This week is a real milestone, it marks the half way point in my working out loud circle experience. The weeks have flown by and it is amazing how many moments of synchronicity have happened during the last few weeks.
Here are my reflections:
It is amazing how quickly you can build deep relationships with your fellow circle
We only have 1hrs of face to face virtual contact a week but the commitment from the group to support and help each other is enough to leave me feeling incredibly supported. This is particularly important when you’re taking risks, or moving out of your comfort zone to achieve your goals. Thank you Circle A for being so awesome.
I’ve found some of the tasks harder than I would have thought
It is no secret that I’m an over sharer, I’m quite comfortable living my life out through social media and sharing a lot of myself. However I found the week 5 exercise ’50 facts about you’ quite difficult. There are lots of things I could share about myself but how much do I share? how deep I delve into myself to let others know and understand me? Within my circle I’ve shared my 50 facts about me, I’m not sure it is content for the big wide world. And that is OK, I don’t have to share everything publicly but it has surprised me how the exercise has played out.
How much of your WOL journey should be public and private?
I’ve wresteled with this a lot over the last couple of weeks. By definition working out loud means you are sharing, you’re being open. But how much of your experience is helpful within the privacy of the circle and how much do I share on my blog and through social media. My solution is a hybrid. I’m sharing reflections (here on this blog) I’m sharing breakthroughs as they happen on twitter, in my WOL community on Workplace by Facbook and in the WOL facebook community. So far it seems to be working.
Everyone is reading Design Your Life
It is funny how a book seems to be on everyone’s reading list. My circle introduced me to the book, I ordered it and read a few pages. I can see how it might help with my goal so I am working through it slowly. Kathryn Everest is on my list and when I caught up with her I mentioned the book, she is also reading it, as is another friend of ours. We’ve now formed a book club. I’ve since told some colleagues about the book and they are also planning on reading it. The jury is out on whether it will help me but I’ve found the Workview and Lifeview reflections very helpful.
I’m very excited about introducing WOL Circles into my workplace
I knew I needed to experience a WOL circle before I could even consider introducing the concept to Pearson. But I’m already seeing how WOL would work and provide us with a huge opportunity. I met with John Stepper (swoon) this week and we discussed how he’s been working with other organisations. I think the most exciting thing about this is that John’s approach allows practioners or advocates for WOL to experiment, there is no pressure, the resources are freely available so you can proof test and gather evidence of the impact it can have before engaging more deeply. Over the coming weeks I plan to seek out folks who’ve introduced WOL in their workplace and think about how I will run a pilot and with who.
My WOL journey continues, here is to the next 6 weeks…