Presence

Presence

Having the space to read and reflect is an indulging experience for me. These holidays I was very indulgent and I immersed myself in 5 books which were sitting on my book shelf pleading with me to be opened.

My 5 books were:
Power of 2 How to Use the Most of Your Partnerships at work and life – Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller
Our Iceberg Is Melting – John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
Coaching to the Human Soul Vol II Ontological Coaching and Deep Change – Alan Sieler
Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
The Art of the Idea – John Hunt

I also watched Ekhard Tolle’s Purpose of Your Life DVD, a deeply inspiring piece about living fully in the present.

Insight 1 Trust Your Instincts
The universe has a funny way of presenting itself; it seemed to me that all that was being presented to me was about being PRESENT. Malcolm Gladwell reinforced the importance of trusting your instinct and allowing and working from a deep inner zone where insights emerge. Gladwell, Hunt and Kotter reinforced the danger of over thinking and intellectualizing and advocated allowing insights to emerge from within. A part of me relates to this and of course my logical side wants to argue aggressively the importance of facts and data…
‘Trust your instincts, or they will Go AWAY, Logic is KRYPTONITE’ – John Hunt

Insight 2 Admired and Trusted Simpletons Catalyst for Change
John Kotter and Eckhard Tolle both reinforced the great value of ‘simpletons’ e.g. Lord of the Rings Hobbits, the little people that were not the brightest or the bravest, but had good intentions. They advocated that simple people should be entrusted with great tasks as they are easily trusted and admired by all. Simple people do not use management jargon, they speak from the heart and communicate in a way that all can relate. This was a really important reminder for me when helping organisations go through change, the change team needs a simple well admired team member who can relate to people and is admired by all and communicate stories in a simple way. Too many times we work with the high profile drivers of change only, we need to ensure the right mix of people are collaborating to implement change.
‘Embrace DIVERSITY it’ll HUG you back’ – John Hunt

Insight 3 Moods Even More Important Than Emotions
Sieler, Kotter, Hunt and Gladwell all highlighted the importance of emotions and moods and how these impact our thinking and actions. Sieler in particular reinforced the awareness of moods that can underpin our emotions and being for extended periods of time. These moods can support our effectiveness or significantly impede our effectiveness:

Resentment – opposition to the world, ‘I am treated unfairly – I want revenge’
Acceptance – accepting of the world, ‘That is how it is – I am open’
Grieving – opposition to loss,’ I do not accept my loss – Lack of engagement with the present’
Sadness – accepting of loss, ‘I accept my loss – More engaged with the present’
Resignation – opposition to possibilities, ‘Nothing will make a difference – Do nothing’
Ambition – accepting to the possibilities, ‘Things can be different – Take action to bring about a different future’
Anxiety – opposition to uncertainty, ‘The world is threatening – Avoid and withdraw’
Wonder/Curiosity – acceptance of uncertainty – ‘I’m not sure about future and interested in finding out – Exploring’

Moods impact our physicality, thinking and actions. Most people do not know their underpinning moods. When dealing with change we rarely address the underpinning emotions and moods of people, Sieler’s work is a powerful model to help effect deep change and self awareness. Moods come from a very deep place within us, probably created years ago in our childhood. The importance of helping others work in the present and acknowledge their moods and their effects can be a very empowering process to support human growth and unleashing human potential.
‘You get sunrise or sunset people and Ideas have MOODS’ – John Hunt

Insight 4 Playing to Your Strengths and Partnering with Others
Wagner and Muller reinforced that one of the key success factors of great partnerships is when people work with others who have complimentary strengths.
Understanding your own strengths and those of your team members is a fantastic way to get yourself and team performing at their best. Sporting teams, musical bands and artists have known this secret for a long time, work and corporate environments are a lot slower to engage with this principle. We like to clone people and employ people like us – very dangerous. Firstly be OK with not being the best at everything – there is only one Leonardo da Vinci. Secondly acknowledge what you are great at and get in a vocation which amplifies these strengths. Thirdly partner and align with others that compliment your strengths and let your ego off the hook, it is OK to be surrounded with people better than you, in fact this is a great way of succeeding.

2010 is the year to: TRUST our instincts, entrust Simple People to implement change, Manage Moods, Play to our strengths and partner others with complimentary strengths – and to be fully PRESENT. Happy New Year