Global Learning's newsletter, in rss form http://globallearning.com.au/news/ With this bout of cold temperatures, people are either scurrying to the snowfields or heading north to seek sun and sand. One of the great joys of living in Australia is that everyone can be satisfied! In the last edition, we promised you news about upcoming events, and you can read about them here. And for more inspiration, we offer links to a range of stimulating sites. Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#10 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) The Workplace Ombudsman, a Federal Government agency, has taken an intensive approach to a three-part challenge – transition into a new agency (the Fair Work Ombudsman), expansion of staff responsibilities through changed legislation, and a merge with the Workplace Authority (doubling its size). Over a six-month period, Global Learning has delivered a team leadership development program to empower their highly-motivated middle managers in a combination of face-to-face and online activities. More than 95 per cent of graduates reported that what they learned during the program improved their management and leadership skills and will deliver significant productivity gains. http://globallearning.com.au/news/wo2009.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#39 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Once in a while websites benefit from a good makeover, and Global Learning's is no exception. The previous site was very 'corporate', and whilst it attracted business, it wasn't a true representation of who we are or what we do. The transition is almost complete, and we were careful to ensure that no whales were harmed in the process. We've sent our designer into orbit to take a decent photo of the planet that we share, and our imagebank [http://globallearning.com.au/imagebank.html] is replete with pithy quotes to stimulate the brain. Even our mysterious '404' error page is ... informative! http://globallearning.com.au/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#24 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) According to Benjamin Waber, a PhD student at MIT, you could be out of the loop. If you're not able to create environments of high trust and super-connectivity, you're not aware of who is really doing what. Waber has studied the way in which groups interact socially, and has mapped how information flows within an organisation. This exploration is known as 'reality mining', and Waber shows that we are often better at communication via the virtual world, and not the face-to-face environment. Read all about 'pulsing stars' patterns and learn how to predict future meetings! http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-08/st_thompson Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#38 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) "It was FANTASTIC, GREAT, SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICALEXPIALIODOCIOUS AWESOME!" Unusually unrestrained and enthusiastic feedback, perhaps - but it truly reflected the views of many who took part in the 'Bring It! 2008 Young Carers Forum' held at Parliament House, Canberra in November. Young carers had two days of vigorous discussion, met Ministers and Shadow Ministers - and had to be asked to be a little quieter by ushers from the nearby Senate! Carers Australia published their final report on 24 June, detailing the crisis faced by young carers around Australia. Read on to discover how Global Learning helped to make the program an outstanding success. http://globallearning.com.au/news/ca2009.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#41 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) MIT Sloan Management Review interviews Vijay Govindarajan, chief innovation officer at General Electric, about his 'three-box framework': improving the present, selectively forgetting the past, and inventing the future. Govindarajan opines that it is critical to focus on box two and three in spite of tough times. He argues that the best time to prepare for expansion is during a recession, and that assets and talent are cheap and readily available. He also suggests that whilst you cannot easily plan for the future, you can most certainly prepare for it. http://sloanreview.mit.edu/business-insight/articles/2009/2/ Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#40 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Everybody who is not awake spiritually is run by their thinking mind - the incessant voice in the head. In an unawakened state, you don't use thought - but thought uses you. You don't see anything as it is, but distorted and reduced by mental labels, concepts, judgments, opinions and reactive patterns. Your sense of identity - of self - is reduced to a story that you keep telling yourself in your head. And when your life is thus reduced, you can never be happy for long, because you are not yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Now Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#11 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Translation: technology will work, but the people might not. It is the people side of the change equation that is difficult to get right. It requires a small but crucial investment in communications, training, and support. Participation, engagement, and buy-in is the stuff of successful change. It's not something that can be gained through a transaction, but requires generative dialogue. The approach is highly interactive. Rather than top-down, it is inside-out: as people generate new insights and understanding, their behavior changes. The real territory of change is inner space. http://fastcompany.com/blog/seth-kahan/leading-change/soft-stuff-hard-stuff Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#37 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Please feel free to talk back to us. Ask for more information or links. Comment on our news. E-mail your feedback to us, and if you like globalNEWS, let your friends know and invite them to subscribe, too! Subscription details (and how to unsubscribe) are found here: http://globallearning.com.au/mailman/listinfo/globalnews Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#36 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Welcome to the final edition of globalNEWS for 2009. For many of us, this is a time to sit back a little, reflect on the year, and anticipate Christmas with family and friends. It's a time for winding down, and smelling the roses. In the spirit of not over-burdening readers with material of great import, we've tuned this newsletter to go with the flow. But we shall be back with a vengeance early next year with more news and some exciting stories to tell (adventures beckon)! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#45 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Drinkers' brains are tricked into thinking a glass of white wine is better and more expensive tasting when exposed to red or blue background lighting than those in rooms with green or white background lighting. German researchers gave drinkers the same bottle of Riesling in the differently-lit environments and asked for feedback. Drinkers in a red or blue room were on average prepared to fork out as much as one euro per bottle more for the same tipple. Dr Daniel Oberfeld-Twistel, of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, concluded that ambient lighting influences how wine tastes. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#46 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) In 2008, Americans consumed information for about 1.3 trillion hours, an average of almost 12 hours per day - so says Roger Bohn of the University of California. His blog details the consumption of 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words, corresponding to 100,500 words and 34 gigabytes for an average person on an average day. These estimates are from an analysis of more than 20 different sources of information, from very old (newspapers and books) to very new (portable computer games, satellite radio, and Internet video). Before you nod sagely, information at work is not even included! http://art2science.org/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#47 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) We try to cram zillions of bits of information into our pre-frontal cortex (PFC), the conscious part of the brain. Coaching and neuroscience guru David Rock, in his 'Your brain at work' Sydney workshop this month, observed that the brain is 2% of our body weight, yet consumes 20% of the body's resources. And the PFC is microscopic - if it were one cubic metre, the rest of the brain would be the size of the Milky Way. It'd worth bearing that in mind over Christmas: turn down the internal noise levels and let the brain run in neutral. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#49 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) How does an organisation like Sun Microsystems create a workplace where employees love to come to work? Bill MacGowan, Chief Human Resource Officer for Sun Microsystems, opines that it is because they value and appreciate good, smart people who enjoy change, innovation, and other people. 'Leadership at Sun has been successful at creating a real meritocracy. We allow people to speak their minds, and not be afraid to learn from failure.' One of the key elements in creating workplaces where employees love to do their best work is to listen to their ideas and give them freedom to act. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/simma-lieberman/life-balance/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#48 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) The current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that some aspects of a strangers personality can be judged by looking at photographs of subjects, and that self-esteem, ratings of aversion, religiosity and openness are all able to be judged from physical appearance. They found that photographs provided participants with accurate cues about personality, and that secondary spontaneous poses showed even more insight, including about the subject's various personality traits. 'As we predicted, physical appearance serves as a channel through which personality is manifested', write authors Laura Naumann, Simine Vazire, Peter Rentfrow and Samuel Gosling. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210130000.htm Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#50 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) ...a tree or a river. Somebody invented it. Most inventions – from the candle to the compact disc – lose their usefulness. Management is for when you want people to work a certain way. For creative, complex, conceptual challenges - what most of us do for a living - self-direction works better. If we want engagement, we have to have autonomy over the key aspects of work - Task: what we do, Time: when we do it, Technique: how we do it, Team: whom we do it with. What we need is less management and more freedom: fewer individual automatons and more autonomous individuals. http://www.danpink.com/drive Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#51 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Getting things done is not the same as making things happen. You can: ...reply to e-mail ...pay the bills ...cross off to-do's ...fulfill your obligation ...repeat what you heard ...go with the flow ...anticipate roadblocks ...aim for 'good enough'. Or you can: ...organise a community ...take a risk ...set ambitious goals ...give more than you take ...change perceptions ...forge a new path ...create possibility ...demand excellence. Don't worry too much about getting things done. Make things happen. http://www.ginatrapani.org/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#52 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Please feel free to talk back to us. Ask for more information or links. Comment on our news. E-mail your feedback to us, and if you like globalNEWS, let your friends know and invite them to subscribe, too! Subscription details (and how to unsubscribe) are found here: http://globallearning.com.au/mailman/listinfo/globalnews Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#53 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Welcome to the Autumn 2010 edition of globalNEWS. We've been quite busy over the last few months (so much so that it's hard to believe that we are almost half way through the year!), and our collaborative meeting process, iMEET!, has been in the spotlight more than once. At a recent strategic planning meeting in Sydney, one participant, Alex Gooding, was so enamoured with the process and the outcomes that he wanted to write about it. You can find Alex Gooding's blog here, where he describes it as 'a big step towards 21st Century conferencing': http://sociamind.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/ Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#55 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Here's a refreshing statement made by a top-500 company executive: "...People are our most important asset in the world by far. It's people who deliver innovation. We are the most focused company that I know of or have read of or have any knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day. We say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose." - Tim Cook, Apple's Chief Operating Officer, in Business Insider (USA). http://www.businessinsider.com/ Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#56 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Conversations are the lifeblood of our world. The concept of conversation covers all the ways that we listen, speak and communicate meaning to each other. Any improvement in the quality of the conversations that matter will benefit all of us, and create a better future. Hosting and harvesting conversations that matter is a skill that all of us can and need to learn. The ANU Centre for Dialogue and Global Learning is offering a 3-day residential workshop at Murramarang Eco Resort (28-31 July 2010) to explore these issues through teachings, discussion and practical experience. More information: http://law.anu.edu.au/coast/events/artof/conversation.htm Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#57 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) An interesting warning from Clive Thompson in WIRED magazine about the difficulties experienced online in large groups: conversations (and socialisation) simply don't scale. There's a point at which large groups can only communicate via broadcasting, not sharing. As Thompson suggests: "When the conversation gets big enough, it shuts down. Not only do audiences feel estranged, the participants also start self-censoring. People who suddenly find themselves with really huge audiences often start writing more cautiously, like politicians." It's an insightful perspective, as are the comments that follow the February 2010 editorial. The accompanying image is worth a thousand words alone! http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/st_thompson_obscurity/ Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#58 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Communications coach Carmine Gallo has identified five elements in successful presentations: a headline, a villain, a simple slide, a demo, and a 'holy smokes' moment. Author of '10 simple secrets of the world's greatest business communicators' and 'Fire them up!: 7 simple secrets to inspire colleagues, customers and clients', Gallo shows how to be insanely great in front of any audience. The presentation skills are similar to the basic skills needed in essay writing: present a clear topic, outline what you're going to talk about, provide readers/audiences with clear transitions, make statistics relevant to your topic and audience. http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2009/sb2009106_706829.htm Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#59 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Stefan Stern, columnist in The Financial Times, investigates how leaders can be decisive in times of crisis, reflecting on how we must safeguard against the dangers of 'pattern recognition' and 'attachments' - both of which lead us down familiar paths of risk management with events that are vaguely predictable. He suggests that wise decisions can only be made if the right sort of management philosophy is embedded, and in having the right attitude in the face of calamity. [Link requires free registration] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35b3cb08-515c-11df-bed9-00144feab49a.html Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#60 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) One of the advantages of a virtual or remote team is that you have access to the best and smartest people, no matter where they are. One disadvantage is that 'where they are' could be along way from you. How do you get the best ideas and input from these people when you're not in the same room? Running a good online brainstorming session is a critical tool for managers and project leaders. Here's some advice from Wayne Turmel at BNET Australia on how to work online (hopefully with iMEET!, of course!): http://blogs.bnet.com/management/?p=1338 Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#61 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Here are twenty of the best tips, tricks and rules of thumb for younger women aspiring to climb the career ladder. Lisa Orrell spoke with several senior female executives in large corporations, and compiled a list of the tips from the conversations that ensued. Whilst they are offered from a female perspective, they apply to both sexes equally, and are practical ways in which you can improve your leadership skills and become a respected member of your team. Number one: Power, influence and integrity are three inter-connected circles that create the foundation for being an effective leader. http://blog.generationrelations.com/?p=275 Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#62 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Simma Lieberman, Fast Company blogger: 'There are five key components to creating the workplace where people love to do their best work. These components are: Inclusion, Implementation, Individual convenience perks, Immersion, and Integration. If your workplace culture is inclusive, it means that employees are engaged and everyone has an opportunity to succeed. People at all levels can have a career path strategy if they want. Inclusion also means that employees bring their whole selves to work. If they leave part of who they are at home, then part of their focus and creativity will be left at home.' http://www.fastcompany.com/user/simma-lieberman Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#63 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Please feel free to talk back to us. Ask for more information or links. Comment on our news. E-mail your feedback to us, and if you like globalNEWS, let your friends know and invite them to subscribe, too! Subscription details (and how to unsubscribe) are found here: http://globallearning.com.au/mailman/listinfo/globalnews Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 +1000 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#64 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) It's been a while since the last edition of globalNEWS, but we do claim that it is quasi-regular, after all... We've had a few changes since we last communicated with you all: the office has recently moved to Downer in the northern suburbs of Canberra, where we have more space than ever before, and room for all of our gear and equipment to be in the same location. We've had a reasonably busy year, and have built on our successes with iMEET!, working in particular with government departments and associate facilitators and consultants. Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#75 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) We note with interest the demise of Google Wave, a software framework for collaborative online editing. Its passing did not surprise us: the interface wasn't intuitive, nor did it offer pathways for development of ideas or for consolidation of material. In short, it was too unstructured to be of use in all but a few limiting circumstances. However, it did highlight for us the strengths of our home-grown collaborative system (iMEET!) and its structured collaboration process, the ease of use, and the fact that you don't need to 'get' what collaborative processes are all about to achieve great results. http://imeet.com.au/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#76 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Here's a challenging statement: 'To make connections or to share, as Facebook and other Web 2.0 norms demand, you have to be a dumber, simpler version of yourself.' Zadie Smith, writing for The New York Review of Books, posits that we are either People 1.0 or People 2.0. Smith derives much of her thinking from 'You are not a gadget: A manifesto' (author: Jaron Lanier), but nonetheless she is convinced that Generation Facebook is badly served by the software that shapes their interaction. It's an interesting perspective - though is she really aware of how they interact? http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/generation-why/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#77 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Psychologists at Harvard University have discovered that we are happiest when we are 'living in the moment' and not dwelling on our position in the world. Our lives are most enjoyable and content when we are completely focused on the job in hand – even more than when we are daydreaming about pleasant thoughts. Professor Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth, co-authors of a recent research paper on what makes life worth living. Well, we've all heard how important it is to live in the moment. But here's the really important news: there's an app for that (seriously!)... http://www.trackyourhappiness.org/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#78 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, an American-based online gaming company experiencing massive growth, has this to offer: 'In all managers, I seek three attributes: an entrepreneur (creative problem-solving, driving outcomes, teaching and training people), a high emotional quotient (self-awareness, honesty, humility, being open and approachable), and domain expertise (people with passion, skills and experience in the core functional components of the business, and who can connect with end-users). The ability to properly prioritise ideas and actions is a vital ingredient, too. Mark's focus is to make everybody the CEO, all empowered to take risks and responsibilities. http://www.fastcompany.com/1698265/mark-pincus-zynga-farmville-mafia-wars Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#79 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Great contributions to the art of leadership and management are currently being made by science - more specifically, neuroscience. Understanding how the brain actually works is bringing new levels of effectiveness to coaching, in which Global Learning has been training managers and leaders. While science often reinforces what we knew or suspected, just as often it overturns old beliefs. It is creating new roadmaps for decision-making and problem-solving, emotional regulation, collaborating with and influencing others, and facilitating change. Contact Global Learning to find out how we can bring effective coaching to your organisation: now is the time to act! http://globallearning.com.au/contact.html Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#82 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) A series of blog entries about systems thinking and leadership have broad appeal to leaders and managers alike: you'll find a collection of insightful articles on technical and adaptive challenges, how to develop calmness and familiarity to be able to remain level-headed in the face of a storm, building groups to think through scenarios and be netter prepared for the future, using LEGO to fuel new cycles of success, and even tips on using the ancient skills of Aikido to change to locus of power from an external to an internal force. http://blog.pegasuscom.com/Leverage-Points-Blog/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#80 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) There's never really a great way to apologise, but there are plenty of terrible ways. If you're at a coffee shop, and you spill coffee on someone by accident, what do you say? You'll be horrified and say 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry!' When you mean it you say you're sorry - a primal response. You wouldn't say 'Dear sir, I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.' But that's exactly how most companies respond when they make a big mistake. Mistakes happen. How you apologise matters. Don't dissimulate - just say "I'm sorry." And mean it. http://37signals.com/svn/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#54 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) A number of our clients ask about what further refinements are being considered in the development of iMEET!, our collaborative meeting technology. We now have a range of computers for face-to-face work: from all-in-one desktop machines (big screens!) to more discrete laptops - and combinations of screens and laptops. Each is suited for a particular process, and group size. If you're planning a workshop or meeting, contact us about how we can best apply the technology to enhance the desired outcomes: there are times when the technology should be discrete, and times when big screens are more important. Call us for more information. Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#81 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle) Please feel free to talk back to us. Ask for more information or links. Comment on our news. E-mail your feedback to us, and if you like globalNEWS, let your friends know and invite them to subscribe, too! Subscription details (and how to unsubscribe) are found here: http://globallearning.com.au/mailman/listinfo/globalnews Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +1100 http://globallearning.com.au/news/200905.html#83 ivan@globallearning.com.au (Ivan Trundle)