July 2018: Executive Officer’s Report

Leaders can use the findings of neuroscience to improve their ability to be a person who engages, motivates and resources their staff/organisation.

This was the message of last week’s Radio National: All in the Mind podcast, “Leadership in mind”.

The podcast says that neuroscience has found that:

• our brain structure/functioning impacts on our leadership skills and vice versa e.g. positions of power cause changes in brain functioning that make leaders less capable of empathy;
• a person can change their brain structure/functioning and organisations can establish processes and a culture that can reinforce certain thoughts/feelings/behaviours.

In the podcast, Rasmus Hougaard, of the Potential Project, says that his study of 35,000 leaders found three essential leadership traits: mindfulness, selflessness and compassion.

Hougaard says that leadership requires these traits to work with the many workers who feel threatened, anxious, angry, frightened, disengaged and/or depressed by our society and economy’s constant change.

Another podcast subject, Sue Langley, of The Langley Group, says that staff are looking for employment that gives them: meaning, emotional well-being and connection with others. This is good news for the ministries of PJPs and other Not-for-profit organisations as these are these are often the characteristics of our mission-driven organisations. Langley also points out that it requires an effective leader to create these workplaces.

Leadership and governance have been a focus of much of my work over the past month. There was: another redrafting of our governance document, meetings to prepare for our annual canonical stewards forum, and participation in an ACBC formation for governance meeting.

New events:

• 7th August 2018 Fr Timothy Radcliffe on the topic of The Church of the Future
• 8th August 2018 e-Conference – Synodality in Practice: Listening to the spirit and Leading change
• 27-29th August 2018 Health and integrity in church and in ministry by the University of Divinity
• 28-30th August 2018 – The Synodality of the Church: Theology and Practice
• 5-7 September 2018 Australian Catholic Communications Congress
• 14th September 2018, Community Directors Conference
• 21-23 September 2018, The Australian Catholic Youth Ministry Convention
• 22-24 February 2019, Council of Australian Catholic Women Colloquium 2019

New website content:

The public news section of the AMPJP website now has the following posts:

• ACU Short Courses (13 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)
• Holy See Directive of Formation (18 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)
• Resources for Directors of a Company Limited by Guarantee (19 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)
• Petition to reinstate basic support for people seeking asylum (20 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)
• The International Festival  Creativity in Church Management (23 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)
• Possible formation standards for Catholic governance and leadership (29 July 2018 – also accessible to General members and AMPJP Council members)

Members of AMPJP can access the following news items that I have posted in the Member area of our website:

• McMullen manuscript 16-7-18 (23 July 2018  –  accessible to only General members and AMPJP Council members)
• CPSL webinar with AMPJP member 19th July 2018 (24 July 2018  –  accessible to only General members and AMPJP Council members)

Looking forward to significant dates in August 2018:

[1] http://www.un.org/en/sections/observances/international-days/index.html

[2] http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/special-dates-and-events

[3] https://www.catholic.org.au/calendar#year=2018&month=1&day=1&view=month

[4] https://www.harmony.gov.au/events/calendar/