The gallery in your mind

It’s open now ... an exhibition. featuring imagery, clips, videos, snippets, quotes and dramatic headlines and links from all of the stuff you’ve been absorbing lately. 

Oops ... we didn’t realize it but the gallery is now full. And it has not even been curated yet! 

Curation is when the exhibits in a gallery are organised and arranged, identified, sourced and carefully chosen. They present a story, a setting or a theme to gallery visitors as they walk, wander, wonder and experience it all. It flows, makes sense, is a delight. 

It’s time to clean out our current exhibit. 

Time to paint the walls, sweep the floors, and get ready for another newer and fresher exhibition. 

The next one. Let’s make it a better one. 

It’s time to become more of a curator of what you let in to the gallery in your mind. To more carefully choose what you will watch, look at, listen to and absorb. 

We don’t need to let just anything into this gallery of ours. 

More isn’t better. 
More isn’t beautiful. 

Curate, choose and be discerning. It is yours after all. 

How are the experiments going?

The changes we are making are just that - experiments. We are all trying some new things out and we will progressively see how it’s going. 

We’ll get some hindsight and be able to look back and review, reflect and see what we can make of it. 

Then we can make some adjustments and try something else ... another experiment. 

Adopting an experimental mindset of ‘I wonder...’, as in:
- ‘I wonder what this will be like’ 
- ‘I wonder how this will go’ 
- 'I wonder if this will work'
can keep us from expecting perfection and helps keep us adaptable. 

Wonder might be tricky when we are uncertain, worried or fearful. But the curiosity switch in us humans is strong. 

Keep a look out for an opportunity to wonder, experiment, observe, learn and continue to grow in these times. 

Adapt your messaging

It's a very good time to check your default. 

What are the default messages, responses and funnels you've got set up that usually just 'run'?

What do you have that is automated, that will do 'this' if 'that' happens? 

You'll need to change something, most certainly. 

We are seeing and hearing marketing, customer, advertising and communications messaging that is not adapting.

It's time to PULL or PAUSE your canned, pre-written and pre-scheduled content that was done in the motive of 'productivity'. 

It was created in another time. Those images and words were made for another era. 

The language, pace, imagery, message (and metaphors) could be tone deaf, way out of alignment and not a good match for these times.

Check on it ... and then adapt it to these times and tones. 

And soon, you'll probably need to change it again. 

What's going on and what do we need to do about it?

These 'two questions in one' can provide us with great focus and purposeful direction. 

They are a better agenda item than the general ‘update’ or ‘status report’. 

And they are questions that get the team gathering insights and learnings about what is actually happening... and then ...identifying, committing to and implementing actions directly related to the insights. 

They are questions that help us move from fear to action. 

And they are questions that are a part of sensemaking and decision making in times of great change and uncertainty. 

Rather than being paralyzed by fear, distracted or drawn down into endless details, or buried in a sand hill of denials, lift up.

Elevate yourself above all of the noise, activity and chaos and ask 
🌕 what's going on?
and 
🌕 what do we need to do about it? 

Whether you’re the leader of a team, the leader of a family, a partner in a relationship, part of a family, community, neighborhood, company or organisation ... take responsibility and accountability to find out what’s going on and then to commit to doing what you can about it. 

This is sensemaking

This is sensemaking. We are 'in it'. Trying to make sense of so many things. 

As we begin to know something ... we 'find out'. Almost like a maze. 

And we think 'that’s it'. 

Then things change. New information comes to hand. 
New information, insights and understanding. 

Because we have more information and experience with that information, we can look back over data, dates and details to connect more dots and make more sense. 

And then we can act again based on what we now know. 

So we're right in it. 
It’s wild, wicked and changing rapidly. 

Keep on making sense as things come to light no matter where you are or what you're doing.  

We are all uncovering, discovering, learning. 

It's this very human activity of trying to 'make sense' of it all.