CFC Blog #01: Beta #1 60-second thoughts
(PIP: Beta #1 60-second thoughts: a group of ten of us are joining to create a writers’ circle of sorts or maybe a ‘bloggers’ circle is more apt… while we do send pieces already which are all residing on the website, we felt that this emerging sense of community in different ways and different degrees among a group of about 260 people might be further fostered by the back beat of more frequent 45-60 second thoughts. Soon I will happily share more of the design elements we will work with to maintain a consistency while providing tremendous freedom for each individual and their uncorrelated thinking and passions and topics and communicating. A first-person bio is at the bottom. Amanda Posa will be leading this effort and perhaps frame these notes for us as she does with this first “beta” from my dear dear friend and long lost brother Jorgen Van der Sloot. Thank you Amanda for your awesome energy. Much more ahead.)
The following piece from Jorgen highlights the importance of communication and how we word what we say or propose. The way in which i ask a question can make a big difference on whether I inadvertently narrow the answers to a dull normal or whether I supercharge electricity! Thanks Jorgen!
- Amanda
(from Jorgen Van der Sloot)
As a member of the Community For Change it has become a regular practice for me to reflect on my own experiences in the realm of change, to better understand what I’m doing and learn from it. So, a couple of weeks ago when I was witnessing a meeting of a company with their top managers, the COO opened his talk with the question: “who of you knows what our mission statement is?” Nobody was able to reproduce the words the organization had so delicately formulated. The atmosphere in the room changed immediately: everyone felt they had failed and that they were doing a terrible job in making the company even more successful.
The company is going through a strategic change recently and this means that the culture inside is also changing. In order to get everyone on board for this the COO is looking for alignment. But in my opinion collaboration is much more crucial for success than striving for perfect alignment. In that context I wondered: why ask such a question? The question is a set-up for failure, even though the COO was not really aware of that.
So, what I suggested for him to do next time is to ask everyone to write down what they feel or think the (new) mission of the company is: what do you think our mission is?
Again, no one will be able to give the ‘right’ answer. But they all have a general idea of what the mission is. By having them all express it, they will see the similarities and differences between them. That will create an atmosphere of recognition and of collaboration and the energy will stay positive.
Even though the question is only slightly different the effect it has is dramatically different: it is generative instead of judgmental. Thich Nhat Hahn refers to this as ‘right speech’ and ‘wrong speech’ in his book ‘The Art of Communicating” and this is how I’ve translated it ever since I read that book. For the COO reformulating the question will give insight into whether they are progressing in the right direction as opposed to seeing if everyone is getting the answer right.
Jorgen