COCOONERS - Making It Happen - No 7, October 2019

Cocooners - n° 7 - October 2019
Cocooners - n° 7 - October 2019
WHAT’S UP
We accept that change is one of the few constants
today, and we try to live in that uncertainty every
day. We’re looking for new organizational models,
generating internal transformation processes,
and we need to innovate. The bottom line is now also measured in
terms of human “capital”; we see happiness as a mantra to save us
from an uncertain future thanks to quasi-magical tools.
What are these “tools”? In many cases, leaders find themselves
forced to improve “soft skills” and learn how to “manage” people.
They must “motivate” their teams to ensure workers are satisfied,
are “committed”, and give high marks on work environment
surveys. Most of all, they need to make sure they meet their goals.
I’ve seen that situation in many organizations; all it does is create
stress and frustration without causing any deep evolution.
People no longer settle for a contract that provides security in
exchange for renouncing their freedom. Times have changed, as
have needs. We need to exercise our freedom to choose the future,
and to lead ourselves.
We need a different perspective: leaders who can live without the
“illusion” of control, who are not bottlenecks to emerging talent,
who share leadership and see the complexity of the human system
they live in as a sign of wealth. They must be able to create spaces
where open communication and transparency thrive, to practice
what they preach, to push the system forward and create emotionally
healthy environments.
We need leaders with appreciative insight who are inspiring,
IÑAKI PÉREZ
HERREROS
capable of reading the patterns coming up in
the system; who open, not close. They must
promote that natural leadership that arises
from the innate energy of human systems,
and not see leadership as a position of power.
We need resilient leaders who intend to be
ephemeral.
Last year I facilitated a small workshop while blindfolded.
I was totally immersed in blackness. At first, it was very
hard. Have you ever done this?
A few seconds to settle in and the game started. I gave the team
two minutes to complete an exercise, knowing that while I
couldn’t see a timer, I could certainly count to 120. I focused on
that. But something went wrong somewhere around 12 and again
at 30. My plan had failed, and I had no other strategy. I felt afraid. I
had lost contact with the room and had no awareness of what was
happening around me. Was the team conscious of my uncertainty?
Were they working?
Switching off my thinking brain, I started trying to receive feedback
from the room. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I felt this:
all my other non-visual senses expanded their reach. I touched
the air, which was full of energy and concentration. I heard the
scratching of pens on paper and the rhythm of breathing in the
room. I couldn’t see if they were aware of my fear, but I could tell
they were working and they were fine. The signals I received told
me that.
I focused my attention on those perceptions and everything
became easier. When the last pen was writing the last word, I knew
it was the last one, beautiful. Silence fell and the energy in the
room changed. I asked them, “Are you ready? Can we go on?” And
they answered sincerely, “Yes, we can.” I don’t know how much
time the exercise took, but I like to think it was the right amount.
I came to understand that while it’s good to have a plan, you need
LAURA
BOLLETTA
to be ready to change it. And if experience and
skill help you better manage the change, then
sensing the environment around you helps
you to understand when and how.
Full listening is what we need to train.
I believe in it.
Mistakes are the essence of learning. When we
make new experiences and acquire competences,
we inevitably make mistakes.
As a father to a 12 year-old daughter who loves to experiment and
be autonomous in what she does, I always try to teach her that
failure is part of the process and that If you face new challenges,
inevitably, you will make some mistakes, but these are learning
opportunities and not something one should try to avoid.
As a designer, I try to have the same mindset when working on my
projects. In a design-driven culture you should learn from both
success and failure and build on what you have learnt. Accepting
that failure will sometimes occur in difficult environments can
help you manage uncertainty. Rather than failures, these situations
can be considered as opportunities to grow.
However, in my experience, many companies and organizations
are biased towards failure and do not make enough effort to deal
with it. Often, they are not designed to manage, allow, and learn
from failure. If you want to innovate and strive for excellence you
should be comfortable with the idea of failure, as it can be an
engine for growth and innovation.
Of course, I’m not saying that failure is by itself a good thing.
Obviously, failing is not always helpful, and sometimes it should
be avoided at all costs, but if you embrace learning, you will
become less afraid of making mistakes, and you will be able to
GUIDO
MARTINI
COCOON LABS
4 ACTIVE LABS
21 PEOPLE INVOLVED
3 COUNTRIES INVOLVED
TALKING ABOUT US
WORKSHOP 4: LEADING
BY RESONANCE
open up to innovation opportunities.
Therefore, as a designer I try to foster this
culture, a culture where organizations
can become safe learning environments,
where learning from failure is responsibly
embraced.
More and more I’m discovering how important stories
are for all of us.
Stories help us make decisions about what to believe
and give us the energy and passion we need to act
in the world. Until I started experimenting directly the Lego Serious
Play methodology, Rory’s Story Cubes, the Dixit cards, the CORE²
tool, the Warm Data Lab, and many others, that power wasn’t available
to me.
SOME OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2019
Everyone needs to form an idea of what the world around us
contains, so from the time we are very very young we start to tell
and listen to stories and to give a sense to our existence.
Through small and big stories, close and far stories, real and dream
stories, we learn how to live, who we want to be, what we like and
dislike. At the same time we start discovering a sort of life scripts,
things people expect from us. And this script may be very dangerous
because it can enclose us in a rigid shape.
Now look at that from another point of view. Imagine if we started
to contribute to building amazing stories that can inspire others,
think about how powerful that could be.
Yes, each of us today has the responsibility to participate in creating
a better version of ourselves and of the context in which we are
immersed. We can change people’s lives with our model. We can do
it living day by day with this awareness in mind. We have the possibility
to shape new scripts that could lead the new generations, men
CLAUDIA
PELLICORI
CREATION SPACES
6 X-COURSES IN PLACE
4 WORKING LSP HUBS
1 OHANA MEETUP IN BARCELONA
ABANCA INNOVA ON
LIQUID ORGANISATION
and women out of their comfort zone, out of
the traditional ways, in a new flow of beautiful
possibilities. People and enterprises need a new
model with which to interpret the world.
Our own lives can be in service to the world, our
work can be seen through Khalil Gibran’s words
“Work is love made visible”. So, which stories do
you want to contribute telling?
CP OPEN GOVERNANCE
9 NEW CONTRIBUTORS
10 PEOPLE SHIFTS
5 COUNTRIES INVOLVED
AN INTERVIEW WITH
ALESSANDRA
2
3