This is what happened when we stopped for an hour every fortnight
#YCWOL1 — This is the first in a series of pieces in which we work out loud (WOL), putting to ‘paper’ our experience of building the practice of Being vs Doing. By sharing these we can solidify the themes that emerge for ourselves, share those emergent themes with others who may be traveling along similar paths, and also reveal ‘by doing’ how this ancient practice brings value to modern workplaces.
In this piece we share the genesis of our fortnightly reflective sessions called Chimes.
“Our quality of being determines our quality of doing”
Thich Nat Hanh
At The Yunus Centre, Griffith University, we Chime.
Each fortnight, a group of us from across the Centre, gather — usually online — with no agenda. We talk. And while there’s no structured plan for the hour, there are strong intentions.
We arrive with the intention to focus on diverse perspectives of learning which centre being as much as doing.
We arrive with a commitment to take the time to reflect on the work we are doing, the people we are meeting and to weave together themes and learnings across the Centre.
The genesis
In one of our regular Team Days, we were diving into these different perspectives on learning in our work. Many now claim to be ‘learning organisations’…but we asked the question ‘how are we actually learning, and how do we build in time and processes for reflection in order to really learn?’
Some of the team had recently finished reviewing the work of The Southern Initiative in Auckland where we were struck by their integration of mātauranga Māori principles into their processes:
“tikanga/mātauranga …dictates the importance of “how we are” in the work as opposed to (just) what (we are) doing”
Another colleague talked about the late Thich Nat Hanh and Plum village, where, throughout the day, a mindfulness bell rings inviting residents to pause and return to their body and breathing. A practice to develop the discipline of awareness, relationships, and empathy.
These perspectives aligned with learnings we had gained from listening to First Nations colleagues and friends.
Hearing these words acted like a gong. A moment of recognition that we as a team of doers had been working from a cultural habit of doing. A mindset and ingrained behaviours that doing was the way to demonstrate and achieve meaningful impact.
It’s also worth noting at that time we were growing and restructuring. As our teams diversified and we got pulled into interesting new paths, we needed to maintain connection and a shared sense of traveling on the same ship. We called it, weaving.
So, we started experimenting with this way of reflecting, and our Chimes were born.
Chiming at The Yunus Centres, Griffith
We didn’t have a rule book, we tested it out first, feeling our way. The discipline was an agreement to meet fortnightly, to have no agenda, and to take notes for others not able to make it, to use as a reflection point.
While there was no agenda, each Chime had intentionality to reflect on happenings, trends, signals, work. To identify and discover connections and provide space for the emergence of new ideas. Space for imagination.
It was an experiment in trying to change our mindsets and ingrained behaviours, to be more reflective and more connected. From a pragmatic perspective it also aimed to quash any disorganised doubling up of engagement with key partners.
We continually assessed if this way of meeting and use of time was relevant. Each time many would admit to feeling a sense of “eeek, do we have time for this?!” before the meeting. By the end, there was a unanimous sense of certainty and gratitude for the time and space. A bit like meditation, it took us about 6 months to develop a commitment to this discipline of Chiming.
It kept us sane during COVID 19 lockdowns, disruptions, and a ‘Doing’-heavy schedule (you can get a sense of this schedule in Hello 2022). At times we got lost in the discussions and the hour ended too quickly. At times we reverted back to planning for doing — our ingrained habits slipping in and taking over the conversation. At times we marveled at the connections, sparks of creativity and felt grateful for the honesty and compassion of just being.
From the first year of forming a Chimes culture, we’re still emerging. They started to feel a little like the modern version of the smoker’s circle — where important conversations about our direction could emerge and those who weren’t there sometimes felt they were missing out. So now we’re even more inclusive of more team members; we’re more disciplined about recording notes and ideas (hence this blog) and we’re more protective and defensive of the discipline of saving this time so that the being is becoming more of an integrated way of working rather than an add on.
In our next piece, we’ll share things that emerged from our first year of Chimes.
