After many years leading businesses, managing finances, teaching and coaching people it has slowly dawned on me that relationships are important.
When times have been hard (have you noticed that business and life can sometimes be like that?), it has been the people of good heart, honest intention and generous spirit who have sustained me. I am fortunate to have found (or attracted) a good cohort of confidents into a community of practice, be it life or work. We talk, collaborate and move forward together, in fact we build collective resilience, which for me is about our ability to withstand life’s challenges.
This approach is coherent with my philosophy to life, which is beautifully and simply captured in the organizing principles of the Human Givens (www.positiveways.co.uk/about/9/about-human-givens) that all of us have needs that when met lead to a fulfilled and contented life. These needs include; having connection to others, being able to give and receive attention and to feel that we can contribute to our society.
My experience is that when these simple building blocks are nurtured and developed, each of us can enhance our individual resilience, which in turn, through the principle of ‘pass it on’ enables community resilience. The stronger each of us are the stronger we all are. Regardless of the colour of our Government or whether we are ‘In or out’ of Europe, the local community can and should flex its local influence and be good to and for each other.
But for our local community to be strong, we all need a means (we know we have a need!) to communicate. Life is easier when we talk, which is why Positive Ways encourages and creates opportunities for individuals to have to hold ‘Good Conversations’ through local peer support groups. These groups provide a means for individuals to develop and share their skills and resources.
However, that often requires the individual team to be able to trust each other. Whilst Positive Ways finds that it can facilitate the team to come together quickly, it also acknowledges that some people like to have built relationships more steadily. A great way to do that is to meet up and have a coffee (and a ‘good conversation’) together. The Links4growth (http://link4growth.biz/l4g) captures all the sensible values of being in community whilst providing a gentle means for individuals to meet up.
Why not hold a good conversation, if not today, soon?
eisba 