{"id":209,"date":"2025-04-09T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T09:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/?p=209"},"modified":"2025-04-08T16:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:57:10","slug":"feel-the-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/2025\/04\/09\/feel-the-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Feel the change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, a colleague took a few of us from the team on a <\/span>Deep Time Walk<\/span><\/i>. It was a long walk, with stops that gave us some brilliant information about the state of the planet and somehow brought it all together in a way that meant <\/span>we felt the importance<\/span><\/b> of what we were being told\u2026 and that meant <\/span>we wanted to do <\/span><\/b>something about it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I thought about the experience afterward, I realised that when we go beyond the intellectual knowledge and bring it into an experience, it brings a tremendous momentum for change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I notice this when coaching. It is not uncommon for me to hold the client in a place where they are exploring their problem from multiple angles. Helping them slow down and appreciate what is and is not taking place, encouraging them to think about how they felt, how others felt, and so how people reacted creates a mental experience. It brings the reality of the situation home. It produces sharper actions. It creates real commitment to those actions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve also noticed is that when these experiences are shared, there is an even bigger impact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I recall an early development experience with around 50 others when we were asked to play a game called \u201cWin as much as you can\u201d. We played it hard. There were agreements made and broken, howls of frustration and cheers of celebration. At the end the facilitator asked us to add up the scores on our tables and report them in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the first table gave offered up their numbers, the facilitator stopped them. \u201cNo\u201d, he said, \u201cI want to know your table\u2019s score\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The penny slowly dropped. We\u2019d thought we\u2019d been playing for ourselves as individuals, but game had been set up for us as a group. Suddenly the picture looked very different\u2026 as the scores were combined, people who thought they\u2019d been winning realised that they were part of a group that had lost big time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what made matters worse for most of us, was that there had been two tables who had thought differently to most of us and been successful as a result.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There were a new set of howls. Then whining about fairness. Then, when the noise had dropped, the facilitator earned their pay as they got us to reflect on the experience, our assumptions driven by personal values and culture.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The shared felt experience has lived with me for over 30 years, and it still impacts my thought processes and decision making today.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also had fun getting others to play the game since!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does this mean for us?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Spend time exploring the feelings around a situation if you really want it to change. Doing it by yourself is good, doing it with others who are also involved is even better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Allow yourself to get creative and use what is around you to help make a felt experience for yourself and your team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. If you are working as a group or a team, why not get some expert facilitation? The payback can be huge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For more information about Deep Time Walks and Group Coaching\/Facilitation, please reach out to the Workforce Development Team<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ed Webster<\/a>, Deputy Director of Workforce Development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Recently, a colleague took a few of us from the team on a Deep Time Walk. It was a long walk, with stops that gave us some brilliant information about the state of the planet and somehow brought it all...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1725,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edward-webster"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/changing-ourselves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}