Organizational Communication and Development since 1980
Listening deeply. When I hear something through a projected filter… and the projection is in error… the ass hole box gets checked. Sitting with a set of projection error awareness.
The questions were in the wrong order. The hearing filter was set in the wrong place. The kind offer was heard as accusation. So… in this sudden awareness, the steps to make amends can form.
Just a short muse on the day.
The process of renewing. We speak of progressive maintaining. We speak of lifecycle cost. We speak of differed Maintenance. Each has a point of emphasis. Each has a series of underlying narrative that sets the foundation for the analysis that creates a cost benefit.
The elements of linked system are described. The assumptions of each system… described. In that description; the links, foundations, stresses, all of the connected tissue, come to awareness. A series of observations and tests are conducted to assess the connected nature … In planning it would be called nexsus.
Perhaps an element is discovered to have multiple layers of links to a greater and lesser element. Even, in a surprise discovery or enlightened awareness, a connection, thought in one way… emerges in another… This phase of description and discovery give so much granularity and context to the scope and scale of the queries to this complex connection of elements.
Removing the ‘should of’ – ‘could of’ – ‘would of’… And the result… the What.
Now comes the so what to get in the way or disrupt the jouney or deployment planning… Laughter ensues.
So for the moment… there we leave it… festering in a dance of redux. Gaining energy to burst into next steps…
Bursting into renewing… or finishing the degrade to make room for the renew.
I know that the bears, sitting with their figit spinner, are all focused on the day. It makes sense that they are focused. For, that is the pose that is their world.
I didn’t wake up thinking about a blog. I woke up thinking about the incredible beauty of the valley. Washed from days of rain. The sun is bright and makes believe that it is warm. Later today, there are meetings to ponder important issues of water, the cost of infrastructure, completition for resources… all of that concern that rings so important in the rising tide of leadership.
It is important work. Suddenly understanding that an old friend is positioning to take on another role in the fishbowl. That of moving from back bencher to an on the dais face. From gentures on the floor of the chamber to the raised seats. Even if he is not successful in this shift, he is working hard to create the option to ‘explore’ such a place.
Listening to young children, confronting leadership with great passion. That same leadership is equally passionate. Two blunt objects slamming into each other. A great deal of passion. A great deal of energy. The breakthrough is when both parties begin to listen and learn … shared passion, engaged in agreement of outcome. Understanding that it is not a place to which we go back. It is a journey that moves with time. So, there is not a place to return. It is a journey with story arc.
The wonder of engaging is that we look easily to being collectivly for what we are against. I hear it in my own conversations between. The power of a movement, a sustained movement is to be for what we are for. The whole of the idea; a collective of human movement. It is messy. It takes time. It is about seeing beyond the next quarter. In that, and in the description of those areas where I can not engage this larger vision. There are some things that are not negotiable. The sacred moments where there is not the energy to argue into a void or against a tide of being for what we are against…
This muse of engaging systems for which a binary is a violent reduction of both the depth of system and the sustaining connections that feed and foster. In so many arguments of being for what I am against… the reduction to A or B… straw man standing… a great joke. The humor of efficient argument. And… of a Saturday morning in February, a place to stop. For, the wonder of the morning is that it is a gift, this day. Moment to moment, a gift. With thanks.
Digging into a couple of sets of notes from long time clients. Seeing a couple of complete misses with our conversation. Deployment of ‘solutions’ that were so out of sync with their projects…
The beauty of this digging is that I get to try again. We remain in engagement. They remain clients. They remain invested in growing their business. They remain interested in finding, focusing, practicing, and growing in the craft, consultation, and service that is the core of both their business and practice. Me too!
The map that popped out this morning is yet another iteration of deployment. The more I learn the less I know. And … the deeper is my curiosity about the whole of systems that are driving both the engagement and the client’s willingness to continue to do the work.
It is not about a finish line. It is about the practice of pivot, flex and shift that drive better work, better engagement, even, better outcome. The wonder of this work is the willingness to explore a different way. To allow the pivot and abandonment of a thing that no longer works. The solution is not my deployment. The solving is the work of description, identification, questioning and then … crafting answers that fit with congruence the presenting challenge.
In deep gratitude to the adventurous partners in this consulting practice.
As with questions… Who, What, Where, When, How and Why…. Scope, Scale and Context add to the frame. A conversation about this or that disaster… Major, I am saying MAJOR… until the frame shifts to scope and context. Major in relationship to what context…
The sink overflowing… on a slab on the wash porch on the patio… on the third floor of the apartment that has just been remodeled with fine imported hardwood floors… on the second floor and the roof collapsed and the kitchen stove tipped over and started a fire… and… and… and…
Friends, ran out of gas on the way home from a party, that we both attended. As they coasted to a stop, we pulled in and asked to help… a long walk turned into a pleasant drive to get some gas, pour it into an empty tank and … soon after, all were homeward bound. Scope, scale and context.
A disastrous meeting of two vehicles on the road… speed, impact, … oh my. Again, scope scale and context.
When a regulatory scheme is deployed, what is the scope, the scale and the context. From the regulator’s vision? From the regulated’s vision? Ah the permutations that can come from this set of variables.
Then, what happens when the three variables are not congruent or the responses are out of wack or… the train wrecks that can come from assumptive response of scope, scale and context. Such a wonderful world to explore.
A gift of just three words in relationship.
Walking in the world this morning. Started to think through this idea of resilience and disaster. The walk … a beautiful day on the eve of Christmas.
First there is Scope. Then comes Scale. Finally Context.
Disaster comes in all shapes and sizes. All contexts. All scopes. All scales. Full stop.
When the walk eases away that set and rigid form to hold disaster in a certain frame… there is room to find paths beyond a disaster.
May this full on day be blessed with moving beyond and remembering scope, scale and context. Framing each in congruent response. With congruent expectation. In congruent available bandwidth.
This morning, while walking, it was clear that each breath was enough for the moment. Breathe and step. Pump the arms and then turn for home. Enough on this eve of Christmas. A blessing.
I wonder at the stunning images that are painted in each moment as the sun rises in the valley. Standing for just a few moments in the breaking dawning of this day. The brush of the sun … the shadows in grand shift. The light breeze of morning. Now, a bit later, the sun begins to come in through the office window. It has risen over the hill and kisses the cabinets behind me. The light in the office shifts.
The pile of notes, trinkets, letters, contracts… all the parts of daily conduct… litter the upper part of the desk. It is a goal of christmastide to file or toss, recycle and find proper place… after the shifting light stops holding my attention.
Perhaps some practice of a tune will find its way into the mix of putter that is a lovely Sunday morning. That putter practice of having a tune work itself out.
Perhaps this afternoon will yield a nap. The plan that was for this afternoon found itself executed yesterday evening. So… there is much room for an alternative set of putter plans.
Years ago, a younger group of crew learned to putter on a walking trip into a downtown where none of us live anymore. It has informed so many gatherings since. The putter practice. That moment of seeing in clarity and then holding that seeing in a putter plan.
Just up the road. With thanks… puttering, just up the road.
Why don’t ‘they’ just understand that I am …
Creating Jobs… Using my own land… not bothering anyone…
The regulatory scheme is motivated by some event, situation, disaster, death, non-payment or… well something. Perhaps it was that a person didn’t like the next door neighbor 30 years ago and now… well they are both gone but the regulatory scheme that was spawned then lives on with us now.
I am not sure that it is something that we are aware of in engaging a project. All of these safety nets that are waiting to catch a set of behaviors…
I know that the more time spent on description and understanding of a foot print, the less the schemes surprise and the more that a ‘reasonable’ engagement to learn to dance with each is possible.
With a project, the passion of the ‘why’, the ‘who’, and the ‘what’ are the drivers. Solving, building, creating, making… The sudden engagement when the ‘where’ is not congruent with the whole is disruptive. It is as if the boat is sailing so beautifully and then… crash, hard upon the rocks!
So, take some time, measure the foot print. Describe clearly. Avoid the ‘not applicable’ box. Let the depth of the water that the project draws be clear. Then, the depth of the channel needed is also clear.