I remember a day in 2005, likely fall. It was my first year in the BC Public Service and I was asked to attend a day long “training” at a local hotel conference room.
I was glad for the opportunity to learn something other than the day-to-day business and I was new to the organization, so I was bright-eyed and super-pumped. However, by that point, my practice that I didn’t know I had, was five years strong, after joining a Toastmasters club in 1999.
Toastmasters got me thinking of communication and leadership and professional development in a whole new light. I embraced it, and took it seriously, and leveraged that to do training and facilitation outside of work in a volunteer capacity. It also exposed me to a solid array of mentors and training on how to meet and work with others. Not to say I didn’t have a lot still to learn, heck, twenty years on I still have much to learn, but it did give me a sense of what a good learning experience is from a mediocre one and I was prepared to be underwhelmed by that day of high-octane external training, because I experienced that before.
However, I was taken back by a large, polished floor arranged with concentric circles of chairs, not the linear grid of a typical training or conference room. And instead of death by bullet points, this serious looking man drew roughly on flipcharts and told stories and conducted us to come up with our own answers to significant, meaningful questions. And beyond, the fun and energy and of a large group engagement tool, there was also the exposure to the power of an internal to work practice.
I don’t have the time capacity to practice as vigorously as I once did, both inside and outside my organization, and many pressures, and especially COVID have distracted us from the need to think deliberately about how we work with and engage with others. Yet, despite this simmer, I keep at it and boil it up every now and again to spread the work you shared with us in 2005. Thanks for that day, Bob, and this thought-jarring, far from ordinary story. I’m richer for it.
Great Story Bob. Brings back so many good memories. Someone, years ago, told me to keep all my good ideas in a special file: the need for them will come back every 7 years. I took me years to figure out that cycles are real and can be observed in us and around us - the recurring 4 seasons should have been a clue! The journey from not enough to too much, or from expansion to contraction, or from too cold to too hot or even from using inside resources to using outside resources etc. You get the picture. The recurring dance of opposites, such as described in your story, helps me make sense (but not always for sure) of what is happening and not happening in our world at this time. Keep writing my friend. I love your stories
Great Story Bob. Brings back so many good memories. Someone, years ago, told me to keep all my good ideas in a special file: the need for them will come back every 7 years. I took me years to figure out that cycles are real and can be observed in us and around us - the recurring 4 seasons should have been a clue! The journey from not enough to too much, or from expansion to contraction, or from too cold to too hot or even from using inside resources to using outside resources etc. You get the picture. The recurring dance of opposites, such as described in your story, helps me make sense (but not always for sure) of what is happening and not happening in our world at this time. Keep writing my friend. I love your stories
your story brings me back to the opportunity. I had to work with you and many other great people. So nostalgic!
I remember a day in 2005, likely fall. It was my first year in the BC Public Service and I was asked to attend a day long “training” at a local hotel conference room.
I was glad for the opportunity to learn something other than the day-to-day business and I was new to the organization, so I was bright-eyed and super-pumped. However, by that point, my practice that I didn’t know I had, was five years strong, after joining a Toastmasters club in 1999.
Toastmasters got me thinking of communication and leadership and professional development in a whole new light. I embraced it, and took it seriously, and leveraged that to do training and facilitation outside of work in a volunteer capacity. It also exposed me to a solid array of mentors and training on how to meet and work with others. Not to say I didn’t have a lot still to learn, heck, twenty years on I still have much to learn, but it did give me a sense of what a good learning experience is from a mediocre one and I was prepared to be underwhelmed by that day of high-octane external training, because I experienced that before.
However, I was taken back by a large, polished floor arranged with concentric circles of chairs, not the linear grid of a typical training or conference room. And instead of death by bullet points, this serious looking man drew roughly on flipcharts and told stories and conducted us to come up with our own answers to significant, meaningful questions. And beyond, the fun and energy and of a large group engagement tool, there was also the exposure to the power of an internal to work practice.
I don’t have the time capacity to practice as vigorously as I once did, both inside and outside my organization, and many pressures, and especially COVID have distracted us from the need to think deliberately about how we work with and engage with others. Yet, despite this simmer, I keep at it and boil it up every now and again to spread the work you shared with us in 2005. Thanks for that day, Bob, and this thought-jarring, far from ordinary story. I’m richer for it.
Great Story Bob. Brings back so many good memories. Someone, years ago, told me to keep all my good ideas in a special file: the need for them will come back every 7 years. I took me years to figure out that cycles are real and can be observed in us and around us - the recurring 4 seasons should have been a clue! The journey from not enough to too much, or from expansion to contraction, or from too cold to too hot or even from using inside resources to using outside resources etc. You get the picture. The recurring dance of opposites, such as described in your story, helps me make sense (but not always for sure) of what is happening and not happening in our world at this time. Keep writing my friend. I love your stories
Great Story Bob. Brings back so many good memories. Someone, years ago, told me to keep all my good ideas in a special file: the need for them will come back every 7 years. I took me years to figure out that cycles are real and can be observed in us and around us - the recurring 4 seasons should have been a clue! The journey from not enough to too much, or from expansion to contraction, or from too cold to too hot or even from using inside resources to using outside resources etc. You get the picture. The recurring dance of opposites, such as described in your story, helps me make sense (but not always for sure) of what is happening and not happening in our world at this time. Keep writing my friend. I love your stories