GalleryI am walking one of my favourite trails in Vancouver. It weaves along the bluffs of Spanish Banks, before either dipping down to the sea of veering south toward the university campus. On this particular day, in early September, I am strolling. When I walk, especially in nature, ideas come to me that would not ordinarily arrive, and I am always delighted when a certain breeze or vista offers up the gift of a metaphor and carries me away. Today it is a tree, an odd slender cedar with a tenacious urge to see the sun. The tree has bent itself over, growing parallel to the ground, before pushing itself upright again, some 8 feet later. The s-curve makes something of bench for those inclined to seize the moment and take a seat. Despite having walked by this particular tree many times, today it encourages me to think about how we are all seeking the light; literally, as a necessary life force, but also figuratively, in our lives, with our families, and in our organizations. I began to wonder about the ways I have contorted my own life, working my way around things, over things, and through things in search of my sky. I think all of us are searching for the sun light of our true nature and that search takes us and shapes us in all sorts of ways- good and bad. I carried on along the trail, reflecting on the work I do as a coach, and how so much of it is about helping people determine and head for their own light. And I was comforted by the idea that, like the tree, even our most twisted turns, can be […]
Story Tellers
I saw a marvelous film today. Atom Egoyan’s Adoration. I got a call at 9 AM from a friend saying she had won tickets from the CBC and did I want to go. I, only moments before, had been silently lamenting the fact that I had failed to see even one film at this year’s International Film Festival, so you can imagine how quickly I reoriented my day. What a movie! And what a study on the power of storytelling. Without giving away the movie, it follows the impact of one young man’s story (told as if it were the truth) on the lives of both himself and others’ and then meditates upon the difficulties one has in getting away from a well told story once it has taken on a life of its own.
I was particularly moved by this film because story-telling has been a constant theme in my work lately. Appreciative Inquiry and all its delicate permutations is concerned with storytelling. Organizational change is approached from the perspective that change is better set in motion by understanding pinnacle strengths not entrenched weaknesses and thus AI processes frequently begin with an inquiry or investigation into what constitutes the positive core of the organization, in other words its “good story”. Combining my love of AI with the latest research in neuroplasticity is, quite honestly, blowing my mind! (See prior post for more on that!)
We are all story-tellers. What I am increasingly interested in is the way in which the stories we tell help or hinder the changes we seek to make in our lives. Coaching is about change. A client comes to a coach wanting something to be different. They may be seeking improved […]
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