Personal Impact

Posted on 9 April 2013 by Laurel

“If you think  you are too small to have an impact, you have never been to bed with a mosquito.” Anita Roddick.

This quote amongst a number of others I often use in my coaching activities. Quotes, especially those that are metaphorical, are wonderful tools to stimulate thinking and conversation.

The power lies in working through their meaning with the person you are coaching and discussing how this meaning applies to them. Follow up is about action associated with the meaning and how they can enhance or alter the meaning in what they do.

Quotes are often good ice breakers with a group as well. Thinking about the meaning and discussing the personal application is a wonderful way of stimulating sharing. Alternatively, asking the group to engage in narrative and share their stories around the meaning of the quote can also be a safe way of creating an environment where people get to know one another.

But back to the initial quote. Someone once suggested that all you do is swat a mosquito and therefore the quote fell down. This led to another metaphorical discussion about how you might avoid swatting if you really needed to make an impact and how you might go about this including what behaviors you needed to engage in. A great stimulus for a conversation and looking at attendant behaviors!!!!

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Resolving Conflict Through Metaphor

Posted on 25 October 2012 by Laurel

I have recently been asked to work in the area of conflict resolution. It seems that with increased stressors in the workplace such as impending change or simply people being forced to work together with others they normally would not relate to has resulted in some significant conflicts. In looking at this and reflecting on it, it seemed that people’s behaviors were creating the problem.

Whilst we cannot demand others change their behavior, we can make a choice about ours and we can subsequently increase the potential of influencing others behaviors and resolving potential and real conflict.

Our behavior is influenced by our thoughts and feelings and our self talk, leading us to make a number of assumptions about people and subsequently respond in a learned way. In other words we evoke our self knowledge and often default to particular behaviors in resolving conflict. Understanding about our thoughts, feelings and self knowledge and our subsequent behavior offers us the opportunity to change our behavior to a more constructive style.

A starting point is the Thomas – Kilman model of conflict resolution. There are 5 options in conflict resolution in this model:

  • Conflicting
  • Accommodating
  • Avoiding
  • Compromising
  • Collaborating

In order to understand the associated behaviors and their effects in greater detail, we can apply Arthur Shelley’s Organizational Zoo animal metaphor ( see attached picture). This allows us to examine and understand the  options in more depth and our default style of resolving conflict.

Continuing with this notion we can apply it to the other party’s behavioral style and work through options that might bring a better result using the animal metaphor as a reference point. This then squarely puts the personal power in our hands to enable us to resolve conflict.

This methodology is being successfully used in conjunction with narrative, story telling and role play and practice and can be  explored through one or several half day workshops dependent on organizational need. I am happy to be contacted further about this.

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Leadership, Risk and Personal Safety

Posted on 10 July 2012 by Laurel

Leaders today need to be “learning agile”. This means taking risks, reflecting and innovating. The Centre for Creative Leadership( CCL)  has published a paper “Learning About Learning Agility”   which explains this in detail and provides a model for these behaviours )

The article also identifies that leaders report ” risk taking” is the hardest behaviour to implement in a big organization.

If we look at risk taking a bit further, it often creates a sense of lack of personal safety, a challenge to our intrapersonal beliefs and values and is perceived as negative rather than positive.

The personal safety aspect is the one I want to explore a bit more.

So how do we couple the idea of personal safety with leadership risk taking? If we look at some of the Protective Behaviours concepts mentioned in a previous blog post, we can start to think about a number of principles most importantly  the continuum of safety.

The continuum of safety looks a bit like this:

Safe : We feel ok about something, no early warning signs and we are comfortable. We are not threatened or feeling uncomfortable

Fun to Feel Scared : Sometimes we put ourselves in situations that are good fun, but a bit scary eg a scary movie. We know this is time limited and we have a choice and we have control. The feelings are a bit uneasy, but enjoyable.

Risking On Purpose: Sometimes it is not fun to feel scared. It is uncomfortable and a little threatening, but we still have a choice and we still have control and the situation is time limited. We choose to engage in the activity because of the persona or organizational outcome. For example attending a job interview. There is anxiety, it is time limited, we chose, we have control and we might get the job we want.

Unsafe: We know we are in this space when we feel awful, threatened and we have no choice, no control and it is not time limited. Under these circumstances we need to ask ourselves: What are we feeling? Stop!!! Take notice!!! Do we have control?, Do we have a choice? Is it time limited?

If the answer is NO to any of these, then we need to consider how we can return the situation to a safer point.

Keeping in mind the need for leaders to take risks and engage in reflection and learning, leaders also have a responsibility to ensure that the risk is safe ie risking on purpose. Leaders need to understand the continuum of safety and apply it to themselves in risk taking and to apply it to others around them in order to ensure others safety.

So in taking risks leaders need to ask themselves:

  • What do I feel about this situation?
  • What do others feel about this situation?
  • Do we all have a choice?
  • Is it time limited?
  • Do we have control?
  • If not how do I make it so?

Safe risks will enhance the reflection and learning necessary in complex times.





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We All Have the Right to Feel Safe All of the Time

Posted on 19 April 2012 by Laurel

When I worked for police, we were involved in delivering and promoting a program known as Protective Behaviours. In the context I was working in, it was aimed at young people and provided a terrific way of making decisions in order to keep themselves safe and minimise any harm to themselves.

In re exploring this program recently, it occurred to me that it also has wonderful application in the adult workplace.

The two themes:

“We all have the right to feel safe at all times”

and

“Nothing is so awful we can’t talk about it”

certainly have resonance for adult workers.

Underpinning these themes is the notion of safety, risking on purpose and unsafe behaviour.  Understanding these concepts links very much with our emotional intelligence and how we make choices about our behaviours, what we say and our feelings and how these influence ours and others safety or lack of it.

And the notion of “Nothing is so awful we can’t tell someone about it ” has at its core the concept of persistence ie in other words if you can’t get the first person you tell to help restore the environment of safety, then keep on trying and work through your network until you do find someone. This can equally apply to your own safety or that of others.

The technique also advocates the development of a personal safety network  a person can turn to when they are feeling unsafe. This needs to consist of adults who are able to non judgmentally listen and who are willing to take action on your behalf. It provides for an opportunity to gain diverse perspectives for action , often necessary in the complex world in which we live, and a means of restoring personal safety.

Some of the work I am developing around the concept of PBs links directly to the leadership field and EI and other work is around the use of metaphor in terms of working through safe and unsafe options and its use in maintaining personal safety. As this develops I will make it available through this blog.

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Metaphor

Posted on 24 February 2012 by Laurel

Metaphor is a powerful way of:

  • developing ideas,
  • starting a conversation,
  • transferring knowledge and
  • developing an understanding of complex concepts.

In much of the work I undertake I weave in metaphor at some point and often along with story.  It serves to develop a strong image in the listeners mind thereby enhancing the understanding of the concepts or their own or another persons behaviour.

In the attached video ( via the link below) I discuss metaphor along with 3 of my colleagues. In this particular instance it refers largely to the Organizational Zoo metaphor developed by Arthur Shelley who also features in the video.

So if you are needing to look at change, values and attitudes, behaviours, teams, thinking, knowledge transfer….the list is only limited by one’s imagination…I would suggest the use of metaphor woven into whatever you are doing!!!!!

Have a look at the video………..you may find it sparks the imagination and gives you some ideas about how you might explain concepts differently or have a difficult conversation!!!!

Org Zoo talking metaphor

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Leadership Workshop

Posted on 8 December 2011 by Laurel

Due to the success of the IMPACT workshop held in October 2011, Anne Hartican of Bespoke Results and I are facilitating another workshop on March 20.Again it is being held at Melbourne’s boutique conference centre Airlie ( see image left) .

The workshop is a wonderful opportunity to further explore your leadership capabilities in depth.

The workshop is highly experiential and uses action learning, reflection and simulation to assist with your learning.

A follow up coaching session is offered as part of the package. The total package including catering is $600 inc GST

Electronic registrations are now open. To access the brochure on which there is a link to register please click on IMPACT workshop

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KM Asia

Posted on 28 November 2011 by Laurel

Recently at KM Asia in Singapore I co facilitated a workshop with Arthur Shelley from Intelligent Answers. We aimed at facilitating the workshop so the participants could develop an understanding of the use of metaphor through the Organizational Zoo (see Organizational Zoo in blog roll) cards and how this metaphor can contribute to developing an understanding of and working with a variety of behaviors in a team and collaborative context.

The group was a highly multicultural group with people from Malaysia, Chinese mainland, Egypt, Singapore and India. The workshop was structured around developing an understanding in the first instance of the use of metaphor. This was achieved by introducing the participants to some of the animal characters in the zoo so they could talk about what came to mind, when, for example they saw the picture of the lion. This developed a common understanding of the concept and a sense of confidence and safety in using the concept of metaphor to understand behaviors.

We then built teams using the notion of animal metaphor and which set of behaviors and characteristics would contribute positively and then negatively to a team. Rich conversation evolved out of this exercise and it became clear to people that the issue of behavior was contextual.

Participants then worked in small groups, designing their own scenario to apply the techniques . They were asked to look at behaviors in this instance that were  highly desirable , good to have , tolerated and not desirable. Some of the scenarios chosen were ” Being a Parent” and “Giving a  Performance Review” The outcomes of the exercise generated a great deal of conversation, debate and knowledge sharing which would not have occurred as easily without the metaphors. It also developed a sense of collaborative activity and dialogue amongst the group and a respect of the notion that there are many differences in how we do things.

Comments made by the participants were very positive:

“Very informative, fun and interactive. I can apply what I learnt in may situations. I am eager to use it.”

“Interesting way of understanding behaviors in organizations. Effective and impactful way to stimulate collaborative practices for enhanced performance. These methods of facilitation/teaching have a lasting impact. than the traditional methods. A perfect way to learn through fun.”

“The workshop has introduced me to interesting technique in profiling behavior. I can definitely see many usage techniques in the following scenarios- team building, hiring/staffing, adapting different behaviors during project lifestyles”

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Narrative Research

Posted on 18 November 2011 by Laurel

Recently I was discussing the issue of narrative research at the KM Asia Conference in Singapore. Some years ago I was engaged in using the technique, albeit in a very raw form when I was evaluating a program I was managing for Victoria Police.  The richness of the anecdotes and the emergence of issues were very powerful and provided a clear hook for people’s understanding of what we were doing.

In a later role a similar technique was used in evaluating the ROI on a senior leadership program. The whole issue of looking at ROI for such a program caused a great deal of thinking and struggling with what might be the best way to do it as one cannot simply turn out leadership widgets at the conclusion of the program. In this instance I used a technique more aligned with the work undertaken by Brinkenhoff but in a modified format. This again proved to be useful and captured the richness of experience as well as the impact for people. It was also a method by which we could continue to capture the impact over time and develop a rich knowledge repository.

In later times I have applied the methodology developed by Cognitive Edge by using Sensemaker. In this particular instance we needed an innovative method of evaluating and capturing the impact of a statewide innovation network that was funded by the Victoria Public Service. Sensemaker provided the tool that allowed us to capture narrative , make sense of the anecdotes and look at emergent trends. I have uploaded a copy for those who are interested VPSCINevaluation2

I am currently collaborating with some colleagues in developing other pieces of narrative research using Sensemaker and anecdotes. Some of this is anticipated to be quite ground breaking and I hope that I am able to share details on this blog in the not too distant future.

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Organisational Values and Behaviours

Posted on 22 September 2011 by Laurel

I recently facilitated a workshop for a client who was grappling with the issue of organisational values. In initial discussions we agreed that the values were meaningless if just posted on the wall as words.  What one word means to one person means an entirely different thing to another. What emerged as important was the underlying behaviours that either supported or detracted from the espoused value.

The other complicating issue was that the values as yet had not been agreed. This was  symptomatic of how various sections of the organisation saw their identity as even though they were all the one organisation, their employment conditions and who they were employed by were completely different as were the jobs they undertook.

So a decision was taken to work with the underlying behaviours in the form of narrative and metaphor. The Organizational Zoo techniques developed by Arthur Shelley were the tools of choice for the metaphor.

Participants were encouraged to share stories in response to stimuli and then choose a positive story to which they applied the Organizational Zoo metaphor. Through the use of the animal cards they were able to identify positively contributing behaviours and behaviours that detracted from the story. As a whole group they then designed their own Organizational Zoo.

This brought about a number of benefits and quite exciting results. One was the open and rigorous conversation that took place about appropriate behaviours and the group decision that was reached about what was ok or not. Secondly there was emergent use of other metaphor to talk about situations. For example they wanted to use the instruction cards in the box of cards as part of their Zoo as this represented the legislation on which their work was based!!! And there was also the emergence of values that the group agreed to. These were their own,with an understanding of the underpinning attendant behaviors.

It was also fascinating to see how many drew characters as well as having the conversation. The drawings seemed to stimulate conversation and dialogue within their small groups. Below is an example of the drawing which is amazingly accurate in terms of the characters developed in the Organizational Zoo!!!

The organisation now has their own Organizational Zoo to refer to metaphorically in terms of what they want to be and are continuing the conversation to strengthen the understanding.

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Leadership Workshop

Posted on 11 August 2011 by Laurel

IMPACT

Influencing, Mastering Power, Authority, Control, Tactics

a professional development opportunity

Registrations are now open electronically for the IMPACT workshop on October 25.

The workshop is being facilitated  jointly by Bespoke Results and Creative Cognicion.

It is a wonderful opportunity to further explore your leadership capabilities in depth.

The workshop is highly experiential and uses action learning, reflection and simulation to assist with your learning.

A follow up coaching session is offered as part of the package,

To register, please click on the link bespoke_brochure_6_Aug_2011 which

takes you to the brochure and then click on “here” on the brochure which will take you to the registration page.

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