What's on Your Mind?

Please share your thoughts with us!  

Our ongoing survey is a way to stay in touch with you.  Please let us know how you are doing in this survey and we'll respond in the next issue of our newsletter or in person.

It's good to be in touch with you!

Your Story

One of our readers was struggling with trying to decide about vacation plans. She wanted to be with family and had financial limitations. What to do?

I suggested coming at the situation from an abundance perspective by asking ‘How can you get all that you want?’ I reflected these wants: financial abundance and time with family. I reflected the current situation: either have money or have fun. The challenge: how to have BOTH knowing there are many, many possibilities for saving money and having time with family.

Our reader responded by saying it makes her smile and lightens things up when she asks herself “what do I want” and the focus on that in your (Karen’s) suggestion does too … it sheds an enthusiastic “this is easy, not hard!” light on things.

Hurray! Let’s put an end to scarcity situations and go for what we really, really want.

Please share your story with us here.

Getting Personal

Earlier this month, Diane lent me the book The Power of TED by David Emerald. It was a quick read that was exactly the right book at the right time for me. What fun!

A poignant lesson from the book was a presentation on the ‘Drama Triangle’ which details the roles of victim, persecutor and rescuer. I reflected on a recent situation where I felt like I was being put into the role of persecutor, and got hooked into being a persecutor when I became a victim myself and slipped into a pattern of believing I couldn’t be myself. I was almost conscious enough to not go there … but not quite. I still had some healing work to do.

The TED material offers the idea of the “creator orientation” being an antidote to the “victim orientation”. Good! That’s what we do with IAM. TED also offers some specific shifts that were really helpful to me. Emerald suggests that in moving from a victim role to creator role, you also need:

·       persecutor -> challenger

·       rescuer -> coach

in order to deconstruct the Drama Triangle.

These shifts offered me a way to more quickly move through my Drama:

·       Notice when I’m blocking myself by holding back

·       Feel and heal the feelings/beliefs associated with the block

·       Observe the victim/persecutor/rescuer roles creating the Drama

·       Choose to play a different role

David Emerald has pulled together some useful language and concepts in The Power of TED that I was aware of … and I needed to see in a slightly different way so they could be more useful.

So now I’m enthusiastically incorporating ideas such as the ‘drama triangle,’ ‘dynamic tension’ and others into IAM! I’m looking forward to sharing with you … 

What's New

In working on Career Savvy online learning, Diane and I have been dissecting David Kolb’s learning styles model and mapping it to the IAM Navigational Compass. 

[You may see a simplified graphic version of the mapping here.]

What we learned from doing this is that the IAM Navigational Compass can be used effectively beginning at either Community or Leadership: Kolb says experiential learning begins with a look at your current situation and Angeles Arrien, who has written much about the Medicine Wheel, the basis of the Navigational Compass, says the wheel can be entered at any point.

The question Diane and I have been grappling with is how best to present IAM learning online?

What we decided is that with online learning, starting as Kolb does with the Current Situation makes the most sense. A nice conclusion since this is the current structure of our learning modules. (Whew!)

More importantly, we’re developing a sense of how personal power relates to organizational collective dynamics, especially in shifting from a “victim orientation” to a “creator orientation”: This shift requires the “I” and “going for” something they want in relationship to the “We” and “letting going” of victim related identity and beliefs in the process. Starting with Community in online learning allows us to help the user see data about their Current Situation and use this data to inspire hope and guide learning toward what might be possible to create…

Very fun stuff to consider … we’ll keep you posted as we learn more

Communications Corner

The Communications Corner Column is currently on hold as we develop the material for our communications skills workshop.

In the meantime, we would still love to hear from you and learn of your communications celebrations and challenges.  So, please, share your communications thoughts with us here and we'll be back in touch with them in the late Fall.

Call To Being

A call to being is an opportunity to connect more deeply with the aliveness and possibility that has been awakened in you by reading this newsletter.

In pushing this button, we invite you to the "other side" to clarify intentions, launch them into your larger Life, and open to the delightful certainty that you will be met.

 

 

Knights in shining karma tend your flame

And with love for armor they’ll remain

Ever by your bed, guarding, still sleeping

Shield your soul from this rain

Knights in shining karma will remain

 

                  ~~ Andy Partridge, XTC

 

 

 

 

 

Dream Teams

Each issue in our 2008 newsletter series has been building toward the ultimate goal of creating a dream team where we: create fun and easy beginnings, anchor in abundance, learn from drama, expect our deepest truths to glow and flow, claim our power, use our power to fuel our dreams and connect with others honestly and intimately, facing our fears and healing each other. 

In our August 2008 issue of Playing in the Gap! we explore how an IAM learning journey can be used to create dream teams and thus any imaginable result.

Table of Contents

Being Messy 
The IAM Dream Team Forms Right On Schedule

How the Playing In The Gap! newsletter themes continue to imitate life.

 

Being Messy
The IAM Dream Team Forms Right On Schedule - by Karen Tax

I would like to say I knew this issue on Dream Teams coincided with the 2008 Summer Olympics. No, it’s another example of the synchronous nature of working with the IAM Navigational Compass.

Likewise, the IAM Dream Team has come together at the same time as our newsletter theme. Diane Craver and I have launched a fun and easy beginning with the Lash Group Career Development project. Lorraine Cohen has also joined us in developing our IAM communications offering to be ready at the end of the year. And our virtual assistant, Tassey Russo, is actively involved on all fronts.

We reached this point by learning from and leveraging recent Drama.

We trusted that centering in our Essence would result in abundant possibilities and they have. We discovered new depths of positive power, using the passionate and inspired energy of our best selves to fuel our efforts, rather than the fearful and anxious energy typical of Drama.

We faced Drama head on by being honest and intimate with each other and by being courageous in tense situations. We learned that renewed collaboration and productivity are possible by taking responsibility for our experiences and by opening our hearts to healing and growth.

On the other side of Drama, it feels like the flood-gates of opportunity and energy have burst open!

My monthly column is about Being Messy and this month it seems I have little mess to ruminate about! I am deeply grateful that we are glowing and flowing easily, productively, abundantly, happily, creatively, synergistically, and profitably.

As I reflect on how we formed our Dream Team, several actions were key:

·       Identifying a shared vision which inspired collaboration and innovation.

·       Discovering the unique ways each person wanted to contribute.

·       Setting healthy boundaries to manage overwhelm and tensions.

·       Discussing questions and concerns proactively and honestly.

·       Asking each other clearly and confidently for what we want.

·       Shifting the make-up of the team to meet individual and client needs.

Right now, my biggest concern is how we are going to involve our other collaborators and train a growing Dream Team to meet the opportunities that are emerging. What a nice challenge to have!

Calling Passion
Finding "Pinging" Relationships - by Diane Craver

Throughout my career, I have been extremely fortunate to participate in a few Dream Teams with some remarkable people. I frequently describe these relationships with certain people as “pinging” – visualize ping pong (the fun version of playing with your friend in the basement). You could also call it my ying to their yang! Something just clicks, our energy seems to feed off of each other, yet there is easiness to it. Together, we create something better than we can create alone. Some names that immediately come to mind are Lynn, Jim, Elizabeth, Tim, Mike, Jill, Hurt, Arvella, Debbie, and of course, Karen!

At this point in my life, I want “pinging” relationships! I want that magical atmosphere where I am engaged, having fun, intellectually stimulated, and spiritually awake. In IAM we refer to this as glowing and flowing. We aren’t living in some fairytale world where there is only sunshine and chocolate. Stuff happens, but we work through it very quickly and move back to glowing and flowing (and, of course, the chocolate). Sounds like a Dream Team to me!

I’m paying more and more attention when I’m working with people about how I feel about myself. I’m not saying “how they make me feel,” because I believe we’re responsible for our own feelings. I am looking for that spark – that easiness and lightness that makes me feel a little bit giddy. Can you think of a time when that’s happened for you?

I began thinking about my own experience with Dream Teams, and I discovered that the IAM Energy Map fits perfectly into the making of a Dream Team.

The IAM Energy Map combines Strengths, Values and Motivations/ Passions and perfectly maps into a great model for developing Dream Teams. When I reflect on the times that I’ve been on a team that wasn’t working, there has been a disconnect somewhere in one of those areas and the energy is lacking or too intense. No one is bad or wrong, but it just isn’t the right place for me - time to move on.

Are you on a Dream Team? If so, congratulations! It’s a special place to be, and I hope you find yourself grateful for the experience. If not, can you think of a time when you have been on a Dream Team? Is there a way to take this team you’re on and develop it into a Dream Team? If not, what is keeping you there? What changes do you need to make to find or create your own Dream Team?

Finding Courage
I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up! - by Lorraine Cohen

A colleague and close friend of mine just had a meltdown.

He’s experiencing several major changes in his life. He just landed a fabulous job; one that would fulfill many of the desires he’s been dreaming about. He said YES and began packing with great excitement. All the arrangements to relocate seemed to be effortlessly falling into place. Within 6 weeks of the offer, he loaded up his rental truck and said goodbye to the home and friends he’d known for over 11 years.

One week after he moved, he fell apart.

All of his fears, uncertainties, doubts, and insecurities rose in full force. He said he didn’t even have the words to describe what he was thinking and feeling. His self-talk (the conversations in his head) and the stories he was imagining created more and more drama. He felt terrified.

William Bridges, acclaimed author of Transitions says, “Change is an external experience of something new, clearly defined, often with a starting point or a stopping point. It can be sudden or something we know about in advance. Such as ending a job and starting a new one, being married and getting divorced. Transition on the other hand, is the psychological impact change has on people. Transition can be highly emotional and personal. It’s an internal process that must be navigated to successfully make a change”.

For three days no one knew he was in trouble. Finally, he reached out to a close friend who sounded the alarm to his community of support. People rushed to his side to help him regain emotional stability. Within 24 hours of receiving help, his terror lessened and he began feeling his inner strength.

I’m often asked how I am able to sustain my strength and focus during times of uncertainty, personal transformation, and business growth. My answer? Close friends and trusted colleagues keep me strong. They have become my Dream Team. They cheer me on, lift me up, kick my butt, and hold me to my best. On those days when my stories and dramas become overwhelming, I know I can reach out to specific folks who help me find my way home – back to who I am.  That’s the key – to reach out and receive help when you need it. My life is richer and joyful because of the people on my team. So is my friend’s!