Changing the Game

What can organisations learn about leadership from Indigenous kids?

2009-02-01T16:38:00.000+11:00

During 2008 I had the pleasure of developing and delivering a leadership program for AFL Indigenous Academies involving high school kids aged 12–16. The academy is a social responsibility program of the Australian Football League (AFL) in Western and South Western Sydney designed to encourage indigenous kid to finish high school and eventually take leadership roles in their community.

As my usual gigs are with adults in the corporate sector, I knew that working with kids would be a challenge for a non-teacher. To cover the bases I enlisted the help of university student, Daniel Nelson who at 19 was closer to the age group involved and therefore a ready-made role model. Daniel also had some invaluable facilitation experience with disadvantaged youth through YCS and YCW.

Starting with no expectations whatsoever, I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that facilitation tools and simulation game frameworks that I had developed and used used for years with adults in business, worked just as well with indigenous youth. Only the context was changed.

We kept the approach simple:

One Rule – “One at a Time”

Structure: 3 Positions. Circle, small group and standing up.

Values: The 3Rs – Respect; Responsibility; Role Models

Outcomes: The 3Cs – Confidence; Communication; Connections

Daniel and I saw remarkable and promising changes in confidence and communication skills among all kids in all groups over 22 weeks. This was true experiential learning. I learned as much (probably more) from the young aboriginal kids as they learned from me. At very least, I came away with new insights into the universality of leadership and especially more clarity on the differences between leadership and management.

My 3 key insights

Leadership is Universal

Leadership develops experientially (starting before 16yrs)

Leadership expresses itself from the inside out

Leadership and management are not the same. Here is my view of the differences:

Management is for the designated few with responsibility for budgets, people, resources, assets

Leadership is for everyone and just as relevant for mothers and youth as it is for middle and senior managers

Management is situational

Leadership is universal

Management is hierarchical with layers of responsibility

Leadership is individual- every leader is different

Management is external whereby you manage something or someone

Leadership is not driven by ego

Management is about, performance, compliance, results and competency

Leadership is an experience based Inner journey. Leadership requires being open to change

Management can be taught in accredited programs

Leadership is an experiential journey that starts early in life – before 16. Sometimes a leadership legacy lasts beyond a persons lifetime (e.g. Gandhi, JFK, Martin Luther King)

Management is mostly organisation related and is identified with a position and/or designated responsibility

Leadership exists with or without a management position

Management is hierarchical and therefore directive

Being a leader involves providing choice

Management is about maintaining the status quo

Leadership is about change – it facilitates change both in the leader and those being led

The challenge for those in management positions is to be aware of the difference.

When is it the right time to lead?

When is it the right time to manage?

This challenge can only be addressed when the differences are clear and understood.

My mentor at the beginning of the AFL Indigenous Academies endeavor was David Rock www.quietleadership.com. David was very helpful in guiding aspects of the program design. The subtitle of his book ‘Quiet Leadership’ is thought provoking. It reads “Help People to Think – Don’t Tell Them What to Do’.

I delivered workshops on this topic at AFN Conference Bathurst http://www.markbutz.com/afn/afn_08_conference/index.html and the ICEL Conference Sydney http://www.education.uts.edu.au/icel/. I will present this topic at the Sydney Facilitators Network meeting Feb 9, 2009 http://facilitatorsnetwork.blogspot.com/

What was your first leadership experience?

2009-02-01T16:36:00.000+11:00

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Discussion Topic:

What was your first leadership experience?

How has this first experience played out in your life?

Any ‘first time’ is significant. Do you remember your first drive, first kiss, first love or first day at school”

What about leadership. What was your first leadership experience (before the age of 16)?

I've posted this exercise on the TinCAN learning Blog.

What do you think? I invite you to do the following:

Discuss with 3 people separately and develop a story about your first leadership experience

Join a conversation on the Blog to share your experience

Is Change Implementation the new frontier for change agents?

2009-01-30T16:43:00.001+11:00

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How do we make change stick? This is a big question for any leader of any type of organisation.

Typically the top team make the strategy for the organisation. It’s no surprise that they are also the ones who get rewarded on the success of the strategy. Whilst developing strategy is an art, some of the best plans either never get done or fail during the execution. There is often an enormous gap between the plan and who and how it’s going to be implemented.

The secret of successful change implementation lies in engaging all parts of the organisation.

Let’s start with the formal structures. The formal organisation is expressed in the organisational charts. Formal structures sustain the organisation through regulatory compliance, governance and control the purse strings.

The informal organisation is based on the reality of day-to-day interactions. Informal structures develop because people find new and better ways of doing things which are easier and save time. Patterns of interaction are shaped by friendships, practice, interest groups and other relationships. Most new ideas and innovations emerge from the informal structures.

Here’s where things come unstuck. Just because strategy is made at the top and there is a management structure, doesn’t mean that the formal organisation is the best way to roll out strategy. Organisations that implement change top down through the hierarchy will inevitably fail. Top down doesn’t work because of egos, push back, politics, ‘not my idea’, blame, over worked managers, poor communication, lack of buy in etc.

Even if the strategic plan is a work of art, the quickest way to kill off change is push it down through the hierarchy. The biggest hindrance with top down implementation is that it fails to take the informal organisation into account.

Implementation is holistic Sustainable change is only possible when the formal and informal structures are fully engaged in the change process. Everyone who is a stakeholder in the game wants to be part of the action.

There are champions and supporters in the informal organisation that are both passionate and better equipped to take change implementation to the next level than often burned-out and overworked managers.

The role of the change agent is therefore a political one bridging the competing needs and wants of the formal and informal structures. Without such a bridge change is even more painful than wants be and will almost certainly fail.

I call the process of including and engaging all levels Collaborative Change Implementation.

Here are the 3 stages of Collaborative Change Implementation:

- Alignment Stage

- Traction Stage

- Integration Stage

I’ll write more about these stages in future editions of Changing the Game. The practices and tools for implementing successful change are incorporated in the UFacilitate Suite: QUEST Change Track and QUEST Dynamic Meetings www.tincanlearning.com/tincan_u_facilitate.htm

Peter Senge - The Next Discipline

2008-12-16T14:59:00.000+11:00

Peter Senge - The Next Discipline

Abstract of an interview with Peter Senge by Mike Hanley

Peter Senge wants to save the earth. Now, with the rise of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, Senge thinks it’s time for a global awakening of consciousness. unless companies understand the impact they have on the world, and use that understanding to create a deep and lasting sustainability, we are all, literally, doomed. Senge compares modern corporations to a cancer, expanding blindly, Businesses, he says, cannot afford the kind of narrow ideologies that have driven them in the past. They need to engage with other parts of society with a systems view in order to survive.

The idea is to create a world that is no longer “governed primarily by habit”. Senge argues that habit prevents people, companies and societies from making radical change. Systems thinking is a way of imposing a wider perspective on our everyday actions and he has developed a number of tools, one of which is the concept of a systems archetype – a way of viewing patterns of interdependence.

The art of conversation is something that people spend their lives developing. Fifty or a hundred years ago, what did people do at the end of the day? They talked, they sought out each other’s perspectives. In real conversation, we not only discover each other, we also discover ourselves. Whereas when one person ‘tells’ another they are making a demand for obedience.

Senge’s research is based on the principle that fundamental change happens because people decide to make it happen, and organisations can inhibit or enable that change. He is convinced that real changes are created by maybe 5 to 10 per cent of people and organisations over time.

Published in AFR Boss Magazine August 2005. Read full article:

http://www.afrboss.com.au/magarticle.asp?doc_id=24915&listed_months=1

The Power of Negative Thinking and Negative Feeling

2008-12-16T14:55:00.000+11:00

By Steve Wells

Numerous new age and pop psychology authors and so-called experts insist that you should always frame your goals and affirmations in the positive because your unconscious mind “only thinks in positives”. So instead of thinking that you want to “lose weight” you are supposed to focus on being “fit and healthy at my desired weight”.

A similar pronouncement that is very popular right now since the publication of The Secret is that you are supposed to always feel good, because all negative emotions are vibrationally bad! So if you are feeling bad then you should immediately find something that makes you feel good to focus on…

This is going to shock many of you: Many very successful people regularly use what may appear to you to be negative statements and negative motivation with extremely positive results! And many many people can trace the day they turned their life around to the day they experienced a negative emotion.

How can this be? Because the key to the power of an affirmation is not in the statement itself, but in the energy it evokes and the actions it leads to. And all of our feelings have a place, and can ultimately lead us to wholeness if we allow them.

Let’s look at these one at a time…

read the whole article

http://www.eftdownunder.com/blog/?p=8

IBM - Hungry for Change

2008-12-16T14:54:00.000+11:00

IBM - Hungry for Change

The Enterprise of the Future is capable of changing quickly and

successfully. Instead of merely responding to trends, it shapes and

leads them. Market and industry shifts are a chance to move ahead

of the competition.

Innovative Beyond Customer Imagination

The Enterprise of the Future surpasses the expectations of increasingly

demanding customers. Deep collaborative relationships allow it

to surprise customers with innovations that make both its customers

and its own business more successful.

Globally Integrated

The Enterprise of the Future is integrating to take advantage of today’s

global economy. Its business is strategically designed to access the

best capabilities, knowledge and assets from wherever they reside in

the world and apply them wherever required in the world.

Disruptive By Nature

The Enterprise of the Future radically challenges its business model,

disrupting the basis of competition. It shifts the value proposition,

overturns traditional delivery approaches and, as soon as opportunities

arise, reinvents itself and its entire industry.

Genuine, Not Just Generous

The Enterprise of the Future goes beyond philanthropy and compliance

and reflects genuine concern for society in all actions and decisions.

http://www-07.ibm.com/innovation/au/ideas/ceostudy/index1.html

requires registration

Tough Times ideal for change facilitators

2008-12-02T14:43:00.000+11:00

Tough Times ideal for change facilitators

Training budgets cut, change programs put on hold,

Facilitators thrive. Get people together, workshop ideas, seek potential solutions, flush out innovations, build morale through conversations. Bring it on.

Facilitation is like leadership. It’s for everyone, can be used anywhere, any time.

Parramatta City Council Online Sustainability Toolkit

2008-12-02T14:40:00.000+11:00

Parramatta City Council Online Sustainability Toolkit

To help the business community make a meaningful response to climate change, Parramatta City Council together with the NSW Department of State and Regional Development’s Western Sydney Business Centre have developed this Business Sustainability Toolkit - a free online resource where you can access information on sustainability funding, government programs, footprint calculators, industry guides, and case studies.

The toolkit provides practical and relevant information that will equip businesses with the facts on climate change and the knowledge of how to incorporate sustainability into everyday business practices to improve environmental performance and the economic bottom line.

http://www.parracity.nsw.gov.au/business/sustainability_toolkit

Management or Leadership

2008-12-02T14:36:00.000+11:00

Management or Leadership

When is it ‘management’? When is it ‘leadership’?

There is much confusion about these terms. I was talking to a prospective client a few years ago. I was told by the sponsor that the CEO didn’t want the term manager to be used. He wanted his people to be called leaders. This has been on my mind ever since. It seems common practice to use the terms interchangeably.

In the current edition of Harvard Business Review it’s suggested that in the face of the recent institutional breakdown of trust in business, managers are losing legitimacy. To regain public trust, management needs to become a true profession in much the way medicine and law have, argue Khurana and Nohria of Harvard Business School. http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0810D

Let’s put it in perspective. Management as we know it has been around 100 or so years, is still evolving and if it is a profession has a lot of catching up to established professions.

Leadership is different. Leadership has been around since the beginning of time. Leadership transcends professions, politics and society.

Leadership is as much an inner journey of self as a set of skills and tools.

Managers are trained. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management

Leaders develop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership

Management training is for designated managers.

Leadership development is for everyone

Management is applied in the enterprise level.

Leadership is for whole of life, work, family, social, politics, community, education.

Let’s get it clear what we are talking about. Is it management? – or - Is it leadership?

Let’s call it for what it is.

A NEW EARTH - Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

2008-12-02T14:33:00.000+11:00

A NEW EARTH - Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Author of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle helps us understand the current state of humanity which is identified with the egoic mind. Tolle tells us there is an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world involving a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new consciousness.

As the egoic mind has created the current economic collapse, this book provides essential inner work for current and future leaders. http://eckharttolle.com/a_new_earth

Eckhart Tolle will be giving talks in Australasia in March 2009. http://www.eckharttolle.com/eckharttolle-events2009

Happiness

2008-12-02T14:32:00.000+11:00

Happiness:

Psychologist Martin Seligman has identified three components of happiness: the hedonic life, the engaged life, and the meaningful life.

- Hedonic is the most fleeting – it is the pleasure we get from buying a new television or from eating chocolate.

- Engaged is what you are when you are absorbed by what you’re doing, usually to the extent that time flies.

- The meaningful life is a life that serves something beyond yourself, whether religious faith or helping others.

Seligman believes that happiness can be improved. Most people concentrate too much on hedonic happiness – which feels good at the time but offers little lasting impact – and too little on engaged and meaningful happiness.

By discovering your strengths – those activities that engage you the most – and concentrating on developing those areas that offer lasting happiness, overall mental wellbeing can be increased.

In general, Seligman recommends that people be thankful for what they have rather than focus on negatives, help others, savour the smallest pleasures, formally express gratitude to people who help them, learn to forgive, and spend time with family and friends. Essentially, people will be happiest when living a good life rather than trying to acquire pleasure.
See www.authentichappiness.org for tests and other exercises.

PowerPoint Is Evil

2008-12-02T14:30:00.000+11:00

PowerPoint Is Evil:

'Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely' says Edward R. Tufte, professor emeritus of political science, computer science and statistics, and graphic design at Yale.
Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall.
Yet slideware -computer programs for presentations - is everywhere: Several hundred million copies of Microsoft PowerPoint are churning out trillions of slides each year. Slideware may help speakers outline their talks, but convenience for the speaker can be punishing to both content and audience. The standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch. Read the full story: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

(funny) If you too believe PowerPoint is Evil…

Watch this funny YouTube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-1d9OSdk
Spotted in edition 95 Gurteen Knowledge Letter http://www.gurteen.com/

The Earth Charter - Change Agents in Action

2008-12-02T14:29:00.000+11:00

The Earth Charter - Change Agents in Action

The development of the Earth Charter is a great example of how a small group of change agents can have a major global impact. The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century

Spearheaded by change agent Mikhail Gorbachev, The Earth Charter was created by the largest global consultation process ever associated with an international declaration with inputs from more than 5000 people. The Earth Charter has been endorsed by thousands of organizations representing millions of individuals. Many thousands of individuals have also endorsed the Earth Charter

The 4 principles of the Earth Charter:

1. Respect and Care for the Community of Life

2. 2.Ecological Integrity

3. 3.Social and Economic Justice

4. 4.Democracy, Non-Violence and Peace

Learn more about the Earth Charter http://www.earthcharter.org/

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling:

2008-12-02T14:28:00.000+11:00

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling:
Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative
A book by Steve Denning April 2005 by Jossey Bass

Steve Denning is an Australian who worked in the World Bank. The book is a comprehensive look at the role of storytelling in meeting the most important leadership challenges today, including motivate others to action, build trust in you, build trust in your company (branding), transmit your values, get others working together, share knowledge, tame the grapevine, create and share your vision, solve the paradox of innovation, and use narrative to transform your organization.

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling offers a detailed account of why each type of story works and how it works, with numerous examples from business settings of each type of story and practical templates so that to assist leaders to construct their own story.

For me, this book is full of gems and plain good advice. I found the first gem in the first page of the introduction. It opened me up to new possibilities for leadership. Denning writes “storytelling and leadership are both performance arts. They involve at least as much doing as thinking. In such matters, performers will always know more than they can tell”. http://www.stevedenning.com/

Research points the finger at PowerPoint (Article)

2008-09-02T12:07:00.000+10:00

Research points the finger at PowerPoint (Article)

If you have ever wondered why your eyes start glazing over as you read those dot points on the screen, as the same words are being spoken, take heart in knowing there is a scientific explanation. It is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you in the written and spoken form at the same time.

The Australian researchers who made the findings may have pronounced the death of the PowerPoint presentation. They have also challenged popular teaching methods, suggesting that teachers should focus more on giving students the answers, instead of asking them to solve problems on their own.

Read the full article http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/03/1175366240499.html

Pope Benedict XVI on Leadership - World Youth Day

2008-09-02T12:06:00.000+10:00

Pope Benedict XVI on Leadership - World Youth Day

At the World Youth Day in front of 400,000 people, Pope Benedict XVI issued a leadership challenge:

“Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit …? How are you using the gifts you have been given ….? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?”
Read the full text: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080720_xxiii-wyd_en.html