Going Deeper
A 90 Minute Reflection
With the foundation of pausing in place, we can move on to begin to use a process of reflection to disrupt our patterned thinking through two different practice options depending on the status of your collaboration.
How can we get unstuck?
This practice is designed for existing teams who have come up against a wall in progressing their collaborative work, are aware that something needs to change in how they are working together, or sense that something more or deeper is possible.
Engaging in capacity building and generating conditions for this together can shift the quality of a team's collaboration and help them get unstuck. This process requires courage and openness to recognize that what’s “in the way” might just be “the way”.
Provocations are included below. Please reference the Practice Guide for more complete guidance.
Provocations:
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What brings you joy in this work?
What is your heart’s desire for this work / process / team?
When you lose the thread about why you are doing this, how do you reconnect with your caring?
What truth are you avoiding?
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How might the challenges being faced here be informed by other factors?
What beliefs or premises does this way of working rely on?
What feels vulnerable or risky? How might you be contributing to that?
Is there something you need in this collaboration that you could ask for?
Or a request you could make that would make a difference to this collaborative work?
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As you think about this situation, where in your body do you feel tension/stress?
What past experiences or feelings might be interfering here?
If you believed you couldn’t fail, what might you try?
If you could change one thing about this working process, what would it be? What difference would it make?
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Where do you derive your will / motivation for this work?
Where else might you source inspiration, beyond where you have looked so far?
What is the highest potential of this work? What is getting in the way of that?
What / who / where supports you to dream bigger?
What is possible here?
This practice is designed for new or existing teams taking a moment to step back and consider their highest aspirations for their collaboration.
Provocations are included below. Please reference the Practice Guide for more complete guidance.
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Choose one capacity you are strong at and choose one capacity you need to strengthen in yourself. Reflect on the following questions on your own or with your team:
For your strength:
What do you love about this strength? What gifts does it bring you and your work with the team?
What behaviors do you and others engage with that supports this being a strength?
If overused, what are some of the limitations or blind spots of this capacity? For example, an overemphasis on meaning-making could mean that you delay taking action.
Are there ways you can leverage this capacity to help you address areas where you aren’t as strong?
What might that look like?
For your challenge:
What makes it challenging?
What are some of the potential gifts of this capacity?
What gets in the way of you developing this capacity (at the individual and team level)?
What stories do you tell yourself about your relationship to this capacity? What might happen if you dropped this story or told a new one?
What difference might it make if this challenge could become one of your strengths?
What’s one small step you can commit to taking to develop this capacity?
What support can you ask for from your team members to help you develop this capacity?
Gold star questions:
If there were no limitations, what capacity would you strengthen and how?
If you were to drop a judgement you have about yourself or a team member, what would be possible? What capacity would be strengthened or liberated?
Discuss in pairs for 5-10 minutes then share out any key takeaways.
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Working in small groups of 2 or 3, consider the “External Conditions” identified within the Togetherness Practice framework. Take about 20 minutes together to consider:
Which of these conditions are strong in the team? Which ones need more support?
Why do they matter?
What difference might they make?
How do we get in the way of strengthening this condition?
How can we support the development of this condition?
Think of an aim or goal the team has. With this in mind, pick one of the conditions and insert it into the following questions:
How might us embracing this condition as a team support our aim?
How might we create an environment that supports this condition?
What behaviors and qualities of being and/or mindsets get in the way of us doing so?
What behaviors and qualities of being and/or mindsets might help us to do so?
Gold star questions:
If there were no limitations, what condition would you strengthen and how?
If you were to drop a judgement you have about yourself or your team, what would be possible? What condition would be strengthened or liberated? And how?
Discuss as a whole group, seeking to capture detail around the actual practices you can do together that will grow your individual capacities and create conditions for your collaboration to really work.
Provocations:
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“WE NEED TO SPEAK FROM THE HEART TO THE HEART.”
–Ellen Moir, Ashoka Fellow