Webby Clare

Thoughts and other writings by Clare Conroy

The measure of a day

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With a new baby to care for, at the end of the day I often find myself glancing around the chaos in my home, running through the never-ending mental ‘to-do’ list, and lamenting that ‘I got nothing done today’.

It’s so easy to get pulled into the trap of believing we need to do more in order to have more and to be more. My perceptions of success and self-worth are tied to my productivity. But what if I asked questions to determine the value of my day that were better than ‘what did I get done?’? Questions that were more aligned with my values and what really matters to me right now.

How deeply did I love and allow myself to be loved today?

Did I express love and appreciation for people I care about?

Who did I connect with? Did I form new connections or strengthen old ones?

What opportunities will I have to do this better tomorrow?

Links for light reading – February 2012

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If you’re interested in subscribing to receive my ‘links for light reading’ via email you can sign up here, or you can find all the previous newsletters on the blog.

This month has been filled with lots of interesting reading so it hasn’t been easy to narrow the list down for this newsletter! Interestingly, two key themes/topics have stood out from my reading this month – introversion and questions…

Last month The New York Times published an opinion piece by Susan Cain (author of the recently released “QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking“) titled ‘The Rise of the New Groupthink‘. It’s a great article on why solitude is important in work/creativity and some of the problems with the push we see in many organisations toward constant teamwork and interaction. The article and the book release have spurred a number of follow up pieces on the Harvard Business Review blog, Scientific American and Fast Company. As part of the one-third to one-half of the population that are introverted, I also enjoyed this post on networking advice for introverts. [Read more…]

Book Review: Leading with Questions

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Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to AskLeading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask by Michael J. Marquardt, Ed.D.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It starts by building the case for questions (‘The Power of Questions’) and examines the common thread between the disasters of the Titanic, the Challenger and the Bay of Pigs – the inability or unwillingness of key participants to raise questions about their concerns. The later parts of the book provide useful practical advice and examples for leaders to make better use of questions in managing people, building teams and enabling change. As I made my way through the book I was able to identify many opportunities/situations that I could imagine using (or wish I’d used) the suggested questions.

My notes from Leading with Questions

[Disclaimer: The notes below are rough, and may be a mixture of direct quotes, paraphrasing, and my own thoughts/ideas/reminders. They’re written here primarily for me (so they may not make much sense out of context, especially for those who haven’t read the book)].

(28) When we ask questions of others and invite them to search for answers with us, we are not just sharing information, we are sharing responsibility. A questioning culture is a culture in which responsibility is shared, ideas are shared, problems are shared, and ownership of results is shared.

(29) 6 hallmarks of a questioning culture. People in it:

  • are willing to admit, “I don’t know”
  • go beyond allowing questions, they encourage questions
  • help to develop the skills needed to ask questions in a positive way
  • focus on asking empowering questions and avoiding disempowering questions
  • emphasis the process of asking questions and searching for answers rather than finding the ‘right’ answers
  • accept and reward risk-taking

[Read more…]

My buzzing brain

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My brain is buzzing. Almost to the point of being overwhelmed and noisy and anxious. I’ve been at a Train the Trainer course for the last three days and I’m feeling excited and exhausted and full! Like with most training courses or seminars I go to, I found that the most dramatic and deep and powerful learnings weren’t from any explicit piece of new information or knowledge I was given, but rather from the connections and realisations that arose from having time, space and stimulation to engage in good self-reflection.

So, I wanted to share some of the things my brain is currently buzzing about (in the hope that it might quieten the buzzing a little, and that through writing them down I might see some new connections and get some new insight and motivation about what I do about it!)….

One of the points in Ken Robinson’s ‘The Element’ that really stuck with me was about the difference between imagination and creativity.

Imagination can be entirely internal. You could be imaginative all day long without anyone noticing. But you would never say that person was creative if that person never did anything. To be creative you actually have to do something. (emphasis added)

Creativity is a step beyond imagination because it requires you to actually do something rather than lie around thinking about it. It’s a very practical process of trying to make something original.

Because it’s about making things, creative work always involves using media of some sort to develop ideas.

To develop our creative abilities, we also need to develop our practical skills in the media we want to use.

This year, I’ve been very conscious of ensuring that I move from thinking to doing. I’m excited about learning new practical skills. I need to find and develop my media.

I think I’m a visual person, but I also think I suck at drawing. So, I’m going to learn to get better at it. This week I’ve signed up for the visual vocab newsletters from Donna McGeorge and from Graphics Made Easy and have learned how to do quick sketches of a book and a sunrise. Doing this ‘Train the Trainer’ course is also part of developing my practical skills in a new medium. Previously I found myself quite turned off the idea of training and facilitation. I thought it was something I wasn’t good at, something that I wasn’t interested in. I guess I was scared. I knew what good training and facilitation looked like. But didn’t believe I could do it. I’m still not convinced that I’ll ever be a brilliant trainer or facilitator, but I’m definitely not going to get any better by thinking about it. I’m excited about the prospect of doing it. I’m excited about learning and getting better at a skill I value. And I’m excited about the possibilities and opportunities that having this skill creates.

My brain is also buzzing about David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address which I listed to today…

I’m also thinking a lot about stories. And how stories can be used in training and facilitation and professional development. And questions too… I love questions. I’ve been thinking about the seminar by Michael Marquardt that I went to last month, and Thought Questions, and all the resources and articles about questions on Chris Corrigan’s website which I want to read…

I feel like I have all of these little snippets of thought running around in my head. I just jump from one to the other and never really explore any in much depth. I think a coach or someone to debrief with would be good for that. To ask the questions that push me further. Or maybe I should commit to doing a blog post on each topic and use that as a means for delving a bit deeper.

Okay, that’s enough for one post…. Brain chatter is temporarily relieved….