Reflecting on blind spots and what we can do better/differently

[Dirk Stockmans]

Dear all,

Ria´s reference to Bob Stilger´s blog post and the ensuing contributions to that thread reminded me of a the feeling I had recently at a follow-up meeting to an event with 120 managers from translation services of the European Institutions: generally, the event had been quite successful in creating common ground and bringing up issues for further discussion - but was there anything else we could have done to go even deeper?

The asnswer will probably be different each time you ask the question, as it depends on our own experience/worldview at that time, and the particular hosting team and environment.

What I found most interesting is the reference at the end to a document on Action Inquiry: Transforming Leadership in the Midst of Action, given by Mary Stacey, because it provides a framework that can be helpful to position yourself on a number of development scales. Personally, I can recognise myself on several paths, and this is a good time of year for thinking where to go next...

Dirk

[Helen Titchen Beeth]

Fantastic, Dirk! Bill Torbert's work on Action Inquiry is really precious - all of the adult development work out there is precious, and I would love to see more of it brought into leadership training in the Commission... Rainer has already done great pioneering, bringing in the approach of Otto Laske, which builds on Robert Kegan's work. I'd love to see us take this further.

[Ria Baeck]

I think this needs to be part of any 'AoH training continued' that we talked about. To challenge our shared assumptions - envision that we would be really good at it for ourselves, and then could bring it to all core teams - and in the end to all participants! That would be real good leverage.

[Helen Titchen Beeth]

point taken, Ria! It's probably mine to do, because I know this stuff so well. I just wish I didn't dislike 'teaching' so much. I think I'll try to prepare some more material for the workbook... ;-)