Jonathan Mills

I am passionate about …

With an overriding sense of the dignity of the human being, a deep respect for cultural and individual distinctives and an optimistic understanding of the potential and creativity of people, I have focused my writing and facilitation in workshops that I have conducted on drawing out the very best in people. Given the right environment and with a good measure of encouragement, humans typically respond creatively and intelligently – they just need to be stretched – and often end with results that even surpass their own expectations.

I call this “A – E” stretch. “A – B” is so boring and requires little or no thinking, small amounts of energy and minimal team work, and subsequently a result producing no real satisfaction. “A – E” people dynamics requires “out-of-the-box” thinking, energy focused appropriately and a deep desire to leave an impact. It demands a willingness to listen, to find value in the opinions of others, to be open to change and to move out of comfort zones. It requires “stretch”!

An elastic band serves no real purpose in an un-stretched state, however, it does reach its real potential when stretched almost to the limit – the potential of holding things together and binding them tightly. People, also, are most impactful when stretched – stretching people makes a difference.

Many organisations never reach their real potential because they don’t manage to focus their people on their strategy, are unaware of how to channel available energy on the most important matters and dismally fail at engaging their staff, thus not using available creativity appropriately in the organisation. The people “asset” is not seen as such – usually viewed as an expense, with resultant productivity and profitability problems.

Organisations can achieve so much more if organisational managers would lead their people with passion, wisdom and an engagement spark that fundamentally involves employees in the essence of business creation. All employees want to be valued and appreciated, recognised for real contribution and encouraged by their direct managers. I focus on establishing these kinds of stretch environments in organisations, thus unleashing organisational potential.

During electoral campaigns, promises are made, hope is given and marketing money is spent to secure the votes of perhaps millions of people to ensure political presence, party victory and ultimately, position for some in the soon-to-be-ruling government of the day. The promises are often short-lived, however, as much of the pre-election energy is now converted into energy to retain power. Although the responsibility of nation-building is profoundly the responsibility of every citizen, governments (civil servants and politicians) have a unique role to play in growing the nation, extending its reach and delivering a seamless service to its people. This typically is not delivered effectively and efficiently, resulting in dissatisfaction and anger.

The skill of managing a country’s administrative affairs with the thousands of people that are employed to do so is no small task – leadership ability is paramount if results are to be achieved. I am passionate about achieving the alignment and leadership developmental processes needed in government to make service delivery a probability, not just a possibility. “Resources applied appropriately” is the fundamental stretch for governments around the world if they are going to impact their respective citizens positively.

• Facilitating – I spend most of my time facilitating developmental workshops around the world
• Writing - I have written four books and blog weekly (www.stretchforgrowth.com)
• Conference Speaking – typically on leadership dynamics, emotional intelligence and employee engagement
• Consulting – dialoguing with senior management on issues pertaining to organisational effectiveness
• Coaching – spending time with managers and supervisors to achieve leadership impact