What is Culture?

As our workforce becomes more diverse and our work teams more greatly impacted by cultural issues, many managers and leaders today are struggling to find the answer to this very complex question. Many believe that if we can just understand culture better, we can reduce conflict and challenge in our teams.

Here are a few links to resources defining culture. Visit these and then think about the following questions;

• Can culture be managed?
• Do only immigrants and ESL speakers have cultural issues?
• Can cultures be bridged?
• Can cultural issues at work be made irrelevant?
• What are the essential parts about culture that we need to know?
• Can we create a cultural profile about specific groups of people and use that to understand them?

Consider posting your thoughts and sharing your discoveries.

Links:

1. http://www.culture-at-work.com/concept1.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture
3. http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm
4. http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.html

In our Diversity and Cross Cultural Communication training courses, we at Advance Corporate Training focus on identifying the roots of commonality and the core principles that connect us all. By focussing on the basci principles of trust, love and respect and then analysing how they are illustrated by various cultures and subcultures we can create a best practise workplace model.

We can do it for you too.

Controlling blood glucose may fend off cognitive decline

If you are over 30 - no more large meals for you!

After age 30 we all become insulin resistant meaning we have glucose spiking after we eat. At my age (it's a secret, but it's more than 30!) a big meal would have my glucose spiking for almost 3 hours. As we age, our brains are bathed in glucose and new research is showing that this tracks with cognitive aging.

Here is more bad news - in a study published January this year, it was reported that elderly people who reduced their caloric intake by 30 percent for 3 months scored 20 percent higher on a test that involved remembering words - OMG does this mean Diets do work?

Read more on these studies and more on the brain at www.dana.org.

Inside the Teenage Brain

Excellent resource - click on the title to go to a PBS website.

Average brain weights - yes one is bigger!

Average brain weights (BW)AGE BW - Male (grams) BW - Female (grams)
-------- ----------------- -----------------
Newborn 380 /360
1 year 970 /940
2 years 1,120 /1,040
3 years 1,270 /1,090
10-12 years 1,440/ 1,260
19-21 years 1,450 /1,310
56-60 years 1,370 /1,250
81-85 years 1,310 /1,170

The Brain's Motivation Station.

How do we really know what motivates people? Is it really as subjective as people speculate?

Motivation in the human brain is really quite simple - the motivation for performance by choice is directly influenced by reward areas of the mesolimbic region as well as the learning-related hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. This means that when we need to recall something for later use, our motivation to do so is directly influenced by the reward for us doing it. Low reward = low motivation. High reward = high motivation.

Recent studies have shown that even the anticipation of a desired reward can have teh same motivation value as actually recieveing it.

Now, here's the rub - just when we think motivation is as simple as reward - the perception of reward is solely defined by the recipient and is based on their biology, their experiences and their learning. Sometimes they don't even know what it is! Ever have one of those days when you feel jazzed by a job well done? That's the satisfaction of reward that drives your motivation. Now try to figure out exactly what got you there so you can repeat it? Good luck in defining it.

So, in motivating others, get them to reflect on times they felt most satisfied at work. Map what they are doing as similar to that time and let them at it. Recalling the satisfaction of their reward, fosters anticipation of receiving it again, which fuels motiavtion.

Now, if they have never felt that way? Good luck....

5 Tips on Lifelong Learning & the Adult Brain

Learning & the Brain is a conference held in Cambridge, MA. Here are five conference cues as they relate to education.

1. CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH NEW LEARNING
2. NEUROPLASTICITY & NEUROGENESIS ARE HALLMARKS OF OUR BRAINS
3. CHECK FOR MIS-LEARNING ON AN ONGOING BASIS
4. MORE VISUALS, LESS TEXT
5. MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!

These reminders are straight forward. They are not difficult to act upon. They sound like common sense. It is really just a matter of choice.

For the full text of the article, visit http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/12/19/5-tips-on-lifelong-learning-the-adult-brain/

10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains

from http://www.sharpbrains.com/ ...

The LA Times just completed a wonderful 4-part series on how learning and memory work. The NYT re-emphasized the importance of physical exercise for neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons). To put this news in better perspective, let's review some good lifestyle options we can follow to maintain, and improve, our vibrant brains.

1. Learn what is the "It" in "Use It or Lose It". A basic understanding will serve you well to appreciate your brain's beauty as a living and constantly-developing dense forest with billions of neurons and synapses.

2. Take care of your nutrition. Did you know that the brain only weighs 2% of body mass but consumes over 20% of the oxygen and nutrients we intake? As a general rule, you don't need expensive ultra-sophisticated nutritional supplements, just make sure you don't stuff yourself with the "bad stuff".

3. Remember that the brain is part of the body. Things that exercise your body can also help sharpen your brain: physical exercise enhances neurogenesis.

4. Practice positive, future-oriented thoughts until they become your default mindset and you look forward to every new day in a constructive way. Stress and anxiety, no matter whether induced by external events or by your own thoughts, actually kills neurons and prevent the creation of new ones. You can think of chronic stress as the opposite of exercise: it prevents the creation of new neurons.

5. Thrive on Learning and Mental Challenges. The point of having a brain is precisely to learn and to adapt to challenging new environments. Once new neurons appear in your brain, where they stay in your brain and how long they survive depends on how you use them. "Use It or Lose It" does not mean "do crossword puzzle number 1,234,567". It means, "challenge your brain often with fundamentally new activities".

6.We are (as far as we know) the only self-directed organisms in this planet. Aim high. Once you graduate from college, keep learning. The brain keeps developing, no matter your age, and it reflects what you do with it.

7.Explore, travel. Adapting to new locations forces you to pay more attention to your environment. Make new decisions, use your brain.

8.Don't Outsource Your Brain. Not to media personalities, not to politicians, not to your smart neighbour... Make your own decisions, and mistakes. And learn from them. That way, you are training your brain, not your neighbour's.

9.Develop and maintain stimulating friendships. We are "social animals", and need social interaction. Which, by the way, is why 'Baby Einstein' has been shown not to be the panacea for children development.

10.Laugh. Often. Especially to cognitively complex humor, full of twists and surprises. Better, try to become the next Jon Stewart

Now, remember that what counts is not reading this article-or any other-, but practicing a bit every day until small steps snowball into unstoppable, internalized habits...so, pick your next battle and try to start improving at least one of these 10 habits today.