Sorry you are leaving (the asylum) & other tidbits of wisdom
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
I originally wanted to send this to my mom after she spent a month visiting us in Africa but then I thought I’d do a blog post on it.
It’s from a fabulous site called Beautiful Revolution. Here’s what it says on the ‘about this project page’:
In 2004, I was depressed. In 2005, I was suicidal. I went to see a therapist and started writing this site. In 2006, the work on this site became a book. In 2007, I found my place in this world. In 2008, my love life was still a disaster. But then I met her–the girl on the Internet. We fell in love and got married. In 2009, I found everything.
This project is about that journey. And trying to understand how a life can completely change.
Since its beginning in 2005 ABeautifulRevolution.com has received 7 million individual hits – averaging 4-5000 hit per day.
Here’s to the art of living, surviving & finally, thriving. To love and triumph. To heartache and continued heart beats. To being fully human with all it’s complex messy bits. To the view from the low, low valleys and the high, high mountain tops. To rising up when you feel like staying down. To finding your groove & reveling in it.
But most of all here’s to the possibility of change – going from gritty to gobsmackingly great.
Tags: beautiful revolution, change, inspiration
Time out – a cause for paws to pause – cats playing patty cake
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Humor & comedy
Are you stuck in a rut? How about a cause for paws to pause?
Doing the same ol’ same ol’?
What’s the view from your sandbox? Need to get out and find another?
Pause.
Take a page from the Life Lenses™ Stop Life Lenses™ page – stop playing patty cake and start playing your own game.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: break, change, pattycake, pause, rut, time out, timeout, Wellness
Penguins playing rock paper scissors = lessons about breaking out
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict resolution
There’s a saying in conflict resolution circles that when the going gets rough, we tend to do more of whatever it is that’s not working.
Kinda like the cute penguins in the video clip below.
There’s also a saying that goes doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Funny from an outsiders view, frustrating and crazy making from the insider’s perspective, it can be tough to switch gears when we’re in a rut.
Break out.
Paper’s great but find your rock, your scissors, your dynamite, your butterflies, your lemon meringue pies (and no, I don’t know of a Rock Paper Scissors game with those additions but am making a creative point).
Couldn’t resist this adorable clip, for obvious reasons.
Hope you chuckle along.
Tags: conflict
Suck or blow? Power surges & power vacuums
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Mark
Waaaaay back when, when I used to do leadership training with youth, we’d sometimes play a game called suck & blow. It involved passing a playing card around a seated, circle of people, without using your hands, only by way of mouth to mouth. You could only pass the card by sucking in (holding the card to your mouth) until you could pass it to the person next to you, who would then suck air in while you simultaneously blew out.
Note to dear readers: lest you be gasping in horror, know that this game was only played with people who knew each other well & were comfortable with this level of touching.
I thought of the game recently because of a project I’m working on.
I’m adapting the UN Locally Elected Leadership Series for a youth audience. It’s fascinating work. More than 500,000 people have been trained in the series & it’s been translated into more than 25 languages.
It includes training in a number of competencies for local authorities, including in facilitation, leadership, negotiation & power.
Here’s what made me think of that old game.
Principal authors David Tees & Fred Fisher say: “It may be more effective to fill power vacuums & manage them, than to initiative new power surges. There’s a well known problem-solving approach that says it is more effective to remove the constraints that are keeping the problem from being solved than to reinforce those forces driving for a solution. It may also be true of the use of power.”
It was hilarious playing the suck & blow game because it was tricky stuff to match the levels of sucking in air with blowing out air, in order to pass the card along. More often than not the card would wind up anywhere but the place it was being directed.
So when do you suck? a.k.a. when do you fill a power vacuum?
And.
When do you blow? a.k.a. when do you initiate a new power surge?
Put in a training context, there are times when you need to visibly surge & demonstrate your power as a trainer. Examples include when a group member is directly challenging you or being rude, when things have gone awry & off track, when the group is really, truly lost & seeking your input or when conflict is palpable.
Visibly demonstrating your power as a trainer includes standing tall & big (watch powerful men, they have this down pat!), standing slightly behind a ‘troublemaker’ participant & speaking a little more loudly.
And.
There are times when you need to power down as a trainer & diminish or share your power. Examples include when you are working with people that have experienced oppression, when the group is ticking along great & needs mere nudges to move along, or when you’re seeking collaboration & sincere input from the group & you want to equalize things.
Visibly powering down techniques include NOT sitting at the front of the room but rather off to the side, NOT establishing long term eye contact with group members while they are speaking (making eye contact briefly & looking away ensures they’ll look at OTHER group members, thereby sharing power), & speaking slightly more quietly.
In the power section of the UN Locally Elected Leadership Series, James MacGregor Burns is quoted as saying: “We must see power – and leadership – not as things but as relationships and to analyze power in the context of human motives & physical constraints. It exists whether or not it is quested for. It is the glory and the burden of most of humanity.”
Ahhhh power. Burden or glory? Do you suck or blow? Surge or vacuum?
Tags: david tees, fred fisher, james macgregor burns, locally elected leadership, power, united nations
Global perspective – what sound does your heart beat?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Creativity & innovation
From a global perspective, what song does your heart beat?
Something with choreographed symbols and full on symphony or are you more African beat and wild abandon?
Perhaps the husky, whiskey soaked hue of the blues or the smoky eyes and dark night blues?
Take a look, lend an ear.
And repeat: what sound does your heart beat?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog,
which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: global perspective, heart beat, song
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: funny resources related to interview with Emmanuel Jal, international hip hop star
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Conflict resolution
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: law keven
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on what Emmanuel Jal, international hip-hop star & former child soldier had to say when I sat down with him. Read the entire issue here. Not on the monthly e-newsletter mailing list? Sign up for free here.
Emmanuel Jal. If he’s not on your radar, he should be.
The following resources, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, build on the themes raised in the interview I did with Emmanuel Jal.
- Root causes of conflict: see this hilarious video for the surprising lumps & bumps of conflict we can be clueless of (watch what happens when she gets out of bed) (it’s a mere few seconds long).
- Role of humour: see Improv Everywhere’s clip below on not taking ourselves too seriously.
- On change: see how a giraffe caught in quicksand, the clip below, can make you howl & teach you about change at the same time
Tags: change, conflict, emmanuel jal, humour
Training & development learning well January blog post round up
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development, Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation, Diversity & culture
The first month of the new year is about to slip by. Sit up, take notice & look back before looking forward. If you didn’t catch all the posts this month simply usher yourself down to the well & click as you wish.
Learn well in the training & development learning well.
Dive deep into the learning well or take a small sip. Shower yourself in training & development or just get your big toe wet.
Refresh & refreshing.
As you wish.
- The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out:
Tags: change management, creativity, culture, emmanuel jal, forgiveness, jen louden, learning, to do
Freedom for creativity? Freedom from creativity? Is this a playground or a jail?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Creativity & innovation
Freedom? Restrictions?
Limitations? Guidelines?
Safety? Security? Sanctions? Sanctimonious?
The signs surrounding the playground that swam by me as I jogged my way around Washington Square in New York City a while back got me thinking.
Do we need rules to set us free?
Is this a safe space within a jungle? Or is it a sterile void where creativity fled long ago?
Perspective. You be the judge.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: creativity, new york city, perspective
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: resources related to Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Social Responsibility
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Andrew Rusk
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on what Emmanuel Jal, international hip-hop star & former child soldier had to say when I sat down with him. Read the entire issue here. Not on the monthly e-newsletter mailing list? Sign up for free here.
Emmanuel Jal. If he’s not on your radar, he should be.
The following resources build on the themes raised in the interview I did with Emmanuel Jal.
- Check out Emmanuel Jal’s website, Gua Africa charity &/or his film War Child.
- For a resource related to change see Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise video
- For a resource related to inspiration see Tara Sophia Mohr’s There is another way
Tags: emmanuel jal, maya angelou, Tara Sophia Mohr
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: what a former child solider has to say about forgiveness & more
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Diversity & culture
Emmanuel Jal & Lee-Anne Ragan
Emmanuel Jal. If he’s not on your radar, he should be.
This self-described ‘modern day nomad’ was born during the vicious, war torn times of Sudan. After witnessing gruesome murders & being recruited as a child soldier from the ages of seven to eleven, he was rescued by a British aid worker & smuggled into Kenya.
When most kids were cuddling teddy bears his closest ally was his AK47. While that would make a memorable story in itself, fast forward to today.
Now he’s an internationally renowned peace activist, campaigning against the use of child soldiers, the subject of the award winning film War Child, founder of the charity Gua Africa & a world famous hip-hop artist (he performed at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party).
I had the privilege of interviewing him at last year’s Vancouver Folk Music Festival, just after South Sudan became Africa’s newest country. Draw your chair close & listen up, with his captivating combination of humbleness & tenacity, he’s wise beyond his years.
1. On art influencing activism
Emmanuel says “music has become .. the painkiller … a healer to a lot of issues that I’m going through. Music is what I use to support the causes that I believe in because I find that through music it’s easier … when you’re known as a musician you can easily pass out information faster. And people won’t get bored of you depending on how you do it.”
As someone who’s seen him perform live onstage, no one but no one could be bored watching him. See what I mean with this video of him performing my favourite song Emma. He’s like a mystic Sufi energizer bunny.
How it applies to you & business: find your strategic stage & use it. While it may not be a literal stage we all have ways at our disposal to pass out information faster. What’s yours?
2. On activism influencing art
“My activism is actually inspired by what I went through because I was born in a war torn country. I lost my childhood. And so the fact that I’m here, I find I have the responsibility & I’m a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves. And that’s why I take it really seriously.”
How it applies to you & business: what inspires you? Blend your inspiration with your responsibility to give back & make a difference.
3. On conflict
Poverty, greed & economics are at the root of conflict Emmanuel says.
“You know poverty brings a lot of conflicts in different ways. When your stomach is empty you’ll be forced to steal. But ethnic cleansing … happens when ideologies are built by a different group so they could have more to themselves. And so in my country it’s a long, long story but the root cause I take it as economics. Religion is just a tool but … the bottom line it’s poverty. It’s the resources. It’s the economy that’s actually causing all these things.”
How it applies to you & business: the root causes of conflict are hidden. Dig deep to find the true cause of conflicts you’re facing. Find the true root & you’re halfway there to managing or resolving the conflict.
4. On effecting change
Change takes nurturing. It takes time.
When I asked Emmanuel what it was like to have helped create a new country he said “It’s exciting, it’s [a] new baby that needs to be taken care of. I can’t wait to be part of it & help it grow.”
Change takes education.
Emmanuel recounts “my change happened when I was rescued by a British aid worker called Emma McCune. As a young man I was still bitter. One of the things I had in my mind was if I go to this lady’s country [Kenya], I’m going to learn how to fly a plane & come back & go to war. And because I hated Muslims & Arabs & I wanted to revenge for my family. But when I was in school & I was educated, I was helped. I came to discover people like Nelson Mandela, I came to learn about Martin Luther King, I came to learn about Gandhi.”
Change takes faith & forgiveness (of yourself & others)
“And so these leaders played a big part in my life & also reading the bible as a Christian I’m advised to forgive. The first investment I did for myself was to forgive. When I forgave I was free. So forgiving myself for my past because I was, I was cursing for the things that I’ve done. And then I realized look it wasn’t my fault you know so I had to forgive myself & forgive those who have hurt me. So it’s a two way thing.”
“Forgiveness will elevate you to a form of power that you don’t actually know as a person until you experience it because you become free.”
Change takes attention to scope & loss
Emmanuel raises money to build schools. He figured he’d eat one meal a day to raise money & it would take about a month to raise enough cash to build a school. It actually took 662 days. Yes, he spent 662 days eating one meal a day. “We put kids that were learning under the trees into classes.”
The lessons around change? Scope & loss.
He figures change is about loss. “What are you willing to lose to make the world a better place? Somebody got to lose something, we all have to lose something.” We need to know what we are willing to give up in order to gain. For him it was eating.
And for the kids he speaks to? “And so I tried it out & I found some kids, some kids say ‘Look I don’t have money but I normally have games in my house… I’m going to lose my PlayStation because that could put another kid in school.’ So kids become so creative. Another says, ‘Okay I’m going to lose at least a chocolate bar a week because that’s like 50 cents.’ 50 cents can feed a family.”
Change is also about scope.
“[With] people & social media giving $1, $2. I’d rather raise $1million from 1million people than a one-off donation from one person.”
How it applies to you & business: effecting change takes nurturing, time, education, faith, forgiveness & attention to scope & loss. To start, pick 1 or 2 of these elements & see how they apply to a substantive issue you’re trying to effect change in.
5. On passion
“Passion I have is what keeps me going. You know like for example I want to build a school , I want to build a legacy of Emma McCune who rescued me. I want to give other children a chance to go to school. Sometime when I feel like I want to give up but these things whenever I see or remember they give me so much energy that I want to keep on going.”
How it applies to you & business: what’s the root of your passion? What keeps you going? Find your well & draw deep.
6. On the role of inspiration
“So I don’t need to tell them what to do, all I have to do is inspire them & do something. And when they listen they want to do something.”
How it applies to you & business: inspiration plays a huge role in effecting change. Draw a direct line between what you’re trying to influence & inspiration.
As our interview wound up I asked Emmanuel if he had any words of advice. He said “Just look. Look for those who care. I’m looking for those who care, those who are willing to make a difference. Those are the people I’m looking for. Those who are fortunate enough, have got a greater responsibility to make this world a better place.”
So get out there. Find your tribe & effect some change. Need some inspiration along the way? Check out www.emmanueljal.com, http://twitter.com/EmmanuelJAL or Emmanuel’s charity www.gua-africa.org for more information.
Tags: activism, art, change, conflict, emmanuel jal, forgiveness, inspiration, passion