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Flow of Day 2
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Story of Day 2
by Nguyen Thu Trang (Iris) The second day begins with the quietness of both our inner world and our surroundings. Responding to the invitation of practicing mindfulness together, we spend nearly an hour to clear our minds by writing, to practice gratitude and to connect with each other. “Such a great way to begin a day and prepare to learn”, I think. But later on I realize it is not only an individual practice to be grounded but also a collective practice that can help us as a team to collaborate in tough times.
It is unfolded during the World Cafe we have this morning. We are here to learn, not by being taught but by bringing out the wisdom in each person and in the whole group. That’s why World Cafe is such a beautiful way to start our conversation as people change from one table to the next, bringing the wisdom with them to share in another group and receiving even more wisdom to come. Guiding questions are provided to help us create the ground for sharing stories and collecting ideas. As the table host in the first round with the question “How do you feel in a collaborative flow?”, I’m happy to share with new people coming to my table about everything we talked about. “We feel trusting and trusted. We feel selfless as we put our shared purpose in the center as our priority instead of thinking about ourselves. We feel open to ask for support and willing to support others.” With that, we move to the next question, “What am I willing to let go for more effective collaboration?” “What I am willing to let go, not what I think I should let go.” My control. My fear for failures. My fear for communication. My fear for showing up with vulnerability. My perfectionism. And many more. It’s always hard to look at our weaknesses, so we talk, encourage each other to truthfully share our own inner barriers to collaborate, and come up with a commitment for ourselves. The last round of World Cafe unfolds our dream of a perfect conditions for collaboration to thrive. |
The fruit of all conversations is collected into a co-created harvest as we share out loud among us what we think are the two most important conditions for a better collaboration.
With a rich co-created collection of wisdom, we move on to look at the whole process that we’ve been experiencing through the lens of a model called “The Breath Pattern” which can be used as a way to look at any process. What struck me the most is the realization that we actually have just practiced a collaboration flow during World Cafe: Firstly, in the divergence phase, we collected our past stories and contributed our thoughts to the table; secondly, in the emergence phase, we discussed different ideas, lessons and insights from the stories; and lastly, in the convergence phase, we co-created the final harvest from everything we had in the last two phases.
This is also when it is emphasized to me about the importance of personal practice. Each phase has a different role in the whole process, but the most challenging phase that most of the times we can’t manage to go through is the emergence phase, as called as “the groan-grown zone”, where old ideas die and new ideas come up. In that time of chaos, the ability to stand firm, be grounded and be collaborative is essential, and personal practice is what we can count on to help us. Breathe in, breathe out, and for one moment let ourselves be brought back to the purpose in the center.
With a strong belief that collaboration can be fun, we move on to the afternoon with The Rope Game – creating the “problem” and solving it while remembering to enjoy each moment with music and dancing under the sun. And now, after deep conversations, intense learnings and having fun playing a collaborative game, it’s time for us to spend some time with ourselves in the beautiful nature around us in a solo walk to make sense of everything so far and prepare to come back for more.
The rest of the afternoon is a field carefully prepared by a methodology called Appreciative Inquiry, for stories to be shared and learnings to be collected from each and every person in the room. The beauty of Appreciative Inquiry is the mindset behind it – the world can be a much better place if we focus on doing more of the things that work instead of focusing our energy in trying to eliminate the things that don’t work. Nearly 50 persons, nearly 50 stories about really good collaboration have been told and received with a full heart from the listeners as we practice listening empathically. After three rounds of storytelling, the learnings extracted from the stories by all members of the group are now lying on colorful sticky notes, ready to be harvested.
We leave the day after a moment of silent reflection, write down what is alive within us, and put them on a big picture – the picture co-created by all of us. This is what collaboration is about – co-creation from the collective wisdom in the room.
With a rich co-created collection of wisdom, we move on to look at the whole process that we’ve been experiencing through the lens of a model called “The Breath Pattern” which can be used as a way to look at any process. What struck me the most is the realization that we actually have just practiced a collaboration flow during World Cafe: Firstly, in the divergence phase, we collected our past stories and contributed our thoughts to the table; secondly, in the emergence phase, we discussed different ideas, lessons and insights from the stories; and lastly, in the convergence phase, we co-created the final harvest from everything we had in the last two phases.
This is also when it is emphasized to me about the importance of personal practice. Each phase has a different role in the whole process, but the most challenging phase that most of the times we can’t manage to go through is the emergence phase, as called as “the groan-grown zone”, where old ideas die and new ideas come up. In that time of chaos, the ability to stand firm, be grounded and be collaborative is essential, and personal practice is what we can count on to help us. Breathe in, breathe out, and for one moment let ourselves be brought back to the purpose in the center.
With a strong belief that collaboration can be fun, we move on to the afternoon with The Rope Game – creating the “problem” and solving it while remembering to enjoy each moment with music and dancing under the sun. And now, after deep conversations, intense learnings and having fun playing a collaborative game, it’s time for us to spend some time with ourselves in the beautiful nature around us in a solo walk to make sense of everything so far and prepare to come back for more.
The rest of the afternoon is a field carefully prepared by a methodology called Appreciative Inquiry, for stories to be shared and learnings to be collected from each and every person in the room. The beauty of Appreciative Inquiry is the mindset behind it – the world can be a much better place if we focus on doing more of the things that work instead of focusing our energy in trying to eliminate the things that don’t work. Nearly 50 persons, nearly 50 stories about really good collaboration have been told and received with a full heart from the listeners as we practice listening empathically. After three rounds of storytelling, the learnings extracted from the stories by all members of the group are now lying on colorful sticky notes, ready to be harvested.
We leave the day after a moment of silent reflection, write down what is alive within us, and put them on a big picture – the picture co-created by all of us. This is what collaboration is about – co-creation from the collective wisdom in the room.
World Café
Question 3: What enables collaboration to thrive?
Teach: Foundational Patterns
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Teach: 4 Levels of Listening
Further resources: Presencing Institute Website & Theory U Book
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Appreciative Inquiry
