Movement: Ropes that Bind

Have you ever watched people clean the outside windows of a tall building?  It is an amazing feat!

Recently, I spent time at the corporate offices in downtown Portland.  It was a cold, cloudy week.  My team had a series of meetings in a conference room on the 17th floor that looked out over a section of the downtown skyline.  My chair faced the windows, so during breaks in the meetings I would gaze out and think about how different this work life is from my home office.

One day a team of window cleaners rappelled into view on the building across from us.  I watched as they quickly cleaned a section and then rappelled down to the next floor.  I was fascinated by the teamwork and communication as they worked together and then moved individually down.
 

Movement:  Staying In Sync

My mind came back to the meeting, wondering about the interconnectedness of my design team:

• We are individuals:  bringing our individual strengths, ideas, perceptions, and biases. 
• We are called to work as a team:  listening, coordinating, accepting, and allowing other ideas to emerge.

Sometimes it is a balancing act to respect both the contributions of the individual and the team!

Movement: Trusting at Different Levels

Back to the window cleaners:  each member of the team had ropes that secured each individual, keeping them from falling.  The team’s training and coordination assured that all window sections were addressed.  In a sense, their coordination and training served as an invisible rope that bound them together.  Both the physical rope and the invisible rope needed to be maintained.

Movement:  Seeing the Whole Picture

Whether we live and work as individuals or as a group with a common cause, our humanity binds us together.  Sometimes it is important to pull back and look at a wider perspective.  Through listening and dialogue, we can communicate this larger picture.

In this diverse and ever-changing world, it is imperative that we consider the following questions:

• How might I invite others to understand my individuality?
• Whose responsibility is it to encourage our interconnectedness?
• When do I create a safe environment to explore and support the invisible ropes that bind us together?

The task of maintaining the ropes that bind us may seem daunting at times, but what better way to respect the other person than getting out on the ledge and rappelling into the unknown together?!

Back to the window cleaners:  soon after the window cleaners reached the ground… it began to rain!  Life is like that:  we must continually maintain what connects us... and be prepared to redo what we thought was finished!

May we learn to clean the windows that we see through -- opening new vistas and no longer limited by the dirt and grime of our perceptions and conclusions!


 

Larry Gardepie