A message from David at: www.principlesinbusiness.com

MESSAGE BOARD: Vol.2 Issue 6 June 2009

In Memoriam
On May 25th 2009, Sydney Banks passed away. Many of you will know Syd through our work here in Perth, his books and audio tapes, or meeting him in person. I would like to express my gratitude to him and extend to his wife, Judith, our prayerful support. For over 37 years Syd has shared his insights into three simple, yet profound forces working within each of us and enabling us to experience our lives. He shared his insights into what he named Divine Mind, Consciousness and Thought passionately. Thank you for your Passion Syd.

"In the illusory world of thought, many believe the inner self is God and the outer self is the body. But I can assure you, the inner self and the outer self are the same thing." - Sydney Banks, The Missing Link.

HELLO and welcome to the June 2009 Message Board from PiB. This month, our final article, Part 3, of Blame: the Buck Stops Here explores the very nature of 'blame', 'accountability', and its direct connection to us as individuals. Our personal 'culture', our own accountability and willingness to demonstrate personal leadership, is just as important as that which we frequently wish were inbuilt into the corporate arena.

I thank you for your continued support. If you missed previous Message Boards, you can retrieve them from the Archive.

Read on, and enjoy this issue...



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IN THIS ISSUE

The Message Board Feature Article
We Are What We Do
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THE MESSAGE BOARD FEATURE ARTICLE

Blame: the Buck Stops Here Pt.3

In Part One of Blame: the Buck Stops Here, we highlighted the often mistaken idea that 'blame' has value in holding ourselves and others accountable, a way of keeping people accountable and thus, steering them in the right direction. However, 'blame' is really a form of punishment and/or retribution, rather than an opportunity to understand true accountability. It is a missed opportunity to develop and demonstrate an accountable culture - one where the common good is served. Part Two illustrated the importance of accountability in leadership. Critical questions were posed: are there clear communicated goals, strategic plans and suitable resources provided to the teams or individuals to enable them to execute goals?

Though 'Blame' is a natural reaction - one fearful response to perceived threat - personal accountability invites us to experience 'personal authenticity' and access our inner resources or capacities. Take the first question above: Have I the capacity to perform the task? A simple enough question, yet our minds are bombarded with uncertainty, possible implications and 'fear of what others might think’ if we respond 'No'. In the workplace particularly (though not necessarily), we understand all too well that an admission of that sort would be seen as 'weak', and would usually invite harsh consequence (a sure sign that the Leadership is failing to empower and enable the capacities of their people).

Have I the potential to learn, expand my capacity to deal with new situations and be able to respond insightfully to them? Our initial response is often ‘I wish I could’, while our minds rattle with secretly voiced fear - 'what if I fail?' or 'what will others think if I don’t quite make it?'. We are out of touch with our own potential. Our conditioned thinking prevents us from accessing new ideas. Being accountable to the fragile voice of our own potential in such circumstances invites us to ‘listen’ to a new thought, set aside our mental chatter, and be willing to change our mind about this moment. New action is the consequence of a new thought.

Erica Jong alludes to the loss of personal capacities, the fear to extend ourselves and realise our potential when she writes “...and the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more". Being accountable to our greater potential is a daily invitation. The question is, can we experience fear without being deaf to new potential? Every day, we are invited to extend ourselves beyond what we do now. We have the opportunity to learn more about ourselves, our hidden capacities and possible limitations. But we must be willing to be stretched and taken out of our comfort zone. Take the Australian idiom ‘having a go’. Is that not about demonstrating an accountability to our own potential? Is it not about taking the initiative to seize new opportunities, test new skills, knowledge and potential for the common good and ourselves as individuals?

Business Leaders have an important role to play in developing a culture that engenders a respect for being accountable. Likewise, individuals have an equally important role to play and that is to extend their own growth in their capacities and potential. In this way, they are accountable to their own gifts and talents.

Finally, when businesses and individuals work together to co-create accountability in their relationships, they are a force to be reckoned with - but 'accountable' (non-blaming) organisations and individuals don’t happen by accident. Critical to that culture is the self-awareness of each individual within the organisation. It requires an inbuilt (matter-of-fact) understanding of the power and role of Thought. Thought is the birthplace of behavioural change. Hence, unless we see that we think and that a thought is the birthplace of both our self-realised accountability and our blaming ways, our unconscious conditioning will win the day.

... see what you make of your own responses in a less than perfect world - I'd love to hear from you.

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WE ARE WHAT WE DO

In order to be ready to LISTEN to our LIFE, we require a level of consciousness: to question the way we react to life's circumstances or daily events. Consciousness is a natural gift to us and enables human beings to grow in self understanding. This beautiful energy within us is an inviting inner awareness of our powerful potential to realise ourselves. Conscious living is taking our lives into our own hands and fulfilling our moment-to-moment lives. The fork in the road occurs each time we see (or prefer to see) something or someone to blame. It is our journey, our invitation to live consciously - and like all invitations, we can accept or decline.

Every day is an invitation to be accountable to our potent potential.

Until next time... David

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Message Board contents © David Bodman PiB. Personal copying and/or transmittal to a colleague or friend is welcomed. For commercial use please contact the author.


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