• Which Journey are You On?

    Which Journey are You On?

    We have long talked about the different tracks that make up our Presence-Based Coaching and Leadership training. I’m speaking here of two concurrent paths of development that take place in parallel. One journey is about the “Doing” as a coach or leader. This refers to the process of learning the specific skills, mindsets, and competencies in order to deliver a coaching or leadership conversation to a client or team that is competent and effective. The second journey is about the “Being” of a coach or leader. This involves practicing the cultivation of your own presence as a practitioner, as well as supporting your clients or team to become more present as well.

    We are fond of saying what matters is not only what you do, but who you are. We understand that the who you are actually impacts what you are able to do. In the Presence-Based work, we build both proficiency in skills and in capacity for how we are able to show up.

    Walking Each Path

    We have discovered over the years that both of these journeys of Doing and Being are inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing. They occur simultaneously, even though one aspect might be focused on at any one time. Picture the double-helix strand of DNA[1], which is the genetic building block of our human organism. These two threads illustrate the distinct yet intertwined nature of Being and Doing. Both strands are needed, and each requires the growth of different aspects of ourselves as coaches and leaders.

    Making explicit these two journeys are what make the Presence-Based work unique. In our Coaching, Leadership and Resilience programs, we include both threads. Through our methodology, we teach acquiring, practicing and proficiency of skills, as well as the internal growth and development of the coaching or leadership practitioner through presence. We don’t see that there is any kind of conflict here. Paying attention to both strands of development is actually an accelerant to growth, whether you are a coach or leader (or client). We find that Doing actually rests upon Being, and putting our attention on our Being will usually impact our Doing (and our results).

    More about Doing and Being

    For example, in the journey of Doing, we (and our clients and teams) may begin to realize that we have some default strategies, patterns and behaviors in life, and in work. These are what we call habits, and they have served us well so far…until they don’t! These automatic ways of interpreting our world are often what is driving our coaching or leadership moves underneath the water line. We may notice that these habits are not always the most effective response to the situation at hand. We may sometimes find ourselves in reaction, feeling triggered by something that’s occurring outside of us. These reactions can push us to take less than skillful actions, that we may even regret later. Think sending that email in anger to a colleague without cooling off a bit first.

    We enter the journey of Being. We learn to increase our ability to witness and then shift our reactive behaviors, which is the result of accessing presence (our Being).  Learning to be more present in any situation can offer us the awareness to make a different choice.  Coming from an internal state of presence, we can shift to a more skillful or resilient behavior, even in the heat of a conflicted or psychologically threatening moment.  Presence–>Awareness–>Choice.

    Over time, there are many milestones and certifications along the way that indicate a certain level of mastery has been achieved in both journeys. These milestones are often awarded to us as coaches, based on a demonstration of our abilities that meet the client’s needs around their stated coaching outcomes. And as leaders, we are rewarded for leading functional teams that produce important organizational results.

    Moving Into the Merging Lane

    Which journey are you on? Perhaps you are mostly focused on skill-building, enrolling in the latest course, listening to a trending podcast, practicing and honing your craft every day. Wonderful! Or perhaps you regularly take time to reflect on what’s most important to you these days, to re-prioritize how you manage your time, find space to be really present with your loved ones, to meditate or relax in nature. Also, wonderful! I suggest that in order to grow further into your wholeness, consider paying attention to both journeys – the Doing and the Being part of your development. Doing so will amplify your learning journey in unexpected and useful ways and move you toward more efficacy and even a sense of fulfillment.

    “Life Is a Journey, Not a Destination”

    I consider both journeys to be lifelong. There is really not a final destination to developing your skills and your presence. I’m using the “and” here intentionally. Both tracks are significant, and often most powerful when coupled together.  Especially in these times, let’s continue to grow both our Doing and our Being. We can offer our presence and share the gifts that we’ve been given. And from that place, as Doug used to say, we can “do the work that’s ours to do.”

    In contemplation of these two journeys, here are some questions to spark your thinking:

    • Do you have a preference (and tend to focus) on Doing or Being?
    • What do you know so far about each of these journeys?
    • What might unfold if you offered time and attention to the other journey (that is not your preference)?
    • How do you experience both journeys together?
    • How does your Being influence the work that is yours to Do?

    [1] “Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms…“  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA

    Bebe Hansen

    , , , , , , ,

  • Work and Awakening

    Work and Awakening

    I spent last weekend at an alumni retreat with the Institute for Zen Leadership. It was held at the Spring Green Dojo, a lovely Rinzai Zen dojo (“place of the way,” or training center) being carved out of the Wisconsin woods under the leadership of Gordon Greene Roshi.

    The space is inspiring
    The space is inspiring

    The space is inspiring. Structures are built in part from thick walnut and oak timbers cut from the forest, milled at the on-site band saw mill, and joined with classic mortise-and-tenon joinery. Massive limestone slabs are quarried on the land. The dojo walls are thick to retain the wood-fired heat through Wisconsin winters.

    Building a place to last for 300 years is not the easiest or fastest way to build. Speed and comfort are not the priorities here. Awakening is.

    Here, the space is the Teacher
    Here, the space is the Teacher

    Here, the space is the Teacher. The stone, the wood, the ground, the forest are simply there, along with the coyotes and owls and sand hill cranes we heard in the night, and the Milky Way stretched across the sky. We are part of it all, simply another expression of this world.

    Yet, even as we seek to shape it to our intentions, the rest of the world has no commitment to cooperate. No amount of good intentions make three-ton limestone boulders move themselves into position! The world shows up, and reveals us as we interact with it. The exquisite precision of this infuses the space in this special and not-so-special corner of Wisconsin.

    I am no stranger to building, to hard work, to creating something beautiful out of imagination and the products of the earth. I have created beauty, and have loved the craftsmanship and artistry of working with wood, stone, glass. In an earlier stage of my life when this was central, the awareness and rigor I experienced this weekend were not yet available for me. Our handmade home in Boone was an expression of me, a way to form identity, to build the self.

    Now, this space has reminded me of what I always have known. We, our work, the world are inextricable. All work illuminates us. The process of writing this new book exquisitely reveals when I’m expanded or anxious, how I’m distracted or energized, when I’m trying to be someone I’m not, and when life is simply arising through my fingers into words.

    I’m writing a book. And, a book is writing me. There is no difference.

    You are creating your work in the world. And, your work is creating you.

    Our actions beget our unfolding. Always. We face and enter, and through the harnessing of our self towards our doing, we discover that we already are, that there is no self, that life simply lives through us.

    Let life live through you.

    Doug Silsbee

    , , ,