Newsletter Archive
Here are copies of back issues of the HEARTWOOD GROUP e-newsletter:
- 2008 Issue 1
COMFORT PARADOX
The paradox of history is that institutions (businesses or individuals) remain the same only by continually becoming something different. - Thomas Ogletree
As you seek to advance your business, possibly adapt new models of organization, and advance your personal growth you might reflect on the following.
We can not stay the same regardless of how much “comfort” it gives us. In fact, we must change more just to be able to stay the same. That is, to continue to work to provide value we must practice continuous improvement in our work processes and personal interactions. The only thing that can stay constant is our core values or purpose and our commitment to; each other, our customers, and our families. Our core values are the engine that requires the constant change in our personal development and growth. Coaching and adult development often is sought out to take care of pain, fear, or gain. This is not a wrong minded approach and has value. However, a more sustainable framework would be that it (coaching) makes us (and our organizations) grow in our capacity to be true to our core values and effective at understanding and keeping our commitments. The following quote illustrates what we often face in the market place, our own internal systems, and in our personal relationships. As a leader or owner of any system we must build expertise and/or engage help to actively and effectively coach everyone through the process of change and it will not be easy. Or should I say, comfortable.
There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order and only lukewarm defenders in all those who might profit from the new.- The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli 1513
- 2008 Issue 2
INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY
Lack of results or failed businesses can be traced back to the breakdown in community. –Peter Block
Here’s a “burst your bubble” statement: “We are not born with the innate skill to be team players.” We are born little ambassadors of selfishness. Almost as soon as we can walk we start excluding others at an early age… from games to tasty treats. Learning to appreciate our differences as a community, to play together nicely, and be inclusive are learned/coached behaviors. The middle ground in this domain of inclusion and community is a deep chasm. Let’s all snap our arm with a rubber band and then recite the following…the things I really want or are worth having in life take work, effort, and commitment.p>
Families and corporations are systems made up of human beings with needs, wants, goals, and the accompanying circumstances that either hinder or enhance the ability to achieve desired outcomes. Families that set up processes through parenting (leadership) that allow collaboration and cooperation are really practicing the very things that most corporate systems, filled with adults (by age calculation), need in order to thrive and excel in most global economies and industries today.
Great leaders and insightful parents demand inclusion and design the conversation for community. That is, they influence what the community will talk about. This is not about control, but framing the container for how a successful community can happen and produce results. It doesn’t just take a community/village to raise a child. It takes a community actively involved in a conversation of commitment. Commitment is a conversation about values and goals that leads to action. Inclusion is what perfects commitment and builds a robust community that shares the incredible experience of being in action that truly makes a difference…that matters.
The need for inclusion and community is evident in the choices customers make regarding their purchases. –Mark Uhlenberg