Shelter in the Storm: Pathways to Generationally-Secure Housing
Press Release
I have a client who asked me to facilitate their strategic planning some time ago.
At our first meeting, I sat down with the management team and a few board members who were forming a planning subcommittee. At that meeting, I sensed some tension in the atmosphere. During the health break, I saw a division between the groups, management, the Board and the other two managers. I quickly realized that there were or are unresolved conflicts within the organization. While ignoring the source of the conflict, I continued to facilitate my preparation strategic planning meeting.
The planning sessions began a few days after this preparation meeting and the employees, the Board, and the planning group were all present. Something was keeping the discussions very superficial. The employees seemed disengaged and the Board of Directors took over the discussions, without involving or concern for the employees. The outcome of the planning remained poor and with a lack of commitment from the staff. Of course, planning was inefficient and a waste of time for the staff. For the Board members, they used it to check on staff and make sure they were doing their job. Developing a climate of mistrust, turning a tool that for improved efficiency into a toxic work environment.
I felt defeated. I questioned my abilities, my knowledge, and all my years of experience. I wondered WHY the poor results...
What I have learned from my training with the Genuine Contact Leadership Program is that an organization always goes through a cycle of grief and loss. In order for a group to look to the future, it must move beyond the phases of anger, shock, denial, memories, and acceptance while letting go, in order to be able to open the space and be in th right state of mind to reformulate.
Where are you in your organization? Are the CEO and the Board in a state of letting go, or even reformulating, while the staff is still in a state of denial and acceptance? If so, the organization cannot plan ahead. We may need to rethink this and use our meeting to discuss the present before planning for the future.
How do we do this? We reformulate our planning, we ask ourselves: what are the challenges and opportunities facing our organization today? This will allow the organization to move through the cycle of grief. You will have a much better product for the future. Better solutions, better creativity, better efficiency to stop the plan from becoming a wall decoration.
For the grief cycle diagram and an inspiring article by Birgitt Williams of @Genuine Contact: https://www.dalarinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/impact-grief-work.pdf
I have a client who asked me to facilitate their strategic planning some time ago.
At our first meeting, I sat down with the management team and a few board members who were forming a planning subcommittee. At that meeting, I sensed some tension in the atmosphere. During the health break, I saw a division between the groups, management, the Board and the other two managers. I quickly realized that there were or are unresolved conflicts within the organization. While ignoring the source of the conflict, I continued to facilitate my preparation strategic planning meeting.
The planning sessions began a few days after this preparation meeting and the employees, the Board, and the planning group were all present. Something was keeping the discussions very superficial. The employees seemed disengaged and the Board of Directors took over the discussions, without involving or concern for the employees. The outcome of the planning remained poor and with a lack of commitment from the staff. Of course, planning was inefficient and a waste of time for the staff. For the Board members, they used it to check on staff and make sure they were doing their job. Developing a climate of mistrust, turning a tool that for improved efficiency into a toxic work environment.
I felt defeated. I questioned my abilities, my knowledge, and all my years of experience. I wondered WHY the poor results...
What I have learned from my training with the Genuine Contact Leadership Program is that an organization always goes through a cycle of grief and loss. In order for a group to look to the future, it must move beyond the phases of anger, shock, denial, memories, and acceptance while letting go, in order to be able to open the space and be in th right state of mind to reformulate.
Where are you in your organization? Are the CEO and the Board in a state of letting go, or even reformulating, while the staff is still in a state of denial and acceptance? If so, the organization cannot plan ahead. We may need to rethink this and use our meeting to discuss the present before planning for the future.
How do we do this? We reformulate our planning, we ask ourselves: what are the challenges and opportunities facing our organization today? This will allow the organization to move through the cycle of grief. You will have a much better product for the future. Better solutions, better creativity, better efficiency to stop the plan from becoming a wall decoration.
For the grief cycle diagram and an inspiring article by Birgitt Williams of @Genuine Contact: https://www.dalarinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/impact-grief-work.pdf
