Creating Your Personal Learning Container

Thank you, everybody, for joining us at jlc, the Jorgensen Learning center, where we are producing a series of media opportunities for you to learn about everyday leadership conversations. Our little company works under the rubric of conversational leadership, one of the three areas in learning organization that are really critical. And today, we're going to spend a little time working on one of those areas under aspiration. When we aspire to something, we do our best to say, this is where I am, and this is where I'd like to be. And how do we fix that distance, that gap that lives? How do we get to that new place? So today we're going to talk about a specific piece of personal mastery, and it is how to create a personal learning container. That's our work today, and I think you'll enjoy it. And I know the folks online with me are going to have a lot of fun with me. I'm going to have fun with them. So I hope those of you that are listening, just lean back, unless you're driving. Okay? Lean back and just enjoy. Enjoy the conversation, because I think you're really going to like it a whole lot. Now, before I ask them to tell me what I said about personal mastery, I'm going to have each one of them introduce themselves and in a way that I think you'll find fascinating and useful. So, Colleen, let me start with you. Introduce yourself and tell me something about you that most people don't know.

Sure. My name is Colleen Sullivan, and I'm an associate working with the Jorgensen Learning Center. And probably one of the things most people don't know about me is that I'm an avid skier snow skiing. And anytime I can, I take the opportunity to get on my sticks and to go ski. It's something my boys, as soon as they were bor. I took them up skiing ever since they could walk. And so it's one of those things that I really treasure and I still do when I'm around my teenage boys.

That's fantastic. Love it. And I love the fact that you love to ski. My wife likes to ski. Of course, I was on ski patrol for many years. So, you know, that might not be true. So, Vince, tell me a little. What's that?

Is ski patrol sitting at the bar and ensuring everyone's safe?

I was watching over everyone from the bar. Vince, tell us something about you that most people don't know.

Okay. So I'm Vince Starks. And one thing about me that most people don't know is I'm an avid Harley Davidson rider. I really enjoy going across country and doing trips. And Covid has really put a monkey wrench in my plans this past year. So I'm really excited and looking forward to this vaccine and getting ready for 2021 and getting my riding season under my belt.

Wow, that's terrific. Thank you, Vince, and welcome to the Media show today. Julie, something about you. Introduce yourself and tell us something that we don't know about you.

Hi, I'm Julie B. Wise, and I am associate for JLC as well. And one of the things people may not know about me is I have two chocolate labs, brother and sister from the same litter. They're three years old now. And I have Duke, who continues to pretend like he's still a puppy. And we have not trained him. He eats everything. Dinners have been ruined. Utensils, flour, you name it. If you leave it out, you would think by now we would know. But you think it's hidden. And before you know it, you hear something crunching. And the other day I was switching laundry, and as I was switching the laundry, I heard the horrible rattle of an empty. A fork on an empty plate. And as I ran to get my lunch, it was too late. Duke had already eaten it. So Duke is the crazy guy. And Charlotte, his sister, just watches.

That's great. They probably have some personal mastery needs also. They do some learning needs that are in space there. I love it. I love it. Tell us about you, something about you that most people don't know and introduce yourself.

I am Denisha Hendricks, and I am an associate working with JLC as well as Beverly and Associates. And something about me that most people don't know is that I absolutely love to cook. Most people don't realize that if I could do anything else and go back and change, I would have gone to culinary school to become a chef. Wow. And I absolutely. I tried new recipes. I love cookbooks and kitchen gadgets. So that's little something about me that the average person just wouldn't know.

That's great. So we're going to try and do some cooking here today when we cook up some ideas together.

Sounds great.

Welcome. Welcome. All right, Nicole.

I'm Nicole Lyons, and I'm an associate with the Jorgensen Learning center as well. And something that a lot of people don't know is that I love to adventure. One of my favorite adventures was backpacking the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. I did that in 2018, and it was amazing. And I really, really want to go back again. So I think I'm shooting for 2022. So that's probably what most people don't know is that I want to go back and do it again, experience that trip.

Wow, that's wonderful. So actually I can lean onto that since I'm the last month ago. My name is Ray Jorgensen and what people don't know about me is that I love poetry. And one of the poems I read recently was about the daughter of a gentleman who wrote the poem who made that same trip. And the elegant way she reacted to that trip going forward. That was really pretty fun. So thank you. Thank you all for being with me here today, team. And to all of you that are listening, thank you for giving up some of your most precious resource time to spend with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So back to personal mastery. So today we're going to talk about probably the most important asset in any organization are the people. And when the organization spends time developing those people, enabling them to become all they choose to be and to continue to do that on a regular basis, those organizations have been exceedingly successful. Today we're going to narrow the personal mastery discipline down to how do I create a personal learning container? So when we're done today, each of you that's listening and all of us on the call will know how to refine our personal learning container. And those of you out there who haven't played with this before will be able to do it. So, Vince, what are you hearing me saying? What are you thinking?

So what I'm hearing you say is that we're going to take a look at how to really enhance our personal learning, our ability as leaders to get better. And in doing so, I think the ultimate effort and goal is for us to be better leaders and to be better administrators of our personal time, which also helps the organization and the team to win as we move forward.

That's beautiful, Vince. See, there's a piece in our company, ladies and gentlemen, that we talk about all the time. Leadership enables a team to accomplish its shared dreams. As we learn how to do that better and better, we get better and better. That was great, Vince. Thank you. Julie, what are you hearing me say? What are you thinking?

The thing I'm thinking about is as a leader, we model the way. Being a leader is a wonderful opportunity to model for everyone how to continue to be in learning from those that you lead and also with yourself so that you can be up to date with the newest things, but also to show everybody how you value learning.

I love it. So I want you to notice, ladies and gentlemen, that are listening how different people respond to my provocation. I laid on the table a couple of ideas about personal mastery and personal learning containers and notice how in their own words they tell me and tell each other how these words landed on them. That's magnificent. Thank you, Julie Denisha, what did you hear me say and what are you thinking?

What I heard you say was how to be a better CEO of your own life in terms of personal mastery and honing in on leadership skills that not only as you lead your own life and in that you can reflect how you want others to show and walk the way.

Dinesha, that's beautiful. So it matches Julie's comment about model the way. It's the first piece of research and I love I'm the CEO of my learning. I think that's really cool. CEO of my life. CEO of my learning. I think that's really, really nice. I did have an experience once where I was the chief Learning officer and I said, I don't think there is one. I think it's all of us. So that was very, very nice. Thank you. Nicole, what'd you hear me say? How'd that all land on you and the gang?

I'm thinking back to something that you said in the beginning when you started, when you gave us a CPO for the conversation. You talked about the gap, the difference between where we are and where we want to be. Then I heard you say that giving people the opportunity to learn and develop is one of the best things that you can do for people that you lead in an organization. The idea of this personal learning container maybe solves that gap a little bit, because I know I've been given a lot of learning opportunities, and if I don't show up in the right way, I may not even take in anything that that learning opportunity brought to me. So how I show up, how I embrace that opportunity to learn is so essential to being able to recognize that I've been given this opportunity to learn and then really apply anything that I've learned going forward in my role.

Yeah, that application piece of two big things in there. One is I have the responsibility to learn, and once I learn it, it goes back to the work of Gardner years ago. He say, learning is wonderful. If I don't know how to apply it, I'm not so sure how wonderful it is. So this is about how do I take care of myself, build my capability by learning, and then putting that learning into action. That was really excellent. And thanks for noticing the creative tension where I am currently and where I'd like to be here. That creative tension allows us to move to a new place. Beautiful. Colleen, what did you hear? What are you thinking?

Sure.

What I'm hearing is at least on kind of this little last part, it's that sense of creative tension and thinking about where you are and where you want to be. And I guess the word that really surfaces for me is intentionality and being very intentional because a lot of what my other teammates here have offered, you know, I can be the CEO of my learning, but unless I'm intentional and I create the time and the space to make it happen and I really reflect and think about what are those capabilities that I want to really focus on and enhance. I'm just going to be busy doing, working and go through my day without really thinking about and reflecting upon where I want to grow and what I truly want to achieve.

There's such strength in that. Even in talking with our client base, they would say, this is what I'm doing. Let's work on what I'm doing and evaluate what I'm doing. And gently as possible, I invite them to stop worrying about what you're doing and tell me how what you're doing is producing evidence that you're moving toward your desired space. That's a very different conversation. And I do think we very often get locked on to looking at this is what I'm doing. How do I improve what I'm doing if we don't do it in the context of what you're doing should be producing evidence that you are growing to the place you wish to be. It's a different conversation. That was great. Thank you all. Ladies and gentlemen. We're going to shift into three points. What we do on these little podcasts is we look at three points. So here's the first point. I'd like each of my team members to tell me, what does it mean to you to say, I am learning? And the only context I'll give you is in the organizational learning world and the world of learning organizations. The idea of learning means change. I'm learning, which means I am changing. Give me a little take on something in your background. Even could be as recent as yesterday in the party that you went to or dinner last night, Vince, that you had. Or it could be anything that's unfolding. Learning is change. Where can you remember learning? Say, oh, wow, this is a change for me. Colleen, why don't you start us off?

Sure. That's an easy one. I'm a self proclaimed Covid golfer. Just cup golfing as an opportunity to go outside and really enjoy the sun. So I went and played nine holes yesterday with my mom, and I've got to tell you, I am in a space of learning continually. And one of the things that I notice about myself is that I have set realistic expectations. So my expectation is that I'm going to go out and have fun.

That's it.

That is the outcome I'm looking to achieve. So if I hit the ball two feet or if I hit the ball 200ft, it's a happy day for me, because what I'm trying to achieve is quality time with my mom and being outside. And so that's one of the things that I've noticed that helps me stay in a space of learning and not get frustrated is to ensure that I continue to align towards my outcome, which is really that sense of connectivity with my mom and being outside, it's not, can I put the ball in the hole? Don't get me wrong.

Wow. Swinging the club is fun. And if I'm really out here because of the relationship that I'm having with this other person, that's fantastic. Thank you. So, learning. When did something change for you? When did you go through learning? Dinesha, your shot.

I'm sitting here thinking, and there's so many things I think. I feel as though I am constantly learning something new. But most recently, I had the opportunity to do some things with city government. I've never really worked in government of in that public government, in that space, always worked in organizations or what have you. And what I learned is. And that really changed me. It was like one of those aha moments, so to speak, is that in talking with citizens, one of the things and citizens who choose to invest, be that in with their time, their talents, or their funds, is that they really want to see a tangible outcome, even if it's just their time that they came to do something. And that was one of the aha moments that actually really changed my approach in how we operate within a particular department. So understanding that people really, as they invest, they want a tangible outcome, and then they feel as though they have actually contributed and they bought into whatever it is that's going on. And similar to. As an athletic director, I had a similar experience, but this one was a little different. And it actually has helped shape some outcomes and how we even approach various things as we move. Move the particular organization forward.

Yeah. So I like that you showed up kind of open to possibility. And what rose was, these folks want something for the investment that they're giving. And the other thing you did that nicely was said that you didn't use this language, but you didn't create an expectation for them. You tried to find out what they wanted. That is really powerful in the learning environment. And so when we do this together as a team, we do this regularly. Today, we're going to work on X. We want to know where you are and where you'd like to be, and then we build that space moving forward. It's really nice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Vince, what are you thinking?

So, like Dinesha, I had a number of examples that I can list, but for the sake of brevity, I'd just like to talk about my association with JLC. You know, I spent 30 years in the United States Navy, and as a leader in that organization, there was a methodology that we used to accomplish and measure success. When I transitioned from that part of my life to this new structure, the way that we learn and lead and teach and engage is very different than what I was accustomed to. And so I thought of myself as a talented individual, and now I had to transition to a new professional scope of paradigm. And I'm around extremely talented individuals, my colleagues. And so my learning, I walked into this organizational culture feeling my learning was here and realizing that the talent around me was here. And I needed to develop new skills and to be open to new learnings and to be very intentional in that, to develop and to enhance those new skills and abilities to perform well for both myself, for the team, and for our clients. So that's been a journey that I've been on very personally, which is ongoing today.

I feel like I'm on the same journey. I think what happens is when we enter the journey of learning, there requires a release, a suspension of that which I bring to the table right now to discipline myself, to suspend my thinking and my past attitudes so that I can learn something new moving forward. Learning is very exciting. It gets us in a whole new place. It comes from actually a Latin Greek environment, means furrow that people used to create a furrow when they were planting new things, growing new things, they were learning to develop that particular crop cycle. That's really good. Thank you so much, Julie. Example.

So when I meet with a new client or I go to a new business or I have a new planning conversation with someone, I tend to get really anxious. And I have this expectation for myself that I need to know all of the answers. And so I always try and remind myself that I am in learning with the people that I'm currently working with. And what that really does for me is it helps me relax a little bit. It reminds me, I place that right on the table right away so that everyone has the same common understanding that I'm not walking in here with the answers, that we're just simply creating a space to share our ideas and see if we can collaborate together. And so in learning, what that means for me is that reduces my stress and I know that I'm in it with a whole bunch of other people and I don't have to have my own answers.

Yeah, it's really nice. So there's a piece there that you just laid on the table too. One more part of personal mastery. If I show up in knowing, there's nothing to learn. I know. I know what you should do. I know how to help you. I can give you advice. I am in knowing. And if I show up that way, there's no suspension, there's no creative tension. There's nothing that enables that team or human being that I'm attempting to coach to grow. So growth is all about that suspension and creating that space for creative tension. Beautiful. Vince did something that I wanted to react to before I switch over to Nicole. Those of you that are listening, we believe that creative tension is useful. Emotional tension is not. And sometimes we put so much stress on ourselves, we push ourselves way out of bounds. We can't get to that place now. If we don't actually take the learning in somewhat small pieces, small chunks, we end up making ourselves sad, detached, and we start creating that negative self talk that says, I'm not going to get here, so we might as well just let it go. Not going to play anymore. So that was just an excellent way to remind us to stay in learning and resist the need to be in knowing. And I will say this to you, Julie, and to all of us on the call right now, you are exactly what that person needs. You're what the government needs. You're what the master chiefs need. You're what the COs need. You are exactly what they need, and you are absolutely enough. So we've been told our whole lives, through grades and other methodologies. Not enough. You're not enough. Do better. And here we are recognizing fully that you're exactly the person with all the developmental knowledge necessary to help a system move forward. That was really excellent, Nicole. How'd this stuff land on you so far?

I love hearing everyone's different approaches to the way that they learn or how they show up when they're ready to learn. For me, an example of that has been this past year in shifting from a place where we go out and we talk to people face to face and we deliver our trainings and we create that container in a very personal, in person way. And now shifting, I mean, we as an organization shifted from meeting with clients in person to meeting with clients in a virtual space and taking the company to a digital format where we're able to engage with people in all kinds of different ways, like the podcast you're listening to right now. And for me, that's been a lot of personal learning from a systems perspective, like, how do we make that happen from a technology standpoint? And then how do we make that happen from a marketing standpoint and how do we make that happen from a delivery standpoint? And I think those learnings have been. It's been a constant state of learning. But I think one of the things that resonates for me about that experience is the willingness to have feedback, whether that's the number of people clicking on something or feedback from other experts, or take in new information and be willing to shift and change. I think where we get hung up sometimes is we've learned one way of doing something and we know that way and we just want to march forward and get the thing done and do it that way. But I think when you're really in a space of learning and willing to learn, you interrupt that pattern and give yourself the space to say, what could I be doing differently? What could I be doing better to enhance the whole experience? So I think that that's been a really wonderful lesson for me is just to continue that feedback loop or to feed that feedback loop constantly. And being willing to like, okay, this isn't working, so let's try something entirely different or new. And I think that's where I the space of learning that makes me really excited.

Obviously. And it's wonderful. And that sense of excitement comes from. I'm going to quote Brene Brown here badly, but I'll do pretty good. I think I can do pretty good on the intent. So Brene Brown, who I just admire tremendously, she talks all the time about creativity and real learning comes from vulnerability. So how do I enable myself to be vulnerable to all of you to say, I don't know how to do this? And we as people in leadership and in leadership coaching and development are modeling ways that we can actually be vulnerable because all of that ability to learn and create comes from that space of vulnerability. With that said, my next provocation is if I'm Creating a personal learning container. And I walk into an interaction, a meeting, I go into a one on one conversation with somebody. What do you do personally to enable yourself to be vulnerable enough to create learning? What do you do personally so that your little container can actually become vulnerable and a space that you could actually learn something brand new. What do you do to take care of that, Vince? I'll start with you this time.

Yeah. So I think personally, the most important thing that I have to do is to remain silent. I think there's an art to listening and to pay attention to people. So eye contact and that direct engagement is probably one of the most profound important things I found that I need to do. I need to listen to what people say. I need to listen with intent so they know that I'm engaged and that I hear them. And then I try to repeat what I heard to make sure I have an understanding, a collective understanding of what was said. To me, the information that was given was what I received. That one little step I found has produced tremendous results when I had both individual interactions and interactions within a group.

So what I'm hearing you say is that one of the ways that I produce vulnerability in myself is to listen so attentively that I can stay engaged and actually then feed back to the person what I heard them say in my own words, which is actually a demonstration of understanding. Did I get you right, Vince?

That is absolutely correct.

So notice what I just said. Ladies and gentlemen that are listening, I'm practicing one of our methodologies. That is when we acknowledge somebody, respond respectfully and make sure that we got what they intended us to hear correctly, or at least correctly in the sense of that's what I wanted to communicate. Right. So this sense of vulnerability, Vince's notion is the more I listen, the more vulnerable I become because the more engaged I become in what that person is saying. Julie, what are you thinking right now?

One of the things that I do when I'm in learning with someone to keep me vulnerable is I try and think. Well, I hold space for differences in the idea of how can we both be right. Oftentimes we think there's only one right answer and there's a wrong answer and I can quickly jump to no, no, no, this is the way it needs to be. For example, I'm possibly going on a trip and I wanted to fly, but the person I was going with wanted to drive and I was ready to prepare. My argument for how flying was going to be much more effective or much more efficient, but it might not be effective because of the pandemic. And so I had to say, okay, let's get in learning here and find out a little bit more with my colleague, who was also traveling with me, and see how we could both be right and what we could work out together. So by holding space for differences and saying there's room for both ideas and what would that possibly look like, that helps me be vulnerable.

So it's almost like I have an idea about what we should do that would be most effective and most fun for me. Then how do I lean back and say, well, wait a minute, there's probably at least six other ways we could do this, and at least we can come up with one or two that makes some sense. Did I get you right?

Yes.

I think this ability to keep feeding back that perspective, everything. And ladies and gentlemen, in the audience that are listening, notice how we do that for one another all the time, to always try and make sure that we're getting that idea that has been transmitted linearly with words, that we actually understand it. Because words are a very, very. It's the smallest impactful way of sharing an idea. We have to be able to do it many different ways. Words are one way. And if we don't stop and check to see, did this land on you in a way that made sense to you? We get stuck. Nicole, what are you thinking?

For me to be vulnerable, I have to very intentionally quiet that response generator in my head. Even as we're having this conversation today, I know you're going to call on me. I know you're going to say my name, and I have to have something to say, and that really inhibits the ability to listen to anyone else on the call. So for me, quieting that voice that says I have to craft my perfect response is the way that I show up vulnerably. Vulnerably. I don't think I said that word incorrectly, but I think that that, for me, is the way that I can show up authentically. Because if I'm sitting there crafting my perfect response, I'm not hearing anything that you're saying. I'm not really responding to what it is that you're asking of me. I'm just trying to come up with the right response so I can sound the way I want to sound. And I think that we lose the opportunity to really hear the other person and to deepen the level of connection. Because I only care about my response versus no, I really care about understanding. Understanding you and what you're saying to me.

That's beautiful. And you went back to what Vince said when he started. How do I keep myself engaged? By listening to understand. If I listen to understand, I kind of get drawn into this piece. I'm going to model a check in in a few minutes so that you can see what it looks like at the beginning of the meeting to create a learning container. And what you just did was set the stage for that so that we can listen to one another and then move our thought process with the other person, not in opposition to it and not start worrying about what am I going to say. Because if I do that, I'm no longer listening. Therefore, I'm no longer engaged and I'm no longer vulnerable. That was magnificent. Denisha, what you thinking?

I'm thinking about when I go into those situations. I prepare to be present. And being present, I'm the person with two phones and a tablet, the laptop. But how do I really prepare to be really, really present so that I can do all the things that my colleagues have said today to be prepared to listen, not to utilize in my own head, getting in my own way because I may be distracted or preparing my answers, but really prepare to be fully present and prepare to utilize and versus but in my responses. So making sure. And I have to really prepare myself to be the person that says that sounds really good. And we can do versus saying but. And being sure that not only am I vulnerable, but make vulnerable in the conversation to learn. But helping create that environment for others.

Yeah, that space. And that's truly. Dinesha, what we're going to just do in a second here to close out our podcast, I'm going to demonstrate how a person facilitating or leading a meeting can create a personal learning container for each person and for the team. That's the other part because you're leading a team. So it's team learning and personal mastery are absolutely connected. That was beautiful. Thank you, Colleen.

Yeah. I think when I prepare myself for certain conversations to keep myself in learning, I think it goes straight to suspending certainty because I think a lot of what we're talking about is. Can be cognitive noise and can get in our way of truly listening to the person, whether it's what Nicole said.

Right.

The lock and load. Because I'm ready to respond and that's got me a little sideways. Or. Or whether it's me standing in judgment of what somebody said the second I slip into that. Or I show up to a meeting thinking, what am I going to learn from Julie today? She don't know nothing about that right? So instantly I now am no longer listening. I'm already showing up in a space of to your point, knowing, judging, and now, oh my goodness, it feels different. My responses come from a space of knowing and judgment. And boy, all of us, if you think about it, have been in many conversations like that. So how can I recognizing that sometimes I might do and not even know it's coming from me because it might be subconscious, because I feel so strongly about an idea or an individual. So how can I recognize that and ensure that I am suspending my thinking just so I can open the space for other thinking to come in?

So, Colleen, that's brilliant. Especially in this particular time in our country with such polarized views politically, a human being stands up there, we know who it is. And our self talk is, not this guy again, or oh, not this girl again, or oh good, what are you going to say? So we actually orient ourselves into listening and engaging and being vulnerable, depending upon who's there. One of the things that we produce is a little one pager on the kind of learner in your meeting. Oppositional, welcoming or neutral. And if you guys want to get that, just send us a note on site. I'll be happy to get that out to you. It's so interesting to recognize that if Vince is talking, I might be oppositional. If Dinesh is talking, I might be welcoming. If Julie's talking, I might be neutral. And it has so much to do with the topic and the person and mood and how do I let it go? How do I let go my need to be in judgment. That's so, so, so, so good. Thank you all. Well, we're close to the end of our podcast and before we go to that space, I want to show you what this could look like if you were leading a meeting. So something that those of you have watched me work before, you've seen me do this, and we're going to do it right now. The way this is going to, this is a check in, a check in and a meeting. And if you've seen the other podcasts or listened to the other podcasts or the YouTube channel, you've heard us talk about checking in. This is a way of checking in where you're establishing a personal learning container. So before I even do the intention of the meeting, I'll do this. This is our check in activity. So let's make believe we're enrolled and Papa Bear is running a meeting. Okay? And here it comes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure that you came here to this Meeting today with a lot on your mind. I'm sure there's a lot of baggage that we all have. And your self talk may be very loud right now. So what is one thing you intend to do to quiet your self talk so that you can listen and engage in the conversation? And the way I'm going to do this check in is as you answer my little provocation there, I will not speak. Someone else will pick it up. Someone else will pick up what you said. So, for example, if you start this one off, Colleen, you'll hand it off to Julie, and everybody has to be listening because the expectation is that you will extend, expand, build upon the words. So back to my provocation. And I'll start with you, Colleen. So what is one thing that you find your. That you do that you find useful to quiet your self talk when you walk into a meeting, either one on one or one on many?

I think one thing that I found most useful is to quiet myself, is when something surfaces in my mind, I write it down. If I can write it down, I can release it. Then I can bring myself back to be present. And I'm in.

Hand off to someone else, please, Dinesha.

Thanks, Colleen. One thing that I do, I also write things down, write things down during the meeting. But the other thing is I also tend to, prior to the meeting, just take a deep breath and make sure that I can calm. That's one way that I kind of calm my inner thoughts, is to take a deep breath and be present so that I am prepared to listen and hear and be engaged. And I'm in. And I'm going to hand it off to Nicole.

Thank you, Dinesha. I think I love what both of you have said so far. I do similar things, like writing the things down or as they pop up for me, just a little note for myself. So I ensure that I'm not worried about forgetting about whatever came into my mind. And then I love what you said, Danisha, about really taking a deep breath between meetings to center yourself and come back to what you're really there for. And for me, I love to set an intention for the meeting that I'm stepping into. Like what is. What is my personal intention for coming into this space? Whether it's like Colleen was saying earlier, her intent is to have fun when she gets out there on the golf course. Is my intent to learn something or share something or bring something to the table? That idea or that practice of setting the personal intention really keeps me from getting distracted in a meeting. And I'M in. And I will pass to Vince.

Okay, so I liked what everyone said. Nicole, if I can build upon what you said, you like to go into meetings with intent. Now I like to write too, but I'm a little lazy, so I'm not as good and intentional as writing things down. But I do find it is important for me to understand the purpose and intent of the meeting. Because if it's something I feel very strongly about before I go into the environment, I want to know what the topic, what the subject, because then I can have my own self talk and I can say, Vince, you feel very strongly about this. So be quiet, listen to what everyone has to say, be non judgmental so that we can get to the ultimate right answer. And if I'm not honest with myself, knowing that I have very strong feelings about certain subject matters, then I'm at risk at going into the meeting and jeopardizing sabotaging the meeting. So I have to have self awareness of my personality and what things I feel very strongly about. And so that very intentional active engagement that you spoke about, Nicole, is something that I do focus on. I just take it to a very personal level because I understand I have things that will push me over the cliff. And with that, I am in and I will gladly hand off to my colleague Julie.

Thanks, Vince. I do everything that everyone's suggesting. And the other idea that I would place on the table is I enjoy timing conversations and timing the meeting. That helps me stay focused and quiets my mind because I'm ensuring, I'm tracking everyone is getting their voice heard. So we're surfacing the wisdom in the room and we lay that intention out in the beginning of the meeting to say everyone will have about two minutes to speak or turn and talk to your partner and we'll call on a few people. So that intention of ensuring that everyone's engaged and sort of keeping it running smoothly and effectively and efficiently helps me keep my mind quiet and engaged in listening to what others have to say. And I'll pass it back to Ray.

Are you in?

And I'm in.

So this was just magnificent. You modeled exactly what it can look like. And if I had a group of 100, I would have put them in groups of four and let them check in with each other. Sometimes standings, if it's virtual, we just do breakouts. Nicole has taught me how to do breakout rooms and things like that. This was really great. Notice what we've done. We've talked about personal mastery, how we suspend things so we can Be vulnerable enough to learn different methods for doing that. And how do I create my own personal learning container when I step into a space? I mean, we couldn't have written a better book than what my colleagues have shared with you today. You guys were absolutely stunning. So we are done. I urge all of you that are listening to take a couple of minutes when this is over, and if you're in a car, pull over to the side and reflect on what did you take from this? What was your biggest learning? What resonated most for you? And actually, I'm going to let them model that for you as a checkout. And notice they said, I'm in. It's a ritual we teach ourselves and we teach all of our clients. When you check in, you say, I'm in. The end of the meeting, you say, I'm out. It is a ritual that makes people pay attention to each of the human beings that's speaking because they will build upon one another's ideas. So let's do a checkout. What actually, and there's so many good ways to do this. The one I'm going to do right now. What is one idea that you learned today? Remember, learning has changed. So what is something you learned today that wasn't in you before you started this, this very short half hour meeting together? What is something that you have learned today? Dinesha, why don't you start us off?

I will say something that I've learned today. Julie shared about just what you just talked about with timing meetings and timing all conversations. So I've not always done that. And so that's something that I'm really going to take away and put into practice. So with that, I'm out, and I'll pass it on to Colleen.

Thank you so much, Denisha. I appreciate it. And I think one of the things, perhaps it's a good reminder, a good reminder is what Vince just shared, really ensuring that you understand what is the purpose of the meeting and what are the desired outcomes before you show up. I think that's really critical and a great reminder. That way, you know how best to prepare, and it really level sets the expectations of what are you going to achieve in that particular conversation? And I'm out. And I'm going to pass it over to my buddy Vince.

Well, thank you, Colleen. So I think my biggest takeaway was just the ability to ensure that you get all the voices in the room. You know, we talk about these things, but as we've talked today, it has just been a refreshing reminder of those things. That are important. And to me, learning is about knowing things and hearing them over and over again. It reinforces and helps you to reinforce the techniques. And so from all of my colleagues, I learned things that already knew, but it just reinforced the importance of. Of engaging in a very intentional manner the techniques that we use to kind of continue to enhance our individual ability and to enhance the team. And with that, I'm going to pass to my colleague Nicole, and I am out.

One of the things that really resonated for me and I learned today is when I think about this learning container, the edges of that container, and Ray, you just reminded me, if one is the intention that I spoke about earlier, the other piece is the reflection. So really closing out that container in a way that is I'm setting the intention and I'm actually reflecting afterwards to round out that learning experience. So that was what really resonated for me today. And I'm out. And I will pass to Julie.

The thing that I was reminded of today was actually what Danisha shared earlier about the breath. And I was working with a Navy command in Japan and we were talking about that what would happen if you actually started your meeting by having everyone take three deep breaths together. And it just sets that intention of quieting your mind, that cognitive noise from running from one meeting to another. It helps you get present, it helps you establish that intention of, I'm here to learn what's the goal? And I'm ready. So that's the one thing that I was reminded of and I'm going to start to do that more often. I'm excited for that. And I'm out. And I pass it back to Ray.

Yeah, so mine, what I said, none of you said this to me, but as I'm listening to the team, I remembered my dialogue trainer, the woman that coached me in dialogue, which then turned into learning conversations. And she said, ray, you're just too interested in talking and telling people what you think about. You need to cut that out. Because that is cognitive noise. And if you're too worried about saying what's on your mind, you're not listening to anybody. That still stays with me. And you all reminded me of that today. And so I'm out from this part. And let me say to the audience, thank you so much for being with us today. If you want to hear more, learn more, find out more about all of us, learn more hidden secrets about the team. Go to go. Have a great day. Thank you for being with us. Sincerest thanks for listening to this episode of the Everyday Leadership Conversations Podcast, the Jorgensen Learning center offers a variety of programs for individuals and organizations to enhance their communication and leadership skills. To find out more about programs and upcoming webinars, check out our events page@gojlc.com.