We Not Me

How do we create moments to reset? Just like a Formula 1 car pulling into a pitstop, slowing down and stopping completely in order to win a race – how can we create moments of mental and emotional rest during our working days?

Simon Shepard is the CEO of Optima-life. He helps teams understand themselves better as individuals, and the role their physiologies play in their performance. Simon shares his frameworks for helping people understand the messages their body might be sending them. One of them includes a way to measure the stresses of the last week, by scoring events on a scale of difficulty and multiplying them by the emotional impact they had.

Dan and Pia’s takeaways

• A heart rate variability monitor may help you understand what affects your sleep patterns.
• Taking a pitstop is more effective than trying to push on through burnout.

Links

• The Battle For Balance – Simon’s book
• Critical Teams, with Martin Bromiley – episode 20 of We Not Me

Amid various models of team management, it’s important to remember that each of us is an individual player. We bring our own unique perspectives to our teams, and that sense of personal identity can bring tension when offset against the goal of the team.

James Prior, Global Head of Leadership Development at Gilead Pharmaceuticals, joins Dan and Pia to explore the symbiotic relationship between the individual and the team.

Takeaways from Dan and Pia

• If we’re open to diversity, we can build a richer understanding of how humans work.
• Ambiguity needs to be addressed if it’s being ignored in pursuit of certainty.

Links

• How to Be a Liberal: The Story of Liberalism and the Fight for Its Life, by Ian Dunt

Pia and Dan are joined by Martin Bromiley OBE, airline captain, charity trustee, and public speaker whose story of loss has fuelled much of the work he does today.

In 2005, Martin’s wife Elaine was admitted to hospital following an emergency that occurred while she was under anaesthetic. During the investigation into her death, Martin identified that Elaine’s death was due to failures in the way the surgical staff operated as a cohesive team.

Now, using his experience within aviation, he works with organisations to help teams get things right in critical situations.

Links

• United Airlines Flight 173
• The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Program to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence, and Happiness, by Professor Steve Peters
• Martin’s story from *the New Statesman*

Takeaways from Pia and Dan

• If your team can’t communicate across a hierarchy, you risk fragmentation.
• If you can anticipate that there will be challenges, you can help calm your inner chimp.
• Asking open questions help you to learn, not just those junior to you.

Pia and Dan are joined by former corporate worker and now voluntary firefighter Sandy Quirinale.

After her second son became interested in the fire service as a teenager, Sandy decided to sign up. She’s currently the only active female firefighter at her rural New Jersey station, and so brings her insight into diversity and teamwork within this highest-of-pressure situations.

Takeaways from Dan and Pia

• Diversity allows for us to pick the right person for the job within a team.
• That in turn helps people feel less like they need to hold on to a specific task.
• Improvising and thinking outside of the box isn’t appropriate in every situation, and for every team. There is benefit to sticking with tried-and-tested methodologies.

Links

• We Not Me episode 17: Teams in adversity, with guest Jim Molan

Dan and Pia explore creating safe cultures for people to thrive, with consultant Kevin Brownsey.

Kevin is the CEO of Red Pill Consulting, a company that tries to help organisations change their culture. While some organisations strive for a “winning culture”, Kevin defines culture as the “beliefs that underpin the behaviours that drive the outcomes, not the outcomes themselves.”

Takeaways from Dan and Pia

• Think about how we set the tone as team members or leaders.
• Are you standing by and letting things slip?
• “We’re not innately evil, but we do take shortcuts”.
• Don’t shy away from discussing questions of culture.
• This applies to family as well as work.
• Be prepared to make transformations yourself.
• Cultural change looks simple, but takes courage.

Jim Molan spent 40 years in the army from the age of 17. Since retiring from the army in 2008 as a Major General, he has written a book about his time in Iraq, co-authored policy on border-control, and consulted internationally. Jim is now a Senator for the Liberal Party in Australia.

When talking with Dan and Pia about how teams work together, Jim makes the observation that within the military, teams are formed and their work is rehearsed. He sets out his view on leadership within teams, and the importance of decision-making coupled with the ability to take criticism.

Links

• Running the War in Iraq, by Jim Molan

What is the future of remote team collaboration? Do we continue with Zoom meetings and the risk of fatigue they can bring, or is there a new approach we can take?

Dan and Pia explore meetings in the metaverse, with the help of freelance technologist Ian Smith. They discuss virtual avatars, getting together in a 3D space, and examine where it’s appropriate to meet in a space where everyone looks like they’re in The Incredibles, and when it’s not.

Links

• Horizon Workrooms
• Microsoft Mesh
• Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard
• Project Cambria: All there is to know about Meta's rumored Oculus Quest Pro
• Spatial
• Uncanny Valley

For over a year Chuck Anderson underwent a battery of tests to find out why he was feeling so physically unwell. After moving from the US to Sydney and still finding no answers, he was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

After cycles of depression and anxiety, Chuck was finally given information on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which changed his life dramatically for the better.

Since then, Chuck has co-founded Living to Thrive with his partner, to help organisations build better overall resilience.

Links

• Mental Health – Our World in Data
• More Australians see their GP about mental health issues than about cold and flu
• Top 10 causes of death for Americans ages 20 to 24
• Mindfulness-based stress reduction
• Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, by Kristin Neff

Professional double-bassist Craig Scott of the Sydney Conservatorium joins Dan and Pia to discuss the ultimate team: the jazz ensemble.

Jazz improvisation follows a set of rules that enable creativity within a structure, so that out of a predictable pattern can come something different each time it’s performed.

Within an ensemble, each member might get their own moment to lead, by taking on the melody of the piece and expanding on it. The musician in the lead role can then signal, through their solo, that it’s time for another musician to take up that leadership role. This requires all members of the band to be listening, not just to the notes, but for other cues to lead or make space for others.

Links

• Judy Bailey Trio playing My Romance
• Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz

In their first episode of season two, Dan and Pia explore the three Cs needed for success: clarity, climate and competence with the help of Dr Jessica Tonissen.

Download the Three Cs cheat sheet

Dan, Pia, and Jess review some of the key takeaways from season one of the We Not Me podcast:

• Three things sales teams need to do to be more effective: episode 4 with Anna Britnor Guest
• Bringing head and heart to teams: episode 6, with Lucy Hovanec
• Teamwork on set: episode 8, with Erik Thomson
• Agile teams: episode 9, with Natalie Peters
• Diversity in Teams: episode 11, with Sahera Sumar
• What teams can learn from sport: episode 7, with Owen Finegan
• Clarity at speed: episode 5, with Todd Schroeder
• Customer-centric teams: episode 10, with Stuart Dalziel
• Teams in a work from anywhere world: episode 2, with Michelle Zimany
• Compassion, Actually: episode 12, with Gillian Coutts