1.08: Depth: How to stage the room for healing, momentum, and serious progress

Recent favourite binge-worthy shows: The Good Place and Occupied.

When we set up people in a circle, we invariably wind up having it feel like therapy. This can make some of us feel open, and others feel resistant. As facilitators, what can we do to position depth as a path to the outcomes we want?

Question: Where does this fear of depth come from? What’s the narrative that makes staying out of depth and treating people as sub-human permissable?

Some people feel compelled to protect the patriarchy / white supremacy—especially those who have wealth, or who generate wealth for other people. —Tuesday

In change, people often struggle with leadership because they fear the work will cause a loss of relationships. This has a lot to do with the mechanistic worldview that is responsible for setting up our organizations, when we didn’t realize the interconnectedness of things, and when we treat human organizations as machines, striving for efficiency.

This organizational structure not only fails to acknowledge people’s humanity, but is fundamentally oppressive. It’s not like these organizations set free people’s potential.

Question: What allows or justifies the perpetuation of systems that are so unkind?

If you can make non-emotional judgement calls, you’re successful. That’s part of the programming I received from my parents: that you actually can’t lead if you’re empathetically or emotionally engaged with people. — Tim

Song of the day: Frank Turner’s Be More Kind

Poem of the day: Self Portrait by David Whyte