I am taking a course on non-directive coaching. Beyond providing an opportunity to learn and practice a method, this experience is inviting me to interrogate what I believe about working with individuals and groups. So, in the spirit of “learning out loud” (a key skill when we’re collaborating in dispersed teams these days), and at the risk of caricaturing for the purposes of explanation, here’s what I’m noticing so far:
Continue reading “The Alchemy of Us”Why Bother Showing Up In Person?
I’ve become so distracted by ensuring that digital participants are engaged fully in in-person-turned-hybrid events that I was stopped short by a client’s comment last week: “We really want people to come to our conference in person. Why would they bother, if attending remotely is an option?”
Continue reading “Why Bother Showing Up In Person?”Zero Sum Adaptability Thinking
As I explore the metaphor of elastic leadership with groups, they continue to find new ways to apply it. One participant recently observed that if an elastic is stretched hard in one direction, it doesn’t have much give available to be stretched in other directions. Sounds familiar, right? We can only stretch so far before we snap, and the demands on our stretchiness feel cumulative.
Continue reading “Zero Sum Adaptability Thinking”Out of Shape
Most elastics are designed to be reusable. Exercise bands, hair elastics, the rubber bands that come with broccoli…all are designed to be used more than once.
But if an elastic stays stretched for too long, it won’t go back to its previous shape. It might still be useful, but not for its original use.
Can you relate?
Continue reading “Out of Shape”Stir Up Creativity
“I need more ____ in my life.”
How would you fill in that blank right now?
Fun?
Certainty?
Nature?
Adventure?
Variety?
Joy?
Inspiration?