Reveln Consulting

Synchronicity! Meaning Making and Sense Making

Summary: In this session we explored the science and application of synchronicity and other means of meaning making. What is the place of synchronicity in how we facilitate change and transition? This session will explore how we help ourselves, and therefore help data from the field of existence emerge. Theory U is a tool, a method and way of seeing and facilitating change, which invites data to emerge through shared meaning making helping co-create and sustain the change process.

What is Theory U?

Its originator, Otto Scharmer, says it is three things. It is a:

1) Framework describing a change process.

2) Method for effecting change personally and organizationally, in communities and globally.

3) Description of phenomena in the world – what is naturally happening.

Learning Goals:

Participants will be able to:

Define the concept of synchronicity

Identify C.G. Jung’s role in developing the principle
Understand how Theory U helps data to emerge
Engage groups to create shared meaning referencing Theory U
Understand how shared meaning influences change processes

Recommended Reading:

If the concept of synchronicity is unfamiliar, we highly recommend reading:

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle by C.G. Jung or
The 7 Secrets of Synchornicity (Your Guide to Finding Meaning in Signs Big and Small) by Trish and Rob MacGregor

Here are the updated blog links to read more about what we covered in the session:

Co-Creation in Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges & the Road to Commitment | Reveln

Talking with Daryl Conner and Change Management Resources, Circa 2011

Change Leadership: Why Should Anyone Trust Your Vision? | John Kotter & Harvard Business Review

Visit the ODX Members Forum at http://www.odexchange.org for additional information and to become familiar with the subject.

This session was offered: Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM Plymouth, MI

The Pervasive Talent Myths Meet FLOW, Using Your Strengths

P1040663 — *Finding your core strength that fits YOU is key.*
*One size does NOT fit all!*

I ran across an intriguing title today in the news entitled, “How to be Great: Rising Above the Talent Myth.” The you-can-be-anything citations are pervasive. They create an economy of self-help seminars, books, academies, and certainly generate a lot of revenue in leadership coaching arenas.

Write Your Business Plan in Pencil and consider a Vision Board

In my case, I used a sheet of flipchart paper to list three major categories. Then do a quick brainstorm to list all your present business work via post-it notes, or use a spreadsheet. It is then easy to review your activities by grouping them in categories or simply the use the big three: strategic, tactical and operational.

Choosing a Consultant

Photo by John Guccione http://www.advergroup.com on Pexels.com

This article & excerpt could save you, literally millions, via my first-hand experience of some great consulting work as well as some less than ethical consultants out there.

…Beware the consultant who promises too much. It’s the flip side of the client making unrealistic demands.

Consultant contract sprawl, jargon & managing your relationship with your consultant are some key take aways from the excerpt below.

Strategic Agility: Adapting to Now & Next

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change. ~ Charles Darwin

via flickr.com CC by Corrado Dearca

Is strategic planning losing its seat at the table due to the need for speed? There’s ample evidence that, no matter how much analysis and planning , strategic planning is inherently flawed, quickly out of date, and rendered ineffective due to slow and incomplete execution.

A phrase that is gaining traction is strategic agility. For context, consider Wall Street Journal writers Joann Lublin and Dana Mattioli reports that current, recession-based business forecasts did not hold true. Executives learned that strategic planning was more limited in effectiveness than before.

Right Sizing Your Education Options

Aligning a Course of Study to your Ambitions

Guest post by Scott Wachtmann

Choosing a college is a big decision. It seems to me that students who choose to pursue an education after high school often look at college as the only option in reaching that goal. The truth is the decision to attend college should be a strategic choice made because it is the best path to reach one’s ambitions.

Goals: The Finish Line and Beyond

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” ~ Jim Rohn

This is the third article in a series of three explaining the MCG model for group development – Membership, Control, Goal. If you’ve ever been in a new or reformed team or group that seemed to take its time getting to task, you may have been experiencing the investment stages of membership and control. Start-up businesses are easy evidence of this.

Control Issues in Teams: How Do You Take Charge?

“Contrary to popular belief, people don’t resist changes, they resist being controlled. …the corollary to that is people who plan the battle, rarely battle the plan.”

Pat Zigarmi, co-author, Who Killed Change?

This post is the second of three in a series about the MCG model of helping a group or organization develop. This includes developing greater team skill in resiliency and adaptability (beyond resiliency) in order to meet changing goals. Part 1 on Membership is here.

MCG = Membership, Control, and Goal. MCG is a useful model for leaders working with any team or group including those that being formed and those that are changing, such as gaining or losing members. In the CONTROL stage, group members encounter natural structuring and inevitable control issues that develop once the group has formed and has begun to set boundaries, testing the skills and knowledge of formal and informal leaders and team members.

3 Steps to Grow Team Performance: Membership, Control, Goal

ANYTIME a functioning group changes in membership including when it forms, status and or role questions arise. If someone leaves the group, roles shift, the group churns. Small groups are often microcosms of the organization and reflect organizational health in the way they form, grow, perform (or don’t), ebb and end.

This post is about how groups and teams form and develop. It starts with MEMBERSHIP.

During Crises & Crunch, What Matters? The Power of the Story

During lean times, soft and more difficult to define structures of the organization tend to become more evident, sometimes uncomfortably so. There’s nothing like a crises or simply a good, healthy conflict for exposing what really matters to leaders throughout an organization making decisions. Peter Drucker once stated, “Only three things happen naturally in organizations – friction, confusion and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.”