 Do you know the book by Lencioni?
There are countless other books written by people all about how our meetings could be facilitated better. Today, I participated one such meeting.
0 Comments
 I was sitting in the bedroom of my in-law's house, with my laptop propped up on a pile of books, trying to not have Amy Edmondson 🇺🇦, and the others notice that I was actually in a bedroom.
Turns out Amy Edmondson was in her kitchen. Who knows where the other participants were, or if they were as awkwardly perched as I was.  This week I am hosting the first of four book circle sessions focused on exploring Adam Grant's book Think Again, with 2 groups of leaders.
In the very first chapter, Grant expands on Phil Tetlock's discovery that as we talk and think, we often take on one of 3 mindsets: preachers, prosecutors, and politicians. In Think Again, Grant invites us into another mindset - that of a SCIENTIST. Take a look at the visual I created:  It seems that the grass in our yard SHOT up over the last couple of weeks, and it was time to do something about it.
On Saturday morning, I called my neighbors to ask if we could borrow their mower, as we always do. (I don't believe we all need our own.) When I walked it back home, my 8-year-old daughter was there wanting to mow. I didn't complain.  I recently finished off a pilot of 4 book circles with a large financial institution based in the US, with offices across the globe. In total, there were 37 employees who participated in the pilot.
The feedback wasn't all roses and unicorns, but here are some of the unicorns that crossed my path: There is an ongoing debate in organizations over which is more important, IQ or EQ. Which one leads to greater success?
I am not sure what Adam Grant's take is on this debate, but I do know that he doesn't believe that IQ is the end all be all of organizational or leadership success. How do I know? Because he says so.  As a woman, I face a double bind in my professional life and in my roles as a leader.
If I am too caring and compassionate, I am seen as weak and not leadership material. If I am too outspoken and confident, I am seen as aggressive and domineering. This morning, I faced that quandary as I spent FAR too long crafting an email to a client who is 2 1/2 months late on their payment.  Did you know that in the aboriginal language, there is no word for safety? I didn't, myself, until I read the book Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta. Last night, I was leading a discussion around the book, and brought up this idea of safety because it relates to another book circle I am leading on the topic of psychological safety.  If you know my work at all, you'll know that this statement might seem counter-intuitive coming from me.
It could potentially ruin my business. Many call me 'the book lady' after all. Yet, I still believe that it is true. Another book won't change your leadership.  If you were to look at the people that you most interact with at work, what would you see? Do you know their political beliefs?
Yesterday, I was working with 2 different groups of leaders around the ideas in the book The Leaders Guide to Unconscious Bias" One of the exercises that the author encourages the reader to do, is to analyze their 'trust network,' to bring about awareness of who they interact with most, how diverse that group is, and how much their trust network is challenging or supporting their unconscious biases. |
Hi there!I am Theresa Destrebecq (I dare you to try to pronounce it...) |
RSS Feed