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Cornerstone Convergence 2022

Oct. 18-20 | Las Vegas, NV Our global customer & partner conference. It’s back. It’s live. It’s in person. And it’s going to be epic! We can’t wait to see you again! Register now

Take a Breath: Technology That Calms While Boosting Productivity

Stress, some may argue, is a necessary evil when it comes to work. In fact, some people even thrive on it. But what happens when it actually hurts productivity? Sometimes, employees get so overwhelmed they even forget to breathe. Recent reports suggest that Millennials are the generation most overwhelmed by technology. What’s more, Gen Yers are most stressed — a stress that seems to be majorly induced by work. With the growth of technology comes new freedoms for workers, but it also requires employees to be "on" 24-7. As technology continue to evolve, there’s a bubbling fear that generations to come will only be more overwhelmed and more stressed at work — putting them at higher risk for health problems like obesity and heart attacks. While some companies champion workplace wellness through on-site yoga and other health-related programs, addressing long-term stress can come in many forms. One Stanford professor hopes to reduce workers' stress and help them produce more through a term he coined: calming technology. The 2025 Workplace Smart watches are tracking numbers from steps to caloric intake, but what if there was a wearable device that could track your breathing and increase productivity by doing so? Neema Moraveji, co-founder of Breathware and director of Stanford’s Calming Technology Lab, is doing just that. Though his product is still in beta stages, Moraveji has harnessed a technology that can understand when and how we need to breathe in order to be more productive and engaged at work. "Calming Technology isn’t about relaxing technology — it’s not about getting everyone really relaxed," Moraveji says. "It’s about understanding how technology can set our minds free from having to accumulate and store so many little distractions. It’s enabling us to be in the moment." Eastern medicine has long embraced the idea of controlled breathing. With the help of the 1970’s book "The Relaxation Response," author Dr. Herbert Benson introduced controlled breathing as a de-stressing technique. It seems, though, that while most of us generally know we should take a few deep breaths when we get overwhelmed, we rarely do it. Calming technology is meant to help with that: alerting you when you need to breathe and centering you with the help of wearable technology and device applications. "The technology helps train people," says Moraveji. "It will train a muscle that people have, but are not working out." Eventually, once enough data is collected from pilot programs being run at Stanford and with Silicon Valley companies, Moraveji is confident that managers can even learn about employee’s breath patterns in order to place them on specific teams — a micromanager may breathe differently than an introvert for instance. These breath profiles could even become part of the hiring process in the not-so-distant future.

It's Time for Diversity Training to Evolve

I was perusing Fast Company recently when an article caught my eye. The piece challenged the effectiveness of diversity policies and training in many companies. As a matter of fact, it went so far as to say that many of them are backfiring. In brief, a group of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Washington found that white men felt threatened by pro-diversity initiatives. What's more, citing a longitudinal study of more than 700 U.S. companies, they discovered that not only were programs aimed at reducing racial bias among the management group less effective, but also that some weren't successful at convincing underrepresented minorities that they would be treated more fairly. I say this in my book, Unleashing Capacity: The Hidden Human Resources, a lot, but it bears repeating, "It's not about the model, it's the mindset." Merely posting policies as a blanket warning isn't effective in creating inclusion for all. It is only going to work if you work on it, so consider delivering and reinforcing diversity in a manner that creates universal accountability. Here are three suggestions on how to accomplish just that: 1) Focus on Collaboration Without Bias I'll be quite blunt here: The world is rapidly becoming widely diverse, with people of color comprising much of the population at large. Diversity training is meant to reinforce that we should all be able to work together to accomplish our goals, regardless of differences. The more you can consistently deliver on this common-sense approach without calling out white males or alienating minority groups, the better the training will work. It's about collaboration without bias, education without prejudice and the advancement of the corporation without tearing it apart from the inside due to cultural concerns. Everyone from the CEO on down must drive this message home, and it must be a part of the daily culture with reinforcement from training when necessary. 2) Embrace Diversity In Your Own Organization The populations meant to be served by diversity training must see evidence of it in the workplace. The management population must be diverse. There must be diversity of thought, reward for ideas and an embrace of different cultures, experiences, languages and histories. Ensuring that your leadership reflects your diversity program is just good business, and it sends strong message to the employees and the market that you believe in progress as practice 3) Reward Self-Directed Progress The Fast Company article mentions the success of PwC's 4REAL diversity training, where self-directed diversity training modules are completed and progress is tracked. In a world that seems to be shoving back on the perception of "forced diversity," it makes sense that individual direction would be more widely accepted. Giving individuals a deadline in which they must complete the training, but then leaving the progression and experience entirely to the individual creates a personal experience they'll remember. Also, utilizing technology in this manner enables efficient delivery across the entire workplace, both virtual and physical. The future is rapidly approaching, and with an ever-diversifying world of work buoyed by rapid technological advancement, HR and the companies we support are most certainly heading toward a greater need for inclusion than any time in history. I stand ready to help you create the workplace that exceeds the expectations of current and future workforces. Photo: Twenty20