ACT in the Workplace with Ross #2

Copy of PART 2 TO EDIT

[00:00:00] Ross: Hi there. and a very warm welcome to Season five, episode 36 of People Soup. It's Ross Macintosh here,

[00:00:29] Peace Supers. In this episode, the tables are still turned, and I'm being interviewed by Producer Emma. I recount some memorable moments from ACT training across the years.

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[00:00:51] And we finish with a surprise question from Emma that carries a singing advisory warning.

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[00:01:15] Our mission is to unlock workplace potential with expert perspectives from contextual behavioral science.

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[00:01:37] And with gratitude to Joe Oliver at Contextual Consulting, there's a discount code for the course. It gives you a 20 percent discount on the Act in the Workplace Train the Trainer program.

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[00:02:12] And the winner will be chosen at random and notified on the 21st of December.

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[00:02:35] I think I'll draw upon three that have really stood out for me. And one is working with nurses and healthcare professionals in the NHS. for some of them, we conducted interviews afterwards and an overriding theme was that nurses felt they had permission to look after themselves.

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[00:02:59] And was super profound for me. if one person goes away with that, then that is amazing.

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[00:03:10] Ross: And a couple more, if I may, one was at a school, with a team of teachers. And after the first session of a four session program, one guy, he identified the value of adventure. And we encouraged people to go and practice between sessions and his challenge was to think how he could then express it in his behavior, So he thought about it and he thought he wanted to relive some boyhood memories and go camping on the moors near where he lived. And his mind was telling him, Ah, my girlfriend's not going to like this. And he said, Oh, my son won't be interested. But during that week he actually shared it with his girlfriend.

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[00:04:00] Producer Emma: It's just a great example of how your thoughts and the mind can limit you some times when actually what's going on in other people's heads could be the complete opposite to what you're anticipating.

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[00:04:22] And during that first week between sessions, she, she described at a moment when she was about to kick off with her kids. She was about to go into one, as she described it. And she just paused in that moment when she was about to do it. And she said, Hmm, how could I express this value of patience? And she did something completely different, rather than kicking off and yelling.

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[00:05:02] So the more we can experiment with making values a more prominent guide to our action. The more we can play and see what's getting in the way and really notice how we're showing up.

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[00:05:28] Ross: and what we're doing in the training is, well, the core skill is that noticing. We're trying to get people to become uber noticers so they can notice when they're about to do something that maybe isn't aligned with how they want to be.

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[00:05:44] .

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[00:06:08] Because I've done this with hundreds and hundreds of people. And I'll also be joined during at least one session by my partner in ACT, Dr. Paul Flaxman. We'll focus a bit more on the evidence base for ACT in the workplace.

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[00:06:23] Ross: Yeah, that's a great idea Emma, thank you. And I think what I'll do is an excerpt from session one of the training protocol and it's where we introduce that skill of open. to the inner world. And we do that using a metaphor called the passengers on the bus. So what I'm going to do is just have a little go at introducing that to folks.

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[00:06:57] You're driving it in a direction that has purpose and significance, and a direction that matters to you. Sometimes you might be thinking of doing something new in your life, taking a new avenue. And, the moment we start moving forward, driving our bus, There's lots of chatter starts up behind us. And that chatter, in this metaphor, we call that chatter our passengers.

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[00:07:40] And some other passengers are saying to me, Hey Ross, I can see you're thinking of doing this new thing in life. You're going to take a slight diversion and go somewhere new. And we think that's going to be great. We think you've got all the skills and the strengths you need and we think it'll end up in a really good place.

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[00:08:17] We know that's where you feel safe and comfortable. So you might see other people taking new avenues and doing new things, but that's not for you, man. Get real. You know that where you feel really comfortable is just staying on that safe and familiar route going round and round. And then there's some passengers that are just downright rude. they're saying to me, Ross, have you even got a license for this vehicle, because you're a really shit driver. Everyone else is better than you on this route. And we can see you're thinking of taking a new avenue too, well really? Are you sure? Because we know what's going to happen, there's going to be a series of unfortunate events ending in utter, utter catastrophe.

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[00:09:07] and typically as humans we'll pay far more attention to those ones that are unhelpful. They can sometimes drown out the ones that are more helpful. And we use this metaphor throughout the training. in session four, we even end up acting it out.

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[00:09:26] Producer Emma: Great Ross, lovely analogy there. And am I right in saying it's about raising the voices of those positive passengers on the bus a bit more. .

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[00:09:40] And what we know is that's not feasible. We know from the research that that might be effective in the short term. But actually what they tend to do is nip down the road, put a disguise on and get back on the bus and have renewed vigour.

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[00:10:07] But if we can make room for them and not get tangled up with them, we can then direct our attention on where we want to move. Even Mmm. Mmm.

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[00:10:29] Audiogram Potential

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[00:10:56] Producer Emma: Right. And I suppose if you're aligned to your purpose, your meaning and your body's in life or something, you hold very strong That willingness will be something that might be a bit easier to do.

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[00:11:16] Ross: we interrupt this broadcast with an important public service announcement. If you're interested in ACT, I'd heartily recommend that you check out the whole range of training at Contextual Consulting. There's both live and on demand training to browse. I've done loads of top quality courses at Contextual Consulting, including a Russ Harris Boot Camp, a course with Kirk Strozzel and Patty Robinson, and another with Ray Owen, and another with friend of the show Richard Bannett. All of these courses have helped me to become more immersed in act and in turn, enhanced my effectiveness in the workplace.

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[00:12:04] PSOUP15. now we'll go back to the chat.

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[00:12:13] Ross: I think a couple spring to mind. The first one is get to know the context. ACT is part of an approach called Contextual Behavioral Science. And Get to know as much about the context of the organization as you can, what they're looking for you to deliver, get to know as much as you can about the context of the organization and what they're trying to achieve.

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[00:12:51] Producer Emma: It's so nice to hear you talk about the training program with as much passion and energy as you do. But one question I would have is what do you enjoy most about delivering this program?

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[00:13:01] Ross: Oh my goodness.

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[00:13:16] I'm operating from a really strong evidence base That can help unlock the potential of adults in the workplace.

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[00:13:58] Ross: Emma, you absolute [00:14:00] legend. Thank you so much for asking this question. And this is a complete surprise, P Supers. And Emma was kind enough to give me a brief pause to reflect. But the song I'm going to choose, Emma, and I think it, it represents Flexman,

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[00:14:44] And I'm going to have a go, Emma. I think I owe it to the P Supers. I might even, I might even put it on in the background, so I've got a little beat.

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[00:14:53] Ross: Oh, you can hear the intro. Ahem. I don't know when I come in. Hang on.

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[00:15:12] It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. It ain't what you do, it's... It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. And that's what gets results. It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. What you do, it's the, it ain't what you do, it's the time that you do it, and that's what gets results.

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[00:15:48] Producer Emma: Brilliant. And I am definitely adding an applause sound effect after that one thank you for that, Ross. I'm delighted I asked that now.

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[00:15:59] Producer Emma: [00:16:00] know, as part of the training program you might have to perform a short interlude of that piece.

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[00:16:34] Producer Emma: Stepping out of that comfort zone. Brilliant, Ross. Thank you so much. It's been a privilege to get to hear a bit more about Act and your story, Ross. So thank you so much.

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[00:16:58] Producer Emma: Sounds great.

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[00:17:16] That's act in the workplace. Train the trainer. there's also a prize draw for a free place on that trading. You've gotta be in it to win it folks. other courses from Contextual Consulting, the discount code is PSOOP15. We'd love your help in reaching more people with this behavioural science.

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[00:17:34] you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, we'd love you to do three things.

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[00:17:45] Number three, share the heck out of it on the socials. This would all help us reach more people and make some noise with stuff that could be useful. We'd love to hear from you and you can get in touch at peoplesoup. pod at gmail. com. On X, formerly [00:18:00] known as Twitter, we are at peoplesouppod. on the gram, known as insta, We are at People. Soup and on Facebook we are at PeopleSoupPod. You can also drop us a review or get in touch using a voice note on WhatsApp.

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[00:18:23] You absolute devil. I was just thinking, oh, maybe I should have done that. And, That's, that's genius, Emma. I'm so bloody delighted the way, the way you're bringing this in.

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[00:18:42] Ross: Yes, yeah, you've really caught me. Uh,

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