Letter from John (May 2014)

[from the May 2014 Floricane newsletter]

What is Floricane? If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked that question, I'd no longer be concerned about how to pay for my kids to go to college.

On the surface, how I'd answer that question today is not radically different than the answer I'd have given when the business launched in 2008. Our new website and collateral sum it up rather succinctly:

Floricane is an organizational change and strategic planning consultancy. A floricane is the fruit-bearing vine of a blackberry bush. At Floricane, we help individuals and organizations bear new fruit.

Beneath the surface, however, and you'll find that Floricane is a very different business in 2014. We have a strong team able to provide our clients with more collaborative services. We have more consistent processes to design, manage and deliver our work in ways that feel personal and unique to each client. And we're doing that work in new ways.

The new Floricane team is challenging ourselves to be smarter, better, more collaborative and more engaged. They're smart and energized.

As for me, I'm still playing catch up.

It has been interesting in recent months to redefine my role. More and more, our clients are experiencing and benefitting from the talent that Debra, Caroline, Theran, Anne and Shamoniki leverage on their behalf. And while I'm still actively engaged in every project (and actively leading a lot of work) it no longer feels like I have to keep my hand on every oar in order for the boat to move through water.

My coach would look at me and ask, "Isn't that fascinating?"

It is, quite honestly. Fascinating, and long overdue.

I'm a fan of evidence, and so I often look for examples of this progress I'm describing. And whether it's Theran successfully leading the first three months of our long-term engagement with VCU's Office of Development and Alumni Relations, or Debra's new coaching project with Diamond Healthcare Corporation, I see evidence. Walking downtown and chatting with Anne about her desire to shift from coaching back to her organizational change roots? Progress. Caroline's single-handedly managing our new website, six new client events, the hiring and on-boarding of a new employee and a new intern? Evidence.

Perhaps a better description of Floricane: a team of talented people making a difference for individuals and organizations throughout Virginia. I'm lucky to have them working with me.

Zander Is Coming! Zander Is Coming!

Pardon my excitement.

Our team has been using the work of Maestro Benjamin Zander for quite some time. In the past year alone, we’ve put more than 300 copies of his co-authored book, The Art of Possibility, into circulation locally – and we’ve shown his powerful TED talk to more than 500 people in wor kshops or other facilitated events.

“Have you ever considered bringing Zander to Richmond?” a client recently asked. As a matter of fact – until that moment – no, I hadn’t.

The next week, I asked David Fisk, executive director of the Richmond Symphony and a friend and client, if he’d be interested in partnering with Floricane to bring Zander to town in 2015. He quickly said yes. Just as quickly, I sent Zander an email.

Not 24 hours later, a voicemail appeared on my phone. “John,” a spry British accent intoned, “this is Benjamin Zander!”

Zander went on to say that he was sure I knew he was coming to Richmond at the end of April with the Richmond Symphony, and that he would love to talk further. Needless to say, I was a bit confused.

Several conversations later, the confusion was erased – and Zander was set to perform with the Symphony Musicians of Richmond (an independent group of musicians who perform with the Richmond Symphony) on April 28 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church.

David and I hope to chat with Zander the next day about a return visit next year with Floricane and the Richmond Symphony. An ideal visit would include a facilitated dialogue with Floricane’s clients and friends, a public event with the Richmond Symphony, and a performance with middle school students from the region. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, join us on April 28 for a free concert with Benjamin Zander and the Symphony Musicians of Richmond. It’s going to be an amazing night.

It’s Easy To get Hijacked

It happened midway through the second of three sessions in our new Next Steps Personal Reflection workshop. I got hijacked.

Getting hijacked is easy stuff. One minute everything is moving along smoothly, and then suddenly – wham! – the ground slips beneath our feet. The sad thing is that we often don’t even notice when our emotions have been taken over by events.

I get hijacked a lot. Seriously. A lot.

My wife, my daughter, my coworkers and my clients – yes, all of you over the course of a normal day trigger an unanticipated, and usually unpro ductive, emotion or reaction in me. It can happen in seconds, and be over just as fast.

It’s the times when it doesn’t end quickly that concern me. Paying attention to serious hijacking – and trying to address it proactively, and productively, is hard work!

It happened to be during a recent workshop. In the span of several minutes, I moved from engaged to disillusioned – for no discernable reason. As the participants in the session leaned into small group discussions about their personal values, I allowed something far deeper – my fears, anxiety and ego – derail me.

I spent the remainder of the session questioning my abilities, and judging my effectiveness – not in a positive way. A moment of doubt turned into a running negative inner dialogue.

And then something happened. As the session wrapped, and participants wandered into the night, someone lingered.

“I just wanted to tell you that this workshop has been hugely valuable to me,” she said. And as simple as that, the hijacking ended.

We spend a lot of time in our Insights workshops talking about the Ladder of Perception, and the ways we can experience events and quickly twist them out of proportion. It’s natural to walk away from an experience with our own interpretation – and for that interpretation to be limited.

Racing up the ladder – through assumptions, interpretations, judgments and conclusions – is usually a very subconscious act. Having the ability to hit the reset button is hugely helpful. Just as helpful? Having someone else walk up and hit the reset button for you.

Three Lessons from Next Steps

We just wrapped up a refreshed version of our Next Steps Personal Reflection workshop. And we sat down and refreshed it again.

We had a great three weeks with a small group of 19 people who each find themselves at an interesting, personal crossroads in life. And while each person was there for their own individual purpose, they shared in common a desire to carve out serious time for personal reflection, serious discussion and a small dose of discomfort.

Over the course of nine hours – three Tuesday early evening sessions in late March and early April – the group dug into a deeper understanding of their personality, their personal values and various aspects of their “best self”. Individual homework turned into small group discussions. Small group discussions evolved into a deeper understanding of personal challenges and opportunities.

No one left the Next Steps workshop profoundly transformed – or, I don’t think they did! – but each person left with new or deeper clarity around small steps they could take to live more fully into their life.

Here are three things I (re)learned from the latest Next Steps workshop:

• Investing Time Matters: We’re all busy, busy, busy. Taking time to reflect – even about things we already know about ourselves – is an investment we make in ourselves too infrequently.
• Defining Values Are Hard: Identifying your personal values is pretty easy. Defining them in clear English can be hard. Understanding how each of those values really impacts out day-to-day life can be even harder.
• The Conversation Is the Change: We say this all the time. Watching the 19 participants in the workshop dive deeply and enthusiastically into pair and small group discussions just reinforced for me the value to dialogue.

This latest offering of Next Steps is an evolution of its own. The program started in partnership with the Greater Richmond Chamber in 2009 at the peak of the Great Recession for individuals who suddenly found themselves unemployed. We repeated the program for St. Michael’s Catholic Church’s Jobs Assistance Ministry, and then ran a two-day session at the Visual Arts Center. Based on feedback from this spring’s participants, we’ve already revamped the program – and will be offering it again in the fall.

Clear. Consistent. Achievable.

Caroline and I recently attended a Greater Richmond Chamber's Exceptional Women’s Exchange conversation that showcased three exceptional women doing exceptional things right here in Richmond.  We were lucky to hear tons of leadership advice from women who have been there and are still doing it.  The panel consisted of Gail Johnson, President & CEO of Rainbow Station, Rita McClenny, President & CEO, Virginia Tourism Corporation and Sarah Paxton, Co-Owner, LaDifference.

While there were many great take-aways and pieces of advice shared by the panel – I found myself reflecting on one story in particular shared by Gail Johnson.  Each panelist was asked to share a picture that represented a piece of their personal story that contributed to their success.  She shared a picture of her accepting membership in the Rising 25 program co-sponsored by KPMG LLP, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In order to be awarded a Rising 25, one of the criteria is being in business for 5 years.  She first became aware of the program when her business was under a year old.  To herself, she said, “I am going to be in this group.”  She never shared this intention with anyone, but over the years, when her lawyer, banker, and other business advisors told her she was moving too fast and growing too quickly, she pushed their resistance aside and quietly held this intention. 

While the research tells us that ‘publicly committing’ to a goal increases the chance of achieving it by roughly 80%, here was an intention that she didn’t share with anyone.  Huh, wonder what made this work?  Wonder why she achieved it while just holding it within herself? 

I don’t know the answer, there were probably lots of factors that contributed.  What I do take away from this story is that in the program’s simplicity there is clarity.  The criteria to make this list were clear, consistent and achievable.  Wonder what would happen if we set more goals that held those three characteristics – clear, consistent and achievable?  What if we pushed away the noise and the distractions and gave ourselves permission to focus on that which is clear, consistent and achievable?  Wonder where our intentions (spoken or unspoken) would lead us then?

Being Courageous

Crucial conversations, courageous conversations, difficult conversations. Call them what you will, most of us are having them all the time. We may be giving or receiving feedback, discussing an employee's development, or holding a co-worker accountable. And it does not matter if you have them everyday, courageous conversations can be tricky.

Last week we started a series of meetings with a group of managers from Bon Secours Virginia to talk about the challenges and necessity of courageous conversations. I have been impressed with their willingness to engage their teams and each other in discussions that can often be uncomfortable. They have identified some conversations that they are not yet having, but for the most part they are diving in and talking about what is important, even if it is difficult.

Listening to these managers talk about how they handle crucial conversations has been motivating. It has caused me to reflect on the conversations I am not having and the ones I have been making more difficult than they need to be. Moreover, it has encouraged me to start having more courageous conversations. So, to everyone in my contact list, fair warning. You may want to screen your calls.

Getting A Piece Of Your Mind

Pick your cliché – walking the walk, practicing what you preach, taking your own medicine. Yeah, we just did those things.

Three years into some serious culture change work with the Library of Virginia, we invited a mixed group of Library leaders over to our place for pizza and feedback.

For the better part of two hours, they huddled in our conference room with Theran Fisher (the closest thing we had to a neutral, third party) and unpacked a broad mix of work – from an initial round of “all employee” conversations (read: venting sessions) to strategic planning to Insights self-awareness training to leadership coaching.

And then they brought us into the room and gave us their feedback on what worked well, what didn’t and the ways in which, specifically, Debra Saneda and I were more effective and less effective in our engagements with their team.

They didn’t hold their punches. But they didn’t hold back on their praise, either. Here are some of their observations about our work together:

• One of the most important pieces of work we did for them was simply getting started. We began with a series of conversations with all 170 employees that gave everyone a chance to vent, gnash their teeth – and feel hopeful about the future. “You helped us have conversations that needed to happen,” they told us.

• Our second piece of work fell on its face, but it helped everyone involved better understand the organization’s readiness for the change work – and illuminated the leadership and relationship gaps that became the core of the work later on.

• The opportunities where everyone in the organization was included – the opening conversations, visioning activity, strategic planning work – were among the most impactful moments.

• Where we could have done a much better job was helping them understand and facilitate the work on their own – faster, and more often. We try hard not to make ourselves indispensible to our clients, and we need to try harder. Teaching a man to fish, and all that.

• The moments when our team wasn’t on the same page – whether during a small leadership discussion or a strategic planning process – were not helpful. It’s important for the Floricane team to be in alignment, especially when we’re helping our clients wrestle publicly with work that matters deeply to them.

We gritted our teeth while the Library team worked behind closed doors to develop the feedback they gave us. And I think we relaxed visibly when the feedback started. Most of it wasn’t a surprise. All of it was important to hear. Allowing it to shape our future work with the Library and other clients is where the rubber will meet the road. Cliché intended.