At a leadership camp in high school, we played a game called “Win as much as you can.” The punchline of the experience (that obviously made an impact, because I’m telling you about it 40 years later!) was that the “you” was plural, not singular. The winners were a team, not an individual — much to the disappointment of the individuals who thought they’d been successful in their solitary pursuit of the victory.
I often tell people, “I help you reimagine your next chapter.” But who’s the you?
It’s a question worth asking, not just if you are working with me, but anytime you are looking ahead. Who’s invited into that conversation? Is the ‘you’ singular or plural?
If I’m working with an individual organization on its strategic plan, this question relates to who gets invited into what stages of the project. How participatory will the strategy development process be? What levels of the organization will be involved? Who will “hold the pen” when decisions on the final version of the strategy are ready to be made?
It gets even more interesting if the “you” in “your next chapter” is a larger, plural you. When you’re tackling system- or community-wide challenges, collective action is required. One of my most memorable assignments was designing a two-day session to address homelessness in a region. People experiencing homelessness were invited, along with social service agency staff, elected officials at all levels, administrative leaders and community influencers. You can imagine how complex but powerful those conversations were, when everyone involved in tackling the issue was in a room together to sort it out! Maybe convening a multi-organization conversation is what you need to accelerate your progress toward your mission right now.
Even personally, what might shift if you framed “your” next chapter as a group activity? Who would be invited into that group, to help you imagine what’s next and/or maybe even to execute that plan together? Our perspective shifts in useful ways when we reframe activities we usually think of as solo pursuits into group activities, even temporarily.
Who’s the you for you?
