Let the wild flowers grow. Last Spring and Summer, I let the edges of the lawn go feral and some beautiful wild flowers, strangers to the garden, grew there. They’d been waiting to do so for years and I had kept cutting them down.
There’s a group I’m part of: it came together post Covid. A few of us, white, old men felt the need to connect in a physical rather than virtual space and we invited a few people to meet with us at a community hub in a Birmingham suburb: this was in November 2021.
The meeting had gone well, conversations grew out of an introductory theme and the joy of connection was palpable. We arranged to meet again, in February 2022, on the 24th, the same day Russia invaded Ukraine. I’d prepared some topics that followed on from our previous meeting but decided to change tack. I asked those present to spend a little time thinking about the news and its meaning for them. A powerful ninety or so minutes followed; outrage, anger, fear and despair combined with speculation for the future; a dark cloud had occupied our collective skies.
Hybrid working is having an impact on the manner in which we construct our professional, social, emotional and economic realities at several levels and I wonder how we might lead our way into developing a divergent set of approaches and skills that work well for people. How this might look sound and feel in the workplace and what are the associated risks?
Some years ago, I was appointed Head Teacher of a facility for secondary aged learners who’d been excluded from school or were at risk of exclusion. I wanted to access their thoughts and concerns and provide a valid educational experience too. My approach? I taped (remember VCR?) a Sunday evening “news review of the week” programme. I’d show it to a couple of groups on a Monday morning after which we’d discuss some of the issues and themes.
It was in these sessions that I felt most alive! On my toes conversations about history, geography, religion, politics, the environment etc: real learning took place, the most important element of which was what was learned about each other, our aspirations, doubts, joys, fears and the emergent understanding of “learning and knowing what we don’t yet know.” It was a thematic approach to integrated learning, and I loved it and feel its loosely structured purposefulness has current relevance.
As I think about the shifts in work patterns, perhaps for some of us, one of the casualties is the sense of cohesion that develops through unplanned and work based social connectivity in a shared physical space. There is a strong suggestion that the task-led need for “being there,” has changed: put simply, “If I can do this by working from home, why do I need to commute … etc?” It’s a good point and we need to do better than “So that we can see that you’re doing what you should be doing!” as a (sometimes well disguised) reason!
My recent experiences of bringing people together for the purpose of “being together and we’ll see what happens,” has been hugely informative and I’ve been thinking about how this approach can be imported into the workplace. In short, could we benefit from being together in a “Theme Led Connective Catalyst Conversation”? It would be one in which Leaders would need to set a theme: perhaps one that allows people to discuss their understanding, hopes, uncertainties and aspirations and their impacts. Might the skill for leaders be to capture the important ideas from an eclectic range of perspectives, ones that give us an opportunity to learn, influence and realign? I’m not suggesting a repeat of my news led approach to adolescents! I would however challenge leaders to think about the Bold Themes that might lead us to some “interesting” (now there’s a word!) conversations.
This isn’t about surveys and interviews, it’s about communication, warts and all! We’ve been catapulted into new ways of working, ones that present us with opportunities to reconsider and reset how we use our greatest assets, our people, to help generate the thinking needed to inform the decisions we make in an increasingly challenging world, one in which our most valuable safeguard is our capacity to build meaningful, trusting relationships that allow us to express hope and uncertainty in equal measure.
We, the original “old white men,” are very much aware of how we need to expand and include, embracing the richness of diversity in doing so, and this will happen. My point here is that everything has to start somewhere and if people of good will and intention are prepared to take tentative, early steps, there will be a number of unforeseen learning benefits that inspire growth in our professional, social, emotional and economic realities.
Enjoy the wild flowers!
