Author, Consultant, Executive Coach - Helping people and organizations grow into desired results

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Story conference in Melbourne, 8-9 October

Celebrating Story: Approaching Change One Story at a Time

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories. ~ Ursula K. LeGuin
Have you a passion or curiosity around story? Are you a coach, facilitator, change consultant, qualitative researcher, narrative therapist, OD professional, manager or leader? Are you interested in celebrating and sharing ways that you have worked with story? Are you interested in learning more on how others have used story and narrative in their work? Are you seeking inspiration and new ways forward?
My friends at Babelfish Group have organized a two-day conference this 8-9 October in Melbourne to explore the use of story and narrative approaches to change across the areas of business, government and community.

I will be there to run an interactive session on the brain-based aspects of story, narrative and meaning-making (particularly the neuroscientific reasons why it's so challenging to shift people's narrative in organizations and why change programs often fall apart or fail to take hold as a result). Hope to see you there!

To find out more about presentations and other details, check out the conference brochure or contact conference organizer Andrew Rixon directly at +61 400 352 809.

And - tell him Todd sent you!




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Sunday 9 August 2009

Save-the-World Sunday: WSPA / Sam the Koala / Hotels Charity offer

Supporting WSPA - Sydney's City2Surf is TODAY
(...it's not too late to donate!!)

Today I'll do my first City2Surf race for charity here in Sydney, 14km from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach. My goal has been to raise as much money as I can for my chosen charity, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), in support of their efforts to help protect animals around the world from cruelty.

Thanks to the generosity of more than 20 donors worldwide, I have hit my target of AUD$1,000. Of course, when it comes to funding for charity more is always better and so I'm still encouraging donations. Any amount is gratefully accepted - even $10 donations add up - and you can donate from wherever you are in the world at my fundraising page by credit card (Visa/MC) or PayPal

As an incentive to last-minute donors, I've sweetened the deal: for each sponsorship of my race-for-charity in the value AUD$50.00* or more, my company tmc will offer you a complimentary 90-minute coaching session. No further obligation is required - just make a donation and we'll book you a coaching session at your convenience. That's it!
*that's about £25 / €28 / SEK310 / HK$300 / S$57 / CAD$45 / US$40

To learn about this special coaching offer I encourge you to read more here.

So the deal is: support a worthwhile global charity, get a tax receipt issued directly to you, and get a coaching session as well. Easy, huh?

I'm proud to be associated with the WSPA, which has a tremendous track record of helping animals in need and preventing cruelty. Below are two short video clips that describe their good work.

2008 achievements


Remembering Sam the Koala
: September is "Save the Koala" Month

You have probably heard by now that Sam the Koala, the iconic Australian critter whom I wrote about earlier this year and who gained international fame by surviving February's horrific Victorian bushfires, has died. She fell victim to chlamydia, the debilitating illness that affects 50% of Australia's koala population.

Disease is not the only threat to the koala population, however: widespread land development puts koala habitat under continual threat. Koalas are so at risk that September has been named Save the Koala Month.

To honour Sam's memory, why not consider adopting a koala and supporting the "No Tree, No Me" campaign to preserve the trees and bush areas where koalas live.

Koalas continue to be at serious risk from loss of habitat.


Campaign for Charity

Australian company Hotels Combined is running what I think is a really smart viral marketing campaign, and what I love most about it is that it combines two of my favourite things: travel and protecting animals.

The deal: mention Hotels Combined on your blog, on twitter, or become a fan on Facebook and the company will donate to one of three charities (your choice which one - mine's the WWF).

It costs you nothing and the charity wins. So what are you waiting for - do it today!

Since the WWF (the World Wildlife Fund for nature) is already one of the chosen charities for tmc's "1% for the planet" charitable contribution commitment this year, this has been an easy way to add to that contribution in support of a worthwhile cause. The WWF is a global conservation charity dedicated to stopping the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Hotels Combined is a search engine that searches over 900,000 hotel deals worldwide for the best price possible. The hotel deals are retrieved from multiple hotel reservation websites around the world, enabling you to compare prices and availability across all major accommodation providers on a single screen. Based in Sydney, Australia, Hotels Combined is committed to seeking ethical and environmentally-friendly ways of doing business.


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Friday 7 August 2009

Managing "Millennials": 6 steps to success with Gen Y (and everybody else too!)

It turns out that managing "Millennials" (a.k.a. Generation Y) isn't so different from managing everybody else...they're just more forthright in asking for - and in some cases expecting - well-balanced and people-centred management practice.

A 6-step process will help you to manage Gen Y - and everyone else in your team - to get the results you want.

At the risk of generalizing (and with a hat-tip to this useful Fast Company blog post) here are a few popular perceptions about Gen Y attitudes towards the world of work:
  • Strong parental links (some would say: being fawned and doted upon by Boomer parents) means this cohort is accustomed to having a strong sense of place, origin and position.
  • They have also been pumped up by their folks to believe they're "special" and can achieve anything. This ego-inflation has been compounded by the "you get a trophy just for participating" ethic in schools and sports, implemented for fear of stigmatizing underachievers. As a result: they expect that same kind of approval from bosses, preferably on a daily basis.
  • Facility with all sorts of technology that connects people means they have widespread social networks and an ability and willingness to engage in self-expression in any number of online forums (facebook, MySpace, twitter, blogs, You Tube, et al.).
  • Riding the wave of a boom economy and sheltered from the harsh realities of the world by their over-protective parents, young adults expect, even demand, that their jobs be fun and fulfilling.
Now before this generational portrait starts to look too much like a mob of clueless spoiled-brats and self-esteem junkies who won't deign to set foot in the workplace on anything but their own terms - let's take a step back and look at the long view.

Historically, every new generation has reaped the benefits of what's come before - better tools, improved nutrition and health and (particularly over the past century or so) techniques for developing greater self-knowledge and insight into human behaviour.

Could it be that Gen X and the Boomers are simply envious - both of the ready availability of these advantages and of Gen Y's unwillingness to settle for outdated management practice that's not much advanced from 19th-century Taylorism?

A better way of management

For years now the argument in favour of "soft skills" has been: if you treat people well, they will perform better. Command-and-control management style (a.k.a. scaring the crap out of people) admittedly gets results in the short-term...and over time produces disengagement, dissatisfaction, health problems and burnout - with all the attendant negative effects on performance and results. And forget about using C&C with Gen Y, who will simply walk.

Today the insights of neuroscience and brain research provide the hard science to back up the "soft skills" message. Below is a six-step* management process, one that will meet Gen Y demands for a more engaging management style and that will work equally well with the Gen X-ers and Boomers in your workplace.

In this brief overview I'll simply describe the function of each step. In future posts I'll offer more details on practical application to manage individuals and teams.


STEP 1- ROLE
Role starts things off on the right foot by A) establishing a sense of community (with shared values, a code of conduct, and understanding of how the group adds value in a wider context), and B) letting people know how and where each individual fits into the larger group.

Clarify the roles, goals and expectations so that each person's individual efforts are contributing to the group objectives and goals. Build a solid, agreed-upon foundation at the outset to provide an underlying source of enduring continuity in the face of transition, change and even crisis periods to come.

STEP 2 - VOICE
Voice is about expression and creativity. People are going to have thoughts and feelings about the content discussed in the previous step. It's therefore vital to now acknowledge the emotional component with dialogue and an environment that promotes the free expression of thoughts and emotional reactions. Something need not be done about every comment that is made, but people must have the chance to say what they think and feel.

Free expression like this may well cause conflict. That's normal and necessary. What is required is an agreed way to deal constructively with such conflict. This step can be quite confronting (Gen Y is not shy about self-expression!) but skip it at your peril: unexpressed emotional reactions do not go away but instead go underground to fester and bubble up in unproductive ways at inopportune moments.

When team members feel secure in freely expressing themselves, emotional reactivity is minimized and the emotional energy can be productively channeled into creative output. The advantage to doing this step well is that expression results in better understanding, clarity, enhanced creativity and group collaboration.

STEP 3 - REWARD
Reward is about motivation, action and reward - the drive to achievement that comes from the healthy expression of ego. With the emotional energy released in the previous step now ready to be put to practical use, this step answers the question "what's in it for me?" to tap into the passion and drive of each team member. It is results-focused and promotes action over words, performance over process.

"Fortune favours the bold" could be the motto...which can also mean that people "leap without looking". Therefore when describing goals make clear both the consequences of non-achievement and the benefits of achievement. Frame the task in terms of each person's self-interest - but also how achievement will benefit the team collectively. To keep people on track and productive, phrase performance measures in positive language that motivates, rather than coercive language that triggers emotional reactivity and fearful anxiety. This step is about getting things done, the achievement of aspirations.

STEP 4 - HEART
Heart is about empathy, inclusion and relationships. The previous step unleashed each person's self-interested passion and drive for results. Now is the time to ensure there is a personal connection so that internal competition does not tear the team apart.

Being smart about connecting with your people will help foster a sense of belonging for each team member. Active listening helps managers to be aware of both the explicit and implicit messages in what team members are saying, to know when something just doesn't feel right and take action to head off potential trouble before it becomes disruptive. People don't work for companies or money - they work for people. Offering a sense of personal commitment will build authentic relationships between team members, who gladly go the extra mile for you...and for each other.

STEP 5 - HEAD
Head is about data, tasks and learning. There's an old saying: "People don't care what you know, until they know that you care." In the previous step you got people to care, now you can apply the strength of those relationships to a strong task-focus.

Get clear on the step-by-step actions, make resources available, allocate them efficiently and leverage them to move forward. Ensure good information flow, analyze data for patterns to apply and exploit. Learn from experience and apply that learning to make necessary changes to strategy on-the-fly. Develop skillsets and expertise through training and encourage curiosity about how things work - and could work even better.

STEP 6 - VISION
Vision is about conceptualization, the big-picture and long-term, seeing things as they could be rather than how they are. The previous step's task-focus went right down into the weeds of details and data; now it's time to zoom back up to the 30,000-ft. perspective. Reconnect the purpose and actions of the team to the wider vision of organization and, wider still, to the trends of the industry, economy, regulatory bodies, and marketplace to consider future plans.

This final step has two important components: A) it pulls together and aligns all the previous ones by focusing on a positive future state toward which everyone can strive, and B) by celebrating what's been achieved so far, it sets the stage for reinvention, for a new foundation and the renewal of the 6-step process.

All 6 steps, every time

Regardless of our generational cohort, each of us has a preference for some of the 6 steps over others, whether Role or Reward, Voice or Vision, Heart or Head. This preference means we favour some steps and want to skip over or quickly rush through the others. As a manager, the advantage of following the 6-step format is that it ensures you address the areas that are of greatest interest to each different team member. The result: much higher levels of understanding, quality communication and better team engagement.

To find out more about how
tmc works with leaders and their teams to get results by applying the 6-step process just described, send an email today!


*-based on the six intelligence centres described in the NeuroPower framework
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Tuesday 4 August 2009

Presentations at EBTA, IAF Europe, NeuroPower Symposium

September this year will be a busy month for Todd, who will present at three conferences in Europe and Australia.

Imagine - EBTA 2009

At this year's annual conference of the European Brief Therapy Association in Helsinki on 04-06 September, Todd will present a 90-minute workshop entitled Making Integral Theory practical, or, Wilber in the real world

Abstract: Integral Theory is a powerful explanatory theory (it is, after all, based on Ken Wilber's ambitious book "A Theory of Everything") but how can we practically apply it for people and organizations? And what is the link to Solutions Focus practice in particular?



In this session you will: a) learn how to apply this theory to coaching, consulting and communications in real-world settings b) experience the benefit these insights can bring as you share your ideas and thoughts with fellow participants c) discover how to apply the knowledge to your own practice. No previous knowledge of Integral Theory required.
You can register to attend this conference here.

IAF Europe 2009

The 2009 conference of the International Association of Facilitators Europe in Oxford, UK runs from 18-20 September. Todd is presenting two interactive 90-minute sessions: The facilitator as coach and Identify and deliver on your personal brand.

You can register to attend this conference here.


NeuroPower Symposium

A symposium to be held in Sydney on 24-25 September will explore the practical management, leadership and organizational applications of what the latest neuroscience insights and brain research are telling us about human behaviour and social interaction.

The event features Peter Burow (Australian consultant and developer of the NeuroPower system) and Professor Matthew Lieberman, an expert in the field of Social Cognitive Neuroscience who co-directs the SCN Lab at the UCLA Department of Psychology.

At the symposium Todd will present a case study of his work over a two-year period with a management team at Lloyds TSB Bank in London.
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Sunday 2 August 2009

Save-the-world Sunday: Waterlife documentary film

On a train journey from Toronto to Montreal one time, a woman from England turned to me and politely inquired, "What's the name of that lake?" I replied, "That's Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes." Over an hour later, our train's route once again took us alongside a vast body of water and she turned to me, wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "Surely that's not the same lake?! It must be absolutely enormous!"

She was right, of course, it is physically enormous (although it's the smallest of the Great Lakes - the largest is more than 4 times the size and nearly 7.5 times its volume) but it's the environmental significance of the Great Lakes that is larger still.

In this Sunday's post I want to highlight a documentary film about the Great Lakes from Canada's National Film Board that I believe is well worth seeing. It's called Waterlife and below is the blurb for the film, plus a link to the interactive website.

If you are in the Sydney area, the film's Australian Premiere will take place on Thursday 20 August as part of the "Possible Worlds" Canadian Film Festival. Check it out!

No matter where we live, the North American Great Lakes - the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth - affect us all. As species of fish disappear and rates of birth defects and cancer rise, it seems something's not quite right with the water....

Fascinating characters tackle the big environmental issues surrounding water and explore the dangers of taking water for granted, in a film which is also an epic cinematic poem for the senses.

Filmed over a year with a variety of specialty cameras and innovative techniques, Waterlife is a documentary experience like no other. Narrated by Gord Downie, lead vocalist of The Tragically Hip, the film feature hypnotic, jaw-dropping imagery and features an ace soundtrack by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno.

Winner Special Jury Award, Hot Docs Film Festival 2009

Explore the interactive multimedia website http://waterlife.nfb.ca
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