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I received a comment from a co-worker recently that stopped me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you took more than your 100% responsibility though because I didn\u2019t see a community not giving feedback but learning how. Your vision of a feedback rich community is coming to fruition \u2014 it just takes time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I loved it. And I reacted to it immediately: No. No it doesn\u2019t take time, I want it now.<\/em><\/p>\n Then I sat with that. The attachment I have to this vision. The impatience underneath it. And then I nearly wept at the beauty of what he\u2019d shared. Every time I get a taste of what I\u2019m building, I\u2019m more fortified in the pursuit of it. Of course it takes time.<\/p>\n My friend and coach, Tracy Rekart, keeps pushing me to share what I\u2019m doing. I fail to see how it\u2019s special \u2014 anyone can do it. But she keeps pushing, so here I am. If you like what you read, you can try it too. Or if you\u2019re already doing something similar, maybe we can do it in community.<\/p>\n What I think I\u2019m doing is implementing frameworks for community building \u2014 learning and implementing at the same time. It\u2019s messy. Slow. A lot of YouTube, books, and podcasts. In the case of my co-worker\u2019s comment, it started with a peer review called out of frustration. That common, important feeling that something needs to stop, frustration.<\/p>\n The framework is Holacracy \u2014 a system that empowers individual action by defining pathways, one of which is governing new pathways into existence. But the framework is only part of it. The other part is holding space for frustration to become action. Allowing the authentic states of others to produce something real. At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019m doing when I\u2019m at my best.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t always this way. I\u2019ve been learning alongside the team the whole time. Wisdom, I\u2019m finding, is only earned over time.<\/p>\n Then yesterday I had another moment that felt like some of my finest work.<\/p>\n I generated a governance proposal \u2014 one that goes through what\u2019s called the integrative decision making process. If you haven\u2019t encountered it, look it up. It\u2019s genius. It locates control with the proposer, invites authentic feedback as influence rather than control, and allows a proposal to move forward so long as no one can prove harm before there\u2019s time to course correct. It orients toward rapid, informed, incremental change. It errs toward trials over perfection.<\/p>\n During the reaction round, every single person on my leadership team expressed considerable resistance.<\/p>\n Old Greg would have pushed forward. The framework said it was safe enough to try. I had the pathway.<\/p>\n Current Greg withdrew the proposal.<\/p>\n Their resistances ranged from \u201cthis is too unclear on how to implement\u201d to \u201cthis looks like an attempt to control\u201d to \u201cthis is already being done.\u201d I could see how all of it was true for each of them \u2014 and also how it might be untrue if they could implement in tailored ways. But what I really saw was that the team isn\u2019t ready for this change. That was good enough for now.<\/p>\n What I also saw was thinking made visible. Mine and theirs. I saw protective orientations \u2014 of themselves, of the organization \u2014 that I could trust. I saw how my own attempt to protect the organization was also protecting my small interests. And I saw how, influenced by my peers, that protection could become something better.<\/p>\n So what am I actually doing?<\/p>\n Embracing discomfort as a pathway to better outcomes. Holding gently when people make mistakes \u2014 which they will, which I do. Engaging in humility and transparency when I can muster the safety and courage to do so.<\/p>\n It\u2019s growing on itself. When I source these things \u2014 grace, patience, understanding \u2014 they get seen. They get shared. They spread. And then, when I make a big mistake, I feel even more safe exposing it. Because I\u2019ve spent years populating this community with exactly what I need when I fall down.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t always this way. I\u2019m still not always this way.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m more this way than I used to be and I like the results and I\u2019ve heard others do too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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