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Stay tuned for our next newsletter in which we will share information from the recent 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology, including Dina’s reflection on her presentation of our new program, “Leading with Courage.”

If you’ve been following my updates lately, you will notice I’ve been focused on courage. The courage to lead.

The courage to be authentic. And the courage to succeed. Well, I’m taking my own advice. I’m being courageous and using the wonderful opportunity provided by the 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology in Montreal to launch my new program, Leading with Courage.

Why leading with courage?

In these times of disruption and tension, positive forms of leadership – namely, authentic leadership – are needed to restore confidence, hope and optimism in leaders and associates. However, with a competitive marketplace, competing stakeholder expectations and destructive organisational politics in which authentic leadership may not be supported, clients and my own observations have led me to realise that courage is fundamental to leading authentically.

There are also demonstrated benefits of increased courage and authentic leadership. With courage; leaders perform better, business results are improved and organisational integrity is ensured. Authentic leadership has also resulted in elevated, sustained performance of the leader and associates. And with evidence linking courage to wellbeing, it is expected that a focus on courage will provide additional positive impact on the workplace wellbeing of our leaders with further impact on organisational success.

A measurable, outcomes-based program

Leading with Courage is a measurable, outcomes-based program that has been designed to build courage in senior and executive leaders. The program comprises three key steps:

1. Preparing to be Courageous – participants will begin to reflect on past acts of courage and also, identify a current workplace situation requiring courage

2. Exploring Courage – using narrative as the predominant learning methodology, participants will further explore their own courageous acts and have the opportunity to experience the courageous acts of others

3. Being Courageous – this is the opportunity for participants to lead with courage in the workplace with support from others

To assess the impact of this program, participants will complete pre- and post- program measures of workplace courage, authentic leadership and workplace wellbeing. It is anticipated that each measure will show positive shifts in behaviour.

This program, designed to build courage, provides an opportunity to enable and embed authentic leadership behaviour.

While courage is not the only behaviour required of leaders, it is an essential leadership behaviour for success and may be the one which provides most support in these challenging times.

I welcome the opportunity to speak with you about Leading with Courage too.

Dina

In preparing for my presentation, "Leading with Courage," for the 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology in Montreal next month, I am reminded of quotes, videos, images, memories and more that have piqued my curiosity in courage.

Firstly, it was the study and subsequent design of the Authentic Leadership Program with colleagues that ignited my curiosity in courage.  I came across "Radical Gratitude and other life lessons learned in Siberia" by Andrew Bienkowski and Mary Akers.  The following quote from this book – “It takes courage to be your most authentic self when others all around you are acting and pretending to be what they think is expected of them” – not only sparked my curiosity but also that of many program participants, leading to robust exploration and debate of authenticity in context of the work environment in which one works – including the impact of organisational design, dynamics and politics to lead with authenticity.

A Reflection

I recently had the opportunity to share the work that insium does with Imogen Kroker. I very much enjoyed and learned much from the time we spent together.  This is her reflection ...

On the weekend, we experienced the grandeur of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with the MSO Chorus, the National Boys Choir of Australia and an amazing baritone in John Longmuir, soprano Eva Kong, and tenor Warwick Fyfe.  With the direction of Conductor, Long Yu, the performance of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1895-1982) was exhilarating, energetic and passionate.

Book-ended with "Fortune, Empress of the World," the entire performance brought me great joy.  I sat on the edge of my seat for much of the performance, totally mesmerised by the music and the voices.  Overall, the musicians and the performance of Carmina Burana that they created was magnificent.  In detail, noticing which instrument produced which specific sound, noticing how sounds were created, and noticing the commitment of the musicians was delighting.  

Prior to the performance of Carmina Burana, the MSO and the MSO Chorus performed Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No.2 by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).  In addition to the joy in the moment, this experience also had me reminiscing and savouring fond memories, such as Sunday afternoons watching black and white movies straight out of Hollywood as a family, and our Grade 6 excursion to see "Fantasia" by Walt Disney.  I'm not even sure that the music was the same, but this classic music brought back very fond, joyful memories nonetheless.

And most joyful of all ... I experienced this performance with the person I love most.  In this experience, I have created a new memory which I can continue to savour into the future.  I am truly grateful to Geoff for organising this night out.

Just writing this blog has me smiling, savouring and feeling joy again.  What brings you joy?

P.S.  And of course, who can forget the "classic" playfulness of the "Big Beer Ad."  Still brings a smile to my face now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3GH7Pn_eA

Carmina Burana performed by the MSO, 2011:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuU908XJqy4

Daphnis & Chloe Suite No.2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amGl9Qmgu7E

Leading with Courage

Last month's newsletter introduced the idea of Leading with Courage in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous - the subject of my recent Master of Applied Positive Psychology Capstone paper.  What follows is my recent submission to the International Positive Psychology Association, for consideration for presentation at their upcoming conference in Montreal in July.

Leading with Courage in a VUCA World

Sustaining organisational performance in an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014) is challenging and falls to the leadership within an organisation.  This environment has contributed to corporate scandals including that of Enron in 2001 and Lehman Brothers in 2008.  Might the collapse of both of these organisations have been averted by a strong expression of courage by senior and executive employees?  Might courage – defined as "an intentional constructive or moral action taken by an individual in the presence of perceived personal risk, fear and uncertainty of outcome (personal or organisational) in order to resolve or avert an organisational dilemma" – avert further global collapses?

How can others find out about what you do and how you do it?  How do people know about your competencies, your beliefs and your values?  Just like the products you buy in stores or online, you have a "brand" that gives others an idea of what you're about.

In an excerpt from her presentation at the veski "Inspiring Women" workshop, watch insium Director & Founder Dina Pozzo share some important insights into how you can develop and build your own personal brand.  Click the "Read More" button to view. 

#notmypresident – a hashtag that is trending at the moment.  No doubt you’ll have seen or heard news about the many protests in the USA, in response to Donald Trump becoming President-Elect.

Regardless of your opinion regarding the outcome, as a leader, how would you lead in this situation?  How would you support an unpopular outcome?  How would you maintain energy and positive mood for yourself and your associates?  

You may have seen footage of Hilary Clinton’s concession speech and/or President Barack Obama’s response to the outcome.  What would your advice be to those who do not support the result?  To those who do?  How would you call upon everyone to remain united?  What connections would you make with others?  Encourage others to make?

Raising the bat - 50 insium newsletters!

insium was formed in 2005 and in 2006 insium dispatched its first e-newsletter. Now in 2016 we've brought up our 50 - and have no intention of declaring our innings closed yet!

Our first newsletter covered the results of our annual client survey, as well as articles on the following topics:

• Insights From Some Truly Inspirational People
• Empower Your Direct Reports by Asking Better Questions
• Making Business Change Sustainable

Many of our newsletters have focused on the topic of "Leadership", and we've often been asked for copies of previous newsletters on this topic that people would like to refer to.  With this in mind, we've decided to collate some of these and put them into e-book form.  If you'd like to obtain a copy, please get in touch with us.