Our current restructuring brings with it challenges for us all. Scott Arbuthot, who will be known to many of you who have completed the Strategic Leaders program says:

During and following "restructuring," effort is needed to build relationships and understanding (connectivity). The biological equivalent is a living system being able to feel/know all parts of itself. The mental-emotional health equivalent is self awareness - knowing all parts of ourselves. The post-restructure state of (various levels of disconnection) people being required to work together without knowing each other means "things get worse before they get better". For some (normally those not promoted) the post-restructure state of disconnect also has various senses of loss, abandonment and abuse. These states do not typically motivate people into new relationship building, especially across imposed hierarchies. The list of restructure-based cultural damage is long and sad. Restructuring was described in 1995 by one of it's most famous inventors, Thomas Davenport, to be "the last gasp of industrial age management". Until this metaphorical gasp is over, those of us working in and with restructured organisations are charged with picking ourselves up and leading the recovery.

Recovering from restructuring is "consultant-speak" for relationship building. It does not have to be clever or formal or even authorised! Just get on with the business of enabling the business through relationships - helping people know each other, know they can be themselves with each other, have real and/or tough conversations, be human/less than perfect, tell the truth, be cranky, be proud, ask for help. You know, the stuff that makes all the difference - not the org chart de jour. As leaders in post restructure recovery, our role is to facilitate the relationship building of others as well as ourselves. What relationships do we need to "just" complete our roles? What extra connectivity can we build in addition to that (so we are able to initiate useful change)?

So, for all of us, let’s remember in the coming months that….
1) Connectivity aids recovery from restructuring.
2) More than functional levels of connectivity are required.
3) Authenticity supports better connectivity.

The language of relational connectivity, authenticity and cultural emergence is notably absent from most discussions about organizational restructuring. This language and the more developed levels of awareness it comes from are, however, on the increase. People are craving and demanding more meaningful and fulfilling work, working environments and working relationships.

Just as we discovered and learned about ecosystems by polluting them, we are also discovering the nature of organizational cultures by violating them. There are more reasons for the failure of restructuring than those narrated here. Resultantly, there is also more to be learned. Greater than functional connectivity is increasingly being recognised as a strong indicator of organizational health.

Connectivity is chaotic, unpredictable, irreversible and uncontrollable. Working to stimulate connectivity requires leaders with emotional maturity and a strong personal responsibility for their own influential behaviours. It’s no wonder the far simpler task of restructuring was so seductive.

Let the real work begin.

CIRCUMAGGRAVATION

CIRCUMAGGRAVATION – A condition in which students are compelled to take the most circuitous route possible to the pencil sharpener or the waste basket in order to bother as many of their classmates as possible. Early onset circumaggravation can be seen in preschoolers who can’t stop running in circles around the Play-Doh table.

Travelling with children these holidays?

Pack an Activity Bag
Dreading the idea of trying to keep your children from arguing for hours in the car? Divert your children's attention by filling a bag with crayons, paper for drawing, books, snacks, drinks, puzzle books, a deck of playing cards, stickers, etc. Make one bag for each child and let them choose what to put in it. If bickering starts, use your bag of tricks to calm things down.

Divide and Conquer
As delightful as it is to imagine that children could sit together quietly in the back seat while you and your partner catch up on things in the front, sometimes an alternate seating plan helps order to ensure family peace. Change places each time you make a stop (and switch adult drivers) so that everyone gets a different seat for the next part of the trip. With a new perspective and a little space between them, children may forget their antsiness.

Make Frequent Stops
As adults, we often try to push through the journey in order to start having fun at our final destination. But if the process of getting there adds tension, then is the pushing really worth it? Kids (and adults) can only stay confined for a relatively short amount of time. So, if tempers are escalating, consider taking frequent stops to stretch, run around, and expend some of that energy in a positive way. By mapping out the stopping points ahead of time, you can answer ''Are we there yet?'' with a simple ''No, but we are going to be stopping in about ten minutes and then we can have a picnic/play tag/eat an ice cream/ (fill in what works for your children).''

Play Games
From finding license plates for different states to creating phrases from license plate letters to alphabet and memory games, one of the best ways to relieve tension between siblings is to work collaboratively on a family game. For as long as you can stand playing or singing songs, this method usually works to change the mood.

Tune Out
Sometimes the best activity is for one child to wear a set of headphones and quietly listen to what she wants to hear. Whether enjoying music or taped stories, your child can calm down and then rejoin the family in a better mood. Investing in a cassette player with headphones or a walkman, with spare batteries, can make a trip much more harmonious for all.

Your Age By Chocolate Math...

It takes less than a minute.
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don'tread the bottom until you've worked it out!
This is not one of those wasteof time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like tohave chocolate. (more than once but less than 10)...
2. Multiply this number by 2 (Just to be bold)...
3. Add 5.
4. Multiply it by 50 I'll wait while you get the calculator...
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1755...If you haven't, add 1754...
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born...You should have a three digit number.The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).The next two numbers are...YOUR AGE!!! (OH YES, IT IS!!!)THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2005) IT WILL EVER WORK.

Great Truths

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptise cats.
2) When your Mum is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fibre, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

The Paradoxical Commandments

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favour underdogs but follow any top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed over night. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Kent M Keith

Reflection

Reflection is a critical process. While many people are reluctant to make the time for it, few deny its power. Bruner (1986, p.132) provides one such view: If one fails to develop any sense of reflective intervention in the knowledge one encounters, one operates continually from the outside in - knowledge controls and guides you. If you develop a sense of self-premised on your ability to penetrate knowledge for your own uses, and you share and negotiate the results, then you become a member of the culture-creating community. Reflection is not just a formal academic process. "Chewing or mulling things over" is common for most people. Becoming more aware of such processes and how to use them effectively strongly facilitates learning. Bruner (1986) sees reflection and distancing as crucial to opening up possibilities: 'a metacognitive step of huge import'. Keeping a diary or journal is a wonderful educative tool for anyone. One of the challenges for teachers and parents is to facilitate the switching on of reflection by the children in their care. Think for a moment about areas of your life where you switch on your reflection, and areas where you show no interest and leave it switched off.

how much do/should we control our student’s learning?

If I am always the one to think of where to go next.
If where we go is always the decision of the curriculum or my curiosity and not theirs.
If motivation is mine.
If I always decide on the topic to be studied, the title of the story, the problem to be worked on
If I am always the one who has reviewed their work and decided what they need.
How will they ever know how to begin?

If I am the one who is always monitoring progress.
If I set the pace of all working discussions.
If I always look ahead, foresee problems and endeavour to eliminate them.
If I swoop in and save them from cognitive conflict.
If I never allow them to feel and use the energy from confusion and frustration.
If things are always broken into short working periods.
If myself and others are allowed to break into their concentration.
If bells and I are always in control of the pace and flow of work
How will they learn to continue their own work?

If all the marking and editing is done by me.
If the selection of which work is to be published or evaluated is made by me.
If what is valued and valuable is always decided by external sources or by me.
If there is no forum to discuss what delights them in their task, what is working, what is not working, what they plan to do about it.
If they have not learned a language to discuss their work in ways that are intrinsically growth enhancing.
If they do not have a language of self-assessment.
If ways of communicating their work are always controlled by me.
If our assessments are mainly summative rather than formative.
If they do not plan their way forward to further action.
How will they find ownership, direction and delight in what they do?

If I speak of individuals but present learning as if they are all the same.
If I am never seen to reflect and reflection time is never provided.
If we never speak together about reflection and thinking and never develop a vocabulary for such discussion.
If we do not take opportunities to think about our thinking.
If I constantly set them exercises that do not intellectually challenge them.
If I set up learning environments that interfere with them learning from their own actions.
If I give them recipes to follow.
If I only expect the one right conclusion.
If I signify that there are always right and wrong answers.
If I never openly respect their thoughts.
If I never let them persevere with something really difficult which they cannot master.
If I make all work serious work and discourage playfulness. If there is no time to explore.
If I lock them into adult time constraints too early.
How will they get to know themselves as a thinker?

If they never get to help anyone else.
If we force them to always work and play with children of the same age.
If I do not teach them the skills of working co-operatively.
If collaboration can be seen as cheating.
If all classroom activities are based in competitiveness.
If everything is seen to be for marks.
How will they learn to work with others?

For if they have never experienced being challenged in a safe environment. h
ave had all of their creative thoughts explained away.
are unaware what catches their interest and how then to have confidence in that interest.
have never followed something they are passionate about to a satisfying conclusion.
have not clarified the way they sabotage their own learning. a
re afraid to seek help and do not know who or how to ask.
have not experienced overcoming their own inertia.
are paralysed by the need to know everything before writing or acting.
have never got bogged down. have never failed. have always played it safe.
How will they ever know who they are?

Dr John Edwards says: Montessori's design for learning: freedom within a richly prepared structure has been a basis for most of my work in schools, universities and companies. If people are given the skills and tools to use, and presented with a range of potentially powerful educative experiences, then given freedom, they will almost invariably choose one and get on with it. Once learners get in touch with their own sense of personal power, get out of their road and watch in awe. I have seen this so often with workers in companies, many of whom left school believing they were "dumb". Workers come to learning at their own pace, and in their own idiosyncratic ways, so it takes patience and confidence to stand with them while they sort things out for themselves. Most students are the same.

Dear Dad

A FATHER PASSING BY HIS SON'S BEDROOM WAS ASTONISHED TO SEE THE BED WAS NICELY MADE AND EVERYTHING WAS PICKED UP. THEN HE SAW AN ENVELOPE PROPPED UP PROMINENTLY ON THE CENTER OF THE BED. IT WAS ADDRESSED, "DAD".

WITH THE WORST PREMONITION, HE OPENED THE ENVELOPE AND READ THE LETTER WITH TREMBLING HANDS:

DEAR DAD,
IT IS WITH GREAT REGRET AND SORROW THAT I'M WRITING THIS. I HAD TO ELOPE WITH MY NEW GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE I WANTED TO AVOID A SCENE WITH MUM AND YOU.
I'VE BEEN FINDING REAL PASSION WITH BARBARA AND SHE IS SO NICE EVEN WITH ALL HER PIERCING, TATTOOS, AND HER TIGHT MOTORCYCLE CLOTHES. BUT IT'S NOT ONLY THE PASSION DAD, SHE'S PREGNANT AND BARBARA SAID THAT WE WILL BE VERY HAPPY.
EVEN THOUGH YOU DON'T CARE FOR HER AS SHE IS MUCH OLDER THAN I, SHE ALREADY OWNS A TRAILER IN THE WOODS AND HAS A STACK OF FIREWOOD FOR THE WHOLE WINTER. SHE WANTS TO HAVE MANY MORE CHILDREN WITH ME AND THAT'S NOW ONE OF MY DREAMS TOO.
BARBARA TAUGHT ME THAT DRUGS DON'T REALLY HURT ANYONE AND WE'LL BE GROWING IT FOR OURSELVES AND TRADING IT WITH HER FRIENDS. IN THE MEANTIME, WE'LL PRAY THAT SCIENCE WILL FIND A CURE FOR AIDS SO BARBARA CAN GET BETTER; SHE SURE DESERVES IT!!
DON'T WORRY DAD, I'M 15 YEARS OLD NOW AND I KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. SOME DAY I'M SURE WE'LL BE BACK TO VISIT SO YOU CAN GET TO KNOW YOUR GRANDCHILDREN.

YOUR SON,
MOZZY

P.S. DAD, NONE OF THIS IS TRUE. I'M OVER AT THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE. I JUST WANTED TO REMIND YOU THAT THERE ARE WORSE THINGS IN LIFE THAN MY REPORT CARD THAT'S IN MY DESK CENTER DRAWER. I LOVE YOU. CALL WHEN IT'S SAFE FOR ME TO COME HOME.

Beautiful Women

Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a Queen.
Age 8: She looks at herself and sees Cinderella.Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an Ugly Sister (Mum I can't go to school looking like this!)
Age 20: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly"- but decides she's going out anyway.
Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" - but decides she doesn't have time to fix it, so she's going out anyway.
Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "clean" and goes out anyway.
Age 50: She looks at herself and sees "I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.
Age 60: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.
Age 70: She looks at herself &sees wisdom, laughter and ability, goes out and enjoys life.
Age 80: Doesn't bother to look Just puts on a purple hat and goes out to have fun with the world.

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER

- by Erma Bombeck (written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love you's."
More "I'm sorry's."
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it, live it and never give it back.
Stop sweating the small stuff.
Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.
Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with.
And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally.

I hope you all have a blessed day.

Virus Alert

This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss or anyone else via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK put your jacket on and take 2 good friends to the nearest pub. Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolator-Neutralizer-Extractor(WINE). The quickest acting WINE type is called Swift-Hitting-Infiltrator-Remover-All-Zones (SHIRAZ) but this is only available for those who can afford it, the next best equivalent is Cheapest-Available-System-Killer (CASK). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

Quotes

"Knowing others is wisdom; knowing the self is enlightenment." -- Tao Te Ching

"Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it." -- M. Scott Peck

When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighbourhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it. Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct time. My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbour. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlour and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlour and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear.
"Information."
"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.
"Isn't your mother home?" came the question. "Nobody's home but me," I blubbered.
"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked. "No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts." "Can you open the icebox?" she asked. I said I could.
"Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. I asked
her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math. She told me my pet guinea pig would eat fruit and nuts. Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called, Information Please," and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"
She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."
Somehow I felt better.
Another day I was on the telephone, "Information Please."
"Information," said in the now familiar voice. "How do I spell fix?" I asked.
I missed my friend very much. "Information Please" belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me.
Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.
A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about a half-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialled my hometown
operator and said, "Information Please."
Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well. "Information."
I hadn't planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?"
There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."
I laughed, "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time?" I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your call meant to me. I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls."
I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.
"Please do", she said. "Just ask for Sally."
Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered,
"Information." I asked for Sally.
"Are you a friend?" she said. "Yes, a very old friend," I answered.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."
Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Paul?" "Yes." I answered.
"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called.
Let me read it to you."
The note said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in.
He'll know what I mean."
I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.

Ironic

I think it’s ironic that there has been, and continues to be, such furor about magnetic fields generated by overhead power lines. Lawsuits, movement of houses, redesign of developments etc. due to the harmful effects that are generated by the magnetic fields.

Then, people buy magnets to put on their ankles, wrists and beds to generate a magnetic field to help them.

I’ve changed my mind – it’s not ironic. Ironic contains the word “iron” and that might leave me susceptible to the harmful effects of a magnetic field.

Forgetting to buy things

Have you ever taken a lot of time to put together an order – at a restaurant, when you’re shopping, when you’re renovating etc, only to receive what you asked for, then realise that there were some other things that you should have ordered?

This happens to me fairly often. I don’t know whether it’s absent-mindedness or whether it’s about getting something, then looking for ways to improve it.

Case in point: an order for car parts. I carefully listed everything that I wanted, emailed the order, got the quote and then paid for it on-line. Then, while out riding bicycles with my kids of all places, started thinking, “Well, I should get a grille badge too. And some bumper overriders. And some new legs for the rear spoiler. And some rubber gaskets for them. And some classic stripes.”

Anyway, now I have to get them, as part of the reason I’m doing the car over is to remedy some disappointments I had when I bought it 5 years ago.

I wonder what I’ll think of to buy today?

Why I Hate Train Travel

Recently I was travelling a fair distance on a train (5 hours) and a group of four people in front of us (our two daughters were with me) took great delight in spending a good part of the trip farting. They thought it was hilarious. They stank.

I complained to the staff of the train. The staff spoke to the people. They demanded to know who complained. The staff declined. They asked what they were supposed to do. The staff suggested using the toilet. They declined.

The farts continued, along with comments like, “Now you’ll really get gassed,” and “This will serve you right for complaining.” One of them had the tear tattoo under his eye. He then took off his shirt. The staff asked him to put it back on. He refused. He asked if the staff members were going to force him to put his shirt on. He pushed a member of the train staff and began swearing at all of them.

The staff members backed down. They four people danced around, thumped their chests and told everyone in the train how bad they were.

At the next station the train made an unscheduled stop and the police dragged the four off the train.

We all stood up and asked them how bad the four were now.

I did feel a little guilty – was I the butterfly in Tokyo that caused a hurricane on the other side of the world?

Reality

One look at tv for any length of time and it seems that we, as a race, are becoming obsessed with "reality programs".

I'll admit I'm not immune. I love some of them, though of late "Survivor" has not grabbed me. Perhaps it's getting old.

I do love "American Chopper", but a new series had started and I'm not really impressed. It ssems that the whole business has expanded rapidly, so that the people who made each program what it was are less involved. Proof that if you mess with something good, often it's not good anymore.

My point? Is realty tv become our new reality? How much does it shape our own lives. I hear kids talking about "voting each other off/out". Perhaps it not so different to what they used to do (i.e. exclude some people), but now they use different words.