Emergence and TurnStones

Earlier in July Marco and I hosted a TurnStones session which left me with a profound feeling of satisfaction once it had concluded.  Actually, it was more than that.  It was the feeling you get when there is a really strong alignment between you actions and your values.  I noticed that I felt a deep calmness and as sense of lightness in the hours that followed.  Interestingly, I did not sleep well although there was no sense of my usual sense of my overly busy brain being behind this.  Instead, the lightness I was feeling translated to thoughts floating in and out of my mind.  Instead of latching onto them I just let them come and go, waiting with ease for the next one to come along, and just to be interested in what emerged.

There it is, right there, the word at the centre of my feelings…emerge.  It is what TurnStones is all about; curating a space for others to do their thinking and feeling, and then co-creating with them a series of conversations.  These conversations interact with each other (we also say that they are ‘incident on each other’) in unique ways for each participant, supporting them to see what is important to them from different perspectives.  For those open to the opportunities arising for this something of interest will emerge.

We chose TurnStones as a name for what we do because of its association with nature, and also because of its metaphorical relevance to our intention.  Turnstones are delightful wading birds who seek nourishment by literally turning over stones on the foreshores of beaches to find their food.  The experiential metaphor is based on our thinking and feeling as being stones on the beach representing our ‘way of being’.  We can explore them by turning them over to see what is on the other side, to see what’s underneath.  What we find represents a new perspective, something opening doors to new possibilities.  Different ideas and feelings may emerge if we are open to them, and what emerges we might find nourishment too.

A Turnstone in nature, doing what they are named after!

In our July session we invited out participants to come along with something that is holding their interest at the time.  In the first conversation we asked them to talk in pairs about what this was, knowing that this conversation was in private, and would remain private.

The second conversation we invited them to engage with was one between myself and Marco, where we spoke about our interest in the term ‘wild margins’.  The invitation to the participants was to think about what happened to them when these two conversations where incident on each other, when they interacted with each other.  They each did this in the quietness of their own mind,yet will have been influenced by an awareness of the shared experience of listening to this conversation.  In some ways this is also like Turnstone behaviour while seeking their food; at times independent while occasionally collaborating to turn over a stone.

In our space together we created the opportunity for a third and final conversation about how the experience of the ‘wild margins’ conversation had helped them turn stones in relation to what had been holding their interest at the start of the session. 

Three conversations interacting with each other.  All benefitting from individual reflection infused by an awareness of the attention of a group of people each turning their own stones, and having a shared mindset being open to what might emerge on their part of the beach, and being curious about what might emerge for others.

On a couple of occasions during the TurnStones session Marco and I had the opportunity for discuss about how it was going as our participants talked to each other in breakout rooms.  I remember experiencing a powerful urge to know what was going on in those conversations.  Both of us found ourselves wondering what we should be doing more of.  We recognised the implicit desire for greater control that lay beneath this urge, where control meant leading with more content, becoming the ‘expert in the room’.  We worked hard to resist taking more control, knowing that if we did so the opportunity for something of unique value to emerge for each participant would be snuffed out in a moment.  We would be trampling on the trust we had developed with them, snatching back the responsibility for outcomes.  Happily, the vision of emergence was more powerful than the one related to control, so we successfully held our chosen TurnStones line!

Having done so we were delighted by the experiences shared by our amazing participants, whose interest in emergence and open-ness to exploration was very much in accord with the nature of the TurnStones space that we had all created together.  We all departed the session knowing that what TurnStones offers is of real value to individuals and groups as they navigate their complex systems.  Being prepared to let something of interest emerge is the key.

A final reflection is that if either Marco or I had not held fast to our intention of allowing something to emerge we would never have received any of the comments below…

‘Thank you both so much for such an interesting and thought-provoking Turnstones session last week. I found it has stayed with me since and reminded me of the value of turning stones and exploring the wild edges.’

‘Wowzer!’

‘It provides a framework, a specific space for the coach and a coachee like “The wild margin” offered a great space for imagination and creativity creating a fertile ground for the emergence of new insights.’

‘I found it really powerful how you can overlay one conversation and with another and find connections and insights. I woke up at 2.30 in the morning after our session with loads of ideas around edges and margins and nature and had to get my notepad out - so something definitely shifted for me!’

‘What a beautiful space you and Marco have created - I took away so much from our time together.  And thanks for creating an opportunity for exploration, and inviting me to be a part of it. It felt special, really.’

‘That was truly profound.  There was so much that got turned over.  Perfect name, beautiful space, huge gratitude to you both.’

If you want to be part of the full Turnstones programme starting in September 2024 follow this link for more details, or drop a line to Marco or Jeremy.