SOGs decrease pointless anger and increase learning from anger

How many days each year are you angry?  I’m not talking about clearly warranted in-the-moment anger—the kind that causes you to shriek out loudly to stop a young child from running out into busy traffic (followed by a mini lecture about the dangers of running into traffic while your hearts are still pumping hard from the life-or-death scare). Or the kind that causes your whole … [Read More]

 
Five things my self-organizing groups taught me this week

Some of the things I learned this week thanks to my self-organizing groups: Chaos and order are both within us, and both ok. It’s in our nature to be chaotic, silly, ridiculous, and huge risk-takers. Within these groups, I can accept chaos as rewarding and even fun. Yet it’s also in our nature to appreciate order and structure and to minimize or avoid risk. Within … [Read More]

 
Do you receive chicken-and-waffles-level joy from your work?

I spend all my time working with and as self-organizing groups and reflecting on what we experience and learn together. Thanks to these groups, I live my life in a very good mood: to the point that, most days, it’s hard to wipe the smile off my face. I recently saw this same experience on the face of a person next to me at Skillet … [Read More]

 
For Cathy: what I'm learning from our self-organizing group thanks to you

Hi Cathy, I just got back from a 4-day, technology-free vacation at the Sleeping Lady Lodge near Leavenworth with the women of my book club. Nice to get away with girlfriends! Thank you for asking these four questions and prompting me to reflect on our time together at lunch last week. My own self-organizing groups always do this for me (and always ask the best … [Read More]

 
Beautiful complexity---the view from within my self-organizing group

Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays are the three days each week that I consciously prioritize my family, my close friends, and my individual well-being over my work as a self-organizing groups researcher. I minimize my connection with the broader world on these three days each week—don’t use the internet (unless in service of my family, such as finding the perfect recipe for chocolate cake) and don’t … [Read More]

 
Leadership in and near the April 2011 Seattle Glee flash mob

Self-organizing groups are—themselves—leaders. They are different—new to many of us—and the people within them, and close to them, notice. One difference is that everybody within the group is a leader and a follower. Also, many nearby others and observers of the group are also leaders—especially those who decide to slow down and pay attention to the group because they notice that it’s different. Certainly those … [Read More]

Apr 112011
 
Self-organizing groups increase resilience

Here’s something I can say for sure: self-organizing groups increase the resilience of group members and at least some nearby others. I experience this myself every time I’m part of a self-aware self-organizing group—both my own and others. This holds true across all 30 groups I’ve studied—from teacher and employee and consulting groups to friendship groups to milk carton derbys and flash mobs. Here’s an … [Read More]

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