Alyceum

Igniting Leaders, Inspiring Revolutions

reflection

Our Annual Review for Alyceum in 2020

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2020 was the year no one expected.  It highlighted so many of the pleasures we take for granted, stretched us to find new delights in ordinary moments and be reminded of what is truly important to us – family, relationships, health, nature and movement.

It showed us the importance of community and connection, resilience and adaptability, and the robust leadership required amidst uncertainty.  This year highlighted just how interconnected we are as a global society and how our community ecosystem is only as strong as our most vulnerable counterparts. So yes, this year looked and felt very different than past years both personally and in the business.

Looking back

2020 was a year to look back for me – it’s been 25 years since I went to the first UN International Children’s Conference in England with 800 kids from 90 different countries. This experience for me was truly life changing and set my life on a very different trajectory than it was before.

We celebrated the anniversary of the UK conference which was the first in its aim to gather children from around the world to learn about and voice their concerns on the state of the environment as well as to showcase their environmental initiatives.  And then also the birth of Millennium Kids, now 25 years old, helping kids tackle the biggest issues on our planet.

A big shout out to my friend and mentor, Catrina Aniere.  She was the teacher who supported four of us kids to start the first Kids Helping Kids conference in 1996 and she has been there every step of the way in building Millennium Kids for the last 25 years supporting kids to have a voice, work together, be inventive and create the change they want to see in their community.  An incredible community leader, teacher and supporter of kids all over the world!

Lighting the fire

20 years ago, I graduated from high school and ran as a torchbearer for the Sydney Olympics.  It was an honour to be a torchbearer and play a small part in this global legacy. As the Olympics was postponed this year due to COVID-19, it reminded me to be grateful for the opportunities to bring humanity together as one and not take it for granted. Over the years, I’ve been so fortunate to attend many international conferences and events bringing people from all over the world together.  Through technology, we have the world at our fingertips, but do we go out and explore other countries, cultures and people enough?  I think there is the opportunity for more, to build our empathy and understanding, especially in the divisive global times we are living in.

Constraints spur creativity

Constraints are often seen as a negative, but constraints can make you more creative.  We all set common constraints in our lives without even realising it – work from 9 – 5, Monday – Friday for 46 weeks of the year, for example. This was the year of new constraints – no national or overseas travel, work completely from home, no face to face meetings to name a few. Within these constraints, new innovations were born, from health to the arts to business.  Everyone had to innovate.   People began to redesign their work and lives according to what was truly important to them!

My year kicked off with the Emerging Leaders in Governance program.  We had an incredible group come together.  We were very fortunate to start the program as normal with workshops, site visits and a weekend retreat.  Then halfway through the program, we changed to fully online delivery.  Evening workshops, panel discussions, even our graduation was online.   The participants were absolute troopers!  Not only were they dealing with the challenges of a global pandemic and how this affected them work-wise and personally, they maintained their commitment to the program.  When we couldn’t meet face to face, we met online, we had phone chats and kept in contact over messenger and email. We supported each other with information, connection and empathy.

One of the most exciting online events of me this year was to curate and facilitate the Engaging Young Leaders on Aged Care and Community Boards program’s Unconvention with an international line of guest experts based in India, Singapore, Sydney, Bendigo and Perth.  For two hours we talked about the importance of relationships in the boardroom. We could never have engaged these leaders to come to Perth but to be able to tap into their perspectives and expertise was a true delight.

You can read the program’s Annual Report here.

 

Just before Lockdown

In March, just before the closing down of many workplaces, schools and community, I was very fortunate to be recognised as one of 15 incredible women being inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame.  I appreciated the nomination from the very thoughtful ladies from the Soroptimist club of South Perth, who have been amazing members and supporters of 100 Women for many years now.  The WA Women’s Hall of Fame has the simple vision of recognising, promoting and celebrating women in Western Australia.  The stories of the women who were recognised were nothing short of incredible. I felt honoured to be included and it was a special moment to have my daughter there with me at Government House, and to reflect on all the wonderful women I have in my life.

Photos from the Hall of Fame event

Global Conversations

100 Women, like most organisations, revised our plans for the year – we were asking ourselves, how long would we be in lockdown, what impact would COVID have on women both across Australia and globally, and what role could we play to champion women in this environment.  We revised our grants program for this year and took our events online.

I was honoured to facilitate three online events for 100 Women, our first one brought together financial experts to bring information to women about how to approach their finances during a crisis. Our second conversation was with one of Australia’s leading journalists and authors, Madonna King. Her latest books exploring the experience of being a teenage girl in Australia are eye-opening and much needed research and discussion.  Our third event was with the incredible Elizabeth Broderick who is Special Rapporteur at the UN Human Rights Council. To hear how COVID was affecting women around the world and her experiences working for change was nothing less than inspiring.

By October, we were so lucky in Perth to have the opportunity to come together in person for our Gala celebration in October and grant $100,000 to 5 organisations including Earbus, Shooting Stars, Cambodian Children’s Fund, One Girl and Bower Reuse & Repair Centre.  It was incredible to hear how these organisations were managing, reacting and innovating to the challenges of this year.  Thank you to our whole 100 Women team who are so committed to growing our work and impact including our new Chair, Virginia Miltrup!

 

On a personal note

So even though 2020 was not the year I had planned and very different from previous years in 2019 and 2018. This year, ironically, I got the chance to take a few more little holidays (locally in WA) with my kids who are growing up so quickly. I’ve intentionally spent time redesigning little areas of my home to facilitate the space and conversations I want to have with my husband and kids – a photo board to savor memories, a games basket in the lounge to facilitate family games night.  After reading The Power of Ritual I’ve been playing around with weekly, monthly and annual rituals to increase our connection as a family and what’s important to us.

When COVID shut down all the events, my daughter was fortunate to start guitar lessons to Ezereve, a hugely talented singer/songwriter (100 Women member and philanthropist in her own right) and even though her diary got busier and busier through the year when events returned, she kept teaching my daughter each week – bringing music into the house!  Thank you Ezereve for your time and talents!

We also lost a dear friend of ours. Helen Fairnie was a trailblazer. She was among the first female vets in Australia and the first female president of the Australian Veterinary Association among a huge list of other achievements – an Order of Australia (AM), authoring a book on female vets in Australia, a doctorate, a committed lifelong community volunteer to many causes including SAVE African Rhino Foundation and Rotary, plus was a loving wife and mother to two kids. She was a huge supporter of my ideas.  In 2012 joined the committee that established 100 Women and on the first grants committee too. In fact, she was one of the first people I talked to about the idea of 100 Women. She was a huge encourager of me and 100 Women from the very beginning.  I’ll never forget Helen’s laugh, big smile, care for all living creatures and her determined spirit.

So that was the year that was!  2021 looks like the phoenix rising with many new plans in the pipeline including the launch of a new online leadership program! (send me an email if you’re keen to hear more).  I encourage you to take time to reflect on your year and plan for the next 10!  Our lives are what we make of it!

 

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10 key questions to fuel your reflection in 2021

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The year 2020… How will you remember this year? What stories will you tell yourself and others about it? What will you emphasize in your memories and what will you skip over?

It’s been a strange and uncertain year for us all. It’s tested our resilience and made us grateful for the life we’ve been able to lead for so many years. Not only has the global pandemic tested our resolve, we are facing some challenging societal issues that we need to address; a racial reckoning as well as the importance of character in leadership and politics, and more broadly. Now that’s a lot to reflect on!


Connection and Reflection

It can be all too easy to skip over the experiences of the last 12 months like a bad dream to be left behind quickly. In fact, we can only truly learn from the experience if we take the time to reflect and understand what we’ve learnt and use these reflections to try something different as a result of the experience. 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.

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! Let’s face it, our reflections to these questions might look very different this year than in previous years.

Here we go… 10 key questions to fuel your end of year reflection.

 

1. What did you miss the most this year?

Ok, let’s have a place to mourn. What did you truly miss that you didn’t get to do this year? It might have been as big as global travel plans or as small as dinner with friends and family. What parts of life did you miss the most with the challenges of this year?

 

2. What triggered negative thoughts and emotions in you the most this year?

First, think of the challenging feelings you had this year; grief, sadness, anger, jealously or loneliness, perhaps.  Researchers suggest identifying the emotions we experience is the first step to manage them better. So what were the feelings that came up for you this year?

Now think if there were any themes or patterns with what prompted those feelings? Loss of control, lack of certainty or close quarters with people?

Be real and honest with yourself. Often we think of the negative times in our lives but we don’t think about what triggered it!

 

3. What did you gain this year?

Even with all the changes and uncertainty, what did you gain? What were the silver linings?

Think about those negative triggers above, could you 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 to gather a new meaning about the experience.

 

4. What new insights do you have about yourself?

What stretched and challenged you the most this year? What did you learn about yourself 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 about yourself. 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.

 

5. What is important in maintaining a strong sense of mental wellbeing?

When we were dealing with challenging situations this year, it also highlighted the importance of our mental wellbeing.

What did you rely on to help you through this year? Exercise, connection, reading, meditation, healthy food or music. We had to be creative. There was definitely some constraints – perhaps your gym closed down, you couldn’t leave your house or visit your friends! So what did you do?

Your mental health is important, not just in a pandemic. How many of these practices can you retain as part of your normal routine?

 

6. What did you realise is most important to you in your life?

What do you truly need to be happy and fulfilled in life?

It is so easy to get caught up in what everyone else wants you to do – your family, friends, work or even society, in general, can dictate what we focus on.

Think about when you get into work every day, 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? Let’s get more intentional about how you want to spend your time.

Personally – 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?

7. What are you grateful for?

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

Gratitude has immeasurable benefits to your physical and mental health. It improves your relationships, increases your resilience, helps you sleep better, improves your self-esteem and, 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!

8. What has made you proud this year?

What behaviours or situations have made you proud? Perhaps where you have truly lived your values? Perhaps it was how you survived a tough experience, or maybe it’s how you supported others through the tough times this year?

Feelings of pride can include feeling satisfied, joyful, delighted or fulfilled. This year, it might be about the small moments that have made you proud or content. Think about your relationships, goals or simply your attitude.

9. How did you foster connection and relationships?

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

It was definitely made a little harder this year, so how did you overcome this? 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?

10. What change of routine happened in 2020 that you are going to keep long term?

Looking forward, what are you going to keep?! I love a good experiment! Whether it’s working from home or hiking on weekends!

2020 was the year of experimentation – what would life look like if we worked from home? What if we didn’t travel nationally or internationally for the next 1-2 years? What if we participated in events and conferences online?  What if we had to run our business or develop our careers in a different way?  What if…?

We can always try new habits and rituals to enhance life meaning and wellbeing.

—

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.

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How to be a changemaker?

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“All of us are needed for a moral revolution.  It doesn’t matter where you live, the size of your bank account, or what you do for a living.  The world needs you to flex, to stretch to uncomfortable levels, to build your moral imagination, to listen more deeply, to reckon with your sense of identity, and to open yourself up to understand the layered inconsistencies and differing perspectives of others.  It requires each of us to partner better, to tell stories that matter and embrace the beautiful struggle.”
– Jacqueline Novogratz

I definitely know that I am at my happiest when I’m working with a team of people to make the world just a little better in some way.  I love new ideas and I love a project that challenges that status quo.  I love inspiring others to think about the change we can make together.

This year – 2020 –  commemorates 25 years since the start of my journey in leadership and community change making.  Back in 1995, I was 12 years old, I was given a beautiful gift.  I was chosen to attend the first International Children’s Conference (ICC) on the Environment run by the United Nations.  800 kids from 90 different countries were chosen to attend and experience 3 days of speakers, workshop and kinship.

There is no doubt in my mind that this conference was an immense catalyst in my life and one that I feel very fortunate to have.  At 12 years old, my attention was diverted away absorbed by my own teenage life and focused on others, my local community and world.

At this conference, I connected with the three other Perth delegates and we came back to Perth and formed our own group.  Supported by our parents and a supportive teacher, we decided to run our own kids conference!  This was probably one of the first examples of the ‘youth-led’ movement.  It took us 13 months and in 1996, we ran the first Kids Helping Kids conference with 150 kids from around Western Australia and our ICC friends from Malaysia.  In 1999, the group became incorporated as Millennium Kids and still runs today.

Since 1995, I have been a keen volunteer, a change maker and voice for the issues that matter. I look back with huge gratitude for the experiences I had, the people I met and most importantly, the mindset that was formed.  It was a mindset that change can happen, we can achieve great things in our community when we come together and we have more power and influence than we think!

So in this post, I want to share 7 lessons I’ve learnt about creating change!

1. Lead now

“Leader is not a title that the world gives to you—it’s an offering that you give to the world.”
– Abby Wambach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women’s World Cup champion

You can lead right where you are – with your knowledge, experience, ideas and passion!

Don’t wait to be asked, don’t wait until you’re old enough or experienced enough.  Get in there, join the team, shadow the leader, meet new people, share your ideas – start learning on the job!  We all have the capacity to lead change – to make the world a little bit better than how we found it.

You have to be willing to be brave and give ideas a go, put yourself out there, make mistakes, learn and realise you have some value to give to the world.

2. Don’t doubt the crazy ideas!

“The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.”
– Peter Diamandis, author and founder, Singularity University

It’s often the crazy ideas that can make the biggest difference!

Kids running their own conference, young people being board directors on aged care organisations, everyday people joining together to become philanthropists…all of these crazy ideas became successful projects.  Many people scoffed at these ideas and took a lot of convincing of their worth.  Hang in there, it gets a little easier!

Give yourself time for thinking and talking about crazy ideas too. We can all too often get caught up in the busyness of life.  Give yourself time to really think about what the world most needs now.

3. Diversify your network

“Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.” 
– Jesse Jackson, Politician and Civil Rights Activist

Get out and make as wide networks as you can.  A broad network is an advantage when it comes to creating change.  You can’t do it all by yourself!  When I was 21 years old, I ran as an independent candidate for the Federal Senate of Australia.  I loved the experience because it truly pushed me out of my comfort zone.  I committed to going to a wide range of events with people I had never met before.  Not only did it help during my campaign, but through the rest of my career and community work.  The friendships I made, the organisations I came across, the people I connected with have held me in great stead.

When you’re building a team, it’s integral to know your strengths and find people who strengthen the group through different mindsets, skillsets and networks.  They will challenge you and that’s a good thing!  It can be an easy trap to bring together people who mirror your own strengths, instead, push yourself to bring together different people.

In these increasingly polarised times that we are living in, it can be all too easy to be revolted by people who hold different opinions and close down the conversations completely.  Try to keep the avenue open.

4. Failure is part of the process

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
– Ken Robinson

Plant many seeds as not all will grow.  Failure is not a reflection of you, it’s just part of the process.  For every project idea that’s been successful, there have been three ideas that have failed.  Don’t be disheartened by this.  Ask yourself, what can I learn from this?  The learnings might come years afterwards too.

See the obstacles not as a sign to stop but a sign to keep going! Embrace them. Rise to the challenge of them.  Obstacles will only make you stronger so keep in there!

5. Cultivate your skills in learning, listening and leadership

If you want to make a positive impact on the world, here are three key skills – learning, listening and leadership.  Since the very beginning of my journey, I’ve been honing these skills.  I still get it wrong and there is still much opportunity for improvement!

Learning – you are also learning! Learning about the complex problems we are facing in society, how we can make a positive impact, how we can work together more effectively.  Being a learner.

Listening – the greatest leaders I have observed are all incredible listeners. They listen for what is said, they listen for what is not said. They don’t just listen, they connect and see the world through the eyes of the speaker.  Often, when we have ideas and knowledge, we can be too quick to talk all the time.  A great leader sees the opportunity to ask questions and listen.  They listen with great humility.

Leadership – be ready to learn more about yourself, your team, your community and society and uncover the assumptions and biases that may hold you back.  This self awareness helps you to start building mastery in leadership.  You will need it when you need to bring together a diverse group with a common vision, when you need to have a courageous conversation with a team member and when you get knocked down by failures.

6. Surround yourself with the people, places and beauty that inspires you

When I feel inspired, I feel like I can do anything.  So I think deeply about what inspires me the most.  I wonder about the times that inspire fresh thinking, innovative ideas and connections.

For me, it’s about people, places and creativity. I surround myself with inspiring people. I meet with them. I read their books.  I listen to their videos and podcasts.  I attend events that push my knowledge and networks and am inspired by the incredible people I get to meet. I’m also inspired by our beautiful natural environment, the blue oceans, the tall trees and the animals who inhabit these spaces.  Art, creativity, music and movement also inspire me.  I love different art forms and the creativity and dedication it takes to create.

What gives you energy? Take your inspiration seriously.

7. Focus on what you’ve achieved, not what’s still to be done

“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.”
– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

This is an important one!  When change is the goal, you can be so futures focused that you don’t acknowledge your achievements along the way. And let’s face it, we often have big hopes and dreams!  Don’t get disheartened that there is still so much to do, celebrate what you have achieved along the way – highlight it, the small wins, make them visible to all the team.  Change, at the best of times, is slow but that doesn’t mean that you don’t celebrate the wins along the way.  Sometimes change happens in a giant leap, most of the time it will be incremental. Stick with your goals and purpose for the long term and don’t forget to take the time to acknowledge what you have achieved.

Together we can effect real change, by joining together, sharing our talents and envisioning a better future.  Often I reflect on my 12 year old self, who had their eyes opened by the possibilities of this. No matter what we face as a world or society, I try and remember this.  Now I have children of my own who see the issues they would like to positively impact and I know it’s my turn to encourage them to see their role as a changemaker in society.

Here’s to another 25 years of changemaking impact.

 

In 2021 I’m piloting a new online course on personal leadership and making an impact! Are you keen to join in? It includes weekly masterclasses, leadership challenges and opportunities to share and connect. If you want to find out more, add your email here and receive my free guide too.

 

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This inspiring guide will give you powerful insights to find and refine your own purpose in life.
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Don’t be triggered

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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.

How to make the most of your day

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How you spend your days is how you spend your life. Time is the ultimate currency. We spend it on what we deem important or interesting, but sometimes it feels like we don’t gain anything in the end. Either we wasted time mindlessly watching or scrolling, got bogged down by mandatory tasks, or struggled to achieve our best.

It’s easy to get frustrated or stressed when this happens, but the only way to solve the problem is to rethink how and where we direct our time and attention. Here’s how you can start to maximise your day and get more of a return from your time.

Making time

We each get 24 hours. You can’t make more time in a day, but maybe we can structure each day so we feel accomplished without a mad rush? In their book Make Time, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky explain how you can slow down your day by carving out time for things you care about. Instead of doing more, you focus on things that will bring you a sense of satisfaction.

There are four steps to making time.

1. Highlight

Each morning choose a highlight, something that you want to focus on that day. Even if you have a day full of urgent tasks and long meetings, you should take 60-90 minutes for your highlight.

Adults spend an average of more than four hours watching TV or on social media each day, so most of us actually do have room for 60-90 minutes. Allowing your highlight to be the focal point of your day doesn’t take long, and it will give you something positive to look back on. Each day you will have done something important to you.

2. Laser

Avoid things that draw your attention away from your highlight. Distractions prevent you from entering a state of laser focus, so you get less of a pay-off for the time you are trying to spend on your highlight. Think about what chews up your attention when you are trying to work. Is it your smartphone, other people, background noise or discomfort? Once you’ve identified your distractions, use strategies like keeping your smartphone out of sight, putting in some headphones with white noise or choosing an environment to best suit your purpose.

3. Energise

Stick to daily habits that improve your physiological health. This includes eating nutritious foods, staying hydrated, being active and sleeping well. We can be quick to neglect our bodies as soon as stress piles on. Healthy habits become less of a priority, which is to the detriment of our ability to make the most of each day. When you maintain daily habits that keep your body functioning well, your mind is freed up to attend to other things. Not only can you be more productive but enjoy the rewarding feeling of having looked after yourself!

4. Reflect

Look back on each day and learn from it. Each day provides you with data—your energy levels, emotions, appetite, productivity, interactions etc.—and you can treat the next day like an experiment based on this information.

  • What factors could have been influencing you today?
  • How do you think they helped or hindered you?
  • What does this tell you about how you should approach tomorrow?

Taking this analytical stance is a very helpful technique to avoid feeling like your day was a total waste if things didn’t go as planned. There is always something to be learned!

Attention

Another vital part of getting the most out of your day is learning how to direct and restore your attention.

Attention restoration theory, developed by professors of environmental psychology, Rachel and Stephan Kaplan, gives us two modes of attention:  Directed attention and effortless attention, also called fascination.

The Kaplans point out that our directed attention mode becomes fatigued over time. This is why a long drive can be exhausting. Even though our bodies aren’t working hard, certain day-to-day tasks require a sustained effort to focus attention on one thing and shut out other distractions.

So, how can we first maintain directed attention well enough to complete work (even the boring stuff), then rest properly when the time comes? Resolve emotional turmoil through productive reflection

Author of Focus and Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman explains that emotional turmoil is one of the biggest challenges for people trying to direct their attention. It could be an upcoming event you are stressed about, a troubling relationship or any other personal problem. According to Goleman, productive reflection is the best way to get over this hurdle and regain control of your attention.

Productive reflection means stopping, reflecting and resolving those thoughts that keep creeping in and distracting you rather than letting them continue to stew. These thoughts draw our attention because we know they need to be dealt with through action or simply processing their emotional impact. Give it a go if you find yourself struggling to be attentive; is there something that might be causing you emotional turmoil? What is the best way to move past this?

Use your rest time wisely to really rejuvenate

Do you go straight to screens when you have time to rest, watching TV and movies, scrolling social media?

Even though it doesn’t require any effort to pay attention to a TV show, spending rest time on screens will actually do nothing to reduce mental fatigue. You may be resting your body, but your mind is fully occupied for hours on end.  This is called hard fascination.

Attention restoration theory tells us that there are two types of fascination: hard fascination and soft fascination. Neither states require much effort to sustain, however, hard fascination takes up all of your mental bandwidth.

On the other hand, soft fascination leaves room for reflection and contemplation. This is necessary for your mind to unwind and restore after a period of directed attention. Thoughts are able to arise and settle during rest times instead of work times.

Natural environments are recognised as a wonderful source of soft fascination as they effortlessly hold our attention while leaving room for other mental processes. Natural environments are a perfect setting for rest time because they are accessible, extensive and separate from workspaces.

Next time you feel mentally fatigued, rest by walking through a garden or park, going to a river or beach, or even just looking out the window for a few minutes! This is going to allow your attentional abilities to restore which is going to make the most of your rest time and improve your productivity later.

In Summary

Sometimes it feels like we just need an extra hour or two in the day to feel satisfied with what we can get done, but that’s never going to happen. Instead, we just need to be conscious of how the use of our time influences how we feel about each day.

Your steps to maximising your day are:

  1. Set your highlight
  2. Eliminate distractions from your highlight
  3. Take care of your body
  4. Learn from each day
  5. Allow yourself to deal with emotional turmoil
  6. Rest effectively

These are all choices you can make throughout your day that will add up. Challenge yourself to make more of a return on your time and feel more satisfied at the end of each day!

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Creating Inclusive Leaders

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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:

  1. Commitment
  2. Courage
  3. Cognisance of bias
  4. Curiosity
  5. Cultural Intelligence
  6. 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!

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