The importance of being approachable
One thing I learned in my yoga teacher training was the importance of authenticity and warmth when teaching yoga. The same holds true in management consulting and facilitation. The concept of self as instrument, which I have mentioned in other posts, applies in both cases (Seashore et al. 2004).
Despite common misperceptions, the goal among yoga teachers is not to have the best abs or twistiest body. If we are doing it right, it is more about promoting a healthy connection between practitioners’ minds, bodies, and spirits. Ideally, that improves our quality of life in ways that spill over to positively affect everyone we come in contact with. The health benefits, which are tremendous to say the least, are merely a pleasant side effect of the spiritual journey and calming of the mind.
For example, I had been practicing for a few years before I made meditation a regular part of my day. Within a few weeks of making that a morning routine, even if I only had five minutes to devote to it, I had some surprising improvements in my experience of the world. One thing stands out in my mind especially. I became a better driver. NOT a benefit one typically associates with yoga. Yet there it was. Within the span of a week, I was able to avoid two traffic accidents, one when a car pulled out in front of me at an intersection and the other when a deer stepped directly in front of my car on the highway. I feel certain that had I been going through life on autopilot, preoccupied and stressed as I was for years, my body and my car would have paid the price, as would my neighbor and that poor unfortunate deer.
So how do we make these kinds of benefits available to others and what does that have to do with organization development and management principles? The answer lies in the idea of being approachable. When we think of yoga as a way to improve life, and get to know the other people on the mat with us, it becomes far less intimidating.
Those amazing people doing the one armed handstands have been practicing for years and they would be the first to tell you that it wasn’t necessarily about nailing the crazy, bendy arm balance. They too, started out thinking every posture was hard and grumbling through basic classes, many carrying those extra pounds and going over the shopping list during meditation. I was one of those people- the stressed out, sleep-deprived woman grieving the death of a loved one, working, going to school, smiling and telling everybody she is fine and hoping the kids don’t see that Mom is potentially nearing the end of her rope. Yet those peaceful, enlightened souls who taught and continue to teach me were so warm, kind, and approachable that I kept on practicing.
How did these people with the perfect bodies, great skin, and inner peace oozing from every pore manage to avoid intimidating me when I appeared as the Mk. 1 Mod. 1 Stressbot in yoga pants? They shared their own humanity and communicated in simple terms intended for the beginning audience. Only later was I exposed to the Sanskrit, scholarship, and more advanced postures that were well within their comfort zones. Amazing!
Unfortunately, it has taken me a while to absorb this lesson and bring it into my scholarship and business. That remains a work in progress. When it came to management theory and putting those concepts into action, I was (sometimes still am) an insufferable jargon junkie. Sad but true… When I was writing my dissertation I became so engrossed in the language of complexity theory that I forgot how to speak plain English. To this day, I am still in the process of training myself to communicate more clearly. No doubt, many of my friends will laugh so hard they snort coffee through their noses to hear me admit it. (Aside: I am eternally grateful to those of you who tolerate me when I “get my theory on”! You know who you are.) When we fall so deeply in love with a concept that we lose the ability to communicate it to those who need it most, we limit our efficacy. Quite frankly, we aren’t of much use to the people who would benefit most from new ways of thinking about problems. Ouch!
Whether we are trying to teach yoga, business strategy, or new ideas about how organizations work, it pays to find a vocabulary and mode of presentation that are approachable- or at least explain the terms we must use to be precise. So for all you jargon-junkies, advanced yoga practitioners, managers, and scholars out there… Won’t you join me in the quest to make our practices and concepts approachable?
Seashore, Charles, Mary Nash Shawver, Greg Thompson, and Marty Mattare. 2004. "Doing good by knowing who you are: the instrumental self as an agent of change." OD Practitioner 36 (3):42-46.
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