Periodic Percolations
How to tend to your organization's culture
I have had the joy of doing a lot of organizational culture work these days. In fact, one organization I worked with this last year just won best place to work on the west coast in its industry and size.
It is so energizing and fulfilling to work with leaders who invest in culture building with their heads, hearts, hands and dollars. And so is being a part of helping people co-create more positive, life-giving workplaces.
Culture is kind of a mysterious thing. We all know its importance and impact. And yet, it is tricky to work on. Well, I believe we have made it tricky to work on and that it doesn’t really need to be. I’ll be talking about how to make it less tricky and practical over the coming months.
How do you know when you are being your true self?
This was an incredibly timely question for me, actually. I am part of a team where I have never felt so incredibly myself — and, this is with people I did not know 3 months ago. Even more remarkable is that my sense of ease and connection held up even as we came under the pressure of some intense work together.
So, this experience has my attention.
The role of self-trust in living a soulfull, purposefull life.
Living a soulfull, purposefull life is an on-going, daily practice. For years I missed the role that self-trust played in this practice.
What is self-trust? Self-trust is relying upon one's inner guidance. It’s trusting the tugs of our heart, the whispers of our soul, the hunches of our intuition, the truth of our needs, the call of our dreams and imagination.
Thankfully, self-trust is a learned skill that we can develop and a state of being we can choose.
Our competencies are not the same as our gifts.
People were telling me that I was really good at it so it must be a reflection of my gifts.
Right? Wrong.
I was good at it because I had developed a strong set of competencies — but our competencies are not the same thing as our gifts. I wish I had known that then.
Creating a soulfull, purposefull life
The Soul Purpose Program is built around the process of Identity Mapping®, created by my colleague and friend, Larry Ackerman, author of The Identity Code. I went through Identity Mapping® with Larry in 2008 and it was transformative.
I navigate by my Identity Map to this day, 15 years later. It has truly stood the test of time and grown along with me.
My Identity Map has helped me create an identity-based life -- a soul-full life that is rooted in my authentic, core self. The self under my conditioning. With my true self in the driver’s seat, I can more confidently give my gifts and work towards living a purpose-full life.
Building Your Capacity Changes Everything
My focus has been on the idea and practice of building capacity. And it’s been popping up in my life in various ways -- from having my own capacity challenged to watching others struggle with their capacity to being on a consultant call where we were talked about the impact of work culture on people’s collective capacity.
However, building capacity is not necessarily an everyday term. When we say “we help people build their capacity”, people’s heads kinda tilt and their eyebrows furrow.
“So, do you mean you teach communication skills?”
And then our heads kinda tilt. Um, no. But not unrelated.
The Changes to Come
Recently, we did a short learning session with a cohort of leaders that we'd been coaching. The title was 'Leading Through Change.' In it, we talked about the difference between change (a measurable event) and transition (a less measurable process that unfolds as a result of change).
Look for some more thoughts on this in the coming months. After all, we're going to be in these transitions for some time. For now, we’ve put together a “Leading Through Change” worksheet you can download to help you navigate the transitions ahead.
Black Lives Matter - some things you can do
Yesterday morning, millions of us went back to work, just like every other Monday. Many of us were upset by the events of the weekend. And, many (if not most) of us did not have the space to process these events or tried to do so on social media or with family — probably with not very good outcomes Pretending that these events didn’t happen isn’t an option. Indeed there’s a high likelihood that these events – and the subject of race in general – is going to show up in our workplace conversations.
We believe these conversations deeply matter and need to happen at work. However, if they aren’t held well, they can lead to harm. If you’re looking for support in holding these conversations, we’d be happy to help. Be it supporting white-identified folks in conversation about race (a.k.a.white caucuses) or developing intentional and reflective conversation-based workshops to support your people, we can bring our experience and willingness to step into the messy conversations with you.
Putting what matters "in the center"
I’ve been fortunate to have an interesting career. It’s taken me to some unexpected places, and I’ve learned a lot about ways we can show up along the way. Early on, I learned a lesson that has stayed with me: what we center in our work is critical. It’s critical in how we experience our work. Perhaps more important, it’s critical in how we encounter each other.
How does your connect-o-meter work?
The connect-o-meter was initially a joke that started between me and my partner early on in our relationship. As introverts, we get deeply immersed in our alone time, making the transition into couple time bumpy and awkward, with both of us quick to be offended and hurt. The patterns that make it hard to reconnect run deep in both of us, of course, but we were committed to changing them. We just didn’t quite know (yet) how to ease and/or accelerate through the bumps and awkwardness.
So, one day, after about 3 hours of bumping along and wanting to just fast-forward into being connected, I turned to Jonathan and blurted “I wish we had a connect-o-meter so we could see where we are on it! Then we would know what to do!”