Getting closer

Rather than pushing my group workshops and group training programs all online in groups ... I’m going the other way. I’m going 1:1 or a small group of 2, 3...

Sure it’s taking me longer but I’m not going anywhere, and the closer conversations, engagement and interactions have been more personalized and joyous. We find out more about each other, how we’re managing, what our world is like ... and I set about transferring my skills and knowledge directly to you on capabilities like:

🌟Facilitating

⭐️Sensemaking & Cognitive Load Coping

✨Visuals - analogue and digital

💥Developing your own ideas and thinking

☀️Adapting your positioning and brand

💫Boosting your creativity and idea generation.

We don’t need to do what everyone else is doing. It’s easy to copy, follow a herd or pack or think ‘oh that’s what I have to do too’ in times like these. It’s equally a time when trying something different could be just what’s needed.

Are you experimenting or just following what others are doing in response to change?

Experiment, adapt and respond in line with who you are and how you think and work. It’s time to be even more a part of your services than less. No need to default to ‘copy’ because it’s not the only way. 

Trying to do it right

There’s plenty of new happening as we try new arrangements, routines and techniques. It’s worth observing ourselves when we’re doing this newness, if we’re trying to do them properly and perfect.

We might be trying to do online and virtual stuff ‘perfectly’ (you know, lighting, sound, camera angles and backgrounds).

Or trying to do working from home the ‘right’ way, or schooling children and remote teaching ‘properly’ ... and other things right, properly or perfect.

It’s natural to want to do well in new environments but there is also this glorious human capacity we have, and that is ... to learn. There are so many expectations we’re placing on ourselves (and others) as we get used to these new ways of thinking, working and living.

Perfectionism can arrive to fill spaces when we are worried or uncertain, dealing with new circumstances.

We wonder:

🐤Am I doing this right?

🐤How am I going?

🐤Am I good enough at this?

Yes, we must follow and adhere to the standards that are asked of us in these times. And then we can be easier on ourselves and others by allowing more ‘good enough’ in. It brings brightness, flexibility and adaptability to the things that don’t matter so much right now. 

In the land of now and next

In the land of now... and next

What was relevant then may not be now. 
What is relevant now may not be next. 
And what is relevant next may not even be in our field of vision or realm of possibility right now. 

This is the pace of change. 
And we can adapt. We are adapting. 
It’s quite amazing what we humans can and are doing. 

We can find connections between what we are able to do and what the world needs next. 

So how are you remaining relevant?

Thinking and working in uncertainty

It’s mindless to just wander, lost, meandering along a path of uncertainty. Just because you don’t know what’s going to happen doesn’t mean you are powerless.

Some of the most adaptable leaders, teams and organisations work with uncertainty and are ‘good’ with it.

The work I do with these leaders and teams involves working through this kind of mindset and approach: ◽️Uncertainty - we don’t know

◽️Discovery - we can learn

◽️Ingenuity - we can respond

And repeat. As we see new things - via sensemaking, making sense of happenings in hindsight - we’re learning, ready to respond with our collective smarts to solve problems, deliver value and improve situations.

And repeat.

This isn’t fear based but practical skills put to work problem solving, thinking, questioning, collaborating, designing and responding.

Rather than getting in a flap about not knowing ‘anything’ or thinking we need to know ‘everything', these are the ways of working in uncertainty. As we discover, we learn and we can change how we respond. And if we don’t, we’re not such a smart species after all.

Don’t let the minimisers drag you down

You’ve information to share, a cool idea or suggestion for something. So you launch it out there into the meeting, the workshop, the room or the conversation. And it floats down softly over everyone, flip ... zip... zop ... like a leaf falling from a tree. 

Someone catches it, backing you up or validating you, reinforcing what you said. Good. Your contribution has been acknowledged.

But then it comes, the grey cloud (no it's snappier), the fly swatter (no it’s more powerful) ... the big boulder.

It’s a Slap. Down.

This is the minimiser, reducing what you said, deflating, downplaying, trivializing. Using criticism, dismissal, or patronizing techniques they be-little. So they can be-big.

When you’re leading a meeting you MUST tune in to this behaviour and moderate or mediate it. They may not realise they're doing it, the killjoys and party poopers.

Minimizing can be a habitual way of thinking, a way of seeing the world, pointing out problems, cautioning and keeping things as they are, under control. Don’t let it drag you down.

Gather the validators and supporters you heard from earlier and continue to advance your idea.

Illegitimi non carborundum