Round in circles or up a spiral?

We had another of our regular away days for leaders, and very helpful and useful and encouraging it was too. There is much to process from it all.

What always fascinates me is how differently wired people approach the same thing. I'm wired up in a way that means I work best when I'm involved in an ongoing conversation. Although I write stuff down, I carry a lot of things in my head and a lot of thoughts pass through my brain as I think and ponder ideas. Writing them down is important, but there are things about the spark of a conversation that get my thinking juices flowing. So, for me to be effective I need to keep talking with everyone about everything.

For other people it can seem like we're having the same conversation over and over again without actually get anywhere at all. We go full-circle and end up exactly where we started and apparently we're no further forward. Sadly sometimes that's true.

But sometimes it isn't.

What can get missed is that we're having the same conversation but in some way we have moved on from the last time. It's as if we go around the block, but on a spiral. So, when we get back to the place we began, we're actually just a bit higher up, a bit closer to the solution. If you go and find a screw or a bolt or a spring (you could take the spring out of your ball-point pen if you want), and then run your finger around the thread, you will keep coming back to the same point in one plane, but you will be at a different point in the plane at right angles to that plane.

If that sounds too complicated, just go get the bolt and you'll soon see what I mean!!

So, the next time you think you've gone around in a circle, check your position, you may have moved further than you think!