The effect of our encounters

Chad Walsh and I recently ran two 3-day workshops at a school in the Netherlands. One of our goals was to leave several mantras behind that would help the leadership team and the faculty focus in on some of the main themes that revealed themselves before, during and after the workshops. One of those mantras was “connect up”.

Chad had picked this up while doing some work with Neil Farrelly, and we found ourselves saying it a lot as we explored communication, relationships and encounters within the faculty. Like in many schools, there had been some situations in which the encounters between colleagues had left one or more of them feeling down, disheartened, disempowered, disengaged, disappointed, disrespected… lots of “dis” words! The concept of connecting up really seemed to resonate as something that could create positive change in the school.

So, what does it mean?

Well, basically it means intentionally trying to make sure that all of your encounters lead to an upward connection, such as:

  • feeling more empowered
  • feeling uplifted
  • feeling affirmed
  • feeling more energized
  • feeling more connected to someone
  • feeling seen or heard
  • feeling amused or cheerful
  • feeling inspired
  • feeling curious
  • feeling excited

… the list could go on.

Obviously, it’s at its most powerful when everybody is setting out to achieve the same upward connections.

But, you can give it a go next week – see if you can monitor your encounters with other people and get a sense of what effect you might have had on them as a result. You could also gather some informal data about the effect the people you encounter have on you, and start thinking about how that might impact your mood, your mindset or your capacity to be at your best.

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