My guest today is the inimitable and supremely articulate Traci Carse. Traci is the Occupational Psychologist at Fire and Rescue NSW, one of the world’s largest urban fire and rescue services. Traci has significant experience in applying psychology in the workplace through the design and delivery of mental health, resilience & wellbeing assessments and interventions across a range of work settings. Traci is an Adjunct Fellow of Macquarie University, a Board Approved Supervisor, a Certified Gallup Strengths Coach, and recently held a position on the National Committee, College of Organisational Psychologists , as lead for the APS Workplace Excellence Awards.
One of the worst things to do whilst you are crossing the street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, amongst the cars and mostly motorbikes and tuk-tuks screaming past in all directions, is to stop, to stand still.
Crossing the street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. That's the analogy I used to explain what happens immediately before disruption, in my opening keynote address to the New Zealand Safeguard Conference in 2019.
So the metaphorical opposite of this is to be in motion ourselves. Not stuck, stopped, stalled or stale .
Today's guest is Kathryn McEwan an organisational psychologist, executive coach and mediator with more than 30 years consulting experience across all industry sectors. Her contribution to the profession has been recognised through the award of ‘Fellow’ by the Australian Psychological Society and the College of Organisational Psychologists. She has a special interest in workplace resilience and has authored three books on resilience at work as well as led development of the R@W Toolkit. She lectures, supervises students, is a Board member and more. And today is cutting through the BS about resilience.
This anchor concept is really important to understand and utilise when improving learning is your goal. Change isn't just about engines, it’s about what holds us still or steady, for better and for worse. These anchors, in the forms of assumptions and beliefs, when recognised and challenged reveal deep learning that mere knowledge can't. We can change anchors too, swapping less helpful points of reference with new ones which enhance the learning potential we are trying to tap into. Anchoring as a bias affects all of us, and opens up a discussion about the cognitive short cuts which can either make or break our learning experience and learning outcomes.
As for your growth, your development, and your effectiveness….all of this applies to you as much to your organisation. What's your plan to lift anchors, to sail, and where to drop anchors?