As senior leaders we want to focus on the key conversations to have with ourselves, our leadership team, teams and our organizations around change and AI. 

What are the essential three conversations to have? We will explore this topic. 

Martin discusses the role of a leader as a change champion during a time of change, such as the introduction of AI. He emphasizes the importance of retrospection and self-examination in understanding how leaders and organizations respond to new technologies. He suggests that leaders should reevaluate their belief systems around new tech, especially AI, as it may not follow the normal hype cycles of older technologies. He also encourages leaders to create a culture of engagement and safe spaces for open, growth-based conversations.

In response to a question about whether it's correct to approach AI with a system geared towards yesterday's enterprise, Martin asserts that yesterday's enterprises need to update themselves to stay competitive and take advantage of new opportunities.

Martin then discusses the importance of an organization's culture in challenging leaders. He emphasizes the need for an environment open to challenging and being challenged, and for leaders to model being challenged. He also highlights the importance of having a diverse set of perspectives and developing narratives through storytelling and reflective listening.

Martin also talks about the role of leaders in guiding decisions based on context, understanding, and responsibilities for outcomes. He stresses the importance of supporting people through the losses that come with change and offering opportunities for relearning to those who show the capacity to adapt.

In the third conversation, Martin talks about the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in the face of AI's potential to change current and future paradigms. He suggests promoting experimentation and scaling successful insights to deliver more significant, holistic solutions.

Finally, Martin discusses how to get started with these conversations and the leader's role as the champion of adaptive change. He offers various tools, workshops, and techniques to support leaders in this role. 

About this event - LinkedIn Audio Event - (link)

As a leader, what are some of the complex challenges you face? Is there a mindset or practice change that would make a fundamental shift in the value your team delivers? Do you want to evolve the quality of the holding space with your team? Would you benefit together from more meaningful and challenging conversations?

In an era marked by rapid change and growing complexity, the role of teams is more pivotal than ever. But what does it mean for a team to be adaptive and conscious? How can leaders guide their teams to evolve in a way that not only meets the demands of today but fosters resilience, creativity, and innovation for the future?

Join Martin West, a guide to evolving adaptive conscious teams, in this live audio event, as we explore the essence of adaptive conscious teams and what we can learn as part of this journey.

What You'll Discover:

Understanding Adaptive Conscious Teams: Delve into what it means for teams to be adaptive and conscious and why such a shift could benefit your team

The Evolutionary Process: Explore the steps that leaders and teams must take to evolve consciously, adapt to changes, and co-create solutions.

Practical Insights: Learn actionable strategies to foster a culture that emphasizes empathy, collaboration, continuous learning, and innovation.

Real-world Examples: Benefit from case studies and insights from research and Martin’s experience with various organizations, highlighting successes, challenges, and lessons learned.

The structure of Martin’s 20 minute talk:
- The Need for Adaptive Conscious Teams (ACTs)
- The Principles of Adaptive Conscious Teams
- The Role of Leadership in culture change
- Cultivating Quality Holding Spaces for Adaptability

Who Should Attend?

Leaders and Managers: Those who are steering teams and looking for innovative ways to enhance collaboration, creativity, and adaptability.

HR Professionals: Individuals involved in people development and looking to create a supportive environment for growth and transformation.

Team Members: Anyone who is part of a team and wants to understand how to contribute to an adaptive and conscious working environment.

Entrepreneurs and Business Owners: Those leading their organizations and keen to implement strategies that foster agile, resilient, and engaged teams.

Why Attend?

Join this discussion to deepen meaningful conversations within your team, share your insights, and explore the benefits of co-evolving together. You'll gain valuable insights and practical tools to evolve your team's dynamics. Whether you're a seasoned leader or an emerging talent, this session will inspire you to think differently about team collaboration and leadership, equipping you to start your journey towards adaptive conscious teams.

Registration: Secure your spot today. Be part of the movement towards adaptive conscious leadership, and start your learning journey today. See you there! 

We are pleased to welcome Charly Cox of Climate Change Coaches to the Agility Narratives, where she joins us to talk about her personal journey as an advocate of climate coaching, and her book - a first on Climate Coaching in the world - “Climate Change Coaching: The Power of Connection to Create Climate Action”.

Charly is impassioned by storytelling and the desire to help others reposition their narratives. Today, she leads by holding space for coaching conversations on climate grounded in social justice, which is now building a global movement. Those involved help people see a different story about Climate Change, a human problem with a human solution, and not just something to do with trees, polar bears, deserts, and other beings in the natural environment that we care for. 

Charly’s narrative started with working for a global organization. This led to seven years of work in West Africa, where she started the first Photography business. In this podcast, we learn that Scarcity was a key element in her awakening to climate issues, as it was the core issue in the conflict at hand. In her work, she learnt that Scarcity has a cousin, Overwhelm; both are, and always have been, clearly present in individual and team conversations on climate.

We found this conversation heartfelt and very timely in light of the natural disasters that are increasingly being experienced around the world. It sparks curiosity about being in the present moment, opening oneself up to love about the planet, and being given the opportunity to reflect on what we might begin to feel as the climate crisis is deepening. This makes for an hour of awe. Enjoy!

Find out more about Charly and Climate Change Coaches at About Us - Climate Change Coaches. Want to learn more about the co-hosts - Martin's LinkedIn Profile and Janet's LinkedIn profile

See full notes at https://theagilitynarratives.buzzsprout.com/ 

1:38 - Charly's journey to Sierra Leone, retraining as a photographer, story-telling and becoming a social entrepreneur

9:31 - Scarcity has a cousin, overwhelm. Together they create inertia.

12:34 - The challenge with people feeling disempowered, and therefore not taking action.

13:44 - How does individual action contribute to systems change?

14:42 - We need to have a good relationship with the problem.

15:32 - Not sounding guilty or angry, but rather owning how worried we are

15:48 - We can move like a shoal of fish; we can shift systems.

18:30 - If you don't listen to voices of dissent, people break things in the change process.

21:49 - Being with uncertainty.

23:44 - One of the challenges for organizations is not slowing down enough.

25:13 - Feeling safe.

26:14 - Listening brings magic. 

28:17 - Spirit of the magic of collaboration, rather than control. 

32:46 - We have no idea of the impact of our actions.

35:16 - Culture Shift - an imaginative leap is involved.

36:36 - There is an arc that teams go through… and then the ideas come... 

41:39 - Bridge building

42:07 - The role of love 

44:05 - Sitting in the grief 

46:53 - It is very easy to be angry. 

47:40 - It's not a niche thing over there.

53:06 - Villianising is not the solution.

54:17 - Humanity is at risk.

59:43 - Charly’s call to action.

Thanks Liz. In this podcast, you helped us embrace a world that is changing. You've introduced us to a tool, the Enneagram, a very ancient tool that helps us develop personal insight to our defenses and our essential selves. It is a slow burn which takes time, as people doing personal work create deeper connections and relationships with themselves as well as others.

You led us into a secret, which is yes, we can also learn about and empathize with others' natural patterns. While it is discouraged to type others, people learning the enneagram sometimes see things about another, great things not known before, and some of the things that have been bugging them for a while. And when they understand the natural defense mechanism behind those behaviours, they are more able to understand and empathize. 

Liz describes the journey of discovering that the Enneagram is a portal to learning more about oneself, to learn about one’s internal self. In this journey, there are all kinds of ways to approach that. It's a circle, with a nine point perspective on the world. And there are all kinds of lines that connect us all together. As we dive deeper into it, we can each reach our full potential, which is important for individual and organizational agility. 

Dive into the Enneagram - seek out the Enneagram Narrative - Learn more about Liz West at https://enneagramtraining.co.uk/who-we-are/. If you are looking for a book, search for Beatrice Chestnut. Check out her channel and the type panels on youtube.com.

Want to learn more about the co-hosts? Visit Martin's LinkedIn Profile and Janet's LinkedIn profile to know more about them, and what they do. 

00 - Welcome to The Agility Narratives Podcast
0:42 - Liz's personal journey - was introduced to the Enneagram during a personal tragedy and it provides an anchor for navigation
02:59 - Earlier leadership work

05:47 - What is the Enneagram?
08:15 - What is it about the Enneagram that links us into learning about our inner part of ourselves?
09:45 - What is it that aligns the Enneagram to be an agent of change?

13:10 - So in your application of the Enneagram, as you work with organizations and change, who is the protagonist?
16:23 - You've chosen the narrative tradition of the Enneagram. Why that choice?
19:10 - Liz's journey with personal growth with the Enneagram

22:11 - A description of a client situation with the earlier stages of a journey
24:26 - The challenge with adopting the Enneagram in organizations
26:27 - The inner work - the journey to become your true self - to live from your essential self - understanding the head, the heart, and the gut

37:45 - What does it take to move beyond where we are today?
38:42 - Excited to see how this knowledge can help them with relationships
39:37 - Some types find it difficult to take it on

41:34 - The Enneagram is a three-fold journey - the psychological, the somatic, and the spiritual. Liz outlines working with these three elements
44:00 - Building awareness and commitment to overcoming traits and behaviours that hurt others and themselves. They work on their relationships... and see its impacts
44:40 - What is lost if this challenge is not taken up? Emotional intelligence - why not invest in personal development?

47:03 - Liz's call to action - get involved with Enneagram, see how it benefits you.
50:25 - Developing relationships, and a community - of trust, understanding, sharing each other's joys and struggles
52:55 - About the learning journey of the enneagram and thank you

Kai Mosebach of Integral Works' personal journey starts with shadow work. He introduces:

• 03:44 the modules of Integral life practice: Shadow (unconscious), Mind (cognitive & trust), Body (emotions, life happens in your body), Spirit (mediation, observing your own system, states)
• 06:42 Integral theory - Ken Wilber initial story - All quadrants All lines (AQAL) of development

08:48 The Journey from shadow work to integral theory helped develop practices that changed his world view. He gained empathy to understand different types of people. 11:00 The Enneagram helped with a vertical shift in understanding. 12:32 Showing up. A good willed but probably a somewhat painful missionary. 14:17 understanding vertical versus horizontal development. 

15:38 Kai started to lead - own shadow groups and experiments in leadership. 19:11 reflecting on his first experience of scrum/agile in terms of integral colors and structures. 23:35 vertical or mindset shifts can't be taught, you have to experience it. 26:46 What is the right methodology for the team? Get dragged v hold spacing. 

31:06 Bring people into understanding - working with the heart, body and spirit. 35:21 Breakthrough moments - trust & opening and the team wanting it. 37:55 Who is the protagonist? Person who sees the pain and realizes the opportunity of development and is prepared to take that step - "It hurts more but it bothers you less" (Wilber)

39:51 The world is not the best world we can have. 41:49 You realize your theme over time - purpose - integral assessments and making development visible. 45:49 Measuring vertical development is an important step in building more effective happy teams. 46:58 Villains identified include i) Integral scene is cognitive and theoretical - it is meant to be lived ii) limited focus on shadow practice iii) perceptive on what is better...

49:17 Change and immunity - Robert Keagan - shadow work for business

50:46 Teal - bringing wholeness - structure and unconscious. 51:42 Is the framework holding space for itself or for the people? Gives ideas and structure Yet people are outside. 53:07 - Deliberately development organization DBO focuses on i) creating space, ii) shadow work and iii) it is centered on people

54:48 What is at stake here for your clients and for the industry to not take action? 56:21 Cultures and mindsets get built and our role in that. 59:13 What would be your call to action to a leadership team that feels stuck? 1:02:23 Integration of the five elements and Kai’s hope for the future, an unfolding universal v fights of conscious levels. Kai hopes that we realize the next steps. 1:04:23 The reality is each person, team, organizations and the world has to go through all development stages. All stages are good. 1:05:42 Three things to consider about vertical development. 1) explore it and out of this take action ii) Shadow - taking care of these is important (understand projection); iii) express emotion - such as understanding anger as a need for better system

1:08:22 Reflection on vertical development, what it means for agile implementation and this podcast. 1:11:22 - Substance & form - to see what has not been seen - placing people at the centre of development

1:12:08 Authenticity, a key message. 1:12:55 Structure has limited space for people. 1:15:00 Agility master (coach) & scrum master roles. 1:16:10 Wrap up & thanks

Kai - https://www.integralworks.ch/en/About-us.html
https://www.integralworks.ch/en/The-Modulator.html (view of methods across integral colours)
Theory of Everything Integral Business Spirituality - Ken Wilber
Immunity for change - Robert Kegan

Want to learn more about the co-hosts - Martin's LinkedIn Profile and Janet's LinkedIn profile

Klaus Nielson talks about his personal journey as a product manager, his passion for writing based on his need to understand. How scaling of Agile, and hybrid models of portfolio management is challenging. He talks about how he uses knowledge to solve these challenges. He sees agile portfolio management and the value management office as the next frontier. Be believes that the commercial methodologies will solve the missing element in the next 5 plus years.

As hosts, we engaged in a more spirited way in hosting Klaus's and the telling of his agility narrative. This may be a pattern that will evolve for future podcasts.

Enjoy - Klaus has great knowledge of this topic whether working at team, portfolio or organization level. I wonder whether it is the commercial engines of these methodologies that will solve the scaling challenge or will it be the customers?

Check out Klaus's book at Amazon or LinkedIn profile or company website.
Want to learn more about the co-hosts - Martin's LinkedIn Profile and Janet's LinkedIn profile

0:00 Welcome
0:48 Early part of Klaus journey
3:11 Klaus's experience with predictive product management
4:18 Introduction to Agile methods as part of predictive projects
5:16 Approach to Agile - Mindset, Lean, Foundational writing, tools, artifacts... trace it back to Agile Manifesto, Lean...
7:08 Initially it was Agile at team level, now it is about many teams, portfolios & transformation
8:03 Is it the structure or the mindset? Challenging of mindset change
9:22 Best practice, adoption of methods including portfolio management and going full hearted
11:02 What in SAFe is not having Agile portfolio management
11:56 Who is the protagonist in your agility narrative? Leaders as part of a top down implementation
13:21 Having the type of conversations prior to buying and adopting a methodology
14:24 Does Agile allow for experimentation at team levels? Or is it the structure?
15:54 Do you see Xscale as descaling or as another form of scaling?
16:33 Adopting pattern as an approach to adopting a methodology. Xscale and Disciplined Agile
18:30 Working with people and type of dialogues or the type of conversation that support the scale processes
19:50 Does the type of dialogue impact the end goal?
20:33 Acceptance of constraints outside a team's control
22:08 What needs to happen in the team to leadership conversations for that relationship to be more effective?
23:18 Klaus's theme of agility narrative
24:46 What is your calling in the agile world? A new one every day
25:50 What are the constraints to being able to respond effectively in your responsive adaptive approach?
26:47 What are the constraints that people in the value management office are facing?
28:06 How to manage leads us to key capabilities? And Attention to how we listen?
30:06 Professional judgement - tailoring of frameworks
31:22 What is at stake here? Life and death for an organization.
33:30 What is Klaus's call to action to our group of leaders?
35:12 Summary of Klaus's approach. From where you stand, what are the threats and opportunities you see?
37:53 How do you see us progressing over the next five years?
39:19 End and the Thank You's
39:35 Chatting about various topics

For more about Christopher Avery. Click here for The Responsibility Process®
A good place to connect with us is LinkedIn with Janet, and Martin
Thanks 
Please see chapter headings;
00:01:27 Driving question, why so many smart people are unhappy at work?
00:04:25 Back to studying, then working in consulting firm - creativity, entrepreneurship, culture building and worked working with IBM to build a team building program
00:06:17 The search for integrity
00:07:44 Christopher settled on shared responsibility as the space where individuals make this organic shift and come together as a team
00:09:38 The search for personal responsibility started... found research project with Christopher's mentor, Bill McCauley, and his mentor, Marshall Thurber.
00:10:37 Listening to narratives on why they were stuck and why they couldn't have what they wanted - They created the responsibility process
00:11:04 Team work is an individual skill
00:12:18 Many responsibility definitions - Capital R - Responsibility and its meaning - is owning your ability and power to create, choose and attract.
00:13:50 Agility's definition from responsibility is the "ability to change (adapt) without changing" (your identity)
00:15:33 The protagonist is the 3 or 5 year Christopher who wants to feel good and to be loved
00:16:29 Aspects of of the protagonist - a proposal of living life in reverse
00:18:25 Teaching on how fast can you get past good, bad, right, wrong as learned position abilities
00:20:15 Practical responsibility or extreme responsibility - levels of owning your ability and power to create, choose and attract
00:21:21 Profound role of the Law of Attraction and attraction patterns
00:23:06 Various thoughts have different vibrational frequencies, meta physical (beyond the physical) and biocentric design
00:24:59 The villain of ego, the upper and lower mind, Being anxiety driven versus freedom driven 
00:26:54 The three keys to responsibility are intention, awareness and confront, which are all big aspects of consciousness
00:27:49 Letting go - identify the fear, blockage, even the pain, the symptom, and you can work to release it
00:29:05 The Sedona method - Can you welcome it? The frustration, the pain.... Could you let it go? Would you let it go? When
00:30:36 The responsibility process
https://responsibility.com/the-responsibility-process-poster/
00:33:52 What is at stake for people to not take any action - For people to live at cause rather than at affect in their lives
00:34:18 Coping is overrated - I'd rather grow than cope
00:34:51 We learned to reward intellectualism and not how to put the human psyche and consciousness first
00:35:10 COVID 19 experience - free mentoring with people who had high anxiety - the reason I can't have what I want is because of this pandemic
00:37:20 Covid had me in fear for 36 hours
00:39:09 People are stuck, what would be your call to action
00:39:42 Dealing with the real problem is rare, we generally solve to treat our anxiety
00:40:27 I love best practices are great as ideas, I don't love them as solutions.
00:41:39 The angst cause by should, good, right or wrong... It is your responsibility on whether you want to adopt this advice or not.
00:42:42 Solve problems by sitting in our anxiety and use curiosity to look at how we got here, at our thinking, at our assumptions, at our beliefs
00:45:47 Thank you, Socrates, practical program, at effect in our life and are stuck or are in charge of our life and we're moving forward in responsibility.

0:44 The early part of Ken's journey with conflict, parents relationship, a shared heritage, and being close to Latino and Anglo communities.
1:42 Going to Berkeley, becoming an activist initially in the civil rights non-violent movement and working in the south
2:29 Part of the antiwar movement trying to stop the war in Vietnam and represented GIs
2:48 Legal approaches could not complete the journey
4:00 Legal path - civil rights, law professor, judge led to a point of personal crisis
4:33 A lecture on mediation changed Ken's life. The solution he saw conflict resolution to be.
5:59 Reflecting on last 42 years as a conflict resolver
7:11 The first few steps post that neighborhood meeting... 
8:35 Understanding protest as a law making process and evolving towards collaborative problem solving
9:53 The law is inherently adversarial - a zero sum game
10:33 What mediating dangerously is about - as said by Gerta "the dangers is in life are infinite, and among them is safety"
11:50 Connecting mediation and systems design 
13:18 Organizational conflicts as indicators of what is not working
14:42 Inside us, between us and around us. Conflict is required for paradigm shift
16:28 Conflict is a dance of opposites - inviting the other to a new dance with new music
18:02 Respect and disrespect - Will Smith and Chris Rock
19:59 Mechanisms of conflict operate at all scales
21:30 We can solve problems collaboratively with one another
21:58 Key tenets of Ken's Agility Narrative - An agile response - be present, deeply listen, and help the other person reach their point of vulnerability
24:15 What tools do you bring to the mediation? The tools of inner awareness, mindfulness
25:13 Empathy - A platform to find out what is true for the other. Relational empathy - experience energy flow between people
26:22 Approaching systemic conflicts is multifaceted needing a different set of skills
28:27 Three generations of systems design 
29:31 2nd Gen - Design leadership systems (that reduce conflict resolution)
31:15 3rd Gen - higher order conflicts once we learn to resolve existing conflicts
33:27 In your agility narrative, who/what is the protagonist? Each of us.
34:37 What is your theme for your agility narrative?
35:25 The artful power of questions
37:12 The magic in mediation
38:17 Asking pivot questions as part of an organization
40:38 In your agility narrative, who or what are the villains? Your own worst self
41:18 The reality of being a protagonist and a villain - The dance of Opposites in Narrative structure of conflict stories
42:39 Destabilizing the conflict story (victim, perpetrator and rescuer)
43:48 Another two looks at conflict stories
45:39 What is at stake if people don't learn these techniques. 
Jean-Paul Sartre "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you"
46:38 Call to action to a group of key organizational stakeholders who feel stuck - Multiple Truths 
48:01 The power of a planning process... may be constrained
49:49 Discussion of different forms of conversation
51:24 The value of dialogue rather than monologue AND Making Bread
53:02 The facilitator of dialogue plays a number of roles - including teasing out diversity
53:51 Threat, opportunities and mediation without borders
54:47 Ukraine and Russian war - the large scale organization of small scale hatreds - the power of the methodology that leads to war
56:19 What do you lose in your capacity to prevent war by making that assumption?
57:50 Our task as conflict resolvers is really simple. And we need a political system capable of mediation.
58:25 My brief wrap up and thank you to Ken for his agility narrative

Learn more about Ken Cloke
https://www.kencloke.com/
https://www.kencloke.com/books
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ken+cloke+and+vikram+mediator