This is the most important thing I learned from a recent mountain biking class. At an off-site meeting at Miraval in Arizona, I signed up for mountain biking one afternoon. Nobody else signed up, so I had two amazing guides from the Adventure Department, Josh and Michelle, all to myself.

One of the first things they did was take me out to the desert to ride through this obstacle course of rocks. Josh kept telling me to look out and not down, but of course I didn’t listen because I was too worried about banging into the rock I was about to hit that was right in front of my tire.

Finally he convinced me that my brain had already processed the terrain right in front of me. By looking a little further out, I’d give myself a chance to get ready for what was coming next. Turns out that works.

I’ve been applying that same principle to business since I’ve been back  in the office. Instead of thinking only of what needs to happen today and this week, I’ve been looking ahead to next week or the month to come.

So far, I think I’ve hit fewer rocks than usual. 

The journey to get to that day was a long one. First there was the actual decision to adopt a baby. Many people questioned our sanity given that we already had five biological children and that given their ages, we were on our way to “freedom.” Not to mention the cost of raising another child. Logically it was crazy, but all I can say is sometimes you have to follow your heart rather than your mind AND not care what people think! This was something that was difficult for me in my late 30s, but we felt like it was something we were called to do. Besides, what’s one more child when you already have five? Then there was the endless paperwork, two adoptions that fell through and the country we were originally planning to adopt from shutting down.  Was this really meant to be?  I have to say a wholehearted “yes” because once we started down the China path, everything fell into place and we were traveling to China before we knew it. She was the one meant to be ours — a 21 month-old little girl who was now healthy, but had had heart surgery as an infant and was therefore considered “special needs.”

Rachel has been part of our family for six years now. I have to admit, it hasn’t always been easy. We came home from China with the news we were moving from Cincinnati, our home for 17 years, to Atlanta. She didn’t really talk for the first year with us and she followed me everywhere! Here I was trying to get acclimated, get my family acclimated, find and start a new job and be there for her. It was tough.  Luckily the other kids were a big help and we found some great support systems in our new hometown. We got through it and now she is a thriving seven year old, even though she acts like she’s 14 like her big sister sometimes.

And now here we are at “Gotcha Day” year six.  We’ll have a cake to mark the occasion and give her a little gift. We’ll recall our journey to China and how much it made us appreciate our own country. We’ll laugh about how she hated my husband at first and would hit him any time he came near her. How she refused to eat her congee once we introduced her to French fries at Lucy’s, the American Café we frequented during our stay in China. I’ll worry a little bit about the fact that she seems behind in school and whether it’s because of language delays or some unknown thing we don’t know about. I’ll worry about the fact that I’m an older parent with less patience and we drag her to too many of her older siblings activities rather than her own. Then I’ll observe how much she adores her daddy and her brothers and sisters and how big she is smiling over her special day and my heart will swell with love. And I will know that life is good!

http://www.weknownext.com//workforce/tony-schwartz-ceo-of-the-energy-project-on-employee-engagement

For more on Tony and The Energy Project, please visit his site at http://tonyschwartz.com/.

People like to compete. It gets the blood moving and lifts the spirits. In short it’s fun.

The urge to compete is a valuable tool for employee engagement. If you want people to pay attention, whether it’s to a new intranet or the need to complete an employee survey, try gamifying it.

How do you do that? Try an online scavenger hunt with questions that lead them to the intranet to find the answers. Put one department against another for percentage of participation in the employee survey.

It’s not about the prize; it’s about winning. The rewards don’t have to be huge, although at Tribe we’ve found people will do almost anything to win an iPad. The prize can be a $25 gift card, or an early quitting time on Friday, or even a candy bar. What matters most is getting employees fired up about a little friendly competition.

Our employees at Tribe love to compete. We’re currently in the early weeks of our almost-annual fitness competition, but we’ve also been known to begin a status meeting with a contest to see who can fill in the most states correctly in a photocopied map of the United States. We also have an annual wine tasting competition with cash prizes for identifying the most wines and guessing the most expensive and the cheapest wine correctly.

Although our most long-running competition is the stopwatch thing. Employees are challenged to start and stop the stopwatch in the least amount of time possible. The prize? Nothing more than bragging rights. But around here, that counts for a lot.

The irony is that it seems to slow time down. When your brain is not switching back and forth between multiple functions, you’re able to focus more fully on what you’re doing, and in many cases complete the task more quickly.

But that’s hard to believe when you’re busy. I have an awful habit of continuing to type on my computer when someone comes into my office with something they want to talk about. Sometimes they do catch me mid-thought and I just want to finish that one sentence of whatever I was writing. But beyond that, it would benefit us both if I could break away from the keyboard and truly listen to what they came to say.

Besides that, it would be more enjoyable. Being distracted by someone talking to me when I’m writing is a little agitating. If I’m either just having a conversation or just writing, I find both a lot more satisfying. How about you?

“No alcohol, caffeine, gluten, sugar, or animal products and it’s just for 21 days,” said Elizabeth with her usual upbeat perkiness. I’m just an occasional drinker on the weekends; only drink caffeine once every couple of months, so really only giving up three things for three weeks couldn’t be that hard. I agreed to participate and was excited to see how “cleansed” I would become. I was also curious to see if I would lose any weight. Elizabeth typed up a list of what we couldn’t eat, what we could eat, and some menu suggestions.

After the first week, I thought I’d flip through Kathy Freston’s “Quantum Wellness Cleanse” book to see if there were any other food suggestions. I discovered this is actually more than just a cleanse, I was supposed to meditate each day as well. I’ve never meditated before, but since I would also never dream of being a vegan, I thought I would do it for the rest of the cleanse. I flipped to the day to find my daily meditation. It was to say on the inhale “I am” exhale, “stronger than food.” While that simple phrase endlessly entertains me, I decided to only stick to the diet aspect of the cleanse.

After eating beans, rice and salad for a week, I needed to get creative. My boyfriend bravely came over for dinner to be served quinoa spaghetti with vegan gluten free organic pasta sauce. I mixed in a bag of frozen vegetables and a side of Vans’ wheat gluten free waffles. Being the good sport that he is, he just sat down, smiled and said “I’ve never had waffles with spaghetti before.”

I made it through day 19 of the cleanse and decided I had enough. Days 20 and 21 were Saturday and Sunday and I wanted to enjoy my weekend. I lost seven pounds and had a new appreciation for not having food allergies. Taking the time to read all the packages to make sure my food didn’t contain gluten was such a pain.

I also realize I might be lactose intolerant. Either that or maybe my cleansed body prefers not to be filled with deep fried delicious mozzarella gooiness smothered in creamy Parmesan dressing. Hard to say. This cleanse definitely made me more conscience about how certain foods make me feel. And when you think about it, who wouldn’t love to lose seven pounds? I’m happy Elizabeth suggested I do it and I’m glad that I did.

People enjoy security when it comes to their careers. When changes in the company start to occur, it can sometimes cause a bit of anxiety and concern. These feelings can cause employees to think about looking at other job opportunities they believe will give them a stronger sense of security. Your company doesn’t want to lose talent you’ve already invested in, so communication is key to keeping people informed about changes on the horizon and to ease any unnecessary worries. The communication channels Tribe suggests are vehicles such as leadership blogs, internal publications and intranet portals. These are great ways to reach your workforce, but what you communicate is just as important as how you communicate.

Employees need to see the change as an opportunity. Change content should focus on how the company will become stronger and employees will have the chance to update their skills or acquire new career paths. It should be communicated to employees that they are a part of the change. It will be their hard work and dedication that allows the company to alter their direction or make the necessary adjustments to remain competitive in their field.

That being said, the above should be communicated truthfully. If a given change will result in the shedding of jobs and not expanded opportunities, leadership’s credibility with their workforce will take a severe hit and could drastically affect employee confidence in future endeavors.

Simply put, your employees enjoy their comfort. It can be hard for them to accept, but if you focus on the changes creating a stronger sense of stability, and deliver on that promise, your employees will be more likely to support future company endeavors. And that only makes your organization stronger in the long run.

Hours are in the eye of the beholder. It used to be all about the nine to five, but that attitude would never cut it with Generation Y. The line between work and home doesn’t really exist. The new norm is checking your iPhone on the weekend. Gen Y has no problem doing this as long as they have some flexibility during the week. Telecommuting programs are also a big plus. Companies are starting to realize that it’s not when the work gets done, as long as it does get done.

They’ve never known a world without technology. They grew up with the Internet, cell phones, iPods and Facebook. It’s the fiber of their being and it’s incorporated into every aspect of their life. Telling them they can’t use it is like telling them they can’t breath. If listening to an iPod at work makes them more efficient, than it’s a win win. How’s your intranet? This should be the hub of the employee experience. All your employees need it but the young ones expect it.

Loyalty is with their team not the company. Gen Y likes to jump jobs about every 18 months. They aren’t loyal to their company but rather to their boss and work. If a Boomer was unhappy with their management they would probably stick it out, but Gen Y will just move on to the next opportunity. Friendship is hugely important and they will often take a job just to work with their friends. They also don’t believe in the career ladder and look at it more like a lattice. They have fluid careers they can start and stop. They just want to be doing what’s important to them.

Making a difference matters. Support for volunteering is a benefit that Gen Y values the most. According to a recent Deloitte survey more than half of workers in there 20s prefer employment at companies that provide volunteer opportunities. By having volunteer programs you will increase your ability to recruit and retain.

It’s really just work/life balance. Everyone wants it not just Gen Y. Figure out what works for your company structure and then align it with what new recruits want. Add a technology spin or a volunteer program and you’ll have happy, productive and engaged young employees.

But nice helps. It can help grease the skids with those around you, and it’s also makes the situation less stressful for you. Imagine how your body feels when you’re storming around yelling and cussing. And then think about how it feels when you’re being genuinely kind and understanding and compassionate.

We’re all in this together. Whether you’re talking about working with difficult colleagues and making impossible deadlines, or the fact that we all share this one small planet, we’re all up against challenges.

You can connect or you can clash. Every interaction we  have with another is a chance to connect or to be an adversary. Even when you disagree, there’s an opportunity to do it respectfully and graciously.

Try it. The world could use a little more nice.

One of Apple’s more recent developments in particular caught my attention and sparked my interest this week.

I’m referring to iPad’s new feature to download textbooks from the App Store. That’s right, textbooks! And available at the low cost of $14.99 or less. Apple announced iBooks 2 for iPad yesterday after partnering with big publishers like McGraw-Hill and Pearson. This is probably going to be one of their largest drivers of revenue to date.

To think, just 2 years ago I was in college, carrying 45 pounds and $500 worth of books on my back when I could of just had a 3 pound tablet in my purse. Needless to say, the current generation of students has it made.

However, with every positive comes a negative. It makes me a little sad to think that my children might never get to see or feel a textbook. It’s a completely different experience to dive into a textbook, to smell the pages, to actually have to look up a term in the glossary instead of typing it into a search box. I know that technology exists to make things easier, but I believe exposing children to technology at too young an age robs them of their ability to problem-solve, to become resourceful and independent. Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m sure I’ll one day be a parent of a 2-year-old who knows how to use an iPhone, but I’d like to think that textbooks and cursive writing will stick around for another decade or so!

What do you feel are the pros and cons of kids using iPads in school instead of textbooks and notepads?