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Book Review: "Synchronicity - The Inner Path of Leadership", by Joe Jaworski

8 January, 2012

"People should not consider so much what they are to do, as to what they are." - Master Eckhart

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this book changed my life. I first read it about 10 years ago. I was just starting out as a self employed consultant and the concepts and ideas contained within Joe’s description of his journey opened up a whole new world to me. A world of quantum physics, dialogue, complexity and a different way of seeing leadership. As a result of this I embarked upon a journey of learning and discovery.

"A central purpose of writing this book is to propose an alternative: if individuals and organizations operate from the generative orientation from possibility rather than resignation, we can create the future into which we are living, as opposed to merely reacting to it when we get there." - Joe Jaworski

From the very beginning, with Peter Senge’s introduction, we are introduced to generative leadership and on through the book we are encouraged to explore ideas which challenge our western ways of seeing organisations and leadership.

In the book Joe Jaworksi shares his own journey of learning and discovery about different ways of seeing and being in organisations. His journey starts from his youth and takes us through his exploration of thoughts which challenged his old ways of thinking and introduced him to new paradigms. And in the process of writing the book he encourages us to join him on his journey.

Unusually for me I return to this book about once a year. On reading on 2011 I was reminded again about the importance of relationship and how we are interrelated with all beings. I was reminded to take time, to stop the constant barrage of thoughts and to notice those around me and how we are connected.

Over the years I have recommended this book to many people. Each person has taken something different from it. I encourage you to do this too - to go on your own journey with this wonderful book.

Today I was asked: how can we change our organizational culture?

12 October 2011

I love this question and it is one I have been asked a number of times. I used to hold the view that it was easy to change an organizational culture – or even that a large organization might have one culture! Over the years my views have changed.

I still do believe that an organisations culture is imbedded in ‘the way people do things’ but perhaps more importantly it is in the questions people ask and the conversations they have. So if we want to have an impact on organizational culture we need to think about the type of conversations we have, the questions we ask, the topics we raise. We also have to practice what we preach and be effective role models.

For example …..

If we want to create a culture where people have regular effective 1 to 1 meetings with their direct reports we could

Start by modeling this and having these regularly – and ensuring they are a good balance of coaching and performance management – where we listen well, ask inquiring questions and help people to solve their own problems and access their own thinking wherever possible.
In these we can ask how about the 1 to 1s our direct reports are having. We can use this as a coaching opportunity for them on their leadership. We can ask what they are learning about themselves as a leader in these and what the issues are that they are coaching their team members in.
We could invite a group of interested individuals, willing volunteers, from across different parts and levels of the organization to write a ‘top tips for effective 1 to 1s’. This group would then become champions and their own ‘hot spots’. They could ask others about what makes an effective 1 to 1 and therefore start conversations in the organization about 1 to 1s.
Run ‘action learning’ groups for new leaders where the focus is on their leadership of the direct reports. These could include helping the leaders reflect on what is going well and what is challenging about conducting 1 to 1s and the group will be able to share their learning and experiences with each other.

My favorite book on this topic is

Changing Conversations in Organizations – A Complexity Approach to Change, Patricia Shaw

I would strongly recommend this as a provocative read!

Networking

March 30, 2011

I have just finished preparing for a workshop I am running on Networking this evening. I don’t think networking comes naturally to many people - and certainly not me. Before I started thinking about what networking was I had really negative views of it. I saw it as being about how to ‘get’ something from someone.

Over the past few years I have come to see it as much more about what I can offer others, how I can meet like minded people and how I can build new relationships. For me it has become about increasing my circle of people I trust and enjoy, people I can learn from and who hopefully I can share my learning with.

This doesn’t stop me finding it nerve wracking at times. I feel butterflies before I go to events where I don’t really know people. I have to take a deep breath before I introduce myself to someone, and then, as soon as I do and a connection starts my nerves slip away. I then remember that I enjoy people and love meeting new people and that for me that is what networking is all about.

Happy Networking!

Is your workload increasing?

10 March, 2011

Over the past week I have found myself working with a few coaching clients on workload management. They are all finding their workloads increasing and are struggling to manage.
For each of them this has led to different reactions but the outcome for all of them was a reduction in productivity.

In our sessions we have worked on how they could manage their workload in a way that suits their preferences and style.

I know there are tried – and supposedly tested – time and workload management approaches. However my experience is that these work best for people who are already well organised and structured. And they don't really need the help.

Meanwhile the rest of us need creative and enjoyable approaches that play to our natural strengths and style and help our work lives to be productive.

Some of the ideas we have come up with in our sessions include

Encouraging a person who always wrote things on little scraps of paper to use post-it notes and to place these on a piece of paper which represented a plan for the week.
Making a list!! This might sound obvious - but for this person, it wasn't a practical tool, but rather a cathartic process to get everything out of her head.
Only looking at e-mails 2 or 3 times a day and in the meantime closing your e-mail package. This requires real discipline. It is often so enticing to see what new e-mails are there - but everytime they distract us from the things we are working on.
Keeping a list of small tasks which could be done between meetings and big tasks which need focus and energy.
Exploring people's natural energy rhythms. For some - their energy is highest in the morning, for others it is evening. One option was for people to do the jobs they dislike in their highest energy moments and do mundane tasks, or things you really enjoy when their energy was lowest.
We have also explored how they could negotiate to work flexible hours. If your best hours in the day are 4 – 8pm, why not come in at 11am and work til 8pm?

And for me - well I am newly introduced to Evernote - a package and app which helps me to keep track of all my projects and work that needs to be done. I am hooked, for now!. www.evernote.com