Catching my attention
I‘m in catch up mode on my blog feed reading. Some wonderful work has been keeping me away from them. Here’s what struck chords today.
Tom Fishburne on the not-so useful role of the devil’s advocate. Resistance in disguise.
Katie Chatfield gets shouty about the value of play.
Julian Dobson notices that taking care with exteriors and spaces makes a difference to our cities and their public spaces.
It’s not always about what’s visible
This week I was working with a group who were setting priorities for the next year. One of the stories shared was about how some people working in a particular system often did not take into account the circumstances in which clients found themselves. The ‘system’ people were more concerned with pushing a process along, sometimes being intolerant of the perceived lack of action and so-called personal responsibility of individual clients. Compassion was missing in action. The ‘system’ was not noticing or understanding the reasons for an apparent incapacity to act.
It’s got me reflecting on the times when we come into a situation and expect another person or group of people to be ready to act or be in a position to respond quickly to something. We forget that there is often, if not always, a back story. Reasons why the person may not be ready now or may never be ready, at least not in the way we might expect or assume. While we do need to notice what’s obvious, it’s not necessarily always about what’s visible.
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney, Australia
Ground rules and agreements – a participant’s response
At the beginning of a recent workshop, I revealed a flip chart with the word AGREEMENTS. I had taped a big cross over the word.
At the end of the two days, when everyone was reflecting on their experiences of the workshop, someone said “I really liked how we didn’t have any rules on how we should behave. It felt like we were being treated as responsible adults”.
Just saying.
For some other thoughts about ground rules in group workshops, head on over to Rhizome and their post, Groundrules – empowering or oppressive?
Inspiration makes the world go around
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Another gem from Hugh MacLeod’s through his daily email cartoon. You can subscribe here. Hugh says Ask yourself, have you been inspired today? If not, don’t you think you should do something about it. Like… right this VERY minute? Serious question.
Catching my attention – this and that
I really love this tool for provocative contracting from Andrew Rixon. The first questions we ask clients help us understand how open everyone is to whatever happens (and that includes ourselves as facilitator).
Tom Fishburne asks what happens after the brainstorm. His cartoon and thoughts will resonate with many.
On the back of that, I’m reminded of a post from Johnnie Moore late last month on the limits of brainstorming and giving individuals time and space to think alone.
Another small gem of a post from Patricia Ryan Madson - The Improviser’s Way.
Seth Godin‘s post on unnecessary customer signage that interrupts a small audience reminds me of instances in some organisations I’ve worked in. I’ve seen rules being introduced and enforced for all as a response to the misdemeanour of one person. I’ve been called to meetings where everyone in the room is chastised for something that hasn’t been directly addressed to the person or persons concerned. Signs and rules without thought for the impact on the greater group. Seth Godin asks – “How important is it? Is it so important you need to interrupt everyone, every single one of your customers?”
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney- business and strategic planning – team conversations
Catching my attention – diversity
Every so often you come across a blog that just makes you feel good. Louise Hawson at 52suburbs is working her way around the suburbs of Sydney on a ‘search for beauty in the Sydney ‘burbs’. Her photographs and stories reflect the wonder and diversity of the people and places of Sydney. It’s all there if we take the time to notice, experience and connect.
John Folk-Williams at Cross Collaborate considers Scott Page’s book The Difference and how diversity improves collaborative problem solving .
Todd Dewett writes on harnessing the power of diversity – “No amount of diversity training trumps thoughtful conversations within a group”
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney- business and strategic planning – team conversations
On distraction and the rhythms of life
I may have been distracted from more ‘important’ things yesterday morning. I took myself to the library hoping for some serendipity. I was looking for the unexpected and did, indeed, make an accidental and happy discovery. In this case it was Damon Young’s book Distraction - A Philosophers guide to being free (Melbourne University Press, 2008).
At the heart of distraction is not neurophysiology but an ongoing struggle to flourish within the limits of mortality. We have only one life and it’s marked by all sorts of deprivations, irreversibilities and entrenched habits. And we often have to negotiate these with diminishing hours and flagging potencies. For these reasons, we need to be sincere and judicious in our existential commitments and prudent in our efforts to succeed in each. To be diverted isn’t simply to have too many stimuli but to be confused about what to attend to and why. Distraction is the very opposite of emancipation: failing to see what is worthwhile in life, and lacking the wherewithal to seek it.
This book is calling out for a second reading – one less rushed than my first eager skip through its pages. The stories of artists, philosophers and writers are artfully blended. There is past and present, work and leisure, endurance and freedom. Here are some highlights for me.
Neitzsche - “How we labour at our daily work more ardently and thoughtlessly than is necessary to sustain our life because it is even more necessary not to have leisure to stop and think. Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself”
There are stories of Karl Marx, Benjamin Franklin, Henry James, Henri Matisse and others. Some are absolutely forthright in their views of the world. Others struggled to find time to become who they were. And who knew T S Eliot was scared of cows? This was one of many lovely little snippets that add to the humanity of each of his subjects.
A calm John Dewey warned against the ills of acceleration in the 1930s. He wrote of the many rhythms of life – the gentle enjoyment we take from completing everyday tasks in their own pace and tempo. Young argues that by disrupting the rhythms of life, the modern workplace also transforms domesticity, making it a site for rushed fun or vegetative stupor. ….. We must be our own custodians if we want to reclaim our own rhythms.
He explores busywork. What’s in short supply are the mental and physical resources for actually taking notice of anything and for trying to make sense of it and extrapolates again from Neitzsche. In the modern workplace these [..]remain a challenge for us all: to endure busywork and its distractions, to fiercely say No to subjugation and to claim the leisurely freedom of the child.
Young relates Aristotle’s approach to the necessities of life, yet is realistic about the technological age in which we find ourselves. “To recover from the distractions of the technological age, what’s required is not Luddite extremism but a more ambitious relationship with our tools – one that promotes our liberty instead of weakening it.
We need to be careful not to be too devoted to our life’s work. In our devotion to work, art and public life, particularly when these are rewarding and recognised, we can be quietly distracted from one another.
Ultimately for me, it’s a book about being and/or becoming who you are. Taking from Spinoza, Young notes that we are free when we are authoritatively being ourselves and not deferring to the demands and expectations of someone (or something) else.
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney- business and strategic planning – team conversations
Catching my attention – uncertainty
Patricia Ryan Madson reflects on uncertainty. ”We do not know or need to know what next“.
R. A. in The Economist has some thoughts on complexity, uncertainty and regulation. “Faced with complex systems and considerable uncertainty about the possibility of catastrophic risk, it’s better to be safe than sorry.” The comments stream makes for good reading too.
And a personal response to uncertainty from Jeffrey Tang on his blog – The Art of Great Things – better ways to live, work and change the world. “Sometimes the unknown sucks”.
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney- business and strategic planning – team conversations
On connections, relationships, ideas and action
Ben Ziegler at Collaboration Journeys calls the Gulf of Mexico/BP oil disaster a failure of connection. I read his post immediately after watching Mark Earls speak on Why Good Ideas Matter. The link is to Tim Kastelle’s blog where I found the video.
On the face of it, they’re not about the same subject. Except each of these posts touches on something I’ve been feeling. I’m disappointed. Disappointed in political leaders who pretend to be something that they’re not. Disappointed in those who put national interests ahead of global ones. Disappointed in how we (individuals, groups, organisations) are not honest with ourselves and others about our motivations which are often based on protecting vested interests and looking after ourselves and our own. And disappointed when we apparently can’t work together on problems that appear to be too hard to solve.
As Mark Earls introduces his talk, he mentions being at a music industry conference where all he was hearing was conversation based on these words – assets, money, cash, owner, extract, exploit and enforce. Depressing, especially for an industry built on creativity. There was nothing about ideas, making things happen or creating things of value. He produces data demonstrating how culturally embedded habits and beliefs don’t change, and notes that even small changes can take several lifetimes.
Ben Ziegler speaks of how I want to see the world. A world where we connect with people who are different. A world where we connect people with nature and where we let natural systems be. It’s about relationships, sustainable practice and systems thinking. Where we respect unpredictability and let go of the idea that we can control it all.
Mark Earls talks about how we ‘hack’, improve and/or adapt others ideas and reapply them. I’ve adapted his 5 questions to ask ourselves when new ideas emerge. I’d like to see these adapted questions applied to myself and communities of all sizes and scales when we face seemingly insurmountable challenges.
1 What does this challenge? (What’s at stake here for each and everyone of us?)
2. How can we explore it further?
3. What’s the offer for us here?
4. Where does this suggest things are going?
What must I/we absolutely – can’t wait – do next?
5. How might this make our (being part of this world) more (connected)?
Disappointment is not a useful place to be. This is what’s challenged me this morning. I want to connect the dots and work towards understanding what the offer is, and then (with a sense of urgency) act on it.
Lynn Walsh – workshop and meeting facilitator – Sydney- business and strategic planning – team conversations
Lighting up for Governor and Mrs Macquarie
We set out this evening to take advantage of a break in the rain and explore the city during the Vivid Sydney festival. There’s a celebration of Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth in Macquarie Street (where else). It is 200 years since he arrived in Sydney and, among other achievements, implemented a visionary public works program across New South Wales.
Photo acknowledgement: University of Sydney – Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
The Conservatorium of Music building (originally stables and servant quarters to Government House) serves as one of the palettes for the beautifully executed Macquarie Visions light show. Here are some snaps of the Conservatorium building taken from my mobile phone.
St Mary’s Cathedral, Hyde Park Barracks, the Mitchell Library and the Old Mint are also on display. After dark, Macquarie Visions is on until 20 June.
Lynn Walsh – workshop facilitator – Sydney
Lynn Walsh – workshop facilitator – Sydney
Lynn Walsh – workshop facilitator – Sydney
