Reply To: Exercise 3: 5 Close Contacts
((Sorry if I misunderstood the assignment, guys! I didn’t at all go into the advice that the people gave me… But I DO have all the notes from those conversations so can talk about them readily in class tomorrow!))
The first time I took this workshop, Josh asked us all if we had noticed the spiral staircase on the cover of the book. “That’s not an accident,” he said.
This is the second time I have participated in Josh’s Initiative workshop series/ exercises. That is, I am on the second rung (?) of the spiral staircase: same spin, different level. And I can see from up here with more clarity the first rung… and the confusing-at-the-time feedback I received such as “the advice the person gives you isn’t the point.”
This time around:
• I was more organized with…
o Weekly schedule: I didn’t wait until Thursday to start thinking about it. I was committed to doing the work on time, so even though some of my original appointments didn’t pan out, I felt more confident just reaching out to any known/ trusted person I happened to interface with. Like “hey! Jeni! How are you! Glad to see you at the farmer’s market! Hey listen do you have like 10 minutes to give me some advice on some community projects I’m in the VERY early stages of developing?”
o Materials: I made sure to have scratch paper and pen during each meeting, and I dated and labeled all my notes. I know all these bits and bobs are going to go into one folder at some point, and I’m excited to build the portfolio this time knowing a bit better where it’s headed.
o Meeting management: I was able to lay out for people what to expect, and to get some of their feedback and preferences in the places that was possible. I was also more confident in redirecting people when they started just… talking. (“I hear you! That sounds [fill in the blank/ emotion word]. If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to steer us back in the direction of advice, and if we want to get back to that later, I’m game!”)
• I talked with people I had talked to last time, and even though I do a lot of other community work with these particular folks, these exercises have only been strengthening those working relationships. For example, one colleague said “Wow, Evelyn, I’m just so impressed with how solution-based you are! Can’t wait to hear how this all goes!”
• I built more confidence around my own role in the community as sustainability leader
Over the course of this exercise:
• I got more confident and more concise in discussing each problem and solution and in introducing the whole format of the conversation at all. (“I’m in the very early development stage of some community projects…” and “Would you rather me go through all five project ideas and you can decide where you want to give advice, or do you want to give advice as we go?”)
• I improved the explanation of the projects, especially the one that ended up being the favorite
• I learned how to define my terms, such as “sustainability leadership”
• I gained a sense of who would be valuable to speak to in the future
• I began to understand how the advice isn’t the most important thing… but I also learned to recognize which advice is potentially more valuable… and I also learned how to make sure that I am responding even to the less valuable advice with the same grateful attention I do for the rest of it.