Spotlight on: Visioning
By consciously visioning our future, we can create a future that reflects the very best of who we are.
Which would you choose: a house built by a builder with an architect’s
plan or a house built without this plan? Why? It is for this very reason
that visioning is such a potent – if under-estimated – tool.
Visioning is the architectural plan for our lives and our daily actions are
the bricks. Without a vision, we often lay our bricks with no apparent
design, going where the prevailing wind takes us. While this is one ...
(Continued below)
Resolving Conflict Workshop
Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of life. So the task in this
workshop was not to get rid of conflict but to learn how to resolve it
creatively so as to generate a positive outcome.
Conflict provides us with a vast untapped reservoir of possibilities
which invite us to develop and expand our self-awareness, to learn
and grow in strength.
It was a practical day. Most people brought along a specific conflict,
applied a tried and tested 4-step process to it, and went away having
made headway on that conflict and with a plan for ongoing progress.
“I have just spent the day on the Conflict Resolution course.
Georgeanne is full of passion for her work and those around her.
Her approach is unique, simple and effective and she makes it fun
to learn. I can recommend this course to all and I cannot think of
anyone who would not benefit from attending. She will guide you
through a simple and easy to remember process that helps you
deal with any conflict. Whether you are in a confrontational
frontline job, have an antagonistic colleague or boss or just want
to deal with your life partner, parent, sibling or offspring, do this
course. It will be money well spent!” (Tony P.)
The venue, Montague on the Gardens, provided exceptional care,
service, and attention to detail which made an ideal environment for
working on a topic that was demanding and, at times, painful.
If you would like a copy of our worksheet on Understanding Conflict,
please email us on: info@lamontassociates.com.
Our next workshop on Resolving Conflict is in October.
Spotlight on: Visioning (Continued from above)
... approach to life, its potential downside is that we look back on our
lives with regret for the things we did not dare to do.
You may think that you are not using this tool at present; that you lack a
vision. Perhaps not! Even before we throw off the covers in the morning,
we have thought about the day ahead, however briefly. ‘It’s going to be
the same old stress… I’ll never get anything done… I’ll spend all my time
in pointless meetings…’ And then it happens, just as we had visioned.
We created a vision: it may not be the vision we would consciously choose
to hold, but unconscious visions are just as powerful as conscious visions.
To some, visioning can sound a little unsubstantial. But time and again,
we have seen it work exceptionally well. We worked with one company
where the team created, in an initial thirty minute session, a vision for a
second office with 28 elements. Three months later they reviewed their
vision and discovered that they had translated every single element into
reality, with one exception – there was no company dog!
Nor does the vision always come from the leaders. As the leaders often
pay the bills, they can be more cautious in how they vision the company’s
future. An excellent example of this was with another client. As a result
of the visioning exercises by one member of the sales team, they opened
a new distribution centre: that distribution centre allowed the company
to hit its 12-month targets in just 3 months.
We often limit our vision when there is no need. The bigger and grander
the vision, the bigger the target we create and the more likely we are to
hit it. We may not get every element, but we will get much more than if
we had no vision at all.
The other secret to visioning is to revisit the vision regularly. It helps us
see how we have progressed, even though we may not have realised it. It
also helps us to add more details to the vision, to give it greater depth
and re-inspire ourselves with the direction we want to take.
Visioning is a powerful tool that has been used for millennia to inspire
people, to create change, to transform challenging situations and to bring
out the best in ourselves and others.
Ideas to try: Three-Stage Visioning
Write down your vision of what you want to create. Don’t limit your
vision - describe the very best outcome you want. At the end, write
down how you will feel when you are living this vision. For example:
“All staff really enjoy coming to work. They have healthy workloads
and balanced work-home lives. Absenteeism and sickness are almost
non-existent. I’m feeling confident, relaxed, happy.”
Write down your present reality; write it honestly. At the end, write
down what you are feeling right now.
“Some staff work crazy, long hours. Absenteeism and sickness are at
25-30%. Every day, several people phone to say they won’t be in. It
creates chaos in the warehouse, stresses those who do turn up for
work, and it gives customers a bad experience. I’m feeling anxious,
frazzled, exhausted, defeated.”
Now ask yourself ‘What is better today?’ In other words: in what ways
have you moved nearer your vision? Write down what’s better.
- I’ve taken time to face up to the problem.
- I’ve brainstormed out all the causes.
- I’ve met with Jo to prioritise this.
- I’ve a clear vision of where we are heading and some first steps.
Repeat the 3-part activity each day for a week. Remember to include
your feelings when describing your vision and your reality because it is
the feelings that drive the movement towards the vision. Each day note
and appreciate what is getting better.
Open Forum
Sadness is not confined to our private lives
“Grieving isn’t a word I would have associated with the workplace before, I
have always thought of it in more personal terms.” This observation from
John Kimber highlights an important point.
It may seem surprising or even a little disconcerting that grieving –
traditionally considered to be a very private emotion and process – has a
crucial role in the workplace. At work, just as in our private life, we
inevitably experience setbacks, disappointments, pain and sadness. These
moments can be felt collectively – for example, when a bid fails – and
individually, when a promotion does not come through; the list is rich and
varied. Because we mistakenly consider grieving to be a private matter, we
often fail in the workplace to recognise and release the pain of negative
experiences. This has harmful consequences: distress, anger and resentment
all stem from a unmet need to grieve.
The tools mentioned last month – journaling and stillness – are powerful tools
that allow people to vent their grief individually in an appropriate manner.
Other techniques exist for acknowledging grief collectively. When doing so, it
is very important to describe the events without blaming or condemning
anyone (which would move the focus to less constructive conversations that
simply fuel grievance). The focus must be on learning the lessons and moving
on, transforming the grief into a learning experience. Once the grief is
cleared away, we free up our attention and our energy to focus on new and
inspiring ways forward, enriched with the lessons of the past.
(Send your ‘Open Forum’ responses to newsletter@lamontassociates.com)
Book Review
Wink, Roger Hamilton (2002)
This book turns the idea of work on its head. The purpose of the book is
to help everyone create wealth, which includes having time to do what
you love, enough money, doing truly meaningful work, having a sense of
legacy and contribution by helping others.
It is told as the story of a nine year old boy, Richard, whose father is
“sick and tired”. He has worked furiously for years but has nothing to
show for it. His son goes in search of wealth for the family, and along
his journey he meets an optometrist, a gardener, a musician and a
fisherman, among others. Their message is essentially that when we
follow our passion, we find work that is truly fulfilling – work that is not
work, but fun. Once we have found this work, rather than working for
someone it is possible to work with others and create more wealth and
free time than the traditional 9-5 job allows.
Hamilton also encourages the use of visioning to create our perfect
work! The book has many interesting insights and observations. One
character introduces Richard (Rich for short!) to “effective giving”:
donating a percentage of his income to a good cause that is in line with
his passion. Another character asks the boy how he spends his time. Is
he investing it in creating the future he dreams of, for example through
improved health, developing new networks of people to work with,
building his knowledge and specialism or is he just spending it, with
nothing to show for it?
This book is a very short, easy-to-read story for anyone who has ever
thought about having more fun at work and developing different forms
of wealth, from a well-connected network to more free time and
enough abundance to support causes that are personally meaningful.
And although Rich asks questions that are well beyond the reaches of
most nine-year-olds, reading this book is a worthwhile investment of
time!
Story – The Eagle
This brief story shows how our vision can set us free or hold us back.
Once a farmer found an abandoned eagle's nest and in it was an egg still
warm. He took the egg back to his farm and laid it in the nest of one of
his hens. The egg hatched and the baby eagle grew up along with the
other chickens. It pecked about the farmyard, scrabbling for grain. It
spent its life within the yard and rarely looked up. When it was very
old, one day it lifted up its head and saw above it a wonderful sight - an
eagle soaring high above in the sky. Looking at it, the old creature
sighed and said to itself, "If only I'd been born an eagle".
Adapted from a story by Anthony de Mello
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email: info@lamontassociates.com
