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2017 insium Client Survey - Thank you

Sunday, 07 January 2018 00:00
Published in Blog

 

Feedback from our 2017 Client Survey

Once again, we're grateful to those clients who took time to provide feedback via our annual client survey.  We are extremely humbled to see that 100% of respondents consider their experience in working with us to be "Excellent"; we are grateful for the opportunity to work with you.  Additionally, 80% of respondents also consider us to be "Much better" or "Somewhat better" than our competitors.  We're energised by this fantastic show of support for what we do.  

insium's newsletter on courage: December, 2017

Written by Sunday, 03 December 2017 00:00
Published in Newsletter

 

We're excited to officially announce
"Leading with Courage"

 

How courageous do you think leaders in Australia are?  How courageous are you?  What responsibility do you have to be courageous?

My purpose is to “open doors,” inviting people to courageously open, step through and explore the other side.  My vision is to build the courage reserves of Australia. 

insium's newsletter on courage: September, 2017

Written by Tuesday, 19 September 2017 00:00
Published in Newsletter

 

The 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology

Leading with Courage

As several you are aware, I had the opportunity to present my “Leading with Courage” program at the recent 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology.  I received feedback on the program from a panel comprised of world renowned experts in the field of positive psychology and organisations, including Marisa Salanova, Professor of Work & Organisational Psychology, Jaume I University, Spain, and Anne Brafford, co-founder of Aspire Legal and Chairperson of the American Bar Association’s Attorney Wellbeing Committee.

 

As promised, the next few newsletters will focus on my learning at the recent 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology (WCCP) which was held in Montreal in July.  There was so much learnt, please consider this to be newsletter #1 of … a few.

Kim Cameron (Co-founder, Centre for Positive Organisations, University of Michigan), shared his wealth of knowledge and experience in working with positive organisations, positive leaders and positive energisers.

 

Three key points included:

  • Those who positively energise others are high performers
  • Positive energisers tend to enhance the work of others; people who interact with or are connected to energisers perform better too
  • High performing organisations had three times as many positive energising networks than low performing organisations.

 

Consider the following questions: are you a positive energiser or a de-energiser?

Finding insium on Social Media

Tuesday, 08 August 2017 00:00
Published in Blog

You may be aware that we like to post, share, blog, generate conversations about courage, leadership, teams and personal development.  We also like to share exercises, activities and videos that you can use with your own teams immediately.

As everyone prefers to digest information in different ways, insium is using a variety of social media to meet these needs.  We invite you to connect with us via one/all of the media below:

 

Follow insium on facebook.  All you need to do is click on this link and follow/like.

Follow insium and/or Dina on LinkedIn here:  https://au.linkedin.com/company/insium-pty-ltd and/or https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinapozzo 

Follow Dina on Twitter: search for @DinaPozzo

 

We will continue to send a newsletter every 6-8 weeks, but if you’d like greater access to some of our resources, ideas and thinking, we encourage you to follow us on at least one of the above media.

 

If for whatever reason you’re not on our newsletter list but would like to be, please contact us on facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter - we'd be happy to add you!

 

Stay tuned for our next newsletter in which we will share information from the recent 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology, including Dina’s reflection on her presentation of our new program, “Leading with Courage.”

 

 

Leading with Courage

Friday, 14 July 2017 00:00
Published in Blog

If you’ve been following my updates lately, you will notice I’ve been focused on courage. The courage to lead.

The courage to be authentic. And the courage to succeed. Well, I’m taking my own advice. I’m being courageous and using the wonderful opportunity provided by the 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology in Montreal to launch my new program, Leading with Courage.

Why leading with courage?

In these times of disruption and tension, positive forms of leadership – namely, authentic leadership – are needed to restore confidence, hope and optimism in leaders and associates. However, with a competitive marketplace, competing stakeholder expectations and destructive organisational politics in which authentic leadership may not be supported, clients and my own observations have led me to realise that courage is fundamental to leading authentically.

There are also demonstrated benefits of increased courage and authentic leadership. With courage; leaders perform better, business results are improved and organisational integrity is ensured. Authentic leadership has also resulted in elevated, sustained performance of the leader and associates. And with evidence linking courage to wellbeing, it is expected that a focus on courage will provide additional positive impact on the workplace wellbeing of our leaders with further impact on organisational success.

A measurable, outcomes-based program

Leading with Courage is a measurable, outcomes-based program that has been designed to build courage in senior and executive leaders. The program comprises three key steps:

1. Preparing to be Courageous – participants will begin to reflect on past acts of courage and also, identify a current workplace situation requiring courage

2. Exploring Courage – using narrative as the predominant learning methodology, participants will further explore their own courageous acts and have the opportunity to experience the courageous acts of others

3. Being Courageous – this is the opportunity for participants to lead with courage in the workplace with support from others

To assess the impact of this program, participants will complete pre- and post- program measures of workplace courage, authentic leadership and workplace wellbeing. It is anticipated that each measure will show positive shifts in behaviour.

This program, designed to build courage, provides an opportunity to enable and embed authentic leadership behaviour.

While courage is not the only behaviour required of leaders, it is an essential leadership behaviour for success and may be the one which provides most support in these challenging times.

I welcome the opportunity to speak with you about Leading with Courage too.

 

Dina

 

 

insium's newsletter on leadership: June, 2017

Written by Wednesday, 28 June 2017 00:00
Published in Newsletter

 

In preparing for my presentation, "Leading with Courage," for the 5th World Congress of Positive Psychology in Montreal next month, I am reminded of quotes, videos, images, memories and more that have piqued my curiosity in courage.

Firstly, it was the study and subsequent design of the Authentic Leadership Program with colleagues that ignited my curiosity in courage.  I came across "Radical Gratitude and other life lessons learned in Siberia" by Andrew Bienkowski and Mary Akers.  The following quote from this book – “It takes courage to be your most authentic self when others all around you are acting and pretending to be what they think is expected of them” – not only sparked my curiosity but also that of many program participants, leading to robust exploration and debate of authenticity in context of the work environment in which one works – including the impact of organisational design, dynamics and politics to lead with authenticity.

insium's newsletter on leadership: May, 2017

Written by Wednesday, 10 May 2017 00:00
Published in Newsletter

A Reflection

 

I recently had the opportunity to share the work that insium does with Imogen Kroker. I very much enjoyed and learned much from the time we spent together.  This is her reflection ...

What Brings You Joy?

Wednesday, 26 April 2017 00:00
Published in Blog

On the weekend, we experienced the grandeur of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with the MSO Chorus, the National Boys Choir of Australia and an amazing baritone in John Longmuir, soprano Eva Kong, and tenor Warwick Fyfe.  With the direction of Conductor, Long Yu, the performance of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (1895-1982) was exhilarating, energetic and passionate.

Book-ended with "Fortune, Empress of the World," the entire performance brought me great joy.  I sat on the edge of my seat for much of the performance, totally mesmerised by the music and the voices.  Overall, the musicians and the performance of Carmina Burana that they created was magnificent.  In detail, noticing which instrument produced which specific sound, noticing how sounds were created, and noticing the commitment of the musicians was delighting.  

Prior to the performance of Carmina Burana, the MSO and the MSO Chorus performed Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No.2 by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937).  In addition to the joy in the moment, this experience also had me reminiscing and savouring fond memories, such as Sunday afternoons watching black and white movies straight out of Hollywood as a family, and our Grade 6 excursion to see "Fantasia" by Walt Disney.  I'm not even sure that the music was the same, but this classic music brought back very fond, joyful memories nonetheless.

And most joyful of all ... I experienced this performance with the person I love most.  In this experience, I have created a new memory which I can continue to savour into the future.  I am truly grateful to Geoff for organising this night out.

Just writing this blog has me smiling, savouring and feeling joy again.  What brings you joy?

P.S.  And of course, who can forget the "classic" playfulness of the "Big Beer Ad."  Still brings a smile to my face now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3GH7Pn_eA

Carmina Burana performed by the MSO, 2011:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuU908XJqy4

Daphnis & Chloe Suite No.2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amGl9Qmgu7E

 

 

insium's newsletter on leadership: March, 2017

Written by Tuesday, 21 March 2017 00:00
Published in Newsletter

Leading with Courage

 

Last month's newsletter introduced the idea of Leading with Courage in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous - the subject of my recent Master of Applied Positive Psychology Capstone paper.  What follows is my recent submission to the International Positive Psychology Association, for consideration for presentation at their upcoming conference in Montreal in July.