Peggy: Yep, so that speaks to the "What"
as "Encourage Random Encounters" speaks to the "Who," and then "Seek Meaning,"
of course, speaks to "Why," and "Simplify" is ultimately guidance about "How."
Rob: Okay. So, how
do you use this? Can you give me an example of how you would use this in
working with a group?
Peggy: I use it as a guide for design if
I'm working with a group. Or... These different elements work together in
different ways for me. So, for example,
if a disruption happens when I'm working with a group, at this point it's a
reminder to me, "Okay, be welcoming. Get curious about it. Ask a possibility-orientated
question." And where our natural tendency is to want to shut down and pull in,
it's a reminder to try something different and open, in a way that can invite
different perspectives to be present. But again, with that underlying ethic of
welcome, and the clarity of intention of coming back to the sense of purpose.
So it's a dance of these different elements.
And, post-book, as I've been continuing to
seek, "What's a simpler way to talk about it?" There's that little triumvirate
that I think is a doorway in, of welcoming, inviting diversity, and asking
possibility-orientated questions. And frankly, if you're in the moment and
facing disruption and you're not sure what to do, ask a question that points to
possibility. It's like my hip pocket idea. [It] is the most compassionate and
creative act that I know to do, and actually I'll share a story around that one
that was kind of an extreme.
I have a colleague, an African American
colleague, who was doing some work in New Orleans over a number of months, and
he would go place his guitar in this park across from where he was working. And
this one day out of the corner of his eye, he saw these three young men, lots
of tattoos, shaved heads, and they seemed to be sneaking up on him. And so he
put his guitar down, and he stood up and very softly said, "Stop where you
are," and they stopped, and then started telling him in not very pretty
language that he didn't belong in this park. It wasn't for people like him, and
that they were going to make an object lesson of him. And he, at that point,
whipped out a possibility-orientated question of, "Okay, before you do that,
can I ask you a question and said, "What is it in your life experience that led
you to wanting to do this?" And 45 minutes later the four of them were deeply
in conversation about their worlds and experiences and life. And needless to
say, it was a pretty profound shift for all of four of them actually. So, I
guess that's one simple example of how I would work with this.
Rob: So, he talked them out of beating the crap out of
him.
Peggy: And frankly, moved well beyond
that, to a deeper consciousness about their own sense of selves, and their
worldview, and where it came from, and why they might have gotten to a place
where beating the crap out of him sounded like it would be a good thing to do,
and let go of it.
Rob: So, maybe even went from him saving himself to saving
them.
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