|
|
From Paddling the Rapids ...
Greetings!
We have created a learning agenda for the year, which grows from being intrigued with how sabbaticals could transform leadership sustainability and vibrancy. This is the fifth issue. If you are curious about the content of past newsletters, click here to access the archive from our homepage.
You are invited to pause with us, each month, by reading this newsletter, thus taking a mini sabbatical of your own.
Cease. Reflect. Enliven.
When did you last use your sunscreen and head out to your favorite location? Write and tell us. Carol & Deb |
|
The Power of the Sabbatical
Each month we will highlight a leader who has found a strategy for renewal that works for them. Typically sabbatical is thought of as a year away from one's work. We are taking liberty with that traditional definition - and extending it to mean any strategy that allows you to cease work as usual, reflect, and enliven your practice. We will tell your stories each month. Email us with yours.
Evelyn deFrees writes: In my seventh year of working as legislative advocate and outreach director for a Maine environmental advocacy organization, I was weary of the pace and challenges of the job I loved. I was also vaguely aware that my colleagues were bearing the brunt, as my retorts got sharper and my patience got shorter. When the organization established a sabbatical policy to support its long-term employees, I applied and received three months of partially paid leave. The sabbatical provided time to truly rest, broaden my professional horizons, and have a few adventures. One of my challenges was supervising myriad personalities under demanding, fast-paced conditions. Seeking advice and tools, I attended an organizational development course that changed my perspective on relationships and team building. I emerged with new strategies and energy for working with individuals and groups trying to achieve important policy goals. In addition, with the help of a public policy mentor, I immersed myself in public policy theory and history, which provided me with a broader context for the environmental advocacy work I was doing. For rest and adventure, I spent three weeks visiting old friends on the west coast, kayaking off Vancouver Island, and hiking in Colorado. I came home happy to just to "be" with my husband and the natural beauty of Midcoast Maine. We took local trips, completed long overdue house projects, and experienced daily life at a less hectic pace. By the time my sabbatical leave ended, I was ready to get back into the "game" again, fortified for the next legislative session and another chapter of supervision and participation in the organization. The comments I received upon returning told me more about how tense I had been before I left -once again I was called "cheery" and "easy to talk to," qualities I'd always taken for granted, but which had temporarily been lost in the whirl of work pressure and stress. I will always be grateful for that leave and to the organization that made it possible. Evelyn deFrees is now a policy, communications and organizational management consultant who works with non-profits around the region and lives in Searsmont. Website: edefreesconsulting.wordpress.com 
|
Reflect
 From Deb:Scheduling time off is a leadership act. So often I measure my feeling of satisfaction by how much work I have accomplished - whether at my desk, working with a group, or in my gardens. But the satisfaction from having given myself a good week of rejuvenation is qualitatively different. We each know the particular equation of what fills us up so we can return refreshed to the work we love. My equation was: being home + gardening + time with family and friends + hiking a favorite mountain + swimming + eating ice cream + reading a great book + taking naps + cooking + lobstering on Penobscot Bay + watching the wind move over the water + sitting by a campfire watching the embers glow bright = rejuvenation. As I shift back into work, I feel more my full self and also more grounded and connected. What is your equation for rejuvenation? From Carol: Alaska has been on my 'bucket' list for a very long time. Why I waited so long to make it happen is both a mystery and learning for me. Having returned recently I am in the delicious wake of a remarkable experience. There has always been something immensely seductive about big landscapes for me. Yet most of my travels have been in amazingly beautiful foreign cities full of vibrant human activity. I wondered if there was something I was afraid of that I didn't recognize in myself. The first part of the Alaskan adventure was busy with moving from place to place along the coast from Anchorage down the Kenai peninsula - visiting a friend in Homer, exploring glaciers in Resurrection Bay from Seward, eating fresh caught halibut, marveling at the big snowcapped ranges, and delighting in the 23 hours of sun. Then my heart broke open as we traveled 90 miles into the heart of Denali National Park to a small off-the-grid cabin facing the north side of Mt McKinley. The braided rivers, glacial valleys, cacophony of blooming wildflower, herds of graceful migrating Caribou began to melt my resistance to this deep silence, to the majesty of this wild place. I fell in love with Alaska. It is this significant break - this sabbatical - that has given me a new perspective - a new view of my world. Each day I become more grateful. Take the time. You deserve you. What is on your list that you have waited too long to experience? Want to talk about how to make your adventure happen? Contact me. Considering a Sabbatical? Want support in framing it? Questions? Send us an e-mail
|
Resource
We are going to step out of our customary professional recommendations to suggest that maybe right now is the time to lose yourself in a good historical novel. A recommendation from NPR's summer reading list:
Reviewed by Madeline Miller, who teaches Latin, Greek and Shakespeare. Her first novel, The Song of Achilles, was a New York Times Bestseller and received the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.
I am in awe of Hilary Mantel. The scope and skill of her incredible Wolf Hall - which charted the rise of the brilliant Thomas Cromwell against the backdrop of Henry VIII's break with the pope - was staggering. When I learned she was writing a sequel, I couldn't help but worry: How could any author sustain that sort of sheer, daring genius for a second book? Easily, it turns out. Bring Up the Bodies is not only as wonderful as Wolf Hall, it may even exceed it. Cromwell is just as brilliant, deft, wry and surprising as ever, navigating the treacherous waters of Anne Boleyn's short reign. In precise and beautiful prose Mantel captures a world: from petty politicking to theological debate, from the latest hat styles to Anne Boleyn's goggle-eyed dogs, she makes every moment feel fresh, engaging and pop-off-the-page vivid. Add to this her ingenious characterizations of Henry VIII, Anne and Cromwell himself, and you have one of the best books of the year. Now pack a good book and sunscreen and head to your favorite site to savor the day, sink into a good read, and give yourself a break.
|
|
|
|
Sabbatical or a sabbatical
(from Latin sabbaticus, from Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e, Sabbath, literally a "ceasing") is a rest from work, or a hiatus, often lasting from two months to a year.
CEASE.
REFLECT.
ENLIVEN.
|
GOT 10 MINUTES? What is your 200 year plan? You might have a 5-year plan, but what about a 200-year plan? Artist Raghava KK has set his eyes on an ultra-long-term horizon; at TEDxSummit, he shows how it helps guide today's choices and tomorrow's goals -- and encourages you to make your own 200-year plan too. Raghava KK's paintings and drawings use cartoonish shapes and colors to examine the body, society, our world. "When I think of the future, I never see myself moving forward in time. I actually see time moving backward towards me." (Raghava KK)
>> CLICK HERE<<
TAKE A BREAK WITH THIS inspiring blog... Work is not a job
You are what you do. Is this true? |
|
|
"Every act is a leadership act."
Alexandra Merrill
|
Upcoming events, leadership institutes, and retreat venues:
Events:
November 9-12, 2012 - A Sabbatical for Leaders with Deb & Carol, Maine, interested? (request info )
Imagine...having unfettered time to reflect, time to engage in meaningful dialogue with colleagues, stretching the edges of your usual responses, having someone prepare delicious food for you, watching leaves drop in a beautiful place, and mulling on the questions that keep tapping you on the shoulder... Join Deb and Carol on a retreat for leaders. Join your colleagues on the journey. Join yourself in a time of refreshment and renewal. Point Lookout, Lincolnville, Maine. Cost $525
July 19-25 - Beginning Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Robert Cox, Brunswick, ME - info
July 19-20 - "Next Steps" Workshop for Founders and Long Term Executives, Baltimore, MD - info
Institutes: July 23-27 - Resonant Leadership with Richard Boyatzis, Cape Cod Institute, MA - Info
August 6-10, Leadership and the New Science with Margaret Wheatley, Cape Cod Institute, MA - info
August 12-17 & Sept 9-14, The Roosevelts on Campobello Island: Life at the Glorious Edge, Campobello Island, New Brunswick - info
August 15-16, Managing Yourself and Leading Others, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA - info
Retreats:
Maine Huts & Trails, (Poplar Stream, Flagstaff Lake, Grand Falls), Maine - info
Nurture Through Nature, self-designed retreats, Maine -info
Fifth House Lodge, west of Portland, Maine - info
Rest & Renewal, Kripalu, in the Berkshires, Western Massachusetts - info |
About Paddling The Rapids, LLC: Like paddling the rapids, leaders are faced daily with a multitude of issues, decisions and tasks competing for a finite amount of their time, energy, and resources. The Paddling the Rapids team of Deb Burwell and Carol Carriuolo respect and honor the courage it takes to be leaders. We bring leaders together in peer learning forums to share wisdom and experience, sharpen skills, and renew energy. Additionally we work with organizations to build leadership and organizational capacity.
|
Paddling the Rapids LLC
CALL 207-338-2162 | INFO@PADDLINGTHERAPIDS.COM
Paddling The Rapids, LLC. All Rights Reserved 2012e-newsletter designed by BC |
|
|
|
|
|
