The Gap comes in many shapes and sizes. Edgewalkers see through The Gaps’ disguises. Our success in journeying with the planners, bureaucrats, parents, children, addicts, and others, is based on our intention to seek our grounding on a daily basis—at the beginning of the day and throughout the day.
EdgeWalkers Posts
Friends, we are called to a purpose unique in every way. Leadership is the way of Edgewalkers. We are first listeners and learners. Then we practice and teach, then we let go of what we know. But we never stop, because this cycle is critical to our way of existence. We never stop seeking the outer reaches. We never stop learning. This is our way; this is the way of Edgewalkers.
Friends, fellow Edgewalkers, we are called to exist in the liminal spaces of the in-between, beyond policies and logic… The challenge we must reckon with is that not everyone can fill this space, but it is a space that must nevertheless be filled. So, if we who have been gifted with our abilities do not remain here in this battlefield, then I ask you: where will we go, to what end, and who will take our place?
Planned or forced sabbatical? The choice is yours. But one thing I have learned over these past months is this – you are likely going to experience one or the other. So, I ask you, will you allow an unplanned sabbatical be thrust upon you, or will you take matters into your own hands to take a sabbatical in a healthy, planned way.
It is important to remember that we are all experiencing certain amounts of stress and anxiety, normal or problematic. It is a natural part of living. No matter our place in the organization, there are no exceptions. The difference lies in how we cope with anxiety and stress.
The search for wellness and satisfaction often seems like a great struggle. Along the journey many will walk away or resign from trying. The Great Resignation is the result of multitudes of people who are searching. Resignation might be the best thing that they could do for themselves. Leaving forces change to happen.
Edgewalkers, we are in the business of following our vocations. This is one of the qualities of an Edgewalker. Vocational practice drives what we do and how we do it, and it comes from who we are as created beings. Let’s find our passions and our vocations, and let’s live them out together!
There, in the forests of northern British Columbia, we had an opportunity to practice the ancient tradition of dialoguing with nature, listening to the trees, and reconnecting with the Creator. But the opportunity was lost because of the expectations. We were trapped in a world of expectations to live up to instead of the opportunities we could live into.
So here I am, suspended in the darkness, disconnected. In leaving and letting go of my old workplace and colleagues, I feel loss, sadness and a sense of uncertainty at what is to come. This is the nature of liminal space. This is not my first journey into the liminal. I also know that if you are reading this you are also no stranger to liminal space.
More than ever, we need codes of conduct that not only make sense, but can also respond to our ferociously shifting environments. We need to take our codes of conduct out from behind the glass frames and team building workshops and see these charters as living documents, alive in the people who built them.
As an Edgewalker, the events unfolding in Cowessess and other First Nations communities across the landscape in these days remind me that I must continue to grow. It is time once again, for me, for all of us, to shed our skin in order to make room for more. More wisdom, knowledge, understanding, compassion and willingness to stand with my friends and colleagues who have been grieving for far too long.
Now is the time to embrace our leadership practices and support each other in our leadership journeys. Now is the time for us to define together what change looks like. Now is the time for us to define the new normal.
If you hang around with me long enough, you will hear me say that who I am is more important than what I do. On my way to this foundational belief, I had to deal with the existential crisis of who I really am.
As we figure out the simple yet complex concepts of diversity and inclusion, our organization is changing. I believe that diversity and inclusion are the key to effective organizational change.
There is nothing like a crisis of pandemic proportion to break us out of our comfort zones. It is as though the entire earth shook, and everything had to change. Patterns that we thought worked for years had to be disrupted in order to keep relative forward mobility. The result was unblazed trails across the landscape, like rivulets that had been shaken from the riverbed, forced to forge a new path.
We all have ropes in our lives. Most of the time, these ropes are quite trustworthy. When things are going well, the ropes can help us glide through calm waters with ease. But can we trust these ropes to be lifelines when the going gets tough? Is holding onto just any rope going to get us through a wipe out?
“…as Edgewalkers we are already in the habit of sidestepping barriers as a part of how we are wired. But when it comes to personal fears, it seems like the rules can sometimes change. Fears that we encounter at a personal level haunt us in ways that professional fears never could. But they have a way of trickling into every other part of our lives.”
I propose that we are on the edge of something spectacular. We are about to step onto the threshold into new possibilities and potentials. We are indeed on the threshold to greatness. But to get there, we need to step forward.
If you hang around with me long enough, you will hear me talk about leaders who I would follow into battle, and those who I would not. I have served under plenty of both kinds, which has given me a good sense of the kind of leader I would like to be someday.
Individuals who experience radical change in their own development transfer radical change ideas to the community, which transfers radical change ideas to organizations. The result is lasting transformation.
“Vision” is a concept necessarily understood and built upon values – mine first, and then those of the organization. Why? Because anyone can learn how to build a strategic plan. But personal vision is something that we might completely overlook in the process.
“…be a good listener. The best ideas I’ve ever received have always been within earshot if I shut my mouth and listen for a while.”
Authenticity and integrity live at an Edgewalker’s core, serving as the foundation upon which all other actions originate.
The key to servant leadership is to remove the conflict that may exist between ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ from our line of site and focus completely on the inner journey.
During my time with the National Managers’ Community (NMC), I was surrounded by incredible leaders. No matter what their title or position; whether they were public servants, executive coaches, or professional public speakers, they all shared one thing in common that made them incredible – they all practiced leadership….