“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” ~ Chinese proverb

As an Agilist, I love learning! Here are a few of the key learning from Agile Coach Camp Worldwide (Home Edition), which is relevant for leaders:

I experienced Ho’no pono pono, which is a Hawaiian Shaman ritual. Ho’no means “making” and pono means “right” and thus ho’no pono pono means “making right right”. Right is repeated twice, as it is about making right with oneself and making right with others. Before the start, you set an intention of what you want to come into the space. The ho’no pono pono sacred prayer is powerful and goes like this,

“I am sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

I thank you.”

The power in ho’no pono pono is in healing, forgiveness and letting go to create space to invite into the space what you want.

Mediation and coaching share overlap. In conversations, I love to keep the EAR acronym in mind:

Empathy – “I can hear how upset you are”

Attention – “Tell me what’s going on”

Respect – “I respect your efforts”

Slowing down the pace of conversations. In slowing down the pace, we focus on listening and receiving the other person’s offering rather than thinking about what to say next. Some participants are not native English speakers and have a difficult time understanding when we speak quickly.

“Questions are more useful than answers!” Be curious. In a session on human systems dynamics, we role played wherein one person was the client with a sticky problem and shared 3 statements about his challenge; and then the other participants asked questions for 8 minutes while the client silently listened. Next, the client shared which questions were most useful to explore his challenge. There is power in gaining wisdom from the crowd.

Applying and practicing what I learn enables me to live the learning. I invite you to apply these key learning in your own context. I would love to hear what you learn!