking any chance of taking anyone else’s opinion, they may lose the chance of perhaps getting an excellent advice. However such reaction to criticism is a natural innate reaction, similar to the “fight or flight” response our pre-historic ancestors had.

According to the British Psychological Society, “ The main reasons that get to leaders derailment is that they acquire an inflated sense of self-importance, grandiosity and entitlement, with weaknesses such as sensitivity to criticism, poor listening skills, a lack of empathy, a dislike for mentoring, and an intense desire to compete.”

To understand how successful people deal with criticism, we have studied 18 personalities from several industries, and came up with the 5 most important “must haves” that enable leaders to accept criticism and work with it turning it to their advantage.

To read the full blog go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Almost half of UAE professionals may quit their jobs after the summer holidays

2010-08-31T01:04:00.000-07:00

Dubai, UAE, 30th August 2010 – New research from Regus reveals that UAE professionals may quit their jobs after the summer vacation due to lack of promotion and bosses that do not know, or do not communicate the company’s goals.
To read the full article go to www.ideasgroupblog.com

Five essential elements to conduct a one on one feedback session

2010-08-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Giving feedback to team members is not the most enjoyable thing that a manager likes to do, however as Kelvin Lord puts it, “You cannot improve what you cannot measure” and as a Leader or a manager your job is to look for constant and never ending improvements.

To make things easier for you, we have come up with five essential elements that will make the feedback session easier for the employee and the manager and most essentially link it to sustainable organizational performance.

Full blog on http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog

Pakistan Flood Aids

2010-08-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

A man trying to join a naval boat with his children in Sukur
Picture: Reuters

Extract from the UN news centre

“According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 14 million people – almost one in every 10 Pakistanis – have so far been affected by the flooding, which began late last month in the wake of heavy monsoon rains.
More than 1,200 people have been killed, and at least 2 million left homeless, by the disaster which has also destroyed homes, farmland and major infrastructure in large parts of the country, most notably the north-west province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).”

Although there have been some mixed sentiments, a lot of countries have pledged aids for the disaster, one of which is India, a country known to be in a political conflict with its Neighbor Pakistan.

It is interesting to see who are the donors countries to date. Te list ranks the donors as per their contributions as of Aug 18,2010.
To view the full list click on the following link http://www.ideasgrp.com/blog

“When you lose something, you are just making space for something bigger”

2010-05-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

I have received a call last week from one of my clients, who for internal reasons had to cancel one of the biggest contracts we have signed this year. To tell you that I wasn’t deceived would be lying; The news could have ruined my whole day, week or even month because of the magnitude of such contract. However as I am committed to have a high EIQ (emotional intelligence quotient), I had to analyze the choices I had, so I quickly drew the below mindmap (click to enlarge).

As you can see, by just changing my paradigm from deception to choices, a multitude of options started flowing and I was suddenly enveloped with a warm feeling of happiness. It is strange and weird but in the nicest possible way. 

So I continued my analysis and tried to come up with computer and IT analogies; when we delete files in our computers we are just making space for another file, the same goes in our lives; when we lose something we are just making space for something bigger.

A lost opportunity = more focus on a bigger one

A lost job = a chance for doing what you love

A lost family member = more love for other family members, or more focus on continuing what the lost one has started

A lost friendship = opportunities for a better one

And the list goes on...

A women in Lebanon has lost her son in a water sports accident, and after grieving him for a while she felt that her life had stopped; You just can imagine how hard it is to loose a child. But one day she woke up and asked herself the following question: What is the reason that my son was taken away from me at a young age? What is the message behind it? How can I use this incident to serve others?

A week later she has started a foundation with a purpose of making parents aware of the dangers of inattention when it comes to their children. So going back to her choices, she had two choices; either grieve her child for the rest of her life, or help thousands of other households save their children. With the latter choice she now feels that her son’s decease was a rebirth for a thousand more child.

“When you lose something, you are just making space for something bigger”

So if you just think about a loss as a free space, you will not get stuck in the past and will start generating opportunities for the future. It is all about using your energy- any kind of energy; negative or positive - and turning it into choices that will get you closer to your goals.

To know more about increasing your efficiency and how to generate healthier choices, visit our website: www.ideasgrp.com

U can complain or you can.....

2010-05-12T03:35:00.000-07:00

The world that we live in presents enough challenges for de-motivating the most positive people on earth. On the other hand, people seek comfort when they start sharing their problems with others; and some take that comfort to the next level and will find a need for complaining. As one of my friends puts it: “As human beings, we love to be victimized. Being victimized is perhaps the best way to run away from our responsibilities.”

This implication of being victimized spreads across all aspects of life: Relationships, education, health and most importantly careers.

Looking at the career and professional aspect, it is really annoying to be around people that whine and moan every day at work; sometimes this excessive negativity will drag others into it and will have a slumping effect on performance.

So how do we stop those people from complaining and how do we lift our moods if we think that we are in an awful situation.

First of all, Start by auditing your life: List the good things that are happening in your life and the bad things that you are exposed to and ask yourself those two simple questions: 1) How can I increase the good things? 2) What can I do specifically to change each of the bad things on my list?

Second, Don’t be positive: Yes you are reading correctly. Being positive and wishing for good things to happen is like staying at home without contacting anyone and waiting for Microsoft to ask you to become one of their Vice Presidents. Instead of being merely positive, have a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) and draw plans, while acknowledging that you will face some negative challenges. So have a PMA and identify what might go wrong so you will be able to pro-act and not re-act.

That brings us to the third point which is Be Proactive. As Dr. Stephen Covey puts it in his habit 1: “Take responsibility for your life”. If you cannot see a change make the change, if things are not going the way you plan, you have two options: sit down and watch things go terribly wrong or take control of the situation and ask yourself how can you change the situation. The how questions open a lot of doors and will get you closer to your desired situation.

The choice is yours; take the driver’s seat and lead your life to your own victory or complain while watching other people climb the peaks of success.

To learn more about how to increase your Leadership Quotient and other workshops by ideas group visit our website on www.ideasgrp.com

9 tips to avoid conflict and miscommunication in writing emails

2010-04-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

According to a survey done by ideas group on 60 companies in the Middle East, 85% of the workforce conflict stems out of miscommunication.

The study was conducted across companies in different industries: Government, FMCG, Aviation, Industrial, Banking and Finance Telecom and IT, in 11 countries in the following cities: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh, Kuwait City, Doha, Muscat, Damascus, Amman, Manama, Cairo, Casablanca and Beirut.

When working in virtual teams or working across the region, miscommunication is magnified by the lack of proper writing skills, whether in emails, memos, instant messaging (IM) or even blogs and other social media.

So to simplify things for you, we came up with this checklist of 9 items to look at before sending emails:

· Simplify your message: In Business it is not about literature or chic fancy words, the more simple your message is, the less misunderstanding it generates. So keep your sentences short and straight to the point.

· Use bullet points: People like to see a summary of your ideas, so if you put your main ideas into bullets, it will help the reader scan quickly through it and this will speed up the communication process.

· Use punctuation in the right place: Each punctuation has a meaning a question mark (?) is to ask a question, an exclamation mark as the Meriam-Webster Dictionary puts it “ is used to indicate forceful utterance or strong feeling”. So ending a sentence with an exclamation mark is like a warning sign…two exclamation marks are two warning signs.

· Never write full sentences in CAPS: Capital letters or “caps” are a sign of shouting or yelling, so unless you want to yell at your reader do not write in caps.

· Use calm colors: Using red fonts when writing emails also indicates anger, so whenever it is possible try to use blue or green instead for highlighting.

· Make sure your email has a subject: Sending an email without a subject can be frustrating for people who use the search function of their inboxes, it helps the reader understand the email content.

·If you send an email at 1 am then what you are really saying to the reader is : "you can call me anytime you want" Respecting Work Life Balance is extremely important. Unless it is urgent don't send emails after working hours, you can always schedule to send later.

· Avoid the URGENT and (!)High importance/priority signs: Some people are just used to the habit of sending all their emails with HIGH IMPORTANCE or HIGH PRIORITY; So when they have an issue with a real high importance, how will they let their readers know that this one is really important? I once received one of those with an email that said Happy Holidays. This will only stress the reader.

· And finally, read the email before sending it; we discover a lot of mistakes just by reading it again. If it is an email going to important person, try to get a colleague to read it as well; some sentences might make sense to you but not to the reader.

To know more about Conflict Management, Communication training or any other Leadership, behavioral or team development workshops visit our website on www.ideasgrp.com

Camil El Khoury's interview on Otv

2010-04-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Do you want to be the next Carlos Slim, Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs?

2010-03-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

Some people just seem to be naturally successful. They reach one peak after another. And the more they achieve the more success seems natural and easy. Those people are not aliens, and if you study them closely, their environment wasn’t all success.

If you want to follow the track of great people like Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Pope Jean Paul II, Oprah Winfrey, and Steve Jobs you have to understand what they have done in their lives, and how they have challenged people around them. Those legends have pushed the boundaries of what is common; they have created new industries and found solutions to very complex issues.

After compiling their bios and studying their paths we have discovered that most of them share the following attributes:

1. They have a vision

Not one single high achiever has reached success without a clear vision, a set of goals and ways to achieve them. When Warren Buffet was asked about his path he said “I always knew I was going to be here”

2. They leverage their circle of influence

You might think that high achievers do not need anyone, however none of them got to success without leveraging their contacts. Its not only about what you know, but also about who you know. Steve Jobs of Apple, used Bill Gates of Microsoft several times before launching his products…who would have thought?

3. They are flexible

High achievers adapt to the environment around them exactly like chameleons, and this is how they identify opportunities. While others are complaining about the financial crisis or high oil prices, successful people tend to create opportunities to benefit from the situation.

4. They play at work

None of the top achievers wasn’t extremely excited about what they did, they have all showed passion and excitement in what they do. So if you don’t Love What You Do, its time for a change.

5. They are compassionate

People who hurt others no matter where they reach do not make it far in life, , or at least they don’t grow comfortably. Donald Trump keeps bouncing up and down, went bankrupt, and has thousands lawsuits against him. Do you want to be there?

6. They help others

It has been observed this year that the top 3 of the fortune billionaires list donate large amounts of their worth to others, and more than half of the world’s richest people are big Charity Donors. Those people believe that “What goes around, comes around”. The interesting part is that most of the successful people do not wait till they get rich to start giving, Carlos Slim was always a person to go to when in need, and a free advice giver at all times.

So are you ready to step in the bandwagon of success? All you need to do is to adapt the above 6 attributes to your life.

For more information on how to enhance your life, career and relationships or to attend The Psychology of Success Workshop, visit our website on www.ideasgrp.com

Social Mania

2010-03-02T23:48:00.001-08:00

At first companies have rebuffed all social media, claiming that it was a waste of time for their employees and that it weights on corporate productivity. Then, as soon as some success stories rose about the use of social networks to make money – the likes of dell making $ 3 million in less than 2 years just out of twitter, and Perez Hilton becoming the friend of celebrities just by blogging about them, all corporates wanted to have facebook profiles, a presence on linked-in and a need to tweet. However it was done the wrong way.

Before jumping on the Social Networks extravaganza, companies or even people who are looking for a personal branding e-campaign, should ask themselves the below five questions:

1- How is our SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefiting from our social network sites? Social networks play an amazing role getting our website discovered by the search engines (google yahoo, bing etc). Using key words on our social network will increase the rankings, if you don’t have a corporate social website it is time to do so.

2- Are all of our social profiles and websites interlinked? What makes any website/webpage powerful is the amount of links directed to that site. Connecting websites with links to each other will create your own web of sites and thus would empower your reach.

3- Are all of our profiles homogenous? Having different info on different social websites will confuse the visitors and weaken your reach. All the introduction texts in the “About us” section should state the exact same thing. If a social site is updated, then the same update should be applied in the remaining sites.

4- Are we heard by the right audience? A lot of companies think of adding followers or members randomly however your “follow-ship” companies should be speaking at the right audience. A good way of building a great database of potential customers is to have a blog that can only be read by inserting contact details. Those blogs can be easily made of subjects that only interest your type of clients.

5- Are we offering to our public something of value? Some social profiles only portray publicity and ways of eliciting customers. The web 2.0 audience is always looking for something of value and for free. Wikipedia, Youtube, mashable etc. are perfect examples.

The social networks should be handled the same way we handle the traditional media, you should have a social media strategy, social media officers and an alignment between your overall strategy and online strategy.

Camil El Khoury

For more info about optimizing your corporate performance visit www.ideasgrp.com

Are we born Charismatic?

2010-02-02T23:28:00.001-08:00

Some people are just trusted by their colleagues, clients and friends; others struggle to gain that trust. Looking at trust and rapport in more depth, we find that this is something that you can work on, and not only born with.

True, some people are charismatic by nature, however studies have shown that 87% of charismatic people have worked on their development to become appealing.

What did they do? They have mastered the art of professional etiquette in all its forms. Charisma can be established and nurtured if you simply look at the following etiquette tips:

1. Business attire: How many times have we judged people by the way they dress? Unfortunately this holds true to most people. If you want to look like a banker dress like one, if you go to a meeting unshaved or with a flashy makeup and casual clothing, your clients wont take you seriously. As Queen Elizabeth once said "Dress gives one the outward sign from which people can judge the inward state of mind. One they can see, the other they cannot."

2. Business communications: Do we differentiate between business and casual communications? At home or with our friends, there is a greater chance that people will understand what we mean by our sentences because those people know us very well, on the other hand, at work, we have to use very straight to the point sentences, words that everybody will understand. In addition to that, we have to be very careful with how do we greet people, how do we talk on the phone and what gestures to use.

3. Cross-cultural differences: When dealing with people from other cultures you have to keep it as simple as possible; your goal is to minimize misunderstanding and reach a common point. In order to do so, you have to be very patient and keep a steady voice (yelling at the other person, won’t make them understand better). When traveling ask someone who lived in or has been to the country you are visiting about acceptable behavior such as what jokes would be appropriate, what are the definite “not to do’s”.

4. Basic workplace etiquette: When in the office, some behaviors are not acceptable at all, and still; some people carry on with those actions. It is ok to share with a colleague or two some of your private issues, however what is not ok is to talk private issues on your cell phone in front of all your colleagues; this will disrupt them and make them feel uncomfortable. So keep your phone ring on very low and if you want to take a private call, its better to take it outside the office. Second, If you lost your pen, or ran out of posts it, do not take them from the desk of your colleague without asking them; some people are very organized and loosing stuff from their table will de-focus them when accomplishing a task. And last, show appreciation when people do stuff for you; thanking someone and being nice is very essential, especially for the janitor or the tea person.

5. Netiquette: Now that we are all present on Social Media, blogs and specialty websites, it’s extremely important to have a Netiquette (Internet Etiquette). Do we do a google search on our names from time to time? It’s extremely vital to periodically check what is being written about us and what images of us are available on the web. Do we also portray a good image of ourselves on the social networks? I have once decided not to hire a qualified candidate for a job because of their facebook profile, which broadcasted a totally different image than the one in the interview. We also tend to forget that emails are permanent so if we gossip or talk behind the back of someone over an email (even private email addresses), there is a big chance that this person will see what you have written; IT professionals can restore deleted data.

Business Etiquette while being broad can be improved by very simple measures and very little effort. Walk that extra step in order to build your own confident persona.

Camil El Khoury

Your New Year's resolutions will definitely fail unless...

2010-01-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Have you ever decided on a new year’s resolution? Of course you did…. And did those resolutions fail over and over again? Of course they did….

Lets us have a look at the top 5 most common resolution over the past 10 years

5- I want to be nice to people around me (family/friends/colleagues)

4- I want to make more money

3-I want to hit the gym

2- I want to quit smoking

1- I want to start a diet

Now if we examine why did we fail over and over again in applying those resolutions, we will notice that once we start applying any of them, the daily habits will kick in and takes us back at square one. We would start justifying our actions by sentences like: I need this cigarette; I have too much pressure, or a bar of chocolate won’t hurt me now; it is just one.

Al of this is natural for two reasons:

1 - We don’t commit to ourselves: as long as no one is scrutinizing what we do, we don’t have a clear discipline and will tend at breaking our promise to ourselves

2- The goal is not worthy enough; we will end up saying that by smoking a cigarette or grabbing a piece of cake it’s not the end of the world.

But what is the end of the word?

This year, resolutions are pointing to a very different, yet focused point; saving the world and more specifically saving the world from Global Warming. Everyone is taking that resolution seriously and that is mostly due to 2 events that have happened in the last quarter of 2009: Copenhagen summit and the movie 2012. In the later, the difference that we have witnessed compared to other similar movies is that, the end is very near and that is, not even in 2 years. We need to take action and action starts at home. By turning off that light we don’t need by turning of the TV and DVD plugs when not in use and by closing the water tap when we brush our teeth or shave, we would be contributing in saving that world. It also goes to using our cars; do we ever car pool? Do we walk to the shop that is 200 meters away? Being environmentally friendly follows us at the office, we don’t need to print every single document that we use, we shouldn’t use plastic and paper cups but replace them with our glass cup or mug, and we should be recycling everything we use.

If we commit this year to a green resolution we will for once be doing a good deed not only for ourselves but for people around us and generations to come.

So let’s turn our green resolution into a habit and do something different this year.

The author Camil El Khoury is the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group; the Middle East leading experiential learning consultancy. www.ideasgrp.com

What are you giving this Christmas?

2009-12-21T22:05:00.000-08:00

It’s here again…that magical time of the year is here again…oh yes it’s Christmas.

Usually every holiday, especially that time of the year, people start becoming forgiving, forgetting and all about giving, and making others happy.

This Christmas, have you thought about what you want to give? And by this I don’t mean gifts or any materials items, I meant what do you want to give people around you?

This might seem selfish; however, to end up the year with a great achievement, what about giving people at the office something that will help them end their year on a better tone.

In order to do that, you have to practice, in a simple yet a very powerful way, the art of coaching, and more specifically how to make people feel understood.

By coaching people, you will strengthen your relationships, people will feel that you are a source of trust and you will feel like you have made a difference in your workplace.

If you are ready, then you are 5 steps away of becoming a workplace catalyst of change :

1- What’s in it for them: Often in our conversations we end up talking about ourselves and fail to understand or learn what people are truly saying.

In order to do that we have to Actively Listen; doing that requires that you give the full attention to people when you ask them a question, yes it means leaving your computer keyboard or your phone to concentrate on what they are saying.

2- Ask open questions: And that relates to point one, the question will have to be about them, and you will have to resist introducing your personal stories in the conversation unless you are asked to. A sample open question is: “What motivates you?” and if they answer growth or achievement resist the temptation to say “me too” or “yes I also like….. because it makes me….” Remember you want to be helping others so try to learn about them.

3- Encourage them to come up with their own ideas: If you asked them what motivates them or what makes them happy, ask them how would they like to take things forward, and by this I mean what are possible ways for them to reach their goals. Again here, resist the temptation of giving personal advice; instead encourage them to come up with ideas and solutions.

4- Listening to their ideas. Listening is a big part of helping others. When someone is telling you about a certain idea, try to learn what this idea truly represents. Summarize what they have said to make sure you got it correctly, this will also show the speaker that you are truly listening to them,

5- Help them turn their ideas into actions Ideas are useless unless they are executed. In order to make an idea happen, one has to turn it into a plan of action. A good way that will make their ideas happen is to make them fill a table like the one below:

What is the action point that you will execute	By when will that point be achieved	What Support do you need and from whom	How will you track your progress measure your success

Make sure they are specific when they fill the table, and ask them to choose a mentor ( it could be you) to follow up on those action points.

Christmas is a time of giving, and the self satisfaction from giving others new ways to think is priceless. So Merry Christmas, and good luck.

Camil El Khoury is The Author of "Do What you Love, Love What you do" and the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group; the leading experiential learning firm in the AME region (Africa and the Middle East)

Do you really need discipline?

2009-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

by Hussein Hallak EVP and Facilitator ideas group

Not a day goes by without somebody saying or shouting those three words in our eardrums... You Need DISCIPLINE!

It is usually followed by;

You need to be more organized, on time, lose weight, wake up early, pay the bills, finish you meal, and clean your room…!!

Discipline, don’t you just hate that word....?

It gives way, to the idea of being confined, limited to act in a certain way, and follow specific rules. That is enough to scare the heck out of anyone...

It also means to punish, and to penalize Not particularly something you want!

Still, true discipline is vital in our lives, it is the essence of true success, a must for a purposeful life. So, what do we do?

Let us first clarify a few things:

When you think about being “disciplined”, you probably relate it to being “organized”, “punctual”, “rigid”, “orderly”, “playing by the rules” and “limited”... That’s not necessarily bad; however, try to think, “Knowledgeable”, “active”, “action oriented”, and “prepared”. All are uncommon, but very relevant meanings of the word “Disciplined”.

Let us say you came to your office one day and it was a total mess, it happens to the best of us. The first thing on your mind is to get “organized”. So, you spend many hours, sometimes days, organizing that mess. The reward is an organized office, which is great. However, once you start searching among the “organized” piles for a particular paper you need, well... Pretty soon the office is back to being a mess again! Maybe even worse than before?! Especially when you are in a hurry to get that paper...You’re back to square one... Why? Because you organized the mess...

So, what can you do?

1- Know what are the things you want, and most importantly what are the things you don’t want.

2- take action, throw away what you don’t want, and keep what you want.

3- You know there will be more papers coming through your front door, so be prepared; create a simple process, and allocate certain places for certain things...

In fact if you commit only to the first two steps, you eliminate 80 percent of the mess...

Being organized is reactive. Being disciplined is proactive.

Commitment is tuff. Discipline makes it natural!

We are talking about common sense, universal wisdom, true purpose and unwavering commitment.

We are talking about “true discipline”; the art of living in alignment with your truth;

Be aware of what’s important; your values, your purpose, your truth... Essentially

“You”.

Follow your intuition. It is the inner compass guiding you through your life’s journey. It will align you with who you really are.

Finally; keep it simple... 90% of plans and strategies never get executed because they are too complex. Take your plans and strategies, and cut them down to a maximum of three steps. Choose a life of harmony, joy and peace; A life of discipline.

Ideas group participates in the Leadership Best Practise conference in Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

2009-12-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ideas group , The Middle East and Africa’s most successful experiential learning consultancy, was again the proud sponsor of Etisalat Academy’s “ Leadership Best Practices conference” in Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi. This event was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and under the auspices of His Highness Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Interior.

The Event welcomed more than 200 delegates, all eager to learn from the best practices on Leadership from four very talented speakers. This panel included Rowan Gibson, a bestselling author and international speaker, Alan Stevens the communication expert, author & managing director of Mediacoach, Prof. Christo Neil who is the head of centre for leadership studies for the University of Stellenbosch and Dr. Ahmed Shalabi a regional consultant on management. The event was chaired by Camil El Khoury, an international speaker, author and the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group.

Ideas group took the chance to introduce once again 4 new experiential learning programs:

· The Psychology of Success a talent development program that includes communications, time management, focus and building extraordinary beliefs.

· Getting down to business Write and present like professionals.

· Social mania getting results out of social networking while keeping your employees focused.

· No excuses only Results A sales and customer service winning approach to get more done.

Moamar Safi, Senior Client Partner at ideas group, said, “Our commitment to develop experiential learning as a substitute for training and development in the region has never been greater, and we are really proud of our partnership with Etisalat Academy”

Media Contact:

For Further information please contact ideas group media team on info@ideasgrp.com www.ideasgrp.com

Dubai's debt is not a big problem….unless we want it to be

2009-11-28T21:47:00.001-08:00

The past couple of months have witnessed optimism in Dubai’s businesses; People realized that there is no use of being over protective and that corporate spending is the only way to build back confidence.

Just until… Dubai has asked to delay payment on billions of dollars of debt issued by conglomerate Dubai World and its main property subsidiary Nakheel.

As this might come at a shock, analysts around the region were not that surprised by the news, as for the past year real estate in Dubai was disastrous and the restructuring of Nakheel did not make the most of sense.

The funny part is how the international media disagrees on what could be the possible results of that standstill. The “TIMESONLINE” entitles its article “Dubai debt fears threaten credit crunch 2 — and RBS is exposed” and talks about how serious this second version of the crisis could be for the whole world. While CNN.com entitles its article “Dubai debt woes 'a drama, but no crisis” and says the debt revelations from Dubai this week will not lead the global economy back into recession, but have seriously damaged the Emirate's standing as a leading financial hub.

The pessimism in the British media stems from the amount of money that British banks have been exposed to in the troubled Dubai World case , notably RBS, Barclays and HSBC.

The solution:

Abu Dhabi has promised to look at the Dubai World setback, and to offer a case by case solution, in efforts to assist its little brother Dubai in solving its problems. People tend to forget that Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both part of the same country, and if the reputation of Dubai is ruined, Abu Dhabi will also be affected.

Now is the time for the UAE private companies to step in and help the general Dubai atmosphere gaining confidence. A lot of opportunities still exist in the country, access to liquidity is still available and as “Banque Saudi Fransi - Credit Agricole Group” puts it “quality deterioration simply is not an issue in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar”

What companies in the private and public sectors should do is to continue on hiring, spending and investing, without shying off, and the Emirates will be back on track as if nothing happened.

Camil El Khoury

The Author is the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group www.ideasgrp.com

ideas Group is a global learning and human capital development firm specialized in leadership and team development. We help our clients become high performance organizations and foster a sustainable growth.
We strive to continue on partnering with our clients, finding solutions for their sustainable performance through services that include management consulting, generic courses for immediate impact, tailor-made workshops and transformational experiential learning experiences. Ideas group provide consultancy services and learning & development training to a number of Clients in the UK, UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Morocco and Lebanon.

I want to quit my job but...

2009-11-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

A lot of people come to me saying: “I want to quit my job and start doing what I love, but we live in the real world and that world is not perfect, besides my family depends on me and who would hire me in a time of financial downturn” and the list of excuses is seasonal; it could include political situations, bankrupting industries, age, gender and whatever comes to your mind.

My usual response is a question: “Besides thinking of quitting your job, what are the steps that you are taking in order to be closer to what you love?” and the answer is often a disappointing look on my questioner’s face.

When you want to implement a change in your life, it doesn’t come suddenly and luck has nothing to do with it; it is about being prepared to move into the next step; Preparation meeting opportunity… that is luck, opportunity without preparation is called missing out and not bad luck.

Being proactive is about choosing what you want to achieve instead of letting the society, your family, or your boss choose on your behalf, it is about taking control of your life and start acting on it. The below 4 steps will help you keep on track in your self-discovery journey.

1- Discover your values:

Before deciding on what you want to do, you have to understand who you are, what do you believe in, and what are the important things for you. Once you come up with your values, put them to the test and make sure that they are not only there because they sound good but because those are your genuine values.

2- Differentiate between a hobby and a career:

When you find your driving force and decide on what you want to be doing, make sure that you differentiate hobbies from careers. Anything that you love and doesn’t make you any money is a hobby and any other thing that you love and provides enough money to cover up your needs is a career.

3- Take it one step at a time:

If you want to jump in the new venture without preparation, there is a big chance that you will be quitting at the beginning. Think about your long term goals, divide the goals into yearly chunks and then schedule them weekly. Doing that, will ensure a smooth transition from your current state to your desired state.

4- Be persistent

The common observed behavior between Sir Richard Branson, Nicolas Hayek, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Oprah is that they didn’t quit at the first difficult challenge, and as a matter of fact the ride was not easy for them. With the recurring persistence, they have managed to keep on track and achieved what they were meant to be achieving.

So next time you think of a change, look for what you can do and what you can influence and not what concerns you.

Camil Khoury is the Chief Vision Officer of ideas group and author of “Do what you Love, Love what you do” www.ideasgrp.com

Organizational growth is not enough to get our corporate organisation out of the crisis

2009-09-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

Every corporate, public, or non-governmental organization spend a large amount of their time looking for growth. Growth by itself is not healthy if it is not sustainable; the pre-crisis era witnessed an unexpected growth in several markets, but only organizations that thought their sustainable growth wisely and did not rely on external factors and luck to impact the bottom line, are the ones that are still on an upward trend even during the toughest times.

When observing those organizations closely, we notice that they all share three similar principles:

Hire Great people: Often when companies hire someone, they replace another position, fill a gap, or create a new position to follow the company’s growth or serve the corporate strategy; all of those is done in a rush or sense of urgency. However hiring people should not be based on urgency for the following reason: Whenever hiring is linked to urgency, the position will be filled with the best candidate; best out of what? You guessed right best out of those who applied or those who were headhunted. The case should be different; we should map out our corporate strategy and decide on the key people needed for the coming 3 to 5 years and start looking for those people. We will know exactly what profiles we are looking for and should only hire the people that have more than a 90% match to that profile. At the end of the day we want to have people with responsibilities not people with mere jobs.

Turn the systems into a culture: To start with, any organization that is aiming for sustainable growth should create a set of systems, in a way that responsibilities are distributed and agreed upon with the Human Capital Talents. Those responsibilities should not be owned by certain persons, but by a team of people, in a way that the organization does not become dependent on people but systems. One common characteristic of leaders, is that they groom other leaders; take the example of Texas Instruments (TI) CEO Jerry Junkins who died from a heart attack while on a business trip to Europe. Junkins was known to be the person that reshaped TI and brought unexpected growth to the company. As Junkins was a great leader he made sure to groom people around him and Tom Engibous who was the head of the semiconductor unit became CEO and continued the growth path. Note if Junkins was a solo player, his whole organization would have suffered of his absence.

Once we create the systems and make sure that those are our greatness systems, we have to turn them into a culture, by adding an accountability factor to each responsibility, making the whole organization live that culture.

Never stop asking questions: The secret of great CEOs or heads of organizations is that they always seek to learn, asking questions and not taking things for granted. On the other hand companies that were once growing and started declining rapidly are companies that became arrogant and took things for granted. By asking questions, the leadership team should have a set goal of either increasing innovation, or reviewing the organizational Critical Success Factors.

Camil El Khoury

Keeping careers alive in the recession

2009-09-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the full article of the extract that was published in the Abu Dhabi newspaper "The National"

Looking for a job can become a tiring process, and one of the most frustrating events in a person’s life. The longer it takes to find a job, the more pressure we are exposed to, and the wider our negative loop becomes. Luckily we don’t necessarily have to enter a negative loop if we try to think differently and abandon the traditional job search mindset. Below are some observations that I have learned from my clients, both on the employers and candidates side, that will help you steer away from the conventional job hunt process.

Do What you Love: There is no point of looking for a job merely for the sake of having a job; people who do this mistake end up miserable, waking up every day to the same routine. When looking for your next job try to find out what is your mission in life, what makes you happy, what fulfills your mind, soul and spirit.

Become an expert in your field: All it takes is some dedication to your subject and a bit of extra work and you can become an expert. Employers want to hire people that will bring value to their organizations. Start by getting top books on your subject area (lists found on amazon.com), research it on the internet, and start blogging and tweeting about it, in no time you will become a thought after person in that area.

Find a mentor: Why to reinvent the wheel. A lot of people in key positions, struggled like you to find a job, and struggled again to reach the positions they reached today. Find a mentor who will help you with the shortcuts and ease up the path to your next vision. Make sure you share the same values with your mentor and build a long term relationship with that person even after you get the job.

Use a different approach: Can you imagine how many resumes employers get each day? If your resume is just like the rest, chances that you will be called for an interview are very low. Something different, that stands out will increase your chances dramatically. Just the other day I have received an email with a resume that stood out from what I usually get, and although there wasn’t an opening for a position that the candidate was looking for, I have decided to interview them and made an offer. What I have envisioned as an employer was an added value, just by seeing something different.

Leverage the power of networking: If your potential employer is not coming after you, it is time for you to go after them; in sales, networking is the process of being in the right place in the right time. Yes you can control that by attending events, conferences, iftars or just investigate where your potential employer hangs out and try to have lunch in the same place. With the help of visualization and a strong determination you will find the courage to introduce yourself at the right moment. You will be amazed how powerful this technique is. Another networking tool is to ask people around you about their connections; there is always someone you know, who would be happy to give you referrals that will get you where you want to get.

Remember “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

The author, Camil El Khoury is the Chief Vision Officer of Ideas Group, an organisation that helps clients improve their performance using experiential learning techniques. www.ideagrp.com

Lebanon; is it time to move back?

2009-08-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

We have all read or heard about the amazing articles in the New York Times, Paris Match, the Washington post and other reputable Media about the high life in Lebanon, and how the country doesn’t need a lot of time of peace to re-stabilize and position itself as the jewel of the Middle East.

Lebanon is known to be one of the world’s top provider of Human resources; according to “Information-International” 2 out of 5 Lebanese live and work abroad, not counting people who have abandoned their citizenship and either live in the Americas, Europe or Africa.

The Lebanese diaspora usually wait for a period of political stagnation to come and visit Lebanon checking on relatives. This time it was a bit different for them; as the financial crisis has worsened their situation abroad -a phenomenon that is not apparent in their original country due to an excellent banking regulatory practice, and a risk avert financial strategy- they thought of Lebanon as something more than a vacation time.

Lebanese expatriates coming to Beirut are witnessing an out of this world ambiance, an atmosphere that haven’t been seen before, one that caters to all levels, wether you are a family enjoying some quiet time at the beach, in the mountains, or a young crowd looking for exceptional parties with world class music and entertainment performers, the place became so charming that it is hard for them to leave.

Hard to leave means looking for a job in the country; is this viable or is it just emotional?

Let’s have a look at the economical situation and the growth forecast.

The country witnessed a growth rate of 4% to date in 2009, and could reach a 6% if it starts filling the gap in infrastructure shortages. Investment in real estate and infrastructure are not shy, where foreign direct investment plays a big role, and several new projects were announced.

Fears of political stability might be a question that job seekers ask, while the political situation affects directly the job market, Lebanon has managed to position itself as an operations hub for Corporates in the region and is regaining its service exporting culture which will continue even when the stability is an issue.

With more and more opportunities on the employment market, human capital pay has risen in Lebanon as compared with the past 10 years, and foreign expertise is rewarded, having said that, the pay is still below other countries in the region what is justified by a lower cost of living.

In a nutshell, Lebanon’s outlook is very optimistic and with the expertise that the expatriates could bring, the infrastructure gap will be filled and the country will build on the services niche that it has always dominated.

www.ideasgrp.com

Corporates and SME’s are we ready for the after crisis boom?

2009-08-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

Signs of relief started to show, and some economies are starting to pick up.

The most optimistic markets, in the experts’ opinion, are the markets of the Middle East region. Some cities in that region didn’t stop or even slow down in expenditures; take for example Abu Dhabi and Qatar not to mention Lebanon who witnessed a boom because of the recent political stability and a healthy banking system.

As we write this blog, most of the Arab world will be fasting for the month of Ramadan, a month known for being quiet when it comes to business.

This year Ramadan ends in mid September and this is when the action will start picking up. The question that asks itself: Are we ready for a sudden boom of business?

As head of companies or business units, our most important order of the day will be creating and aligning a strategy that will get us where we should be placed in the market. This strategy, depending on our focus and vision, will need to place us ahead of our competition, on the top of our clients' requests and/or in the league of innovative companies.

The below 7 question check list can be used to see if we are on the right track to benefit from the coming economical growth

Do we have a clear Vision of where we want to be?
Do we really know where are we Placed right now?
Do we know what our 3 Critical Success Factors are?
Did we create multiple Scenarios about external and internal driving factors?
Do we constantly Involve our talents (employees) in the strategy formulation?
Do we follow strict execution KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
Do we constantly ask ourselves how can our product/service bring Value?

Once we have an answer to those 7 questions we will be ready to receive any change and make of it an opportunity.

To find out how we can help you turn change into opportunities and optimize your Human Capital Performance, visit us on www.ideasgrp.com or drop us a line on info@ideasgrp.com

Why choose experiential Learning?

2009-08-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Proven to have the greatest impact on adult learning, experiential learning is where learning and development are achieved through personally determined experience and involvement - similar to that of a child learning by their first experiences.

ideas group's decision to base 90% of its programs on Experiential Learning came from thorough researches of how to engage the participants into having a lasting efficiency that translates into organizational superior sustainable performance .

to know more about this topic go to www.ideasgrp.com

ideas group

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Ideas group participates in the Leadership Best Practise conference in Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi

Dubai's debt is not a big problem….unless we want it to be

I want to quit my job but...

Organizational growth is not enough to get our corporate organisation out of the crisis

Keeping careers alive in the recession

Lebanon; is it time to move back?

Corporates and SME’s are we ready for the after crisis boom?

Why choose experiential Learning?