Mark your calendars! May 24 is Bring Yourself to Work Day.
I’m pleased to be a part of this event, initiated by David and Amy Schmaltz. David is the author of The Blind Man and the Elephant: Mastering Project Work and Amy is the author of Taming Wicked Projects. Together, they are renegade thought-leaders who aim to change how projects and project management are done inside companies, actually taking into account how human beings behave and the complex and organic nature of systems. (Imagine that!)
Bring Yourself to Work Day promotes and encourages individuals to embrace The Five Freedoms from Virginia Satir:
I particularly like David and Amy’s point about these Five Freedoms: "…actions that anyone can take without anyone’s permission…" To practice the Five Freedoms is to find our own power, in a place where many people often feel powerless. And in the process, create workplaces where honest dialogue is the norm.
David and Amy have included a set of exercises for anyone to try out the Five Freedoms on the event’s blog,
BTW–I had forgotten that several years ago, I had written a review on Amazon of David’s book. Here it is, in case you are interested in buying the book:
The Blind Men and The Elephant: Mastering Project Work is the merging of the "finding meaningful work" movement and the nuts and bolts of the workplace. As a former engineer, having worked on many projects, I can appreciate this new perspective of finding a project within a project. How many times have we been on projects where our hearts and souls were someplace else?
Schmaltz has found a way to bring the spiritual domain into the technical domain–through project work. He shows that the work is not just a series of tasks and fire drills, but rather part of each person’s journey in answering the question, "What do you want?" His ideas on using projects to do this puts the topic squarely in the heart of the workplace.
There are other powerful themes that Schmaltz brings out–how community is part of our own hunger and nature, the power of not knowing,and the limitations that we impose on ourselves through our beliefs and mental models. All this, and more, comes out clearly with real-life stories that the reader can resonate with. "The Blind Men and the Elephant" will awaken you to the illusion that each of us has succumbed to in our workplaces and turn the illusion into purposeful living.