Confluence\’kan-,flu-en(t)s,
The junction of two rivers; the place of meeting of two streams.
A coming together of people.
In 1989 I floated the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park, just outside Moab, Utah. Floating through canyon country for seven days offered a rare opportunity to see some magnificent scenery, test my skills as a member of a white-water paddle raft team and reflect about what kind of impact I wanted to have in the world.
A few gentle river miles downstream from Moab, the Colorado River merges with the Green River, descending from its origins high in the Wind River mountain range in central Wyoming. The Colorado River is milk chocolate brown and the Green is, well, green. As we passed through the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers, I was surprised to observe the way in which the two rivers merged. Instead of instantly becoming some combination of brown and green, each river maintained its integrity for hundreds of yards flowing side by side.
The view of two rivers merging while maintaining their own integrity became an apt metaphor for what happens to people as they join forces in organizations. Merging people into teams and organizations more often resembles the chaos of white water rather than the gentle flow of water I experienced at the confluence of the Green and the Colorado rivers. We know that diverse teams of people generally are more effective-but this is true only if they put the time into learning how to work with each other. Individuals, like the Green and the Colorado rivers, need time and guidance to become interdependent; effective team leaders well versed in “the how” of high-performance teams need to lead the way. Helping teams and individuals maximize their effectiveness became my professional focus.
Our mission is to help develop civil, resilient, emotionally intelligent, skilled leaders who can harness and direct the competence and energy of groups of people to achieve great results.
- We facilitate self-awareness and personal understanding of what it takes to be effective interpersonally.
- We cultivate empathy and compassion.
- We focus on the mechanics of developing collaboration and environments in which collaborative relationships can thrive.
- We teach approaches for having difficult conversations as a way of eliminating distractions. We stress role clarity and trust-based relationships.
- We show leaders how to design process that promotes engagement and accountability.
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
Rumi
