Areion LLC Creative Change Strategies

12/24/2024

11/21/2024

You are CEO.

You are the newly appointed CEO. You must quickly build a strong team to ensure the success of the organization. You have identified the following roles:

* Chief Financial Officer
* Chief Operating Officer
* Chief Revenue Officer
* Chief Technology Officer
* Chief Human Resources Officer
* Chief Communications Officer
* General Counsel
* Executive Coach to the C-Suite

If you could only recruit executives from your network, who would be on your team day one?

Your network is your net worth.

11/12/2024

“Freedom is never free.” -Unknown

11/05/2024

What would you do?

“How many of you are good at solving problems? There’s nothing wrong with being good at problem solving. Except when it prevents the people you lead from learning and developing.

When you solve problems for the people who report to you, they don’t get a chance to do their own thinking or take ownership of the solutions you’ve handed them. Creativity becomes stunted and learning is stalled because those very smart people you lead don’t get to think on their own. Asking an insightful question instead helps them to focus on what they want to do. When that insight happens, they can move forward with clarity and commitment.

There are plenty of reasons to ask more questions like “What would you do?” or “What possibilities do you see here?” These are open-ended, thought-provoking questions, not solutions disguised as questions. The most compelling reasons to ask rather than tell may be grounded in neuroscience.

Here is the short version of what happens when you ask an insightful question of one of your employees:

Neuroplasticity: The first thing you need to know is that the brain isn’t hardwired like an electrical appliance. If it was, people would be stuck doing things the way they’ve always done them forever. Enter something called neuroplasticity, which means our brains can physically change to encourage creative thinking and new knowledge. The neurons can move into new locations in our brain when we learn. Questions can act as a catalyst for our brains to change and move forward with new insight.

Reflection: When you ask a question instead of giving the answer, the entire brain gets active as it reflects, releasing serotonin (allowing it to relax). This encourages gathering intelligence from all areas of the brain, allowing for more insight than would happen if you provided solutions to others. New neuronal connections begin to be made as the brain moves closer to finding solutions.

Action: As serotonin is released, a rush of energy (or insight) occurs as the brain fires up, moving ahead and discovering the solutions to a problem. The person who is the recipient of the question becomes motivated and ready to do something. This burst of energy to take care of the problem is short lived, so you can help by asking them to commit to doing something later. And then you can ask them how they’ll stay accountable to their commitment.

When someone is stuck, ask an open-ended, insightful question. The brain becomes activated, and will find the best way to help it to discover the solution. And the funny thing is, it might be even better than one you would have thought of. Brilliant."

From, "The Neuroscience of Asking Insightful Questions," by Mary Jo Asmus, Government Executive, April 26, 2017

11/05/2024

"Good morning on this Election Day. Ever wonder why Americans vote on a random Tuesday in November and not, you know, a more convenient time? Because of deference to 19th-century farmers, who once accounted for a majority of the workforce.

In 1845, Congress passed a law that designated Election Day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, because a November Tuesday was considered the most favorable time for farmers to vote: The month wasn’t a super busy time on the agricultural calendar, weekends were a no-go because of church, Wednesdays were market days, and James Polk didn’t want to compete against Thursday Night Football."

Happy voting! —Molly Liebergall, Sam Klebanov, Cassandra Cassidy, Holly Van Leuven, Neal Freyman Morning Brew The Library of Congress

08/14/2024

Executive Coaching is by definition a Co-Creative process. it’s like having a personal trainer for your career.

07/24/2024

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

01/15/2024

Managers get things done, leaders love, and get things done.

10/30/2023

Learning anything new involves brief spurts of progress followed by a slight regress. While this can feel frustrating, learning is going on all along a rising curve.