Patch Aure

The courage to lead change

The courage to lead change

Having done and witnessed action research projects through the years, I arrive at the conclusion that change initiatives are best thought of as experiments. This means that success is not guaranteed; and thus, should organizations really aspire to innovate, they must provide safe spaces for experiments to happen.

These safe spaces should also be spaces where courage and vulnerability are cultivated. An organization should not penalize criticism anf failure but embrace them.

Change is uncomfortable. Thus, authentic innovation is also uncomfortable. But all these can be perceived as birth and growth pains, and we must have the courage to power through these.

Mark 11:11-26. “Is it not written: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have made it a den of thieves.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-153: JUNE 2, 2023]

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When the crowd exerts its power

When the crowd exerts its power

In trying to explain norms and culture as well as their powers, a critical realist perspective is very powerful and useful. Margaret Archer provides the Structure-Culture-Agency (SCA) framework, while Dave Elder-Vass proposed the idea of “norm circles” which can exert power to influence the behavior of a group’s members. These concepts of norms and culture are hard to operationalize and analyze for they include intangibles and levels of abstractions that are not easily describable.

Since what I’m writing now is less of a research paper (though, maybe this could be a seed?) and more of a reflection, my mind wanders to how strong different “crowds” are, whether in the physical or digital spaces. Harnessed effectively, this can lead to international movements that have social justice issues in mind even if not perfect (e.g., #MeToo, #BLM). However, these forces can also be dangerous – cancel culture and hustle culture quickly come to mind.

For now, my insight is this: no structure or culture should be absolutely powerful such that it prevents the individual human in exerting their agency to pursue how they can best flourish. We should embrace the healthy tension between a culture trying to maintain itself and the individual trying to better themselves. Magic happens when the group and the individual are openly and not blindly aligned.

Mark 10:46-52. Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, take pity on me!”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-152: JUNE 1, 2023]

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Encounters

Encounters

Each encounter with others is an opportunity to touch their lives (or have our lives be touched by them).

I am always reminded of this everytime I see students beginning to realize their potential. Being in this profession of teaching and mentoring is such a meaningful and honorable vocation; each student success is reward enough.

Hopefully, the new generation and their stewards can harness business and management not to maximize profits, but to maximize meaning.

Luke 1:39-56. Why should this great thing happen to me, that my Lord’s mother comes to visit me?

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-151: MAY 31, 2023]

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Finding peace in sacrifice

Finding peace in sacrifice

Trade-offs and sacrifices are painful. There are struggles to overcome. However, there is peace to be found in our sacrifices.

Finding peace means learning to dance in the rain, embracing the discomfort, and discovering the strength within. It is about realizing that our lives is filled with threads of sacrifice – each one a testament to our courage, guiding us towards a peace that is profound, authentic, and ours.

Mark 10:28-31. “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-150: MAY 30, 2023]

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Enough

Enough

Recognizing when something is enough – neither incomplete nor overboard – takes a lot of experience and reflection. Achievers tend to err on the side of going the extra mile, but in doing so, there is a risk of burning out.

Contentment is different from settling. Contentment means recognizing when everything has been completed. Settling is knowing that we could do better but choosing not to do so because of convenience.

John 19:25-34. Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-149: MAY 29, 2023]

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Patch Aure

On mentoring and giving peace

On mentoring and giving peace

I’ve been very fortunate to be in a continuing opportunity of mentoring and being mentored. This makes my personal and professional life very meaningful.

In mentoring sessions where I am the mentor or the mentee, I appreciate and crave for the moments when we enter a state of both flow and peace. These circumstances are indeed psychologically safe spaces where insights are corrected and developed on top of each other. There is great fulfillment in both understanding something deeper than before or imparting wisdom that may enable another to flourish.

Society needs more of these kinds of authentic spaces. I sometimes lament how extremely consumerist we tend to act – always competing for attention to sell something, or always craving entertainment that delights the senses even if they do not necessarily deepen our understanding of each other and the world.

Schools can and should be these spaces of peace and flow.

John 20:19-23. “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-148: MAY 28, 2023]

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Authenticity means to avoid overstepping

Authenticity means to avoid overstepping

When we feel strongly about something, it’s easy to overstep. In management parlance, we may call this “micromanaging”. In a way, we humans are creatures of beliefs and convictions; we are compelled to act in a way that supports our philosophy.

But authentic practice requires discerning when it is our time to act and when is it time for others to do so. In team sports, this is sometimes called “picking your spots”, especially in moments when the athlete cannot sustain taking over the entire game for long periods of time.

Finding the golden mean requires the willingness to experiment, iterate, and fail. As I colloquially tell my students (I’ve learned from my high school math teachers), there are things in life that need the TAE method – trial-and-error. Life is messy; shitty, even. But we need people who are willing to go through the dirty work (not unethical though).

A lead guitarist who oversteps can break the song; a soulful guitarist who picks their spots can elevate a song into a euphoric experience.

John 21:20-25. “If I want him to live until I come? What concern is it of yours?”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-147: MAY 27, 2023]

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Repetition, indeed, legitimizes

Repetition, indeed, legitimizes

Sometimes (or oftentimes?), we grow tired of hearing the same principles and reminders over and over and over and over again (see what I did there?).

But maybe there is truth in the saying that a person who has practiced something a thousand times is more formidable than a person who once barely scratched the surface of a thousand things.

There are things in life that are indeed worth the grind. The key is for us to discern which is that thing that we are willing to pour repetitive hours over and over and over and over again. Pessimistically, it might seem an absurd Sisyphean task; but optimistically, in faith, the grind can accumulate into opportunities for us to grow and flourish.

John 21:15-19. Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?”

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-146: MAY 26, 2023]

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Authentic second-person practice

Authentic second-person practice

When a new whole emerges that is greater and different from the sum of the whole’s individual parts, do the parts necessarily have to lose their identity?

A true and full team does not mean that their members defer to each other or to their leaders; rather, a true and full team emerges from the authentic second-person practices of their members – that is, the members builds on each other’s insights and performances. And the virtuous accumulation of these enable a true and full team to emerge

The individual identity of the members and the leader do not necessarily have to be subsumed by the team; rather, the team’s collective identity and purpose cyclically feeds into the individual identities of its members and leader. In short, authentic second-person practice should enable both the team and its parts to flourish, whether the flourishing is viewed at a micro, meso, or macro level.

John 17:20-26. And the glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-145: MAY 25, 2023]

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Patch Aure

Communities of practice

Communities of practice

Today, I attended the full-day Seminar-Workshop on Academic Practice at Philippine Normal University. The culminating module is about building communities of practice that can help transform the higher education landscape of the country.

Different disciplines and institutions are highly contextual. We have our own challenges to face, our own “truths” and experiences to articulate and manage.

But hopefully, we can cultivate various communities of practice that can really transcend silos and improve the education landscape of our country.

John 17:11B-19. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 2023-144: MAY 24, 2023]

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