DAY 1 - SUNDAY, 8 MAY 2011
Wow - a whole year since I have seen most of these people and I managed to remember everyone's names (except you Sara - so sorry but it also means I will never forget again!)
I was first to arrive and was so pleased to see Pam again! She introduced me to Maria, the new facilitator, who is wonderful as well. I got to work, meeting and greeting, making sure everyone had name tags on and knew to help themselves to tea and coffee.
Starting the session we did a bit of a flashback to where our journeys had taken us since our first week in Creswick last year. As a re-introduction, and an introduction for those who didn't begin with us last year, we went around the room stating who we were, what we do (and if it was the same as last year), one thing not on our resume and what our biggest accomplishment or achievement had been in the preceeding 12 months.
As predicted, at least five people had changed jobs significantly, I would guess it would be at least double that. It was good to acknowledge what we had individually accomplished and interesting to learn that just about every TAFE is undergoing a 'restructure' of some sort. Tells you a lot about the environment we're now all working in.
There are also around a dozen people who did not return for the second week while we have a couple more who have joined us after missing their second week last year.
DAY 2 - MONDAY, 9 MAY 2011
Started bright and early and looked at the StrengthsFinder tests and results. We looked in depth at our own strengths (mine are in order: connectedness, developer, empathy, relator and intellection) and how these strengths are all positive in their own unique way. We looked at how people may describe these strengths using both 'balcony' (positive) and 'basement' (negative) language.
From this exploration I realised that I need to 'reclaim' the role of birthday morning teas and "fun days" as this is really part of my strengths and something I derive a great deal of satisfaction from. I'm also going to look to give people positive feedback based on their strengths with the belief that this will have more meaning and depth for them. I will also look to see if existing work tasks can be reframed based on the outcomes of the strengths tests my team is taking this week.
In the afternoon we began looking at the Dimensions of Leadership. We completed a survey tool which helps us assess what is getting our attention, or at least where we are focussing our efforts right now. Just being able to analyse a situation and know whether it required skills in character, analysis, accomplishment or interaction can help shape the way you approach a particular situation.
DAY 3 - TUESDAY, 10 MAY 2011
Continued looking at the dimensions of leadership and disected a survey we had to complete for homework last night. I was surprised to see that I only scored 1 from 7 characteristics in the optimal score range. I had two characteristics which were very low... Something to work on!When we moved on to leading through change we watched the animation, "Who Moved My Cheese". It was funny to identify people we have worked with who fit those stereotypical roles. Watching something like that makes it easy to see what SHOULD be done yet when we are in our workplaces we quite often don't sit back enough to really work out what we should be doing in regards to change.
We were then introduced to an eight (8) step process to most effectively introduce and lead others through change. We were broken into groups to further explore what was involved and develop an interesting or memorable way to summarise the main points. The group I was in looked at celebrating short term wins to maintain energy and commitment. Our memorable take away was an acronym highlighting the keys things to do when celebrating short term wins:
What has happened?
Individuals who need to be acknowledged
Note progress against the vision
Sell continued commitment to the end vision
After this process we were re-divided into new groups and given a predicted challenge in the vocational education sector to apply the process to.
The group I was in struggled to work out what level of detail to include in our topic; From 200 RTO's to 680 - surviving the competitive environment.
Once we refined our viewpoint we got through the stages fairly quickly. I took the role of allocating Strength characteristics to each stage of the process. this was really useful in learning how to apply what you learn through the StrengthsFinder survey to a work situation. It may mean that the same people are not involved from start to finish but may be brought in and out as the journey progresses.
I announced this morning that I had my wig collection available for anyone who'd like to borrow one for Thursday night's party... when I said I had 35 a round of applause and laughter broke out! But it's sure been a great talking point since... :)
DAY 4 - WEDNESDAY, 11 MAY 2011
Half a day today. We spent the first part of the morning analysing and discussing our leadership survey results. I was pleased to see that many of my own scores had increased since the first round and were in many cases closer to those of my supervisor and/or peers. There were a couple of areas which had decreased since the first survey period last year. this may be because the focus of my role has changed somewhat or maybe because my focus has shifted. I will discuss this further with Victoria to see where she came from when rating my leadership skills.
We also looked at the difference between leading and managing and I was surprised to see that much of what I do in my day to day role is managing according to the Marcus Buckingham definition. I suspect that the amount of leading and managing varies depending on the type of work conducted by the team involved.
We were asked at one stage to tell our tables what two things our mothers would say about us... Hard to think of! I said that she's very proud of me and that my partner is her favourite daughter in law! Well that's what she's been saying a lot of lately! I actually just spoke to Mum on Skype so I asked her what she would say:
1. She's a very kind, loving and caring daughter
2. She's very passionate about everything she does
Not a bad summation at all - thanks mum! :)
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