"The Creative Brain and How It Works – Applied Neuroscience" With Silvia Damiano and Ralph Kerle | Monday August 9, 2010

There is a body of theories and papers starting to emerge in neuroscience around how our brain works creatively. This body of work suggests if you can be more aware of how your brain works in a context that calls upon creative endeavour, you will be able to alter your thinking or adjust your actions, in the process becoming more aware of your own creative praxis and how you can comfortably and confidently contribute your best to creative collaboration – an awareness that can be knowledgably sustained and improved over time.

In this highly experiential session, participants will undertake a creative team challenge using a theoretical framework and an arts based process to test this hypothesis in practice. Through this process, you will be observe and discern your own creative preferences and biases!!

About the Facilitators

Silvia Damiano, Principal of About My Brain

Silvia has degrees in Science and Sociology from the University of Buenos Aires and is currently undertaking a program on the Neuroscience of Leaderhsip with Middlesex University in the UK. She is an Associate Programme Director at Mt Eliza Executive Education part of Melbourne Business School. Her most recent role was Senior Manager, OD Westpac and she has worked in different countries, across many industries, helping teams and organisations to improve business performance, concentrating on key areas around leadership development and cultural change. In 2006, she received the L&D Excellence Award for the best learning tool by AITD (Australian Institute of Training and Development).

Ralph Kerle, Executive Chairman, the Creative Leadership Forum, Founder Creative Skills Training Council

Ralph is a globally respected consultant, presenter, educator, programme designer and writer on creative leadership, creativity and innovation.

His academic appointments include faculty adjunct at the Banff Centre, Banff, Canada as an Innovation Coach in their Leadership Development Programme and an International Thought Leader in their Leadership Learning Lab, faculty adjunct and Programme Director at the AGSM Executive Education Programme, University of NSW, Sydney Australia,and a member of the Advisory Board of Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management and Technology, Utter Pradesh, India

He is a former Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, a drama graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts and holds a Masters Degree in Creative Industries. He is currently trying to find a university in which to continue his Doctorial studies.

Flow with Everyday Conflicts - Using the Skills from NVC Mediation | 1 or 2 Days with Ike Lasater 10 & 11 Sept 2010 Adelaide

A unique experiential learning opportunity with Ike Lasater (USA, Poland) supported by three experienced local coaches.
We all have conflicts within ourselves and with others, little and not so little. NVC Mediation provides step-by-step approaches to taking care of yourself before, during and after a conflict. Learn how to use the skills developed in the formal mediation context to transform everyday conflict into opportunities for deeper understanding and connection. NVC Mediation is based on Nonviolent Communication, a communication model developed by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Day 1: Understanding and experiencing the contribution of NVC Mediation skills when applied to our everyday conflicts.
Day 2: Extending our understanding and application of NVC Mediation skills.
This workshop is relevant for anyone who works as a mediator, manager, trainer, educator, facilitator, business coach or counsellor. Also relevant for anyone who wants to find new and effective ways to peacefully resolve conflicts between others; between you and another; and to transform warring voices in your own head.
No prior experience of NVC or mediation required.
For more information or to register contact Kate Raffin Mob: 0488 550 979 kate@kateraffin.com

"Change Agents at the Gates of Transformation" with Gisela Wendling, Ph.D. | Monday July 12, 2010

Using an Ancient Approach to Harness the Vital Forces in Contemporary Experiences of Change

At these thresholds of transformative change, the old gives way to the new. These gates are marked by mounting tensions that are part of letting go, entering uncertainty, and envisioning what is possible. These challenging and generative tensions bring about the necessary momentum and energy to give birth to the new. In a world that is changing at an unfathomable pace and seemingly unpredictable ways, patterns of change have become less recognizable and change processes are often left incomplete. For many, living in the ‘betwixt and between’ has become a permanent way to be.

In this session, we will apply an adapted rites of passage framework to explore how the continuous presence of perplexing change impacts our lives and especially our practice as facilitators of change. We will identify approaches to assist the full engagement of these complex tensions and explore the criticality of supporting one another as change agents. In our work, we stand at the threshold of change not only with our clients, but also in our own lives and alongside members of our local and global communities.

About Gisela Wendeling PhD.

Gisela brings together contemporary and indigenous knowledge and practices to offer more complete, systemic, and contextually sensitive approaches to transformation. Gisela guides individuals and groups to courageously meet the challenges inherent in transformational change and to trust their innate capacity for renewal. In the process, they experience the healing that often precede the ability to access previously unrecognized resources. Gisela encourages sensitivity and compassion toward oneself and others, and I evoke the abilities for deep insight and focused action.

The conceptual and practical underpinnings for Gisela's work have grown out of doctoral research in human development and organization systems, 15 years of guiding organization change and employee development projects, and her position as an assistant professor directing a MA program in Organization Development. In the latter role she supported graduate students to gain the conceptual knowledge, practical experience and personal development to become successful change agents.

Monday June 21 (*Third Monday) Wildcard

At a “Wildcard” meeting, volunteer facilitators, in an open space style, step-up from the group to run a short session of between 5 and 20 minutes.

Typical processes suitable for the “Wildcard” include ice breakers, opening and closing rituals, energisers, thought provokers, experiential activities, games, simulations - anything at all that can be done in 5 - 20 minutes.

Sessions are not scheduled in advance. We usually have time for six (6) entries on the night including a short debriefing.

Either come with a short process 'in your pocket' or just come along and have fun.

For further info call Greg Jenkins m: 0418 486 501, greg@tincanlearning.com

* Due to the Public Holiday falling on June 14, this meeting will be held on the Third Monday - June 21

Sol Australia Story Telling June 22

Story Telling - Surfing or Surfacing The Organisation Subconscious?

Speaker: Lee Carsley, Vice-President solAustralia

The world of business and government is one that applauds the virtues of rigor, clarity, crispness - heavy with practical import - after all, the entire economic wellbeing of the human race is said to rest on the effectiveness of this world view.

The success of this rational thinking, however, is spectacularly low, viz:

1. Only 10% of all publicly traded companies prove themselves able to sustain for more than a few years a growth trajectory that creates above average shareholder returns

2. The success rate of innovation, and particularly in large corporates - often the ones on which the future is said to depend - are also only about 10% successful

3. That never-ending activity of mergers and acquisitions has been shown to add value to the acquiring company of about 15% over a 5 year period.

So what else is there for organisations to sustain performance and their people?

The second in our series of provocative conversations asks the question:

"What might organisation story telling contribute to delivering sustainable change and growth for people and the places in which they work?"

Lee Carsley, National Vice President, solAustralia, and principal of Portent Consulting (for more information on who and what she is, see http://portentconsulting.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/meet-the-people/ and http://www.solaustralia.org/contact-us.php) will lead the 1.5 hour group conversation.

To entice conversation, a number of story telling frameworks will be presented.

People who attend will also have the opportunity to design a story for themselves, for others, or for organisation change. The session will stop short of expressive dance & face painting."

Date:	Tuesday 22nd June 2010
Time:	Following the 2010 Annual General Meeting starting @ 5:30pm
Venue:	The Carmichael Room, Level 1, Sydney Mechanics School Of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW
Cost:	Member Fee: Free Affiliate Member Fee: $20 Full Time Student Fee: $20 Non-Member Fee: $40
RSVP:	RSVP using this Registration Form Link

CANCELLATION POLICY: We are charged for the number of bookings made, regardless of attendance. If you register and find you are unable to attend, and unless you have cancelled your booking by close of business on Monday 21st June 2010, people who book but do not attend will be charged for the event.

Monday May 10 - Ritual, a powerful tool to facilitate change and transformation with Allan Rudner

All change and transformation is accompanied by loss, however small or large. In order to create space for the emergence of the “new”, a “letting go” process is important to undertake. This is a significant reflective space which can be made more powerful by marking the moment with a ritual. While this ritual ceremony has spiritual implications, it is not necessarily a traditional religious observance.

It would be useful if you are attending this experiential presentation, to note changes you might be considering, by accident or design, and bring at least one of them with you to our evening together.

Some events worth considering include; change of work, family life, health, relationship status, moving home, and children leaving home. These are just a taste of the range of possible changes in one’s life. Some will be accompanied by deep personal transformations.

The experience and understanding of the power of ritual will give you access to a significant facilitation tool to add to your pool of resources.

Allan Rudner BSc, MA Cultural Psychology

Allan is a co-founder, senior leader and trainer, and trustee of the Pathways Foundation. Pathways Foundation is an Australian organisation that designs and delivers Rites of Passage programs in the wilderness throughout Australia, for boys, girls, men and women. His experience and training spans; Leadership Development, mentoring youth at risk, suicide and crisis intervention training, family violence and sexual assault training, career transitions, and other deep transformation processes. He is the designer of a Rites-of-Passage program for men moving to Elderhood. Allan sat as a member of the Council of Elders at the first Global Rites-of-Passage conference in Hawaii in 2008.

Allan continues his work internationally, with Rites-of-Passage, Executive Coaching, Mentoring, Leadership Development, Eldering, and as a Speaker. e: allanrudner@gmail.com | m: 0411 191 354

Monday April 12 'Wisdom—Whence and Whither' with Jay Hayes

This session is a series of dialogues and enquiries into the nature of wisdom: where it comes from; why it’s needed; and what impedes it. Participants confront and engage “the wisdom paradox”: Wisdom is both abundant in the world and seldom observed.”

The session moves through the following themes:

1. The wisdom around us.

2. The importance of wisdom.

3. The roots of wisdom.

4. Impediments to wisdom.

5. Cultivating wisdom.

6. Applying wisdom to today’s problems.

The basic aspiration is to come to a shared understanding of wisdom and its potential, and to apply wisdom in a practical way to one or more real-life problems affecting the group.

At a meta-level, the session promotes, relies upon, and acknowledges the collective, communal wisdom of participants as a whole and reveals one way that “the getting” of such wisdom can be elicited.

This session draws upon recent work with Dialogue, the Team Learning Pyramid and Collective Intelligence.

About Jay Hayes

Jay teaches courses in management and leadership, including “Leading High-Performance Teams” and a management and organisation course titled “The Community Project,” at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is also a practicing management consultant and has led a wide range of Organisational Development and Change projects on four continents, most recently assisting in a major change program in Zambia, Africa. Jay is involved as facilitator and coach in several Community of Practice initiatives at the university and in the local community. His research interests include the development of wisdom and enlightened leadership, teamwork and collaboration, and organisational ecology. His present focus is on Dialogue and its use as an instrument of learning and change. Jay is author of three books, several book chapters, and thirty peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers. Jay will be moving to Swinburne University in Melbourne in July 2010, where he will serve as Academic Advisor, Professional Practice.

http://cbe.anu.edu.au/staff/info.asp?Surname=Hays&Firstname=Jay