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Making Great Leaders: A Q&A with Christopher Avery

Christopher Avery is a keynote speaker at this year’s Path to Agility 2017 conference. He is an author, a speaker, and a CEO of Partnerwerks, Inc. Christopher is dedicated to helping people become great leaders. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing him and this is what he said:

You will be speaking at this year’s Path to Agility conference. What do you hope people will take away from your talk?

That they already have the power to overcome any problem or challenge, no matter how daunting it seems.

Who should come hear you speak?

Only people who want to take ownership of their life, to stop coping with problems and start growing.

What is The Responsibility Process?

The Responsibility Process® is a simple pattern in our mind that helps us process thoughts about taking and avoiding responsibility for our lives, actions, and situations (see attached jpg). As you learn about The Responsibility Process and how it works, you realize that we are each far more powerful and able than we usually give ourselves credit for.

How’d you come up with the idea of The Responsibility Process? 

It is not my original idea. The Responsibility Process® was derived from phenomenological research over many years. I was introduced to the research by one of the team members many years ago. I already had advanced degrees in social science so I had studied lots of models of normal psychology. This was the most powerful model I had seen. So, knowing that I was a speaker, he challenged me to never again speak to a group without teaching them about responsibility. I’ve been true to that pledge. That’s why my name is associated with The Responsibility Process.

You’ve written some books. What are they and what can you tell us about them? My latest title is The Responsibility Process: Unlocking Your Natural Ability to Live and Lead with Power. It offers three potent tools you can use to bring more freedom, power, and choice to your life. Some lucky attendees will get a copy of this book at the conference and I’ll be pleased to sign it if asked. My first book, Teamwork Is An Individual Skill: Getting your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility, is now a classic. It introduced industry-leading principles and practices for shared leadership and shared responsibility. FORTUNE magazine called it the only book on teamwork that you need to read.

How have you seen people take what you’ve taught and apply it to their lives?

I’m blessed to be associated with such great material. I’ve had the good fortune to witness hundreds of people take charge of their lives and produce such joy and freedom for themselves and others. Just today an agile coach who trained with me last month in Toronto told me how liberating it was when he noticed that he was in Quit (one of the mental positions of false responsibility) around a significant and longstanding problem in his life. He said the number of options that opened up for him was exciting. I often hear from very talented and outwardly successful professionals telling me that before learning The Responsibility Process they did not know that there was life beyond Obligation. And now they find tremendous joy in their work, and they shape their work to produce greater value for others and bring more joy to themselves. There are COHAA board members who have such stories. And thousands of teams around the globe practice ownership and freedom at high levels because they adopt The Responsibility Process as a shared language for sense-making.

How’d you become interested in leadership? 

I learned early in my career that leadership and management were not the same. You can be a leader without managing. And you can manage without leading. So I became interested in lower case “l” leadership. Leadership as a behavior. And what I learned was that leadership is a natural side-effect of being in motion toward a goal or purpose that is larger than you. When you embody a larger vision and purpose, one that you need help to achieve, then a part of your character turns into a leader — a natural leader. Not a title or an assignment, but a role dynamic. Everyone has this capability. It is innate. So, if I can help you identify what you care deeply about, and pursue it, then there is a good chance you will demonstrate leadership.

What is something that can hinder people from being good leaders? How can they overcome it?

You know, we all have dark sides or shadow sides of us, as well as light sides–bravado, arrogance, envy, scarcity-thinking, invalidating others, etc. I recommend that we learn to know and love those dark sides as well as the light sides. Use The Responsibility Process to face and overcome the dark sides. When we do this we can focus more and more on creating value and abundant opportunity for ourselves and others to step into.

Where can we go to find out more about what you do?

The most important website is http://www.the.leadershipgift.com/. Beyond that, I recommend searching on my name (Christopher Avery) and “responsibility”.

What else can you tell us?

Your life can be very different in three months, when you actively practice The Responsibility Process. Also, you may be able to attend a workshop with me in Columbus in the near future. Stay tuned.

 

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Call for Speakers for The Path 2016 Conference

The Central Ohio Agile Association is gearing up for The Path 2016 Conference. You have the opportunity to be a speaker at the conference by presenting on a topic of interest to the Agile and Lean communities.

We are looking for people who offer presentations that will be both engaging and informative. The topic has to relate to Agile or Lean, and you should be passionate about your subject. Your presentation should fit into one of the following three formats:

Tutorial
The tutorials follow a traditional presentation format, and will allow experienced practitioners to share what they have learned with a broad audience.

Collaborative Learning
A collaborative learning session is a peer-to-peer event, where everyone is assumed to have something to contribute to the topic. It provides an opportunity for joint problem-solving with other people on a topic. The coordinator proposes a topic, provides a bit of background and a facilitation structure. Then the attendees work in small groups, and mutually exchange ideas and outputs.

Agile From The Front Lines
Our attendees love first-hand accounts of what other organizations have tried and implemented. They serve as an exchange vehicle for practitioners, and provide a firsthand description of challenges faced, approaches taken, observations and reflections. Each presenter will be provided with a “shepherd” to help sharpen their presentation of the story. If you have lessons learned from when your team tried something new, this is the perfect format for sharing that story.

 

Submit the following information here.

Title – your first opportunity to make a great impression with both the submissions committee and attendees!

Short description of your presentation, including:

Introductory paragraph – Tell attendees what they should expect, and why they should choose yours over another session

Intended audience – Is yours an in-depth discussion for seasoned professionals, or is the material more appropriate for attendees who are newer to Agile concepts?

Learning outcomes – What will attendees take away from your session?

Speaker bio, including information about your Agile knowledge and experience, your prior speaking experiences, and whether you have delivered this particular presentation before.

Short video (2-5 minutes) that shows your ability to connect with people. It can be of you presenting to an audience in the past, of you giving a snippet of the topic you would like to discuss, or anything that shows us how well you connect with an audience. We aren’t judging production quality here, so feel free to use your phone or other cheap recording device. Upload it to YouTube and include the link, or attach the video to your email submission.

Any other information you would like us to consider, including which area of agility your presentation addresses.

 

Other relevant info:
All submissions will be reviewed by the submissions committee, and judged on the merits of the topic and the presenter’s ability to connect with the audience. Abstracts and videos should be submitted here no later than Monday, 29 February 2016. The conference is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, May 25 & 26, 2016.

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Call for Speakers for The 2015 Path to Agility Conference featuring The Path to Craftsmanship

The Central Ohio Agile Association is gearing up for the 2015 Path to Agility Conference featuring The Path to Craftsmanship. You have the opportunity to be a speaker at the conference by presenting on a topic of interest to the Agile and Lean communities.

We are looking for people who offer presentations that will be both engaging and informative. The topic has to relate to Agile or Lean, and you should be passionate about your subject. You can deliver your message through traditional talks, games, activities, small groups, or anything else you can come up with. You don’t have to be the foremost expert on your topic — you just need a compelling story to tell.

Send the following information to submit@cohaa.org:

  • — Title – our first opportunity to make a great impression with both the submissions committee and attendees!
  • — Short description of your presentation, including:
    • – Introductory paragraph – Tell attendees what they should expect, and why they should choose yours over another session
    • – Intended audience – Is yours an in-depth discussion for seasoned professionals, or is the material more appropriate for attendees who are newer to Agile concepts?
    • – Learning outcomes – What will attendees take away from your session?
  • — Speaker bio, including information about your Agile knowledge and experience, your prior speaking experiences, and whether you have delivered this particular presentation before.
  • — Short video (2-5 minutes) that shows your ability to connect with people. It can be of you presenting to an audience in the past, of you giving a snippet of the topic you would like to discuss, or anything that shows us how well you connect with an audience. We aren’t judging production quality here, so feel free to use your phone or other cheap recording device. Upload it to YouTube and include the link, or attach the video to your email submission.
  • — In lieu of a video, you may send us 3 references who can speak to your ability to present and engage audiences.

 

Other relevant Info:
All submissions will be reviewed by the submissions committee, and judged on the merits of the topic and the presenter’s ability to connect with the audience.

Abstracts and videos should be submitted to submit@cohaa.org no later than Friday, 20 March 2015. Presenters will be notified no later than Friday, 27 March 2015 as to whether their submission has been accepted. The conference is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, 20-21 May 2015.