News & Blog

Awakenings: Facing Ourselves – Maybe for the First Time

June 5, 2020

“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” —Thales

Before the pandemic and quarantine, most of us could give a full account of our busy days with barely a moment to sit down and take a breath before bedtime. We go to work, meet with friends, have dinners out, rush back and forth to kids’ activities, make travel plans, hit the gym — go, go, go!

Until recently, we might have barely even allotted 20 minutes to sit with our own thoughts, even in an entire week. In listening to the narratives of recent times, this statement from a friend felt tender: “I’m spending time with someone I’ve never spent time with before, me.”

It feels so true for many of us. We say “yes” to invitations so we don’t let other people down. We entertain ourselves with activities that are more distraction than enjoyment. Is it possible that “busy” is a way of distancing ourselves from certain aspects of our lives or of our inner experience Are we numbing or ignoring parts of our lives, parts of ourselves, parts of our past that we don’t want to face or be with? (more…)

Awakenings: From Monotony to Mindfulness

June 2, 2020

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh

There are so many original and unique expressions emerging from conversations as we adapt to routines of social distancing and limited travel in these pandemic times. Take this funny quip I heard from a guy in my CEO group say— “I’m getting three weeks to the gallon!

We’re finding clever and delightful ways to talk about what we’re experiencing, including referencing the movie “Groundhog Day” or renaming the days of the week to just “the day after yesterday” to convey how the ways we track time have unraveled.

One recent comment I heard relates how we experience the sameness of our days; ”monotony takes a lot of energy.” (more…)

Team Coaching: Applying Individual Coaching Techniques to Team Coaching | Heal The Divide Podinar

May 26, 2020

“The idea that you would stop a meeting and have [the team] observe themselves … is pretty shocking at first. It drives a sense of curiosity through self-observation that has the client want to experiment with what’s possible. What could we do? Then realize that they actually have their own solutions.”

~Alexander Caillet

What is team coaching and how does it compare with other areas of team development? Alison Whitmire of Learning in Action delves into the heart of the team coaching framework with her guest, Alexander Caillet, CEO of Corentus and faculty member of Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

Caillet is “a true pioneer in this field of team coaching. He’s worked with more than 120 teams in over 30 countries for over the last 22 years,” observing and finding ways to create a framework to continue refining and improving the process.

Where Coaching Fits Into Team Development

Coaches and consultants work with teams in a variety of modalities. Caillet differentiates four of them by the professional’s involvement and the context of the interactions.

Team Consulting: A consultant gives advice, shares best practices, research and actually tells the team what they should or could do.
Team Facilitation: A facilitator guides the work session. They create the space, structure good methodologies and can take their client through a process to get an output.
Team Training: A trainer teaches a team a set of skills — or leads them through knowledge-building sessions, curricula, simulations, or role-plays.
Team Coaching: Alternatively, a coach observes a team as they do real work. As the team works, the coach quietly observes, gathers data and then feeds that data back to the team. The team hears the data and acts without the coach needing to fix, drive or manage the change for them.

(more…)

Awakenings: What does that mean that “I need help?”

May 22, 2020

“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

― Brené Brown

Many of the narratives that have emerged from amid the COVID-19 pandemic revolve around needing help and what that means.

In a recent conversation with a business owner and colleague who, like many, is struggling, he said, “I’m not used to needing help. I’m used to helping. What does that mean that I need help? I thought I was beyond that.”

Let’s think about the implied judgment around those who need help or those who give help. Does it feel out of balance, like there’s perhaps a higher or lower relationship in each role? Or can there be an equality to it, of sharing the same experience?

Perhaps the universe wants us to wake up to our connectedness. To wake us up to how we’re all similar. To wake us up to what we have in common. To wake us up to our humanity.

What meaning are you making of this? Is it challenging to ask for help? If so, what makes it challenging? What have you learned from helping others or asking for help during this time? Watch today’s Awakenings video and share your thoughts in the comments. We’d love to hear from you.

P.S. If you’d like to take a step back with us, reflect and make meaning to begin to transform your experience, sign up to receive the Awakenings series along with a free guided journal page to your email every week. Sign up here.

Awakenings Amid a Quarantine: Reconnecting with Our True Selves

May 20, 2020

As the world changes — for many of us daily life pared to the essentials — with less travel and shuttling back and forth to the office, gym, kids’ practices and social engagements, we find ourselves adapting as well.

Have you noticed that conversations with friends, family, clients and colleagues have become more real? More truthful and authentic? That they are saying things you’ve never heard them say before?

We at Learning in Action have tuned into this wisdom and truth in the everyday language of people everywhere in the past few weeks of quarantine, and it inspired us to launch this new Heal the Divide video miniseries, “Awakenings.” We invite and encourage you to explore this awakening with us. This is how it will work:

First, come as you are. Connect from a place of comfort and sanctuary twice a week for short, 3-6 minute videos, on Sundays and Wednesdays. Wear whatever is comfortable and be ready to take in what the world is trying to communicate and what meaning can be found in what’s happening right now. Each week, we include a downloadable guided journal page where you can write your reflections. And we encourage you to share your reflections or awakening with us!

This series invites and encourages a way for us all to find meaning from this time of uncertainty, together. The series is simple, focusing on this one very important question:

What is this time wanting us to awaken to, in ourselves, each other, the world?

Join us as we take a step back, interpret, make meaning, try to understand the universal why of these times and begin to transform our experience. Sign up to receive Awakenings by email.