Darin Harris

Experience:  A Bigger Picture

Years ago, I was facilitating a group with people from business, non-profits, city/county government, universities, and local citizens. They were at loggerheads about how and even whether to move ahead with a large housing development. For months, they discussed plans, criteria, and new technologies that could allow the project to move ahead. However, it still was not enough. At the point of impasse, the head of the environmental group called a meeting of the various leaders from each interested group. She explained that we needed, a “bigger view” to solve the problem or we were going to get nowhere.

At the time, I was working at the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The agency was a world leader in natural resource management and was at the cutting edge of how to deal with very complex challenges. In the 1990s, the agency published a way of seeing the big picture called “Integrated Ecosystem Management” or IEM for short. IEM helped to draw a new map that included ALL of the natural resource factors, including ecological, social/economic, and institutional/legal. The project group decided that using this larger view was worth a try.

In the coming weeks, the parties united in trying to name then satisfy conditions in all three spheres. What ended up happening was remarkable: the project began to satisfy each group, trust started to form, friendships were created, and leaders in the City and County got bragging rights. Because we saw a bigger picture, we found a way through the impasse.

Relevance: Boundary Conditions

Complex challenges are very messy at the ground level. They are often met with back and forth fighting, right-wrong thinking, blaming, and worse. Drawing the boundary around a challenge to “include” each need and perspective allows what looks messy and intractable to become more of a wellhead of possibility. In the science of complexity, they call this a “surface.” Surfaces create boundaries around the system you are bringing into the frame of reference. You can think of this like choosing the altitude you fly. 5,000 feet will look different than 50,000 feet! The altitude determines what you can see and even reference in the system you are working with.

Practice: Map Your Altitude

When starting a project or any complex challenge, try out these steps:                  

• LISTEN FIRST: Take time to really listen to the needs and priorities of ALL of the people at the table.
• MAP IT: Draw a new map of the system that takes into account ALL of these needs and priorities. This can be valuable for ALL the parties to do together with large pieces of paper and icons/pictures. Have a good time with this.
• UP or DOWN: Play with elevating the view of the system by moving it a step or two higher to include or take out various parts of the system. For instance, what would happen if you include exercise initiatives in a transport plan? What about all wellness aspects?
• SOLVE IT: Experiment with solutions that meet multiple needs using your new “map” and altitude. Don’t get stuck creating the perfect solution. Keep iterating and seeing how to solve the challenges from this new vantage point. Now you have a BIGGER PICTURE.

Welcome back to the Journey of Resurfacing, a 5-part Video Series to help you return to a powerful “new normal” after the pandemic. In this lesson, we make commitments to forward our actions in line with a powerful purpose. You will take part in 4 exercises to ensure what you intend to do makes its way out into the world.

Notes and References

• Making A Commitment
• Research on Commitment
• Motivational Sources of Commitment
• 90-Day Challenge TED Talk.

Welcome back to the Journey of Resurfacing, a 5-part Video Series to help you return to a powerful “new normal” after the pandemic. In this lesson, we explore relationships and how they can be reignited after relative isolation and electronic engagements ruled the day. You will be invited to take part in 4 exercises that can build relationship bonds and repair damaged ones.

Welcome back to the Journey of Resurfacing, a 5-part Video Series to help you return to a powerful “new normal” after the pandemic. In this lesson, we venture into Breakthroughs. We’ve experienced more than a few obstacles because of COVID-19, however, obstacles create opportunities for innovation and creativity. What Breakthroughs did you come away with? You’ll be invited to complete one or more of the three activities offered in the lesson to help you with this process.

Notes and References

Crisis Inspiring Innovations, Industry Week

World Creativity and Innovation Week

Innovation Activities 

Welcome back to the Journey of Resurfacing, a 5-part Video Series to help you return to a powerful “new normal” after the pandemic. In this lesson, we tackle HABITS. What habits have you developed during COVID-19 that are healthy and which are unhealthy? How can you break the “loop” of a bad habit? You’ll be invited to complete one or more of the four activities offered in the lesson to help you with this process.

Notes and References
The Habit Guide: How to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear. 

Habits: A Repeat Performance, David Neal, Et All, 2006.

The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg.

Welcome to the first resurfacing stop in our 5-step Video Series Journey of Resurfacing. In this lesson, we work with any Loss that might have occurred for you during the pandemic. What is it? How can I work with and heal from it? You’ll be invited to complete any of the four activities offered in the lesson to help you with this process.

Notes and References

Loss and Grief generally

https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

Loss and Grief specific to COVID

https://www.verywellhealth.com/covid-19-grieving-process-heightened-5115428

https://healthmatters.nyp.org/how-to-cope-with-grief-amid-covid-19/

https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Managing-Bereavement-Around-COVID-19-HSPH.pdf

https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu/for-the-public/resources-2/

Welcome to the Journey of Resurfacing, where we mindfully resurface into the Post-COVID-19 world. This is a FREE 5-step Video Series that is special edition of our J Wild Blog series beginning June 14. You don’t need to re-subscribe if you are already a J Wild subscriber. If this is the first time visiting, please subscribe to our Blog to receive bi-weekly posts including the 5-step series. Check out the 3-minute video invitation below explaining the series and inviting you to share it with others.

 

Experience:  Emerge with the Moment

Earlier this spring, I was doing some clean up around the backyard planters. I cleared the brush covering the earth from the previous year. The now naked soil stood out starkly except for a few noble plants that overwintered. A tiny seedling was breaking through the soil announcing itself bravely from the earth. It still was clinging to its seed casing even as it extended the first new leaves. I stopped flat footed in awe of the whole thing: the sheer strength of new life lifting itself through dense dirt; the vulnerability of striking out into a totally alien territory of light and air; the audacity of intending to grow tall fibrous structures of inches or even feet; the incredible wisdom of piercing out from a dark, cozy home.

It was a moment of truly appreciating how change happens all around us and in every season and life form on the planet. Our fellow inhabitants don’t just change with the seasons, they emerge with the seasons. They emerge with the moment!

Relevance: COVID Emergence

Many of us are beginning to “emerge” from the lock down of this past year. We have our first indoor meal in a restaurant. Our kids are going to in-person classrooms. Friends greet us from a safe distance and then move in for an eventual handshake or hug. Meetings start gathering outside at first and then move indoors. We plan trips on airplanes or in cars complete with hotels and even resorts with activities. We humans are emerging too, like the plants coming out of the deep, cloistered soil. How will this look, how do we act, where will this lead, what new opportunities await us, is it safe, are our families safe? To answer these and countless other questions, it is clear that we must emerge with the moment as well.

Practice: Inspired by Nature

Knowing that lifeforms on this planet have a 3.5 billion year head start when it comes to emerging in moments of small and large change, here are some lessons for us humans to consider:

• Start small, persistently: Nature is cautious and yet persistent. It sets an intention and moves in the general direction while taking its time. So set an intention to rejoin pre-COVID activities while knowing it will be awkward, tenuous, and “weird.” You don’t have to come back fast and furious, but steady and carefully.
• Be aware and adjust: This is an incredible moment to pay careful attention to what is emerging. It’s easy to preconceive that things will be the same. But they are not the same and never can be. This truly is a unique step that scarce few or no living humans have experienced. Take the time to sense what is actually happening. Make adjustments as needed and let the complexity and messiness be exactly what it is. It is not like before.
• Enjoy it!: This is a time to savor new territory, much like a plant breaking into the sunlight. Be sure to allow space for enjoying the freedoms, pleasures, and newness of these first experiences. Shed a tear, shout for joy, do a dance. This is a time to celebrate coming through the other side of a dreadful pandemic (at least for now and in the United States).
• Allow grace: Not everyone will act in the same way. Some will be tenuous, others overt, some pensive, and a few stridently dismissive. Meet these people also as they emerge with a sense of allowance and grace. You can choose to flex and flow if you make it so. This is also what emerging looks like in practice, inspired by nature.