Richard Boyatzis and resonant leadership

Charles Handy on Qualities of Vision and Leadership

Writing about your life to learn about yourself

Listening, paying attention

Businesses who are not connected with a social mission are morally bankrupt and doomed

Businesses should be socially useful - too the world - and not just to themselves

Looking at the things beneath the stairs - things that may become relevant in 20 to 30 years

Creative workforce - what energize people working together?

When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It become quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit. (Senge 1990: 13)

When the circuit is closed or on, every electron is polarised, energised and the current flows.

Is that the order or the connectivity we need to remember? the connectivity of course, because that is what generate electricity here. If not, electrons will be static or inert in a way...

What Peter Senge highlight here is:

- the meaningfulness of the experience

- the sense of being connected

- an experience described as being generative as individuals and as a group

That is very much like being a creative workforce: being generative

Feeling as one - not just a part of - or, even worst - having no clues about the rest and the others - even possibly no interest - indifference is the lowest level of being part of something. 

Could you feel connected if you do not feel part of a team? NO

Therefore feeling your part of a team, is an important aspect of building a creative workforce.

It needs to be felt and experienced and built upon.

Team learning need to be looked at: the ability to learn as a team

Team building: tapping on the right attributes: trust, openness, commitment, accountability, mission focus

Team maintenance: how to keep a team together? what are people made of? what keep them together? Appreciation, support, tolerance, patience

Is that all? Wonder :-)

Innovation & creative workshop

Innovation and creative workforce
What does it take to foster a creative workforce?
Quick brainstorming:
- Thinking: do we think? how do we think?
What do we allow ourselves to think?

Safe thinking is like following in the path of what has already be thought...
It may lure us into the idea of avoiding mistakes, ... give us a sense of (false?) confidence...
It leads to stereotype, repetition, boredom...
It may be linked with lack of initiative... and always looking for the leader so that I know what to think

A more open form of thinking allow for originality
The Spanish Chef who created the famous restaurant El Buli (now closed) had an epiphany when he heard a French Chef say: Creativity means "not to copy".
It takes courage and possibly some bold moves... you may feel lonely, unsupported...
You could be wrong... but you would not know until you try
You may have to change, adjust, correct, improve...

Creativity starts at the individual level.
A creative workforce is a workforce where creativity can be harnessed from most individual.
What does it take to achieve such a level of being in a group? A creative workforce would imply things like:
- courage to contribute ideas together with a supportive attitude towards such contribution
- willingness to deal with failure together with willingness to accept mistakes from our staff
- willingness and ability to learn from mistake and take action accordingly together with coaching ability to foster reviews and learning
- etc...

When such attitudes and attributes are in place - and maybe a few more - like goal alignment, vision, etc..., the context for innovation is getting in place. Such attitudes and attributes can be called "learning infra-structure". We could draw parallels with the attributes of learning organisations.

Practically I am listing below small steps towards being creative. These practical steps involve things like:
- brainstorming (idea generation)
- games to think out of the box (lateral thinking - inspired by Edward de Bono. For example the Six Hats methodology)
- ability to create consensus in a group using collaborative techniques: group discussion, dialogue, consultation.
- team learning
- appreciation, leading to appreciative inquiry
- and generally, any steps creating the right atmosphere for innovation to take place: developing emotional intelligence, using multiple intelligence

How does creativity comes into place for such aspects as making decision as a group or discussing options or seeking advise...? The point here is that without the ability to tap into each and every one resource, without seeking maximal contributions from each group member, the group is left to the power of a few few or maybe just one... the potential of the group is wasted.

In a positive way, it means that a creative workforce is a workforce where everyone is contributing and involved to the best of his/her ability. It is a fine balance to achieve that while being able to lead the group to success. A creative workforce is a workforce, which as shown in nature - is resilient while flexible, adaptative / adaptive and has the ability to nurture growth and evolution.

Some of the activities that correlate to building creative workforce could involve language, music and art and the ability to co-create. Such activities would involve creating together, listening, ...supporting each other, leading for creation.

Characteristic of great leaders according to JK Galbraith

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

~John Kenneth Galbraith

Krishnamurti - being what we are

"Don't you see, it is really an extraordinary thing that you are so afraid to be what you are.; because beauty lies in being what you are. If you see that you are lazy, that you are stupid and if you understand laziness and come face to face with stupidity without trying to change it into something else, then in that state you will find there is an enormous release, there is great beauty, there is great intelligence."

Think on these things  - chapter: The attentive mind
In response to the question: "Why do I hate myself when I don't study"

Cross-cultural awareness, competences and other related jargon. Training ideaS

I am reproducing an interesting article about cross cultural training... It presents simply what is quite simple. Which is 1000 times better than what most so called expert do: making something simple complicate and trying to make sound simple the resulting complexities. None of this here. Thanks to the author whose website is mentioned below:

Terminology within the cross cultural communications field can sometimes be baffling to those reading the literature, websites or promotional material. Many ask what is the difference between 'intercultural' and 'cross cultural'? What is 'cross cultural awareness' as opposed to 'cross cultural knowledge' or, are 'cultural sensitivity' and 'cultural competence' the same thing?

 With a view to clarifying some of the above mentioned terminology, this article will examine terms used in relation to building cross cultural understanding within the business world. Cross cultural understanding simply refers to the basic ability of people within business to recognise, interpret and correctly react to people, incidences or situations that are open to misunderstanding due to cultural differences.

The fundamental intention of cross cultural training is to equip the learner(s) with the appropriate skills to attain cross cultural understanding. Once the foundations of cross cultural understanding have been laid, the learner(s), either through continued training or experiences within the workplace, gradually attains a more acute appreciation of cultural differences.

The different types of appreciation are cross cultural knowledge, cross cultural awareness, cross cultural sensitivity and cross cultural competence. Although all the terms may appear similar in meaning, subtle differences exist between them. 'Cross Cultural Knowledge' is critical to basic cross cultural understanding. Without it cross cultural appreciation cannot take place. It refers to a surface level familiarization with cultural characteristics, values, beliefs and behaviours. 'Cross Cultural Awareness' develops from cross cultural knowledge as the learner understands and appreciates a culture internally. This may also be accompanied by changes within the learner's behaviour and attitudes such as a greater flexibility and openness. 'Cross Cultural Sensitivity' is a natural by-product of awareness and refers to an ability to read into situations, contexts and behaviours that are culturally rooted and be able to react to them appropriately. An suitable response necessitates that the actor no longer carries his/her own culturally determined interpretations of the situation or behaviour (i.e. good/bad, right/wrong) which can only be nurtured through both cross cultural knowledge and awareness.

'Cross Cultural Competence' is and should be the aim of all those dealing with multicultural clients, customers or colleagues. 'Competence' is the final stage of cross cultural understanding and signifies the actor's ability to work effectively across cultures. Cross cultural competency is beyond knowledge, awareness and sensitivity in that it is the digestion, integration and transformation of all the skills and information acquired through them, applied to create cultural synergy within the workplace.

Thanks for this valuable article taken from the following web http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/cross-cultural-understanding.html

What seems to me is the importance of appreciation. The practice of appreciation is what will help seeing the intention beyond and connecting with what is really good in every thing. Culture is often the make up for wanting to do things properly. Because of the general positive inclination of any culture, this very trait is often used and abused by groups of people wanting to draw power and benefit from society - either by their position or by their business or practices. That is how culture or cultural features become degenerative - ie they lose their meaning and become mere instrument of power or control -. This is obvious in some rituals - often religious rituals whose meaning is lost - or some table manners - where to put our hands or forks or knife, whether using hands or not etc... -

A deep training directions would be look very seriously for as many reasons as possible why a behavior A is good and  why its opposite A- is also good. Practicing that. Then practicing that on our personal top 10 of what we believe is right - right in business relationship - right at home - right with children - right with friend.

Then the same should be practice with someone else list. Before that, the "someone else" list should be "de-personnalised" ie it should be re-written by someone else (who would read it though) and following that, it should be placed in a box for someone else to pick it up randomely.

This technique would enhance the practice of appreciation, detachment, distinguishing between person and the behaviour. It would help de-personnalise issues while bringing to light the purest intentions (the top ten of what is right). It could create an "arch" of understanding - well above persons, ego and behaviours - under the light of pure intention and universal values, where we all stand equal and united.

Quite a high aim and surely an interesting training session.