La journée est parie du bon pied par une rencontre avec des vice-présidents de JDI inc. qui nous ont présenté un aperçu des opérations du groupe et ont répondu à toutes les questions des leaders. Ils nous ont ensuite permis de faire la visite du moulin de papier de Saint Jean, qui est un très bon exemple d’innovation dans une industrie traditionnelle.
Les leaders ont ensuite eu une présentation d’Entreprise Saint Jean durant laquelle ils ont pu découvrir comment cette ville a pu se créer une identité unique et une communauté dynamique. Tenue chez Big Tide Brewing, une nouvelle micro-brasserie établie à Saint Jean, cette discussion nous a également permis de discuter des réalités de se lancer en affaire dans ce domaine au Nouveau-Brunswick.
Résultant du dynamisme de cette communauté, le sujet de la pauvreté est adressé d’une façon unique et nous avons donc pu rencontrer des intervenants dans le domaine, qui nous ont guidé à travers des quartiers à risque et ont discuté des efforts mis en place pour améliorer la situation.
Saint Jean approche également le patrimoine et la conservation de son architecture d’une façon particulière, soit de tenter de conserver au lieu de démolir et rebâtir. Nous avons donc fait un tour guidé de certains édifices ayant des particularités architecturales.
Nous nous sommes ensuite rendus à mon alma mater, l’Université de Moncton, où nous nous sommes engagés dans une session ayant pour thème «Les Femmes en Position de Leadership». Aldéa Landry, Anne Hébert, Andrée Savoie et Tina Robichaud ont discuté de leurs expériences sur le sujet, donnant lieu à une des séances les plus puissantes de la tournée puisque bien que ce sujet soit abordé régulièrement, les hommes ne sont habituellement pas invités à la table.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Maman et papa font la Tournée du Nouveau-Brunswick
Lors de notre visite à saint Jean, j’ai eu l’opportunité d’avoir une discussion avec une de mes ressources essentielles dans la planification de la tournée d’étude. J’ai rapidement réalisé que j’avais oublié de poser une question essentielle de ma préparation pour la tournée : «Quel est mon rôle durant la tournée?»
Bien que j’avais une très bonne idée de mes tâches - modérer les discussions, rassembler le groupe et tenter de respecter l’horaire – je n’étais pas confortable dans l’exécution de celles-ci, en partie parce que je me sentais toujours comme la «party pooper», celle qui doit terminer les conversations, inciter le groupe à suivre cet horaire chargé que nous avons pour eux.
J’ai donc posé la question à cette personne ressource, qui a réussi à m’éclairer par une analogie que je tenais à partager. Elle m’a expliqué que Tim et moi sommes le papa et la maman du groupe et que naturellement, le groupe perçoit Tim comme le papa, celui qui apporte les enfants au parc, qui leur achète de la crème glacée et les laisse se coucher plus tard tandis que je suis perçue comme la maman, celle qui demande aux enfants de faire leurs devoirs, de se dépêcher le matin pour prendre l’autobus et de manger leurs légumes. Elle m’a aussi rappelé qu’à la fin de la journée, même si les enfants semblent avoir plus de plaisir avec le papa, ils aiment toujours leur maman!
Bien que j’avais une très bonne idée de mes tâches - modérer les discussions, rassembler le groupe et tenter de respecter l’horaire – je n’étais pas confortable dans l’exécution de celles-ci, en partie parce que je me sentais toujours comme la «party pooper», celle qui doit terminer les conversations, inciter le groupe à suivre cet horaire chargé que nous avons pour eux.
J’ai donc posé la question à cette personne ressource, qui a réussi à m’éclairer par une analogie que je tenais à partager. Elle m’a expliqué que Tim et moi sommes le papa et la maman du groupe et que naturellement, le groupe perçoit Tim comme le papa, celui qui apporte les enfants au parc, qui leur achète de la crème glacée et les laisse se coucher plus tard tandis que je suis perçue comme la maman, celle qui demande aux enfants de faire leurs devoirs, de se dépêcher le matin pour prendre l’autobus et de manger leurs légumes. Elle m’a aussi rappelé qu’à la fin de la journée, même si les enfants semblent avoir plus de plaisir avec le papa, ils aiment toujours leur maman!
Monday, October 19, 2009
La première journée
C’est parti! Au moment d’écrire ces lignes, les 21 Leaders 2009-10 ont complété la première journée de la Tournée d’Étude du Nouveau-Brunswick. Le tout s’est amorcé par une session ayant pour thème «Technologie, Leadership et le Future du Nouveau-Brunswick. Durant cette session, Laura O’Blenis (Knowledge Park), David Gourlay (Oracle) et Blain Adams (Red Ball Internet) ont présenté au groupe un survol des activités de chacune des organisations et leur vision du future de leur organisation au Nouveau-Brunswick.
Les Leaders ont ensuite eu l’opportunité de s’entretenir avec David Hay, PDG d’Énergie N.-B. M. Hay a expliqué son parcours de carrière, discuté de concepts et leçons personnelles de leadership et a engagé les leaders dans une discussion ouverte et honnête au sujet du présent et future de l’industrie de l’énergie au Nouveau-Brunswick, des énergies alternatives et à même partager avec le groupe son secret pour gérer les conflits de groupe.
Suite à cette discussion, le groupe s’est dirigé vers le Département d’Éducation du N.-B. où M. Guy Lavallée, Sous-Ministre Adjoint de la division francophone du Département d’Éducation, Mme Tiffany Basten, Spécialiste en alphabétisation K-12, division anglophone du Département d’Éducation et Mme Wendy Papadopoulos, directrice d’Elf, ont partagé avec nous le portrait de la situation de l’alphabétisation dans la province et le rôle de leur organisation dans l’amélioration de la situation.
Pour terminer cette première journée, le groupe de leaders actuel a eu l’opportunité de rencontrer les anciens leaders du programme lors d’un souper de famille de 21inc. Cette soirée a permis au groupe actuel d’apprendre de l’expérience des membres des programmes précédents et de tisser des nouveaux liens avec des jeunes qui partagent une passion commune : avoir un impact positif sur le future du Nouveau-Brunswick.
Voici en gros le récit de la première journée de la Tournée d’étude du Nouveau-Brunswick 2009. Pour suivre nos péripéties quotidiennes, continuez de visiter le blog!
Annik
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Hitting the Road
Today is the first day of our provincial study tour. It's one of the highlight experiences of the 21 Leaders program -- put 21 of NB's most promising young people on a bus for a week visiting decision makers and community leaders across the province.
You can find the schedule for the week here: english, francais.
The tour plays an important role in the leadership education these folks have. The exposure to leaders and initiatives across the province is a powerful demonstration of how entrepreneurial drive, innovation and passion are everywhere in our province. The discussions that take place on the bus and in workshops provides the knowledge to know and the confidence to act.
Check back on the blog and on twitter searching for #21Leaders hash tags.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Comfort Zones
On Wednesday I gave a talk in Sydney, Nova Scotia to the Nova Scotia Association of Regional Development Authorities on “out of comfort zone” experiences and economic performance.
I linked the two through learning and development. We can't increase our skills and leadership abilities without stepping out of our comfort zone.
To set it up I stole the image below from a wonderful book by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky called “Leadership on the Line." The zone of optimal learning indicated by point B in the figure below is where one lives during out of comfort zone experiences. Our stress levels are heightened, we focus more, try harder, and learn more.
The trick, I said, was that when we leave these experiences we stay at a level of performance higher than what we came in. That point C needs to be higher than point A.
Managers think about this a lot in terms of staff. What type of experiences can we give staff to increase their abilities and go from point A to point C? The big question I posed was that if we can do it at an organizational level can we also do it on a regional level?
My answer was absolutely. We have to. I used the lessons we’re learning at 21inc to discuss how. I talked about three specific elements that need to exist in any out of comfort zone experience to maintain a high level of performance: support, practice, and time. For each I told a story and played a video of one of our alumni talking about it.
I want to share Leah Levac’s video. Leah is a founding member of 21inc., and is also a Trudeau Scholar, another community that provides a group of inspired, young intellectuals with a supportive network that allows them to push their own, and each others, limits. She does an excellent job explaining why a group of young people actually decided to jump out of their comfort zones and create 21inc. It was in large measure because of the support we felt from each other. That support allowed us to take more risks since we knew that if we fell someone would be there to catch us. Here’s Leah:
I linked the two through learning and development. We can't increase our skills and leadership abilities without stepping out of our comfort zone.
To set it up I stole the image below from a wonderful book by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky called “Leadership on the Line." The zone of optimal learning indicated by point B in the figure below is where one lives during out of comfort zone experiences. Our stress levels are heightened, we focus more, try harder, and learn more.
The trick, I said, was that when we leave these experiences we stay at a level of performance higher than what we came in. That point C needs to be higher than point A.
Managers think about this a lot in terms of staff. What type of experiences can we give staff to increase their abilities and go from point A to point C? The big question I posed was that if we can do it at an organizational level can we also do it on a regional level?
My answer was absolutely. We have to. I used the lessons we’re learning at 21inc to discuss how. I talked about three specific elements that need to exist in any out of comfort zone experience to maintain a high level of performance: support, practice, and time. For each I told a story and played a video of one of our alumni talking about it.
I want to share Leah Levac’s video. Leah is a founding member of 21inc., and is also a Trudeau Scholar, another community that provides a group of inspired, young intellectuals with a supportive network that allows them to push their own, and each others, limits. She does an excellent job explaining why a group of young people actually decided to jump out of their comfort zones and create 21inc. It was in large measure because of the support we felt from each other. That support allowed us to take more risks since we knew that if we fell someone would be there to catch us. Here’s Leah:
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Scaling What Works
How do you scale a successful social innovation in a down economy? If something increases literacy scores by 100%, what needs to happen for it to go from one pilot school to 200?
I drove back to Fredericton tonight with this thought after spending the day at Activate - the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI) day long conference in Saint John.
BCAPI, brain child of the insatiable Bill Gale, and long championed by J.D. Irving Ltd., the day gathered the province’s heavyweights of industry including J.K. Irving, Jim Irving, Gerry Pond, Derek Oland, Aldéa Landry, and many others to talk about poverty and the role of the business community in reducing it. As Gerry Pond said during his remarks, this gathering was likely the first business to business meeting in Canada dedicated to the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty.
The conference happened in the middle of the New Brunswick Government’s poverty reduction public engagement process. Phase II consisted of a series of roundtable discussions across the province listening to citizens. Phase III, a “Final Forum,” occurs later this year.
What struck me was the frustration shown by business leaders with not being able to expand programs that are working. P.A.L.S. (Partners Assisting Local Schools) was the most frequently cited example. The program matches literacy mentors with struggling children in schools where over 40% of the students come from poverty. It works. In one cohort at the Prince Charles School in Saint John, literacy levels doubled from 33% to 66% in two years.
The business community, particularly through the New Brunswick Business Council, has started to spread this model to other schools across the province. A school in St. Stephen and Ganong Bros. have started a similar program. As have Barrett Xplore and a school in Woodstock. It’s an amazing example of emergence.
When the business community went to government to look for support to expand and deepen the program’s impact, government initially met their request supportively. But soon the broader government agenda took over. The initiative went from a poverty reduction strategy to the community schools initiative (CSI). This is not a knock against the CSI. It’s great and needed in NB. However, depending on how the community and school engage, it may not be a poverty reduction strategy. So poverty levels remain. Then a recession hits and government has to make difficult decisions. Budgets are reduced and anything not deemed essential is cut, including money promised to expand and deepen P.A.L.S.
So the question remains of how to scale social innovations like P.A.L.S when money is tight. One idea with strong support was for a more united voice from business that government should primarily allocate scarce tax dollars to education over all other files. This alone won’t ensure an increase to P.A.L.S. - this needs more than government - but it would be a good start.
I drove back to Fredericton tonight with this thought after spending the day at Activate - the Business Community Anti-Poverty Initiative (BCAPI) day long conference in Saint John.
BCAPI, brain child of the insatiable Bill Gale, and long championed by J.D. Irving Ltd., the day gathered the province’s heavyweights of industry including J.K. Irving, Jim Irving, Gerry Pond, Derek Oland, Aldéa Landry, and many others to talk about poverty and the role of the business community in reducing it. As Gerry Pond said during his remarks, this gathering was likely the first business to business meeting in Canada dedicated to the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty.
The conference happened in the middle of the New Brunswick Government’s poverty reduction public engagement process. Phase II consisted of a series of roundtable discussions across the province listening to citizens. Phase III, a “Final Forum,” occurs later this year.
What struck me was the frustration shown by business leaders with not being able to expand programs that are working. P.A.L.S. (Partners Assisting Local Schools) was the most frequently cited example. The program matches literacy mentors with struggling children in schools where over 40% of the students come from poverty. It works. In one cohort at the Prince Charles School in Saint John, literacy levels doubled from 33% to 66% in two years.
The business community, particularly through the New Brunswick Business Council, has started to spread this model to other schools across the province. A school in St. Stephen and Ganong Bros. have started a similar program. As have Barrett Xplore and a school in Woodstock. It’s an amazing example of emergence.
When the business community went to government to look for support to expand and deepen the program’s impact, government initially met their request supportively. But soon the broader government agenda took over. The initiative went from a poverty reduction strategy to the community schools initiative (CSI). This is not a knock against the CSI. It’s great and needed in NB. However, depending on how the community and school engage, it may not be a poverty reduction strategy. So poverty levels remain. Then a recession hits and government has to make difficult decisions. Budgets are reduced and anything not deemed essential is cut, including money promised to expand and deepen P.A.L.S.
So the question remains of how to scale social innovations like P.A.L.S when money is tight. One idea with strong support was for a more united voice from business that government should primarily allocate scarce tax dollars to education over all other files. This alone won’t ensure an increase to P.A.L.S. - this needs more than government - but it would be a good start.