Helloooooooo….. How was your week and Halloween? It inspired me for the TGIF – Trust, Gratitude, Inspiration, and Fun.
Trust
“What do you do when there is a relationship challenge at work?” It’s a question I often ask folk around me.
Many people respond with some kind of avoidance. Either to avoid the issue (“I pretend it’s OK. It’s not worth making a fuss over it.”) or they try and create distance with the person (“I look for another job.”)
I have been helping professionals find alternative ways to handle these uncomfortable situations and to come out with win-win solutions. We meet as a group with the specific purpose of identifying alternative ways to manage difficult and delicate situations. The results are amazing.
I am trusting in the power of collective intelligence.
People feel heard. They realize other people share similar issues. When someone else experiences the problem, they are able to step back and find helpful solutions to get unstuck. They also hear of alternative ways to overcome the problem, ideas they would not have come up with on their own!
Here is how it works: one person presents a challenging issue. The others share what they would do if they were in that situation. We address topics as varied as
- How to manage the colleague who is trying to impress your boss when you are presenting a new project
- How to get team members to meet their deadlines
- For are a company with a kitchen for coffee and tea. How to handle doing the dishes in a fair and just way?
- How to better include the foreigner (or woman or the “different one”…) in decision-making
- ….
I lead these groups within companies (where people know each other) and with groups that get together with the sole purpose of transforming “stuck-in-the-muck” into do-able inspiration.
Gratitude
I am reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Aldom. It’s a collection of conversations between a previous student and his dying professor (he has ALS known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The body loses muscle control, starting from the feet and moving up. There is no cure.)
Here is what Morrie Schwartz says about the window. (!!!!) How often are you and I grateful for a window?!
He nodded towards the window with the sunshine straming in. “You see that? You can go out there, outside anytime. You can run up and down the block and go crazy. I can’t do that. I can’t go out. I can’t run. But I appreciate that window more than you do.
I look out that window every day. I notice the change in the trees, how strong the wind is blowing. It’s as if I can see time actually passing through that window-pane. Because I know my time is almost done. I am drawn to nature like I’m seeing it for the first time.“
Inspiration
Here are a few more inspiring nuggets from Morrie
“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
It is inspiring to read about death without it being gory or dreary. Death is a reality. Maybe you too have aging parents.
Thank you Morrie for the inspiration to challenge me to live every day as PRECIOUS.
Fun
Collective intelligence and Halloween got me thinking. Lots of eyeballs giving fresh perspectives and many brains all together.
Yes, we did have Trick-or-Treaters come by our Parisian home. I offered them eyeballs, brains, or toffee….eeeeehhhhhh!
“Can I taste an eyeball?” !!!!!
Cracked me up. Lots of fun.
Wishing you a great week. A bientôt (next week), Denise