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I'm thinking about...

Lest we forget

25/4/2020

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These are deeply human-centered  times. 

​Despite physical distancing in our immediate environments, there is growing global social connectedness and sharing of the most personal of human experiences. Paradoxically, i
n many ways it has been and continues to be an entirely personal experience. We can't assume we understand what's happening for others.

Grief - Loneliness - Anxiety - Fear - Joy - Doubt - Overwhelm -Living with Paradoxes and Questions (you can add your own here...).
For some it's been an "exciting" time, embracing opportunity.
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For me it's been a part pause, part re-design and re-frame time. Living with the paradox of needing to work and the desire to embrace this opportunity to pause and consider what a better, kinder more collaborative future might look like and how I can add value in turning those possibilities into realities. 

On a personal note, it's also been a time of intentionality - managing my own emotions and anxieties. Nineteen years ago, during this same period, our family were in isolation in a different way - supporting my eldest through his cancer treatment bone marrow transplant. It was a roller-coaster ride and after a five-year journey Jahan lost his battle and died in 2001. In just a few weeks would have been his 27th birthday. These days, as a volunteer hospice biographer, I am around grief and the dying a fair bit. It's not an uncomfortable subject for me. Now, as I remember and reflect on the nature of grief, my grief intermingles with the grief of others, unknown to me personally, across the world. Part of me wants to run away from the suffering and part of me knows that this is important, I can learn from this and I can use it to help others to have a voice.   
 
Today, on ANZAC day, again we remember together. There were no parades or formal gatherings, but there were gatherings of a different sort - bringing together thoughts and experiences of the deepest and most personal nature across our nation.




Quite a few of our neighbours woke early to pay their respects together. Like others, we stood at the end of drives in the pre-dawn darkness, in silence. My husband, Tim played the last post on his flute and someone nearby was playing it on a trumpet, which ended up being like a sort of echo. In the darkness, it was really poignant - especially with our recently widowed neighbour on her drive across the road in front of us. Grief right there staring at us. I got up to record Tim and ended up having a totally unexpected special reflective experience.

A deeply personal yet collective experience. It would be remiss of us not to take some space, in these unprecedented times, to pause and reflect and really consider what a better, kinder future might look like.

We know there is much that is unknown -  any and all models are incomplete and subjective - but we know the future will be different. In part, we can choose what that might look like and whatever that might be - I am confident "collaboration" is going to be integral to moving forward.  I am also aware that some people are thinking, let's wait until we are all together, but that might well be some time away and we would be missing a unique opportunity.  My take is - let's prepare together now, so we are ready to deliver a kinder, better, more collaborative new future. 

A wise person I know said recently, "People will be remembered for what they did during these times" - what do you want to be remembered for?

What we do now (as ever) - matters. 

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​Copyright ©2020 Nazanin Jenkin Ltd. | www.nazaninjenkin.com | [email protected] | +64 21 478253
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Content vs. Connection

9/4/2020

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Photo by Linus Nylund from Unspalsh

(originally posted on LinkedIn late 2019...but totally relevant right now, in the midst of a pandemic!)

Some stuff I've been thinking about ~

We all learn and grow through our life experiences - well, if we pay attention and are intentional about capturing the learning and then really grappling with what to do with that learning.

As we mature in our experiences and delivery (or as someone recently described me, morph into a person who "artfully mixes stuff!"), I think this is when we move head knowledge into our heart and allow stuff to flow through us, rather than from us.

​This is when we are comfortable to slow down, pull back on content and give space for something great to happen, which is well beyond any individual!


Copyright ©2020 Nazanin Jenkin Ltd. | www.nazaninjenkin.com |[email protected] | + 64 21 478253
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COMPLIMENTARY MASTERCLASS APPETISERS            ​

9/4/2020

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I hosted a one hour zoom complimentary Collaboration 101 Masterclass Appetiser last week.

The lighting was meh, the mic was okay – but the conversation….well, that was                                                                       GREAT!
Ngā mihi to those that joined in.

​Here's what folk said about the
1 April Masterclass Appetiser session ...

I am energised!
I love the set up and models - lots in them.
You identify collaborative principles; and, a set of behaviours and skills that sit well under them.
Lots of opportunity here - both for service delivery and policy development.
The alignment with leadership, culture and Te Ao Māori values resonates very well.
Love the metaphors! Really make sense.
There is a clear trajectory between issues and solutions.
A number of good new ideas in terms of setting up and operating a collaborative initiative.
Because the set up has clarity, there is more opportunity to be effective and deliver outcomes.
Here's why this is a really important wānanga for right now...

The decision to collaborate and work together across traditional boundaries sets the strategic intent and strategic direction.

Extreme events, such as the Christchurch Earthquake and a Global Pandemic are burning platforms that bring specialists, service delivery providers and policy developers together with a particular focus. A coalition of the willing, working together towards an agreed collaborative strategic intent - often in an intensive, time limited manner. 

We can learn from these events, but replicating the specifics is unlikely to be sustainable for long-term change.


In New Zealand, the  Wellbeing Budget provides a strategic long-term direction with an explicit collaboration agenda, that goes wider. There are mega opportunities that will need our attention even more intentionally post the COVID-19 crisis.

Climate change, regional economic opportunities, population health and inequities, child poverty, sexual abuse are some of the many complex opportunities facing us. We can prepare now, to build capability and create environments where we can innovate, together, for the post-pandemic future. 

It is evident that putting the words “collaboration”, “collaborative working” or similar in a strategy document or on a post-it sticker in a workshop generally leads to no more than talk about the latest “buzzword” from which no real change results!

So how do we close the gap between what is now essentially a popular buzzword and working together?

Collaboration as a business discipline is something deeper, more complex and an entirely new approach that requires new competencies.


In my Collaboration 101 Masterclasses, I bring together many years of experience and research - simply.

I help position you to be the next success story.


Next complimentary one hour virtual "appetiser" session
Wednesday, 29 April, 12.30-1.30pm. 
Email me or comment below with "yes" and I'll send you the meeting ID/password (you don't need to have a Zoom account).


Would love to have you join us.

ps I now have some new lighting, a new mic and other stuff to improve the experience!!! We're all improvisers and experimenting together 😀

Copyright ©2020 Nazanin Jenkin Ltd. | www.nazaninjenkin.com | [email protected] | +64 21 478253
He waka eke noa
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Community & Connectedness

7/4/2020

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Picture by Clint Adair from Unsplash
We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell
We are finding community and connectedness in the midst of lockdown isolation.

On our daily local walk with the dog yesterday, we saw a few folk - not many, as we try to go when it's quiet. Everyone was careful to adjust their route and keep appropriate distances. But, most made an effort to shout out a greeting, smile, nod their head or raise their eyebrows! A recognition of my humanity and yours. A shared moment of connectedness that was meaningful.

There was healing and love in that connection. Everyone is hungry for connection and belonging - always. This is more evident now than ever.

Hubby said, "It feels like the "old" New Zealand" and shared stories of his childhood in the South Island. I shared stories of whānau gatherings in the midst of the curfew of the Iranian Revolution.
We've been married thirty years, yet our moments of connectedness with (mostly) strangers, led us to deeper connection with each other.

I don't think we can emphasise the importance of connectedness and community enough during life's extreme journeys. Chaos, grief, change and times of urgency - when the "burning platform" is close and in our face - are all times when connection becomes critical. Be it in our personal lives or our business world - the need for community, connection and belonging are constant.

We're heading into the third week of lockdown. So let's be intentional about going beyond self and connecting.

Being intentional: Pick up the phone, send a text, message someone, host a virtual gathering - do what you can. I am focusing on service for my clients, hosting virtual small group gatherings for my peers and reaching out to my loved ones - here and across the world. Everyone needs connection: let's be here for each other.
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Daily Rhythms: For me, the work day is shorter and more focused. My focus is adding value where I can (often that just means listening) and work projects (my first book and virtual/online delivery options). I am also being intentional about daily exercise, eating well (nailed homemade sourdough!) and finding moments of stillness to reflect and be present. Mostly, I'm out of my comfort zone and it's not easy, but it's rewarding and exciting to practice in new arenas.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. Joseph Campbell
I read an article from a home detention officer, who said week three can be a hump week. I seem to remember a similar conversation during my son's 8 week isolation of   bone marrow transplant.

How are you finding ways to connect and manage your daily rhythm during lockdown? What's helping?
​
Share it with us in the comments and let your light shine!

I truely believe there are opportunities to thrive. History is full of examples of innovations at time of constraints (e.g. Sir Issac Newton during the Great Plague). In collaborative design - we know innovations are at the margins, rather than BAU but it's likely that BAU as we knew it is the past.

So we need to be Collaborative Futures Thinking - NOW.

Ngā manaakitanga, Nazanin
Copyright ©2020 Nazanin Jenkin Ltd. | www.nazaninjenkin.com | [email protected] | +64 21 478253
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    Nazanin's Musings

    Nazanin jenkin

    Nazanin Jenkin
    is a Persian Kiwi - a Persian by descent and a diaspora by circumstance. She lives in New Zealand; along with her husband of over thirty years and two surviving, adult children. 
    Nazanin believes the key to unlocking untapped solutions and hope for mankind is for us to be willing to work collaboratively, across all kinds of differences - silos, sectors, cultures and disciplines.
    ​She is on a mission to build a collaborative movement that delivers shared value.

    The future may be uncertain, but one thing is for sure - success is dependent on learning to work together!

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