Is Something Missing in Your Life?

Ever get the feeling that something’s missing in your life but you’re not quite sure what it is?

I mean you’re happy enough, there are no major problems, but you’ve lost a bit of that sense of joy you used to have. Part of you is pining for the good old days. You’d love to get that bounce back in your step, that twinkle in your eye.

Well I think I’ve got the answer!

Community

Yep that’s it! In fact, if I look back at some of the really good times in my life (I’m sounding like a grumpy old man) I realise they were mostly to do with being connected to people. Not just a person. But a group of people connected by a common bond, even if we didn’t know what that was at the time.

In my university days we balanced being accepted as ‘one of the gang’ with trying to stand out as individuals, all connected by our unconscious vulnerability to find our true identity in the world.

Then, as parents there was being part of the school community with our kids. The plays, the sports matches, the assemblies. All connected by the love of our children, wanting them to do well in the world and above all just be happy. I loved it: the fetes; the gala days, the working bees.

Are you building a community?

So my question to you as a business leader is this: Have you built a sense of community in your business or perhaps in your team?

Is everyone linked by a common purpose, collaborating with a huge sense of belonging?

Are we all in this together? All for one and one for all?

Look at what happens when you ask people in your organisation to be involved with community work. Most organisations are inundated with volunteers. I’m convinced there is a part in every one of us that yearns so strongly to be connected not just to others but a cause or purpose much greater than ourselves.

Have I lost you already? Does this all seem a bit fluffy?

If you’re looking for the bottom line business results, then just consider the following impacts of a great business community:

You wouldn’t have to follow up to make sure managers had done their performance planning and review. They just would!

You wouldn’t have to remind leaders that their real job is to not just get results but to spend time developing the leaders around them. They just would!

You wouldn’t have to do a survey to determine whether your people are engaged or not. They just would (be)!

You wouldn’t have to check to see if people were following quality standards. They just would!

Commitment because we care. Not because of consequences.

Maybe I’m a dreamer but I’ve always loved the saying:

“Fathers who build boats for their sons to go far out to sea don’t need quality control.”

When we really care about a cause and are working toward a Higher or Noble Purpose, the commitment is astonishing. Do you have this in your business or in your team? Have you lost it? Or perhaps forgotten to reinforce it or bring it to life?

So how do you build a sense of community?

There’s no magic answer but I’d encourage you to consider the following two ideas when attempting to build a sense of community in your business or your team.  

Idea Number 1:

Make it your goal every day to:

MOVE FROM COMPLIANCE BY CONSEQUENCES TO COMMITMENT THROUGH COMMUNITY.

You’ve probably heard all this talk about making people accountable. It’s almost like a witch hunt – someone to blame or beat up on. As if they deliberately stuffed up, took their eye off the ball or didn’t want to do it in the first place. But what if someone failed to reach their objectives and everyone took the wrap (the community).

Because it is often a breakdown in community that leads to the “stuff up” in the first place. Perhaps we (the community) failed to ask the supposed perpetrator how they were going, we failed to create an environment of trust where they felt free to speak up and say “I’m struggling” or “I need help.” Perhaps we failed to come in early as a partner (part of the community) not late as a judge, as Barry Oshry reminds us in his book “Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organisational Life”.

What if we had a mindset that everyone is part of our community, everyone is doing the best they can with what they’ve got? That an individual failure is a team failure?

In fact, this community building "idea" has led us to "re-surface" our simulation; The Flying Starship Factory. Funny name for a workshop I know, but this has got to be one of the most powerful interventions for organisations looking to move beyond a culture of consequence where bureaucratic fragmentation rules to a culture of commitment powered by the community. Read more about this workshop here.

The Structure of Belonging

I love what Peter Block says in his new book “Community: The Structure of Belonging.”

Here are a few of his ideas:

1. What we normally call problems: low performance; high costs; poor morale; crime; poor health care are really symptoms of a breakdown in community.
2. Creating community requires the courage to admit that we need each other, that we cannot do it on our own. It is a case of restoration over retribution. Connectedness over fear.
3. The core task of leadership is to build community. Our traditional strategies for dealing with problems of performance, quality, cost, employee satisfaction, health and safety are strong on individual focus and weak on community focus.
4. Community leaders choose relationships over technology, gifts over deficiencies, possibilities over problem solving.
5. Community leaders show up as the host, not the hero.

Idea Number 2.

CREATE COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY THROUGH YOUR EVERYDAY CONVERSATIONS.

If we maintain the old conversations about the same old things, nothing will change. "If nothing changes, nothing changes." But by changing the very nature of our everyday conversations we can begin to create and change the very nature of community.

This is not just improving the conversation through “old favourites” like active listening, dialogue, open or closed questions. It’s about choosing a conversation that has the power to create a whole new future. One of commitment and community as opposed to consequence and bureaucratic fragmentation.

Block has outlined six specific conversations to start building community in your organisation (or indeed any social system). They are based on a presentation by Block at the American Society of Training and Development in 2008. Thanks to Ken Everett from ‘Think on your Feet’ for sending this to me.

Six Community Building Conversations to Use:

1. The Invitation Conversation. Transformation occurs through choice, not through mandate. Invitation is the call to create an alternative future. What is the invitation we can make to support people to participate and own relationships, tasks and processes that lead to success?
2. The Ownership Conversation is one that focuses on whose organisation or task is this? The conversation begins with the question, “how have I contributed to creating the current reality?” Confusion, blame and waiting for someone else to change are defences against ownership and personal power.
3. The Possibility Conversation is one that focuses on what we want our future to be as opposed to problem solving the past. This is based on an understanding that living systems are really propelled to the force of the future. The possibility conversation frees people to innovate, challenge the status quo, and create new futures that make a difference. In new work environments this conversation has the ability for breaking new ground and in understanding the prevailing culture.
4. The Dissent Conversation is allowing people the space to say “no”. If we cannot say no then our “yes” has no meaning. People have a chance to express their doubts and reservations, as a way of clarifying their roles, needs and yearnings within the vision and mission being presented. Genuine commitment begins with doubt, and “no” is  a symbolic expression of people finding their space and role in the strategy. It is when we fully understand what people do not want that we can fully design what they do want. Refusal is the foundation of commitment.
5. The Commitment Conversation is about individuals making promises to their peers about their contribution to the success of the whole organisation. It is centred in two questions: What promise am I willing to make to this enterprise? And, what is the price I’m willing to pay for the success of the whole effort? It is a promise for the sake of the larger purpose, not for the sake of personal return.
6. The Gifts Conversation. What are the gifts and assets we bring to the enterprise? Rather than the focus on our deficiencies and weaknesses, which will most likely not go away, focus on the gifts we bring and capitalise on those. Instead of problematising people and work, the conversation is about searching for the mystery that brings the highest achievement and success in work organisations. Confront people with their essential core that has the potential to make the difference and change lives for good.

The Human Enterprise Community

And thanks for being part of our community. A group of leaders committed to transforming the way people live their lives, lead their businesses and leave a legacy. Someone asked me the other day "what will that legacy be for you?" For us as a community I’d love generations of leaders behind us to ask:

“Did we build the human enterprise?”

Your host (who admittedly still tries to play hero from time to time).

Paul Mitchell

You can read more newsletters here. Or, if you want to become a subscriber and have the "Everyone Leads" Leadership Newsletter delivered straight to your in-box then simply leave your details in the form on the right (or below). Subscription is free and your personal information will be kept safe and secure.

New Leadership Development Experience

‘Everyone Leads’ Newsletter

'Everyone Leads' is a monthly e-newsletter designed to help you become an even better leader. It's packed with practical strategies to give you more energy, greater optimism, more resilience, and brilliant results as you lead in your personal and professional life. Learn more about 'Everyone Leads' here or leave your details below to sign up right away.

1. Contact Us
2. Team Area
3. Sitemap

Copyright © The Human Enterprise. All rights reserved