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Yvonne Thevenot: Foundations of Leadership

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

“Say what you mean
Mean what you say.
And do what you say you’re going to do.”
Barbara Coloroso

One of the most sincere and principled leaders I had the privilege of working with used the above quote as part of his personal brand. It rattles through my head from time to time along with the ghosts of leaders past and reminds me in a back-to-the-basics way, how simple some foundations of leadership trust can be.

Delivery of feedback is a tricky thing in building trust. The selection of words, the tone, the receiver’s state of mind. And yet, when delivered genuinely, with heartfelt intent and space to be safe, there can be so much room for imprecision, and intent truly can and does shine through. I remind myself, leaders are humans too!

So, my note this morning is to my leaders, both today and those ghosts of leaders past.

Thank you for these little whispers of wisdom that pop into my mind and heart when I need them most.
Thank you for trusting me enough to share your feedback – even if the delivery was not as finessed as you’d have liked.
And thank you for being open to my response, as human and unpredictable as it might have been.

Keep up the great work, and keep being you!

Yvonne Thevenot

Yvonne Thevenot: From FOMO to FOGO to….

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

Fear of Missing Out… A newish acronym associated with social media, but truly has been around as long as kids have been picking sides for baseball, or one group got to go hunting while the other stayed home to help. Of course, it doesn’t just apply to children – every day it sparks motivation in adults to join Club(houses), to gather Apples, and to take on 10-day picture posting challenges.

Fear of Going Out… Ok, I admit it. When I see someone without a mask, I just can’t help the “Hey You” reaction in my brain, heart and stomach. And when I see the CUTE little baby next door, I catch my breath and abruptly take 2 steps back instead of doing what every fibre of my soul wants to do but lean in and smell that baby smile.

Fear is powerful motivator. Fear of action, fear of inaction. And eventually that fear takes its toll. People get tired, worn to a place that sleep doesn’t solve, and even the acts of renewal – nature, reading, song and dance – don’t scrub the fear away… unless… we reframe, we relearn, we reinvent. Add to that some amazing support networks to make happen…to listen, to encourage, to champion, to check in.

So here’s my hope…. from FOMO to FOGO…to YOLO… just for YOU….

Yvonne Thevenot: Leaders – Feedback Might Last a Lifetime

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

You laugh too loud. You smile too much. You need to wear makeup.

This is real feedback I received at different times in my career. Each was genuine, framed in behavioural change, and carried business rationale. As a career oriented young adult, I adapted.

You laugh too loud – it was “startling” and impacted customers. I was offered professional help. I conceded that now being aware, I would keep it in check – thank you for telling me.

You smile too much – apparently my smile made me appear flighty and insincere. This woman-to-woman feedback was offered …anonymously… via 360 feedback exercise. As I debriefed the feedback I learned the source and thus how I knew it was another woman – thank you for telling me.

You need to wear makeup. This led to a corporate paid professional coach who also guided me to “act like a woman, think like a man, work like a dog”. I was truly appreciative of the investment and feedback especially if this was going to hold me back from a corporate career – thank you for telling me.

Maybe, the world is starting to change? For reflection: leaders – feedback might last a lifetime; young people – feedback, regardless how hurtful and inappropriate it might be, can still have grains of value.

Yvonne Thevenot

Change Management | Mentoring | Strategy Development & Implementation

#saturdaymorningmusings #feedback #leadershiplesson

Yvonne Thevenot: Leaders, just say “yes”, ok?

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

Let’s face it. People are tired. In many communities across Canada we have had a week of added restrictions, and the holiday season we were allowing ourselves to believe might be a version of “normal” slipping from sight.

One very real challenge with change leadership is that the silence of resignation, and the flat responses of apathy, can be mistaken for change adoption. This is particularly valid when we are interacting primarily through channels that do not provide the full context that “the whites of their eyes” might provide.

So, this week’s homework, leaders, is to just say yes. Not “yes but”, not “maybe just give me three alternatives and a recommendation”, just “yes”. There is nothing more energizing in a workplace than the support that comes from a calm and confident “yes”. And if you are really feeling the moment “Yes, what a great idea”, “Yes, how can I help?”, “Yes, and what else have you been thinking about?”. For the elite players out there, ready to level up, try it at home too!

I just can’t wait to hear your stories of discovery and adventure that arise from just saying “yes”. ‘

 

#saturdaymorningmusings #leadership #storytelling #justsayyes #changefatigue #resilienceatwork #success #unleashthepotential

Yvonne Thevenot: There is no “back” in this “back to school”

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

 

I remember Grade 9 back to school the most. Four feeder schools to the high school 20 miles down the road. My parents had this tradition that we were given $100 for school clothes. Growing up, Mom bought our clothes, and then at about age 11 we started babysitting or took odd jobs to earn spending money. So $100 just like that – be sure that fall and winter Sears catalogue would magically open in the same spot after hours of research calculating endless combinations of jeans, sweaters, sneakers. Uncertainty, excitement….and plain old unacknowledged, unspoken fear. Would I fit in? Would I stand out? Would I care either way?

Now. Take all those feelings and geometrically multiply them across every kid, every parent, every teacher, every school. Will I stay healthy? What kind of mask will others be wearing? What if others don’t follow the rules?

Let’s face it. This back to school and the points of uncertainty and fear have real life consequences.

So, let’s ask “How was your day?” like never before. Listen to every word spoken, and those that are not. And wrap our hearts around those kids without the “back in my day”. There simply was no “back in your day” like this one.

 

Yvonne Thevenot: Coach, Mentor, Change Advocate

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Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 1999

The Class of 1999 was the first to cross the stage to receive the prestigious MBA(FS)degree.  Eighteen years have passed and over 1,000 have graduated since that inaugural class. We hold a special significance for beginnings and for those individuals who were “there” when is all began.

Yvonne Thevenot, a graduate in the Class of 1999, is a role model, coach, mentor and relentless advocate when it comes to business effectiveness, change management and performance excellence. Her consulting practice draws on extensive first-hand experience in change management as a sponsor of change, business lead and change manager at both strategic and tactical levels.  Expertise in business to business relationship management stems from her Prairies roots in agricultural lending and has extended through banking, wealth management, insurance – and more recently the hip-hop music industry as unpaid on-call support to her son’s burgeoning studio.  With degrees from both the University of Manitoba and Dalhousie University, her passion for learning contributes to professional designations as a Professional Agrologist, a Certified Financial Planner, a certified mentor and an accredited change manager from two different global organizations.

And what does she do for fun?  Now that her children Shea and Jared have (mostly) moved out, Yvonne enjoys all types of sporting events, theatre, concerts and the best of what Toronto has to offer for entertainment.  She participates on the board of global change management and mentoring associations and participates annually in raising funds for cancer research, with personal fundraising exceeding $50,000.  Oh!  And she loves her motorbike, even though she and her partner Ian do not spend as much time on them as they would like.

In a recent virtual interview, Yvonne reflects back to her MBA(FS) years.

How did the MBA influence my choices and decisions?

Whenever I am asked “What did you learn in your MBA?”, my response is always the same….  Time management!  At the core of being successful in my MBA was learning how to juggle the course load of two programs (the Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers as well as the MBA requirements), a developing career, a young family (my children were 10 and 5 at the time), and community involvement.  I learned to choose how much time to spend on assignments and achieve satisfactory marks, how to choose activities with my children that were important to them and our relationship, and how to let go of things that perhaps really didn’t matter as much as I might have once thought.

How would you encourage others to seek more education?

Not only through my MBA, but also in other continuing education that I have pursued, I am an advocate for the incredible number of opportunities that exist out there. In today’s rapidly evolving world, education is critical to staying fresh and engaged.  The choices of topics are wider than ever before and the methods for delivery can be suited to almost any lifestyle.

Many of our first graduates are retiring.  How can we engage in life-long learning as we transition into a new reality?

Education comes in many forms.  Life-long learning can be drawn from a more traditional academic setting; from ad hoc learning that can be gained from a conference, workshop or speaker; or one of my favorite ways – through mentoring.  In particular, for people who have committed careers to an organization and are now transitioning to retirement, the choices are richer than ever before:  take a class, sign-up for a guest lecture, or pursue mentoring relationships where you “gain” as much as you “give”.

How do you integrate creativity within a structured environment?

This is such an interesting question.  Three recent items have reminded me how important creativity as part of the “full-brain” balance of a structured environment:  1. Through LinkedIn I recently connected with a fellow who integrates extensive experience in the theatre into his consulting engagements with business; 2. There is a change management workshop that uses Lego as its framework and learning tool; 3. I attended a brainstorming session with a major consulting firm where the vision board output was a collective mind-map of symbols and designs to capture the essence of the discussion in a vibrant and energetic way.  These types of activities remind me that integrating creativity can be done easily and fluidly in almost any environment.  Personally, I have used music, drawing, crayons and markers, various styles of brainstorming, games, and all sorts of “play” to integrate creativity…at the root of this though is key factors such as physical movement, the establishment of a safe learning environment, and being prepared to lead by diving in to get things started.

What next?

I am intrigued by blockchain.  I push myself to use a digital payments card.  I try to listen to as much new music as I do “oldies and goodies”.  I hang out with people of all ages, all walks of life, extensive career paths, wide-ranging interests, and am curious and interested about their lives.  I tap into others interests to help me see the world in new ways.  My children have taught me about music, and computers, and pop culture, and new careers, and new ways of looking at the world and relationships and ideas.  Every day is a surprise, and I try to approach it with that kind of an attitude of discovery and joy… and by trying – it pretty much always works out that way, so how cool is that?

From the CEGE Connection Archives:  First published November 14, 2017

Mary Parker Follett: Final Thoughts for the Year 2018

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“More than one hundred years after the publication of her first book in 1896, Mary P. Follett (1868–1933) remains one of our preeminent thinkers about democracy and social organization. Without the benefit of modern research methods, Follett developed such original, penetrating analyses of leadership, power and authority, conflict, and group behavior that her ideas form the basis of much of our modern discourse about organizations and management.”

Tonn, P. J. C. (2003). Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management [Kindle iOS version Location 113].

The New State by Mary Parker Follett

The New State by Mary Parker Follett

The New State by Mary Parker Follett is not an easy read.  The concepts presented within the pages of a book published 100 years ago, continues to inspire us to think deeply and consider individual responsibility within a group dynamic.

Mary Parker Follett’s greatest gift was her ability to listen intently to everyone, irrespective of their “position” in society – factory workers, shop girls, or presidents of large corporations.  She believed that every voice counted – and it was not lip service. She was above all a determined pragmatist with a philosophy that we can organize our lives and institutions so that everyone can contribute.  While we may consider this rather optimistic, I have seen glimpses of this possibility.  We live in a world that thrives on complexity, but I believe that resilience comes when individuals participate in a greater, more inclusive, conversation.

As we prepare to welcome a New Year, the last word belongs to a woman who passionately believed in the reality of integrating the diversity of cultures for the greater good. Mary Parker Follett valued differences, maintaining that together we gain strength and renewal, as individuals, as groups, as a society.

To complete our series on Mary Parker Follett, I am joined by Annie Giraudou, MBS(FS)Class of 2007 and Yvonne Thevenot  MBA(FS) Class of 2001, who have been following Dr. McLarney’s series on Mary Parker Follett.

Rebecca Budd
Editor & Blog Coordinator
CEGE Connection

Annie Giraudou:

I have enjoyed reading “The New State” by Mary Parker Follett. I find I must take time to reflect on the ideas brought forth. One phrase stands out for me “There is a need for competent leaders and a need for competent group members”.  We are seeing more research and novels focusing on the need for “followers”; emphasis being that we cannot all be leaders and that someone must effectively do the work.  This is directly related to the obligation as a member to take that position seriously and contribute to the success of the team; not just the leader, but the entire team.  I am seeing similar views on the extrovert versus introvert position.  Could there be something to more Eastern cultures who favour “introversion” and team member contribution?  Unbelievably, this question of requiring both types to make an efficient team and society was put to paper 100 years ago by Mary Parker Follett!  Maybe it is about time we looked at all types to create a more balanced society.

Yvonne Thevenot:

It is fascinating in business to see the emergence of “Agile” implementation framed as a new concept for organizing structures. Or in change management the idea of “listening posts” or “Ask Me Anything” sessions… This discussion and highlighting key aspects of the work from such a prominent thinker as Mary Parker Follett through the practical today’s language of Dr. McLarney truly demonstrates to me how long it takes for societal change to truly evolve. Thank you for sharing!

Mary Parker Follett 1868 - 1933

Mary Parker Follett 1868 – 1933

 

“The most successful leader of all is the one who sees another picture not yet actualized. He sees the things which are not yet there… Above all, he should make his co-workers see that it is not his purpose which is to be achieved, but a common purpose, born of the desires and the activities of the group.”

Mary Parker Follett

 

 

Yvonne Thevenot: Coach, Mentor, Change Advocate

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Yvonne Thevenot

The Class of 1999 was the first to cross the stage to receive the prestigious MBA(FS)degree.  Eighteen years have passed and over 1,000 have graduated since that inaugural class. We hold a special significance for beginnings and for those individuals who were “there” when is all began.

Yvonne Thevenot, a graduate in the Class of 1999, is a role model, coach, mentor and relentless advocate when it comes to business effectiveness, change management and performance excellence. Her consulting practice draws on extensive first-hand experience in change management as a sponsor of change, business lead and change manager at both strategic and tactical levels.  Expertise in business to business relationship management stems from her Prairies roots in agricultural lending and has extended through banking, wealth management, insurance – and more recently the hip-hop music industry as unpaid on-call support to her son’s burgeoning studio.  With degrees from both the University of Manitoba and Dalhousie University, her passion for learning contributes to professional designations as a Professional Agrologist, a Certified Financial Planner, a certified mentor and an accredited change manager from two different global organizations.

And what does she do for fun?  Now that her children Shea and Jared have (mostly) moved out, Yvonne enjoys all types of sporting events, theatre, concerts and the best of what Toronto has to offer for entertainment.  She participates on the board of global change management and mentoring associations and participates annually in raising funds for cancer research, with personal fundraising exceeding $50,000.  Oh!  And she loves her motorbike, even though she and her partner Ian do not spend as much time on them as they would like.

In a recent virtual interview, Yvonne reflects back to her MBA(FS) years.

How did the MBA influence my choices and decisions?

Whenever I am asked “What did you learn in your MBA?”, my response is always the same….  Time management!  At the core of being successful in my MBA was learning how to juggle the course load of two programs (the Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers as well as the MBA requirements), a developing career, a young family (my children were 10 and 5 at the time), and community involvement.  I learned to choose how much time to spend on assignments and achieve satisfactory marks, how to choose activities with my children that were important to them and our relationship, and how to let go of things that perhaps really didn’t matter as much as I might have once thought.

How would you encourage others to seek more education?

Not only through my MBA, but also in other continuing education that I have pursued, I am an advocate for the incredible number of opportunities that exist out there. In today’s rapidly evolving world, education is critical to staying fresh and engaged.  The choices of topics are wider than ever before and the methods for delivery can be suited to almost any lifestyle.

Many of our first graduates are retiring.  How can we engage in life-long learning as we transition into a new reality?

Education comes in many forms.  Life-long learning can be drawn from a more traditional academic setting; from ad hoc learning that can be gained from a conference, workshop or speaker; or one of my favorite ways – through mentoring.  In particular, for people who have committed careers to an organization and are now transitioning to retirement, the choices are richer than ever before:  take a class, sign-up for a guest lecture, or pursue mentoring relationships where you “gain” as much as you “give”.

How do you integrate creativity within a structured environment?

This is such an interesting question.  Three recent items have reminded me how important creativity as part of the “full-brain” balance of a structured environment:  1. Through LinkedIn I recently connected with a fellow who integrates extensive experience in the theatre into his consulting engagements with business; 2. There is a change management workshop that uses Lego as its framework and learning tool; 3. I attended a brainstorming session with a major consulting firm where the vision board output was a collective mind-map of symbols and designs to capture the essence of the discussion in a vibrant and energetic way.  These types of activities remind me that integrating creativity can be done easily and fluidly in almost any environment.  Personally, I have used music, drawing, crayons and markers, various styles of brainstorming, games, and all sorts of “play” to integrate creativity…at the root of this though is key factors such as physical movement, the establishment of a safe learning environment, and being prepared to lead by diving in to get things started.

What next?

I am intrigued by blockchain.  I push myself to use a digital payments card.  I try to listen to as much new music as I do “oldies and goodies”.  I hang out with people of all ages, all walks of life, extensive career paths, wide-ranging interests, and am curious and interested about their lives.  I tap into others interests to help me see the world in new ways.  My children have taught me about music, and computers, and pop culture, and new careers, and new ways of looking at the world and relationships and ideas.  Every day is a surprise, and I try to approach it with that kind of an attitude of discovery and joy… and by trying – it pretty much always works out that way, so how cool is that?

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