POET — COACH — GROUP PROCESS FACILITATOR
My friend Lawrence is really finding his stride. I know a bit of his skill. I know his genuineness well from our on-going conversation, learning, and hosting together. And I love the unmet need that he is stepping in to help with.
I’ve been reading this book, Quirky. I like the stories offered of impressive (and quirky) people: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and a few others.
Writing of Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple, the author writes:
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.“
Nice reframe for the yes and for the no.
For inspiration.
If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I’m a person that seeks purpose. It comes out in questions that I ask often. “What are we really doing here?” “What’s possible?” “What’s sincere?” I like those kind of conversations, be it in client facilitations (got to invite / steer a bunch of those questions last week with a corporate team), or be it in Becoming & Belonging Sessions that I host (weekly ish, and so much about the deeper waters together).
In a B & B call this week, I named a few anchoring points about “the work” and what I think we are “really doing” in those calls / practices.
We develop familiarity with each other, which is rather nourishing and satisfying.
We also develop familiarity with a field of learning and presence, with whomever shows up.
It’s this last point that sticks with me. So many people are seeking this. I’m glad to be part of a field that helps to create restored familiarity with getting to the work that is under the work.
Awakeness.
Awareness.
Activation.
Embodiment.
It’s great to run programs. To facilitate groups. To teach. To build container. To create some learning. To clarify some next steps. I’ve been able to do quite a bit of this in my life, working with so many good folk.
At the heart of all of that is relationship. “Relational Leadership” is my preferred naming for programs. Or, when needed it is the subversive messaging that I hold to.
When we have deliberate connection together, relationship from many lanes, then the good stuff tends to come out. The new ideas. The joy. The ahas. New collaborations. It means paying extra attention to what happens at the beginning and at the end of programs. Start with relationship, to create an appreciation together — this is often blending personal with professional. And then send them home with what feels like more.
In relationship, the group (team, system, unit, family, friends…) finds what they need in a way that I could never script with such depth and accuracy.
Yet, I have a couple of principles that I often emphasize.
– If you want a system to be healthy, connect it to more of itself (Humberto Maturana).
– Who we are together is different and more than who we are alone (Margaret Wheatley).
My buddy Chris Corrigan spoke / wrote it recently in this succinct paragraph below ( read his full post on his site):
While meetings are important, my experience is that the most significant results of most meetings is the relational field that is built by being together. Many clients expect high stakes meetings to produce miracles – fundamental transformations in insight or decision making that changes everything. In my experience, a single meeting is inadequate for this. However, dialogic containers can be powerful places where people learn new things, change views, form new relationships, or discover new insights. That is their promise.
So, I love the claiming the work under the work. Connection and relationship coheres it. Connection and relationship reveals it. The proof is in the pudding. Sometimes it seems like the fuzzy, soft stuff. Sure. But actually, it’s the foundation that gives us ability to grow impressively.
On we go, flow. We do a bunch of this in B&B — jump in for a session.
asd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."
Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.
This will close in 60 seconds
asd
In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
This will close in 60 seconds
asd
Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."
This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes) quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.
This will close in 60 seconds