January marked the first three months of the 100 Thought Leaders Program (100TL). To celebrate, consolidate, and enable us to grow, as a team, we chose to focus on our motivations and goals going forward as much as on what we had learnt so far.
An exercise facilitated by @Gemma Honour gave us some structure on how to get the most out of our time. The exercise consisted of 3 layers:
- What we wanted as a team
- What we wanted for ourselves
- What we wanted for the world and the wider community
As always with Gemma’s work, it was not only functional but looked amazing too. See image.
As a team
Using principles of psychological safety, we worked together as a team first on the inner circle. The concept that the team comes first and is where we are strongest is a subtle but powerful reminder of leadership.
The headline items were for us to:
- Connect
- Learn
- Grow
- Innovate
- Share
These 5 goals were common across the group. They form a pattern that is good for any community of practice, culture for an organisation, or a leadership team. We connect with each other and others outside the team, we learn from each other, this grows us as people as well as in our knowledge, and we use this to innovate new techniques and patterns. We share this through our networks and on social media to better the world around us.
For ourselves
Each person had their own island of what they wanted. I won’t speak for the others, as they will most likely write their own articles. My items of value were mostly like the others and reflected, on a personal level, those of the team. As the course leader and creator of the program, I had a couple of additional items of value I would like to receive. One of these took some courage and a fair amount of hesitation to express.
I want the program to be successful in so much as it grows everyone on it and they go on to do outstanding things.
I also want it to be successful because I made it and want it to look good in the eyes of the world as it reflects on me.
That last one was hard to say. It felt egotistical and self-serving. I was not sure how the group would receive this.
Luckily, I had the courage to say my inner desire because the team were incredibly supportive and acknowledged that this is a healthy and normal feeling to have. This allowed me to feel this way without hiding my feelings and needs. I felt heard. Strangely enough, just being heard made me not worry about not having this need met.
This pattern of being able to speak up, not being judged, and feeling heard, is the key to resolving most conflicts. I see troubles around the world with different groups expressing extreme behaviours and many of them, I am sure, would stop if their voices could be heard and genuinely listened to.
I am glad that in our group we can hear each other and not have judgement.
For the community and world
As leaders, it is our duty to make a difference and to help others. We expressed concepts such as bringing people together, inspiring communities, and healing a fragmented world.
The work we do and share, raises the global vibration of work and leadership. We can do this by encouraging, innovating, and staying connected to the real challenges that we face globally and organisationally.
We are dreamers, but we are also doers. This became obvious to me. This is a great combination to make a difference.
Next
We still have a long way to go. We all need to share more. I feel we have only begun this journey, and practice in sharing to the wider world can be scary. I hope that those of you who read these articles from the 100TL group will take them all in the spirit in which they are given. That is one of hope, of action, and to want to live in a world of equality, abundance, and fun.