spacer

The Most Important Thing …

Posted by Joseph Riggio on Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Howdy,

I just finished presenting the “EPC2™ - Exquisite Performance Consulting” module in the UK at the Manor House in Godalming, Surrey. This was an intense program if you listen to the reports coming back from the participants. I can’t remember folks saying they’ve been so whupped from a training program I’ve delivered before. What’s even more surprising in a way is that the one’s who seemed MOST WHUPPED were the most advanced students I have! So I’ve been thinking ... “What was it that made this program so demanding from their point of view?”

Then like “DUH!!!” ... I got it upside the head ... this program focuses on group dynamics, or how we operate within the context and in relation to others. Four days (or five days for some) of having what’s going on below the level of ordinary conscious awareness presented and re-presented until it surfaces to become evident is exhausting initially. And, the more you’re capable of noticing the more energy it will initially consume. So you could say these folks were worn out by themselves.

What we were attending to is not what “seemed” to be happening as the group encountered itself ... but what was actually happening. Another way to say this is we were attending to how people were “showing up” and the affect that had on the group at large. This was surely fascinating, but also quite consuming. Each day I’d added a bit of complexity to the mix - not in terms of what was going on, (I didn’t have to - there was already more than they could handle!), but in terms of what was available to notice for and be responding to. This is the “ontology of groups” or “social ontology” - how we create the shared realities we operate within. I don’t know how many times I pointed out and used the words ‘boundary’ and/or ‘boundary conditions’, but it was obviously overwhelming for some, at least initially.

This is the most important thing ... to become aware of the implicit and ubiquitous boundaries we operate within. Most of the time these boundaries are out of our awareness and yet they almost completely shape what we’ll perceive and experience. What we must decide about is whether, we will remain subject to these “invisible’ boundaries or become co-creators in the boundaries within which we play.

Now ... that really is the most important thing ... creating the reality within which you play - or not!

Joseph Riggio
Copenhagen, Denmark

(0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Add Your Own Comment

Name:     
Email:    
Location: 
URL:      

 Remember my personal information?
 Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:


Page 1 of 1 pages