What I Want to Remember from "Reinventing Organizations"

Book:  Reinventing Organizations:  A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, by Frederic Laloux

Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organizations-Frederic-Laloux/dp/2960133501
Path to Discovery:   A mentor suggested I read this book when I shared that one aspect of my coaching practice involves coaching leaders in high tech who are leading change.  He felt that the topics in this book could be relevant and inspirational for these leaders.

In brief:  What did I take to heart?  
(A few things I want to remember, and some thoughts on application)

I appreciated that the thought process in this book went far deeper and broader than the concept of self-organizing teams.  The book applied lenses and frameworks that can be used to view any organization - and to create insight about the organization's strengths, limitations, and practices.

Integral model
Through reading this book, I realized that we can use an integral model as a lens through which to look at organizations -- not just individuals.   (Previously, I had been using the integral model for individual development.)  We can use the 4 quadrants of the integral model (intentional, behavioral, cultural, and systems) to better understand the organizations we are working with.   (For a quick visual depiction of the integral model (not from Laloux), see: http://www.businessintegral.com/approach/the-integral-model/.)   More specifically:

• We can use the model to ensure we are considering the interiority (thoughts, emotions, beliefs) of the individuals in the organizational system, which is equally important as the outwardly recognized behaviors of those individuals. 
• We can distinguish individual interiority and exteriority from collective interiority and collective external systems.   
• Our adjustments to organization design (e.g. Strategy, Structure, Systems, Metrics/Rewards, etc) may only address one quadrant of the integral model (collective exteriority/external systems). 
• To truly shift an organization, we can consider all four quadrants at once.  For instance, in addition to organization design (collective exteriority), we can develop the thoughts, beliefs, and mindsets of each individual (individual interiority).   Without a shift in thought, a revised structure may not help - it may only hinder. 

Stages of organizations
In my view, Laloux's model depicting the stages of organizations can be used as one lens to better understand team and organization challenges.  For example, it can be used to better understand lack of movement in an organization or team (otherwise known as "being stuck"). A team may get stuck when some members assume that the team is in one stage (e.g. orange), but others still harbor beliefs from another (e.g. amber).  For instance, if the manager believes the team is in orange, he may expect individuals to innovate and think for themselves; however, if the individuals still harbor unexpressed beliefs from being raised in an amber system, they may expect more direction and rules for behavior.  What happens when this discrepancy is unacknowledged?  The team is stuck.  In this example, the team isn't innovating but the manager doesn't know why; and the team doesn't know why the manager doesn't give more direction.   Looking at organizations through this lens can help us better understand individual and team behaviors; and if we want to develop a team, we can better understand what is the next step (vs. wondering why they cannot skip 3 steps). 

Organizations as living organisms:

The heart of the book points towards self-organizing teams (teal organizations).   In teal, organizations are not only self-organizing:  they are also seen by the members as developing organically, like a living organism (vs. a mechanical system), and they support individuals to reclaim their wholeness (including bringing their whole selves to their work). Individuals within teal organizations become adept at sensing what the organizations want to become, and what purpose they want to (and could) serve.

Teal practices, applicable beyond self-organizing teams:

It's important to note that an organization's members cannot move (successfully) to a self-organized structure unless the CEO and the board are ready.  However, they can adopt some of the practices without moving fully to a 100% self-organizing structure:  

• Advice process:  In this process, an individual is fully empowered to decide and act - but they must get advice from every interested and knowledgeable party first.  They weigh such advice carefully.  This is not consensus - so it doesn't slow the decision down like aiming for consensus does.  Including data and perspective from knowledgeable team members both increases the quality of the decision and enhances the ultimate support for the decision.  
• Appreciative inquiry:  Laloux also referenced appreciative inquiry (AI) as an exemplary future visioning and planning process for teal organizations.  In my view, AI can be used anywhere.  In grad school, we used it in a factory in Mexico. 

What questions am I left pondering?

• How many "teal" practices can an organization adopt productively without actually becoming fully "self-organizing" (with little direction from even the CEO and the board, and zero managers below the CEO)?  To what extent are there viable alternative organization structures, which support many teal values and strengths, without proceeding all the way to self-organizing teams?  For example, an organization could empower many teams, and evolve the boss-subordinate to mentor-coach, but still vest some leaders with decision-making power for major decisions (provided they follow the advice process).   
• I'd like to see an example of how a large high-performing "teal" organization moves with agility and grace - and consistently meets high performance goals while faced with a dynamic "VUCA" world.  Laloux has offered many examples, such as Patagonia.  I want a deeper perspective into multiple such organizations to better understand how it's done.
• I recently read an article that seemed to suggest that the processes of Holocracy can be just as stultifying and rigid as some of the old organization structures (though in a different way).   I'm curious to learn more about alternative practices.  It seems to me that within a "teal" philosophy, multiple variations of practices and processes could evolve.

© 2015 Kristen Lee.  All rights reserved

What I Want to Remember From "A Path With Heart"

Book: "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life" by Jack Kornfield

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Path-Heart-Through-Promises-Spiritual/dp/0553372114/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Path to Discovery:   This book was on New Ventures West's Coaches Bookshelf (a recommended book list for coaches embarking on a year-long coaching learning program). A friend (who was also in the program) inspired me to read it when she shared what she was learning through journaling on the meditation questions offered in each chapter.

In brief:  What did I take to heart?  
(A few things I want to remember - not a summary of the whole book)

The essence of this book is a call to spiritual practice.   The heart of this practice is meditation and related practices for tuning into body, heart, and mind.  The outcome includes a deeper and greater capacity for accessing wisdom and perspective.

When we meditate, we bring our attention back again and again to our current experience. (This is one type of meditation - distinguished from the type where we seek to transcend experience).  We use gentleness to return our attention (vs. force).

Our first instinct may be to run from difficulty or attempt to bypass it.  This book advocates putting our attention to it, gently, just as we do in meditation.   Placing our attention on it allows difficulty to become our teacher.  As we allow our awareness instead of stifling it, we receive new information that can help us discern wisdom from it.  There is a guided meditation to use, to help us with this (p. 81).    I used this one as a daily journalling practice while on vacation to Hawaii.   While it may not seem possible to have one single difficult moment during a vacation to Hawaii, I managed to have one.  Our hotel room mid-way through the trip was dank, dark and moldy.  I had imagined using time on this trip to write in some beautiful, pristine, light-and-air-filled hotel room, and here I was, surrounded by mold.  No way is this a matter to complain about in the face of the world's issues (war! hunger! deforestation!), but the mood had (literally) dampened into larger doubts about my vocation, life purpose.  You name it, doubt had crept in.  The mood was as now as dark and smelly as the room.  I used the meditation questions as daily journalling questions, and not only did I learn something, I also changed the purpose of my trip to glorious outdoor time and body movement.  From then on, I got out of the hotel room.  We learned to stand-up paddle and did it daily; we snorkeled and hiked.  The trip became 1000% times richer than I'd planned, when body work and outdoor experience overtook my original dream of sitting indoors like an ascetic, writing.  When the hotel manager changed our room, it didn't matter so much any more - the learning had taken hold; the mood had shifted.  I learned that tuning into momentary misery (instead of judging it or trying to ignore it) and sensing into its invitation can generate movement into a different direction - and unintended joy.

One of the ways to place attention on difficulty is to name it (or name the quality that we sense within ourselves - doubt, anxiety, etc).   We name it without judging it.  As we name it, we can notice the sensations in our body, and any thoughts that may relate to it.  We can start to sense patterns.  Gently naming both helps us integrate ourselves into wholeness, and also helps us access inner wisdom (which cannot be accessed very well while we are rejecting a part of ourselves).   Guided meditations for naming are on p. 100.

I'll skip now to one other concept introduced by the book:  finding a teacher.  Jack Kornfield spends time talking about the importance of finding a teacher; how to find one; the qualities of a good teacher.  He's specifically talking about spiritual teachers, but I can broaden the message to any discipline.   There could be cycles in our lives, where we study alone; then study with a teacher; and then go back to studying alone again.   A teacher can help us understand wisdom more accurately and see through our blind spots. A teacher can diagnose accurately what our needs are, so that we don't take generic teaching and apply it to ourselves, when actual the opposite would be true for us.   My favorite metaphor is a student on a path:  If the goal is to get them to walk in the center, we would tell a student who is veering left to aim right, and a student who is drifting right to aim left, and these very different prescriptions would move each to center.  This is why there is no one size fits all prescription for life, or even for our practices.  If we read somewhere "go right" (so to speak), and we follow it blindly, we may careen towards the cliff.  If we work with a teacher, this person can help us understand the practices to subtly shift us towards center and towards the work that will be most helpful for us personally, at this time in our lives.

What questions am I left pondering?

• From time to time, I'm still revisiting the exercises in the book.  I'm using them both for meditation and journalling.  The questions and the answers have a way of subtly shifting my perspective.

© 2015 Kristen Lee.  All rights reserved

What I Want to Remember from "The Gifts of Imperfection"

Book: "The Gifts of Imperfection:  Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are" by Brené Brown
Link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Gifts-Imperfection-Supposed-Embrace/dp/159285849X
Path to Discovery:   Multiple roads have led to this book.  I finally read the book after I watched Brené's Ted Talks on vulnerability and shame.

In brief:  What did I take to heart?  
(A few things I want to remember - not a summary of the whole book)

Everyone has shame.  Yes, even that perfect-looking person with the perfect pedigree.  Perfectionism may be a misguided attempt to fend off shame. 

Shame grows in secret.  We each need a few trusted confidantes to talk with about our shame.  Through exposing our vulnerability to someone who deserves our trust, we build what Brené Brown calls shame resilience. 

We each have a signature way to react to shame:  fight, flight, or freeze.  When we feel shame, we can take an alternative path:  we can choose to stay in the moment, with awareness.  We can recognize that we are feeling shame, allow vulnerability, and take a more courageous action.  The definition of "courage" may vary based on the person.  For some, courage may mean staying with the uncomfortable feeling without lashing out.  For some, it may mean setting a boundary.  For others, it may mean seeking connection.

Through her research, the author found a cadre of people who live unfettered by shame, who possess shame resilience.  She calls these people the Wholehearted. Some hallmarks of the Wholehearted: they are authentic; they live a life they love (vs. simply acquiring things  - or reputations); they create time for stillness; they PLAY, laugh, dance.   

On authenticity:  Brené gave the example of speaking inauthentically to try to please an organizer and a crowd; and the (mildly) disastrous result.   When we live our lives inauthentically to please others, we are on the road to addiction, depression...anything but happiness.  Beyond that, we each have gifts that are dying to be cultivated and shared - and we die inside if we do not cultivate and share them.   

On intuition:  This rang so true to me:  Sometimes when we start asking everyone else what we should do, it's because we aren't connecting to our own inner wisdom, or because we are searching for the illusion of certainty when it doesn't exist.   Sometimes when we want to rush a decision, it may be that we don't want to hear the information that comes from an inquiry.  Intuition involves listening to one's gut, even when it says "I want to inquire more" or "It's time to buck the trend."

On anxiety:  Rather than react immediately from anxiety, we could cultivate some stillness and inquire into whether we have the information we need to make a decision. Overreaction doesn't help.  Sometimes we may need to ask for time to reflect or research, before responding.  Regular meditation can help us access that internal quietness.

On play:  Through this book I was led to watch Stuart Brown's Ted Talk, and it felt like one of those life-changing moments:  Stuart said that when we don't play, we become depressed; we lose our inspiration and zest.   Play is something we do just for its own sake; we may think of it as a frivolity, but it is a necessity for our joy and, counter-intuitively, for our work.   So if we are feeling dead, stuck, unable to create, we could consider opening ourselves up through more play, even at times when we think the answer is more structure and stricture (work! work! work!).

Here are some interpretations of Brené's journaling and thinking exercises:

• List your beliefs about what you are "supposed to" do.  Inspect and challenge them. What makes you think they are true?  Then write down the activities and work that make your heart sing.  What strikes you?
• Write down the activities and practices you do when your life is working well.  (What are you doing when you are living a joyful and meaningful life?)  Then, look at the life you thought you needed to live, to achieve your goals.  What new glimpses of possibility are you seeing?

What questions am I left pondering?

• How to integrate play into life on a daily basis?  
• I can remember stumbling into regular play when I was invited to play violin in an alternative rock band.  We played weekly at bars, festivals, wine bars, restaurants, parties.  At the time I didn't even know "play" was on the happiness-requirement list -- and it came to me, joyfully, unexpectedly.  During that time, the feeling of creativity and possibility spilled into all parts of my life, including my high-tech job in a beige San Jose office.  I truly believe we can play at work, and work at its best feels like play!   And maybe playing outside work can spark the fire for play at work.
• What are some here-and-now examples of integrating play, daily, which feel worthwhile and meaningful, vs. junky and addictive?  
• Where do you find the balance between "authenticity" vs. "calm in a storm," when a part of you is shaking in your boots, but a community will be impacted by your words and actions?   What is the balance between crafting a message carefully towards the greater good, vs. speaking your mind and heart without edits?  
• I believe that finding the balance involves judgment and perspective.   The first answer to "what is authentic" may not be the whole truth.
• With regular meditation or other practices like Focusing, you can learn to tune into multiple parts of yourself - even in a stressful time.   You may discover that one part of you experiences fear, and another part feels calm and trusting.  You can access wisdom about what to pay attention to, and what to allow to emerge.  Based on that deeper and broader perspective, you may choose words and actions to inspire calm in others.  Or, you may choose to talk about your fear.   Either choice may be authentic.
• Sometimes talking or acting "authentically" is actually an overreaction based on a mistaken conclusion.   It can be more productive to check your thinking first or inquire into your own assumptions.  Inquiring into the facts can be just as authentic as reacting blindly.   
• Yet questions linger that can only be answered on a case by case basis:  When does holding back for the "greater good" cross the line into inauthenticity?   When does your song just need to be belted out, wrong notes and all?  

© 2015 Kristen Lee.  All rights reserved

What I Want to Remember From "Let Your Life Speak"

Book: "Let Your Life Speak: Listening to the Voice of Vocation" by Parker J. Palmer

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Life-Speak-Parker-Palmer/dp/B007CUH7X4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421631715&sr=1-1&keywords=let+your+life+speak+by+parker+palmer

Path to Discovery:   Jake Jacobs facilitated a dialogue based on this book during a Pepperdine MSOD reunion weekend several years ago.  I put it on my "future books to read" list.  I finally read it one day when I found myself staring down a barrel loaded with questions about my own path.   

In brief:  What did I take to heart?  
(A few things I want to remember - not a summary of the whole book)

Parker J. Palmer's line of thinking reminds me of James Hillman's "The Soul's Code," another inspiring book about honoring the acorns of our potential.

The essence of this book is that we each have a life within us that wants to speak - and that is speaking.   In the fullest sense, when we live into our calling, we are letting our lives speak through everything we do or say.  If we are not living out our calling, our actions and words are still speaking - even to say "no."  When we listen and observe our own past actions, our words, and our emotions, we can see clues to who we are, and who we are meant to be.

When seeking our path, it may feel righteous to first ask the outside world what it needs.   But Palmer suggests starting inside, with ourselves - rather than outside, with the world.  Trying to offer what we believe others need without regard to our unique gifts and loves can lead to betrayal - of ourselves, and ironically of others.   In our seemingly valorous attempts to serve, we end up with a hollow, half-hearted offering and our own true talents stay hidden.  Someone, somewhere is missing out because our unique gift is not given.

Our first question then becomes, "What unique capabilities, gifts and loves do I have?"   We review our own past actions - honestly - for clues about our strengths, limitations, and passions.   We pay attention to our current feelings and thoughts.  When we speak to others out loud, we listen to what we are saying.  When we speak advice to others we may be speaking to ourselves.   Once we know ourselves, we can then find who and what in the world will most greatly benefit from our gifts.

Amidst a frustrating and seemingly fruitless search for his path, Palmer asked a longtime Quaker for advice on how to find your way.  She said that in her long life, way had never opened for her.   "But a lot of way has closed behind me, and that's had the same guiding effect."   When paths close, we can see this as an invitation to a different path.

In order to gain insight into his path, Palmer opened himself up to personal inquiry in a Quaker clearness committee.  For several hours, fellow Friends asked him questions about a potential job opportunity.  He sailed through the technical questions effortlessly.  But when one person asked what he would like about the new job, he was stymied.  His only answer was hollow.  He realized he was not expecting to love the work!  Our hearts point our way to our vocation.

I read this book one night in one sitting, from afternoon, through sunset, to darkness.  As I read, alone in front of a window, I felt myself becoming quieter, accessing that place of truth within.  A new perspective opened up for me about the parts of the hero's (heroine's) journey that are behind me, and how they offer insight into the adventure opening before me.

Writers, poets, and playwrights have all spoken to this over the centuries.  Each of us has a unique gift to offer, to live out.  If we try to live according to someone else's prescription, our unique voice may be lost - or our own stifled voice may find painful ways to cry out "wrong way!"  Follow your own path.

What questions am I left pondering?

• In the weeks after reading this book, I found myself especially aware of my own breath and the spaciousness around it.  Presence opens us up to in-the-moment opportunities to let our lives speak - and to support others in letting their own lives speak.
• Daily self-reflection (journalling) questions:  
• How did my life speak, today?  What supported me to let my life speak?
• How did I support others in letting their lives speak?
• What did I learn about my path from listening to my life speak?

© 2015 Kristen Lee.  All rights reserved