Looking at Creative Process inside out!

We freed blue sky potential during our most recent journal workshop….and had lots of fun doing it. How’d we do it you ask?

• Articulated our current personal and unique creative processes, both from the outside/external view and from the inside/internal or hidden part


• Appreciated what is great about our personal creative process, let go of what we don’t need, and asked really important questions.


• Decorated/Collaged ON & IN a box using pictures and scrapbook materials to create represent how we want our own creative process.


• Created intentions for working in our ideal Creative Process.

And, then we let the fun begin…the creative process of many individuals working in the same space (Lynette’s Home Studio). Woot Woot! We had

• Access to supplies to create journaling approaches that help us say YES to Journaling;


• Ideas generated by a “challenge” to create a personal journaling approach with $20, 10 min to shop, and 1 hour to create;


• Nature inspired awareness about changing perspectives…and recorded in pictures;


• Awareness about the impact of relationship and communication with others upon our own creating.


• Celebration for our own creations and self-learning, and WOW!, self-evolution!!

We definitely will be continuing the “thinking,” “being” and “doing” related to the creative process and blue sky potential…and we’ll keep you posted.

The Winds of Facilitative Leadership blow through our Doors

It was a blustery day as I traveled to have pictures taken of our two new picture card decks; the DOOR deck and the LET THE PICTURE PICK YOU deck. I had the challenge of figuring out how to best highlight these incredibly amazing card decks (let me repeat, INCREDIBLE & AMAZING) and my ideas to date were, well, less than inspiring.

I felt pushed and rushed and my whiny side was helping me create more stress. In addition, the weather threatened to turn bad, with some pretty heavy winds and I was 18 miles from Home.

I arrived at the Photographer’s studio and walked in with my stuff. Still full of anxiety I laid the card decks on the desk and start talking a mile a minute. Karen, the photographer, gave me a glazed look as she tried to grasp what I was talking about and what I might want. I stopped talking, handed her the DOOR deck and let her spread out the pictures.

Karen seemed transfixed. I noticed she started to handle the cards differently, like they were extremely valuable. I sat there quietly. Then, she started brainstorming and shared that she takes lots and lots of pictures of doors. Her studio is loaded with them; in senior pictures for backgrounds, as props, etc. She honors and reveres the power of doors.

Karen had lots of ideas, and while I trusted in my heart that they were what was needed, my head said they wouldn’t work. So, I took her to our webstore to see how we posted all the previous pictures she had taken. Her ideas shifted but I still couldn’t imagine how they might work. Then, I noticed one of my favorite doors on the table, just an archway that opens onto a sunny, green, beautiful place. I released my barriers and opened my internal doors.

We went on a website field trip to see ideas she had learned thru webinars; Karen is always seeking more learning and building mastery…PERFECT. After a little more searching she got a vision. So, outside into the wind we went, down the alley. I never noticed all the old buildings in this town before, and certainly, never noticed the textures and colors. We walked to a building with amazing bricks to hang a mini collage of about 12 doors. The wind said NO.

We walked on further to a red barn-like door. The wind said YES, and we were able to hang the doors. The pictures were taken. My heart soared. I searched around in my mind for a way to make this happen. Little seeds of ideas started to form.

The weather was getting worse and we hurried inside, by now there was a tornado warning. I thought of the Santa Ana winds, when Jack Black in the movie, THE HOLIDAY, says that when they blow, "all bets are off" and "anything can happen." We edited a few pictures and took a couple of pictures indoors that were more “product shot” like.

The story is not yet done and I have some work to do on the webstore. Then, I’ll move to the LET THE PICTURE PICK YOU deck. One thing I know, these Picture Decks are so precious and so important to us at IdeaConnect, and they have a power for us as we learn and build mastery that we want others to be able to share and connect to that feeling. We are intent upon creating tools for and supporting the realm of Facilitative Leadership. For us, FACILITATIVE LEADERSHIP is the WAY that is blowing in full force.

What can I learn through my mind’s imagination that is real, and accurate?

What can I learn through my mind’s imagination that is real and accurate, or rather how much can I really learn just through my mind, through thinking?

I keep getting this vision of Dancing with the Stars – you know, the show where stars are paired up with dancers and compete. I don’t really watch the show, but I understand the concept. And I was thinking if I wanted to learn ballroom dancing, well, what might I do?

I could read about ballroom dancing; I could get one of those books that have the dance steps illustrated with 1, 2, 3, 4 arrows; I could watch ballroom dancing on TV; I could observe others ballroom dancing live and in person; and I could do ballroom dancing myself. At what point am I learning ballroom dancing? I think this came forward for me as an example, because while I can dance, dance, dance around a room, I have no skill in paired, structured ballroom dancing at all – just ask my husband.

So at what point would I be learning ballroom dancing?

When I go to the inner for an answer, I get this image and feeling of being in a room full of air movement, the sound of fabric sweeping by me, the sounds and the movement of dancers dancing in a room. And then I have the feeling of being part of the flow, being in the movement of the dance myself. My whole body gliding in circles around a room, the centrifugal force arcing round and round and round. That’s all in my imagination – I can imagine a multi-sensory experience. But, I still have no skill in paired, structured ballroom dancing.

To really truly learn it I’d have to do it, be in it, to experience it for myself. Without the experience I can really only guess what I would learn – head, heart, body learn. And I’d have to choose to be present in the moment.

I realize this is an example of learning a physical skill. So what if what I want to learn isn't in the physical skill realm – like, let’s say, I want to understand why a specific demographic or psychographic group interacts with a totally new to them product or service. How do I learn experientially then?

How would you?

LearningConnect has Something to Say - Part 2 - Learning Experientially

LearningConnect honors and supports the way human beings learn new things experientially!

I went to sleep last night open to receiving info about LearningConnect and the aspect of learning experientially. After a great download I’m ready to share a few short stories and examples of how experientiality (I know – I just had to make up a word) is supported and expressed in LearningConnect.

“I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life.” Cheftestant, Top Chef. I swear, I just heard this on Top Chef and I think I’ve heard in every last few minutes of Top Chef for however many seasons it’s been on (or really from any contestant on almost any reality based TV show). Likely, we’ve all said this at one time or another ourselves. “I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life.” I don’t recall ever saying “I’ll remember this thought for the rest of my life.” And yet when most of the world does consumer research, it’s at a desk doing breakouts sifting through data or it’s in a dark backroom listening over speakers to a conversation we are not part of. I’m not saying sitting at your desk or in a backroom you’re not learning something, but you’re not learning through a personal experience – one that engages your entire being – your body, your heart, and your mind.

Why a personal experience? Why can’t I just think? You know, I think therefore I am. Hmmmm … Why indeed?

Well, for what it’s worth, this is what I think. A personal experience gives us a story, a memory we can hold onto and recall, and in an instant can transport us back to a particular place and time and feeling. We carry the stories of our experiences with us like tattoos. The experience itself is held in our cellular memory and even has the power to bring back scents, colors, sounds. And even if we’ve had an experience with someone else, their experience is different than ours, because we are unique individuals with different make ups, histories, beliefs, expectations. So my experience is unique to me and your experience is unique to you even if we’ve traveled side by side through our entire lives.

Maybe that’s why learning experientially is so important to me. The experiences help me remember what is important – and it’s always been easier for me to remember a story and for that matter to share a story, than a chart of data or even a data point. So when I started working in the realm of consumer research, I became obsessed, simply obsessed with people’s stories. But you know, even someone else’s stories are hard to connect with and know exactly what to do next.

I realized I needed to connect with my own personal experience to be able to connect to the experience of someone else in a meaningful way, to know what to listen for, to be able to connect with the unsaid, to be able to recognize the special, the significant, to open to the unanticipated and unexpected. So if I wanted to understand why someone brushed their teeth in a certain way with a certain brand of toothpaste, I needed to connect with my personal everyday experience of brushing my teeth my certain way with my certain brand of toothpaste and why.

It’s really not that it’s all about me, but when it comes right down to it, I can only learn within my own self and through my own experience. It might as well be as rich as possible.

I’m talented, but I cannot escape myself. You know the saying, “wherever you go there you are.” So true, so true. I can’t even get out of my own way. I can’t even begin to be objective. What I can do is really know my own experience and then understand how my experience shapes and shades my world view. From there I can choose to alter my perspective or seek other experiences to help me expand and open to different perspectives – and connect to others with different experiences, different stories, different perspectives, different world views. Not better or worse, not greater or less than, just different. So consider for a moment being a member on a team. Each person has their own perspective, their own world view and we’re all trying to learn about our consumer. Yikes!

"The difference between landscape and landscape is small, but there is a great difference between the beholders.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

There’s this tourist and traveler comparison that I love.

So I’m a tourist and as a tourist I go to some far off exotic land and I have an agenda of activities, I observe the culture at a safe distance, go to the must-see places, maybe a museum or two, eat at restaurants recommended by the hotel concierge or chain restaurants familiar from home, look for newspapers and TV from home, take lots of beautiful pictures of beautiful things to post on FaceBook , and I probably only spend a day or two or maybe three in each city – you get the idea. I’ve had a great experience, but how much new did I learn about myself, about the culture, about the people who live there? I feel like I just touched the surface. This is parallel to my experience in a traditionally formatted (really good) consumer research process.

As a traveler, I immerse into the culture. Move into the rhythm of the place, slow down, spend some time, learn some of the language, wander maybe even get lost in the city, meet regular people doing regular everyday things, have totally unplanned unexpected experiences, if I’m lucky I may even be invited for a meal at someone’s home, I connect. I know when I leave I have been touched by my experience deeply, I’ve learned so much about myself, about the culture, about the individuals I’ve met. I have stories to share that make me laugh and cry and desire more and more and more of that! This is what LearningConnect has given me and many, many others who have chosen to LearningConnect.

In the structure of LearningConnect there are several ways team participants travel and learn experientially. As facilitators of the process, we design activities for the team to do, often even before we meet for the StartUp. Activities are designed to help each individual “observe” their own experience, to slow down enough to take notice of all the physical and emotional details, to become aware of their own past and current experiences related to the topic the team wants to learn more about. Sometimes we ask team members to recall and share important imprinting stories from their childhood. Sometimes we dust off and reflect on stories we haven’t thought about for a long time. And that’s all before we take them to visit their consumers or customers. When we do, the workshops and individual visits are all face to face (no backroom) and whenever feasible we send the team out to visit people in their homes, to shop with them, to travel into their world. And yes, sometimes if they’re lucky, they are invited for a memorable meal. Each team member is touched in different ways. They come back with pictures and stories that make us cry and laugh and want more and more and more of that!

LearningConnect honors and supports the way human beings learn new things experientially!

More tomorrow.

LearningConnect has Something to Say - and I'm Listening

You know how you travel through life and then whap! You’re back in a place you thought you’d resolved. It’s like a board game that keeps circling you around to the beginning, to square one, over and over and over again until the game is complete. You might be different every time you pass or land on the first square, you might collect $200, and then again, you might not even notice. So here I am after years of working with the very alive and powerful LearningConnect matrix that is much more than a process, it’s the source of my two companies, the core expression of the values and tenants of what I stand for personally, and why I’m here at this time and in this place.

What comprises the core of LearningConnect created the seed that has become the Ah Ha! and IdeaConnect companies and in turn they have nurtured and supported LearningConnect. A clear metaphor doesn’t neatly come to mind to help explain how linked these are for me. Just let me say, they are living and breathing on their own. And as a living energetic matrix, LearningConnect has a unique personality that although it came through me, I am still learning about every day.

So this time I am noticing I’m back to square one. The little life dramas that are causing me to slow my pace this time round to notice are not all that unique or relevant other than they are getting my attention. And it’s clearly time to articulate again what’s at the core of LearningConnect and why what’s at the core makes a difference and why any of us should even care.

So here’s the start. I’ll be illuminating a different aspect of what makes LearningConnect tick every day over the course of a few days or weeks or however long it takes.

LearningConnect honors and supports the way human beings learn new things – slowly, experientially, individually, emotionally, multidimensionally, upon reflection, building on prior knowledge, sharing with others on the journey.

Let's start with "slowly."

Human beings learn new things slowly (over time): I know this is not what anyone wants to hear. We all want what we want right now! Fast! We don’t have time to sit around! Why does it have to take so long? Great question. The parental answer: it just does! But I’m not your parent. And anyway, when did “slow” get such a bad rap?

Learning new things takes time.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Einstein

It takes time to be aware of what is presented to us in each new moment. It takes time to notice what has been unobserved. It takes time to understand the relevance of a new awareness, to help our new awareness find its place in our internal belief systems and mental models. It takes time for us to learn something truly new.

And, then it takes time to be ready to shift.

The shift itself can happen in an instant – can rock your outer world, can alter your inner world so profoundly you don’t remember what the world was like before this moment right now. And it’s easy to forget, maybe even desirable to forget, just how long the new learning took us.

Ready for complexity to the power of, oh I don’t know, a million? On a team, learning something new together, you guessed it, takes time. Everyone brings their own way of seeing and being and shifting. It takes time to slow down enough to get grounded and to be able to bring our unique perspectives, awareness and way of being into the collective. Some of us are great at seeing the whole big picture all at once; some of us are great at identifying all the itsy bitsy pieces; some of us can move easily between the whole and its parts. One way of seeing and being is not better than another, just different.

Bottom line, because I know that’s what you’ve been waiting for: It takes time to move from the many unique and individual new learnings to a collective new learning – and isn’t that why you work together in teams in the first place – to get to an aligned collective knowledge so you can make the big hairy decisions and take relevant and meaningful action?

So, I leave you with a few old adages that still work for me. Slow and steady wins the race. Go slow to go fast. Slow down and smell the roses. Speed kills.

With Deepest Gratitude ... Our E Store is Launched!!

We've launched our eStore!!! It seems only natural to take a few moments for me to share my Acknowledgements & Appreciations.

The creation of the LearningConnect^® process and the graphic templates didn’t happen in a vacuum. I’ve been blessed with loving support and direction from many guides, muses, trusted friends, trusting clients, mentors, expanding experiences and deep conversations along the way.

I give special thanks to my life partners and best ever collaborators: to Bill, my loving husband, who has taught me so much about generosity of spirit, who supports and loves me unconditionally, even when I’m stressed, busy and crazy!! To Linda Dudek who has been beside me for lifetimes seeing the vision, being the vision and holding me to the call. To Susannah Childers who knows and trusts everyday in what we are doing and being together and who ceaselessly builds the necessary structures for today to ensure our future success. To Wayne Childers for choosing to take this journey with me, even in the not so easy, messiest of times. To Deb Homan, without whom I could not accomplish all I am here to do and to be. And for friends and collaborators who have encouraged me in so many ways to reach way out beyond myself, Gloria Williams, Mariam Weidner, Laurie Durnell, Virginia Ludvik, Warren Miller and Christen Shukwit. And to my daughter Melanie Magnusson who has taught me the most of all - about faith, connection to the Divine, commitment to Self and the journey of Life, Love and best of all, the healing power of Laughter!

I am in ever deepening gratitude for the gifts and opportunities my mentors, coaches and teachers have blessed me with - Paul Cootes, Ed Claassen, Rosalie Deer Heart, Jim Donovan, Gus Jacacci, Joanne Jacacci, Christina Merkley, Joan McIntosh, Lisa Michaels, Joe Miguez, Tomi Nagai-Rothe, David Sibbet, Alison Strickland.

I am in deepest appreciation to the many clients who have trusted me and AH HA! over the years and who have expected us to stretch them with creativity, joy and understanding - Jennifer Acerra, Lisa Bartz, Beth Bruns, Fran Deidling, Cindy Graulty, James Haskett, John Hostetler, Mark Justin, Al Maingot and many, many others.

I thank the hundreds around the world who have attended our trainings and who have been willing to become ambassadors and members of the ever widening matrix of LearningConnect^®. I am so deeply inspired by Lisa Mackay, LCF300 Graduate and LearningConnect Master Facilitator and the emerging Masters of LearningConnect^® Jutta Kreiter, Gloria Williams, Jodi Koehler, Melissa Jeffers, and Charlene Perea. Thank YOU!

Many thanks to our dynamic design team of Gypsy Quaker. Thank you Todd, Chad and Josh.

And finally, a HUGE thank you to the Grove Consultants International, who over the years has provided us with partnership, support and collaboration. They have served us as publisher and distributor and literally gave the seedling of LearningConnect^® a place to safely root and begin to grow. Special call outs to Thom Sibbet, Bobby Pardini, Tiffany Forner, Megan Hinchliffe, Andrew Underwood, Noel Snow and the many other Grove Staff members throughout the years!

And, LearningConnect^® is not done with me yet -- a powerful process to some, to me it is a living breathing expression here to assist us in fulfilling our innate desire to collaborate with respect, compassion, and ever deepening awareness.

May you find a path you did not even know you were looking for,

May you come to realize you can be your whole self, even at work!

With Love, Lynette McCormack

July 2010

We LOVE Questions

So we thought we'd repost an article from a fellow Facilitator's Newsletter on working with questions and the Socratic Method. I especially love the part about posing a question and then waiting a loooooooooong time. Steve Davis of FacilitatorU writes and posts interesting articles from the field of Facilitation. Enjoy. http://bit.ly/dog0x3

And one of our favorite reminders:

"A vital question, a creative question, rivets our attention...

the creative power of our minds is focused on the question.

Knowledge emerges in response to these compelling questions.

They open as new worlds..."

Verna Allee - The Knowledge Evolution: Expanding Organizational Intelligence

What are your questions?

We Invite YOU to BE Part of CPSI 2010!

We know the IdeaConnect community is very dynamic and packed full of people always looking for better ways to create, innovate and make things happen faster. CPSI, Creative Problem Solving Institute, has been the ignitor of Creativity and Innovation for 56 years -- and has made such a difference in our (Linda's, Susannah's, Wayne's and Lynette's) professional, community and personal life we would love for you to have the opportunity to experience it for yourself.

This year CPSI is back home in Buffalo, NY June 21-25! AND we are pleased to announce, Lynette is co-leading at CPSI this year -- a fantastic collaboration with Lisa Michaels, author and founder of the Natural Rhythms Institute and Gloria Williams, extraordinary CPSI leader and President of MOLA and RedZebra Insights USA.

Together, we're offering a 3 hour PACE session on Thursday morning Natural Rhythms at Work and a Post-Conference workshop The Natural Rhythms of Creation & Integration on Friday afternoon through Saturday! If you choose to attend, take time Post Conference to integrate your CPSI experience with the Elemental Forces of Creation. Allow Nature to function as your connection with the wisdom of each elemental realm – Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit – as they work with you to increase your inner knowing, develop deeper self-awareness, and actively integrate your CPSI experience. For even MORE information, visit http://bit.ly/CPSIbJuZdPnatural

AND it would be great if you would join me (Lynette) and 500+ other like minded people. The program is more flexible than ever before and there will be some truly inspiring speakers and presenters to experience - such as Tony Baxter, VP Disney Imagineer and more. Let me know if I can help you answer any questions about CPSI or if you would like more information about how to get registered. And be sure to email me for the 10% discount code I can give people in my network. It gives you a registration discount for this already reasonably priced conference.You can learn more about CPSI at www.cpsiconference.com and find the registration page at http://www.cpsiconference.com/pricing_and_registration.cfm.

Here's to seeing you at CPSI!
Lynette

We're Excited about Our Journaling Workshops

We are totally energized by journaling and what happens next (well honestly, that’s not always true – sometimes we scare ourselves a little). Journaling is a tough practice whether you’ve been doing it or resisting it for years. We’ve designed this series of workshops to start with YOU, to help you Facilitate others, and to activate and create new journaling approaches that work for you. OH!! And you don’t need to be a “writer” to journal successfully – we like to “journal” with pictures and images too.

The first workshop, ‘Journaling as a Yes, not a should’ is specifically designed to kick start or to deepen your personal practice. The second workshop, ’Facilitating Others Off the Page’ will help YOU facilitate the power of journaling within organizations, teams, classrooms, community groups … you get the idea … with really fun and engaging approaches and Cool Tools. The third workshop, ‘Freeing Your Blue Sky Potential’ is fun, messy and hands on with lots of time devoted to creating your own Cool Tools and Stuff that Matters to support your personal and facilitative journaling practices.

And you know we won’t just be writing – no there’s much more. We’ll be journaling with visuals, collected images, and other cool stuff.

Workshop Facilitators (that's us): Linda Dudek and Lynette McCormack, cofounders of IdeaConnect – you might also know us from our alter ego as Ah Ha! Our credentials: We’ve been journaling and using journaling in our facilitative practice for a long time and people ask us, “What are you doing? Why do you do that? Hey, that’s cool – can you do a workshop?” So we say YES! to that.


Each two day workshop is $250. Or, choose to pre-register and pay for all three by July 26 for $600 (WOW! That’s a savings of $150)

Journaling as a YES, not a should
When: Friday and Saturday, August 13-14, 2010, 8:45am – 4:45 pm each day
Where: Cincinnati, OH, location tbd

Whether you are an avid journaler or someone who just says NO, I can't!! This workshop is for you – even if you hate writing. We all have moments where we're challenged to take the time to slow down and take a moment for ourselves. In this two day workshop, we will explore approaches and techniques to deepen or kick start YOUR personal journaling practice as a Facilitative Leader. Cost: $250* Register for this workshop by calling 919-363-7562

Facilitating Others Off the Page
Innovative Journaling in Your Facilitative Practice
When: Friday and Saturday, September 17-18, 2010, 8:45am – 4:45 pm each day
Where: Cincinnati, OH, location tbd

Whether you are a facilitator, organizational leader, healer, teacher or just like to journal with others, this workshop is for YOU! We'll share tips and cool tools that will engage, excite and enliven your practice. Cost: $250* Register for this Workshop by calling 1-919-363-7562

Freeing Your Blue Sky Potential
Create your own Cool Tools for YOUR Journaling Practices
When: Friday and Saturday, November 12-13, 2010, 8:45am – 4:45 pm each day
Where: Cincinnati, OH, location tbd

In this hands on workshop YOU will create your own approaches and Cool Tools (Stuff that Matters) to illuminate your personal and facilitative journaling practice. Bring your ideas to life to make journaling work for YOU ... you know Purposeful Action! Come and join us in this sure to be fun and probably messy workshop! Cost: $250* Register for this workshop by calling 1-919-363-7562

*Each two day workshop is $250 OR choose to pre-register and pay for all three by July 26 for $600 (WOW! for a savings of $150)

We’ve designed these journaling workshops with Facilitative Leaders in mind - this means YOU!

Much Love, Lynette

APPRECIATE YOUR CONNECTIONS!

I just responded to an appreciation comment on a one of our previous blogs and then I started thinking. WOW! I’m so appreciative of all the connections to others that have been given to me as I dream and vision my future. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, now I can see how those connections show up at the right time.

Have you ever just reflected to yourself about all your connections and really felt or 'grounded' that appreciation?

For me, there are so many, I have to sit in appreciation multiple times. This is BIG and will be part of my gratitude journaling each evening. So I’ll start here on the BLOG, the realm is for my work as a facilitative leader and co-founder of IdeaConnect and Ah Ha! Thanks to…

Maureen Sayre, it was about this time of year when I spent time being coached by Maureen into my next professional endeavor over 15 years ago.

Darla Simpson-Hall, she is GRACE in the physical realm. Her generosity and reconnections over the years have fueled my personal and professional growth.

Gail Vance Civille, an amazing sensory scientist who is one powerful, magical lady. I really love what she created in Sensory Spectrum.

Pam Hay, a special person and wonderful moderator, who shaped my thoughts about how I wanted to be in my work.

Everyone at The Grove, see my previous blog.

Alison Strickland, WOW! She rocked my socks with journaling at CPSI in the early ‘90s and I ran with that and brought it right into my facilitator’s toolkit.

August Jaccaci , Where would I be without this TOTALLY INCREDIBLE person, his mind, his love, and his alter ego, Thomas Jefferson, the METAMATRIX and 4 “C”s Values. I strive to be the CEO, Chief Evolutionary Officer. “LOVE is the only Future.”

Sheila Shang, with ideas that are truly perspective shifting and lead me to new places; a laugh and love of life that makes me warm.

Juanita Brown and David Isaacs and The World Café, Conversation, Discussion, Dialogue, they have shifted my world too.

The list is much longer and I just wanted to start a little today (I better stop now...I can't stop my appreciation). I highly recommend appreciation. And now, when connections expanding exponentially with our social media, it is important to also attach the energy of love to foster and strengthen them.

In appreciation, Linda

GET OUTSIDE! EXPERIENCE A SHIFT!

This was my advice to myself today. I was languishing inside, so much activity and not enough Being. I know from experience that being in Nature has a healing and inspiring effect. A simple walk outdoors has shifted me. I was immediately aware of the cold air in my lungs (I live in the North), the sounds of outdoors which are different than the sounds of indoors, and the light, not sunny but bright, especially with all our snow. I also appreciated most of my neighbors’ attention to detail, shoveled sidewalks. And I sent those that did not shovel a little extra love while I negotiated the icy piles of snow in front of their houses.

So, whether you live where there is record snow fall (we’ve experienced 70 inches this year) or you live in a warm place, I recommend you GET OUTSIDE! Today I felt myself become more grounded; I remembered to listen carefully, and heard at least 15 different types of birds; I was aware how important details are to make the way easier for others; and I just feel better. Let us know how OUTSIDE shifts you!

Thanks Olympians, for Inspiring Our Facilitative Leadership

I just love the Winter Olympics! There is something special sharing the experience with family and friends. All the Olympians are amazing, they perform to their best at the moment, they have truly unique and amazing journeys, and their preparation and visioning is astounding. It sparks good conversation with my kids about setting goals, preparation, grace, things that go wrong and things that go right. I stand in awe!

So, right now I am aware that I can learn a lot about my facilitative leadership from these athletes. From Vonn’s visualization of her race, to the extensive preparation by Teter and Mancuso, to White’s drive to push the envelope, to the Grace of Jacobellis as she lost her bid for a medal, to the celebration of medalists. My musings follow:

Visualization: Do I take the time to visualize a successful outcome as a leader and a team member? How might I build greater mastery in this? At ideaconnect we focus a lot on visualizing successful outcomes through a variety of tools, our Success Looks Like Template; use of pictures and collages, conversations. And watching the Olympians reminds me again, just how important this is, not to be taken for granted.

Preparation: Am I honoring the time it takes to prepare? What do I need to increase my preparation skills? How can I lead myself and others in preparing? When the athletes know their successful outcome, they then focus on preparation….something I know I could practice more.

Pushing the Envelope: Am I trusting in the power of possibilities? That I might not be able to do something now, but my vision will take me beyond the status quo? Lots of emotions are connected with pushing the envelope, it is the trust and the inner knowing that open the possibilities.

Grace: In what ways does Grace show up in my life? How do I express Grace as I am working or leading a group? One way that comes to mind is speaking honestly and without assumptions and understanding that Grace is always available to us.

Celebration: Do I honor the importance of celebration? A celebration replenishes, it honors the effort, it closes one thing and opens another. I like celebrating.

I look forward to another week of the Olympics. How do the Olympians inform your facilitative leadership?

It's Exciting! Well, don't get too excited...

Our web store is being loaded! Seems the details are unlimited in this endeavor. We have no real idea what’s involved but we are super appreciative of Gypsy Quaker, our website gurus. A recent communication went like this, via e-mail.

Linda: “Our web store is getting loaded….how exciting!”

GQ Guru response: “Well don't get too excited. I just uploaded a corrupt file and deleted all of the product variations for most of the templates! My eyes are crossing so I am going to stop for now before I really screw the site up….”

Linda: “I'm still excited. And, I think it is good to take breaks, especially if eye sight is involved.“

One step and a time … the details are coming into focus and becoming clearer….still a lot to go. But, it is very, very cool, especially when you have amazing support in place.

Setting Intention for Expansive Innovative Use of Technology

For the past several years, we’ve been studying with Lisa Michaels, Founding Director Natural Rhythms™ Institute. Working with the wheel of the year and amping up our collective intention setting has been just one of the ways we have applied what we have learned from Lisa.

This is what she shared with Natural Rhythms members about the New Moon in Aquarius:
“Aquarius, an Air sign, creates the eleventh astrological gate of awareness, teaching the importance of innovation. Air functions in the mental realm of thoughts, ideas, vibration and perspective. Aquarius as the most expanded Air sign brings a cosmic perspective on life and often brings radical new ideas to humanity. Aquarius is the detached, free-spirited visionary exploring unconventional territory. It is interested in helping the world become a better place through humanitarian ideals of love and truth. Aquarius is unique, inventive, progressive and original.

This new moon brings you innovative and progressive original ideas to help you gain insight and get a cosmic perspective on your life vision. This is the time to launch new ideas, explore unconventional and unique systems, create your own way of doing things, and take risks. Aquarius’s ability to revolutionize your thinking helps you to take a quantum leap in some area of your life.”


So, here we go!!! As the IdeaConnect Partners, we collectively set intention to:
Increase our use of and openness to be supported by new Technology and radical innovation; to be able to jump in and to be supported toward realization of our 2014 Vision.

Allow any blockages, fears, challenges or obstacles to be instantly cleared away to allow ease of interaction with and utilization of the new, the radical, the ever changing and evolving Technology.

To be supported by our current technology: so we may bring our unique expression into the world and support and connect with others in development of Facilitative Leadership; seeding interest, curiosity and meaningful development of Facilitative Leadership around the world.

To access and harness what is most helpful – the most up to date Technology – for development of all our Cool Tools, workshops and trainings; to explore new ways of bringing Cool Tools, trainings, workshops and forums to others through the web and other digital formats.

So Be It!!

With Love and Gratitude, Lynette

Gratitude for THE GROVE

If you haven’t ever worked with or visited The Grove Consultants International, we, at IdeaConnect, highly recommend you check out what they have to offer. Speaking from personal experience, this is one community of people that impacted my life in a major way. I send them appreciation everyday!

So what’s amazing about the Grove…well, EVERYTHING! I first encountered the Grove in 1994 when Lynette talked me into going to their Principals of Graphic Facilitation training. This “technology” of conversation, using graphic templates and graphic recording to support group work, was something I got really excited about. GREAT TRAINING BY GREAT PEOPLE! I was transformed in my work style.

In the late 90’s, we became strategic alliance partners with the Grove as we introduced our graphic template line for LearningConnect, a guided learning approach. The Grove became our publisher, taking care of details. Thank goodness, I really didn’t have full understanding until recently as we are preparing to take over the responsibility of publishing our materials. THANK YOU! My work in the world was supported by these published products.

In 2002, The Personal Compass: A Workbook for Visioning and Goal Setting was first introduced and Lynette became a design partner for their first workshops. We started using The Personal Compass at our own company visioning retreats and have incorporated into our Women in Progress, a mother and teen daughter workshop. I am transformed in my work and personal life, especially with my 2 daughters who have participated in the Women in Progress with me, see my blog about collaging.

Today, the people at The Grove continue to support us as we move into the final work on our e-store. Generous and supportive are words that come to mind. I will always be so appreciative of The Grove.

COLLAGING CREATES POSSIBILITIES & OUTCOMES

Recently, during one of our IdeaConnect weekly calls, we discussed collaging (with pictures) and Lynette said, “Well, collaging IS one of our processes.”

Wow. I hadn’t thought about it like that before. Of course collaging is one of our processes….but doesn’t everyone do it? Well, the answer is likely NO, but they might wish to. I’ve seen amazing things happen from collaging while setting intentions or to clarify them.

For me, collaging is fun. It helps me access my intuition and open to new ideas. It connects me to me and to the others I choose to share with, in a deeper way. It grounds me in what is most important and stretches me at the same time, something I can’t do with a list of things or even my written journal entries. Collaging adds depth to my dreams, articulated and unarticulated. I find it is true, a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Now if you are interested, collaging can go much deeper, into a world of magical wonderfulness. Here are a couple of my personal family experiences…

10 years ago I happened to be visioning about how I wanted to live and I had some wonderful pictures and sketches about what I’d like my surroundings to be in the future, then I found this amazing picture of a happy woman sitting on suitcases and stuck that to my collage. Within the next year my husband was offered a promotion and move…and guess what, the place we found looked exactly like my sketches and pictures. We packed our suitcases and now live in a very beautiful part of the country. One thing I forgot in the vision was to be more specific about where, I may be more specific next time I’m ready to move…depends on what my intentions will be.

My teenage daughter was a participant in IdeaConnect’s first Women In Progress: A Workshop for Mothers & Teen Daughters a few years ago. Her collage for the coming years was exciting as she worked through the week articulating what she was passionate about and then making some future plans. One of her passions was Track. She went on to have an amazing experience…more exciting than she could have imagined. She earned a spot to run in the PA State Track & Field Championships in the 800m as a freshman in HS, and it wasn’t even her main event. Later on we noticed she had placed a runner on her collage…she had done it because of the perspective of the shot and she planned to run…what we didn’t notice until later was that the runner competing in the 800m run.

These were my own personal experiences but as a part of our company, IdeaConnect, our process of collaging has shaped and evolved and opened up new possibilities for us. Our collective collaging has guided how we evolve our trainings, how we choose to run our business, how we connect with others. Collaging with pictures is a powerful tool (or process) that creates outcomes for us. It really is a gift we give to ourselves.

WHO KNEW PRINTING COULD BE SO MUCH FUN?

I’ve printed templates for 4 orders this year, it is only mid-January, and we don’t even have a store up and running yet (the complexity behind the simplicity of technology is mind popping).

There is something quite amazing about seeing and touching these tools. First of all, they are absolutely beautiful coming off this hp printer. Even better, it helps me focus on those who will use the templates. I really believe in creating the opportunity for all of us to build mastery as a facilitative leader and all my appreciation and support are being infused into each order. I can’t wait to print more and send to those that find the templates support the facilitative leader in them. Just doing what I do best, Linda.