Networking, especially within the social media landscape has been the game of choice for many as they reassess their career choice and jobs. A close second; the master-minding groups popping up in local arenas to discuss career path. But here’s another form of engagement to muddle through this “chaos career economy:” meeting with like-minded souls in a collective evolutionary leap of faith. No freaking agenda – just a deep conscious plunge into the void to experience what emerges. That’s what a bunch of us did recently.
Just four of us dished on whatever came up. All wanted to take our work to a new level – but we didn’t know what that would look like. The guidelines were simple: no agenda but a commitment to keep an open mind, an open heart, and to suspend all judgement of what people were saying.
What emerged was a mishmash of stuff: work life balance, integration, flexibility, career direction, human values, goals, family, animals, children and what brought joy into our lives inside - and outside of the career sphere.
For three hours one conversation lead to the next and by the end of the gathering, every one of us came away with all or one of the following:
- A new blog post idea
- A new contact
- A new resource related to product or service
- A refreshing take on our careers
- A new appreciation of our colleagues work and our own value
There was not one person sitting at that table who didn’t want to cancel that evening due to myriad reasons, but some sort of latent curiosity or trust in the unknown brought everyone to the table – albeit kicking and screaming. It provided an opportunity to just stop the flow of the day, enjoy a meal and good company. The fruits of this seemingly laborious task couldn’t be measured. Invaluable, by all accounts. It became an organic unfolding of conscious attention to just being human.
The greatest gift was an opportunity to switch the career lens to “open and inviting”. To allow whatever needed to come forth – emerge as human beings. How refreshing. Any of you out there just mixing to mix, to build relationships without agenda. Please share!
