I’ve just completed facilitating a 3-day global conference that was a year in the making. I had an incredible team working with me who each brought their A-game to the table. If I do say so myself, they were a gift beyond words.
For the first half of the planning stage, we dealt with people leaving the team due to life challenges, new folks coming in, switching from planning for a live event to planning for a virtual event due to Covid and every country having different and changing guidelines. Finally, we settled in, and boy did each person’s strengths come to the forefront, but the real proof was during the actual event when each person’s strengths and willingness to have each other’s backs were loud and clear. My decades-long motto of Humor and Faith was proven again and again.
Any event can expect last-minute issues to arise, but this event, OMG, it could easily be one of those case studies used in college courses. A quickly developed, almost after-thought team of sales folks was established by the organizational leadership, who repeatedly asked us to change our schedule that was a year in the making. Yes, we were frazzled at times, frustrated at times, even aghast a few times but always we would end up laughing at the absurdity of life, planning, and letting go. Humor broke the ice, humor brought us together, humor allowed us to keep perspective, and humor allowed us to remember that “this too shall pass.”
What is your ability to let go of something you have created? What is your ability to take pride in what you have created while also letting it be changed, distorted perhaps, and refocused? It causes us to look at ego investment. Have you come to believe that if someone wants to change what you have created that you, the person, are not good enough? Are you so lost in your creation that you consider your work being changed is the same as a personal criticism? If so, it is time to step back and remember you are the creator, not the thing created.
The ability to make that distinction supported my team in letting go, in choosing problem-solving, and acclimating to various needs every time, always with a focus on serving the attendees, our bottom-line goal. Humor supported us in letting go of “good guys” and “bad guys.” It mostly supported us in not taking it personally.
Faith came into play in trusting that this amazing program we put together, was going to amaze, impress, and inspire no matter how many changes to the schedule it underwent and the content we were providing was going to support transformation every step of the way. Faith allowed us to see this in perspective.
Faith also called us not to lose hope. To meet during extended breaks, to remember our growth in this was in watching what a phenomenal team we had where everyone stepped in as needed and thankfully had the safety and confidence to offer better or alternate options when needed.
Humor and faith, as I have said for decades, support the journey. Making it so much more of an adventure to be enjoyed, not a challenge to be undertaken or fought for. They bring out love and optimism, detachment and trust in the process, and so much more.
I wish you great humor and faith as you adventure through this week, not really knowing what it will hold for you until that moment arrives.
