The Walks
For some it’s the outdoors, being close to nature. For some it’s the experience of walking alongside, shoulder-to-shoulder, looking at the sea and the sky, a great way to ventilate problems and get a fresh take on things. But for others it’s the stillness that happens, when we stop. Catching your breath and taking in the view for the first time… as a seal breaks the surface nearby, and a gannet dives for a fish.
I have been walking with clients for 15 years. I’ve found this simple shift away from the office or boardroom changes our perspective and on our walk we can explore new ways of thinking these things through.
"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
The Change Walk
We consider the evidence of change all around; then your priorities in life and in work. Then we evaluate your options. Change and transition are not the same thing: we explore the difference and why this is a vital distinction for you to appreciate. Saying ‘yes' or ‘no’ maybe at the heart of this. We consider varieties of change and what the consequences and risks involved might be. Including the risk involved in not changing.
(For those who want to dig deeper, see my blogs on Change.)
The Decision Walk
Some decisions are irreversible, but most are not. We consider the decision you are thinking about, in terms of its importance and impact on you and on others. We assess all its aspects, social, emotional, professional, material. We relate this to your story, your sense of yourself and where you are in your life. What are your ‘must haves’ and your ‘nice to haves’? We consider the perspectives of other stakeholders in the decision, exploring it from a variety of vantage-points. Only then are you ready to make your decision. Careful deliberation is a skill, at its most valuable when the stakes are highest.
(For those who want to dig deeper, see my blogs on Decision Making.)
The Leadership Walk
What does ‘leadership’ mean to you? Who are you as a leader, and who do you want to be? Who has influenced you? How do you understand your leadership role in terms of your own developing story? Where does this fit in the larger context of the organisation/family/club and its purposes? Do you fully understand those purposes, and your role in fulfilling them? How do you deal with reverses, set backs and unpopular decisions? We apply lessons from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus. We consider what matters most to you, and what you most want to encourage in others.
(For those who want to dig deeper, see my blogs on Leadership.)
The Review Walk
We consider what is up for review: a project, or an event, or a relationship, for example. We agree what success will look like for you. We set parameters for the scale of the review: is this forensic, with a microscope? Or larger in scale, in the context of larger goals? We consider what learning might be for you in this case: new insights? New skills? Changed expectations? We develop a narrative timeline to understand how it changed over time, and how you handled those changes. Finally, we sketch the outline of a report.
(For those who want to dig deeper, see my blogs on Narrative Timelining and Storytelling)
These 4 Walks are Related
Life doesn't fall into neat categories. Time out might give you your first chance to figure out what is happening, what your options and opportunities are. So call me and we can explore the best option for you. Which might just be an online conversation rather than a walk.
All I can say is that a walk with Barre is somehow more than a walk, in the way that a feast is more than a meal (and it is a meal!). And that exactly that knowledge or insight that I needed on those two days did unveil itself. And did in a way that was gentle, as Barre is, and tough too, which both Barre and philosophy can be. They were two very memorable walks!
— Sandy Dunlop
