We often frame reactive behaviour in an individual context, but what does it look like in the context of a team, division or organization? As Bill Anderson puts it, reactive tendencies emphasise “caution over creating results, self-protection over productive...
Too many conference organisers start with content and speakers, rather than tuning into the community they invite to the event and tapping into an inspiring vision of the experience they want to create. Participants end up experiencing a disintegrated conference,...
At most conferences, participants are still just seen and treated as an audience. Speeches might be inspiring, even groundbreaking. Often they are not, but no matter how gripping the talks are, very few actively engage the audience. And while a conference is not a...
When we are working with a client to co-create a conference for their community, part of our conversation always explores stories. They are the vehicle through which organisations formally and informally communicate identity, values, and culture. The easiest way for...
People often don’t move despite of having the urge to do so, because they don’t know the direction they need to go in order to create what is important to them. Yet all it might need is a conversation. When you share your ongoing project, your hunch, or your longing with someone else, it brings that little illumination you need to take the next step.
In a podcast on the neuroscience of coaching, I have recently heard Ann Betz say, that reality on every level is a co-created process.
Boom!
She gave the example of sound: Sound involves a speaker and a listener. Scientifically speaking, if a tree falls in a forest and there is no listener, consequently there is no sound. To be sure, a falling tree emits soundwaves, but without a receiver, the actual sound does not occur.
Isn’t that a great metaphor for our interactions with each other, at the workplace and at home? We are …
We all have the tendency to step into the same role in any new group and endeavour. And there’s nothing bad about it per se. But when we sense our or someone else’s resistance, it’s an invitation to reflect and experiment.
So my default in any team is to ensure that things move forward: I make sure of a shared intention, commitment, goals, to dos, accountability, if noone else asks what exactly we want to create together, and how we will do that.
After a usually inspiring first gathering this role sometimes feels cumbersome, like pulling a cart on my own. Because the truth is that I love working with partners who have drive and create momentum, and when they don’t, I wonder:
Why don’t I just let go of this role, when I find myself pulling too hard?
Here’s the honest reason: I’m afraid…
I have often been annoyed with my working relationships. Which is all the more frustrating, because I’m so much more creative and productive when working with others. Yet I regularly end up being the one to drive things forward in co-creative projects.
Why? Because “the others” …