Everyone has heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect”. You might imagine how this phrase applies to a budding pianist preparing for an upcoming recital. See how they repeat a section over and over; they will do this until they are able to perform the musical piece full tempo, without a hitch. You might also think about an athlete that you admire and how much time they must have put into mastering the skills which got them to the prominent stage they compete on. Jose Bautista, resident slugger for the Toronto Blue Jays, is an athlete of late that has put in his fair share of time practicing. He has managed to rise from a relatively unknown player in the world of Major League Baseball to winning back-to-back Hank Aaron awards. His story is an example of how practice does indeed make (near) perfect but, more importantly, illustrates the enormous impact that a good coach can have on an individual’s performance.
La Práctica hace al Maestro by Mike Mazur
Todos hemos escuchado el dicho “La práctica hace al maestro”. Tal vez te puedas imaginar como esta frase se le pudiera aplicar a un pianista que se esta preparando para un recital. El pianista repite una sección de la partitura una y otra vez; ellos hacen esto hasta que puedan tocar la pieza musical sin ningún obstáculo. También podrías pensar en algún atleta que tu admires y cuanto tiempo deben de invertir en perfeccionar su técnica que los ha llevado a esa etapa tan prominente en la cual ellos compiten. El dominicano José Bautista, pelotero de los residentes de los Azulejos de Toronto, es un atleta que se ha desempeñado en su entrenamiento. Ha conseguido pasar de ser un jugador relativamente desconocido en el mundo de las grandes ligas de Béisbol a ganar consecutivamente los premios Hank Aaron. Su historia es un ejemplo de cómo la práctica efectivamente, te hace (casi) perfecto, pero, lo más importante aún, muestra el enorme
Conectividad a través de Areitos: El Panal Cultural de las Compañías, por Lisette Reyes-Paulino
Hace poco tiempo, todo el personal de The Refinery se junto en Vancouver para lo que se puede describir como “el gran encuentro ”, reuniendo a toda la comunidad global de The Refinery. La razón de esta reunión en el año nuevo fue para profundizar nuestras prácticas, compartir y discutir las metas de dicha asociación. Después de este asombroso retiro, decididí tomar la conectividad como algo serio, especialmente ya que este tema surgió bastante en nuestras discusiones. Hubo momentos en el cual este tema tuvo apariciones estelares, ya que se mencionaban palabras como; identidad, compromiso, compañeros, responsabilidad, relación con el cliente Y esos solo son algunos ejemplos que se me vienen a la mente! En otras ocasiones la conectividad era implícitamente evidente a través de nuestro lenguaje corporal mostrado. Al terminar las pláticas serias sobre los negocios, tuvimos la oportunidad de comer, tomar y bailar. La declaración que continua puede ser audaz, sin embargo pienso que la conectividad en el
Connectedness through Areitos: The Honeycomb of a Company’s Culture, by Lisette Reyes-Paulino
Not too long ago, the whole Refinery crew got together in Vancouver for what can only be described as ‘a big deal’, bringing together our entire global team. We came together to explore our practice, and share and discuss goals in the New Year. I decided to take connectedness very seriously after this amazing retreat, particularly upon noticing how it emerged so strongly in our discussions. Sometimes it made stellar appearance explicitly through spoken words such as engagement, identity, buddy, accountability, client relationships, and those are just the ones at top of mind right now! Other times, probably most of it, connectedness was implicitly communicated through our body language. As bold as this statement may sound, I think that connectedness at the retreat, after the serious business was finished and we had the chance to eat, drink and dance, was most meaningful when our minds and bodies merged and, to some extent, let themselves become one with the ‘music’. Myself, being somewhat
2012 Enterprising Women of the Year Award
We are proud to announce our very own Barbara Ross-Denroche as a winner of the 2012 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards! The annual award recognizes the finest women entrepreneurs around the globe, and we at The Refinery could not be more excited to see Barb’s recognition from such a prestigious program for women business owners. Barb’s commitment to growth at The Refinery, her leadership in the community, and her dedication to giving back to support other women in business has distinguished her amongst hundreds of other nominees around the world. Her founding principles have and continue to be a commitment to building a values based firm which can be attributed to her success. The Refinery was recognized as one of two Canadian organizations to receive the award falling into the category for over $1 million and up to $5 million in annual sales revenues. Congratulations Barb! For more information about the awards visit Enterprising Women: http://www.enterprisingwomen.com/EWofYearAwards_2012.htm
Mount Rushmore by Night, by Stephanie Enns
Recently, after finishing a successful week on a new pilot program with one of our fantastic partner clients in South Dakota, David, Lisa, and I drove 45 minutes out of our way to check out Mount Rushmore. The sun was setting as we headed off into the Black Hills region. By the time we arrived, we were surrounded by total darkness, the kind of darkness only found well beyond any municipal area. Even the light of the full moon wasn’t enough to provide anything more than a view of a dark rocky mountain. So the answer is no, Mt. Rushmore is not lit up at night. We had a good laugh and travelled on, thinking at least we had a good story to tell. Why is it that sometimes, we can encounter adversity and just laugh? Other times, it can be much more of a struggle. How do we build that resilience so that more often we laugh and learn
Mike Mazur’s first week at The Refinery
Jenny, Val and Mike, our intrepid marketing team, grabbed me late on my first Friday with The Refinery and asked me to give some commentary on my first week with the team here. Yes, they did ambush me (thanks guys!), but it allowed for honest reflection – a good thing! I truly believe that the work that The Refinery does is helping to proactively shape the culture of organizations we have the opportunity to partner with. In my first week with The Refinery, I was amazed to see the amount of diversity each participant added to their groups: a published poet, a Tai Chi instructor, a state shooting champion, a rally-car driver, a marathon runner, and the list goes on.Proof-positive that diversity should not contribute to division within a team. When each member of a team is allowed contribute their individual strengths (and the team embraces this!) the team, along with the organization as a whole, benefit immeasurably.
Global Recognition for The Refinery
We’re excited to share some great news with all of you. The Refinery, once again this year, has been recognized as being among the Top 30 Independent Leadership Consulting Firms Globally by Leadership Excellence. Gaining this recognition was no small feat; it required fantastic work from the whole team here at The Refinery along with the support of all of our partner clients to deliver such progressive and impactful work. Recognition for a job well done is always a treat. Making this even more special is the recognition comes from a highly esteemed publication within the Leadership world, Leadership Excellence. We’d like to thank Leadership Excellence for this distinction and to our friends and partner clients for helping us do what we do best – develop leaders and leadership cultures!
September 2011 – The Refinery’s New Home in Vancouver!
As many of you know, or may already have experienced, we’ve done a great deal of growing in the past year. Some of it in the form of people, some in the form of experiences and even some in the form of new places to call home. All of this growth has meant a need to expand our offices here in Vancouver to better serve our people and our clients. Over the summer, we started the build-out of brand new offices (don’t worry, we’re still in The Landing building in Gastown!) giving us the opportunity to create a space custom tailored to the needs of our people and projects. We invite you to come on by for a look. In the meantime, below is brief clip showing our progression to the new space and commentary from President & CEO, Barbara Ross-Denroche, on what space means to us at The Refinery.
Austin 1.0 by Mark Frein, Partner
This is the first in a series of blogs I will write in the coming months about opening a Refinery branch in Austin, Texas. I am in the thick of both the business and operational considerations for doing this, and the personal realities of uprooting my home, moving my family, and opening business relationships in Texas. Our plan is to be in Texas by mid-October, 2011. We are opening a full-service office in the USA for three key strategic reasons: growth, diversification, and practice development. I don’t want to go into detail here on all the strategic considerations for the branch opening – not because they are sensitive, but rather they probably aren’t as interesting as the human aspects of the story. However, I am more than happy to respond to questions on the strategy. If anyone wants more info, post a question. I’ll respond with more detail. We have had the great fortune to work with major, internationally-focused, Canadian-owned