SPARK Creations Community

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At SPARK, family comes first. As in years past, we will love by example and disconnect to create meaningful connections with our loved ones. We will be off social media and email beginning Friday, December 20th and back on Monday, January 6th, 2020.

Let’s all bring more presence, attention, love, forgiveness, care, respect, joy, empathy and compassion to every moment during this holiday season.

See you all next year!

Love,
SPARK Family

We all know that leaders are imperative to the success of the business by ensuring there is a clear vision and effectively communicates this to their team members.

Although leaders widely recognize the need for appreciation, it tends to be a blind spot. The article suggests to look for opportunities to acknowledge your team's results and positive progress. Try using basic psychology-- reinforce those behaviours you want to see more frequently! Be sincere and specific when doing this. Take the time to thoughtfully explain why you appreciated the specific action taken by a team member.

People will do more for those who appreciate them.

Credit: 7 Ways to Show Your Appreciation | Inc.

At SPARK, it's an annual tradition to watch this TEDTalk on "Gratitude". Fast forward the video to 3:45.

While you're wrapping gifts, making hot chocolate, baking cookies, or at the start of your meeting, watch this video.

It's a great reminder of what's most important in life especially during the holidays.

Gratitude | Louie Schwartzberg | TEDxSF Nature's beauty can be easily missed — but not through Louie Schwartzberg's lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Ben...

In late 2018, we set out to create a new video podcast in 2019 called IGNITE: Inspiring Human Moments. The intention of the podcast was to create a space for meaningful conversations that inspire human centered leadership and workplace cultures.

We are so grateful to have had the following human leaders share their thoughts and ideas in 6 episodes for Season 1.

E1: “What really makes a purpose-driven organization?” featuring Casey Miller, Laurie Bennett, and Hussein Hallak

E2: “How to Cultivate Imagination” featuring Randal Hrytzak, Tania Reitsma and Tim Reitsma

E3: “Strengthening Trust” featuring Keri-Anne Livingstone, Darryl Stickel and Shannon Rose Farrell-Jackson

E4: “Why Self Compassion Transcends Self Confidence” featuring Jennifer Curleigh, Matthew Gould and Teresa Duke

E5: “Creating Cultures of Belonging” featuring Kristin Bower, Stephanie Redivo and Aileen de la Torre

E6: “Humanizing Work with Love and Compassion” featuring Pam Ross, Kristen Harcourt and Lorne Rubis

For the full videos, click here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw-8E3kkf3Kp0ud6UM4wZZw?view_as=subscriber

If you are passionate about humanizing the workplace, please share in the comments below and we will connect with you. @ Vancouver, British Columbia

The theme for December is gratitude. Take time out of your day to be thankful for the little things that you may take for granted!⁣
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Love,⁣
The SPARK team 💚 @ Vancouver, British Columbia

Our awesome SPARKner, , facilitated the BCITSA workshop last week which was was centered around building trust and an ownership mindset and why it matters. ⁣
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One question that came up was "is trust earned or simply given"? Over 50% of the group said you need to earn trust! Within a 5 min exercise around the tables, the groups were asked to share something about themselves (note: about half didn't know each other). There was so much laughter and sharing! Within a very short time, trust was built! Getting vulnerable, sharing something about themselves and opening up showed the group that if you need to earn trust, it can be done in a short time.⁣
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Tim said that a student approached him afterwards and told him that he always thought people needed to earn trust over a long period of time. The session showed him a new perceptive!

See you all soon! 💚

When practicing gratitude, our minds and bodies start to benefit from it. Feelings of gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions, and although its benefits do take some time, studies show that gratitude has lasting effects on the brain!⁣
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The Greater Good Magazine at Berkeley recommend you to write gratitude letters to those you are thankful for. Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don’t have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.⁣
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Credit: How Gratitude Changes You & Your Brain | Greater Good Magazine

According to this TINYpulse 2019 Employee Engagement Report, "The biggest driver of employee engagement boils down to one thing: culture."

Culture IS the strategy.

Click here for the full report:https://www.tinypulse.com/hubfs/EE%20Report%202019.pdf

"Storytelling has been shown to be a fitting communication method for creating an environment where people feel they belong."

When we designed our Rediscover Your Core (personal and team values discovery) session, we didn't know at the time that it was an activity that builds trust and belonging. Over the years, and time and time again, we witnessed Leaders and their teams create meaningful human connections through these values sessions.

When we create the space for others to share what matters most to them, and we listen, acknowledge and accept their whole being, that's true belonging.

To learn the other 6 Ways to Foster Belonging in the Workplace by Culture Amp, check out this ebook:https://hello.cultureamp.com/hubfs/1703-Belonging/Culture-Amp_6-ways-to-foster-belonging.pdf