Here in German-speaking Europe, we refer to the weeks as numbers from 1-52 as the year progresses. Very practical once you get the hang of it (and buy a calendar that shows the numbers). We are now in Week 14 (Starts Monday, April 2). I reflect back for a moment on Week 13 and, in fact, the entire month of March.
Blogging Expert Helen reminded me recently that I didn't yet comment on the important milestone achieved in my business some weeks ago. We held our first learning community session on March 9th!
We gathered 10 of us at the Widder -- a charming, top-class-service hotel in central Zurich. We enthusiastically discussed the realities of communicating authentically in our work. As a business, my extended advisory team & I tested our approach: the dialogue activities, the learning perspectives, the facilitation style, the environment. Most importantly, the value and innovation of creating an effective structure for sharing experience. And I can say after 20 years of facilitating meetings, it was pretty good for a first run. Better than good...motivating for all of us.
This dialogue represents what I am most proud of in this business so far -- creating something that increases people's confidence in themselves, built quickly but with rigor through a team, honoring individual voices, real "ah-ha" moments -- practical, pragmatic, with elegance & inspiration, but not fluffy. That is why it is a milestone.
So last week, when I facilitated at a client event for which I did not impact the design of the dialogue so fully, I felt less comfortable. I'm learning that the standard starts with the planning & knowledge that goes into it. It was average. I want excellent.
It's a lot of work to introduce a new product to the market. A few steps forward. A few steps that don't work so well. After my client event last week, I spent Wednesday sorting through with others what is the best way to reach people who can join our dialogues and a difficult decision to combine our last session in March with April 20th in order not to risk the quality. I've read case studies about such decisions -- keep the "cutomer promise" vs. "sell seats." My partners & I voted to keep the customer promise. I hope we are still in business next year! These thing always seem easier in text books.
Thursday, 2 coaching sessions, plus the launch of the new executive committee for the Professional Women's Group of Zurich. Friday in-between co-writing an article about authenticity with S. -- working out new invitations for the April event and always more networking meetings.
I love the days. Feel very lucky. Very inspired. Feel also by the weekend very tired. Wonder where the world is going to take us in the next months. I try to both implement and step back to see the bigger picture. Let's see...
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