Obama's Inauguration - The Principles of Hope

Last week's Inauguration address by President Obama once again showcased his extraordinary speaking talents. My impression is that the delivery of his speech deftly weaved together the threads of Presidents Kennedy and Clinton, of Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and reaffirmed the role we have come to see as a cornerstone of his identity: statesman and orator.

Yet this time, there was something more. It was his moment to offer a first glimpse of the course he intends to set for the world's most powerful nation over the next four years. He's given us the agenda that will drive his behaviour as President and that will guide the staff of his administration.

NeuroPower Leadership: the Compassionate Leader

I've written previously that Obama is frequently able to embody what within the NeuroPower framework (as developed by author and strategist Peter Burow) is called a NeuroPower Leader.

Specifically, he is able to manifest the characteristics of what is termed the Compassionate Leader, which is the result of integrating the two NeuroPower archetypes of Chancellor and Navigator. Before we go on, I'll give you some detail on how NeuroPower suggests these archetypes are formed.

Archetypes and the 6 Intelligence Centres

Each of our individual personalities comprises two archetypes. An archetype is formed through the combination of three of the six thinking functions that NeuroPower suggests make up the majority of our brain's activity.

These six thinking functions (also called Intelligence Centres, or ICs for short) may be grouped in their three respective pairs under the following headings:

Innovation and Vision
Logic and Passion
Data and Empathy

Note that there isn't a stark divide between each pair, so it's not "Data versus Empathy," rather (following the Jungian conception of behaviour) they are the respective endpoints along a continuum of possible behaviours.

Master/Mirror Archetype and Integration

As we each tend more toward one or the other end of these three continua, we'll each come to prefer or rely on one set of three thinking functions as our "default" mode of operating. The combination of these three preferred modes of thinking results in our Master archetype. Meanwhile the other three thinking functions that represent our less-preferred ways of operating combine to form our Mirror archetype.

To take President Obama as an example, I would argue that his default mode - that is, the three ICs that he tends to favours in the first instance - are the Innovation, Passion and Empathy ICs. The archetype that results when these three are combined is the Chancellor archetype and, since these are his preferred three ICs, the Chancellor is his Master archetype profile. The corresponding three ICs (Vision, Logic and Data respectively) therefore combine to form the Navigator archetype and this is his Mirror archetype profile.

The two key concepts to grasp here are that:

• We all have access to all six of these thinking functions or Intelligence Centres. Reintegrating your Master profile (made up of your "preferred" three ICs) and your Mirror profile (made up of the other three ICs) is the central developmental challenge each of us faces in our efforts to express our fullest capacity as people - hence that's also the primary developmental focus of the NeuroPower framework.
• The Master profile tells us what we want out of life, the Mirror profile reminds us of what we need. How this plays out is that our Master archetype forms our self-identity (i.e. where we place our focus and how we communicate with others; to that degree it also determines how others view and value us as individuals) while the Mirror archetype influences our behaviour.*
  

Up to the Inauguration we've seen a good deal of Obama's Master archetype, the Chancellor, and this has determined our sense of his identity. In this speech we begin to see the integration of his Mirror archetype, the Navigator, and get a sense of how that is likely to guide his behaviour.

Here is the video of his speech and below that are two short descriptions of the Chancellor and Navigator archetypes. I invite you to use these archetypes as a lens through which to view the content and delivery of his message, to see how seamlessly he has integrated the best aspects of each and how he brings them to the service of his purposes.

You can visit the original YouTube page here.

The Chancellor**

Chancellors are charming, enthusiastic, energetic and ambitious. They like competition, negotiation, promoting ideas and people and rising to the top. Chancellors are found among some of the most senior leaders and officials in society. They live to work and rise to challenges, particularly those complex people issues that others cannot seem to sort out.

Chancellors are passionate about projects with which they are involved; they are highly adept at getting team members to achieve their respective objectives, each for their own reasons. Indeed they are the ultimate diplomats: they strive to build bridges both externally, between groups and people and internally, within the sometimes conflicted breast of an individual with whom they may be interacting. They are altruistic at heart and dedicated to authenticity and bringing out the best in others.

At their best, Chancellors are genuinely charming, excellent negotiators, diplomatic, strive for esprit de corps to foster high-performing team environments, and have a warmth and kindness about them, even a sort of venerability as they put us in touch with our own better natures.

The Navigator***

A Navigator’s mind is structured and visionary. These traits combine to produce a person with a clear vision and the discipline and structure to achieve it. They are super-dependable and like to be a respected contributor to the community and a pillar of society.

Very emotionally detached, Navigators are inflexible when discussing plans, directions, approaches and logistics. If they are given no advance warning, however, they can cope with flexibility and ambiguity and perform brilliantly ‘on the hop’.

Navigators are very focused when there is a clear vision, executing enormous mind over matter, suppressing unwanted emotions and disciplining themselves and the people around them.

At their best, Navigators are the embodiment of faith, exhibiting complete confidence in the achievement of their goals and never, ever giving up hope. They are protective, almost patriarchal figures. They excel at visionary planning, holding responsibly to the agreed course of action, reaffirming the guiding principles that underlay their plans, and encouraging role excellence in themselves and others. They love to explore and conquer new realms, leading themselves or a group into uncharted territory or experiences - and to do so with honour and respect for others.


Reaffirming the principles of hope

For me, Obama's message was an inspirational reaffirmation of American ideals, principles and the responsibility that comes with power and leadership.

Looking outward to the world and (re)building bridges, he has set his stake in the ground to say clearly and confidently:

...we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. [my emphasis]

Welcome back, America. The world has missed your leadership and your culture's deep, abiding belief in the power that ideas can have in shaping the world. As anthropologist Margaret Mead reminds us:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

TM



*adapted from the NeuroPower handbook, edition 1.0.5 (2008), p 746
**adapted from the NeuroPower handbook, edition 1.0.5 (2008), pp 270-271
***adapted from the NeuroPower handbook, edition 1.0.5 (2008), pp 364-65, 375, 562

Happy Chinese New Year: The Ox

Gung Hay Fat Choy / Gong Xi Fa Cai

Today we enter the Chinese Year of the Ox and I wish all my friends, colleagues and clients a prosperous and healthy year ahead.

Last year was the Year of the Rat, the first in the cycle of 12 years in the Chinese calendar. I've read that Rat years are fast-paced, a time of new opportunities and fresh starts, of renewal through reinvention and also of upheaval.

Certainly in keeping with the theme of renewal and upheaval in a Rat year, 2008 saw its fair share of crises. In fact the events of last year call to my mind the purported Chinese curse, May you live in interesting times, as well as the old saw that the same Chinese character (or ideogram) is used for both the words crisis and opportunity.

In keeping with the Chinese theme of this post, however, I'd like to examine a few of the phrases and concepts that have gotten a bit mangled in their East-to-West translation.

Crisis = Opportunity?

In my previous post I quite explicitly made the point that you have the power of choice over whether to view a situation as a crisis or an opportunity - something that I still hold to be true. However it seems that the concept does not have its roots in the use of the same Chinese character for both crisis and opportunity (see here and here for details).

Similarly there is no reference that can be found for a Chinese curse, let alone saying, May you live in interesting times. According to Wikipedia the expression may have its roots in an interpretation of a Chinese phrase that may be translated as follows:

the times produce their heroes
(pinyin: shí shì zào yīng xióng)

I rather like this, for several reasons: first off, it's not a curse(!); it neatly encapsulates the element of personal agency and choice mentioned above; I think it taps into the underlying truism that each age needs to produce heroes that are appropriate to the moment - with the presumption that each of us has heroism within us that's waiting to be manifested and shine through.

Rat-cunning & Ox-solid

The Rat year 2008 was certainly marked by upheaval and the start of a process of (forceable and possibly overdue) renewal - not least in the financial sector. The signs of continued global climate change were starkly evident. Not all was negative, though, as in 2008 America ushered in a new era marked by the promise of change and of hope by collectively saying Yes We Can.

The Ox year 2009, meanwhile, promises prosperity through fortitude and hard work.

It's meant to be a conservative year, one of traditions and values, of stability and growth where patience and diligence pay off.

It's a year of harvest - when we reap what we have sown and consolidate the progress that the Rat's speediness and destruction/renewal has produced, in which any recent setbacks or obstacles can be overcome.

Even if you put no store by Chinese astrology, I'd suggest that these guiding principles will hold you in good stead this year as people the world over learn how to be the heroes that their times require. We, as well as our communities and the planet, deserve nothing less.

In keeping with the theme, my next post will assess President Obama's inauguration speech to see what kind of Ox year he has in mind for America and, by extension, the world community.
TM

What are you thinking...? Choose wisely!

A friend recently quipped: "What's the definition of optimism for an investment banker?" His answer: Ironing five shirts on a Sunday night.

While the times around us are changing, as they ever will, one thing remains the same: your power of choice. You can see any situation as a crisis or as an opportunity. As an ending or a new beginning.

This may sound trite and Pollyanna-ish to you, but rest assured there is good reason for you to cultivate an awareness of what choices you make during your each waking moment. Where you place your attention will determine your level of happiness...both now and later in your life.


We become what we think about all day long.

These words, attributed to the early 19th century American essayist, philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, neatly present the commonsensical insight of something that has now been confirmed by neuroscience.

In fact the book The Wisdom Paradox : How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older by neuropsychologist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg (see here for book excerpts and here for a short book review) makes a compelling argument that wisdom is essentially the ability to know what to do in a given situation and make good decisions, fast, based on having seen and dealt with similar situations in the past.

So like anything, practice makes better. Unsurprisingly, the way to become good at something is to do it often and to learn from your efforts.

In this way wisdom is not so different from playing a sport or a musical instrument - over time you build up memories of how to do something, which can be readily accessed later on by the fast, memory-building part of your brain (based in the limbic system).

So here's the lesson: if you practice playing the piano badly through your years of life, then you're only ever going to be a bad piano player (though you'll have very ready access to the skill of playing it badly!).

Similarly, if you continually cultivate a mindset focused on crisis, negativity, the downside, and being fearful, then later in life those are exactly the memories you'll most readily access and - hey presto - you're stuck in the same rut of continually thinking everything is rubbish.

Like giving up any vice or bad habit, however, it's never too late to quit and the positive effects can begin to add up immediately. If you begin to manifest positive aspects of your character, some of the noble qualities of what you're like when you are at your absolute best, then those are the attributes to which your brain will make the strongest connections. They will become habits, taking you upwards in a positive spiral towards greater happiness and a more hopeful outlook on life.

Even if you're doubtful of the science behind the matter, I think you'd agree that manifesting a character-filled approach to life by learning to focus on the possibilities rather than the negatives has relatively few down-sides. (Of course, if you're immediately prone to pointing out what the downsides might be, that in itself could be a useful piece of insight for you...!)

I'm reminded of a story about an executive who, no matter what news was presented to him, responded by saying "That's great!" Staff members bearing really negative messages were, to say the least, disconcerted by this reaction, until they learned to see the philosophy behind it - that nothing is unequivocably positive or negative in itself - it all has to do with the meaning we choose to attach to it. Like Hamlet says, "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so".

What are you thinking about, all day long? And is that the way you want to think your whole life long...?
TM

NeuroPower Leader: Barack Obama

Insights from New Zealand

Greetings from the latest NeuroPower training program in Queenstown, New Zealand. Each year NeuroPower practitioners gather in this inspirational and contemplative location to develop not only participants' understanding and application of the framework, but to review the year's latest research and refine and update the framework itself with the latest input, insights and business applications.

This year's particular focus is the process of Transformational Change in organizations and teams. We have also looked at the role of NeuroPower Leaders in the transformation cycle, as outlined in the NeuroPower handbook (developed by author and strategist Peter Burow).

NeuroPower Leaders

These extraordinary individuals are the leaders we admire and follow because we trust them.

We trust them because neurobiologically we can sense that they are coming from a position of nobility rather than a position of selfishness.

We trust them, yet they can be difficult for us to understand because they have most often been able to integrate the diverse aspects of their personality in a way that is compelling and inspires us to achieve more of what we are capable of being ourselves.

In their presence and through their words we believe we can be more than what we've been up to now, that we can achieve more than we've ever achieved before.

If you haven't seen or heard President-elect Barack Obama's acceptance speech I encourage you to do so through the embedded link below or here. Notice in his speech how he integrates all the aspects of both archetypes that he represents, the Chancellor ("bridge builder") and the Navigator ("visionary planner").

Listen for how he brings together the various noble qualities of:

Faith - "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

Charm (in the sense of placing the focus on the other person) - "... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done. But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you."

Negotiating and Diplomatic - "There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

Protecting - "To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you."

Responsible and Principled - "And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."

Building Bridges - "A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain. Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."

Seeking Role Excellence

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change.

And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

And perhaps most characteristic of all for his campaign, the hopefulness of the slogan "Yes We Can", embodied by the qualities of Honour and Genuineness invoked by the memory of Obama's Illinoian predecessor, President Abraham Lincoln:

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

An extraordinary individual for an extraordinary time - and most hopefully for us all, the things he is able to do are based on his being able to fully and freely access all six intelligence centres that are available to him - as they are to all of us.

So are we all able to access the things that will make us NeuroPower Leaders like the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama?


Yes We Can!
TM

Movement, meditation and "Conversion" of problems into nobility

Part of the richness of the English language is that we can have equally compelling sayings which advocate opposite forms of behaviour. Consider:

ACTION
Fortune favours the bold.
He who hesitates is lost.

CONSIDERATION
Look before you leap.
Measure twice, cut once.

A short article appeared recently on the Sydney Morning Herald's "Enterprise" blog that stated: "When it comes to making decisions in business, motion is better than meditation."

My take on the author's position is that, essentially, action is better than inaction and getting stuff done accomplishes more then procrastination - which seems quite straightforward and sensible, rather like the "Action" proverbs offered above.

I think, however, that meditation is here miscast in the role of inactivity or of simply putting things off.

To this I would have to argue, in line with the "Consideration" sayings also listed above, that without reflection one risks action for action's sake and going off half-cocked all the time with a trail of destruction left in one's wake.

Then again...self-indulgent navel-gazing doesn't get you any closer to where you want to be either.

So, how to strike the balance?


Conversion

One possible answer is provided by the process of Conversion (as detailed in Section Four of the NeuroPower handbook, written by author and strategist Peter Burow).

The process, briefly stated, is a powerful yet elegant means of converting problems into opportunities for growth, development, insight and even nobility.

It's something that you can learn to do for yourself and which also works very effectively as part of a coaching process to help resolve thorny issues and get past deadlocked situations.

Here's how it works.

When confronted with problems, there are various tensions at play which serve to keep us stuck and temporarily unable to see the solution.

(Note that this approach presumes that a solution exists, that we already know it in some form, and are simply unable to access that knowledge and wisdom in our current "stuck" state.)

Confronted with these tensions, we have a choice. We can hold the tension and use it to resolve the problem, or we can collapse into one of the fight-flight-freeze modes of our Core Belief Types as a means of avoiding the issue. Some signs that we have collapsed are when we:

• continue to be stuck in the problem (that is, remain unable to access the solution)
• experience strong, sometimes overwhelming sensations of anger, hurt or fear
• tend to blame other people or external circumstances for our plight, unwilling to take responsibility ourselves
• over-identify ourselves with the problem, merging with it so that it is an integral part of our self-understanding; this ensures the problem will remain unsolvable because to solve the problem would be to give up a part of our own identity
  

Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. - Albert Einstein


Find the level of thinking

Once we are aware that the problem exists externally to ourselves but is producing internal tensions, and that these tensions are subject to our influence, we then need to know in what level of thinking the problem sits so that we can rise above it to find the solution.

To begin, we identify whether the problem has to do with either:

personal agency (the drive towards autonomy, desire for independence and the will to preserve oneself in the face of a hostile environment), or
communion (the drive to be part of a larger whole, for interdependence, bonding to or relating with another).

Examples of agency include personal identity and self-expression, or personal success.

Examples of communion include collective survival of one's own family/tribe/community, finding a sense of purpose/destiny located in the greater good, or gaining a sense of communal connection and egalitarianism.

Find the internal tensions

The level of the problem thus established, we return to the internal tensions to determine the nature of the problem. To effectively triangulate the nature of the problem we need to know the following:

1) Is this something that has to do with me as an individual and what I want to do/have/be (my own performance, priorities, achievement, success, values, beliefs and the results I want), or with my place in relation to the group/collective/system (family, colleagues, sequential processes)

2) Does this problem concern subjective reality (interior dimensions of intuition, feelings, emotions), or has it more to do with objective reality (exterior data and facts)?

With one answer for each of these, we know in which quadrant* the problems falls, giving us insight into its nature. The tensions thus identified, we are one step closer to finding our solution.


Apply creativity

Carl Jung tells us that creativity gives the opportunity for the individual to reach a new level of consciousness - which is a way of saying: we rise above the problem to a higher level than the one that produced the problem, thereby addressing Einstein's dilemma.

Once these dimensions are clarified, it then becomes a question of what form of creative thinking (visionary or spontaneous) we need to apply in order to find a resolution to the tensions at play:

Is it something that we want to think through and come up with a solution on our own (meditation, in a sense) or do we want to talk it through with others and find a solution interactively (motion and activity)?

And so we've come full circle to our original debate of whether motion really is better then meditation when making business (or any other) decisions. The answer is: it depends on the nature of the problem that the decision seeks to address.

To recap the Conversion process:

1. Find the (external) problem's level of thinking
2. Identify the internal tensions being produced by the problem: individual vs collective, interior vs exterior
3. Apply creativity (visionary or spontaneous) to the problem
4. Identify the noble quality needed to rise above the problem and access its solution
   

Noble qualities are portals of insight into our own knowledge and wisdom

"So what's this noble quality business?!" I can hear you exclaim.

Well once we've effectively triangulated the level and nature of the problem and decided which creativity is required, we now have the coordinates we need. Using the NeuroPower framework, we can now locate the exact noble quality that will dissolve the tension and solve the problem. A few examples of noble qualities that can be usefully applied to problems (there are 54 in all) include integrity, inspiration, diplomacy, courage, discernment, responsibility, objectivity and drive.

Once we can see beyond the tension of the polarities that are pulling us back and forth (a duel of dualism, if you will) and have gotten above and outside it, we are then able to delve deep into our own character and access a deeper wisdom than what's available in our everyday life.

From this vantage point, it's like viewing the problem through a portal of wisdom and insight - one that rewards us with both a set of actions to take and the energy to carry those actions through, without procrastination or prolonged inactivity.

So while all this talk of nobility, character and wisdom and the like might seem quite esoteric and mystical...the fact is that in my experience and that of the people I've worked with, the Conversion process produces real, practical solutions to really thorny and seemingly intractable problems.

That's because, although noble qualities like integrity, inspiration, diplomacy, courage, discernment, responsibility and others may seem at first glance to be too generic to be helpful, the Conversion process is about finding the exact noble quality that will make sense to the person stuck in the problem and help them get above it, to a place where its solution becomes apparent.

And when it comes to making business decisions - that's what it's all about.
TM



*-Note that this lines up with the four quadrants of Ken Wilber's Four Faces of Truth, defined by the polarities "individual vs collective" and "interior vs exterior".

Chair of Melcrum's "Change Communication conference" April 2009

Melcrum Australia has asked me to Chair their Change Communication conference to be held on April 1st & 2nd, 2009 in Melbourne.

Billed as an opportunity to "tap into the experience of your peers to learn how to create great change initiatives," the speakers will represent a diverse mix of industries and organizations, including: McDonalds, Microsoft, Qantas Group, Energex, St George Bank, Toyota, and Suncorp, to name just a few.

Some of the benefits of attending include learning how to:

• Understand the psychology of change
• Use innovative techniques to drive change in your organization
• Evaluate the most effective channels for communicating change
• Minimize employee uncertainty and resistance to change
• Encourage employees to use new processes and support new business objectives
• Communicate and deliver a sustained cultural change program

For more details and to register, check out the conference brochure.


Melcrum & tm

I'm happy to say that this opportunity represents the latest instance of a continued and growing association between Melcrum and tm. Over the past year, this association has included acting as Chair of their Employee Engagement conference in Sydney last May and presenting a workshop at their Strategic Communications Management Summit held in Sydney in September.

We are also in talks to produce case studies based on communication-related tm client work using the NeuroPower framework (as developed by author and strategist Peter Burow) and an article or series of articles on the useful connections to be made between neuroscience, brain research, culture change, communications and employee engagement, to potentially appear in Melcrum's bimonthly publication Strategic Communication Management magazine.
TM

Charities list for 2008-9 (Update: 1% for the planet campaign)

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Mahatma (Mohandes) Gandhi

Here is a list of the charities to which toddmontgomery consultancy (tmc) will donate in 2009 as part of its 1% for the planet commitment (which was inspired by Yves Chouinard of Let My People Go Surfing fame).

The choice of these charities was guided by an overarching theme of good stewardship of the planet. Inspired as well by the quote above from Gandhi, the particular focus is the care of the natural habitat of wild animals, of the animals themselves, and of those animals who help take care of people.

Of the many deserving organizations that do this work, the intention is to celebrate and care for Australia, the unique land that has been home base and headquarters of tm for nearly two years now, while also reaching out to the wider global community.

(Note: display of the logos and images associated with these organizations on this site is meant to promote them, to support their work and to encourage people to seek information and involvement with them; it in no way implies their support of or affiliation with tmc.)

1) As I wrote previously, The Manly Environment Centre (MEC) shopfront started in 1991 as a unique combination of community, Council and local corporate sponsors. It was the first Australian suburban environment centre and is well established as an organisation actively dedicated to the health of the local environment.


2) Reef Check Australia is part of the official United Nations community-based coral reef monitoring program, made up of a global network of volunteers who regularly monitor and report on reef health.


Coral reefs around the world are under enormous pressure from human activities and climate change. Although Australia’s reefs are among the best managed in the world, they are not immune to these threats. Reef Check offers a way for the public to help look after our coral reefs.

3) I've supported the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) ever since I founded a student environmental group in high school. I believe their work is more important now than ever. I'll let them tell it in their own words:

Simply put: we're in the business of saving our one and only planet.
And yup - that's a dramatic, grandiose and a possibly pompous statement.

But at its core essence, it is in fact true. We like the planet we have. We love the life that lives on it. And we want to make sure that it's there for you to see next year, and in 5 years, and 10, and for your children... and for your grandchildren.

4) The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) is the principal non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to the conservation and effective management of the wild koala and its habitat. Among other things, it has grown to become the world's largest funding body of koala research, has mapped 4 million hectares of land for koala habitat as part of its award-winning Koala Habitat Atlas, has educated and engaged the community in conservation, and has achieved greater protection for koalas and their habitat. All of this has been achieved without any government funding.

5) The Penguin Foundation was established to protect and preserve one of Australia’s most important natural assets – the Little Penguins.
The Penguin Foundation raises and allocates funds to projects ranging from penguin rescue and rehabilitation in the event of a man-made disaster; to building new penguin nesting areas; monitoring penguin health and behaviour; and protecting the Little Penguins’ natural environment. Resources will also be used to undertake other associated wildlife and conservation activities on and around Phillip Island.




6) The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) exists "For a world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty ends." For 25 years, WSPA has aimed to promote the concept of animal welfare in regions of the world where there are few, if any, measures to protect animals.




7) Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA) is the only national trainer and provider of Seeing Eye Dogs for the blind or vision impaired of Australia. In its 48 year history, SEDA has graduated over 950 Seeing Eye Dogs. If you are going to put your trust and life on the line every day based on the ability, training and skill of a Seeing Eye Dog, you will understand why there can be no second best. In fact, it costs approximately AUD$30,000 and takes up to two years of intensive training for one Seeing Eye Dog to graduate with a client. With no government funding, SEDA's work and survival depends on the generosity of volunteers and donors.


So that's the list. Periodically through the year I'll write posts giving longer accounts of tm's involvement with each these organizations, to provide more details on the good work that they do. All the best for 2009!
TM

A positive New Year's resolution for 2009

Greetings from one of the places where the New Year 2009 had its earliest beginnings: Sydney, Australia. I sincerely wish my readers health, happiness, growth and learning this year - and I hope that you look forward to achieving your goals even as you appreciate the good things that happened for you in 2008.

At this moment of good intentions, hopefulness and a fresh start to the year, I'd like to suggest a New Year's Resolution that I know will bring delight and greater happiness to those who decide to have a go.

Like most things that consistently work well, it is based on common sense and is not very complicated. In my work with both individuals and groups of people, one of the things that has most often delivered positive outcomes and, well, there's no other word for it, a "feel-good" atmosphere is: the practice of offering sincere, positive feedback to other people.

The Affirm

The technique that describes how to do this most effectively comes from the world of solution-focused practice and is described in the book The Solutions Focus: Making Coaching and Change Simple (Jackson/McKergow 2002, 2007).

The Affirm is a deceptively simple, yet highly effective tool, one that is based on the principle that people feel better (and in organizational terms perform better) when they are appreciated and their strengths, talents and attributes are noticed in a positive way. Giving sincere, positive feedback is one of the most underrated tools in the box. It seems we are stronger at spotting mistakes and homing in on what’s wrong or not so good. And yet how many of us do not warm to the praise of those around us and feel pretty good as a result?

So is this just a matter of giving compliments willy-nilly to anyone and everyone?

Well, no.

You'll have noted by now that I've mentioned the word "sincere" several times. To identify the sort of compliments that leave people deflated and cynical, rather than buoyed-up and energetic, I invite you to imagine the manager who delivers, with the emphatic two-thumbs-up gesture, a loud: "You guys are GREAT!" Such a comment misses the mark entirely because it is insincere, it's unspecific and it's so open-ended as to be totally irrelevant to the receiver.

By contrast, Affirms work as effective positive feedback because they are:

• Authentic and sincere,
• Specific and detailed,
• Relevant to the context

So if, using these points as a guide, we were to coach our well-meaning manager in the example above, he might revise his comment to the team to sound something like, "I think it's great the way you guys worked together to get that widget proposal delivered yesterday - even though there were different ideas on how to get it done, I really like how you managed to build on each other's contributions and produce high-quality work despite a really short lead-time. Well done!"

By cleansing the practice of complimenting others from the stink of insincerity, this technique helps to create a more positive environment, one where it's OK to give and to receive sincere positive feedback and to look for what's working rather than what's not working. It's not only a great way to mind your use of language to help spread some happiness and positivity in the world, it's an absolutely essential ingredient in effective engagement of people and the creation of high-performance teams in the workplace.

Most astoundingly, it can even be used to turn around some quite negative situations. If someone is complaining or "having a moan" about something, you can even Affirm them in such a way that they actually feel heard and are more likely to stop moaning and get on with something more productive!

Because you affirm the person's underlying strength, talent or attribute rather than the moan itself (which is really just a symptom, a transient reactive emotional state they've been triggered into) you actually enable the person to get back in touch with their higher cognitive and more noble qualities. With a gentle prod you can help them become more resourceful and actually get on the path to solving their own problems instead of inflicting them on everyone around them.

Check out this Affirm activity as an example of how this can play out in real life - from my own experience, I've had great results introducing it to people who very quickly get in the spirit of things and revelled in the challenge of finding the person's positive noble qualities lurking beneath even the most cantankerous moaning and bellyaching.

I wish you every success with your Affirming in 2009!
TM