Resilience = Being Adaptable
Resilience = Being Adaptable (by Bob Spensley)
When there is no option but to change, it’s remarkable how much change can happen. In the case of our little company called Relationship Matters, in the middle of March (like millions of others) our lifestyles as we knew them abruptly stopped and we had to re-invent ourselves. Going from living on the road over 300 days per year in over a dozen countries on average, to staying safe at home almost 24/7 for 6 months continues to be a test of adaptability.
The good news is that we have ample opportunity for nimble corporate decision-making. With Kim and I living together, no kids/pets/plants at home (they wouldn’t have survived with our past traveling schedule), knowing we’d save much time by not always being on a plane, we looked at each other and decided to invest in going online. As fast as the equipment could arrive in the mail and we could assemble a team of additional support (deep kudos to Brian Kingston at Thinkific, editor Rob Newton, assistant Lista Spensley-Tagornak and advisers David Kelbert and Colin Smyth), we hit the ground running. In our home-based studio we now have fancy lights, cameras, microphones and software programs I hadn’t even imagined existed. I've truly always had a relative fear of technology…but we had no option but to change.
The results have been dramatic. The words “meaningful work” don’t begin to express the gratitude we all feel at the lives we’ve been able to connect with so far in this pandemic. Numerically we’ve hosted online sessions with partners of different sizes and shapes in 8 countries and participants in 30+ countries across 50+ professions. Online training for us has meant that we can support organizations and individuals in new ways and in new places, some who wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have access otherwise. Our learning curve with technology is still close to straight up, but Kim’s somehow always known this would work. Her courage at trying new teaching methods and topics honestly deserves a gold star. Our extended team at Relationship Matters, starting with Hilary LeRoy-Gauthier who contributes in many ways and makes the team-based online sessions such a joy, and Eugene Hayduk, Marie McKenzie and Shelley Mannell whenever they’re involved, make me very proud of how we’re able to collectively contribute.
So what does this change mean to Relationship Matters and future training? Firstly, we’re extremely excited to soon be offering the edited versions of a number of our recent online workshops. Stay tuned to our website as those get released. Secondly, we’ve developed a whole new way of offering online consulting services, see “Online Possibilities” (link), perhaps highlighted by our upcoming “Global Mentorship Alliance” that will connect keen therapists from all over the world with Kim and other great therapists like never possible before. Our mission of “supporting the conscious evolution of the human spirit” is gaining traction in new ways, sometimes with deep friends, other times with inspiring new partners.
So yes, the world is experiencing all kinds of struggles - just in 2020 we’ve personally seen a volcano, the pandemic, the risk of personal financial collapse, race tension, increased political division, an ongoing illness and a recent death in the family, and helped hold space for many colleagues and friends in many very challenging contexts. The fear in these situations is real and it’s ongoing. But equal to that, existing at the same time, is hope. "Sometimes, it just depends on where we put our eyes" Kim says. In this moment, brief as it is, I am consciously choosing to celebrate the fact that our small but hopefully helpful team at Relationship Matters is actively doing its best at being resilient.
- Bob Spensley