Evolutionary Provocateur

Equine Guided Leadership Development

Nick Zeniuk and his horse Guess have taught each other a lot. She came as a rescue horse off the track via a couple of homes. He is a retired executive from Ford. They are teaching each other how to be present, sense more than say, connect, converse by patiently learning how to communicate until they reach a place of agreement. Considering that only 7% of our conversation is actually verbal it makes sense to learn with a master of non-verbal communication...a horse. Horses are highly intuitive, and sensitive to subtle signals. They react to incongruence each in their own way and are very attentive and responsive to your energy.

The new leadership paradigms demands leaders who can listen with their senses well beyond words. We listed being present, increasing sensitivity, understanding how your energy impacts others, trust, and congruence as the easy to note qualities learning from horses draws out.

Equine assisted learning is a different way to draw out the skills that people have but have forgotten to use in the day to day rush and focus on action rather than receptivity. Leadership programs exist around the world with each horse bringing their talent to the table to match the participant's need.

There is tons to learn in this area. My curiousity has lead me to Linda-ann Bowling in Langley, B.C. Canada www.equine-imity.com who referred me to Barbara Rector in Tucson www.adventuresinawareness.com who referred me to her friends in Germany at www.horsedream.com and to Louanne at Horses Help who referred me to www.teachinghorse.com in Oregon.

After the SoL Consulting Convergence was over, we visited Horses Help in north Phoenix and learned a lot from Louanne who gave us her time to show us how the conversation takes place and what is involved.

More than leaders benefit. Youth at risk, people needing therapeutic recovery for a variety of reasons are being assisted by horses to heal, grow and attune their skills to the NOW. Barbara Rector has a facilitation training program coming up in August for those who can see themselves contributing in this way.

The edge of our knowing.

It feels like I have finally found home. Just completed my first SoL Consulting Convergence in Phoenix with an awesome group of people. Eight of us started at the Grand Canyon south rim soaking in the history of the planet from the edge then spent 2 more days in discussions with about 35 others at Paradise Valley Community College who hosted us. After years of feeling either over or at the edge of the galaxy it was amazing to share ideas and develop them further with a group who see and seize possibilities.The intention of the Convergence was to engage in deeper conversations. We did. Spending time with a group of people who value moving to deeper levels of connection was wonderful. i am grateful to them all.

Speaker Servies Speaker Summit May 1-3rd.

This is Susan Levin and Jack Barnard. Susan runs www.speakerservices.com Just in case any of you were thinking of speaking either because someone told you too or you dare to do it, these two offer a lot. Susan's next event is the Speaker Summit in Los Angeles which will be loaded with informative and helpful speakers. Head to her site for more information. If Jack is involved you will have fun whether you want to or not. Laughing is a part of the learning process! These two do their work from the heart which is rare in the formulaic world. Hope that this helps someone.

Spirit as Energy

When poking around on the Society for ORganizational Learning website (www.solonline.org) i came across an article written by Diana Whitney entitled, Spirituality as a Global Organizing Potential. Delightfully, she included different poems to illustrate the different aspects of Spirit. This is the one she selected to illustrate spirit as energy by D.H. Lawrence.

When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,

and when we escape like squirrels turning in the

caste of our personality

and get into the forests again,

we shall shiver with cold and fright

but things will happen to us so that we don't know ourselves.

Cool, unlying life will rush in,

and passion will make our bodies taut with power

we shall stamp our feet with new power

and old things will fall down,

we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.

D.H. Lawrence

Balancing Energy and Your Health

It does not much matter who you are or where you work, staying in balance is the key to leading from the heart and functioning from a creative rather than survival mode. It is hard to do without being aware of your body. Body awareness takes time to develop for sure. At the same time, you know when your body is not in balance which is probably the best barometer.

A couple of health related resources for those of you who prefer to take charge of staying well rather than leaving it till you are in disease management mode. Some of these resources are passed on by Bryan deFlores who knows how to select what is most effective at this point in our collective evolution.

1) Cleansing....there are tons of products out there. Remembering that your body responds to messages it receives means remembering what you say. If you repeatedly tell your body it is fat, then naturally it will help you eat more since that is your focus. For cleansing, keep it simple and not too harsh. Good sites: www.earthclinic.com; www.bodypure.com At the earthclinic.com site you will find Apple Cider Vinegar which is a simple, inexpensive, very effective solution. Once you figure out how to make it tasty you are on the road to keeping your digestive system in order. Talking about cleansing your body too much sends the wrong message. It is more like regular maintenance.

2) Colour energy solutions: Each colour has a frequency and each frequency balances a different part of your energy field somewhat like the mantras do in yoga which uses sound. More information is on the www.FromInsightToAction.com website under Energy Balancing.

3) Vibrational wave technology: Cory Herter's energy mats were designed through a powerful inspiration - to heal both himself of a head injury and his brother of body paralysis. They work whether you can feel them working or not. For more information go to www.newwavetechnology.ca

At the upcoming www.bodyheals.ca conference Norman Sheely will be speaking. This is a great place for Health and Wellness specialists and masters to find community, new ideas, confirm old ones and just be in the company of those who get there is more to you than meets the  microscope. 

Dealing with Outmoded Management Styles of Power and Control

The workplace is loaded with friction between outmoded management styles bumping up against motivated or inspired initiative trying to fit into a container where power is based on authority rather than leadership.

It doesn't work. So what do you do?

The use of control sits on top of a fear of losing it. In other words it mirrors back a need for security that is based both on fear or insecurity where image hopes to replace substance and sometimes competence. A recent case in point is the 2010 Vancouver Olympic organization VANOC which appears to have become the local lightening rod for community discontent. There are a couple of reasons for that only one of which has to do with VANOC.

1) There is an assumption that those who have power know how to wield it effectively. This is not necessarily the case. The symptom that accompanies this dynamic is the public expectation that an organization will lead the way on the obvious social initiatives that contribute to community development. We also saw this in the government response to Katrina...or the lack thereof. The private sector filled the gap but in other instances it will be citizen lead initiative.

2) Lack of transparency particular when public funds are involved. This is the kiss of broken trust. Combine that with a fixation on image and you have situations like the one with VANOC mentioned above. Fixation on image looks like trademarking ordinary words that are presumably intellectual property. If the press is to be believed, in the case of the Olympics this would sound like It's Our Time to Shine; Celebrate the Impossible; Driven by Dreams; See you in Vancouver -  Beijing - Whistler and other phrases that up to now have been the talk of travel or personal growth and motivation.

Credibility takes a visible beating when trademarking demonstrates how impractical and imposing intellectual property protection is, especially when it is protecting ideas not worthy of protection. They just are not creative enough!

Meanwhile it calls for individuals dealing with such agencies to take the highest road imaginable and not force, manipulate, or influence (otherwise it is like the pot calling the kettle black) but rather to inspire, model, and initiate. Eventually someone will see the light and want to follow a path that leads to real results.

Taking a principled approach requires a higher level of personal mastery but it is the most effective way to work toward solution rather than amplify the division. Start by using language of inclusivity rather than me-they.

 

Global Change

In 1992 Daniel Quinn wrote a book called Ishmael in which Ishmael, a gorilla, asks: 'With man gone will there be hope for gorilla? The headline in yesterday's local paper read: 30% of the species will become extinct as a result of global warming. As we enter the 6th mass extinction in our planet's history it begs the question, 'With polar bear, salmon, penquin, shark, etc...... gone will there be hope for man?'

Man is unquestionably the dominant species of the planet but has not yet shown enough awareness to notice. Voices have cried, recommendations have been made, promises kept and broken. All the while a deep appreciation for the impact of our collective action has not struck home and the connections been made. This is changing slowly thanks to efforts by Al Gore, and other independent film makers who illuminate what otherwise might have stayed beneath the radar. I have seen the odd conversation debating whether man's actions are really responsible or not which makes little sense given the planetary implications...who cares who caused it. Looking backward to find blame is not helpful. We are the ones who can lead the way in resolving and mitigating the impacts.

The only way we can achieve the level of innovation required is by releasing the tacit knowledge held within employees, individuals, leaders, humans regardless of role or stature into a collective capacity to innovate. This means that the social and cultural context must be able to receive and absorb this level of talent. It also means calling upon the strengths and powerful leadership capacity held within corporations to take the lead. Only the visionary and progressive need apply. 

Organizational Bad Habits

Scepticism once served a useful purpose in science at least. As Tim Flannery pointed out in The Weathermakers, 'While sceptism is the lifeblood of science, it can have drawbacks when society is called on to combat real dangers." We are at that point now in the evolution of humanity. The effect of scepticism is to cast doubt which in turn creates uncertainty which typically ensures that a creative or innovative idea ends up with very little stretch to it. There are no shortage of challenges we face in the world; all of them require radically innovative solutions and a totally different mindset from the one that has been operational to this point in time.

Scepticism is only one of the many habits organizations can adopt as vocal patterns. Another deadly habit is that of judgment. Most people do not even notice when they are seeking to blame or isolate responsibility on single individuals. Judgment creates performance gaps when none might exist. The propensity to focus on what is wrong with the individual ignores the impact of the larger system completely. When judgment becomes ingrained as a habit, the old shamanic saying 'Energy flows where attention goes' applies. A stifled, repressed workforce existing in a fear of judgment creates a relatively unsafe working environment. It is tough to perform in a climate of fear.

In my experience, organizations can also become addicted to acting, frequently without a clear sense of purpose, outcome or direction. The signals are a massive to-do list, a sense of stagnation, and a lot of busy people wondering why they are so busy.

For shifts to be made, organizations, just like people, must acknowledge where the energy is flowing and choose to guide toward a better balance on the whole. There is a story of a tribe which exchanged habits on a regular basis as a way to not get too attached. Presumably they were all good ones yet practicality aside, the idea of staying attentive to what patterns guide day to day actions can mean the difference between staying stagnant or staying on top.