Celebrating 

Celebrating - during 2019 Affectus has been part of some great celebrations.

And, as we head into a time of celebration for our country I want to firstly say have a lovely time with the people you care about.

I’d but also like to share with you our thinking about celebration and why it is good to do it. And what we think are the important elements of celebration. 

I also want to acknowledge that times of celebration can be very challenging for some people. It can bring up sad, complex and traumatic memories. So be gentle also in your celebrating.

And, of course, there is our “old chestnut” - what about leadership and celebration?

What is celebration?

Let's start at the beginning.

By definition celebration means …

A special enjoyable event that people organise because something pleasant has happened

Affectus has done some reading and research about this. And we are interested in diverse thinking. However, it would appear that we celebrate because we want to connect with others; to share our joy or our sorrow about something that is important to us.

So, we celebrate:

We now more clearly understand that celebration is not about numbers. It is about sharing with others something that is important.

What do you celebrate? How do you celebrate?

Having thought through the concept of celebration, we have listed a few that Affectus celebrated in 2019.

Quite Celebrations

A Bigger Celebration

Some Public Celebrations

A Gentle Yet Organised Celebration

We have had a great year of celebration.

And we also got to hang off a few others celebrations.

Thank you for letting Affectus vicariously celebrate all your successes, joys and recognise some sorrows.

A final thought is about the blending of celebration with motivating people.

We would encourage you all to consider celebration as a separate concept to motivation. Over the next month or so we will write about motivation and celebration.

Finally, our tips about celebration.

Tip 1 – Do it!

Tip 2 – Make sure celebration is distinct from motivation.

Tip 3 – Consider who is celebrating and what will be appreciated

Tip 4 – Think through the public nature of the celebration

Tip 5 – Share the joy and the sorrow

Tip 6 – It can be small and simple or massive and complex

Tip 7 – Take a leadership role into the celebration space.

The questions about leadership.

What are the right questions for leadership?

I was with a woman many years ago who shared with me that she thought I wasn’t asking the right questions.

I thought “How bizarre is that?”.

Self-aware leaders continually ask themselves questions and they ask others questions. They are curious, they seek out information and welcome the answers. So, how can someone ask the wrong question?

This confounded me and I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t asking the right questions for her and her needs.

Where do our questions come from?

But where do our questions come from?

Where do your questions come from? From what part of your thinking?

Do you ask questions for solutions?

Do you ask questions to explore concepts?

Do you seek clarification through your questions or perhaps you ask for confirmation?

When do you give yourself enough time to consider answers to your questions?

Exploring concepts

When Affectus works with you we are exploring concepts so that you will ask yourself questions. Questions that help you understand yourself at a deeper level and the environment around you.

Don’t we?

We are hoping you will discover newness – about you and your direction.

We are not interested in directing you. We are assisting you develop great self-direction.

Don’t we?

Sometimes this drives people mad. That we are not often answering machines. But, we believe we have the process right - getting you to find your own answers.

Questions about leadership

What are your questions about leadership and your direction?

At Affectus, we focus our thinking beyond the individual and consider leadership. Why? Because we know that using leadership as the framework ensures that any person is able to step in where they see it is needed.

We call this stepping into your leadership space.

Chinwe Esimai (Forbes Women) talks about great leaders. She says that knowing yourself is essential. “Self-awareness is empowering because it arms you with knowledge and enables you to make better choices — to change or grow.”

Have you asked yourself enough questions to get a clear sense of self and leadership and direction? How often do you pause?

The Big Five

We use Big Five to commence the self-knowledge journey.

Have you thought through the five areas assessed.

What questions arise from Big Five.

Are you wondering about the value of understanding the five key areas?

It is so valuable to understand this about yourself. It is also empowering to know how your personality and the using of your strengths will impact on those around you.

It is powerful to use these five areas of your personality with insight and self-knowledge. Using your strengths and understanding your weaknesses to ensure that the team around you has great impact (affect 😊)

Two Leadership Questions

Here are two key leadership questions around personalities worth considering…

And finally, the critical questions about leadership.

What are your values and how do you identify them?

Self-assess what is important to you. Wander around some values cards and think through those patterns of your life. Seek your values.

And what about your passions? We can’t always be working/earning money in our personal area of passion. But as a minimum we need to know what lights us up and what drives us.

Leadership is all about asking questions – your questions. Start asking questions and seeking answers. Listen carefully and weave this new knowledge into your increasing self-awareness.

Sometimes the questions you ask may irritate but they will also illuminate.

It is all about our questions – the ones we mull through quietly on our own minds and the ones we seek answers to in the public realm.

Teams and other important things

Do you regularly see the activity where someone ask individuals or a group to visualise a particular career?

The questioner asks “think of a farmer - what did you imagine?” Careers that are regularly included are police, teacher, lawyer, pilot.

And although “leader” is not necessarily a vocation I still consider “think of a leader - what did you imagine?” This exercise can be revealing for us all.

Having worked in the field of developing leaders for nearly three decades, at Affectus, we are keen for people to see leaders differently.

We  have seen change. However the concept of team leadership can assist with our ability to shake up leadership in a way that will embrace the concepts of courage and vulnerability. We believe these concepts have always been part of leadership.

What is team leadership?

Team leadership is what leadership has always been about. Leadership may appear a solitary occupation and yes, sometimes, it can feel lonely but, we all know that leadership is always done with teams.

Margaret Meade said

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

We will come back to this concept and tie these ideas together.

Leadership is about taking those around you to a new visionary future. To do this we must be in an environment where risk is OK’d. and for this to happen vulnerability must be an observable behaviour and embraced as a team value.

So, what does opening yourself up to be vulnerable do? Let’s come back to that also.

Finally, leadership is also about courage. But what allows us to be courageous?

Teams, Vulnerability and Courage

For...

...we need to let people have a go and be OK about making mistakes. And people need to be supported and encouraged by the team.

Can you see the connection?

Can you see how important it is for teams, vulnerability and courage to be the leadership environment? And when this environment exists all of us can be leaders -  everywhere in the space we see and choose.

The Leadership Environment

So now to the trickiest part in this the domain for us all.

Yes, we are all so good at this stuff. It may be some or all of the three elements.

Are these concepts essential? Well possibly not.  But from my years of experience these elements, (teams, vulnerability and courage), ensure that leadership flourishes.

These elements eliminate the false focus on the single person and perfection. Both of which are counterproductive for high performance.

This environment is the environment for all.

Be comforted in knowing that if Team, Vulnerability and Courage are the concepts that are highlighted and rewarded leadership will flourish.

And then the world will change and teams will flourish. And the image in our minds-eye of “Who is a leader?” will be amazing and will include you.

Starting your Team, Vulnerability and Courage 

Here are five tips to start your Team, Vulnerability and Courage environment. 

Why and How, not Why or How

Here at Affectus we have developed a process to assist you to explore your why. Our observations and research has allowed us to develop a workshop that allows you to find where your passion is and how to weave that into your life so that you can fill as much of your days with what makes you zing.

However, what is why? And is it as important as how?

A recent and insightful conversation helped me resolve this question and I believe it will assist us to not navel-gaze for too long.

Lessons from teaching naughty boys maths.

Many, many years ago my professional life lead me to spend a short (but successful) time teaching in the Victorian secondary school system. I believe that schooling has changed a lot since, however, back then Friday afternoon was always faced with some level of anxiety. And, as a young graduate, Year 8 Maths on a Friday afternoon was akin to a death sentence. I always felt the anxiety build.

I learnt very quickly what to do with these lessons. I filled them with busy (and often mindless) easy photocopied maths sheets and simple mindless quizzes. I didn’t really care very much what the students received during those lessons - it was much more about all of us walking out alive as the final school bell for the week rang. It worked all the time (nearly).

The Lesson

The lesson I learnt was that sometimes people want busy work, but most of the time we want to use our brains. And we are driven by purpose – our purpose.

The difference between busy work and getting on with something is valuable to understand.

Continuing on with the above story of Year 8 Maths. If I had only provided busy work to these terrific young people every time I saw them during the week there would have been a real riot.

The question that constantly smacked me in the face during my three insightful and shaping years as a secondary teacher was

“what is the purpose of this activity?”

And I carried that sense of assisting people to understand purpose with me as I moved towards my leadership consultancy years.

It is all very well to keep everyone busy but wouldn’t it be better for you and me if we could find purpose. And see if it aligns with some or all of our combined skills and passions.

Understanding Your Why

And now to the inevitable of questions.

• Do you know your why?
• What values are essential to you every day?
• What purposeful, meaningful, engaged activities do you love doing?
• What makes you zing when you do it?
• What skills, gifts and talents do you possess? 
• What do others say you are good at?

Sometimes the answers to these questions are clear and identifiable? And sometimes we need to take time to respond. Whichever it is it is valuable for us to spend some time considering.

• What do I like doing?
• What am I passionate about?
• What do I know I do well that others reinforce?

It is not always that simple. A younger person I know reasonably well said to me recently “I know I don’t love what I do every day – it is harmless and not totally against my principles, but realistically I need to pay the mortgage.”

I completely understand those sentiments. However, my advice was: 

Still make time for what you are passionate about because you may be able to spend all of your time doing that when the financial stress comes off.

Why is Why important? 

Just this week I had a conversation with a change management facilitator. He tried to convince me that why wasn’t important. I remain convinced that why is important. 

It is important to gain understanding why we have spent our time doing something:

• before
• at the time 
• afterwards

Why? Because it helps us identify:

• what next
• what more
• where to from here

Otherwise it is just busy work and we are all back stuck in Year 8 Maths doing what Briggsy told us to. Yuk!

Margie Warrel says

While there’s no one pathway for discovering your life's purpose, there are many ways you can gain deeper insight into yourself, and a larger perspective on what it is that you have to offer the world.

However, I suppose I will concede something. That if we get caught in sorting the why then we may never move onto partaking of the brilliance of what we want to be part of.

What is more important?

So...

Is the “Why I am doing this? Why am I taking this pathway” more important than the “How will I do this? How will I reach the next fork in the path?"?

From my work in leadership, of more than two decades, I think they are both important. And sometimes one comes before the other. Sometimes clarity for both why and how appear simultaneously. And sometimes they occur years and years apart.

My encouragement is to ask yourself if you are in the how (I get this done) stage? And if so,  spend a bit of time contemplating why? Understand does your how stage sit along with your values, passions and gifts?

And then ask yourself if you are moving through towards the end of the why (am I doing this) stage? If so, are you are pleased to have clarity that you have found your why?

And, after all that, then get on with the doing.

How do you tackle challenge and change?

Shonda Rhimes says that the very act of doing the thing that scared her undid her fear, doing it made it not scary for her.

What an interesting concept that is.

A number of years ago (actually many) I was friends with some of the SAS fellas (and it was only fellas back then). Their weekends comprised doing things together that would scare many of us – rigid.

They did all sorts of amazing and challenging stuff while I watched movies or slept. One of the SAS fellas, let’s call him Phil, was a good friend. He asked quietly, over my fourth drink on a Saturday night in a pub in Melbourne, whether my friend and I would like to go to Hanging Rock with him and a couple of mates. Now the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock (the original one – I’m not going to give you the year…you have to do that work) had only been out for 7 or so years. And although I had been to the Hanging Rock after the scary-as-hell movie release it still made me squirm a bit. Now, remember I was on my fourth drink.

“Yeah sure…are we just doing the picnicking thing?” I enquired.

Phil was pretty straight up sort of a bloke, “Nah, we are going to do some abseiling down the longest straight drop.”

In my head, I instantly thought of some of the surfie chicks I had watched during my summer holidays. They had been sitting on the cliffs watching their boyfriends having all the fun (not that any of them were my boyfriend). But before I could raise this issue Phil added, “Have you and Jenny ever done that before? We could teach you, we are all pretty experienced and have all our certificates”.

Well, the short story is we did. And we did including running face forward down the longest drop. It was so cool I don’t think I came down from the high for days!

Had it been the cheap wine (I was a uni student at the time) that had given me the courage? Or was it the confidence I had in my friend Phil?

Was it the public status he and his gang of friends had? Or was I just at that age that yes came easier?

Do I consider that, actually, was I ridiculously risky in my behaviour?

Some would say yes to that question, I do come from a family of varying risk profiles.

What happens when we take on a challenge

What happens when we take on a challenge? And how should we frame those challenges so that they don’t scare us away.?

What is the link between challenge and leadership and change?

Let’s consider those concepts bit by bit.

What happens inside when we take on challenges and succeed?

There are two general responses when we see a challenge ahead or know that we need to take a risk. This is my experience of observing hundreds of clients approach the challenges we provide for them.

These responses are:

• Jump in feet first or
• Yeah-Nah.

Now neither of these are the “correct” response they are just different. And of course ,there is plenty of greyness in between the two responses.

Some questions to consider

What do you know about your responses to challenges?

And to date, how have you have engaged with the challenges in your life?

What do you know about yourself now that you have had a look back?

What happens in your brain

Delving further into this first question there is a link between the grey matter we have in our brains and our responses to challenges. And there is also a link to dopamine.

But our responses happen in our brain…so what happens in your brain?

What have you learned about taking on challenges and succeeding or being unable to complete them?

When we are involved in a leadership role understanding how we respond to challenges is important. And, let’s face it, we know many people in leadership roles who resist challenges and risk.

Is that a problem? I don’t think so as long as they are aware of their responses.

Going back to the abseiling. What did I learn about challenges and me?

Here they are. I

• was doing this activity with people I trusted so I would be OK
• had confidence in my body and my strength
• knew that I would be stretched, but I also knew I had a thoughtful brain that would help me out in a pickle
• am competitive and so I wasn’t going to be the one not participating (not particularly helpful but definitely an interesting driver)
• am courageous but I don’t like embarrassing myself…interesting combination when you think through challenges.

Challenges and change

Now onto challenges and change. Can you see the link?

There is no doubt in my mind that challenges require us to change what we are thinking or doing. Otherwise there would be no change happening around us.

Perhaps that is a bit simplistic. But they are connected.

When considering leadership we choose to step into our leadership space when we see that change needs to happen and that can be challenging.

Finally, I would encourage you to have a read of some of the links we have gathered for you about risk and challenge.

• Risk-Takers it’s all to do with your grey matter
• Why we take risks
• How to See Challenges as Opportunities

And please be encouraged to take on the challenge when you are working with us this year. You will see the benefit and you will be supported by the teams we will build around you.

"To lead an authentic life, we need to take on new challenges that stretch us and give us more opportunities to be ourselves." - Stephen Joseph

What is communication?

I suppose the importance of communication can’t be over-communicated. But really, what is communication?

A bit of a revision lesson here.

Communication is simply (wry smile)…transferring your thoughts into words (written or spoken). And then sharing them with the world. And trusting that the way in which you have transmitted those thoughts ensures that the people receiving your communication synthesise the content in a way so that closely resembles your thoughts. So that sentence wasn’t simple and we know, intuitively, that the practice of communication is not simple either.

On the other hand when we are in the presence of a skilled communicator that movement of “a thought to your thought” is easier.

Often when in a leadership learning experience, the entrance point to re-examining our communication prowess is speaking. This can give the impression that speaking is the most important communication element. Please don’t misunderstand me, nailing your public speaking, is important but listening is the first element to attend to.

I recently spent time in the presence of a focused woman. And I spent significantly more time in the car with her as we travelled our region of Australia, assisting her to understand the community issues. I was assisting. She was the key person in our team and it was a gift for my understanding to watch her and then reflect on what I had observed.

Now before I go ahead and provide you with my observations here is my challenge to you – ditch “great speaker = amazing public address” thinking, perhaps just this once, and consider someone you know who has listened to you as you spoke.

• How did you know you were being listened to?
• What was the interaction like when someone listened to you?
• And how did you feel when you were being listened to?

The art of careful communication

The art of careful communication is getting yourself set to hear and understand.

Do you set yourself up to hear and understand when you are listening?

What does Careful Communication mean?

Careful communication could mean a number of things. Careful has one meaning which suggests caution and tentativeness. The other definition is more useful to my mind…done with thought and showing attention.

Let’s go back to remembering how you felt when you were listened to. When we are listened to we feel that the other person is giving us their attention and doing it in an open, thoughtful way. Are you listening in a careful way now? I hope so.

If we (definitely read “I” here also) commence our careful communication with careful listening as the starting action then all sorts of opportunities open up to us.

I think about all of you as I write, this our community all over Australia. And I see all of you heading...

• back into your work tomorrow
• your family room in 10 minutes
• to your car with your teenager or your toddlers bedroom
• your school starters classroom

and I think about you all in careful communication mode. And I see problems diminished and others being valued.

Doesn’t that sound like leadership?

So, what is the Art of Careful Communication?

The art of careful communication is, of course, not only about listening. It is also about speaking.

Consequentially, I would consider similar principles.

Talking extraverts - are they any other sort? I believe there is. As one, if I could also bring to my oral communication the same principles of thought and attention how much more effective might I be. I would be considering my words before I say them and I would think through the audience. And I would be imagining the transfer of the information into the persons' thought-processes.

What else would I be doing?

Well, I would also be attending and pay attention to the responses of those I am speaking with. Looking at their faces and unconscious reactions to what I am saying. Building on this feedback and adjusting all elements of my communication.

The careful art of communication is about thinking about the other…not thinking about self.

This doesn’t mean not having ideas and opinions. What it does mean is considering and acknowledging that communication is always two-way and for it to be two-way we have to do carefully.

Affectus has emerged out of the summer break with a bounce. We have a new addition to our growing team, you will meet her in a moment, and we have had a break. But mostly my December/January has been a time of intense listening.

• Listening to me…
• Listening to the people I love dearly
• Listening to the community Affectus has built
• And listening to the political conversations at a local through to an international level.

If our theme for this newsletter is communication then I have to say how I am constantly reminded about listening. As in listening being the fundamental-of-fundamentals of who we are and how we can be our best selves.

I have the privilege of putting my entire year of voluntary work into November. Some of you will have observed my activity assisting a woman from Wodonga who had a tilt at a state seat in the Victorian election. It was such fun and might work. And by golly she got sooooo close.

The November Volunteering actually started well over 12 months prior to the election being called and my leadership learnings from the entire 18 months will remain with me forever.

What did I learn about listening.

• It helps to not talk if you want to listen.
• Sometimes you have to stop the other person from talking so you can capture what you have heard.
• It is really hard to listen when you are juggling too many concepts in your head
• If you have an active “parrot” that sits on your shoulder and squawks opinions when others are talking then the parrot needs to be caged and shut away all the time.

So as Affectus’ year revs up these are the ideas I will commit to (again).

• Be quiet, listen, keep listening
• Shoot the parrot on your shoulder, keep listening
• Capture the key points and let the other person know you have heard them
• Listen again and then reflect on how your listening went.

I believe I am a good listener. But, during the election campaign, the effort of listening, capturing and moving other’s thoughts into outputs and action under pressure was an amazing experience. I have a completely renewed appreciation of what we put you through during our programs.

Looking forward to seeing you all during 2019.

Jill

Richard St John has a quick Ted-X talk that has some interesting tips about success.

He talks about how he got there and also what happened when he got to his goal. It is short and interesting. I am not completely convinced about all of his messages but his self-knowledge about how his thinking and attitude change when he reached his goal is valuable.

What is success and how do we find it?

It would appear, no matter where you look, success is about ticking off on an aim or accomplishing your purpose. It would appear simple and if the graduates from this year's national programs were authoring this article they would “yeah-nah” nothing simple about it.

Riachard Branson says

“Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with,”

He also wrote on LinkedIn.

“In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.”

I often feel a little jaded when I hear hyper-rich people say these things but actually, I think he is right.

Acclaimed author Maya Angelou believed success is about enjoying your work. Her take on success is:

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

What does all of that mean?

Perhaps Success is about self-determined success.

When I have observed our participants over the years the greatest level of achievement I see is when we do the skills sessions and guide. But, we keep our hands out of the goal-setting components and we let individuals and/or teams determine what they want to achieve. In fact when our facilitators have started influencing and steering direction the team moves away and the outcomes are less.

So the key is to determine what you want…is it not?

Perhaps we each need to listen, feel vulnerable and modify. But the energy is highest when we say

“that is what I want to achieve”.

Michelle Obama says that she has observed that

“Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.”

Now I know that some of you reading this have self-proclaimed cash registers for hearts. BUT I also know that those same people care deeply about the people around them and the difference that they are making for the greater good.

Success is not a simple concept.

We can see that success is not a simple concept. And it is definitely not when you combine it, as Affectus does, with our ethos of leadership.

Then what should we make of this and what might success look like?

Perhaps success and attaining it is about understanding your responses to a series of questions that only you can answer?

Or if it is group success; questions that the group has to agree on a combined answer?

If it is about self-determined ideas then we would suggest that these questions might assist you if you are seeking success.

• It is about money?
• It is about status?
• Are you seeking fulfillment? Happiness?
• What are you wanting to achieve? And is it only you who wasn’t to achieve the goal?
• Will it make a difference? And does this matter?
• How will I know when I have achieved success?
• And actually, is success important?

All things that push us along require thinking and rarely require telling. We have learned, over our three decades of working with people, to provide the skills and the knowledge but to go really easy on the telling and direction.

Success is most rewarding when telling is kept quiet.

As we move through “graduation season” at Affectus it is a great time to reflect on “what next” for our graduates.

We spend time providing them with personalised “Exit Letters” and part of that communication is to encourage them to understand about re-entry.

The understanding that Affectus has developed comes from researching institutes such as NASA and Universities. We have gathered information about international exchange programs and astronaut re-entry procedures. And from our reading, we have been able to develop a short document about how to leave something familiar and comfortable and life-changing (such as your time in space or our leadership programs) and return to something that once was familiar.

We spend time discussing how to leverage those life-changing, new-direction-setting leadership experiences to courageously alter your world for the better.

Our facilitators ask people to make a commitment and to publicly state what they are going to focus on now. And we are also committed to continue this conversation through the idea of leverage.

What is leverage?

The use of something to maximum advantage, or the power to influence people and get the results you want, or positioning your feet on the ground and pushing (cue smiling images of kids on seesaws).

More seriously, it is

to influence in a manner that will multiply the outcomes without having to increase the effort or input.

What does that mean for people moving beyond Affectus?

Archimedes is credited with saying

“give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world".

Leverage is here to assist us.

Many, many objects are raised through the process of leverage.

How do our graduates leverage their leadership experience to aide and raise.

Recently the Queensland Seafood Industry Association interviewed four of our graduates about their experience in one of our programs.

The interviewees continually to refer to the power of the team and how coming together ensured powerful outcomes for the industry.

This is leverage in a team setting. Understanding the value of individuals and working as a group to jump on one end of the seesaw.

What needs to be pointed out here is that the individuals in the group maintained their autonomy and independence from each other. However, they were all moving toward the same goal. Eventually, at the right time, they all came together and put downward pressure on the lever to “unlock the value of our seafood”. And the result was the seafood community of Australia seeing themselves and their value in a very different light. This would not have happened if the team hadn’t co-ordinated and decided how and when to press on the lever they were grasping.

Why use leverage?

If we go back to the seesaw image we can see the reason to leverage . That is because it raises “things” while expending less energy. It raises that which may remain stuck otherwise.

When I think about the simple seesaw model I think about being raised by the person on the other end of the plank. But I also think about the position of the fulcrum (the bit in the middle of the plank). If the pivot point is too close to me as I push down then I have to use a huge amount of energy to raise the opposite end of the seesaw. But if the pivot point is too far away then I can’t get my hands on the end of the seesaw. Remember having to ask your parent to grab the end of the seesaw? Remember the pivot point.

What else is leverage?

Leverage is also about the pivot point and getting that right so the lever can do the work.

Therefore, the thinking about leverage isn’t just about thinking about the end (of the plank) and raising something. It is also about understanding the positioning (and repositioning) of the pivot point.

It was wonderful to see the power of understanding emerge during the final stages of the recent national leadership programs.

The understandings about:

• What are we really trying to raise in this meeting with the Federal Minister?
• How do we present our ideas in a way that will increase our impact?
• How can we represent our ideas and outcomes in a manner that will efficiently provide downward force on the lever?
• What difference will our work make?
• Can we position the people of the industry who understand our ideas and are on board (the pivot point) to make the change we see?

Great thinking was done about these concepts.

Who can you put pressure on lever?

Affectus has explored this concept of leverage to efficiently use the combined effort to maximise affect. And we are totally convinced that everyone can identify and use the lever.

Remember…

• Being a young child and wanting something; the hissy fit that got you what you wanted (possibly only once).
• As a teenager working out how to manage parents with the assistance of “everyone else is allowed to”.
• As a young adult succeeding, and then understanding, that you need to work really hard to get the effect you want. And then acknowledging that it was a combined effort not just your force that got you there.

These lessons, however they appeared in your life, teach about:

1. The raising of an idea (the person on the other end of the seesaw)
2. How to position the pivot point (close to you or a long way away from you)
3. The amount of pressure applied (once or over and over again) to get the result.

Everyone can and does use leverage but we can be smarter about it and think about

• What needs to be raised
• What effort will be required
• Where the pivot point should be to minimise the effort and maximise the affect

Organisational health, as defined by www.organizationalhealth.com, is an “organization’s ability to function effectively, to cope adequately, to change appropriately, and to grow from within.”

There is some sense that organisational health is comprised of a number of areas. Some suggest there are many areas that Affectus deals with but let’s have a look at a few:

• Goals. The organisation having a goal, a vision and for everyone to buy into that goal or vision.
• Communication. Clear channels and clear messages – up, down and across with and from everyone.
• Power. To understand power and equalising (or evening out) the power within an organisation structure.
• Cohesion. People within the organisation understanding where they fit in and how to influence the organisational direction and outcomes.
• Edge of Chaos. The flexibility in the organisation to ensure people are working on the edge of chaos to ensure new concepts are in circulation.
• Team. A state of security and satisfaction for the people who are part of the organisation.
• Autonomy. Organisational understanding of and personal opportunity for autonomy.
• Resilience. A high tolerance for coping with stress, and a leadership responsibility to support and oversee the personal resilience of people connected to the organisation.

Why is it important?

When Affectus considers the above areas we understand again the importance of our work in the leadership space. However, it is really valuable to consider why it is important to review and lead in the area of organisational health.

We have collected many anecdotes over many years that illustrate organisations who take organisational health seriously. Also, unfortunately, those who haven’t. We are not sure about the direct connection with financial benefits. However, it goes without saying that in our years we see organisations who consider these aspects have more engaged and rewarded people.

A couple of examples.

About four years ago Affectus was invited to be part of a business review. We attended as thought leaders to assist the organisation move beyond their current market position. It was a fascinating day asking “why” “what else” “really?” “how about this left field idea?”. However, as we drove away, our debrief and reflective conversation concepts where:

• That team is clear about its purpose: all levels of the business were sitting in the room and they know where they are heading.
• They are all clear about each of their roles: the employees, contractors, and Board all know what they are there for.
• Who were the supervisors in the room: it was hard to identify who was more important as nearly everyone spoke candidly.
• They have clearly been through challenging times but are also not afraid to go to the edge of chaos and see what else is out there.

Outcome: At the time the company was at the leading edge of the industry. Currently, they are a long way ahead of the pack.

At precisely the same time and by coincidence, Affectus began mentoring a couple of employees within another organisation in a different industry. Both mentees self-identified as middle-level supervisors.

We heard stories that concerned us for the future of the business. Therefore, key areas we encouraged the mentees to action were:

• Discover the vision/purpose/why of the organisation. Then integrate their individual work.
• More fully understand the flow of communication within the organisation. Attempt to relieve the “roadblocks” to ensure more effective decision-making and action.
• Discuss the senior management understanding of autonomy and team. Get a sense of how to build both these areas for the overall building of workforce resilience.

Outcome: This business, as highly regarded as they were, lost key and “edge of chaos” staff. One staff member exited the businesses and specifically mentioned the need for the business to think through autonomy, communication and team. It is also clear that this organisation has disengaged with leadership skilling of staff.

What can you do to influence organisational health?

It is important to understand how valuable it is to review organisational health. In early 2019 Affectus will be developing an organisational health program. This program will provide further opportunity to get a better handle on your organisational health.

If you are reading this and wondering what steps can I take now to get a better handle on my organisation's health we encourage you to review the workshops you have attended. We are sure, through our evaluation processes, that our workshops and programs have a very positive impact. Sometimes the knowledge and information we provide need to be looked at again.

If you have attended an Exploring Your Why Workshop or a Chaos workshop, relook at your thinking. Consider how can this be relevant to my organisation. Plus, what action can I take to assist “us” regarding this area of organisational health?

If you have attended a 3 or 9-day program with us we encourage you to go back and look at the areas of:

• communication
• goal setting
• power
• teams

and find ways to action greater change in the organisations you are part of.

Stay tuned and get involved in our single workshops. They may spark great organisational health. And as mentioned above we will be developing an organisational health concept in 2019.

When defining "What is a team," the business dictionary says a team is

A group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project.

Team members:

1. operate with a high degree of interdependence
2. share authority and responsibility for self-management
3. are accountable for the collective performance
4. work toward a common goal and shared rewards(s).

A team becomes more than just a collection of people when a strong sense of mutual commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of the performance of its individual members.

Teams are not simple!

Gosh, that above definition sounds simple(ish) and seems to suggest “so come on what is your problem, this is all obvious and easy”.

When you look at teams there are functional to dysfunctional teams. There are once-was-functional to almost-there-functional. And there is everything in between.

So how do you assist teams to move into functional, whether they are new or old teams?

We will be discussing teams over the coming weeks, developing the four stages below in a more detailed manner.

A foundational theory of Teams

This theory is an old one and a good one - Tuckman’s theory of teams.

There are many others but this theory is practical. What I mostly love is that you can see it. And I know how valuable it is to go through each step with the advantage of not lingering in any of the early stages identified by Tuckman.

The first stage is forming when people are orienting themselves to one another, getting to know one another.

The second stage of storming is when people tend to become a little fractious

The third stage is when the team build roles and rules to bring great functionality to the team.

The ultimate stage in Tuckman’s work is the team is performing where people have defined their purpose, understand the presence of chaos, and are willing to embrace the edge of chaos because they understand the individuals in the team and what they bring.

What are the components of Performance?

I now appreciate that there is great value gained by understanding the components of the team stages. This understanding will provide movement of the team through the lower stages and seek the performing stage.

Forming, when done well, as the team above has done, allows people to get to know one another, to find common ground and understanding. Storming, if understood and identified, will ensure that a team sees it’s vulnerabilities, passions and sharp edges.

If, in the first two stages, honesty and openness have been confirmed and reinforced then the third stage, norming, will be about developing behaviours and unwritten rules that allow, rather than restrict, the edge of chaos activity that stretches a team into performance. A performance level that is not just doing the “job” but much more.

So to get to performance have a look at our tips below. Or register for the Affectus Teams Intensive Workshop

What about the personality layer?

It is important to see teams and personalities as highly connected. Because they are highly connected!

At Affectus we use the highly valued Big Five Inventory. There is so much discussion about the five big traits and we are pleased to have used this tool in our programs for the last 15 years. Our reading on the Big Five now informs significant portions of our work. In the future, we will be exploring the breadth of understanding this tool will bring to your teams.

Moving from Forming to Storming

Ensure that forming is done in a manner that allows people (everyone in the team) to actually get to know one another's personal insights and professional understanding. Develop some guidelines so that the team experiences “getting to know us”.

Getting through Storming

All teams need to go through this stage. Some teams get stuck here. The skill is understanding what storming is about and letting people know what is happening. Storming goes from people displaying their power and passion to dysfunctional behaviour if the displays are not acknowledged and discussed.

Norms

Norms are about conscious (and perhaps written) rules that make sense, to weird “accepted” behaviour. The latter need to be called out and addressed early and openly in a team that is going through the stages. In a team where norms are entrenched due to dysfunction then vulnerability in the leadership behaviour that may be of highest value. People willing to share in a vulnerable manner the “madness” of accepted behaviour that is undermining the opportunities for the team to reach for the edge of chaos...can help.

Performing

We all know what that feels like. If you observe a team at an earlier stage understand and acknowledge that is expected. If you see a team stagnating in one of the earlier stages then have the courage to explain and assist them to get to performing (not once in a while performing mind you) and stay there.

Invite your team to our Teams Intensive.

So, what is chaos?

Chaos is a scientific concept that is now used to describe the state of a system. That system, when considering leadership might be of mind, of environment, of interactions. It is a state. And, like H2O, that chaotic state is about the fact that it is in change. It is not fixed.This makes chaos a powerful state because there is the opportunity to respond to the state of chaos.

Over the next four weeks, we will explore Chaos in more detail, starting this week with the idea of chaos being an opportunity.

The idea of chaos opportunity

In a “tongue-in-cheek” comment  Peter Marsh and Stefan Stern, in their initial evaluation of WL Gore’s success, suggest that If you want to achieve 50 years of almost continuous growth, you now know what you have to do: abolish management and get rid of all the employees.

But, taking the tongue out of the cheek, they later uncover that some of the success is actually about the non-hierarchial structure of the company.

The chaos conversation…

A number of years ago, during a casual conversation with an executive of a financial institute I discovered that, for him, the thought of not having a hierarchical and rigid organisation and decision-making structure would allow for “people going off and doing their own thing”. What irony considering what has been revealed thus far from the Banking Royal Commission here in Australia.

However, this executive clearly thought I was barking mad to suggest that chaos might be a valuable area to explore as an organisation. And he thought I was even madder when I encouraged him to understand the edge of chaos and how valuable it could be to find and be in it. Anyway, a strong tea was made and we moved onto whether the Wallabies would win – not much joy there either.

The exploration…

The conversation peaked my interest in what actually is it about things not being “under control” that gets some people very jumpy and so I started reading and observing.

The learning…

I remember as a child riding my pony – she was a bugger and very strong-willed - we were a good match. She never quite did what I wanted and I loved her for it. I was regularly instructed to “get Polly under control”. But, secretly I delighted in the fact that she always didn’t quite do it the way she should have. I think I enjoyed being on the chaotic side, which is why chaos and my theory about “leadership space” have interested me for so long now. It is edgy and just a tad unconventional.

It was later on while studying for my Masters in Leadership, that I discovered the idea of the edge of chaos.

What is chaos?

Chaos is a scientific concept. It is simply a system that is characterised by unpredictability – that we can’t predict what will happen next.

An example is a raindrop running down a window panel. We can’t predict where it is going to flow. It is still a raindrop. We think we can see where it will run but we can never be certain. I remember long car trips as a child on rainy days watching the water streak horizontally across the passenger window. And I remember thinking “I wonder where this drop will go? I thought I could predict but never got it right, they seemed to track the paths of other droplets but would then do something “new”. Chaos!

Chaos is not a crisis or a natural emergency or an accident or a disaster.

Chaos is an unpredictable system.

There are parameters. There is connectivity. There is purpose. There is direction. But the system is not predictable – raindrops on a car window.

What does this mean for leadership?

Well, in my experience and the experience of Affectus, it means that the people we work with are not predictable. Their responses, reactions, behaviours, actions can’t be predicted and therefore can’t be controlled.

Scary or exciting? A bit of both I think.

Scary because we have been told “get Polly under control” - thinking that we can get “her/him/them/it” under control.

However, what we also know, innately, is that control is an illusion.

We can manage ourselves and control many things about ourselves but we are literally wasting our time thinking we can control our people. Yes, we can direct or tell or demand (if that is our style), encourage, motivate, cajole, bribe others to “do what I want”. But ultimately (as we all know) people have to make a decision.

This is why the chaotic people stuff is hard – really hard. And why it is worth spending energy thinking “well if control is off the agenda what is available to me, to all of us?”

I guarantee that the Big 4 Banks and AMP (and all the others yet to be revealed) have lots of control process to stop their financial advisers randomly behaving unethically. In fact, I am sure many of you have signed statements, I know I have, from financial advisers outlining how they will behave and what I can expect of them. However, if the Banking Royal Commission tells us anything, that control process hasn’t worked!

The exciting bit

The part of the conversation that years ago ensured me and my banking buddy started talking about the Wallabies, is:

What would happen if the myth of control was removed and we allowed people to step find their individual leadership space?
What would it be like if we said there is the edge of chaos, where the system is not rigid?
Where people are able to try things, experiment, challenge, probe, try out their ideas.
What if we go there – all of us? What would happen?
Perhaps the question is "what would happen?" What might happen? What would you need to let go of to let this happen and what might the outcomes be?

Quiet your mind, let go of your initial thinking (that anarchy would occur/it would be amazing) and think about the people – not the system. Think about their amazing capability, their knowledge, their desire for good things to happen.

Experience reveals that something different happens. Not perhaps what you expect, but does that matter.

The work Affectus does, as many of you have experienced, lets go of the structure. We give you parameters, yet we let you find your leadership space (collectively or individually). And then we say “go there" and ask what has happened? Magic, brilliance, disorder. A newness forms and in that newness, you find out. You find the edge of chaos where your mind is stretched, your knowledge enhanced, your participation is magnified and you add great value.

To finish

Ori Braffman, in the book The Starfish and the Spider says

“When you put people in an open system, some of them will get high, dance all night long, and attack street signs. But most people will create elaborate art, share snow cones, and try as hard as they can—in thier own way—to contribute to the community. And Burning Man, though outside them ainstream, holds a crucial lesson for businesses. When you give people freedom, you get chaos, but you also get incredible creativity.” 

"Without reflection, we go blindly on our way"
Margaret Wheatley (Leadership and New Science)

More than three decades ago I commenced my career in assisting others to discover their own personal leadership. At that point, I also discovered the power of reflection.

Reflection was part of reflective practices during my initial years of schooling and university reflection. But, it was not discussed formally even during the educational psychology components of my undergraduate study.

However, the practice of research is always about looking back; reviewing what others have done before you in the field and in the laboratory.

Studying and learning, growing and developing was always about “look back to see where to go next”. But it was in my first (short but successful) career as a teacher that reflection first became a personal practice.

Pausing at the end of each frantic day during my first year of teaching was scary and valuable all at once. That daily ritual of staying in the environment of the school and sitting at the staff table as the building emptied and collecting the data was powerful and at times sanity saving. That data included the facts and the feelings, finding meaning and deeper understanding of what went on and then planning out my next day and week.

I had a clear goal of where I wanted to get my students to by the end of the year. Reflection assisted me enormously in becoming a sound facilitator of people who are looking to stretch and grow into leadership.

I didn’t know the Kierkegaards quote then but I knew it.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”
Soren Kierkegaard

What is the habit of reflection and why is it so important.

The definition of reflection is serious thought and reflection. Serious thought requires time and brain space.

When I think of reflection I think of the chapters in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where Dumbledore extracts his memories. The extraction of the memory was valuable as it allowed the professor to see the circumstances, the events again and with new eyes.

When I commence a period of reflection now I actually create a space, (no, not where I draw out a wand and point it to my temple), where I have stillness to allow my thoughts to come to consciousness.

The first step of reflection

The first step of reflection is finding the time.

Yep, there goes the gong – time! Where do you find the time?

There is always this tussle about time. However, what you need to consider is what is valuable time usage.

If you spend your time moving forward without looking back then you are at risk of doing the same thing over and over again. Doing the same thing over and over can be useful if what you are doing is worthwhile.

But!!

But, and it's a big but. BUT, if your endeavour is repeating the same mistake over again then this is a waste of time.

A recent example in my life was that during a time of intense work pressure I fell back into the habit of not checking the dates. The result was a time-consuming fix-up job. If I had spent ten minutes reflecting on my management and leadership practice I would have seen where I was headed. And I would have avoided the fix-up job.

Jennifer Porter states in her article that research demonstrated that employees who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting on lessons learned performed 23% better after then days than those who did not reflect.

Porter also goes onto say that you need to find a process for reflecting. We agree, which is why our tips section may assist if reflection has slipped off the agenda for you or if you never really hooked into the concept.

Claude Monet said

“It is on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve…”

And we would add to Monet’s quote with

"then find new meaning and implement change in behaviours."

It is important to not just do the Albus Dumbledore pensieve process of extracting our memory. Also, consider what does this mean and what action should/could/must I take to change my ways.

Have a look at our 5D Reflection Model here.

Quick Tips on Understanding Your Why

A practical starting point

Identify your values

You may have done this during an Affectus program you have participated in. If so, what are the words that you chose?

Alternately find a values list (there are many online) and choose the three or four that you know are core to how you see the world and how you present to the world.

Establish your passions

Think back over the last six months. What were you most happy doing?

Come and do an “Exploring Your Why” ½ Day Workshop

…seriously if you really want to understand your purpose or explore your why find a process that will assist you in getting to your why. Find out more here

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”
- Cecli Beaton

When you have found your why the above quote seems to make more sense.

I recently had lunch with a woman who always gets me thinking…always. We spoke about our voices of doubt that still pop up. Her’s is mastering a particularly challenging landing in her plane. Mine when I am thinking of a particularly arduous walk.

As I contemplated our challenging lunch conversation that evening I realised how connected the voices of doubt are to our ability to function effectively on our purpose – to be in our Why – to work where we are most passionate and with all our gifts. I also realised that when we are firmly working in our Why space that the voices of doubt/ the sense of “I can’t” are silent.

Why Your Why?

Your purpose is important.

January Connections provided a starting point about the idea of why and and we continue to delve further about “why” in this edition.

Some of you will know that we, at Affectus, are pretty keen on the concept of purpose. Simon Sinek calls it “why”. Simon explains that people connect with us because they understand and connect with our why and to know our why is a valuable addition at any level. Simon talks specifically about how useful this is for businesses, here.

At Affectus, our purpose – our Why - is all of the above and more.

“Why” is a deep understanding of what drives us and this invariably is connected to our values and passions and gifts.

These three elements underpin our current reading and research.  Affectus’ current work has helped both us and our clients deeply connect with why we are all driven to do things. Or, in some instances why some continue to gaze over the fence and look at the greener pastures.

Affectus' Why is about transforming leaders.

Taking people through:

• processes of values identification
• visualising their passions
• visualising their motivators
• understanding the gifts and skills they possess

This ensures they are able to step into leadership with a sense of “this is my space, my leadership space”.

This takes great courage but if you are clear about your Why then your thinking will be less clouded by those “voices of doubt”.

At Affectus, we work hard at verbalising and therefore maximising the “Can” so that we are ALL able to work with others and shape the future.

But what does all of that actually mean?

What is your why and how can you find it?

It sometimes comes with a thud…

• "I want to take people wandering through villages in the ancestral homeland”
• “I see that I have been avoiding this really important and challenging and life-saving work now I have named it I must do something about it”.

These were two "thuds" from attendees at our recent Exploring Your Why Workshops.

Or perhaps you already fully understand your why and you are already in your leadership space because of that. Or because, even though it has never been named as your “Why”, it is what you love doing and you are pretty good at it.

Or perhaps you need to think through the three areas to consider:

• Values
• Passions
• Gifts

So why is your why so important?

Well, simply, because it requires less effort to be spending your time there.

For me, when I am working on my purpose, it is not always easy. Actually most of the time it is really hard but I am focused on my Why, something that I see as important, and I am pouring my passion and skills into something that is valuable. So while it is hard being there it required less effort because I feel alive when I'm there.

"Oh come on"…the voices are deafening…"OH COME ON!" But, actually, I think I am right.

If you think about your last 5 days what made you:

• Light-up
• Feel alive
• Make you hum

Was it something you love doing? Pretty likely.

You can actually hear people whistling, humming - there they are!