Leadership Chronicles

Randy Sabourin and Cameron O. Anderson

Every civilization uses or has used story telling as a way to communicate social values, skills, and to change or reinforce behaviors. While stories are often the basis of interaction they are also the building blocks of knowledge and the foundation of memory and learning.  They connect us to our humanity and link our past, present and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions.  Stories can help us define what is authentic about something or someone.  The stories we tell and hear about our companies comprise our corporate cultures. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cameron O. Anderson and Randy Sabourin

Multiculturalism and acceptance of diversity are important to Canadian national pride and national identity. In fact, after democracy, multiculturalism is Canada’s top source of national pride, and is more important to national identity than sport or bilingualism (Chapman, 2010). “Canadians respect difference,” McCulloch (2010, pg.1) asserts, attributing this characteristic to Canada’s “history of accommodation” and “founding principles of ‘peace, order, and good government’” (pg.1). However, despite Canadians’ positive attitudes towards multiculturalism and diversity, the glass ceiling phenomenon continues to exist in the modern corporation. Popularized in the 1980’s, the term “glass ceiling” describes the barriers to upward mobility within organizations experienced by women and minorities (Hoobler, Lemmon & Wayne, 2009). So-called because of the invisibility of these barriers, the glass ceiling continues to impede success for many talented and competent individuals. For women, this experience can be particularly perplexing. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a windy cold February afternoon, looking out of the floor to ceiling windows of the skyscraper the day looks like night has already taken over. The darkness is perpetuated by the tinted windows, its 4:30pm in Chicago and the sun has indeed set. It’s been a long week but the team is looking forward to this evenings Team Building session. It’s not a cooking class nor is it trust exercises, this group is going to become movie moguls and create movies as preparation for their Strategy Workshop scheduled over the next 2 days. The client is the Foreign Exchange (FX) Traders and Sales team from a major Financial Institute. The objective of the strategy session is to find new markets and clients for a traditionally reactive division of the bank. Combining the fun and comradely of making a movie with the ‘heavy lifting’ of strategy creation may seem odd companions but there are several reasons why having these two disparate activities on the menu makes sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Improvising and being creative in real time under pressure is a skill that we appreciate in the arts such as music and theatre. We also admire athletes who develop an ability to ‘read the game’- especially a fast paced sport such as basketball or hockey. However, when I started researching improvisation for business applications I came across applications of its use in other professions as well.

One of the earliest and most interesting stories is Mann Gulch; where there was a very large forest fire in Montana in 1949. An experienced wilderness Firefighter, Wagner Dodge (great name for a firefighting hero), found himself and his crew surrounded by a wildfire. Conventional training at the time would have suggested that their best method of escape was to try to outrun the fire (some did try this- without success unfortunately). Dodge, however, improvised a solution to save his men: He started a new fire and he and his men took refuge in the burned away area as the larger fire raged past them and they managed to survive thanks to his quick thinking.

This is just one of many examples of how improvisation is utilized in non-traditional, non-arts environments. Corporations, for example, also often use an improvisation based process called ‘Wild Card Theory’ [Frank Ruff 2004] to prepare for unforeseen disasters like contaminated food, scandal, etc. In my opinion, of all the applications of improvisation out there, the most crucial is in the emergency services. I recently spoke with Dwayne Macintosh the Deputy Fire Chief of the Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute (FESTI) at Toronto Pearson International Airport about how improvisation plays a part in how they train firefighters to use the Jaws of Life when they face the challenge of extrication at a crash scene. Read the rest of this entry »

Forum Theatre as an Effective, Empowering Means of Problem- Solving in a Corporate Setting

It is no secret that as of late, many companies and organizations have begun to put a concerted effort into the health and well-being of their employees. Why?  Sure it’s nice to have a Gym in the office building and creative off-sites to rock-climbing centres, but doesn’t this just distract employees from their real work? If an entire office is attending a 2 day “creativity in the workplace” seminar, doesn’t productivity become an issue? Doesn’t everyone just have to play catch-up for the rest of the week? Aren’t these things more trouble than they are worth? Why are so many companies doing this?

The answer is because a company’s success comes down to people.  It is not strategy nor forecasting that affects the overall efficacy of an organization so much as it is employees. It comes down to Sue from accounting and Al in HR and they need to feel that they have a real reason to come into work every morning. They need to feel that their perspectives matter, are heard and appreciated and that they are part of something greater- a real team with an important function within a larger company that has a reputation to uphold. Read the rest of this entry »

The one constant in our business world is change and keeping pace is always an adventure. We have received several requests to present The Leadership Chronicles Newsletter as a blog so people can refer to older posts and link or comment directly on a particular story.  We have also decided to combine the The Leadership Chronicles Blog with our Business Improvisation Blog which has been running separately for several years as well. One big happy blog family.

As always, we appreciate your time and encourage your comments.

Randy & Cam

ASCI is a proud member of the NeuroLeadership Institute.  We have found the research and content very valuable to our practice and ultimately our clients.  The 2009 NeuroLeadership Summit will take place in Los Angeles at the UCLA campus in Westwood October 27^th through October 29^th.  It should be another outstanding summit. Read the rest of this entry »

There are several critical sales skills that can increase your success with your clients that go beyond the traditional mass produced ‘one size fits all’ sales training. Skills associated with account strategy, competitive counter tactics, advanced questioning models to reveal value, the neuroscience of change and my personal favorite; status. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past year I’ve been doing a lot of reading about NeuroLeadership. It’s a very interesting field of management study that combines how the brain works or neuroscience with the practices of leading change in people or organizations. The material is fascinating and I find that it supports, through research and science, many of the recommendations and counsel we offer clients about sustaining change. Read the rest of this entry »

Business has been cooking at ASCI over the last 6 months or so: our Situational Leadership Workshop is becoming more and more popular. I think corporations are beginning to see that best answer to any business problem or dilemma is “it depends”. It depends on the situation, on who you are, on who you’re dealing with and on a million other possibilities. So how do you pass along wisdom, how you we learn, why do I read all those business books?

It depends, really. Read the rest of this entry »