Occupational Hazards
Intimacy is fraught. To be an effective consultant, I must earn the privilege of seeing what a client otherwise hides from view. Most often, I observe different degrees of benign dysfunction like a lack of strategy, alignment, communication, or functional administrative processes. Less often, thankfully, the discontinuities are more profound, like embedded incompetence; or toxic, well-guarded fiefdoms; or unjust decisions in situations with profound power differentials. Trust and confidentiality are the currency of consultants. I am allowed access because of them. Depending on my charge, I sometimes can inflect these dynamics. When I can't, it can be difficult to endure them. The first draft of this installment was going to be about finding my heart in work that often leans strongly in favor of the overly reasoned and expressing that more here. Earlier this week, what I thought was an innocuous opening question, inspired a very personal and strongly heartfelt response from the person I was interviewing for a project. The rest of the conversation was changed because of it for the better. This was not going to be the usual predominantly intellectual exercise, but an incredibly honest meeting of the heart and mind. Such experiences are a relief, a welcome opportunity to exercise a more whole being approach. The heart is always there, no search is required, but sometimes for good reason it's well protected. Faced with perverse situations I cannot change, I realize I tend to initially keep mine in check. I'm grateful for when others, less constrained, remind me what is deferred in doing so.
