Leadership

Don’t be triggered

September 14, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

We have all experienced a moment when your anger, annoyance or frustration has taken over and you’ve said something at a meeting that, on reflection, you wish you hadn’t. Has this happened to you? It’s definitely happened to me!

The reason these outbursts can happen to the best of us is simple psychology.

We all have a part of our brain that is responsible for our emotions—the limbic system—and another that is responsible for problem-solving, planning and consequential thinking—the frontal lobe. The amygdala is the part of the limbic system that makes you react instinctively to your emotions which is something humans have developed to avoid harm. Unfortunately, when we get angry, it is very easy for the amygdala to overpower the frontal lobe, leading us to have an outburst.

Clearly this reaction is not the best course of action, but in a moment of anger, annoyance or frustration, there is no reasoning! So how can we get past that initial instinct to react? Read on for a simple, yet effective strategy to banish that embarrassed, regretful feeling forever.

Consequential thinking is the antidote to mindless, reactionary behaviour that prevents people from reaching their leadership potential. It’s described as ‘evaluating the costs and benefits of your choices’ developed by Six Seconds, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving the emotional intelligence of people.

How to practice consequential thinking

This model involves pausing for a few seconds, evaluating your situation and choosing to respond in a way that is best for you. In doing this, we are letting the instinct to react subside and allowing ourselves time to think.

Consequential thinking is about connecting your everyday behaviours to who you really want to be as a person and leader and to make choices every day that take you in the right direction.

Let’s break down those three steps.

1. Pause

Allow your emotion to occur without taking any action. For how long? Six seconds! Emotions are molecules and this is how long it takes for them to run their course in your brain and body before they are reabsorbed.

2. Evaluate

Question why you are feeling this way. What is the best possible result of your actions in this situation? How can you tailor your response to get to that result?

3. Choose your response

Respond now that you have thought through the consequences of your behaviour for yourself and others.

How can consequential thinking help you become a better leader?

1. Know your values

Consequential thinking forces you to clarify your values. What matters to you in life? Is it kindness, equality, connection or critical thinking? It can be daunting to acknowledge what you really value in your life and career, especially if it feels out of reach. However, this desire is something that will continuously motivate you and lead you to smarter decision-making.

Often when something annoys us, it is signalling something that is important to us. When we pause, we can think about what that important thing is that our emotion is pointing to. When you realise your values, it becomes much easier to see the consequences of your actions clearly. There is an obvious link between your behaviour and where it will lead you. Think about your actions over the past day, week or month. Do they align with your values?

2. Better relationships

Consequential thinking helps you enhance your relationships. Your behaviour as a professional
is what determines how others perceive you—whether they want to work with you or not.

Imagine someone in your team makes a mistake. As a leader you have two choices: react immediately or pause and calmly deliver constructive feedback. Think about which choice is more likely to prevent that mistake from happening again. Which choice is more likely to build a trusting, positive relationship?

Having positive professional relationships is beneficial for everyone: you won’t gain a reputation for having a bad temper and others will trust you more as a leader or a peer.

3. Dealing with challenging emotions

Consequential thinking helps you in those moments of explosive emotions. We all experience challenging emotions in difficult times from feelings of insecurity, to constant time pressures, to frustration and disappointment. No one gets to where they want to be without hard days and setbacks. What’s important is how you deal with the emotions that come along with these challenges.

Challenging emotions are inevitable. Once you reach the top of your field you are not suddenly immune to them. Luckily, they are a great guide if you know how to listen to them and act accordingly. You can apply consequential thinking–pausing for six seconds, remembering your values–to deal with challenging emotions. Holding your driving force in mind is a great way to better understand why you feel certain things.

When you pause to think about what is driving you, your values, you can better understand the anger and complete the task more efficiently. Having a better awareness of this emotion is going to allow you to deal with it properly, rather than letting it simmer and potentially blowing up at someone else.

In Summary

Consequential thinking is a key tool for your leadership toolbox. It challenges you to clarify what’s important to you, pause and act with consideration rather than being overtaken by challenging emotions and act with intention instead.

Warning – this strategy requires practice! Do you know where I find the better practice ground…with family. No one will know how to push your buttons better than your three-year-old son or your loving little sister! Yes, practicing this technique is not just limited to the workplace but can be used at home too.

Creating Inclusive Leaders

August 17, 2020 by Alicia Curtis

In an ever-changing, diverse world, organisations require leaders to look beyond traditional ideas and frameworks to shape leadership expectations. Leaders, without consideration and reflection, can often gravitate toward people that reflect their own personality, values and opinions. With diversity becoming a developing trend, organisations are now looking for teams with people from varied backgrounds, personal experiences, personalities, and ideas. With diverse teams comes the need for diverse and inclusive leaders.

But what does it mean to be inclusive? And how do you foster inclusivity in an organisation? Inclusion requires people to feel respected by and connected to the organisation and their colleagues, feel able to contribute to wider discussions, and feel able to progress within the organisation. Diversity refers to the mixture of different people and identities coming together in an organisation.

A report published in 2016 by Deloitte outlines “The six signature traits of inclusive leadership: Thriving in a diverse new world”. From 2011, they recorded and interviewed over a thousand global leaders, consulted experts and researchers in the field of inclusive leadership, and interviewed over 1500 employees about inclusion in the workplace around the world.

So what are the key traits you need to be an inclusive leader?

They are:

Commitment
Courage
Cognisance of bias
Curiosity
Cultural Intelligence
Collaboration

Let’s explore those further.

1. Commitment – Are you dedicated to diversity?

Being a more inclusive leader requires you to be committed to diversity. This is not only in the interest of the organisation you work for, but because it aligns with your personal values. Fostering diversity doesn’t happen overnight; it requires a lot of time, energy, and hard work.

The combination of your own personal experiences with diversity and inclusion in the workplace and the rational argument from a business perspective shows your commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion in your workplace.

So how can you show your commitment to diversity as a leader?

Put yourself in situations where you are working with people with different backgrounds to you.
Take the time to read and listen to diverse information sources .
Highlight that fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace is a top business and personal priority and encourage everyone to join the learning journey .
Talk about what inclusivity and diversity look like within your organisation and invite different opinions.
Ensure your workplace practices and processes are improving diversity and inclusivity in your workplace.

2. Courage – Are you ready to speak up?

Being an inclusive leader requires you to challenge your organisation, its practices, others, and yourself. It takes bravery to challenge entrenched organisational practices and frameworks, but doing so will mean your organisation has the chance to become more diverse. Being able to challenge others and recognise your own limitations also takes courage. This humility will help you listen to different perspectives and overcome your own limitations.

Have you got the courage to be an inclusive leader?

How can you be a more courageous leader?

Reflect often on the biases and weaknesses that arise in your own behaviour and be willing to call them out.
Seek the advice and help of others to rise above your limitations, and acknowledge when you have made an error.
Encourage your team to respectfully identify when biases may be occurring in the team. Emphasize this is a learning journey for all. Make it safe for everyone to make mistakes and learn.
Question and dispute normative organisational values, processes and frameworks that encourage non-inclusive practices.

3. Cognisance of Bias – Are you aware of your blind spots?

Being an inclusive leader requires you to be aware of your organisation’s biases and of your own personal biases. These biases can range from unconscious bias, favouritism, confirmation bias, group-think, and attribution error. In order to improve the diversity within your organisation, you must develop your self-awareness and be prepared to act.

So how do you overcome personal and organisational biases?

Identify when you are most prone to your personal biases and organisational biases.
Take note of when organisational biases take over your better judgement during stressful situations or processes, e.g. recruitment processes.
Ask for feedback or more opinions when making or reflecting on key decisions.
Adapt processes to ensure that personal biases do not influence decisions about others.
Ensure transparency in decision-making processes, such as recruitment practices, and provide clear explanations to those affected by these decisions.

4. Curiosity – Do you have a thirst for knowledge?

To be an inclusive leader, you must constantly desire to learn and keep improving! To improve the organisation’s diversity, you must be open to different perspectives and to areas of knowledge that you are not personally familiar with. Asking questions and attentively listening to colleagues can help you understand multiple perspectives on issues that your organisation must deal with. This also means you have to be prepared for perspectives that can be vague and indefinite.

So how can you be more curious?

Do not be quick to judge those who hold different perspectives to you. Listen to what they have to say, and dig into understanding their perspectives.
Express your desire and openness to learning about new perspectives and ideas.
Ask for multiple perspectives from diverse people about choices or decisions to be made.
Anticipate change and actively encourage different ways of thinking. This can lead to opportunities to connect with diverse others.

5. Cultural Intelligence – how do you communicate with people from other cultures?

What exactly is cultural intelligence? This particular quality of an inclusive leader requires you to recognise how your personal experiences affect your perspective of the world. You must learn to look past stereotypes and be confident in your cross-cultural communications.

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is divided into four categories; motivational CQ, cognitive CQ, metacognitive CQ, and behavioural CQ.

Motivational CQ concerns how interested and enthusiastic a leader is in learning and developing cross-cultural communications.
Cognitive CQ concerns how much a leader knows about traditional norms, values, and stereotypes surrounding another culture.
Metacognitive CQ concerns how consciously aware of culture a leader is during communications with people from another culture.
Behavioural CQ concerns how appropriately a leader uses verbal and non-verbal cues when communicating with another culture.

So how can you become more culturally-intelligent?

Take the time to learn about other cultures, and create opportunities to do so.
Be prepared when leading a culturally-diverse team. This will include learning about individual members and their backgrounds, and changing how you approach certain situations or decisions.
Be open in your body language and succinct in your word use when communicating with
people from different cultures and backgrounds.
Recognise your personal flaws and biases towards cultural stereotypes and differences.
Actively reflect and question your predisposed ideas about different cultures.

6. Collaborative – how well do you work with others?

Contemporary organisations require you to harness your team’s total intelligence to get to work, rather than individually strive to complete projects. In a team, you are more likely to meet and work with people who have completely different backgrounds, and maybe even opposing ideas to your own. The challenge here is to listen, be solutions-focused, and encourage independent, self-directed thought and debate.

How can you be a more collaborative leader?

Create an environment where team members will take responsibility and hold themselves accountable for mistakes they have made.
Ensure no one is left out of conversations or group discussions and activities. You should cultivate a safe and respectful environment so that your team members feel safe to speak up and discuss ideas.
Ask for feedback and questions about project progress from other team members.

In summary

Being inclusive is a non-negotiable. This gives us all a great opportunity to be learners and take our leadership skills to the next level.

Check out this link for the full Deloitte report. For further information about being a more
inclusive leader, check out this link to the SPACE2 Model developed by Include-Empower.
Where do you think you need to improve as a leader? Can you see yourself developing and
implementing the ideas we have discussed? I would love your feedback!

Our Annual Review for Alyceum in 2019

December 9, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

Want to join my Reflection Revolution in 2020? You, me, the Alyceum Community, once a month for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Join us here for a free taster on the 18 December using the coupon bemyguest. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.

2019 is my 17th year in business. My inspiration was (and still is) reading Anita Roddick’s revolutionary book, Business as Unusual. I remember reading it in the gardens of the University of Western Australia when I should have been studying.

I was so taken by her words.

We can no longer afford false divisions between work and community, between ethics and economics. But how can we change from a system which values endless increasing profit and materialism to one in which the core values are community, caring for the environment, creating, growing things and personal development? We empower people. There aren’t many motivating forces more potent than giving your staff an opportunity to exercise and express their idealism.

After being so involved in the community as a volunteer in my teen years, I saw the potential of using business as a vehicle of social change. As a 19 year old in 2002, this was in a time before all the business accelerators, incubators and entrepreneurial hubs of today. I remember heading to the small business centre to talk about my business idea inspiring people to develop their leadership skills through giving back to society. They told me it wasn’t a strong business idea!

Well, that was like a red flag to a bull!

That was when I started talking regularly to school and community groups about leadership and giving back.

First Among Equals Finalist (Top 4) in the 2019 Business News 40under40 Awards

From these very humble beginnings to reaching the top 4 in the 2019 Business News 40under40’s this year in Western Australia, I was able to reflect on the 25 year+ journey that has got me to this point.

Running your own small business for social change and impact is hardly the easy road. You are solely responsible for generating the income that comes through the doors – both in winning the work, supplying the work and ensuring it’s a the high standard. You have to believe in your ideas so strongly, because everyone will pick them apart. There will be wins and losses along the way, you can’t lose enthusiasm.

It was great to talk about this beginnings at the Business News Food for Thought event this year too. I’ve always juggled my business with my community endeavours. It was one of the main reasons I started my business. I’ve wanted to work on business projects that have a community benefit, that strengthens the social fabrics of our society – and gee, do we need this at the moment!? So let’s explore some of the business projects for this year.

Our Online Offering Grows

The Board Ignition course continues to grow in its cohort and impact.

The feedback from participants makes the hard work all worth it…

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for the advice and support provided via Board Ignition. Amongst other things, it really helped me to identify what I was looking for from a board and to how seek out such opportunities and…… I am now a proud board member of an international NFP board! I know it’s a great fit as I am so excited about their vision and mission and can’t wait to see what will we achieve together over coming months. Thanks again.” – Penny Dowd

“Thank you Alicia for taking the time to create such a thorough, well thought-out, engaging, and relevant course for young people to access. It is practical, and welcoming. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this process, and am grateful to be connected with the broader board ignition cohort.” – Ria Ferris

“Being able to watch Board Director interviews, hear about their journeys and taking the time to consider the reflection questions to enhance my understanding of what I have learnt from each interview. Really enjoyed contributing to the Facebook group.” – Gemma Malatesta

This year, I also:
• softly launched my second online course, Purpose Masterclass,
• created the Aspiring Community Board Directors Toolkit and
• updated my 15 ways to find a community board position resource into a beautiful flipbook.

Read below too about the new monthly mentoring sessions – Alyceum Live – I’m offering in 2020.

New Formats and Familiar Themes

This year was a lot of experimentation too. I trialed a few new formats. I always love to hear your feedback.

Alyceum Leaders Facebook group – this group grows from strength to strength. We have nearly 1000 purpose driven leaders and change makers on this year. This is a free group – so if you haven’t joined, what are you waiting for? Weekly journal prompts, leadership learnings, read and reflects and more! Join us here!

Ask Me Anything sessions – These were a lot of fun, often people want to pick my brains and unfortunately there are too many to have coffee with individually. But I do love helping people out where I can, so I put together this coffee series where people could register in a small group and fire away questions and conversations!

Alyceum Salons – This year I held a few Alyceum Salons over lunch to gather small groups to chat about what was on their mind – their goals and their challenges. Brilliant groups of people and energising conversations.

Alyceum Live – Just last month, we also started a monthly online gathering focused on reflection, inspiration and connection. The first one in November was a huge success, with a fabulous group of people and great engagement. December’s theme is legacy and it’s really challenging me to step up again as a guide, curator and facilitator of spaces to support people’s personal leadership transformations. I really can’t wait to host these each month.

Fabulous events, workshops and clients

Emotional intelligence, self awareness and reflection have all rated highly as topics required by clients this year. It’s been wonderful to work with a range of clients such as Southcare, St Vincent de Paul Society WA Inc, Public Sector Commission, Water Corporation, Linkwest and LIWA.

The 7th Engaging Young Leaders on Aged Care and Community Boards program brought together the most beautiful group of aspiring board directors and change makers. It’s a privilege to work with the extraordinary, Dr Nicky Howe and lead this program in the Not For Profit sector. Each year, we learn the nuances of social change, leadership and the power of community.

It was great to talk to James Lush and Mike Drysdale on the super new Dear Storyteller Podcast this year. What an incredible podcast series.

Exploring the world

I traveled to Singapore twice this year. Once with my family to celebrate my sister in law’s 50th birthday and the second time for the Singapore Institute of Director’s Annual Conference.

It was a brilliant time in Singapore, firstly to explore the culture, food and infrastructure and secondly talking about boards, leadership, diversity and social impact! It was great to chat with new and old friends, who all made me feel so welcome.

I can’t wait until I can come back again! I love the different perspective that travel gives you on life, business and leadership. What travel or conferences have made a difference in your perspective?

Growth, Gratitude and Great People

I was again invited to the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Perth where I was kindly awarded the EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year (EOY) award for the western region in 2018, profiling the success we’ve achieved with 100 Women.

This year, I got to sit back and reflect on just how far we have come in the last year with 100 Women. I got to meet the most incredible people through these awards, including these two amazing leaders Sarah Bagshaw and Wayne Peel (EY EOY WA winner), who now proudly join me on the 100 Women Trustee Board (how lucky are we?!). The 100 Women Gala (our 6th Gala) was incredible too. When everyone gives a little, we can achieve a lot. Congratulations to our 2019 grant recipients doing phenomenal work helping women in Perth, regional WA, Uganda & Nepal!

Projects supported in 2019 included…

• Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services – educating young girls from diverse cultural backgrounds in Perth with respectful relationships, physical/mental/sexual health & wellbeing information.

• Yiyili Community Indigenous Corporation – supporting 50 women and girls across three generations by creating opportunities locally to earn an income whilst maintaining and strengthening Gooniyandi culture for future generations.

• Love Mercy Foundation – empowering communities in Northern Uganda to overcome poverty caused by years of civil war by empowering them with financial support.

• Pollinate Energy – scaling a women’s empowerment model linking some of the poorest women in Nepal to clean energy markets & empower them with business skills. HUGE thanks to our members, volunteers, sponsors, supporter, board and everyone who came last night!

Kickstart your giving power with 100 Women today and join us here.

The Juggle is Real

We always hear about the juggle and it’s never been more ever present in my life than this year. Personally – my family is well, daughter learnt to roller skate, read and revelled in her friendships. My son had a huge year of learning too. He struggled with leaving me and my husband whether it was at daycare or at the end of the day at bedtime but towards the end of 2019, he is really coming into his own (even if he does wake us at 5am every morning!). His passion for dinosaur adventures is evident in all of our lives and his zest for life is incredible. My sister had a baby on the other side of the world which was so hard not to be there to support and snuggle, but watching her grow from afar is a joy (especially when your talented sister makes gorgeous family videos).

My Grandma has not been so well this year (this is a photo of her with my daughter a few years ago now) and so being there to support her and my mum has been important to me. It’s in these tough moments, which all of us go through, you tend to ask those existential questions – what’s the purpose of my life?, how will I measure the success of my life when I’m laying on my deathbed?, what happens after life? and what’s important to me?.

It’s in these times that you heavily rely on the strength of your relationships with friends and family. To keep talking, connecting, relating and reflecting. It’s a privilege to support my Grandma in her final stages of her life, to remember how special she has been to me and to remind me of what’s important in life. Thank you Grandma.

So on the whole…

I have to be so grateful for the people and opportunities around me. The life I get to live and experiences still ahead to devour! 2020 is looking pretty exciting!

What’s your take on 2019?

10 key questions to fuel your reflection in 2019

December 2, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

It’s so easy to get caught up in the consumerism of Christmas with the social pressures of presents, parties and more but I have a challenge for you to change and reframe what the last month of the year is about! Instead of December passing you by in a blur, let’s make it a time of review and reflection, meaning-making and connection! Isn’t that what the festive season is really supposed to be about?

* Want to join my Reflection Revolution in 2020? You, me, the Alyceum Community, once a month for 90 minutes for reflection, inspiration and connection. Join us here for a free taster on the 18 December using the coupon bemyguest. Or better yet, commit to growing your reflection muscle by registering for all the 2020 Alyceum Live gatherings here.*

Connection and Reflection

Rather than making December a month of overindulgence of food and drink, why not gather an intimate group of your family, friends and colleagues together to make time for personal reflection and then share your reflections with each other. You could couple this with an early morning walk along the beach, an evening yoga session or a fun game of tennis! I’ve made it simple for you and created a list of questions you can send to your friends below. Or better yet, make up your own list of questions to explore!

Reflection can be a powerful learning tool to ignite your self awareness, relationships and leadership. Better yet, it’s absolutely free to do and your reflections get better with practice.

A Magic Carpet Ride

Think of it as a magic carpet ride through the events, activities and experiences that occurred in 2019. Fly through your year from January to now, think about the moments of pure joy as well as the challenges that have made you stronger. I find it can be worthwhile to flick through your diary and note the events, milestones, projects or family moments that made an impact this year.

Step back and reflect – what did these moments mean for you? What have you learnt? By standing back and looking at it from a distance, you can elicit the learning and the meaning. There has been multiple research studies that have shown the benefits of regular reflection. It helps our performance and also makes us happier. Think of it as the debrief after the game, consider each move made, think about how strategies panned out, reflect on winning moves and ones to improve on next time.

As Margaret Wheatley said “We are, always, poets, exploring possibilities of meaning in a world which is also all the time exploring possibilities.”

Let me prompt you…

I get it… reflection can be hard if it’s a muscle you haven’t used in awhile. So let me take some of the pain away but giving you some prompts to help with your thinking. Here are 10 questions to get you thinking about the year that’s been!

1. What has made you proud this year?

Tap into the experiences and achievements that made you feel happy, satisfied and alive!

Sometimes our reflections can be dogged by what went wrong and how do you improve. Instead, I want you to focus on the activities that made you the proudest this year!

What activities can you credit to your hard work, initiative or creativity? Sink into these feelings – perhaps it was something you achieved or something someone close to you achieved. Perhaps it was something you overcame this year or a lesson you learned. It could be anything – relationships, goals, hard work or your attitude

2. What inspired you this year?

inspiration: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

Re-energising is so important. Pinpoint what it was for you.

What were your sources of inspiration this year? People, environments, conferences or videos (like TED videos), movies, events, books – anything! See if you can pin point it – what or who inspired you to be your best?

What were the catalysts to enhance your knowledge, confidence, skills or work? Was it a new podcast, a key event or an important mentor? Share this list with others to combine your inspiration avenues!

3. What are your three key learnings from this year?

What’s been your major learning curves this year?

Instead of sailing into the new year without fully gaining the benefit of all your experiences this year, consider the three main things that you’ve learnt. What did you set out to learn and improve on during the year? Where can you see you improved from last year?

Where have you grown the most as a person, leader, family member or friend? Were these intended learning curves or a by product of circumstance? Either way, we can take each experience to the next level by reflecting on what we learnt.

4. What habits have served you well?

Aristotle said we are what we repeatedly do. It’s quite enlightening to realise that what you do day in, day out makes you the person you are! Maybe it’s a little scary too!

It’s so simple, but it can also mean the discipline of constructing your day to be the person you want to be. What habits did you intentionally practice this year and which ones have slipped in – good or bad? Which habits have you added this year? Which ones did you drop? How did it make a difference to your year?

5. What were your key relationships this year and how have they affected you?

Family and friends, business colleagues and community – relationships can play a key part of your happiness and also your success.

Which relationships made you feel strong and empowered? How did you intentionally foster the relationships in your life? Are you hanging around the right people? Are they lifting you up to be your best? How has your presence positively impacted on the people around you too?

6. How did you utilise your strengths this year?

Your strengths are your superpowers. How do you use them in service to the world? Do you know what your key strengths are? If not, perhaps it’s time to get clear about the strengths that you are or can contribute to the world.

How did you put your strengths to work this year? Are you using your strengths on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? How does it make you feel when you can work in your zone of genius, as Gay Hendricks would call it.

7. How did you focus on what’s fundamentally important to you this year?

It is so easy to get caught up in what everyone else wants you to do. Your email can end of being a huge list of other people’s to do actions! Your family, friends, work or even society in general can dictate what gets done.

Think about when you get into work everyday, do you reflect on your key priorities and set in for some deep, deliberative work or do you check your email and focus on what others want of you? Did you get to focus on what was important to you this year or did you get pulled in different directions?

What is fundamentally important to you and how do you ensure it stays the priority for you?

8. What are you grateful for this year?

Time to evoke a little gratitude. Make a list and check it twice!

Gratitude has immeasurable benefits to your physical health, mental health, improves your relationships, increases your resilience, helps you sleep better, improves your self esteem, not to mention, it makes you happier!

From the huge big things to the tiniest little things. What are you grateful for? If it involved people around you, this might be a nice way to reconnect with people during December and tell them what made you grateful too!

9. What have been the obstacles, hard times or challenges you’ve experienced and how have you grown from the experiences?

Yes there are going to be ups and downs in the year. Times where it didn’t always go to plan. Experiences you didn’t expect. What were your biggest challenges this year?

Revisit these tough times and bring some reframing to it – how has it made you a better person, how did you grow and what did you learn? If it’s still tough to revisit, perhaps it’s time for gather a new meaning about the experience.

10. How would I summarise the year that I’ve had?

Use your creative juices to summarise the year in a creative way.

It’s quite in vogue these days to come up with a word at the start of the year, but I want you to do this retrospectively. How would you summarise it?

What would be the theme, mantra or symbol that characterises the year that you had? How would you draw a picture to reflect on the past year? Time to get out of your head and instead into your heart and body. What colours would you use? What shapes or images represent this year?

Take some time this December…

Grab your favourite drink, put on some encouraging music and sit in your favourite chair or go outside into nature and answer these questions for yourself!? Then come together with friends and share your reflections from the year.

Look out the blog in the coming weeks for 10 Questions to Plan for the New Year.

Have you registered for the Alyceum Live online gathering below?

As our Christmas gift to you, you can register for FREE using the coupon code bemyguest by clicking on the image below.

Be an influencer for good

August 26, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

Most change-makers I know are keen to have a positive impact on the world in some way. Traditionally you may have had to be a Prime Minister or wealthy CEO to influence and impact the world.

But the world has changed! You don’t need to be in a position of authority to have the power to positively influence those around you. Tools such as the internet have levelled the playing field and allowed everyday-people to have a voice, gather people together for a cause and create momentum. Think about Malala Yousafzai or the #Metoo movement.

What types of power increase your influence?

Social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven discovered that there are six types of influential power and, of those, there are two that everyone has the ability to harness regardless of their standing.

1. Expert Power – Having advanced levels of knowledge about a subject gives you power because people trust you as an expert in your subject area and look to you for guidance. Develop this power by taking courses, reading, attending conferences, finding mentors who challenge your assumptions and constantly stretch your knowledge and understanding.
2. Referent Power – This is the type of power that people wield when they are well-liked and respected. You have this power if you are well-known in your community. Earn this power by always leading with integrity, doing good work, building strong relationships and take bold actions.

As change-makers, we can work on developing these powers to influence our workplaces or communities. Challenge yourself to lead not through position, fear or demands but through something which is far stronger than these – shared values!

Shared values are guiding beliefs that groups and organisations rally around to inspire change and keep people committed to their causes. These are beliefs that excite, guide people’s actions and help define identities. Most importantly, they’re the emotionally-charged fuel that enables leaders to influence their followers.

Tap into Emotions and Get Personal

According to Harvard Business researcher Dr. John P. Kotter, most people fail to be influential because they try to influence others using logic, convinced that facts will make others listen to them.

However, research shows emotional appeals can be more persuasive. This is because the same part of your brain that you use to make decisions also controls emotions, causing the two to be intertwined. If you want to influence people to take action or adopt new ideas, you can’t just tell them why they should do it; you have to make them feel it so they will take action. So basically how you make people feel will impact your ability to influence and make change.

How do you make people feel?

Consider these avenues of power you can exert everyday

1. Speak up – consider how you communicate with those who you know – family, friends and colleagues. Can you raise awareness about an issue? Can you support an event through sharing it? Consider the ways you can share more – perhaps on social media, in your workplace or just with your friends.

2. Share your expertise – can you use your knowledge, networks and expertise to support a cause by sitting on a community organisation board?

3. Consumer power – every time you purchase something, you are supporting it. Choose carefully and support business and brands that contribute something to the world.

4. Philanthropy – philanthropy is just a fancy word for carefully considering how to give funds (or time) to have a positive impact in the world. You don’t have to be rich and famous to make a donation. Just start with a small goal of thoughtfully giving 1% of your earnings this year.

5. Resources – what resources do you have at your disposal? Can you influence your workplace to support a charity, offer a space to an event or meeting or use your profile to help build momentum for a cause?

I really do believe that people just don’t know how influential they can be. We have everything at our fingertips – access to knowledge, access to platforms to have a say, access to resources.

The real question is: Are you ready to step up?

Use Gratitude to Boost Your Resilience and Leadership

February 4, 2019 by Alicia Curtis

The start of the year is a useful time to reflect on the previous year and be grateful. And yet, over the last couple of years in particular, I often see comments after each year – “isn’t it great to kiss 2018 goodbye?”. There might be a few bad experiences and all of a sudden we write off the whole year as being terrible. That negativity bias definitely has a way of infiltrating our lives!

It’s been shown the act of gratitude can have a significant positive effect on our resilience and also our leadership (not to mention our health, happiness and wellbeing). It can also be trained and increased with practice!

How do we use gratitude practices to increase our sense of wellbeing, resilience and leadership?

1. Make it a ritual to look for the small wins, the tiny micro moments of joy.

Often we will do the opposite and maybe gripe at the end of the day to our partners about the times people annoyed you. Instead, make it a habit to point out to yourself and your loved ones, when things worked out.

LEADERSHIP HABIT: Start or finish a meeting with words of gratitude that you and the team can share with each other.

2. Look for micro moments of connection and make it count.

Increase your wellbeing by making it a game to get a smile out of the people you meet in everyday life. It might be doing something kind for a family member, listening to a colleague, opening the door for a stranger. Look for acts of kindness that you can practice every day and it will increase your own happiness.

LEADERSHIP HABIT: Focus on connecting with teammates. Perhaps it’s remembering a birthday, an unexpected public thank you or a saying good morning when you enter the office.

3. Create a family ritual of gratitude – get your family involved.

Perhaps it’s sharing something that you’re grateful for at the dinner table or before bed time or if you have kids in the car on the way home from school. If it’s a ritual, it will encourage people to think about and look for something to be grateful for during the day.

LEADERSHIP HABIT: Leadership starts at home. Character, integrity and authenticity is not only to be practiced in the office but also at home. In fact, it’s when we are not ‘on’ that it can be the most challenging to practice this but good to reinforce for ourselves.

4. Write it down.

This time of the year, you can use the season to choose one, three or five people who you want to thank this year and let them know what you are grateful for. Of course, you can practice this throughout the year with a thank you card. Or if you really want to level up on this, consider writing a letter to someone in your life that has had a profound effect on your career, family or life.

LEADERSHIP HABIT: Set some time aside weekly or monthly to practice writing words of gratitude to those around you – bonus points for handwritten notes!

5. Take a moment to appreciate the miraculousness of life.

The Greeks would say ‘memento mori’ which means ‘remember that you will die’ and so appreciate the preciousness of life, don’t sweat the small stuff and make every day that you are alive count!

LEADERSHIP HABIT: Let’s bring humanity back into the workplace. Share the personal triumphs within your team as well as the professional ones.

Share your favourite gratitude practices on our Alyceum Facebook page.