The big jelly bowl called Universe

Yesterday I talked with my friend and colleague Richard Schultz about what it means to be environmentalist and in contact with nature these days. He said some people think we have to move back generations and live as they did in the early 1900 and through away the evolution we have gone through since then.

I think being environmentalist is being conscious about our connections and relationships. We are all unique beings and important parts in this Universe. Some years ago I read an interesting book, given to me by another dear friend, Birgitt Williams. The title was “Stalking the Wild Pendulum” and it explained the physics of our world and some of Einstein´s theories in ways I could understand. In the book, the notion of connectedness was described as if people were all raisins in a big pot of jelly. If you push one the whole jelly pudding starts to move. When we think of this picture, we become conscious of how our behavior, thoughts and actions affect other people, nature and the whole big bowl of jelly where we live.  I think that is when we become more cautious of how we treat other people and nature.

It would be so easy today to feel this connection, because we now have the technology that makes so many of our connections visible, such as Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram. The technology also allows us to connect across the world in a second and to have friends on all continents. But somehow the consciousness is buried deep within some people, so deep that they are not aware that when they start a war against someone on the internet, in fact they affect the whole universe including themselves.

We have the opportunity to be responsible for our actions, to create the connections and networks that are life nurturing both for us and the world we live in and to act for the good of the whole. You are invited to discuss how that might happen. On Sept 11, we will talk about the future regarding organizations and collaboration. Organizations are in fact connections and relationships between people and places. How we create them will affect everyone in the huge jelly bowl. Register for this conversation at www.collaborativeways.com

Leading Online Collaboration

More and more often we work in the online environment, because those we work with are in distant locations. It might be easy to think that online is another tool, just as the telephone or cellphone. It could be when you want to connect and talk to someone, but if you want to really collaborate and work together in a creative and productive way, online becomes the new office or conference room in your business building.

Whenever you move into a new office space, there are things to be considered. What kind of furniture is needed and how should it be arranged so it supports your work in the best possible way? How will you lead that work so it is focused, efficient and successful? How can people find the ones they need to collaborate with and where can they store things? Where is the coffee-mashine and what about creativity?

These questions belong to the online environment as well. How can it be designed so people can be creative, efficient and use their whole knowledge to achieve the best solutions possible? How can you lead the work so everyone is inspired, stays focused and the results are successful? And what about coffee breaks?

Whatever solutions you choose for the online work, the office space online and in your usual office building have something in common. What does not work in your usual office does not work in the online office room. If you can´t get people energized and enthusiastic about certain topics in your usual conference room, the same goes for the online conference.

Leading online collaboration requires designing rooms and using methods that inspires people and give them the freedom to explore, experiment and play with different ideas and solutions in order to find the best one. Actually the same that is needed when you want to get the best out of people gathered in usual office spaces too.

Real online collaboration goes beyond webinars and other information meetings when one person presents something and the others are required to listen. It goes beyond the usual thinking that the leader or chairman should present the solution. Real collaboration in any room, taps into the wisdom of all the people gathered and allows them to work with joy and creativity and self-organize around the topics that are most important at that time.

As leaders of collaboration, online or in usual conference rooms, we use Open Space Technology or Whole Person Process Facilitation as the best methods for real collaboration. These methods give an appropriate structure for the meeting and maximum freedom and maximum choice for the participants to work in their own best way with all their wisdom and energy. We find these methods function in many different spaces, even when the conditions are somewhat problematic, as when participants are not used to online work, the meeting room lacks daylight or there is a traffic jam so people come in late. The structure of these methods makes it easy for people to jump in, to find their way to where their energy is and to create incredible results.

 

Want to learn more? Take a look at www.collaborativeways.com and register for our upcoming workshop on Open Space Technology.