My journey moving to Switzerland and into new territory of transformation
I’ve not been writing a lot lately because there were and still are a lot of logistics to deal with. Now I have an opportunity to reflect on my journey coming to Switzerland, and it seems just in 1week I’ve discovered a lot!
Because of family reasons we decided to move back to mainland Europe from England. I’m excited to join my team in L&OD space. After spending some years experiencing cultural transformation journeys, and after so many passionate connections of self organization, it is refreshing to enter into a different territory. Despite that this territory also faces similar challenges and is embarking on a transformation journey itself. Still I have a strong sense that there is no accident that I came to this space.
The consciousness connection was the deal
The decision to come to this space really come from my intuition, as in the interview process we talked about mindfulness, about Theory U and even about Vipassana meditation. For those who are not familiar with Vipassana, even in the mindfulness trainer community, often times the 10-day retreat is considered to be a heavy duty exercise, and let alone talking about it in the interview process! After that conversation I felt I’m more energetically connected with these people. It feels like smelling a closer consciousness level, an immediate connection was built. And not surprisingly I have a boss who is curious, open to learn and gives space. What more do I wish for;)
Well of course things are not all rosey. As anyone who’s experiencing a transformation, the pain is real. Especially when there are real tensions yet to be addressed.
The Art and the Craft
So how is it for me then. To be honest, I did feel vulnerable for a moment, being afraid of squeezing myself back into the “cocoon”. And I know that it does not work. Once I’ve connected with my heart, my purpose in this work, there is no way I can compromise on that. What I do accept is the environment that I’m in, and in a way this is exactly why I’m here.
In this age of exponential changes, large organizations are feeling the pressure to compete with smaller, more agile and purpose-driven companies. The competition is fierce in many fronts. So naturally large organizations try to adapt, becoming agile. What I see is: there is a need of consciousness shift. Because per se, if there is a command and control culture, you cannot expect people to suddenly take ownership and become agile. And often times, people didn’t tap into the heart and soul of agile. If you read the (Agile Manifesto) , the core of an agile environment is the space based on self organization. Scrum is like a skeleton, a framework to foster a sense and response way of working. Other forms of Teal organizations do the same. Just talking the talk without being the change and walking the talk, we may risk losing trust.
So naturally, the question for me is what balance do I need to maintain. This is the art of a change agent. That I need to firmly root myself in the environment, but at the same time sending out fresh waves.
Of course I also need to sharpen my craft of being a change agent. There are so many many interventions and there are so much out there to learn. This is the exciting part!
And learning is not the only thing, as I see my purpose is to create space for authentic, mindful and purposeful way of life. I’ll be put into test, how much do I really mean it. There will be fear, there will be vulnerable moments, there will be conflicts and there will be setbacks, but in the end, this journey is my best capacity to serve the world, and I’ll be rest assured that my experience, my learning and my intuition will guide me in this journey.
I would like to use this blog to send out waves to change agents. This is meaningful work and let’s maintain the heart connection in bringing the new consciousness to life.
