The Power of Community

*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

Bill Berthel
Welcome to the Get Emergent podcast. The Get Emergent podcast guides leaders to creatively strengthen relationships and improve performance of their leadership and those they lead. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and in your leadership. And we hope that you’ll find some better practices to apply in your work. I’m Bill Berthel.

Ralph Simone
And I’m Ralph Simone.

Bill Berthel
So, Ralph we’re really excited about this concept and this work that we do around bringing leaders together in a community to learn. A leadership learning community. I’m excited to talk about that work we do and that experience and really have our listeners understand this opportunity. It’s something we could help them with. It’s something they could develop themselves. Really.

Ralph Simone
Absolutely. Well, what we know from our experience in one on one coaching is it is lonely at the top. And yet many of the challenges that leaders experience in leading teams and organizations are quite similar. Regardless of the industry.

Bill Berthel
That’s right, yeah.

Ralph Simone
Regardless of the industry. And so this leadership learning community is part of what we used to refer to as the mastermind groups. Part of our 18 month long LeadFORWARD experience.

Bill Berthel
Yeah, absolutely. And perhaps inspired by mastermind groups, but a little different than the Napoleon Hill model of mastermind groups, which we’ve done for decades. And they’re very effective. But with some feedback from some leaders and some of our own creativity, we saw an opportunity, maybe this is audacious, to improve on what mastermind groups offer, to really create a little bit more structure, a little more intentionality and we think bring thought partners together to tackle real contemporary challenges and issues.

Ralph Simone
I don’t think it was that audacious. Because Hill came up with a concept in 1930s, It’s had a number of years to be improved upon. But this idea of bringing people together around a research topic. These topics can range from engagement to retention, to scaling to effectiveness. Right. Whatever leaders are challenged with. But to take that research, come together, to reflect and to contemplate on these challenges and then to strategize actions. So then collaborate with one another, strategize actions for meeting and transcending the challenges that these leaders are coming up against.

Bill Berthel
Yeah, maybe a little bit of a, hopefully it’s a humble brag here that we at Emergent get to bring our expertise to this as well. So it’s not just a coaching piece. We’re gonna research not just topics, but research better practices and draw on what we’re learning from other organizations and other leaders to bring that to this learning community as well.

Ralph Simone
Well, there’s a teach piece and I think for years we’ve had a hybrid model. We certainly take the coaching approach of asking and drawing the answer out of participants, but we also have a fair amount of experience in organizational consulting and so sharing that perspective of how others have worked through these challenges. And I really think it’s the idea of thinking outside the box and thinking very innovatively and creatively as to how you might do something different to either attract more talent, to retain the talent, or to get them up to speed faster.

Bill Berthel
Yeah, I don’t know why there’s a box to begin with to think in. So I like to throw the box away. But part of our structure is bringing these leaders and thought partners together, providing them the space and really holding the space for them to reflect and contemplate on these important issues, these challenges they might be having in their leadership, on their teams, in their organizations, in their marketplaces, and then start developing real strategies on some experiments, on things they will do to start mitigating or maybe solving or improving some of these challenges or issues and to come back to a group with some accountability to really report back on some of their findings and actions. It’s not a think tank. It’s so much more than that. It’s an action oriented opportunity as well and some accountability to come back to your thought partners and share.

Ralph Simone
A little bit like a mini retreat. Where there is, we’re balancing this tension on, contemplation and action, but followed by a commitment. So it’s like a mini retreat. We give people enough time and space to think about the topic more deeply, but we also expose them to other people’s perspectives so that they have the benefit of the collective.

Bill Berthel
Yeah. These are typically half day commitments. Right. So enough time, not a retreat, not taking a whole week or multiple days on end, but half day commitments. Being able to come together and share thoughts around these contemporary issues. So Ralph what do you think leaders in our community and our Central New York community are gonna benefit most by being a part of this?

Ralph Simone
I think there’s a couple things. One, to know that you’re not alone, that there are resources. And when you bring a group of leaders from different industries, different stages of maturity together, the organizational maturity, you’re going to get different perspectives so you’re going to feel that you’re not alone. Second, you’re gonna get ideas that you have not thought of that have worked. So it’s not just a theoretical exercise. And then you’re gonna get the support of not only the leadership learning community, but of the coach who’s supporting you on your transformational journey. So I think those are three very specific things that people will get from participating.

Bill Berthel
Yeah, absolutely. I love to witness in these groups is the diversity of place and thought, different industries coming together and how they find that not only they’re not alone, they have so many similar challenges despite their industry, despite their specific work. And that when they just start sharing and talking with others, possible solutions emerge, possibilities just come up for the groups.

Ralph Simone
I think what you see when you hold the space with some structure is that there’s an agency that people in this agency fuels confidence. And when you know that you’re in it with others and that others have figured out different ways through these similar challenges, there’s also an optimism that fuels progress and I think a collective passion that also then fuels the optimism. So there’s a support, right? There’s a support and there’s an energy and a synergy by bringing people together in this format.

Bill Berthel
Yeah. So I want to make sure we underscore that this is a unique feature of our LeadFORWARD program, the full program, and that these leaders are working with a, cohort of other leaders in other aspects and other, you know, in a retreat and in some other ways. But that’s not necessary either. We can hold leadership learning communities for intact teams, other groups, multiple organizations really anywhere a group of leaders want to come together and learn from one another.

Ralph Simone
I think one of the advantages of this is that we start with either a problem or opportunity statement. That statement has been either well researched and also curated through the group itself, some of the things they’re up against. It’s something that really balances both the long term and short term horizons for the organization. And I think it gives people this outlet to think and experiment with different behaviors and different thought processes.

Bill Berthel
Yeah. I love that. And we know that people need communities. We know that at least at the subconscious level, we’re hungry for it. We may not be consciously giving ourselves permission to slow down a bit to join a community like this. We spoke a little bit about the benefits, but there’s this human need to be part of multiple communities. And this is one way to really create more of a holistic wellness for yourself as a leader.

Ralph Simone
Yeah. There’s a quote from John Glenn, the astronaut that I think underscores this importance of community. The happiest and most fulfilled people devoted themselves as something bigger and more profound than merely their own self interest. And so it’s the collective interests and this sense of community that people rally around. And I think we give it structure so that it balances pragmatic and possible. We want people to think of new possibilities around their challenges as a result of participating in this learning community. But we also want it to be pragmatic enough that they can take action on it post meeting.

Bill Berthel
Yeah, absolutely. To be able to really have their own personal action and declaration and go out there, do something just a little bit different and see how that works, see what happens from that.

Ralph Simone
Just curious, Bill. You know, one of the pushbacks we get around anything that is for an extended period of time beyond an hour, people are initially hard pressed to figure out how they’ll find the time, what guidance would we give them around helping them find the time. Which I think is a pervasive leadership challenge.

Bill Berthel
It is, it is. And I think I’ll jump to an endoint and then come back, I think to the specific question. What I’ve noticed is leaders who do give themselves permission to make this kind of investment in time not only never regret it, they almost regret not having done it sooner, they live the experience more fully and they come out with either some new solutions, new relationships. Right. With other leaders that they can continue to cultivate moving forward in their work. I think it’s really normal for most of us to be kind of defending two resources currently. One is budget, two is time. I think it’s the difference between the investment mindset and more of the kind of reactive doing mindset.

Ralph Simone
Kind of interesting because I think we would suggest that the transformational leader no longer looks at budget or time, but they look at energy and the energy that they are able to gain or re energize as part of the process more than pays for the investment.

Bill Berthel
I think that is the other primary resource we’re defending and often subconsciously. I can’t cite the research article I read. It was, I think it was HBR Harvard Business Review. This social science researcher was looking at procrastination in leaders. And we often have this stigma around procrastination that we’re not confident about the thing we’re putting off. Or maybe it’s even as strong as something like we’re lazy. The research showed that leaders are conserving their energy through procrastination and it’s understandable. Right? That’s a resource we may not feel is in abundance. Maybe we feel like we have to hold on to some of our energy for the unknown. Coming kind of down the road, but this is a place to invest our time, a little bit of money and our energy.

Ralph Simone
I may or may not have shared this with you, but my wife, who is a writer, often will take a nap. In fact, I believe in her dream state in the nap is often where she gets the inspiration for what she is about to write on. And I think early on in our relationship, I think I had a narrower view of that. You know, I think I perhaps thought that that was a lazy method of procrastinating and then I saw the output. As a consequence of that intentional napping,

Bill Berthel
Your wife included, many brilliant minds, many creative minds do just that. Leonardo da Vinci did similar. Einstein did similar. Edison did similar. The grandfather of organic chemistry, benzene, couldn’t figure out the structure of the five repeating carbon elements, which as we now know as the benzene ring. He woke from a dream of a, snake eating its own tail. He could not figure it out using his technical knowledge, using mathematics. He woke from a dream of a snake eating its own tail and realized it was 5 repeating carbon chain in a ring that the benzene ring. It’s brilliant to take these kinds of breaks, to take these kinds of retreats or mini retreats in a leadership learning community.

Ralph Simone
Well, now I think I’ve come away with something that has been limiting my brilliance over the years. I’m not taking enough naps. So I think got something that I can experiment with.

Bill Berthel
I mean, I think we’re smart, but maybe we’re not brilliant. Ralph I can’t nap either. Awesome, Ralph thank you.

Ralph Simone
Okay, Bill, appreciate it.

Bill Berthel
All right. And folks, thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode and that you’re looking forward to more. You can listen to a new podcast two times, every month here at GetEmergent or wherever you listen to your podcasts and, hopefully you pick something up you’re going to apply to your leadership and your work and let us know how that goes by reaching out to support@getemergent.com or directly to myself or Ralph. Thanks for listening.