It is much spoken in system thinking that structure brings freedom of expression. Many artists, athletes and leaders can testify how some routine, rituals and habits are key to their ability to transform a mental and emotional tension into a creative tension. They describe it as flow. It is when we are in the right place at the right time doing what we are called to do in that exact moment. The rest of the world disappears and our highest meaning becomes clear. It is like a dance. When you are fully present with each step and forget the rest. How do we achieve flow as individuals and teams? There is a clear rhythm to the heartbeat of life and when we move with the nature of change, we become a part of a dance no words can explain.
Clear rhythms for individuals:
Most of the clients I work with will confess in the confidentiality of our conversation that they are moving between disconnected and burnout. This means that they are not present in their own story. They are living a life of meeting demands and doing everything expected of them as best they can. It counts for everyone else, their loved ones, their stakeholders, and their audience. They have people depending on them and they don’t want to let them down, but the problem is they don’t know how much longer they can keep it going. They ask me, how do I get back to flow, because there is so much pressure to perform, but they don’t feel the music like they did before when they first started. They are disconnected and burned out and the dance is no longer meaningful for them, it is simply a show they put on for everyone else.
When you lose the heartbeat of life - go back to the baseline. What is the baseline? It is what is essential. It is those things you can’t live without or at least when you do, living won’t make much sense. Take the biological non-negotiables for any human and animal for that matter; eat, sleep and movement. When you don’t get those right, of course you’ll be disconnected and burned out. The quality of how you eat, sleep and move are your right to passage. Without these you can be sure to lose the one thing you cannot live without - your health. It has massive mental and critical long term consequences and short term disadvantages to your performance.
Here’s the biological non-negotiable baseline for individuals;
Eat, sleep and move.
It is the starting point for capacity and resilience. It might not remove the challenges you are facing, but it will certainly make you more resourceful to show up differently to the challenges. And still living doesn’t make much sense if we only live on this essential bread alone. Part of the art of this dance is when we love ourselves and those around us enough to take care in what colours in the grey outlines. We call these the art of living.
Here’s the art of living baseline for individuals;
Healthy relationships, spirituality and creature comforts.
Together the biological non-negotiables and the art of living completes the baseline. When you are not present with the baseline, you cannot be in flow during the dance. You will move out of sync with the heartbeat of life and you will try harder and harder to do more which only results ultimately in regret and missing the point. Often we achieve success only to find ourselves disconnected with what is most important to us or burned out leaving us distraught at the very moment we achieve what we thought we wanted. My hope to you is that you do not lose sight of what is important by only focusing on everything that is urgent. My prayer is that you do not say yes to everyone and everything, only to make pleasing your highest meaning. My promise is this; that it is possible to live a life of presence and significance.
What we need in society is not another superhero, nor a next technological invention. What we need are leaders that are courageous to face that which they fear most. And what we fear most is not that we might fail, but rather that we might be worthy of love even when we do not achieve anything. There is a centre of strength deep in your being and when you make decisions from here, it spirals from the dance-floor into the hearts of every person that is near. When we are unclear, the whole world is unclear. When we are clear, the whole world becomes clear.
Clear rhythms for teams:
In a highly competitive culture of work we often observe that the true leverage a team offers gets lost in power struggles, shifting blame and actions promoting personal career aspirations to the cost of the overall performance. There are many conversations at play all at once. When we walk into a team session there is much said and even more unsaid. When individuals come together without establishing a common reason they are inevitably destined to pursue their version of success, which means multiple unclear agendas.
Only once there is clear communication that is multi directional will the individuals be able to align their personal intentions with that of the team. It becomes art. It becomes discipline. It becomes a collective dance. And for this dance to happen we need clear rhythms that allow the team to move in synchronicity against a backdrop of achieving results that matter.
Here’s the non-negotiable baseline for teams;
A weekly stand-up (15min-30min); where all the members share what they are working on, and what they need support with.
A monthly strategy (90min-120min); where the leader can translate priorities from their stakeholders and the team can be creative about the tension they face. This includes working on team objectives and team dynamics.
Here’s the art of working together baseline for teams;
A quarterly alignment (half-day);where the team tracks their short term progress against their long term objectives. If you do not measure your performance you have no way of knowing how you are doing.
A yearly offsite (2-3 days); where the team connects with themselves, each other and their highest contribution. This gives the individuals within the team an invitation to commit to something greater than themselves.
Without the non-negotiables the group of individuals will not be able to become a true team. In fact, they will be a pseudo team. You’d be better off letting them operate in silos, because then at least they won’t be able to sabotage one another. The non-negotiables give the structure which allows the individuals to perform in. The art of working together is where the team pulls together around a contribution greater than what any individual can achieve. This is where the team gets to become the answer to the question; what can we collectively achieve that the world of tomorrow needs, that we cannot do on our own?
In summary:
The importance of a team is emphasised in objectives we cannot achieve on our own. Too many culture and change initiatives are introduced without building a cohesive and high-performing team. To influence any industry, system and community we need a team. Not a dysfunctional team or pseudo team, because that will be even less efficient. What we observe most with dysfunctional teams are individuals that are misaligned with personal agendas. This causes immense pressure on achieving their results.
Because of the fear of failure and the desperation to be relevant in today’s working environment the individuals either become over responsible and take it upon themselves to achieve or avoid responsibility all together to escape any sort of potential blame. Over responsibility results in burnout, while under responsibility results in disconnect.
Can you see how this ties into the clear rhythms for individuals? One influences the other directly. When we do not show up clear as individuals it spirals into the team. When we do not have a clear rhythm in our team it spirals to the individuals.
It is possible to be present with each beat. Instead of perpetuating disconnect and burnout we have observed that the baseline brings you back to flow. Where do you go when you are unwell? You go back to the rhythm where everything becomes clear. It is art. It is discipline. It is the structure that brings freedom of expression. It is flow, like a dance. There is a clear rhythm to the heartbeat of life and when we move with the nature of change, we become a part of a dance no words can explain.