THE PLEASURE OF MOVING FORWARD

Working within the Lines Can Make the Difference

Mark H. Fowler

Our world has become a pressure cooker of binary approaches to business, the world in general as well as all aspects of life. We are confronted with black and white options that can open our lives or destroy them. With the pandemic, as well as other challenges, we are faced with one way or another but nothing in between. With that, lines in the sand are created or evolved into one camp or another.

Many businesses and individuals are struggling to survive. Most controversial and obvious are restaurants and other personal service businesses. One day, they are open; another, they are restricted or closed. It is all so fluid but, at the same time, black or white. Their reality is business/economic survival. Are there other ways to look at this?

As these “lines in the sand” are created, they get increasingly stronger with the force of my idea versus your idea, as the need to be right grows. As Einstein said, paraphrasing, “You can’t solve a problem from the level that created it.” With “lines in the sand”, the commitment to being right becomes crystallized. We are then farther than ever from finding a new way to look at how success can come to all.

If you watch the process of creating a “line in the sand” as it evolves, it usually starts with an individual, a team or group saying, “We are not going any farther” — a “line in the sand” or my way or the highway. Interestingly, the other side asserts its own “line in the sand” in response. They play off each other — in many ways, joined with each other in mutual stagnation, while the rest of us are at their mercy. Any number of possibilities can come to mind…

What is there to do?

· Acknowledge and honor the reality of and the strength of these stalwart positions — they are there for a reason.

· Address perceptions of the situation — What are we doing? Do we feel threatened? Do we understand the facts on the table? What prejudices do we bring to the situation? Can we step back to understand our piece in the environment that helped create our “lines in the sand”? We are all culpable in most situations when we find ourselves in challenge.

· Reading between the lines to understand what others are doing or saying — release that process because it drives supposition and mind reading. Instead, let’s start “working between the lines” together. Most of us don’t embrace how much we don’t know about the overall situation. We need to take ownership and focus on what is happening.

· Understand that our “lines in the sand” have unintended consequences. These repercussions can have vast impact on the innocent, while marginalizing our future. Most importantly, because we are guardians of these “lines”, unintended consequences are our responsibility but often can be ignored.

· Begin to realize that between those “lines in the sand” are seeds for success. There is a great deal of information, misperception, historical experience, new technology to help resolve or help everyone bridge to a new level of effectiveness and productivity.

· Embrace the need to work between and within those lines for everyone’s well-being and success. It takes courage, a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to do the right thing, allowing the chips to fall for the good of all, not just on one side.

Can we create something between those lines to clarify reality, maybe realize some common sense or common ground? Constructive dialogue and new information can help us find a place to coalesce and create a situation about a new future (where a breath of fresh air is attached), bringing together new energies.

I’ve seen “working between the lines” happen spontaneously:

· When a troubled company, in a crisis situation, comes to a point when all factors and players come together and say, “We need to save this business.”

· When bankers step forward to say, “We don’t want to write off this business.”

· When management/leadership stops fighting amongst itself and bonds together.

· When employees realize that this business drives many lives.

· When vendors acknowledge that this business represents a significant part of their revenue,

· When other players, owners, investors realize, “We are burning cash fighting. Maybe we should start pulling together?”

This coming together requires more than one to step forward for this stimulus to have the traction it needs to bring all together to create something more successful than the “lines in the sand” and chaos. In these situations, the cards are on the table and all can work together between the lines because all possibilities for success are there. When this clicks in, then it is clearly “A Pleasure to Know That Things Are Moving Forward” as all players begin to collaborate.

Another area where we see this is when people are in interpersonal struggle with friends, business associates, team members, management teams, clients, customers. One or more may realize that this struggle is wrong — then the light bulb goes on:

· I like this person. why are we struggling?

· We were on the same page 2 minutes ago. What happened?

· This person is my boss. Why the struggle, why the line in the sand?

· and on and on…

As each individual begins to wake up, it is understood that barriers between us are wrong. In the crisis situation, as a group, the players begin to say, “We are going nowhere” let’s stop this. In each, the message is that we are better than this. We are.

As you might guess, interactive, respectful conversation and communication needs to show up as well. Communication that brings us together is worth the effort. We do have a favorite technique: the S.H,A.R.E.™ Tools described in the book Revolutionary Conversation: The Tools You Need for the Success You Want. Of course, it’s my favorite because I’m the creator and author. With my co-authors, we wrote this award-winning book based on our workshops (at UCLA Extension and other public venues). The most compelling lesson and Tool is learning how to STOP ourselves and others so that we can move forward together. We can’t work between the lines until we can hesitate enough, take a breath and realize that my “line in the sand” is getting bigger, not better. Please see a link below to learn more about Revolutionary Conversations®.

Can we begin to see ourselves as part of a bigger construct and that what we do or don’t do has consequences? Can we make a difference by paying attention to what we are doing to help forward movement — or to cause building walls and lines in the sand that stop progress?

How about it? We are better than this.

ABOUT MARK H. FOWLER

Mark H. Fowler, President of Stowe Management Corporation and Founder/Co-CEO of Revolutionary Conversations, LLC, is a business growth and business re-engineering expert, author and writer, business educator, public speaker and change leader. Mr. Fowler specializes in transitioning businesses from challenge to achievement to attain new levels of success: focused on enhancing revenues and profits, while instituting cultural and interactive processes that substantially increase collaboration and engagement. As a member of AICPA and California CPA Society, he has served in several leadership roles. He is a Co-Founder of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace.

A leader in the “business engagement” field for decades, he has developed systems and communication protocols, stressing the importance of team empowerment and personal development. With his emphasis on engagement, he created and designed a conversation system called the S.H.A.R.E.™ Tools, which are the basis of the award-winning book Revolutionary Conversations: The Tools You Need for the Success You Want. The S.H.A.R.E.™ Tools are an essential ingredient for success in working with all forms of challenges and impediments, while always focusing on the value and well-being of all. Helping business owners/executives/leaders/managers and team members in a revolutionary, transformational way to be on the same page to move forward together, he has aided their success with incredible achievements that were unattainable in their former reality.