Extract

So that you can see how we use the characters in this book to demonstrate the Keys of Kindness™ to you, here is an excerpt from Chapter 7 where our characters are learning about the 6th Key of Kindness™: Co-Creating Your Future:

“Yes, getting out into nature brings me back to earth too, putting things into perspective,” Margaret said. “Last year my husband and I spent time on the Arctic Ocean, just south of the pack ice, in a small ice-breaker ship. Being so far north, the creatures — puffins, humpback whales, polar bears, walruses and seals — spend their lives inside this complete ecosystem. From the red algae that live in the ice and the phytoplankton which live on the algae just below the ice, to the small fish like capelin which feed on phytoplankton, to the seals and walruses and sea birds which feed on the small fish, to the top predator the polar bear which feeds mostly on seals.

“We visited the Svalbard archipelago in zodiac dinghies. One day, sitting in our dinghies below cliffs stretching high above, we watched in horror as a gull ate a baby guillemot on the beach at the same time as an arctic fox ate the gull’s chick further up the slope. But as we motored back to our ship to unfreeze our hands and feet, we reflected that this is real life — all the living beings that flourish here and have existed for eons without any human intervention, all are interconnected. Our lives in our cities and organisations, away from the full experience of the natural world, is the illusion.

Margaret fell silent. Her sea-green eyes had a far-away look in them. The only sounds were the wind, and the rain spattering the windows. Then she continued.

“I could see that in this system each part of nature plays an essential role. Each part adapts to support and fit in with the other parts to do its work. Even when a natural disaster upsets the balance — like an earthquake or an avalanche or a tidal wave — it acts as a leverage point around which the system adapts to the new conditions. It’s a complex adaptive system, because it’s impossible to know how the new ‘system’ will emerge, given the many changes that might have occurred.

“The system _will adapt to the new conditions, and with these adaptations, new opportunities arise. For example, less pack ice in the Arctic Ocean means that polar bears are becoming more land based, where they eat more of the birds’ eggs and chicks than they used to. But they don’t eat so many seals because seals live on the ice, so these become more plentiful. And with less fish in the sea from over-fishing, birds like the little auks that we saw nesting amongst the rocks on steep island slopes have taken on new behaviours. They now fly long distances to find food to feed themselves and their chicks, and teach their chicks to do the same.”_

Margaret looked around the table. The wind and rain were louder now, lashing the windows, and she raised her voice to be heard. “This was such a life changing experience for me. It was as if I was outside myself looking at the world and seeing and hearing things for the first time. On our way back to the mainland from Svalbard, I couldn’t speak to anyone. My mind was buzzing with thoughts and ideas. I could see so many connections to my own life journey especially with what I’ve learned about myself through the Resilient Leadership™ Keys of Kindness™. As soon as our plane took off, I wrote in my journal about what I had seen and felt. Patterns emerged about what I now understood about myself and my family, and how organisations can work better in the same adaptive way as nature does — almost a view from above which helped me to see things more clearly.

“You know that part in the social innovation process [Chapter 6] where you have to suspend your judgements and be open to new ways of seeing how an organisation can work? The time on the ice made me realise that social innovation is not just about business, but about us as humans and how we care for our world. I walked myself through the U process [Chapter 7] to understand how, sometimes, I allow fear stop me doing things – fear of judgment, fear of failure – and also how, sometimes, I admit I don’t take the time to listen well!

“I can see now that we need to map out all the systems in our business. Then we will understand how they work and where they overlap. Because a living organisation needs to develop and work with the synergies between us all — managers, staff, customers and their customers — we have to understand the role that each person or activity plays in the success of the whole. Then we will understand how the connections and synchronicities can best contribute to delivering value for everyone.

“Sometimes it’s hard to welcome change. We naturally want to hold onto our own power. However, by not listening to other people’s experiences, we might inhibit good things from happening because we couldn’t allow other people’s ideas to be nurtured and thus grow. As leaders, we need to be prepared to admit we don’t always know everything, and take time to grow ourselves so that we can talk with others, to listen and learn new ways of doing things. The organisation doesn’t just exist to feed the leaders and owners. It exists to feed everyone! While we were away I read a book called ‘Power and Love’ by Adam Kahane. He talks about the need to feel confident enough about ourselves that we can let go of our egos. Only then can we be fully present for others, listening to others sharing their stories and ideas in ways which can produce unexpected outcomes for everyone. I’m sure we all have a few internal barriers we put up to look after ourselves, but sometimes it’s being defensive that causes more distress. Like thinking that if you are the boss, you have to have all the ideas but inside you are hoping no one finds out you are afraid too.”

Margaret smiled at Dave, a twinkle in her eyes.

“I realise now that we mustn’t be afraid of change. Instead we should embrace the changes that innovation brings. Not everything will work, but if we bring together our people – everyone involved in the system – we might find new products or better ways of doing things. By developing practices and relationships focussed on the people in every part of our systems, we can design new systems with input from everyone, like collaborating with other companies as we do with Mevagissey. And having our engineers deal directly with the customers is a good step forward.”

Ask the author, Wendy Campbell, how our Resilient Leadership™ PRIMER can help you today.

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