BUILD THE PERSON YOU WANT TO BE by Simon Rountree
In 2001 Simon Rountree joined Camp Quality as incoming CEO. Founded in 1983 Camp Quality had been working to support families deal with the challenges that childhood cancer brings, however after 17 years of operation the wheels had fallen off and the organization was in a deep decline.
The organizations problems were serious and they involved more than just changing business practices and procedures as its own culture was pessimistic and defeatist.
Recognizing that mental wellbeing is the greatest determinant of happiness, personal fulfillment, engagement and effectiveness at work, Rountree developed the ORANGES toolkit. Based on scientific principles from the fields of Positive Psychology, Emotional Intelligence and Neuroscience and reinforced by simple evidence based practical tools, the transformational power of the ORANGES program was instrumental in reducing staff turnover, sick leave and workers compensation claims whilst increasing revenue, service delivery and staff engagement all of which turned Camp Quality into Australia’s most trusted and largest children’s cancer charity.
The ORANGES program (OPTIMISM, RESILIENCE, ATTITUDE, NOW (Mindfulness), GRATITUDE, ENERGY and STRENGTHS) was delivered to all stakeholders within the organization and gave its people the skills and tools to become more optimistic and resilient and deal with the uncertainty and challenges that life brings. By focusing on the wellbeing of its people, ORANGES literally revolutionized the wellbeing of the entire organization.
Simon Rountree is to be lauded for encapsulating management problems with the ORANGES toolkit. By directing the businesses attention to the mental wellbeing of its people instead of solely focusing on the bottom line Rountree flipped the management manual on its head and created an organization that became resilient, optimistic, innovative and financially strong.
In a nutshell, this book helps us to pinpoint organizational problems and provides us with the strategies to deal with them. It is a fine contribution to management culture.