230 | Potential Unleashed: Mastering Human Dynamics with Chief Culture Officer Pam August

Art of Consulting Podcast

Introduction:

• Kat introduces Pam August, founder and president of Connecting Potentials, as a visionary leader in the realm of organizational development and consulting.

Pillars of Pam's Work:

• Pam's approach revolves around three fundamental pillars: organizational development, team effectiveness, and relationship systems.

• She emphasizes strategy and culture alignment within organizations, highlighting the importance of coaching and embodied development practices like yoga and mindfulness.

Insights into Human Systems:

• Human systems are complex and adaptive, unlike technical systems, making them unpredictable and emergent.

• Pam discusses the challenges of change management, citing examples of how humans resist change due to the metabolic cost of active thought and action.

Compliance vs. Commitment:

• Pam distinguishes between compliance, complacency, and commitment, illustrating how different approaches yield different results.

• She shares anecdotes about compliance, complacency, and commitment in various contexts, emphasizing the importance of engaging individuals to build commitment.

Navigating Organizational Culture:

• Pam delves into the unconscious, implicit, and invisible aspects of organizational culture, stressing the need to make unconscious biases and assumptions conscious.

• She advocates for intentional team dynamics, where roles and contributions are made explicit and visible to foster collaboration and alignment.

Unveiling Potential: Pam introduces her forthcoming book, emphasizing the inherent capacity for exponential impact within individuals, teams, and cultures. She highlights the interconnectedness of personal and collective potential, setting the stage for a deeper exploration.

The Three Pillars of Action: Pam unveils three foundational actions—intend, notice, and move—as catalysts for navigating dynamic environments. Through intentionality and acute awareness, individuals and teams can drive meaningful progress towards desired outcomes.

Intention vs. Outcome: Drawing a clear distinction between intention and outcome, Pam underscores the importance of aligning personal intentions with collective objectives. By setting intentions grounded in purpose and embodying desired states of being, individuals can foster authentic connection and collaboration.

Meta Skills and Collective Intentions: Pam introduces the concept of meta skills as amplified intentions, transcending individual agendas to shape collective experiences. By fostering shared intentions and meta skills, teams can cultivate a cohesive culture of engagement and alignment.

The Power of Noticing: Through a compelling anecdote, Pam illustrates the transformative impact of acute awareness in team dynamics. By actively noticing underlying patterns and implicit barriers, individuals can initiate meaningful dialogue and catalyze positive change.

Purpose-driven Vision: Addressing challenges in articulating mission and vision, Pam emphasizes the importance of grounding organizational goals in purpose. Rather than fixating on semantics, individuals and startups can align their actions with core values, fostering organic growth and evolution.

Unpacking Potential: A Deep Dive

Pam elaborates on the narrative journey within her upcoming book, "Potential: How to Connect What's Already There for Exponential Impact." Through storytelling, she guides readers in shifting their mindset from focusing on problems to recognizing and harnessing potential. Pam emphasizes understanding the human operating systems and capacity to act, feel, and think, supported by insights from neuroscience.

Dimensions of Connection:

She outlines experiences of disconnection characterized by strain, swirl, or being stuck, contrasting with the state of connection marked by energy, ease, and effectiveness. Pam introduces the practice of "intend, notice, and move" as a transformative tool, backed by behavioral and neuroscience principles, and shares practical applications through storytelling in all three dimensions.

Building Tools for Exploration:

Pam discusses the inclusion of various tools in the book to empower readers in their exploration journey further. These tools aim to facilitate deeper understanding and application of the concepts discussed.

Where to Find More:

Listeners are directed to Pam's website, connectingpotential.ca, where they can access additional resources and information about the book. "Potential" by Pam August is available on Amazon, and Pam welcomes inquiries and engagement on LinkedIn. Conclusion:

Kat and Pam reflect on the challenges of integrating these practices into organizational culture, underscoring the long-term benefits of investing in alignment and commitment upfront to avoid rework and misalignment later on. As the conversation unfolds, Pam and Kat illuminate the transformative potential of intentionality and action, inviting listeners to embrace a journey of self-discovery and collective empowerment. By navigating the interplay between intention and manifestation, individuals can unlock their inherent capacity for exponential impact and cultivate thriving cultures of collaboration and innovation. The host expresses gratitude for the insightful discussion and looks forward to further exploration. Pam acknowledges the synergistic nature of their conversation, highlighting the unique insights generated through collaboration. About Our Guest Today:

Pam August guides organizations, teams, and leaders to unlock the potential that is already there for transformational results. She was the director of culture activation at WestJet, one of Canada’s most admired corporate cultures, where for fourteen years she was a fierce champion and developer of people and culture as a key enabler of strategic success. Today, she is a trusted partner for high-performance organizations around the world through her firm, Connecting Potential. With deep and diverse experience, she knows what it takes to uncover, align, and activate the best of what organizations already offer and what they can develop into. Pam is a sought-after speaker, facilitator, coach, and co creator with a strong foundation of lifelong learning. She has a Bachelor of Adult Education, a Master of Arts in Leadership, and is certified as an Organization and Relationships Systems (ORSC) and brain-based coach. Pam takes pleasure in solving tricky problems, listening deeply, learning always, and laughing—a lot.