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.
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.