Liebherr Thailand Improves with THE

Liebherr Thailand, a subsidiary of Liebherr International, adopts the Theory of Human Excellence to raise efficiency and change the organisation to become a learning organisation focused upon continuous improvement. Employees are inspired and understand each other’s methods of behaviour and the reasons why they approach things the way they do.

The Liebherr Group comprises of more than 100 companies on every continent of the World and employs a workforce of more than 32,000 people. Liebherr produces a very wide range of industrial products including cranes, construction machinery, mining trucks, machine tools, material flow technology through to refrigerators, freezers and aeroplane technologies. The Thailand based subsidiary was founded in 1998 and now has a workforce of over 200 employees. At this plant they focus primarily upon concrete technology products producing batching plants to mix concrete and truck mixers to transport the concrete. These are sold domestically and throughout Asia. Liebherr has an excellent name for quality, customer service together with manufacturing well designed and reliable machinery. They are a market leader within the concrete industry and many, many of their trucks are delivering concrete throughout Thailand and the rest of the world.

 

Liebherr aspire to develop a working environment where employees continually improve their ability to achieving their goals; where new and expansive patterns of thinking are sustainably established; and where people are continually learning to understand the whole. Therefore, Liebherr understands that particular views and ideas from outside the organization, in addition to its own internal visions and strategies, are a significant component to introduce change and engineer the organisation for continuous improvement.

In order to improve their processes, procedures and interdependencies within the organization, Liebherr Thailand commissioned a consulting and training program from Mr. Terry Wilcox, founder of the Theory of Human Excellence (THE). After a comprehensive introduction of THE theory to the Senior Management of the organization, THE’s principles were used within a project to induced structural changes to the organisation. Increasing the efficiency of the project and also of the organisation as a whole was one of the key targets. The Project Manager and the project team were therefore also introduced to the concepts and approach of T.H.E.

The project manager was working together with Mr. Wilcox for two months and used the THE approach on the project, plus on his own decision making process and rational. His view on the project: 

“For me as a strong intuitive and firefighting type of person, as soon as I see a problem, I try to solve it immediately, sometimes without thinking too much or thoroughly about how to solve the problem. As soon as I have a solution I just go for it. So what THE helped me to appreciate is that there are other ways of approaching tasks and issues.

Another significant point for me was that it is possible to get into another Zone; to change yourself; your behavior and your patterns during work. The Zone a person is in can be very different depending on the situation or environment around that person. For instance, a person can be in a different Zones when working, playing sport or relaxing with his family.

 Finally, THE showed me where my strengths and weaknesses at work are, whilst extended my usual pattern of thought. I understood how to use different decision methods or styles and it really made me use much more of my brain power. It drastically changed my way of approaching issues and THE offered me alternative approaches to problem solving. During the actual project I adopted more strategies to follow or apply in certain management situations. These changes made the project more efficient and changed my style of working to a more structured and effective way. This also gave me more room for thinking about strategic topics and more closely controlling them rather than just problem solving”.

Throughout the whole Thai organisation, even those employees who were not part of the project team, THE had an effect on their understanding of the organisations and employee behavior patterns. Conflicts and issues between people were discussed more openly and people understood the rational of decisions, plus they were able to reflect and understand their own thought processes alongside that of their colleagues. All employees using the approach have been empowered and the organisation as a whole is able to understand and change significant patterns. This new tool empowered Liebherr Thailand to become more efficient, plus create a constantly learning and improving environment.

Once more, Liebherr Thailand would like to thank Mr. Wilcox for his consultancy and is happy to recommend the Theory of Human Excellence as a practical and useful tool to help obtain a clearer picture of what is happening in an organisation and being able to adopt change to increase efficiency. The Theory of Human Excellence (THE) is a revolutionary new way of looking at knowledge and human behaviour. It is founded upon the very latest neuro research covering how the brain learns, grows and formulates decisions, making it extremely natural and simple to adopt. It provides an initiative new set of management principles that dramatically increases efficiency and effectiveness developing excellence in the workplace. 

Learn more by visiting www.theoryofexcellence.org or contact Terry Wilcox at terrywilcox@theoryofexcellence.org

Terry Wilcox
Theory of Human Excellence
+66 8170 11 315
Skype: terry_wilcox

THE Enlightenment Lecture - Regent's School, Pattaya

Terry Wilcox, the founder of the Theory of Human Excellence (THE), presented during the Enlightenment series of lectures to selected students at The Regent's School, Pattaya Campus. This lecture provided a basic introduction to the human brain. The main focus of the lectures is 'enhancing learning skills' that could boost an individuals performance and improve their ability to complete every day tasks.
 

The lecture covered topics such as brain plasticity and how this allows the brain to constantly change. How, through regular exercise, good food, adequate sleep and systematic thought, the brain can be developed. The students used plasticine to model the brain, reinforcing their memory of a constantly changing and growing mind. Also covered during the lecture were demonstrations of how the body's sensory inputs are combined with memories to form a picture of the real world and how this can be altered or tricked by illusions. To help understand the way the brain rewards itself, volunteer students performed practical experiments to help demonstrate both the individual and social human reward mechanism. This topic helped students to understand how motivation works and how to help each other succeed when in teams.

The lecture also covered how mirror neurons make humans follow other people's behaviour patterns like laughing or yawning, plus several accelerated learning techniques to help the students remember content. The final elements of the lecture covered how to raise performance levels when completing any task by using positive self-talk and visualisation techniques. Many practical experiments or alternative learning methods were incorporated to ensure the lecture was unlike their normal learning environment. An example of this is that all the PowerPoint slides had virtually no words and contained only relevant pictures or images. this helped the students to remember that humans actually don't think in words - but pictures. This also greatly aided their comprehension of the subject matter.

Feedback from the students was extremely positive. They found the content both interesting and useful. The general opinion was that the knowledge provided should allow them to improve how they learn, improve how they remember and help them achieve a higher level of performance. In fact, the lecture was so well received that Terry has been requested to conduct the same lecture at the earliest opportunity for the reminder of the student body.

For more information on the Theory of Excellence go to www.theoryofexcellence.org or if you are interested in having a lecture on the theory then please contact terrywilcox@theoryofexcellence.org.

Terry Wilcox 
Theory of Human Excellence

Neuroscience brings Direct Mail back to life!

Neuroscience continues to prove the 'marketing experts' wrong and also confirm for many of us that we never really understood how the brain works.

Recent neuro-research has proven that direct mail is not dead and actually has a stronger influence on consumers than digital media. Furthermore, actual real life experiments revealed that direct mail creates a much stronger impression that lasts longer, and delivers a better return on investment and improves a brand's adoption. Whilst postmen in the UK are extremely happy with this revelation, many multi-million dollar brand consultancy companies are a little red faced. They have been 'selling' new marketing strategies based upon - you need to go fully digital; Social 2.0 is the only way; it needs to go viral; digital is much more cost effective, ubiquitous and has the best impact. How wrong they are and it just goes to show that we should continue to validate even our basic concepts against new developments in neuroscience.

 These findings were the result of research done on for the Royal Mail by the Bangor University. People were given physical direct mail along with digital advertisements. What they found through fMRI scans is that direct mail is significantly more multi-sensory than online marketing, as a result of the increased number of senses used by holding something in your hand, rather than just looking at it one a monitor. So, the lets go digital bandwagon just hit a bump and all the advertising consultants will have to take out their old 'direct marketing' slides from the trash bin and build a new presentation based around a mix of digital and tangible items that we can touch, hold and feel. Time for a new set of buzz words and re-vamped strategic pitches, I think!

The Theory of Human Excellence (THE) is based on the very latest neuro-scientific research such as the experiments used above, plus some completely original thought based upon years of investigation and analysis. THE provides a new way to view the way humans think or make decisions, plus it delivers a revolutionary strategy that is used to define and control how organisations operate and improve their business in areas such as marketing, sales or man management. The combination of new research plus original thought are used to deliver human excellence at work, which increases productivity and profit.

Terry Wilcox
Theory of Human Excellence

Rewards

It states on the Theory of Excellence's web site that the reward for being social is greater than the reward for being a winner. A reader has contacted me to ask why.

Winning a physical competition normally requires the body to elevate internal functions such as increasing heart rate, diverting blood to more vital organs, increasing the respiratory rate to get more oxygen from the atmosphere, breaking down glycogen stored in the liver and muscle to get more glucose, whilst intelligence based tasks require an increase in brain power again requiring blood to be diverted from other areas. Although both types of activities, when done in a positive state of mind rather than under stress or through anxiety, have positive effects on the body and are essential for health living, they can also have negative effects. Preparation for competition to get in the correct state of mind uses exactly the same hormones cortisol and testosterone as our body releases when under stress. Our body actually starts the primitive reaction of either flight or fight. Exactly the same state as stress and as we all know, 'stress kills'. Stress disrupts nearly every system in your body. It raises blood pressure, suppresses the immune system, increases the risk of a heart attack, contributes to infertility, and speeds up the aging process. What may not be as commonly known is that positive social interaction has exactly the opposite affect and actually promotes good health helping to extend life.

Why is this? Because, when we socialise our bodies release Oxytocin, which is the brains way of rewarding itself. Oxytocin is known as the "cuddle" hormone and has powerful, health-promoting properties. It is released when we cultivate warm, loving, intimate relationships and is most potent when we combine touch with positive interactions. Here are some examples on how you can experience the benefits of this hormone: take care of a pet; hold hands, hug and kiss more; give and receive a backrub; or go for a massage.

So, although winning gives the greatest buzz and we get a higher sense of reward, in the long term taken too seriously this is also having a negative effect on our bodies. The social reward gained from a relationship only has positive effects. But balance, as ever, is key. We all need exercise to maintain our bodies and the feeling of victory is great - but don't let winning become the be all and end all. Realise that you are competing to improve your health and not just to win. Enjoy the participation more than the result!

If you have any questions regarding the Theory of Human Excellence (THE) or anything else related to human performance, please feel free to contact me via the contacts page on the web site.

Terry Wilcox
Theory of Human Excellence

Change in the mirror

Has no one told the fashion industry that humans don't like change. Didn't they get the memo that change is difficult? If they did, they either ignored it or did not understand what it was about. The fashion industry doesn't concern itself with change, it just has faith in the power of the mirror

And 'mirror neurons' are why the industry prospers. Merely seeing someone else wearing a new style, especially someone famous or a role model, triggers the brain to copy, imitate, or try to behave the same. That's why mega brands are so keen to have super-stars wear or use their merchandise, even to the point of giving them away free. These specialized brain cells also fire when we see actions performed or emotions expressed that we automatically mimic. We are all familiar with how infectious yawning or laughing can be. This is human mirroring at work.
 
One of the key reasons the fashion industry can play on this human aspect so successfully is that it takes very little effort to keep with the latest trends or styles. New products or brands are carefully engineered so that they can be easily adopted. Just imagine how difficult it would be to start a new fashion that took 30 minutes to wear. The fashion industry knows the quicker the better; the easier to wear the more popular the item - just look at jeans. The only time-consuming, high maintenance trend that comes to mind that was a world-wide success is 'the teddy boy DA' haircut. 
However, that probably had the most famous person of all time promoting it - Elvis. And, I would imagine the men believed they would be equally attractive to women if they donned the same haircut. Sex sells. Another fashion industry corner stone, but that's for another day.

So, is change really difficult? Do humans reject new things, finding them difficult to adopt? If you ask the IT industry they say change management is 'nearly impossible'! If you ask the fashion industry they would respond 'its human nature and we have built an industry on it'. The real truth is that if you make change difficult, needing lots of effort with very little reward, then yes, it is difficult. However, if you make it enjoyable, rewarding and trendy then it is easy, it happens almost automatically.

What is human excellence?

Many people have different ideas on human excellence.  In the East, excellence is not just being the best, the fastest, the brightest or the richest .. harmony and social success are equally important measurements of excellence in their eyes. So, we all think about excellence in different ways. Companies may think about their market share, profits, whilst there is a growing culture within business starting to take hold of having a true and valid purpose.  So, there are actually many views of excellence both personal and organisational – and we all can achieve excellence in different ways – for certain types it is through great leadership; others by being good followers; some by caring for the needy; many by being good teachers; for the creative it may be inventing a different approach or possibly developing the next masterpiece. All different types of human excellence, but how are they achieved. Is there a secret that covers them all?

Yes, the secret is the human brain. Whatever the type of excellence we are endeavouring to achieve, the results are directly based upon the way the human brain functions. Boosting the brain’s performance is the foundation for improvement in whatever areas of excellence we pursue. This is true for all human tasks, roles or processes, including sports and athletics. The brain is at the hub of the performance and determines the outcome. If it is poorly prepared due to lack of nourishment or sleep, the body will not operate at its most efficient. If it is distracted or unfocused, the co-ordination or decision process will be below standard. If the wrong attitude is used when performing a task, the outcome will be impaired. An optimised brain is the secret to human excellence.

 Fortunately, we have learnt more about the brain in the last 5 years than in the last 5,000. Neuro-science has now revealed the key aspects to the way the human brain functions, learns, decides and ultimately rewards itself for what it deems as excellence. New research has indicated that the brain is totally goal orientated and views excellence as getting the maximum reward with the least effort. This may seem very ‘self-centred or materialistic’ but this is now a neuro-scientific fact. The way we have evolved over time determines that the brain must use the least amount of effort because the human thought process is such an enormous energy drain on the body. Even though the brain is very small compared to the other body parts it consumes 20% of our energy when we are just resting. Therefore to help reduce the effort required we tend to repeat the task or practice to become proficient at the required steps or process. Once the body starts to assimilate a good technique to perform the required action, it becomes measurable so as to be able to judge the output, plus the task also becomes predictable and repeatable. It also starts to take much less energy to perform as the steps become optimised. This ultimately improves the brain’s reward to energy ratio.  A major factor in the pursuit of human excellence.

However, the amount of reward the brain provides itself for performing the same series of steps, or achieving exactly the same goal diminishes over time. Take solving the Rubiks cube puzzle. After hours of trying, you first complete the puzzle and you feel immense satisfaction possibly letting off a big ’yes’! But after solving it two or three times, little pleasure is gained. The brain does not reward you anything like as much after the twentieth time.  This demising reward drives us to take the next challenge. Or to look for ways to improve on the output. To reach out for the next goal or the same one quicker, faster with less effort. By improving or adapting is the only way we can maintain the high level of reward the brain  strives for. That’s why the human race is in a constant race – to complete the next goal, to do things better, quicker, or smarter. Our brains are addicted to adaptation. 

However, through other neuro research we also now know that the way the human brain rewards itself for performing as an individual to achieve a goal is not as strong as the reward our brains receive for achieving as a group or doing something positive for other members of the group – so ‘giving’ is actually more rewarding for the brain than winning alone. This increased social reward includes not only our direct family, friends and pets but also the environment as a whole. Consequently, the size of the reward is dependent not just on achieving the goal, but its positive impact on the surrounding social group and environment. 

Human excellence is using the minimum effort to achieve the highest reward for the group, including the environment.

 New neuro research and insights are now providing completely new ways to help improve the brain’s performance. We just need to understand more about the brain and apply these new discoveries – just like sports science did for the rest of the body.  Many of these new theories and findings have been applied within the core principles and philosophy of the Theory of Human Excellence. These new discoveries are revolutionary and have a dramatic impact on performance in all areas. The theories and techniques can help to improve focus, aid learning, supplement decision criteria or methods for the particular types of thought, and recognise areas or techniques that can help alleviate errors.  Using the Theory of Human Excellence individuals will maximise the performance of their brain function to complete tasks with improved efficiency and effectiveness so that they achieve their goals for both the individual and the group exerting the minimum energy in a sustainable manner, which is .. human excellence.

 

Terry Wilcox

Theory of Human Excellence

Theory of Human Excellence passes validation test

As part of the validation process for the Theory of Human Excellence (THE), the core concepts of Zones and Frames of Mind were presented to Johannes Walter for his feedback and thoughts. Mr Walter has over thirty years experience of instructing and consulting upon business improvement and the re-organisation of companies. He is a fully qualified Psychological Counselor and performs relationship counseling & life coaching for employees of large international companies. He also is heavily involved with providing high level consultancy on change management and organisational alignment.

Following his review of THE, Mr Walter stated “The approach and methods used within the Theory of Human Excellence are compliant with the core theories that are used in psychology. The theory is comprehensive and does indeed offers a new system to look at the human decision making process. Integrated processes in organisations are very difficult to analyse in order to work and train their people to reach certain objectives. The success of the application of theories of this nature are heavily dependent on the coach, however THE offers a very interesting tool to support the coach to facilitate change within organisations”.

The Theory of Human Excellence would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Johannes Walter once again for taking the time and effort to review the theories. We fully appreciate his confirmation that the THE principles and concepts are rational and consistent with regard to his immense expertise within the field of Psychology and organisation improvements.

The Theory of Human Excellence (THE) is a revolutionary new way of looking at knowledge and behaviour. It is founded upon the very latest neuro research covering how the brain learns, grows and formulates decisions, making it extremely natural and simple to adopt. THE dramatically increases efficiency and effectiveness, which together develop excellence in the workplace. Learn more by visiting www.theoryofexcellence.org.

Document number: MPR 2010 Aug SNE-02 D1.0