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About happiness, leadership and new logics

The monthly magazine Institutionslederen [The Institutional Leader] published an article in September, where I write about the positive tension between happiness, leadership and new logics.

In the article I touch upon issues such as how the new leadership competencies demand not only the ability to motivate but also the ability to inspire. Additionally, how optimism can be a career booster.

The article ends with a case from the kindergarten Stjernevejen in the Danish town of Gråsten as an example of a workplace that - with no changes in their budget - have succeeded in creating positive results by merely working with their mental and emotional processes and reaction patterns.

You can read the full version of the article (in Danish) here>>

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Biofeedback - stress management on the PC

The Knowledge Society offers many paradoxes. One of them is the fact that it is today the "strong" employees that break down. Why? Because the more we need to work independently and efficiently, the larger the risk for us to burn out, among other reasons because we simply do not take enough breaks during the day.

As a result, we can see media telling stories about leaders developing the same symptoms as DAMP (Deficits in Attention, Motor control and Perception) children, and that a new kind of stress - "brain stress" - is in the course of affecting in particular knowledge workers such as teachers, journalists, IT-programmers and doctors.

According to some specialists this syndrom occurs because of the affect of the stress hormone cortisol over a long period of time. A hormone that is produced when we are constantly in the same high-speed state of mind (beta state). Brain resources are consumed fast and reproduced slowly. So when the brain is not allowed to rest and reload, it will quite simply switch over to survival mode, where it is a matter of flee or fight.

Therefore, methods such as meditation and relaxation exercises are for an increasing number of people becoming natural tools for preventing stress as well as for enhancing learning and performance. Nevertheless, there is still some scepticism toward such tools - do they really have a beneficial effect, or are they just New Age nonsense?

The answers to these questions and many others can be found by using biofeedback systems. Biofeedback is a technology that makes it possible for us to observe the condition of our body, e.g. by measuring brain waves, muscle tensions, the response of the skin (galvanic skin response (GSR)) as we know it from lie detectors, or heartbeats. Thereby biofeedback makes it possible for us to measure effects and train the use of various relaxation methods and states of mind.

For a long time this technology has only been available for professionals, but today it is now possible for private individuals to buy biofeedback equipment that is just as advanced and can be used just by installing it on an ordinary PC - e.g. products like Mindmachine, Thoughtstream, Freeze-Framer, The Journey to Wild Divine etc.

You can read more about biofeedback and the various products here:

About The Journey To Wild Divine (biofeedback game for children and grown-ups): www.hjertemusik.dk
or www.wild-divine.co.uk.
About various biofeedback products (Mindmachines, Thoughtstream etc.): www.brainvibe.dk
About Freeze-Framers and other articles on biofeedback: www.bio-medical.com

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New dates for Inspiratorium® workshop series in Aalborg

In co-operation with Aalborg Erhvervsråd [The Business Council of Aalborg] a new series of four Inspiratorium® workshops will be starting up with focus on future leadership and worklife:

6. February 2006: Holistic leadership - how do I create coherence?
13. March 2006: Change and new ways of thinking - yes please, but how???
3. april 2006: Do you rely on your gutfeeling? - About intuition in organisations.
8. maj 2006: The fourth sector - about new ways of organizing and cooperating

You can read more (in Danish) about the programme, time, place, price on www.aalborg-erhvervsraad.dk

You can also read more (in Danish) about the background for the cooperation here>>

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Tania Ellis :: Skt. Peders Straede 24 :: 1453 Copenhagen K :: Tel +45 26252295 :: te@taniaellis.dk :: www.taniaellis.dk