Working with an inspirational organisation recently
@SparkandMettle to deliver a residential for young social entrepreneurs around
leadership encouraged me to consider my own journey since leaving supported
accommodation. It was a reminder seeing how much investing your time, energy
and really listening to young people allows them the freedom to explore what
they might be and believe in themselves that they can do it. The concept of
Leaning In, putting yourself in the moment and committing yourself and to those
around you is a powerful one. As are ‘Power Reflections’ bite-sized time slots
allowed for post exercise reflection to consider posed questions, feelings,
thoughts and learning. I have struggled with reflection, taking the empty notebook
and paper approach and generally feeling a little overwhelmed with the feeling
of failing to achieve the required deep insight. Power reflections enable a catalogue
of thoughts, experience and learning that can be built up and combined. There
is much I and the young people are taking away from the two days but the
concept of these two really sticks. We all have doses of the characteristics
needed to be a great leader but you need a personality that will allow you to
commit, to lean in and the resilience to keep going.
Like a life support machine, I was fortunate enough to be
given that belief when I was 16 to cling onto until I started believing in
myself and doing it on my own. The inconsistency is the issue, I see so many
examples of great work but it’s the growth, scale and replication of these
solutions that is the game changer.
I started playing with LEGO® this week at a session hosted
by an amazing Dane, Per Kristiansen, LEGO® Serious Play is a pretty serious
business encouraging us each to externalise and build your thoughts and vision
with the bricks and explain the elements in detail. Enabling a break away from
group think and collaborative working the bricks allow prototyping and
construction together, improving and adapting to build a joint vision.
The beauty of LEGO® scenario playing is it allows you to
enter perfect world/perfect storm territory and look at your positioning and
strategies for the future. An even
better, it’s about getting the right people around the table a mix of skills,
experiences, insight and knowledge because everyone has something to give.
I hope this is just the start of my brick building and more playful journey through life and work and excited doesn't quite cut it.
