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:
| UN dates[1] | Australian Dates[2] | Catholic Church Dates[3] | Other Spiritual Dates [4] | |
| 01-Aug-2018 | Beginning of: World Breastfeeding Week | Tradies National Health Month | ||
| 02-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 03-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 04-Aug-2018 | National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day | |||
| 05-Aug-2018 | National EOS Awareness Week (5 – 11 Aug) | |||
| 06-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 07-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 08-Aug-2018 | Dying To Know Day | Saint Mary of the Cross | ||
| 09-Aug-2018 | International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples | |||
| 10-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 11-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 12-Aug-2018 | International Youth Day | |||
| 13-Aug-2018 |
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| 14-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 15-Aug-2018 | The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Dormition of the Theotokos (Orthodox) | ||
| 16-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 17-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 18-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 19-Aug-2018 | World Humanitarian Day | Speech Pathology Week (19-25 Aug) | ||
| 20-Aug-2018 | Be Medicinewise week (20-26 Aug)
Natural Fertility Awareness Week (20-26 Aug) |
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| 21-Aug-2018 | Eid al Adha (Islamic) | |||
| 22-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 23-Aug-2018 | International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition | |||
| 24-Aug-2018 | 22q Awareness (24-31 Aug) | |||
| 25-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 26-Aug-2018 | Raksha Bandhan (Hindu) | |||
| 26-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 28-Aug-2018 | ||||
| 29-Aug-2018 | International Day against Nuclear Tests | |||
| 30-Aug-2018 | International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances | |||
| 31-Aug-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