Why bother expressing gratitude?

Why bother?! In a forthcoming book called ‘Exceptional’, Professor Daniel Cable highlights how the value of gratitude and a strengths based approach can be pivotal to unlocking peoples potential. Click here to hear him speaking about this in a webinar that he gave last week. He reasons that people tend to all too often overlook the great benefits of expressing gratitude; rather they tend to “withhold the positive and share the negative”.  Professor Cable encourages us to celebrate “the best contributions of others” and “what makes them unique”.  
 
How to do it? Professor Cable encourages us to consider writing specific stories about another person that we care about; stories that capture positive memories of when we saw them at their best. Whilst these can be brief, he nevertheless suggests that the stories include: (a) “the setting” (why it mattered); (b) the response “what the person did that made such a difference”; and (c) “how it made you feel”   
 
What are we incubating?! ‘The Commitment’ is now just over one year old. We’re very pleased to be part of the team and helping it to grow. Its mission is to speed up government action on the climate and biodiversity. To read a newsletter, click here. The intention of The Commitment is to give a voice to the many, many citizens who want to see more action for the planet. Click here to read a second research report. This delves deeper into people's thoughts about government action for a healthy planet.
 
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our appeal. We’ve raised over £11,500 towards an emergency response initiative of Children Watch. This is a small NGO that we’ve been working with in recent years in Tamil Nadu, India
 
International Presentation Association. Here is a picture of some inspirational IPA representatives from different countries. It was taken during a four day online programme that we facilitated in recent days. A key element was to help identify an advocacy focus for the IPA’s engagement with the UN in New York.  

Covid-19 songs with a big message to bring a smile - and perhaps some dancing!? Previously we shared a terrific song by Sunny Neji, created in collaboration with United Purpose. If you missed it, click here; and here if you’d like to hear another very uplifting song, this one supported by UNICEF.  
 
Maya Angelou quote: ‘when you get the chance to sit out or dance, I hope you dance’.

Have a great week!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

How can we support unsung heroes? And how can we spread the love, not the virus? 💓

How can we support unsung heroes? As you’ll see from the following pictures, an emergency Covid-19 initiative, implemented by Children Watch, who we have been collaborating with in recent years, has commenced. Children Watch is led by T. Raj. Click here or here to watch one of our films focused on the work of Children Watch. Like so many people responding to Covid-19, Raj, and those he is working with, are taking personal risks in reaching out to the most vulnerable.

Thank you to people who have generously contributed to this emergency response in Tamil Nadu. Usha (Ladwa-Thomas) had the inspiration to instigate the appeal. Already over £5,300 has been raised. Click here if you would like to read a letter to find out more, including how to contribute; here if you are a UK taxpayer and eligible for Gift Aid (explained in the letter); and here if you would like to read a blog. Please see below a picture of Raj, definitely an unsung hero that deserves our support and recognition.

Spreading the love, not the virus?! We're delighted to help promote a new song, produced by United Purpose (UP) in collaboration with Nigerian musician Sunny Neji. In less than a week, over 800,000 people have apparently already heard it. Click here to listen to: 'Together We Will Beat It'. The song is helping fight coronavirus, while lifting spirits at the same time!

UP is using this song as a development tool to reach young people and remote communities in Nigeria with vital messages about preventing the spread of COVID-19. The song brings to life the measures needed. Doing it via song on the radio means a wide range of people can be reached, including those living in remote areas and those who can’t read and don’t have internet access.
 
Over 15 Advisors have contributed to the work we’ve been carrying out with UP in recent years. Currently we’re discussing with the Malawi UP team about facilitating a strategy development exercise for the country programme there. Also we’re liaising with the team in The Gambia about ways to widen our engagement beyond the current initiative with the Marketing Federations.
 
Our webinars: we appreciate everyone who took part in our webinar a few days ago; and a special thank you to the presenters, Lynne (Sedgmore), Hadi (Ahmadzadeh), Shivani (Singhal) and Sharon (Turnbull). To hear a recording click here; and here to read an excellent paper that Sharon wrote for this; finally, here to watch a remarkable artistic representation of the webinar, created by Ben (Oldroyd). Our next webinar will be on 9th June at 12noon UK time. Details to follow. Click here if you’d like to register.
 
Common Home, Common Ground. We are engaging with our partners Hope for the Future in different ways. They’re about to start an initiative called ‘Common Home, Common Future’. Click here to learn more and find out how you can participate.
 
Sunny Neji Quote: ‘Together we will beat Coronavirus. We can do it. Spread the love, not the virus’

Have a great week!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

How can we lead our way through change in the coronavirus world?

Whetting your appetite before our webinar! Sharon (Turnbull), one of our Advisors, has recently written a paper titled ‘Leading our way through change in the coronavirus world’. This is the title of our next webinar. Click here to read it. It highlights some of the current and future challenges and opportunities for leaders in the uncertain and complex landscape. It emphasises the importance of taking a ‘values-based approach’ in order to remain motivated and connected to one another as well as providing practical tips for leading in a coronavirus context proposed by McKinsey.

Join the conversation tomorrow. On Tuesday 21st April we are hosting a webinar focused on this topic at 12pm - 1:30pm UK time. You are very welcome. Click here to see the agenda. The zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/939207772. We are very lucky to be joined by Ben (Oldroyd), a highly skilled graphic artist, and one of our Advisors. He will be doing some real time artwork of the proceedings!

Like all organisations, we are developing and adapting our approach to fit with the new working environment that many of us across the world are facing. We are specialists in managing change. Through our online programme, we are able to facilitate online leadership and team development services, including mentoring, coaching and a series of distinctive modules, to individuals and organisations in need. See our flyer below and click here for more information about these modules.

Henry Mintzberg Quote: “When the world is predictable you need smart people. When the world is unpredictable you need adaptable people.”

Have a great week!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

Hot off the press by Charles Handy and Rosie!

Charles Handy and Rosie Bishop are co-authors of a new Thought Leadership Paper. It’s ‘hot off the press’. It arose from a conversation with Charles just ahead of the COVID-19 strictures in the UK. Click here to read the paper. It will also be included in our forthcoming book.

Why should we be perpetual explorers? In the interview, Charles encourages people to be “perpetual explorers”. To “dream the impossible and make it practical”. In these unprecedented times, he highlights the importance of “storytelling” and the “soul” of an organisation.  

Who is Charles? Charles is a social philosopher and management guru, often considered as one of the world’s most influential thinkers. From our perspective, Charles is a long term friend. He is one of the very special people that have very generously contributed their time on a voluntary basis since we were established six years ago. Charles has given wise guidance throughout. When conducting the interview we asked: ”how would you like us to refer to you”? Charles replied: “as your Thought Leadership Advisor”.  

How can we lead our way through change in the coronavirus world? We will host a webinar focused on this topic on Tuesday 21st April at 12pm - 1:30pm UK time. You are very welcome. Click here to see the agenda. And here to register for the event. On Monday, we’ll circulate a paper that Professor Sharon Turnbull has written to whet your appetite.  

How can you contribute to an emergency response? How can you contribute to an emergency response? We collaborate with a small NGO in Tamil Nadu called Children Watch. We were initially introduced by Kemal (Shaheen), Director of Paper Boat, a strategic partner that also works with Children Watch. Various Advisors have contributed to Children Watch, including Usha (Ladwa-Thomas). Usha has been inspirational in recent days in instigating an appeal to assist the emergency response to the COVID-19 outbreak that Children Watch is making. Very vulnerable communities are receiving very important support from Children Watch. We want to do our best to help. At the time of writing, over £3,250 has already been raised as a result of individuals generously making donations. If you would like to consider supporting this emergency appeal, please click here to learn more.

Have a great week!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

What surprise do we have for you?!

Surprise?! Many people have given us positive feedback about our ‘Caplor House online’ tool. We announced its creation a few months ago. However, we have a surprise! Thanks to the technical wizardry of Deven (Thakkar), we have now much improved the online exercise. At the end of the exercise, you can now receive a downloadable and personalised PDF report about your preferences. The exercise is free to anyone who wishes to learn. It takes around 10mins. To take the test click here. If you have never heard of the Caplor House, click here to read an overview. It is a leadership development and organisational effectiveness model.
 
To hear a great podcast on leadership, click here. You will hear one of our Advisors, Sue (Stockdale) interview Racheal Wanjiku Kigame, a Country Director of a NGO in Kenya. Sue initially met with Racheal in connection with a leadership programme that Caplor Horizons was previously running with the Red Cross. One of the leadership lessons that Racheal shares is: ‘Learn to have a seat at the table. And if you don’t have a seat, bring your own chair’
 
Our next webinar is at 12noon UK time on Tuesday 21st April. You are very welcome. We will focus on a values based approach to dealing with change in the context of the Coronavirus emergency. We will share agenda details in coming weeks. If you would like to register, click here.
 
Thank you David! Last year David (Hitchiner) took on the very major role as ‘Leader of Herefordshire Council’ alongside being Chair of Caplor Horizons. Herefordshire is the county in the UK where Caplor Horizons is based. The COVID-19 crisis has meant that his role at the Council has become exceptionally busy. As such he has stood down from the Chair role. However, we are delighted that he is continuing as a Trustee.  
 
We are very pleased to welcome Laura (Vickery) as the new Chair. She was previously Deputy Chair. Laura is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability specialist with twenty years of experience. Until recently, Laura was the Global CSR Manager for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), where she provided strategic direction and led JLR's Global CSR programme. She has also held roles at The Co-op Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is an alumna of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and currently works as an independent sustainability adviser. Here is a picture of Laura.

Hope for the Future are UK specialists in helping citizens to work effectively with Members of Parliament on climate change. Through The Commitment, we have developed a multifaceted collaboration with Hope for the Future. For instance, many thanks to Matthew (Lake), one of our Trustees, who has been providing mentoring to Sarah (Robinson), the Deputy Director.
 
Maya Angelou Quote: ‘my mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour and some style’

Good courage and warmest wishes to you all

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

How can we be effective leaders during a pandemic?

We hope that you’re all keeping safe and well. We always strive in our updates to provide learning that is supportive and relevant. We will continue to do this during these difficult and uncertain times.
 
How can we be effective leaders during a pandemic? London Business School is making a series of webinars. These are excellent. Three short snippets follow. These will provide some quick insights in case one or more of these webinars might be useful to you. You can watch by clicking here. Caplor Horizons are also running more 'Community Webinars'. Our next one will be on Tuesday 21st April at 12pm UK time. It will focus on 'Managing Change'. More details will follow. If you are interested to attend please fill in this form.

• How can we improve virtual working? This has become a new reality for many people across the world. One of the webinars, led by Professor Lynda Gratton, tackles this.  Based on her research, she believes that the big changes due to the Coronavirus emergency will lead to considerable differences in the way everyone works "pre-pandemic and post-pandemic". This includes potent major environmental benefits as people will travel less and use virtual working more. She recommends six actions for "getting virtual working right" such as "making it human" by using various means, especially video whenever possible so that people can see one another. 

• How can we make better judgements? In another webinar, Professor Andrew Likierman, provides insights about making judgements in the face of so much uncertainty. For instance, at one point he summarises that: (1) "being aware of our biases, and trying to keep an open mind when we are listening and reading about the pandemic and the implications", is helpful; (2) as is "finding ways to develop trust" in others; (3) plus "re-assessing our assumptions" as we keep learning how best to respond.

• What qualities are particularly important? One last example, this time from Professor Kathleen O’Connor. She shares the view that in a crisis leaders – and we believe that we’re all leaders – need to be as "compassionate, stable, hopeful and trustworthy" in the eyes of others as possible. She considers that in these acutely difficult circumstances people can have a greater sense of well-being if fundamental psychological needs are addressed such as striving for whatever (1) autonomy, (2) sense of belonging and (3) opportunity for developing ourselves (e.g. learning new skills) that we can.

Our work continues, changing in response to the changing times. For instance, this week Will (Odling) and Dan (Bishop) are facilitating a virtual session on organisational culture with team members from All We Can as part of a strategy development process. For insights about organisational culture, click here to read one of our papers. You can also  access our questionnaire here which you can use with your team to find out more about your organisational culture.

Just Ideas – a partner of Caplor Horizons – is researching the challenges and opportunities faced by people working in local government around the world in responding to the environmental crisis. If you work for local government, or are an elected representative for an area, please take a short survey that Just Ideas has created, regardless of your particular role. Just Ideas will share results with anyone interested. Many thanks for considering this.   

Good courage and warmest wishes to you all

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

How do we best respond to the Global Pandemic?

The world is rapidly changing around us. The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting people very acutely across the world. The evidence for how best to respond is emerging. Each day more and more is learnt. However, so much remains uncertain. And this health crisis is on top of other short and longer term emergency situations - such as ongoing conflicts in some countries and the climate change and biodiversity emergency that affects us all. We can all draw from multiple sources - including the many wisdoms around us - to help discern the best way forwards in the particular circumstances we face; to try to keep our focus fresh and our actions relevant; to try to remain as compassionate and kind as possible. We offer two recent articles that we found helpful.
 
Click here for something about social movements. Why does this matter? Across the world, we’re all being asked to change our behaviour in remarkable ways. A growing movement is necessary to respond positively to the strictures faced. In the article, various aspects are explored of what constitutes an effective social movement. For instance, it is reasoned that: ‘beyond mutual aid, a common story, strategy and structure can allow a mass movement to legitimate political demands that might otherwise be deemed impractical or undesirable, and to compel public officials to adopt them’.
 
And here, for something from the ‘Collective Psychology Project’ (CPP). We were inspired by the impulse in this. In particular, to be encouraged to think how we might all respond to perceived threats by going to ‘tend and befriend’ rather than ‘fight or flight’.

We are very proud to be part of our Caplor Community. We would like to appreciate and pay recognition you all, knowing the very important work that you do and realising how hard it is to consider the best way forward in the emerging circumstances. With news of some people being stranded out of their home country - and some within their home country - we offer our friendship and support.
 
And we will continue to be actively involved. We know that our work to help deal effectively with change and transition is more important than ever. It is a very busy time and we’d like to thank our Advisors especially. We’re still delivering the services we provide, albeit shifting everything online for the time being. This is thankfully something we’re very used to doing. Our work has always very much focused on ‘managing change’ and this remarkably intense period of change is something none of us would wish for. If we can offer anything to support you or your organisations, please let us know. Meanwhile our efforts to address climate change through The Commitment continue too.

Good courage and warmest wishes to you all

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

What is Ubuntu and why does it matter?

What is ‘Ubuntu’ and why does it matter? Archbishop Desmond Tutu says that Ubuntu ‘embraces hospitality, caring about others, being able to go the extra mile for the sake of others.’  He goes on to explain that: ‘Ubuntu is about believing that a person is a person through another person and that my humanity is caught up, bound up, inextricably, with yours.’ 

Would you like to hear a webinar about cross cultural learning? We’re excited to share this with you. It’s the first in our 2020 webinar series. Click here to listen to the recording. It’s around an hour in length. Click here to read some notes from one of the break-out sessions. We reflected afterwards that some of the key themes of the webinar could be considered through the notion of ubuntu, notably the importance of relationships between people
 
Click here to see the presentation we used for the webinar. In this you will see how Sharon (Turnbull) sums up how ‘worldly leadership’ relates to cross cultural learning and what it involves, including the ability to deal with ‘cross cultural understanding, inclusion and effectiveness’.  Click here to read a paper on ‘Worldly Leadership’ by Sharon. And here for a paper on ‘Cross Cultural Communication’ by Peter (Moore).
 
We would like to thank everyone that took part in the webinar, particularly Shivani (Singhal) and Liv (Sawyer) for their scene setting contributions that stimulated such a good discussion.  

Martin Derry quote (Martin is a leader of a NGO called Pronet in northern Ghana): ‘leadership for sustainability can only be achieved where there is a shared leadership’.
 
Happy Wednesday!

Rosie, Lorna and Ian

Can diversity and inclusion make your team more innovative?

Can diversity and inclusion make your team more innovative? Some recent research indicates that it does. Click here for an overview based on an article of Katherine Phillips, a Professor of Leadership and Ethics. The author explains: ‘Diversity can lead to breakthrough innovations… It’s obvious really: if you have a wide range of people from various backgrounds, you’re inviting a wide range of experience, points of view, beliefs and ideas into the mix’…. the diversity issue will just change over time: we have to actively develop diversity to ensure we stay ahead of the curve’
 
How is that relevant to the webinar we’re organising tomorrow? In our Caplor Community, we have over 1,000 people, from a very wide range of backgrounds, that directly receive these updates each week. Via social media, the reach extends to over 2,000 people. We’re inviting any of you to join our webinar. You’re very welcome. We hope that a diverse a group as possible will be involved.
 
The webinar will focus on cross cultural learning. Click here to see the updated agenda. The scene will be set about this topic in various ways: for instance, Shivani Singhal, based in Udaipur, India, will share her perspectives. The webinar will take place via zoom between 12noon to 1:30pm UK time. We already have a great number to make it a success. However, if you’ve not registered, and you’d like to join the party, please let us know by sending a message to rosie@caplorhorizons.org. We will use ‘zoom’ using this link https://zoom.us/j/776576770. To learn more about how to use zoom, click here. 
 
Yesterday we had a Community Day. That also focused on cross-cultural learning. We had over 25 people attend. Thank you to everyone that made it. We considered the topic from different perspectives. For instance, Andrew Kain provided insights about the importance how this was relevant to managing risks. We had group discussions on various themes, including cross-cultural communication based on one of our thought leadership papers. Click here to read that.     
 
Do the best at what you are best at for the benefit of others'. These are wise words of Charles Handy. Last week we were in The Gambia. It was very interesting that that the women led marketing federation initiative had adopted this and pass this on through various languages, including Mandinka and Wolof. Here are some of the senior leaders.  

Katherine Phillips quote: "we need diversity if we are to change, grow and innovate"
 
Have a great week

Lorna, Ian and Rosie

Would you like to take part in a webinar about cross cultural learning?

Would you like to join a webinar? On Friday 13th March, 12 noon UK time, we’ll have a webinar on ‘cross cultural learning’. Everyone that receives these updates is welcome. To book a place, please click here.
 
The webinar will be led by Professor Sharon (Turnbull). Case study perspectives will be provided by Shivani (Singhal). Shivani is the leader of ‘Dharohar’ (NGO in Udaipur, India). For more about the webinar series, click here. We will use ‘zoom’ using this link https://zoom.us/j/776576770. To learn more about how to use zoom, click here.  
 
This week we’re in The Gambia continuing our contribution with women led marketing federations (see picture below). We’re exploring, with our partner United Purpose, how our collaboration can be developed in different ways, including a piece of action research about the women led marketing federation initiative (which is a three year programme). The research will take a qualitative approach, including to more deeply consider the impact from different perspectives and feelings of those involved. 
 
For the research, we are considering relevant previous studies. For instance, an Action Aid analysis stated that: ‘The labour hours of women in agriculture in The Gambia are disproportionately high in comparison to those of men’.  But men hold more decision-making power and have greater access to resources in agriculture, than women. This imbalance contributes to inefficiencies in agricultural production, hinders the effective adaptation of agriculture to climate change, and hence reduces potential benefits and incomes from agriculture. A conclusion of the analysis is that mainstreaming gender into development activities in The Gambia is essential, not only for women and households, but for human and economic development. To read more click here.

Maya Angelou quote: ‘people will forget what you say, they will forget what you do; however, they will not forget how you made them feel.’
 
Have a great week

Lorna, Ian and Rosie