I just came back from a 10-day learning experience in the Australian bush. I fully immersed myself in a “Nature Philosophy” course with different teachers sharing ancient wisdom. It was a true “level up” and “dig deep” experience – in many different ways.
First of all, spending 10 days without any technology in nature is always a mind-expanding eye-opener. It provides fresh perspectives and makes you feel very humble and aware of how much we depend on Google and co.
Secondly, the teachings that were shared (mainly Indigenous Wisdom), showed me again that there are some universal, timeless truths that are the same across all cultures around the world. Broadly, think of how we develop connections, community and communication (I’ll write about this in more detail later).
Thirdly, after a few days, our bodies adjusted to natural rhythms and relaxed automatically – supported by quiet, natural sounds and changing light patterns. There is now plenty of scientific research proving the negative health impacts of artificial noise and blue light from screens. We had very little of that.
One of my take away points for leadership is that many of us have lost the art of calmly being in the space of not knowing. We are challenged when facing uncertainty. It is easy to observe even in small events: e.g. after someone asks a question, they either expect another person to answer more or less immediately or if no one knows the answer, they google it. For simple questions, this might be good enough. However, not all questions should be answered immediately. Real insight often comes from unexpected places and sources – at the right time. Google might give you facts and knowledge but not necessarily the best answer that leads to true insight and wisdom.
There is a lot of value in accepting the not knowing as a period of productive nothingness. It opens the pathways to better answers.
What you can do to make uncertainty your friend….
For personal clarity: I often encourage my clients to write down an open question, accept the not knowing and move one with work and life. The brain will seek answers in the background of your day to day activities and often they will come to you over night.
Another way of finding a valuable answer is to invest in moments of stillness when you just sit and listen to the silence. Silence speaks – if you give it a chance to express itself.
Stillness is an investment: If you do too little of it, you get unfocused busyness and performance suffers. If you do too much of it as leader, you risk a lack of influence and engagement. There is a middle ground of using stillness very intentionally and thus, achieving an optimal ROI (return on investment).
The stillness process: It is easier to be still in nature or in a quiet, undisturbed environment. Eventually, with some training, it is possible everywhere. You will need some trust to accept that you won’t understand the language of silence immediately and that it is necessary to surrender into a gap – the gap between thoughts and spoken words. This often creates uncomfortable feelings. After a while, it will become more natural and you can hear the messages more clearly. The process to listen for nothing is simple yet not easy.
For team alignment and engagement: Teams can benefit from shared moments of stillness. At the start of a team meeting, five minutes of silence offer a space where everyone can fully arrive and think about their intention for the meeting. During the meeting a moment of silence after someone has spoken, helps to better understand what was said. When there are heated discussions, a moment of silence can help to calm down the heat. It would be good to agree the use of silence before you start a meeting. This will avoid the awkwardness that some people feel when no one says a thing. Silence becomes the normal way of doing things.
Overall, you will discover: Purposeful investing in moments of stillness improves clarity for better decision making and performance.