Group Process

I work with a group of exceptional coaches on a major project with global implications. It feels like a big deal!

And the most challenging part is not that we are connected by phones from cities across North America and in different time zones or that we are doing detailed work by virtual committee. The challenging part is that we are all showing up on the calls with great intention from which we cannot hide. We want this project to succeed. We want to have our individual voices heard. We want to listen carefully to one another. We want to offer our varying skills and expertise. We want to produce a favorable outcome. We want to conduct our project using the tools we all know as coaches. We want to walk our talk!

This group asks for opinions and then listens. This group challenges ideas when they are unclear or too small. This group keeps itself on task and on time. This group holds its members accountable for the commitments each makes. This group respectfully disagrees. This group celebrates. This group values knowledge and experience and creates a welcoming space for your contribution. We build on one another’s ideas. We clarify confusion. This group holds our collective goal with skillfulness and honor.

Like the flow of a river, at times unpredictable and fierce and others calming and wide open, our group process has moved from our head water starting point to a place that, at the moment, is unclear. And we’re on our way!

What does your group process look like? Which voices do you hear and honor and which do you marginalize? How do you hold one another accountable? How do you celebrate?

How do you walk your talk?

This Moment

My nephew is graduating from high school tonight. What an exciting event and a tremendous rite of passage. Sam, you are a star!

And what I am thinking about are the moments in our lives that point us to limitless possibility. For an individual it might be taking your first steps or graduating high school. For a couple it might be getting married or moving to a new state. For an organization it might be securing a large donation or adopting a strategic plan. There is a strong sense of power fueled by a bit of fear and uncertainty. These moments suggest the slate is empty, anything is possible. Anything can happen.

Remember a defining moment of limitless possibility. What unfolded? What was it like to be in that place? What can you take from that moment and bring forward to today’s opportunities? What’s it like to take the freshness and awe of that moment (as you recall it) and combine it with the wisdom you have today? What’s possible now?

What is the limitless possibility you have in this moment?

Monday Morning!

What are you looking forward to this week?

Make it a great one...

Quantum Flirts

I was walking from the subway to meet a client this morning. As I walked in the city I was thinking deeply about this client and the coaching topics we have been covering: Work/life balance, parenting, health and fitness. Then, out of the corner of my eye, my attention was drawn to this sign hanging in the window of a shop... just outside this client's office door. I smiled.

Quantum flirt!

The Center for Right Relationship (where I took a large portion of my coaches training) describes a quantum flirt as "a short-lived, transient, perceptual signal which can be used [as a dream door] to provide us with insight." When we catch these seemingly coincidental or meaningless messages, our spirits may very well be altered enough to affect significantly the choices we make in our lives. The messages we receive and the meaning we make of them can affect our realities.

These flirts are all around us disguised as billboards, noises, songs, creatures. Flirts can take any form, it's how we notice it that matters. I recall walking outside with a client as she was describing how she felt as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her back when we happened upon a stream of ants carrying food crumbs on their backs toward a hole in the ground. We stood beside this stream of ants, noticed their behavior, and made some magical meaning from what we observed for this client. Quantum flirt!

It is a challenge to notice the flirts in our days. And sometimes they are obvious, unavoidable.

Welcome the quantum flirts in your life today. What do you notice? What meaning will you make of the flirt?

[Thanks...always...to the Center for Right Relationship for the profound impact your work has made on my skills as a coach and the quality of my life.]

What's In a Name?

Notice my logo? Well there’s a little story. I invented the logo in the third grade when I decided to run for student council treasurer at Rosedell Elementary School. “Watch your money grow with Gary Groth” I said from the stage in the outdoor amphitheater to the entire student body. My clever logo and slogan did not propel me into elementary school electoral politics success. But through the process I did notice there was something really great about wanting to serve my school.

I used the logo in a dozen other student council elections and youth leadership activities over the years, many with very successful outcomes. I became well known in school and in my community for my logo that represented growth, forward movement, change, and success. People came to believe that when I participated bigger things happened. As I grew older I learned of my unwavering integrity and enthusiasm. I was called a masterful problem solver and strategic thinker. I represented growth.

Gro(w)th became my brand.

When I began my consulting business many years ago and my coaching business recently, it was very clear to me what this business would be called and what it would be about. After all, I had been this brand for 35 years! The third grade candidate for student council treasurer has grown up and the brand recognition remains: Whether talking about strategic planning or fundraising, finding healthy work/life balance or making more skillful choices, my work is about growth, forward movement, change, and success.

What does your name say about you and your purpose?

Wow… A Blog!

So my web designer, Sue (love her!), sent me an e-mail weeks ago outlining how I can access my new blog and begin to post my own entries. I immediately panicked. What do I know about blogging? What will it take to maintain a blog? She’s the web page expert. I closed her e-mail invitation to “blog away!” and moved on to other projects that were in my comfort zone.

[deep breath]

This blogging thing stirred me until a bit later I was reminded of my first coaching class when we were introduced to a model that outlines the process learners take from incompetence to competence. Blogging… incompetence… this felt right.

The model goes something like this:

Unconscious Incompetence: I don’t know what I don’t know. We’re incompetent but we don’t care… we don’t even know we’re incompetent because the activity means nothing to us. For me, I think rodeo bull rider.

Conscious Incompetence: Now I know what I don’t know. This stage can be a bit frightening or even overwhelming. We are aware of what we don’t know. We want to quit once we begin. For me, I think blogging.

Conscious Competence: I know what I know. This is the level of learning where we actually begin to achieve a level of mastery, at least over some of the aspects of the challenge. We may not be experts but we have expertise. Oh, this example is easy; parenting a teenager.

Unconscious Competence: I’m not aware and I know. This is the stage of mastery. This is the stage of flow. For me, driving and fundraising certainly apply here.

Today I am blogging somewhere in between Conscious Incompetence and Conscious Competence (leaning more toward Conscious Incompetence). I am no longer panicked and out of breath. In fact, I am kind of excited about blogging. And I lack the technical skills to make this easy and I will probably want to give up at times. Today I am doing what I quickly avoided weeks ago. It’s a dance between stages.

What do you know about your learning? Where are you unconscious and conscious? Where are you incompetent and competent? What does the path from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence look like for you?

Welcome to the Gro(w)th Coaches Blog! Keep checking back.

[Thanks, always, to the Coaches Training Institute for informing and inspiring my work by providing meaningful models like the Learning Steps.]