Saturday, September 26, 2009

Experiment!

I ran into a friend today, on her way home from a conference on the subject of Leadership.
She was inspired!
It was held at a local university, starting early on a Saturday morning.
"It was ridiculous," she yawned. "At least they had coffee for us when we got there."
They had to don white jumpsuits, of the kind one would wear if they were painting a house. Their morning keynote was psyched out at first, cracking jokes about Heaven's Gate.
She said that her mind kept wandering, and she was having trouble focusing. The guy was amusing, and had some knowledge to share, but she was somewhat thrown off by the scene.
"Costumes," she said. "...are meant for parties."
So, after the speaker let out for breakfast break, she stepped outside for a walk.
A man letting his dog out by the park was startled at the briskly walking bodysuit, joint puffing away, her ridiculous orange hair bobbing on top.
"I think he thought I was a huge joint, I was afraid I'd be followed..."
So she returned to the conference and sat down to a talk on Group Dynamics.
"Did you notice any patterns of behaviour? Any...stages?"
She explained the five stages of group development (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning), and the nine types of roles one finds blended into groups.
"My favorite is the Gatekeeper, " she said, by now sipping steamy chai with me, out of the rain.
The Gatekeeper set up boundaries, inviting people and getting things started.
"I like that. It inspires me."
She wants to conduct an experiment.
"The instructors told us about some personality tests, like True Colours, or the Myers-Briggs test, that would provide, you know, insight," into our personalities. She wanted to get people to check out what they're look stone sober, and then get them baked and do it all over again.
"We could all meet and do it one day, break to the park and have a Critical Sesh!, and then go back and check-ourselves out! Like, doesn't it just make you want to know if there's a difference?"

No comments:

Post a Comment