CBalc ~ Executive Consulting and coaching

Consulting from the Balcony – Perspective taking for everyone

You want to be the best person, the best professional, the best partner, the best parent you can be.  I believe everyone does.  
And sometimes you get stuck.

People figuring things out usually have some kind of story about what happened and why. But our perspective is frequently limited.  We go over and over the circumstance and just can’t figure our way out.  The tools that brought us to that place aren’t the tools we need to move on.  We need someone to help us perceive more, to engage differently, to move forward with curiosity, openheartedness, and determination.

I reached out to CB during a challenging time in my career. CB was a rockstar offering a mixture of concrete support, big hearted acceptance, and a humane understanding of conflict which allowed me to respond intentionally and safely to a potentially explosive situation. Utilizing humor and brains, CB is a real deal straight shooter offering kindness, insight, compassion with practical know-how.

~Michael Carter, LICSW

In one-on-one or small group work, I join you from a metaphorical balcony, deck, boardwalk, or roof.  These provide perspective that is unavailable from the ground. You’ve likely experienced this. Perhaps you’ve looked over a crowded room from the balcony and noticed how different the perspective is from that of someone on the floor.  A person on the floor may experience someone bumping into them from behind and make a up story to explain what happened – they were bumped, therefore that person was rude.  It’s a natural thing humans do, make stories to explain things.  Humans are also curious, but curiosity and story-making don’t always happen in the order that is most helpful. And the wrong story leads us to wrong action.

The person on the balcony might be able to see that the person doing the bumping is trying to move with a cast on their foot, that they were not rude so much as experiencing a challenge that was not obvious to the person who was bumped.  The balcony provides perspective, a pause to insert curiosity.  It is easier to take a moment to curious when one is not personally in the middle of the dance floor, mall hallway or street fair.*

Likewise, a person swimming in the ocean will have a much more limited perspective than one standing on the bow of a ship.  This view from above, from just outside the action, can differentiate between threat and not, can provide a perspective that we each can find helpful in our lives and work.

I believe that every single person wants to do and be their best in this life.  What blocks their best is often a lack of perspective, information, insight or practice; differentiating what we can and cannot control, how we can and cannot change ourselves and our circumstances.

Every person and small group has the potential to experience transformational change by embracing clear perspective, clear options, right information, and transparent decision-making and communication processes.

Unfortunately, our usual lives don’t leave time and space for perspective taking as we rush from one thing to the next on our to-do lists without a breath to clarify our own thoughts, never mind reflect on those of our co-workers, or notice the many parts of our circumstances that are hidden to us. 

I don’t stay on the balcony.  I utilize it as the metaphorical tool that it is and join clients in the muck of figuring things out.  You set goals. We chat and notice, we wonder, we hypothesize, we realize.  I go back and forth between the balcony and the work you are doing. You try something new, and we again assess the outcome against your goals, we notice, we wonder, we hypothesize and so on.

I will support the bravery and committment it takes to really do the work of change and development. I will help you find perspective as if standing on a balcony or the bow of a ship. I will experience how you describe your life or work, hold it gently, and bring curiosity, focus, support and guidance as you notice what you have previously not, and readjust goals accordingly.

People frequently can’t imagine how they could fit in the time to do this work.  The truth is, it will save time and effort as you become better able to identify and respond to your work or life with better information. Your work, your passions, and your life all deserve your focused attention.

You want to find out if partnering with me in this work might be helpful?

I can set up a single or series of 50-minute hour in person (locally) or video conference conversations with individuals or small working groups during which we can identify your goals, your perceived blocks, ask questions from the balcony view, help you identify next moves, and support you as you make those moves toward your goals.

I (CB) offer a free 20 minute introductory conversation during which we will discuss your challenges, and what I might bring to the table to support your next move toward your goals.
Contact me  justiceandpeaceconsulting [at] gmail [dot] com or use the contact form on the front page of this site to set up a time.


* This is a metaphor used by Ronald A Heifetz from ‘Leadership without Easy Answers.’
He speaks of this metaphor for noticing systems we are involved in in this way, “Rather than maintain perspective on the events that surround and involve us, we often get swept up by them. Consider the experience of dancing on a dance floor in contrast with standing on a balcony and watching other people dance. Engaged in the dance, it is nearly impossible to get a sense of the patterns made by everyone on the floor. Motion makes observation difficult. Indeed, we often get carried away by the dance. Our attention is captured by the music, our partner, and the need to sense the dancing space of others nearby to stay off their toes. To discern the larger patterns on the dance floor – to see who is dancing with whom, in what groups, in what location. And who is sitting out which kind of dance – we have to stop and get to the balcony.”