Now for something a little different (3 of 5)

Day 2 - Wednesday

As human beings, we need silence. Yet in the work environment, there is rarely a moment of it. Do you remember when at work you were able to sit silently and reflect?  I certainly don't. Sitting down (seemingly) doing nothing is an invitation for someone to come over and ask you a question. Sound familiar?

Well this programme builds in time to think. In fact as we entered the work room this morning, it was clearly stated that we should not talk to anyone, we should just sit down and answer a few questions in our notepads. I tell you that felt different. Good different, well at least for me. As an introverted thinker, I need this time, but don’t always give it to myself. So when this time was given to me, I took it with both hands. I felt included. I felt that my needs were being met. I felt I could breathe and that there was time for me to gather my thoughts. Others felt less comfortable, they preferred to talk and exchange.

The gift of silence and pausing was a reoccurring theme throughout the day. There were often comments on the insights that came from a pause, the leanings that came from silence. Sounds strange, how can anything happen when nothing is happening?  Well it did. Repeatedly so. In fact much of the feedback that was offered was slow down, take a pause, ground yourself and take a deep breath. Do I see a shift here? 

The heart was also referred to a number of times, or reference to the gut. It seems that we only work with our brain these days. What happened to our other internal organs? Today we practiced bringing that in. It popped up in many ways, in our language, our physical actions and even in our drawings. It seems we are desperate to bring the heart back into corporate life. I heard people say "Bring in the LOVE!!!!"

One final insight before I collapse into my bed is the rawness in which we exist. You see, up until yesterday I didn’t not know the people in the room, yet today, 1.5 days into our relationship, each of them gave me feedback on me. They had to do it spontaneously and quietly. Boom! They nailed it. They said things about me that they could not possibly have known. They showered me with words that meant so much. How had they seen these things? How could they know that I was like this? Yet somehow they did. I guess we are all naked after all. We are fully exposed and out there for all to see. Yet I don’t know about you, but I thought I hid most of it and covered it up with a corporate cloak. Well I am here to blast that misconception away, we are all exposed and raw when we are learning. And you know what, that is absolutely wonderful. We all saw the beauty of it and recognized it. Now how amazing is that?

So I go to bed grateful, grateful that I am tired, grateful that I have a bed to rest in.

Good night

Now for something a little different (2 of 5)

Day 1 – Tuesday
At the end of Day 1 we were asked to quietly reflect and write down one insight from the day.
Here is what I wrote: The differentiator in performance is as easy and as hard as listening, believing and pausing.
The sentence rolled off my lips and came straight from my heart. It took me seconds to capture it.
You see throughout the day we had experienced a number of different exercises and the learnings from each of them brought it back to one of the words in the above statement.

Today I was fascinated at our focus on calling out only the strengths of each other. Our human nature seemed to want to list and listen to our development areas, yet the focus on this course is different. What do you like? What did you see the person do well? What’s good about this? It is clear that as humans we are not conditioned for this. We had to relearn this behavior, the behavior of strength spotting. What a great expression – strength spotting!

One observation I made a number of times during the day, both of myself and of others, is a level of nervousness and discomfort of staying in the moment. At one point I had something on my mind that I wanted to share with the group and I was so eager to say it that I interrupted a moment of something else, a moment that was important and had I been listening and present, I would have behaved differently. I would have waited.
I later saw others do the same. It made me wonder how many other moments  had I missed, how many moments are we are all missing, all the time, because we are busy with our own thoughts and own agenda. 
How many moments have I interrupted when learning was occurring, moments that mattered?

Serenity and calmness were role modelled today. The profoundness that came with this observation was beautiful. We all realized the power of pause, the beauty of a slower pace and the impact that we can have when we introduce things purposefully. Allowing ourselves to breathe before we begin, to ground ourselves in our chair and to pause and reflect when we need a moment. The speed at which we operate is not accessing the possibilities. We need to slow down to speed up. 

The last insight of the day was that reflection is an action.  This phrase was stated a number of times, so I can not take the credit for it, but allow me to elaborate on where I saw it have impact. It was at the end when the facilitator summarized the day for us. She shared her observations, recognizing individual contributions which was personal and courageous, she was not concerned about missing someone out and not afraid to name great examples, it was masterful. Throughout the day she had been reflecting and she pulled her reflections together and shared with the group. She was perfectly role modelling the power of reflection.

So as the day draws to a close, I am left wanting more, left curious as to what tomorrow will bring, hopefully a little less snow so that we can at the very least get to the meeting on time :-)
Tonight I go to bed grateful, grateful to be part of this.
Good night

Now for something a little different (1 of 5)

Now for something a little different. This week I will blog about a training course I am on. It will be different to my usual life observations, however I thought it was good to spice up my blog and do something different - just for a week!

Hope you like it...........

Day 0 - Monday
Tomorrow I embark on a 3 day training on change leadership. I have heard a lot about it and its only been positive. I have heard its different and I am going to love it. I am always wary when I hear that I am going to love something as it sets a very high bar. Yet I have to confess I am very intrigued.
I have read the pre-reads and I was immediately struck with a sense of excitement. I mean it, the modules in the session are ones that I have not seen used before in my work life, yet I am familiar with them outside of my work be it in yoga course, psychology courses or in meditation. But not so much at work. There is usually no time or space for such structured reflection in my day to day. There seem to be modules including journalling, reflection, appreciation and visualization. Kooky eh?
Already the pre-work was different, in fact it was pretty amazing. First I had to chose people to give me personal and only positive feedback using examples. This was already a good exercise. It encouraged me to include people outside of work to give me feedback which was very interesting and I add, a little scary.  I chose carefully and generously. I didn't chose the obvious and I consciously chose a few people with whom I wanted to deepen the relationship and go beyond the surface. Bizarre eh? You would not expect a pre-read for a course at work to hit this spot. The responses were moving. The words people chose, the examples they pondered over and the kindness with which these examples were explained was special, really special. If I am honest I was somewhat overwhelmed with it really, but in a really good way.
So although the course only starts tomorrow, I know the personal learning has already begun. I feel genuinely happy about what I am about to learn and experience and I feel quite in awe, that a company like the one I work for, invests in this kind of stuff and pushes the boundaries.
I have committed to giving myself to this course, I get a sense you get out what you put in, so I am ready to embark on this journey, push myself to go further and be truly present, despite what the demands are in the outside world. These three days are mine. 
Watch this space!