Well, Hard Work Can Justify It!
A few weeks ago in The Elusive Perfect Cookie-Cutter Solution, I lamented the fact that the work that I do with families seldom allows for a formulaic approach.
Because each family is unique, every business is different, and the people who compose every family are one-of-a-kind individuals, much of this work involves starting fresh and doesn’t allow for a lot of “cut’n’paste” operations.
But there are naturally some aspects of the work that do repeat themselves in many cases, so this week we’re going to take a look at things from that angle.
And, as I’ve done a number of times in the past, I’m going to share a mnemonic way of remembering the sequence I’m sharing.
From my headline, which includes one word in ALL CAPS, you may have already guessed that MEDAL is what we’ll be working with.
(If you’re curious about past mnemonics, see: Start Cleaning Up your M.E.S.S., Is your Continuity PAL in Danger, and Seeking Resources to Get Back on Kilter).
Going for the Gold (Medal, That Is)
The first letter in Medal is M, and in my case, M is for Meet.
Everything starts with a meeting, and new phases of any work almost always necessitate a meeting as well.
A meeting, in many cases, involves me sitting in a room with a number of family members together, or it could be meeting virtually.
It could also be just me and one or two other people, and those situations, while more often virtual these days, can also be in person.
But important phases of most process work involve some sort of coming together to discuss things with others.
E Is for Exchange and Explore
Let’s not to minimize the meeting aspect of this, because for larger groups of people, simply getting everyone together at the same time and in the same place can be a huge obstacle.
Virtual meeting technology has made this easier in recent years, but even with Teams and Zoom, coordinating schedules with busy people is a huge lift in many cases.
Now that you are together, meeting, what are you going to do to maximize the fact that all this brain power is in one place for the next few hours?
This is where the E’s come in, and for me the two biggest ones are Exchange and Explore.
Exchanging is about both giving and receiving, which in the case of information involves talking and listening.
You brought everyone together, now let’s hear from them all.
If you accentuate the Exploration mode, to see what you can discover together, that’s even better.
D Is for Discern and Develop
So you had your Meeting where you Exchanged and Explored, and now you are each back in your own space, for the coming days, weeks, months, etc.
If each person then takes some time and makes some efforts to Discern what was learned and tries to figure out how to Develop something from what was discussed, that could be useful.
Integrating new learnings and reflecting on current realities allows the Explorations and Exchanges that you had at the Meeting take root.
A Is for Act and Advance
Now that something new has taken root as a result of the Meeting, the Exchanges and the Discernment, what’s next?
Well, hopefully you can find ways to Act and Advance ideas, projects, journeys, or whatever you are trying to accomplish together.
Too often there’s inertia that needs to be overcome, so this is a reminder to put things into motion with Action and Advancement.
New ideas were conceived and now new ways forward have emerged, which need to be Acted upon in order to Advance.
Some of these items can be done individually, others will involve additional folks who were part of the initial Meeting.
L Is for Loop Back and Meet Again
Eventually the progress that you have been making on your own or with a small group will come to a natural arc where it will become time to repeat the process again.
This is where you need to Loop back and Meet with the group again and enter into the next iteration of the process.
Coming together again in a Meeting, to once again Exchange and Explore, will begin the next cycle of the work that needs to be done.
After the next meeting, you will once again retreat into solitude or a smaller group, to Discern where you now stand, and Develop next steps.
You’ll figure out the next Acts and Advancements, and Loop back again.