PACIFIC INSTITUTE BIZ TOOLS FOR INDIA (10.02.2007)

US-based CGN & Associates, a business performance consulting company, has tied up with The Pacific Institute (TPI) US to introduce the letter's performance enhancement techniques in India. A new entity called TPI-India will function under CGN's Indian operations to conduct seminars and workshops on these techniques. TPI's programmes are aimed at improving 'people performance' and are based on research in cognitive psychology and social learning theory. "We help employees visualize how they would want to grow in the company. This way they feel part of the company and perform better," said Mr. Lou Tice, chairman and Co-Founder, TPT US. He said the old methods of performance enhancement such as creating mental pressure and bullying employees would not work in today's competitive business environment.

TICE TALK (26.02.2007)

AN ENCOUNTER WITH LOU TICE OF THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE

Its late evening at the IIT, Madras, where a motley group of people have gathered at an auditorium to listen to Lou Tice, co-founder and Chairman of The Pacific Institute of the US. The occasion is the release of Tice's book, Smart Talk, by Prof M.S. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras. But the audience is also there to listen to Tice talk about simple but powerful concepts that have made him an authority in the application of research in the cognitive sciences to the challenges facing organisations today.

Tice starts by showing an audio visual of two groups of people bouncing balls. He asks the audience to count how many times a particular group bounce the balls. He asks the audience to count how many times a particular group bounces the balls. After that he asks the audience to give their counts. Figures vary but the audience is stumped when he asks how many people have noticed a person dressed as a gorilla dance through the group and bouncing balls. None have but see it when he shows the video clip again. Tice uses the example to illustrate scotoma, a Greek word for a blind spot. "Most people don't realize that senses deceive them."

He says that it is a simple but effective way to illustrate how even it is a simple but effective way to illustrate how even in business decisions one's mind blocks out all information that is not important. "It's not the decibel level of information but the value; only information that is significant gets through," Tice emphasises. The problem with scotoma he says is you are always thinking that you are seeing the truth. Taking it to a larger plane, Tice's talk centres around the fact that it is all a mind game. "Change your mind and life changes; the focus of control is inside you and you can make a difference to the way you live and work and develop the potential to make a difference to your business," Tice says.

Seventy-one-year old Tice has been at it for over 35 years with The Pacific Institute where his teaching takes the complex concepts from the fields of cognitive psychology and social learning theory and makes it easier to understand and use. The crux of his message is to focus on people. As the Pacific Institute brochure says: "...over 70 per cent of all change initiatives is corporations do not deliver the required results and the most common cause of failure is an insufficient focus on people." So, Tice says one has to change the way you think and you can change the way you run your life. "It tall comes from the inside and works it way outside, you can't impose change from the outside in."

Tice says organisations need to understand the fundamentals of how the mind works, and what's keeping the workforce from realizing their potential and once they get the tools to release that potential they gain and achieve live they never have in their life before. "They feel empowered, there's term called efficacy your belief in your own abilities to make thing happen...," adds Tice.

Tice was in Chennai recently to kick off the India Chapter of The Pacific Institute along with its associate in India, CGN, a business performance consulting firm with a presence in several countries. In India CGN will combine its human capital management consultancy with TPI's self-development programmes in business performance enhancement. In India TPI will be conducting workshops to take its curriculum to organisations around the country.

SWITCH FROM 'HAVE TO' TO 'WANT TO' (26.02.2007)

High-performance people live in a Whiteheadian world, not the Newtonian, says Lou Tice in 'Smart talk', from East West Books (Madras) P Ltd.

Sir Isaac Newton's view was that everything was perfect except people, who were 'always trying to ruin a good thing', On the other hand, Alfred North Whitehead, a philosopher and a mathematician, looked at the world as a dynamic one. The Whiteheadians, therefore, work on building a new reality every day, says Tice. "For them, present reality is only temporary... They don't sit around cursing fate, or wishing for change... They create change for themselves."

To transcend current reality, you should see the why and what, and not to worry about 'how', counsels the author. Another advice, to help cultivate 'thought patterns for peak performance', is to break from linear thinking. Tice reminds you of the need for a lot of drive and energy to get from here to there. Most of that music come from within 'from intrinsic motivation that motives'. Discover your values by asking yourself tough questions, exhorts the author. "It's not an easy task to sort out your priorities. It takes some time... When you get down the six and seven things that are most important to you in this life, you know what to hang your goals on."

Throw away the 'have to' attitude that losers adopt in running their lives'. Instead, look at what is the best for you and say, 'I choose to, I want to, I get to'. That way you call the shots, and assume accountability for everything you do, even as 'tremendous surge of power comes over you.'

A chapter on 'the creative thought process' speaks of the three parts of the process, viz. the conscious, the subconscious, ant the creative subconscious. The conscious part, in turn have five basic,' perception, assimilation, association, evaluation and decision.'

Tice likens the subconscious to 'a high-fidelity sensory tape recorder that captures and stores your version of reality'. The third part, the creative subconscious, enforces your behaviour. How does all that connect to work, you may wonder? "The quality of information you have stored about how the world works affect the validity of choices you make", says Tice.
Smart analysis.