holding the space

I was once given the task to assist a Canadian company and an American company it bought to merge. The senior people met in Kananaskis for two days to consider the strategy they would follow to move the joint entity forward.

For most of the first day, there was an atmosphere of acrimony in the room as twelve different people from two different camps considered what was truly most important.

In the afternoon I started a conversation about core values. It's difficult to build a new entity without a conversation about what realy matters to the participants. Within a short time the participants took over the conversation and came to clarity with very little direction from me.

At one point I was just off to the side saying nothing, marveling at how much progress they were making apparently without me. And yet the new level of harmony was a direct result of my presence in the room.

When it gets challenging, I think the job of the leader is to affirm the core philosophy of the group, even as they have forgotten it in the moment. I've always had the strong belief that despite our differences, as human beings we are all one. There is indeed a place of common ground in every group no matter how conflicted the group is. If my belief in the whole is greater than the conflict of the parts, I will amplify the version of that kind of thinking in each person and the group will find a way to resolve it's conflict.

One of the functions of a leader is to create an environment in which people have the invitation to grow. The word environment means "space around the mind." The philosophical dimension of a business might seem to some as flaky and woo woo, but it is the most powerful and practical force in a team. All value begins in the minds of creative people and only comes to fruition if they give it space to manifest.