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Written by Ray Jorgensen, Ph.D.
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The JLC team enjoyed a recent weekend retreat with Peter Senge at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Two retired AT&T leaders joined Peter in the activity facilitation, Lorri Lizzo and Michael Marlowe. The event focused on “Presencing” as as a label or pointer toward the experience of “presencing.” In an effort to illustrate “presencing” all participants were asked to find times when they observed a performance, motion picture, athletics competition and the like where the people engaged slipped “into the zone.” One such story was told about a young teacher, with some athleticism, but few basketball skills at a student-faculty game. The young teacher slipped into a zone and for about 8-10 minutes hit every shot he took. Others on the team fed him the ball and he made himself available for the passes. He was flowing with the team. He simultaneously was focused on scoring but aware of those in the periphery on defense and those ready to pass him the ball. His “presence’ enabled him to shut out the noise of the packed gym cheering wildly and to find the spot on the floor most advantageous for his next shot. Regardless of difficulty or distance, this young man was unstoppable. After a time time out, it was if someone threw the proverbial switch and the zone evaporated. I’m sure many of you can find times when this happened personally or when this “zone” was observed. Musicians experience the same phenomenon when the orchestra, ensemble or group seems to slip into a zone where the music unfolds seamlessly and sometimes surprisingly. Teams enjoined in learning have the same opportunities at meetings, where the individual, by practicing a learning discipline, joins with the collective and creates. Sometimes, the discipline of “listening for Understanding” enables and individual to truly focus on understanding the speaker and simultaneously be aware of the periphery. I’d like to invite you to notice your personal next frontier in developing your“Listening for Understanding” practice. Practitioners can do this during almost any interaction; even your next interactive snippet provides an opportunity to “Listen for Understanding”, notice your level of focus and to return to the discipline regardless of “mind drift.” This effort can be very intentional; simply notice your engagement and look to deepen your practice. As always, feedback is appreciated. Let us know how you have described your new frontier in Listening and how you are moving your practice forward. Stumbles are as important as successes in the learning process. Keep in mind our JLC mantra that “Learning is a thinking and doing process.” Happy listening to all.
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