Assume everyone belongs here
By submitting this article, I’ve formally concluded the Practical Self-Management Intensive course by Better Work Together Academy. I was one of 8 participants hosted by Susan Basterfield and Lucia Die Gil. The experience was unique — intimate, emotionally intense, communaly reflective, joyful — in other words all those things missing from ‘traditional’ leadership and management courses. Through the intentional guidance of Susan and Lucia, introspection and selfless sharing were gently pulled out of the group; the effect was a space for the professional veneer that people bring along to courses to be dropped — and this created a place for vulnerability and learning, sometimes to the point of needing to confront uncomfortable pieces of yourself.
Many parts of this course have been helpful for me. I have taken away some practical tools, but the real value for me has been to understand something that I too often neglect in my work with self-organising teams; and that is — to be a productive and effective team member or leader, you must also cultivate a zone, not so much of shared understanding (we emphasise that a lot) but of self-understanding. Challenge yourself to understand the unconscious level that you operate in, even to the point of questioning deep beliefs and assumptions you hold about the world, others, yourself. You’re absolutely guaranteed to be partially wrong about all of them.
And this being what it is, a space where a bunch of strangers were compelled and permitted to work through this type of self-exposure brought home a powerful insight: assume everyone belongs here. That is not saying that self-management is for everyone, but simply the mindset that you must approach people as though we all have that inate need and drive for community, sharing and learning. I choose to believe this. I believe it is closer to the mark than humans being ‘rational, selfish value-maximisers’, and if we were to construct societies and systems from a place of tolerance, sharing, cooperation, and patience, then I daresay this world could repair itself and us, its flawed custodians.
I have a lot of things to say — (that’s one of my problems) — however I would like to keep this brief, so I would send grateful thanks to everyone in this cohort — at one point or another every one of them gave me pause to question or contemplate something in a completely different light. And I would like to express to them the hope of realising that which they wish to find.
