What Matters Now

It's my birthday. As I begin my 46th trip around the Sun, I came across the free e-book by Seth Godin called What Matters Now thanks to Rochelle Moulton's post in a LinkedIn group I am in. It is a great, very fast read of thoughts by over 70 leading authors, bloggers, and thinkers.

Each page has it's own topic and author. Here is one topic I would like to add...

FAITH

Belief is safe. Faith is risky. When we believe in something we can espouse how much we believe and speak from our mount. But in order to have faith we have to let go of some of our control and be vulnerable and not speak of our belief but act on our faith.

I think the stresses of this past year have challenged our beliefs and many times faith in what we believed was not present.

So What Matters Now?...Finding faith and acting upon it.

Be Intentional and Be Open

I have had many conversations in the past week that have all centered on the theme of intentionality. I find those times when the same thing keeps presenting itself to you is one of the reasons why I named my company Synchronicity. I also find there is a need to pay attention during those times.

Two conversations stand out the most the first was with my dear friend and mentor Andrea Chilcote. She is currently writing a book about "living an intentional life". Andrea has taught me about the significance of putting our intentions out there and being intentional in every moment. I have really taken the latter point to heart.

I also had an awesome conversation over a long over due lunch with my dear friend Nancy Pridal (one of the neatest people I know). Our conversation was more about how we open ourselves to what the world needs from us or is asking of us and how that is often "in synch" with the intentions we put out there.

Here's the Synchronicity part...I put my intentions out there that I wanted projects that make impact and make me feel like I am making a positive difference. When just putting my intentions out there didn't seem to do the trick, I changed my focus to what is the world calling for me to do. And that's when it happened...

I have the coolest new project with a new client, Promise Partners, associated with America's Promise. It's not my typical work at all and yet it is. I am using my facilitative and platform presenting skills but instead of working within an organization I am working with my beloved community of Council Bluffs. My job is to grow a movement (I told you it was cool!) in CB that engages businesses, organizations, schools and the public in growing assets in our young people. I can go on and on about this (and I will in later posts).

So what I am interested in hearing from you is...have you had Synchronicity moments like these?

It's not just functionality it is design

Okay bare with me as I share one of my idea collisions...

Part 1: Daniel Pink said in his book A Whole New Mind that one of the new senses for the conceptual age is design. He also talks about how the conceptual age is a right brained environment more so than the left brained environment of the information age.

Part 2: I was just perusing my Fast Company Newsletter and came across an article in which Roger Martin (Dean of the Rotman School of Management) says, "enemy of innovation is the phrase 'prove it'." The interviewer (Linda Tischler) and Martin go on to talk about how design thinking is the next competitive advantage and how analysis paralysis is "thwarting" innovation.

Part 3: I have had several conversations and attended both an ASTD and an ODN meetings this month where the subject of measurement, research and "proving it" has come up. I believe I made the flippant comment, "why do we keep researching 'duh'."

Part 4: when we are under stress, human beings have the tendency to resort back to a time of less stress and take less risks.

Okay so here's my interpretation. The recession has caused us to be under a lot of stress thus we are resorting to those safe things we know have worked in the past--those left brained logical things like research and measurement. My question is, is this what is keeping us from innovating our way out of the recession? Further more, how poorly prepared for the ramp up after the recession will you be if you aren't innovating now?

Now, here is another part to my idea collision...

Part 5: Polarity Management by Barry Johnson talks about many problems are unsolvable/don't have an "answer" and are are really polarities to be managed.

So, the "answer" isn't to swing the pendulum to really wacky ideas and big risks but to create a balance between taking risks on new innovative thinking and then applying measures to it. Our challenge as OD professionals is to create ways within organizations to foster innovative thinking, innovative collaboration, and at the same time building processes that allow for the risks to be tolerable and some measures to be applied to "prove it" worked. It is not just functionality--it is design and it is not just design--it is functionality.

I would enjoy hearing of your successes in doing just that.

Seeing the world we describe

I shared my favorite quote with my colleagues today at our Omaha ODN meeting. The quote is by Joseph Jaworski who wrote Synchronicity the Inner Path of Leadership in which he says, "We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we describe." The context of our conversation at ODN was employee "re-engagement" and the role of OD professionals. I shared this quote because I believe that how we (leaders in organizations) describe the state of the organization, the focus of the organization and the future of the organization is key to how our employees see the organization.

This ties well with the appreciative approach in that in every organization at every moment something is working well. We, as leaders, need to discover that and celebrate that and grow that which is working well.

So on that note...please share with me what is working well in your organization at this moment.

I Drank the Google Koolaid

Yup, I did it...I bailed on Outlook and Explorer and moved to Google Apps instead and I am loving every minute of it. It all started when I upgraded to the Palm Pre (I'm loving it too). Here are my top 10 reasons why I am so excited:

1. The Pre and Google synch automatically, no cables, no trying to remember if my phone is current. It's magic!
2. Google is very accommodating to us making the transition. I was able to move my data easily.
3. I have access from anywhere there is an internet connection.
4. Gmail keeps running conversations--so much easier than managing multiple separate emails.
5. No synching Outlook between desktop and laptop.
6. I can still send my email via my beinsynch and Cox email addresses.
7. My Google Calendar is very colorful. :)
8. Attachments are easier to work with
9. I can keep my gmail, calendar, docs, and blog all open.
10. Chrome moves faster than Explorer and right now my ancient computer needs all the help it can get.

I know in the coming days I will discover many more reasons. Thanks Google!