The Game of Teams

Introduction: Andrea Linehan is listed as one of the top 30 most influential Marketeers. She is a regular speaker at conferences and universities on subjects such as Marketing, Branding, Financial Inclusion, Social Entrepreneurship, Fintech start-ups/scale-ups and many more. After 10 years in Oman she returned to Ireland to join, as CMO, a FinTech start-up  called GRID Finance.  After 5 years she joined Currency Fair. Currency Fair Enterprises and Assembly Payments merged in April of 2021 to form the new company called Zai. Andrea holds a BSc(HONS)in Finance and is a Postgraduate of the Chartered Institute of Marketeers. She hold an MBA from Trinity College Dublin and is a Chartered Management Accountant.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the Merger of two scale-up companies, Currency Fair Enterprises and Assembly Payments, and the work involved in bringing two top teams together. Conscious of the anaemic success rates of merged entities Andrea shares how her company and especially because of her CEO Paul Byrne, committed the time, multiple workshops across a diverse population of representatives to get aligned on the fundamentals: Purpose, Mission, Vision, Attributes and Personality. This work was completed against a backdrop of business as usual, Covid and the regulatory/legal machinations of combining two entities. Much of the work was completed over zoom.    Points made over the episode Andrea shares how she started her academic life studying computers but by year three discovered she needed to pivot to Finance and Accounting.  Andrea initially figured she would join one of the big four but after exploring what these entities might mean she joined Aer Rianta and a role in the Middle East  She moved to Oman without a job and quickly found her footing. She found herself too in Oman. She was shaped as a woman and learnt so much about different cultures  Fintech found Andrea. When Andrea returned to Ireland, after 10 Years in the Middle East she was curious to know what direction to take her career. She chose to do an MBA at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.  She was fortuitously introduced to the two founders of a FinTech start-up by her Professor, Eoin O Neill of TCD.  She joined the FinTech company called GRID Finance and worked there for five  years Andrea then shares the story of the merger of FinTech Currency Fair, where she joined as CMO and Assembly Payments, made in part possible by the investment of Standard Chartered Ventures.  The Merger was announced in April 2021.  Andrea describes how the Merger made two scale-ups slow down when so much else about the company was moving at pace.  Two macro forces, The Merger process and Covid meant a lot of moving parts and added complexity.  All of this work was happening over zoom  The two top teams, the task force and many colleagues had to build trust over zoom The success of this process was in large measure down to the willingness of the companies to take the time to form a task group and do the work necessary to peel back the layers to determine what really mattered for each entity in terms of values, mission, visions, attributes &personality  The two companies, Currency Fair and Assembly Payments realised they were enormously aligned.   A proposal made by Andrea to the Board to look at the Branding for the merged entities made these various conversations meaningful and possible.  The process involved bringing the two top teams together along with representatives from both sides of the business from different parts of the business to form a task team.  Importantly the two entities did not go at this work alone and instead brought in an independent expert from Human Dynamics to support the work.  The new company name emerged as Zai.  This first piece of tangible work completed by the two merged entities instilled a lot of confidence for the future.  Andrea shares what the work entailed.  The work to create a Minimum Viable Brand. Work was completed on creating a value set and company characteristics. The Human Dynamic expert, Adam, helped align the values set with a potential North Star or Purpose for the company.  Multiple conversations and workshops were had to iron out inconsistencies, fears, concerns and areas of mistrust.   The members had to be willing to refine their work several times over many workshops and this process, where people showed up and were vulnerable sharing their concerns helped people understand each other’s drivers/motivations, personalities and thinking and helped forge a team identity.  Laughter was a big factor and contributed to the success of the project on zoom.  Time for these workshop was preserved by respecting some non-negotiables included blocking out time, the “Golden Hours” of 7am to 10am in the morning.  After two years of working together via Zoom, Travel to Australia served to foster relationships further.  The Zai Leadership team met in London last week. Despite the obvious distractions of needing to work on a strategy and road map, the team was disciplined enough to spend the majority of time getting to know each other.  The Human Dynamic Expert flew to London to join the team for the week.  The team revisited the Mission, Purpose, Values, work of the previous year to assess it for its currency and fit for purpose.  The team used Hogan Psychometrics to get to understand each other better, to appreciate the gaps in personalities and needs each person had and to consider what that might mean for the team.  Two things stood out as making this work possible.  The CEO Paul Byrne wholly believes in the work of establishing Vision, Mission, Purpose and Values to build a foundation from which to operate.  The team itself was hand-picked by Paul for their commitment, passion and interest in working together as a team.  Andrea loves the work of professional development and did not expect to go on a transformational journey of her own. Over the week she was with the top team. she discovered, surprisingly, that she had a trust barrier she did not know existed.  Andrea believes the trust factor on teams unlocks so much. Finding a way to be in conversation with your colleagues about Trust is important.  Andrea did not envisage she would be so proud of the culture that Zai is creating and she is excited to embark on the next piece of work to bring an Employee Brand to life.  The company will certainly be busy in the near future. Zai expects to enter 7/10 new markets. It also expects to develop several new products and to grow its employee base from 200 to 450 A busy few years ahead.  Resources shared  www.hellozai.com

Introduction: Ruth McCarthy is an extreme listener and thought provoker. She is faculty at Time to Think, is a Time to Think Coach & Facilitator. Ruth’s business is called Think it Through and she operates from London. Formerly a Student from Trinity College Dublin where she studied Modern Languages. She has a Master’s degree in Critical Thinking and Cultural Studies from Birkbeck, University London and of course several Licenses and Certificates from Time to Think LTD.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the conditions necessary for generative thinking. 10 principles housed in the Thinking Environment are brought to life across this episode. Ruth shares the material developed by Nancy Kline, work introduced to the world by her books, Time to Think in 1999, More Time to think in 2009 and just lately the book, The Promise that changes everything as well as the many course offerings and bespoke trainings provided by the company Time To Think LTD where Ruth is a Global Faculty Member.     Points made over the episode Ruth shared how she believes she has lived her life backwards. Somehow in her late 50’s Ruth discovered the work of Nancy Kline and was struck by the provocative nature of what she was discovering about how we as humans think She essentially created a career at a later stage in life on material new to her.  Earlier Ruth had a career in book publishing.  Ruth shares the conditions that create a thinking environment.  Place- Producing a physical environment-the room, the listener, your body, that says you matter Attention-Listening without interruption and with interest in where the person will go next in their thinking  Equality-Regarding each other as thinking peers; giving each and equal time to think  Ease-Noticing and discarding internal rush  Appreciation-Noticing what is good and saying it Encouragement-Giving courage to go to the unexplored edge of our thinking by ceasing competition as thinkers  Feelings-Welcoming the release of emotions  Incisive Questions-Freeing the human mind of an untrue assumption lived as true  Information-Absorbing the facts, data, denial, social context Difference-Championing our inherent diversity of identity and thought The thinking environment is a beautiful paradox. Its seeming simplicity is the other side of complexity  It is as simple as saying I will listen to you and I promise not to interrupt you.  I promise to be fascinated by the fact you are thinking rather than focusing on your content and employing my meaning making. It is a promise that says I will not derail your thinking by providing you with exquisite attention  In the presence of this benign generative force (you the listener) the brain of the other can wire and fire The conditions that support a generative thinking environment are available and yet often unpractised. In fact the presence of a thinking environment is often exceptional  To experience the ease that says I will not interrupt you calms your internal system and allows you to think freely. Encouraging the thinker, made implicit by attention, allows the thinker to go far and wide with their thinking.  Encouragement means shutting down competition between members of the team It says you are in a place that matters.  Appreciation is a great unsung hero. We are often taught to be cynical of appreciation and yet it is a hard psychological reality that if we are told what is good about us it creates the neuro chemistry for good thinking  Information and disinformation. We are in an age of mis-information. To think well we need to be presented with the facts, to be able to absorb the data, which is why rounds on teams gives the team an opportunity to hear all the available data Hierarchy and inequality can be a tipping point for teams. Ruth often asks how it would be for a team if it shared the time equally.  Resistance often comes in the form of assumptions. It is the work of a Time to Think facilitator to surface assumptions  Urgency destroys good thinking. Ruth often acts as an agent for ease knowing that in the presence of ease thinking is allowed. We are habituated to compete, to collapse into urgency and reactive ways of being. Interruption and competition are time wasters  Funny that we will pay a professional to show us how to play a sport better and we know we will have to go through the process of feeling uncomfortable holding a new grip for example. The same is true in learning new on Teams.  Trust is an outcome. We need a consistent and recognised way of being with each other to engender Trust. Ruth shares an example of using the 10 components to begin to manifest trust  Paucity of appreciation on teams. The world is rife with ridicule and stuff that we call banter that only supports to contract another. It is important to notice what is good in another and to say it. Appreciation works. There is enough research and evidence to support its efficacy. Consider the Gottman Institute and Heart-math from California.  In order to hear what is difficult the brain needs to hear first what is good. There is a precise proportionality for that and it is 5:1. What works best is to hear a quality, one or two words reflected back to another that ring true. It needs to be a quality rather than a product. This distinction is profound  The Brain is programmed to avoid pain and it will avoid. Emotions like fear, anger, disgust, shame help us to move away. Emotions like joy, love and Trust, emotions that give meaning to life support us to move towards.  You have got to give people the confidence to do their own thinking to get great results.  Nancy Kline is a brilliant and humble leader who models the idea that we can never be sure of being right. Being anti-fragile has got to be a top skill for Leaders today Consider 2 minutes of uninterrupted thinking and how far the brain can go in that time. The average standard is 9 seconds before we are interrupted. Interruption is akin to an attack, a violent act. Unless we have a contract for difference we will no doubt perpetuate a vicious cycle which only means a re-hashing of old thinking  It is worth noting it is kind to practice a Time to Think environment but it is comforting to know that it is also a rigorous practice.  Ruth explores a case where a client of hers employed a Thinking Environment and continues to employ the practices today. She shares how the brain behaves differently in the presence of a question as opposed to a topic.  Nancy Kline’s new book, The Promise that Changes Everything discusses in even more detail the 10 conditions and includes topics like polarisation, denial, digitisation and “conformconomics”.  Curiously now that we have moved to a blended form of work where much is conducted online, Ruth believes that two dimensional way of communicating is enhanced by employing the principles of a thinking environment.    Resources shared  Nancy Kline: The Promise That Changes Everything: I won’t interrupt you Nancy Kline: More Time to Think: The power of independent thinking  Nancy Kline: Time to Think: Listening to Ignite the Human Mind  www.timetothink.com  www.gottman.com www.heartmath.org 

The Thin Book of Trust an Essential Primer for Building Trust at Work  Introduction: Charles Feltman is the founder of Insight Coaching based in California where his work concentrates on two main areas: Coaching Individuals and Teams and developing Leadership Team & Leadership Development Programs. Charles completed his coach training program with Newfield in Colorado. He holds a BA in Psychology from U.C. Santa Barbara and a Master’s in organisation development & communication from the University of Southern California. Charles is also an author. He has written a book on Trust called The Thin Book of Trust ; an essential primer for building trust at work.        Podcast Episode Summary Charles Feltman illuminates the four distinctions of Trust that comprises his framework, working with Leaders, Teams and Individuals. The episode discusses how trust is eroded, the many strategies that are deployed on teams and in organisations when trust is absent and how to rebuild trust effectively.  Points made over the episode Charles discovered the subject of Trust early on in his college years when he was often asked to mediate issues on campus So many issues he entertained at work had something to do with Trust.  When he launched his own Consulting and Coaching Business clients often came with issues where trust was often problematic.  His coach training program at Newfield introduced him to 3 distinctions of Trust; Sincerity, Reliability and Competence and even then he felt something was missing Charles stumbled on the academic literature pertaining to trust and there he found the term “benevolence” He added Care as his final distinction for his framework on Trust  People often fail to understand that Trust is an assessment related to our standards with respect to behaviour.  People often fail to communicate their standards for behaviour and immediately assume the other as untrustworthy. Communication is missing  We tend to operate with an on/off switch when it comes to determining whether someone is trustworthy.  Sometimes we are in the land of gradation with Trust and we are suspicious of its absence. Then we tend to look for all the ways our suspicion can be confirmed. This is called confirmation bias  “Trust is defined as choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions” Charles Feltman Trust is behaviour laden. The Academic World had a very complicated definition that Charles made more accessible  “We are never so vulnerable then when we trust someone and paradoxically if we cannot trust neither can we find love or Joy”  Walter Anderson  Love and Joy should be part of everyone’s work life and it is the reason Charles works in the arena of Trust  Often the work of Coaching is helping a client be vulnerable to themselves  Wise Trust is choosing to make a wise risk assessment to trust – knowing that an on/off switch does not hold much wisdom   The Four Distinctions of Trust  Care: Is the assessment you have my interest at heart or at the very least we have shared interests and when we care like this we are free to work easily with each other. The most important behaviour associated with care is listening.  Sincerity: Is the assessment you are honest and integral in your actions. Every interaction is an opportunity to build or damage trust. The assessment of sincerity is that I trust your intentions and know that you are open and honest with me not simply in terms of your logic but emotionally as well Reliability: Is the assessment that I can trust your commitments. I can trust the strength of your commitment. Reliability is the domain that is often most problematic on teams  Competence: Is the assessment that you have the capacity, skill and knowledge to do what you say you will do. This domain has a lot to do with standards and getting really clear on our respective standards often limits the speed by which we race to mistrust.    We often collapse the four distinctions of trust and simply rush to mistrust.  Whilst there is a huge degree of interdependence between the four distinctions it is helpful to take them apart first to really become familiar with the distinctions Distrust is often talked about more on teams than trust. Teams need to have the conversations about trust  If teams engage in trust conversations to understand the difference between assessments and assertions mileage can be made  If the Leader is deemed the person who is creating distrust on the Team, Charles will coach the leader before he works with the team  Trust is a precondition for Psychological safety and for belonging.  Working through a complex issue requires of teams to be uncomfortable but if the team doesn’t feel safe it will likely not show up fully and engage in strategies for protection, strategies like resistance, avoiding, arguing, ignoring or direct attack  As a Leader and member on a team is important to become aware. Notice if we are engaging in confirmation bias.  Distrust uses the same brain structure, circuitry, biochemistry associated with the Fight/Flight/Freeze patterns. As human we have to learn to manage our knee Jerk reactive patterns  Curiously both networks, The Trust Network and Distrust Network in the brain can operate simultaneously. By paying attention we can deploy wise trust  Remember Trust is a two way street. It is not an off/on switch. It can be built and rebuilt through intentional conversations.    The Resources shared  The Thin Book of Trust: an essential primer for building trust at work available at www.landtoninfo.co.uk 

Introduction: Maria Mileder is PayPal’s Global Head of Innovation. Maria owns the innovation strategy and its execution, she oversees the Global Innovation Ambassador Program and she is responsible for driving PayPal’s contributions within the financial services industry and the field of innovation in general. Maria’s prior professional background is in Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management. Maria lived and worked in her native country Austria, Ireland here in Dublin, The USA in California and The UK in London. She holds an MSc in Economic Policy from Trinity College Dublin and a BSc in Sociology from Karl-Franzen’s University in Graz Austria.    Podcast Episode Summary PayPal lives by four values, Innovation, Collaboration, Wellness and Inclusion. Maria gives us an incredibly candid insight into the ways PayPal emplys its Distributed Innovation Model to bring this value of innovation to life. The episode is littered with insight and gems for any team.  Maria shares her immutable laws for teams, best practice insights she has gleaned from the many Volunteers who have participated in her Innovation Labs over the last six years.     Points made over the episode Maria starts our conversation by sharing her passion for innovation and how she accidentally fell into this field Curiosity, Empathy and Resilience are core skills that most people have and can be learnt & cultivated to support innovation PayPal wants to be different in the Innovation space. It employs a model it calls the Distributed Innovation Model  PayPal has a belief that everyone has what it takes to be innovative and it also shares a desire that innovation be everyone’s business Practice is key. In the innovation lab innovation skills are discovered, trained and practiced.  30,000 employees at PayPal. Harnessing the innovation power of every employee is part of PayPal’s mission.  Three engines support the delivery of the Distributed Innovation Model at PayPal. There are Innovation Champions with innovation sites or Labs, The Innovation Ambassador Program and the Global Innovation Tournament where all employees can participate.  The Innovation labs started about 6 years ago and at any given time about 10 teams are working to solve Innovation problems all manned with Volunteers Why Volunteers? PayPal takes innovation very seriously and believe innovation is everyone’s business to cultivate. Volunteers get an opportunity to practice the skills of innovation  The first condition of success for Volunteer teams is passion. Passion helps people prioritise and be sufficiently energised to connect, contribute and be willing to fail.  Some Immutable laws exist for teams to flourish.  The context needs to be clear, getting clear on Mission & Vision for a project. Teams do not necessarily find the exercise of clarifying their mission and vision as sexy and often it is lofty but it provides a North Star that gives direction  Humans expect to be led, especially at the start of any initiative  Team Dynamics exist and are important to understand. The Volunteers are not obliged to work with each other, they volunteer their time so it is important that they are set up for success. This means helping everyone know each other, their motivation for the project, their strengths and weaknesses and their desires.  In the Voluntary space (and I would add in every space) you have to display empathy, to be curious to get to know your colleagues.  Empathy is frustrated by a bias for action, premature action, it is frustrated by fuzzy expectations or unspoken expectations  -Maria shares an example of the difference between experts coming onto a project and novice learners.  Recreate the physical space in the digital space. The virtual space has become transactional Encourage fun on teams-Maria shares an innocent Team Building Exercise where asking a team of 15 people to come up with the things they all have in common facilitated openness and energy, a currency that lasted the life of a project and beyond.  Give time and space for teams to learn, to grow and also to rest. Allow time for being off.  Silly or being silly is a great skill in innovation. The innovation lab encourages this spirit. Important that Leaders show the way, model behaviours that give people permission to be silly. Similar norms or ways of doing things are important to be shared.  What surprised the most was the amount of personal development people, volunteers got from the various programs they have been a part & how people have been able to use that Personal Development as a by-product of the program.  Volunteers have been able to share the skills they have learnt with their colleagues in their professional teams  The Innovation labs and other engines together comprise an important part of a cultural transformation at PayPal.  Helping the Professional and Volunteer worlds to collide means remembering we are human. Team dynamics are essential to the success of a team. Time and space has to be given to the practice of what Maria calls a team’s immutable laws.  As a final thought Maria shared how she has learnt to become outspoken and to be vulnerable. Teams are not going away and they take time and work to make them successful. 

Ajit Menon, a business psychologist and co-founder of Blacklight Advisory, and Trevor Hough, a clinical psychologist and executive coach, delve into the complexities of organizational life. They share eight compelling stories revealing how underlying emotions like anxiety and fear often mask deeper issues in teams. The duo emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, open communication, and authentic client relationships to foster collaboration. Their insights urge professionals to confront uncomfortable truths, guiding transformative change within organizations.

Aidan McCullen is a transformation consultant and author of "Undisruptible," who emphasizes the power of permanent reinvention. He discusses how individuals and organizations can navigate rapid change while overcoming fear and shame. Aidan introduces the philosophy of Kintsugi thinking, celebrating flaws as pathways to growth. He shares lessons from icons like Jeff Bezos and Arnold Schwarzenegger, revealing the importance of adaptability. Finally, he explores a metaphor about monkeys and coconuts to illustrate the need for letting go of outdated identities to embrace new opportunities.

Introduction: Tom Goodell is  the President and Founder of Linden Leadership. His company offers Executive, Management and Team Coaching as well as Leadership Development and Culture Programs for a wide variety of Organisations. Tom is an author and has written several books including, Linden’s Leadership Cycles of Leadership, Three Practices of Collective Performance, Six Practices of Personal Performance and most recently The Four Fields of Leadership.    Goodell received his CPPM certification in ontological coaching from the Newfield Network, inc, in Boulder Colorado. He also studied somatic coaching with Richard Strozzi Heckler, founder and director of Strozzi Institute in Petaluma, California.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the impetus for Tom’s latest work The Four Fields of Leadership. John Baldoni puts it well when he says of Tom’s book “Leadership is an ageless proposition. What has changed over the millennia is context. Goodell places Leadership with the context of our times in ways that make it accessible and actionable” The podcast underscores the importance of understanding self in a quest to be with another, others and to thrive in organisations. Tom shares how he combines his many, seemingly disparate, interests in an intelligible whole to understand human systems.    Points made over the episode Tom’s story began for him when he as 5 years of age and he can remember playing the game called Go. It is a game that challenges a player to cultivate his whole brain because of the amount of possibilities -Chance is not involved but a person is minded to develop intuition, form & aesthetics as well as logic and analytics  Tom’s early interest in Eastern thinking, spirituality has been an integral part of this own thinking.  His early experience in organisational life taught him that no matter how elegant the enterprise architecture if human beings were not getting along the organisation was impacted.  Tom’s interest in human systems saw him study with Newfield in Colorado and with Richard Strozzi Heckler at the Strozzi Institute in California to become a Coach and Facilitator Declarations are an important constituent part of the training at Strozzi and as a consequence and honed over many years Tom is able to say that his declaration says he is “a commitment to awakening the full power of the human spirit in organizations everywhere” That declaration has been his guiding light ever since The human spirit is what makes a life worth living and work worth working.  We are all connected and have always been connected but we forget. The space between us and the quality of our relations determine whether we thrive.  Tom began to recognise the “Tower of Babble” he encountered in organisation with many multiple interventions/modalities of learning and leadership that spoke different languages. He found that many omitted the unifying principles on which their theories are founded. His book attempts to illuminate these unifying principles to squash confusion and allow for real conversations.  If you understand the Four Fields of Leadership everything becomes coherent.  The four fields of Leadership include the Field of Self, The Interpersonal Field, The field of teams and the Enterprise field. There is a huge degree of complexity, subtlety & fragility across each field as well as an amount of wisdom and intelligence  Everything starts with an understanding of the Field of Self. That means understanding and having an appreciation for awareness in three minds, The Physical, The Emotional and The Analytic, our responsibility to be in Choice and to take Accountability.  Humility is required to know that we are not always in control of our state. It takes humility to step back and say “ I have some work to do on myself”  Tom’s approach with teams is present based. He always listens carefully and senses into the field of teams. He often speaks with each individual member of the team to see how they experience the team. He simply starts where the team is and doesn’t lead with content or theory.  Tom notices patterns of behaviours on teams and intervenes to help the team see its dynamic.  He makes an important distinction between context and content. If you can notice the context and work with that the content is often that much richer.  Tom shares The Cycle of Leadership suite of conversations-a model for how effective conversations can happen.  -The first being a conversation for possibilities where a leader taps into the wisdom of the community or those around who might be impacted by his decisions.  -The conversation as Declaration. This is where a future is declared, Conditions of Satisfaction are shared so that everyone is clear about the COS that need to be met for success.  -Conversations for Requests- sharing the who will take responsibility for what.  -Finally and importantly Conversations for reflection This is where the team asks questions of itself, not just the project. Questions like “how are we?” This can serve as a healing conversation before a team gets too distorted.  As Coaches and Practitioners we can be more influential on teams if we are willing to be courageous and call out that team members need to do work on themselves.    Resources shared  Tom Goodell: The Four Fields of Leadership  www.lindenleadership.com 

Introduction: Dr Alister Scott is all about making big change happen. He has dedicated his career to this pursuit. He is the Co-founder of The One Leadership Project with his colleague Neil Scotton. The One Leadership Project is a strategy and leadership firm that supports those making big change happen. Alister and Neil have co-authored a book called The Little Book of Making Big Change Happen. Alister is also Co-founder and Director of the Knowledge Bridge LTD and Chair of the Cuckmeres Community Solar Project. Alister is a certified Coach and holds a doctorate in Science and Technology.  Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the impetus for Alister’s latest project, a passion to bring Compassion Practices to the world. His website Compassion Practices hosts 6 compassion practices and protocols for practicing compassion that anyone can download. In this episode we explore the meaning of compassion the principles that underpin the exercise of compassion practices and the impact of these practices on culture in organisations and on teams.  Points made over the episode The Pandemic had only just begun and Alister felt compelled to write material to support teams get support in times of enormous stress. He wanted his offerings to be accessible and timely.  His colleague and friend Andrew Bradley contacted him about his writing to think about combining his work on Compassion with that of others to build out a website www.compassionpractices.net The six practices, essentially an ecosystem of practices are pragmatic with dedicated protocols that anyone can follow. The practices are basically informed by the work of Nancy Kline and Alister and Andy along with a few other colleagues have pared down her work to offer six distinct principles  Essentially if a person equips themselves with the six principles espoused they will not go far wrong in conversation  Compassion is the ability to be with another as they suffer. It is kindness in action. It is not sympathy. It means you are providing a space for someone to be with their suffering without feeling alone.  Teams all too easily become task focused and forget to commune or connect with each other.  Nancy Kline’s work is borne out of decades of research and writing to help people think better. She has written some brilliant books including Time to Think and More time to Think. By applying the principles housed in Nancy’s work people disrupt their habitual communication practices -Listening without interrupting for example when practiced can be transformative for relationship and on teams.  The principles described on the website include the following;  -Identify the question that matters  -Give each person time to think on their own  -Listen without interruption  -Appreciate from the heart Appreciation and cultivating a culture of ERA (encouragement, recognition and appreciation) creates an environment where the experience of work is changed for the better  In order to practice the receipt of Appreciation you have to employ 3,As Acknowledge that the giver & what they have shared is true for them too. Allow the appreciation in -especially for those who have been emotionally starved and finally accept it.  Our ability to be compassionate is often forgotten. Indicators such as Global Poverty, Our Environmental Crisis, War and conflict all point to the lack of compassion. Our inability to feel and that as human beings, being the dominant species of the world, we are experiencing the worst form of extinction since the dinosaurs  Our practice of shutting down feelings, of indulging adrenaline induced activities, action addiction and our fear of others perspectives all contribute to a narrow vision where we are not able to be kind. The Practice involves the following steps Involve 2 people a host and facilitator  1st Round asking how are you arriving and name one thing that is going well outside of work? Name the question that matters such as “how are we doing as a team” Everyone prepares first alone and then speaks in a round going from left to right to provide some measure of predictability  Followed by Thinking pairs (with clear instruction) Finally a round where everyone reflects on their latest thinking and feeling on the same question  The mindset shift needed for teams to employ compassion practices is multifaceted. People need to matter. The idea of expert only where we do not ha`ve time for this sort of soft stuff.  We live in a society that indulges a conspiracy of silence about grief, failure and feelings that might be labelled as negative.  Alister shared the story of losing his wife five years ago and how few people, even his close friends could be with his grief.  The website is being officially launched on the 15th of September 2021 and people are invited to sign up on the website to access the practices and be involved in many facilitated community practices for professionals  Resources shared  www.compassionpractices.net Nancy Kline -Time to Think and More Time to Think  Francis Weller -The Wild Side of Sorrow 

Introduction: Irvin Nugent is a recognised Executive Coach, Internationally recognised Trainer in Emotional Intelligence and Top-rated speaker. He is also the Author of the book Leadership Lessons from the Pub: Harnessing the Power of Emotional Intelligence to Build a Fully Engaged Workplace. Irvine earned his PhD in Management from Capella University where his thesis focused on Leadership in times of crisis. He is a former Catholic Priest and CEO.    Podcast Episode Summary This podcast episode showcases the work Irvine does in the world to make Emotional Intelligence accessible and to make Emotional Literacy more common place. In our discussion we explore the many lessons for Leaders, Irvine brings to life in book, lesson like how to build bridges instead of walls, how to create the space to allow others excel, how to set the tone and to utilise the skill of storytelling. The episode is replete with anecdotes and practical suggestions to bring emotional intelligence alive.    Points made over the episode Irvine Nugent was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in a period known as “the troubles” He lived with a question “can life be better” and this question saw him move first into Priesthood and then into the world of Teaching and Coaching to support others live richer lives  Becoming a Priest was the way he could express his inner desire to help others heal Leaving the Priesthood was one of the hardest decisions he has ever had to make but it became a question of Authenticity for Irvine -the confinements of the Church no longer suited him The book was borne out of the many armchair encounters Irvine has had with Leaders trying to wrestle with questions such as “how do I lead a team?” “How can I create a workspace where people can be themselves?”  The Space of The Pub is fascinating and whilst it has not been the subject of Sociological research it is a place where people feel comfortable to share their troubles to build community and to feel included Leaders similarly need to be able to build community to allow the diversity of workplaces to commune, to allow for tough decisions to be made in service of the whole.  Lessons from the book are often overlooked by Leaders. One such lesson is the potential to influence the mood of an organisation or team. Moods and Emotions are contagious-be careful with yours.  It is important for Leaders to be self-aware, to reflect and make choices about the Presence they wish to convey.  Our VUCA world often makes unconscious as Leaders. We have to be intentional with our practices.  Ideas like a 7 second reset are useful to be able to self-regulate  The Pandemic has resulted in a lot of teams suffering from Anxiety. An emotion that is craving clarity. The role of the Leaders becomes even more important in these time to offer the role of a “step-down Transformer” Calm and assuredness is required  When people lack clarity it is very hard to commit to action  It is important to find our Trigger Print. To become knowledgeable about what triggers us, the patterns we fall into etc.. So we can course correct.  When we are triggered we lose our capacity to be curious to be humble we rush to seek solutions which can often result in poor decision making  It is often hard to be instantaneously aware of our triggers we are simply transparent to them. We need to investigate their source. History often shares information about where these prints were laid down.  One way of moving out of being triggered or re-triggered is to get physically moving.  Our bodies are vital to our knowledge base on emotions and the body will signal to us our concerns and worries; get curious about our somatic discourse  Emotions provide information which gives us choice The sacredness of silence is often misunderstood. By giving people our full attention in silence we can create a space for real and generative thinking and alter the space between people  Silence is also a gift to ourselves  Creating a “Thin Space” is about connecting to that inside of us that is bigger than ourselves and is a way of expressing what Presence is really about  Irvine’s work see him be invited into a variety of groups and Leadership settings. He is currently working with Police Officer in the United States helping them access their emotional intelligence when often they are triggered.  There is always the space to learn with emotions and by using emotional intelligence  Build the capacity to cultivate two particular mindsets; one of Curiosity and Humility People express emotions very differently but it is important to recognise that we do have range. Irvin is often very curious when he hears people use a limited range of words to describe emotions.  The more people can name their emotions, the depth and range they experience the more they are able to enjoy interpersonal relations & connection  People have a rich deposit, richer than Gold in the range of emotions they have by which to navigate their circumstances.  Emotions are messages. They tell us what is happening in our lives, what concerns we might be having and what is not in play.  Resources Shared  www.irvinenugent.com 

Introduction: Alan O Neill is a Consultant, Author and Keynote Speaker specialising in Change Management,  Organisational Culture & Customer Experience. He is a visiting Professor with ESA Beirut and for more than 30 years he was worked with some of the most iconic brands from around the world. His latest book, Culture Matter, The Four Values to Supercharge your Business makes an overwhelming case for a carefully designed Culture.  Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the importance of calling out values for Organisational health and success. Alan helps me and I hope the listeners get crystal clear on why Culture Matters and what you can do to further improve business success. In particular he explains why he chose the four values he describes in his book, Customer Centricity, Respect, Accountability and Agility.    Points made over the episode Alan O Neill started his career in Retail and at the age of 24 opened his first jewellery store. After a change in the business climate he moved into training  He built Harvest a well-known training company here in Ireland  He recognised that training is only one subject of change and he wanted to add more value to clients across the entire supply chain. He started his own company Kara 23 years ago offering Organisational Change, Culture Change and Customer Experience Programs  Every Organisation has a culture and only a very few actually work hard to define theirs.  Culture is articulated by repetitive behaviours, often ones that were never envisaged.  Culture is always being nibbled at and it is important to recognise that Culture shapes strategy and not the other way around.  Important that Leaders are brought on a journey to understand the impact of their culture.  Alan identified the 4 values he calls out in his book after 30 years in business and by noticing the ones that were consistently absent.  Customer Centricity is important today given our global connectivity and the speed/visibility by which customers can accept or reject product. Customer Experience is the leveller. It is the new battle ground not Product Differentiation of old.  Respect is the second values Alan cites. He remarked on how wonderful it was that Joe Biden called out respect as a value he wanted to see in the Whitehouse as a way of delineating the significant difference from the previous administration Accountability is the third. This is a value that helps people take “real” responsibility and ownership for their roles.  Agile is an almost must have in business today to support the frenetic pace we are living Companies very often have values, they are on their websites and are on the walls. They are very often not lived. Good practice is to check, design a survey, conduct a focus group or 1:1 to see what is living in the minds of an organisations people  Values are often unseen, even unconscious but they are part of our DNA and instinctively will guide our behaviours. That is why it is important to call out the values you want to see lived.  Calling out particular values will set the tone, provide an organisational framework for Leadership, Processes and the way things will get done.  Alan does not agree that people are resistant to change he believes they are more resistant to coercion. Culture Change requires time and it is important to be contextual share the “Why” for a culture refresh The risk that employing Alan’s 4 values will mean that companies are cooky cutters of each other is a nonsense. Values are interpreted differently by different companies and Alan shares the example of Selfridges and Primark where both would call out Customer Centricity as being a core value. Their approach and interpretation of Customer Centricity is entirely different  Teams need to live the values set by the organisation and as a practice they should regularly reflect on how they are living those values and how they are behaving with each other.  Top Teams need to role model Organisational Values and the CEO is responsible for this activity.  Alan describes how he would support an organisation do a Culture Refresh and it boils down to three phases-Discovery-Launch-Roll Out.  The Launch is incredibly important as it creates an iconic memory in the minds of the people working in the company and makes a cascade of values that much easier.  Culture is a well-known phenomenon but Alan would love if more people understood the impact a current culture is having on an Organisation. He encourages business owners and Leaders to get their hands around Culture and call out the required behaviours otherwise they will be assumed.  He also warned that if Companies and Organisations have a set of values and they know they are not living them then they should gently take them down because they are doing more harm than good.  His book is a lovely and memorable read  Resources shared  O’Neill. Alan: Culture Matters: The Four “Must-Have” Values to Supercharge Your Business. Open Press  www.kara.ie