1. Authentic Self
2. Workplace Conversations
3. Accountability & Responsibility
4. Career Development
5. Workplace Culture

I was surprised by just how much information data can and does provide, and so we focused on the results for Authentic Self.

In a nutshell, the data revealed 3 paradoxes:

• 92% of respondents are willing to act on being authentic, but only 50% are willing to be vulnerable; vulnerability is the source of authenticity.
• 82% of respondents are willing to be true to my personal values and yet only 62% are willing to maintain balance; Living our values help us understand our balance or imbalance.
• 78% of respondents are willing to share their strengths with others; but are they really?  My own work with teams and strengths over the past 15 years repeatedly highlights that people are reluctant to speak about their strengths.

If you’re interested to learn more, the corresponding report: Courage in the Lucky Country – A Perspective on Australian Organisations, can be found here and if you’d like to watch a recording of the presentation, please click here.

We will be presenting the results of Workplace Conversations in the near future; if you are interested in participating in this online forum, receiving the corresponding report and/or having us present these results in your organisation, please contact us.  

Thanks again to all who participated in our Workplace Courage Questionnaire, and thank you to Associate Professor Peggy Kern of the University of Melbourne for her help in development of insium’s workplace CQ and to Wavemaker Australia with whom we analysed the data.

insium Client Feedback Survey

As we do every year, we looked back at 2020 to evaluate the service that we provided to our clients.  Our objective at insium is to always provide a level of service that exceeds our clients' expectations, allowing you to achieve your goals.

In order to help insium to best meet your needs, we asked you to let us know how we're doing and how we can do our job better.

Here are a few of your comments:

“So much knowledge. Communicates in a real way. Extremely supportive in a tough year.”  Tamie Williams, Group Sales & Capability Manager

“The activities and strategies were engaging and things that we could use when we returned to our school setting.” Judith Harris, Deputy Principal, Bonnyrigg High School, NSW

“Thanks for this work. I have certainly needed to be brave in this last year. insium has given me some of the 'language' needed to do this work with my people.” Karen Snibson, Principal, Phoenix College

Thank you to all who provided feedback. 

#FWsummit

I recently participated in Future Women’s Leadership Summit 2021, where I was inspired to courage by a number of different speakers.  There were so many great messages; here are just a few of my favourites:

“Lead from the heart. Show kindness every day. Kindness can be heard by deaf people and seen by blind people.” says Tracey Corbin-Matchett, CEO, Bus Stop Films; Director, Deaf Sports Australia

“Have a photo board of all the people whose opinions matter to us.” Jamila Rizvi, Chief Creative Officer, Future Women 

“To overcome imposter syndrome, I surround myself with heart-lifters not heart-sinkers.” Nikki Gemmell, Bestselling Author and Writer 

“You can choose to be saddened and talk about what is holding us back or you can choose to move forward.” Such important words spoken by Priscilla Brown, Group Executive Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Commonwealth Bank. 

“You have two options when faced with unethical behaviour: Stay anchored in your values or be a bystander. Demonstrate radical integrity in small and big-scale moments,” says Andrea Clarke, Future Fit Co-Founder

“Being perfect uses 30-50% of your horse power. There are too many things to do in this world that are important to waste 30-50% of your resources,” says Skipp Williamson, Managing Director, Partners in Performance

“There is no point in writing a report and not acting on it,” says The Hon Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Women, Federal Member for Sydney

“Keep moving forward, even if it’s a small step.”  The Hon Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW & member for Willoughby

“Humanity allows a leader to set aside personal gain for the betterment of others.” Sandra Pankhurst, CEO Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services

veski inspiring women

#STEMsidebyside program 2020/2021

Thank you to veski and to the amazing participants of the veski inspiring women #STEMsidebyside program 2020/2021.  As always, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with others to develop courage; and I am uplifted by the willingness of all participants to be courageous.  

This word cloud represents some of the discussions we had; thank you to veski for this image.

I am honoured to be a member of this talented and powerful network of truly inspiring women. 

And more:

Dare To Lead™ (DTL): for more information on DTL please click here where you will find information about keynote presentations, and workshops for individuals – in-person and online – and for your workplace

#couragemonth: if you would like to view the videos of each of our #couragemonth videos, they can be found here

Remember: the difference between knowing and doing is courage.  I dare you to do!

Dina