Public Libraries: The Next Big Coworking Space

Photo by Phil Freelon

Photo by Phil Freelon

In college, the library was the place we went when we wanted to get work done, but didn't feel like sitting in our cramped dorm rooms. Honestly, I rarely used the library's books or online resources, except for the rare occasion when I had to look up a scholarly article on a university database. The real reason we went to the library was to sit in a quiet space with other students, feeling a sense of focus as well as a sense of community. 

Fast Company recently posted an article called "The Public Library Want To Be Your Office," in which it discusses the evolution of public libraries from book houses to community workspaces. For me, this idea feels familiar. It's something that I truly miss from college: having a quiet community space to study, read, or do work, without having to stake out a table at Starbucks at 8 AM (and order something out of guilt) or become a member of a local coworking office.

Not every library is set up for this kind of thing, but if it the trend continues, libraries of the future will have a lot more spaces like the one in the above photo.

Read the full article, "The Public Library Wants To Be Your Office," on Fast Company.

Playground Perspective (August 2014)

Click through to read our entire August 2014 newsletter.

Click through to read our entire August 2014 newsletter.

So, my daughter threw her first baby shower last week. It was sort of a big deal for her, and I worked hard to treat it very seriously. Being a big sister is going to be a jolt, and while she's truly excited, I think that Thea intuitively understands that her world is about to be rocked.

When she told me for the ninth time that she wanted to throw a shower for her mom, we arranged a secret breakfast date to make plans. I told her that she had to pick the date, decide who to invite, create and send the invitations, and select and prepare the menu. She was, mostly, unfazed.

The first challenge came in the form of a text message from one of Nikole's friends who made the assumption that the invite was for the mothers and their daughters. Nope, Thea said. "I think it would be too crazy if all my friends were there, and also this is about celebrating mom, not me," she added. Because our daughter is really a sixty-three-year-old sensei.

Obviously, the secret didn't last long. In fact, I think I spilled the beans when I texted Nikole a picture of Thea diligently drawing the invitation. (The handwriting was mine, but the puns were all hers!)

It didn't occur to me in the moment that I was engaged in the important work of ritual. We didn't have a baby shower when Nikole was pregnant with Thea, and while she hasn't asked to have a shower for this second child I'm going to guess that the ritual of gathering with important women in her life - including her daughter - is an important one.

It's certainly important for Thea, who had an opportunity to be a hostess for an Event of Some Significance (as Winnie-the-Pooh would say). We woke early and made scones, arranged the table and cleaned the house. She greeted each guest at the door. The highlight of the morning? She read two children's books to the gathered friends and family -- certainly not the traditional baby shower entertainment!

It has made me think about the role of rituals at work - especially at Floricane, where we spend so much time discussing culture and engagement. Our team doesn't have significant rituals to make important passages and milestones. Perhaps we should.

Nikole is a big fan of totems and small rituals. It's nice to see our daughter following in her footsteps with such attention to the important role that gestures play in our relationships. It's even nice to see that some of their sensibility is rubbing off on me just a little.

Solidify Your Footing with The Leadership Circle

The team at Floricane is excited to introduce The Leadership Circle, a new leadership coaching program we're launching in September -- and facilitated by Debra Saneda and Anne Chamberlain. As the application deadline (August 8) nears, we're excited by the response The Leadership Circle has received. We're looking forward to diving into this new program with a small group of local leaders interested in peer-based dialogue, learning and support.

The Leadership Circle is a confidential space for a small group of local leaders to gather and discuss topics relevant to leading a team, department or organization. We're targeting senior leaders from the for-profit, not-for-profit, higher education and association space. We believe that a mix of leaders from a range of sectors and areas of professional focus will make for impactful discussion. The Leadership Circle is not a leadership development program, but rather a peer-based, professional coach-led space for people to discuss and resolve serious issues confronting their leadership, or their organizations. The group will consist of 8-12 leaders (we may have multiple groups) who will meet monthly from September through May, discussing a list of topics generated during the first session.

You can learn more and complete the brief application on the Leadership Circle webpage:  http://www.floricane.com/the-leadership-circle

The Other Side of Fear

Other Side of Fear

I'm using this quote as inspiration this week. For me, the fear of not being good at something often paralyzes me, keeping me from trying new things. This week, I'm going to be trying ONE of those new things I've been wanting to do: rollerskating outside, with full protective gear (roller derby has trained me well). I just got my new outdoor wheels and I'll be fighting the fear of falling down and looking silly so I can exercise in what's quite possibly the most fun way ever. Maybe you'll see me around Byrd Park!

My challenge to you this week, if you choose to accept it, is to try to overcome one fear and go out and do something that you've really been wanting to do. I hope it's as fun as rollerskating.

a real-life photo of said rollerskates.

a real-life photo of said rollerskates.

The Leadership Circle: The Trick to Group Coaching

Applications are due August 8th, 2014! Click the image for more details about The Leadership Circle.

Applications are due August 8th, 2014! Click the image for more details about The Leadership Circle.

Peer-based group coaching relies on everyone, the coach and the coached, to show up at each session prepared, and willing to work collectively to help each participant grow. The job, of a participant, is to come ready to play hard, support the success of the peers in the group, and leave the day-to-day tasks at the door. The job, of your coach, is to challenge each participant to focus on the right issues, and to bring the best questions and curiosity to each session. 

Group coaching participants need to be committed, others focused, optimistic and willing to learn. The concept of group coaching creates bonds between members that are unique for those participants. Typically, those bonds can last well beyond the formal end of the engagement.

The Leadership Circle is a new group coaching program for senior leaders in Richmond. The first session starts in September; applications are being accepted through August 8th, 2014.

Finding Balance, Being Mindful

I've been hanging out with a business coach since January. Philip is a former executive, one of the original posse that started Leadership Metro Richmond (when the idea that black and white Richmonders needed to have real conversations was powerful, important and counter-intuitive) and a cornerstone of Chrysalis Institute. His game is mindfulness.

When I started looking for a business coach, I thought I was looking for someone to help me juggle faster, and better. When I met Philip, I realized (mostly in my gut) that I wasn't.

He spends a fair amount of time inviting me to be more mindful, intentional and focused. I am learning, ever so slowly, to listen in our conversations. And to remember the wisdom of another coach in my life, who continues to tell me that it's what I do before I do what I do that will make the difference in my leadership, my work and my life.
 

Being Mindful Works

So, I like some of the advice doled out in Philip Bregman's book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done. (Speaking of distractions, I might be on the verge of being convinced that the Serial Comma is good.) Farnam Street Blog helpfully digests the book's three simple steps for us: your morning minutes, an hourly refocus, and your evening minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat these 18 minutes for a month or so and you've got a whole new game. Being intentional about your day isn't a new idea for me, but I don't spend enough consistent time (5 minutes in the evening, Bregman suggests) reflecting on how things went. Here are his questions to ask at the end of the day:

How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure? What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do—differently or the same— tomorrow? Whom did I interact with? Anyone I need to update? Thank? Ask a question of? Share feedback with?

 

Know What Matters

ot too different is a blog post from CleverKate. Reading her bio reminds me of Larkin Garbee, who runs 804RVA and 12,000 other miscellaneous, cool things around town. Busy!  Her most popular post -- "Why My Life Doesn't Suck" -- dives into her secret to being happy and getting way too much stuff done. (Her secret? Self-awareness.) She started a list of things she loved -- people, ideas, essentially two months of verbal interesting -- and two months later, she boiled them down into six themes, or personal values. Her results?

Once established, I thought it would be a good idea to fill my life with only things that fed these values until I felt like I had mastered them. The best part: the results are clearly seen in my parenting, my work, my relationships, my posts, my connectedness every day. What could be better than that? It drives everything I do, and is wholly who I am.

 

Self-Confrontation

Finally, we arrive at self-confrontation. You may have heard it phrased as "looking in the mirror". A great book -- seriously great, and the topic of an upcoming workshop I'm facilitating with a team from Virginia Commonwealth University next month -- is "Leadership and Self-Deception". Self-deception is the Mirror Universe Spock to self-confontation. (That means it is it's evil twin, with a Fu Manchu beard.)

This particular lesson on self-confrontation comes from Dan Oestreich's blog, Unfolding Leadership. The heart of reflective leadership, he suggests, is the capacity for self-confrontation.

It is not really a skill. It is more of a "psychological move," a mental and emotional re-positioning to look very honestly at oneself and one's situation.

A few key takeaways from his too-brief post:

  1. "It's easier to believe in self-confrontation when talking about other people. If only they would be honest with themselves, things would get better."
  2. "We can be absolutely certain of our experience of others only to discover, too late, how wrong we were."
  3. "Self-confrontation only really works when it is wrapped in love."

I'm particularly drawn to that last point. I'm not sure I could count on two hands the number of leaders I've worked with in recent years who demonstrate a significant and consistent capacity for love as part of their leadership. Not mushy, idealized love, but leading from a place of honest, non-patronizing and genuine care for themselves and those around them. Hard stuff!