How I Work

The core of my work is helping people come into better alignment with purpose, both individually, and in communities and organizations.

Alignment

By alignment, I mean being true to purpose — to what is most authentic and most alive. It is as if your purpose is a magnet, and all the elements of your life are iron filings. When you are not connected to purpose, the elements of your life move this way and that. Bring purpose into the picture, and every element lines up the way iron filings form clear patterns around a magnet. There is coherence, and beauty and effectiveness.

Listening

Coming more into alignment involves listening. I pay close attention to your stated purpose — honouring what you want to create or change. I also listen for your deeper purpose and mirror back what I’m hearing.

A key discipline in my work is non-attachment. I’m not pushing my agenda, but listening for what wants to come through. I could whip something up but that wouldn’t have any sustained benefit. It might feel good. You might like it, it might be pizzazzy, but it does not build your capacity or create alignment.

Clarifying principles

How we do things is as important as what we do. What principles are integral to your purpose? When you line up purpose and principles, there is a coherence between the what, the why, and the how of your work. You stand in “choiceless choice”. And living up to your principles is both its own reward and a magnet for great people, partners and possibilities.

Calling forth

Once the purpose, principles and scope are clear, I see my work as calling forth the latent capacities and hidden gifts needed for the purpose. Everything needed is in the individual or in the system. This means my main work becomes inviting, linking, networking, brokering and bridging. I am part midwife, part matchmaker.

Often it takes only a bit of information, or money, or expertise to help magic happen. Without the missing ingredients, much less happens. The art is to see how little needs to be added to get balls rolling in a way that generates ongoing momentum.

Building capacity

I always aim to leave individuals and systems more self aware and more resilient. This includes opening space for people and groups to reflect on their own process, by asking questions like What worked? What was tricky? What might you do differently another time? I also often introduce people to simple inner work tools.

Walking my talk

I use myself like an instrument to create space for people to work in. If people want to move to the next level, I challenge myself to move to the next level. If letting go of old hurts is needed, I find those places in myself and do the work to be able to move on. If taking risks is the order of the day, I take risks personally, the better to prime the pump for the system I’m working with. To facilitate change with integrity, I endeavor to always be on my growing edge so am able to hold space for others to do the same.