Where is potential hiding and how do you coax it to show up?

During the Art of Hosting training in Innsbruck last week, someone posted a session in Open Space that really caught my eye -- What does potential need to become visible? 

You might also ask it like this: What is needed in me/us to be able to notice the potential that is hidden in every moment, every person, every conversation?

Where is potential hiding in plain sight?

Over the years I've been asked time and again where my favourite places on earth are. Actually I'm sitting here writing this in one of them right now -- the lakeside in Sejs, Western Denmark. I love the lapping water, the sound of the birds, the sunlight reflecting on the green trees, seeing kayakers glide by... It makes me feel calm and grounded. It makes me slow down and slip into wonder. It reminds me that the deep peace I'm seeking is actually everywhere all around me if I pay attention.

But my truly favourite place is not bound by geography, it has its root system in the human heart. It is a circle where people are leaning in.

And if you know what you're doing, you can magic one up anywhere.

Someone once gave me this formula: It's 40% the facilitator, 40% the group and 20% magic. The magic comes when you prepare for it. When you stay committed to your practice. When you invite it and stay open. When you trust yourself and everyone else. 

I keep showing up for the magic.

So how do you do that? What is the stance of a host?

I've been thinking about what it takes to embody the Art of Hosting while preparing for working with the Hosting Team for the upcoming training in Hungary at the end of May. Here are my scribbles...

A foundation of personal practice

A personal practice strengthens the heart, creates the ability for deep sensing, groundedness and presence. It gives you more ability to self-regulate so you can stay curious. It nourishes a commitment to serve something bigger than yourself. A question to ask: What are you a practitioner of?

A commitment to continual learning

Working the pathway of mastery, which is a dance between fierce practice and beginner's mind, is a commitment. It is about moving your mindset from hero to host. From trying to  be helpful, to offering what is useful.

This is the paradox of being a humble teacher and a keen student at the same time. Questions to ask: What is life trying to teach me? Where haven't I fully shown up to learning yet?

Creating generous space & seeking to build capacity

The Art of Hosting is the art of many arts.  One of the foundational arts is the Art of Invitation because how people get invited is how they show up. When we create generous space, trust rises. And trust is the secret ingredient for people showing up with all of themselves, willing and able to contribute. Everything you do is an invitation of some sort. Some leaders are an invitation to shut up. Some are an invitation to speak up. Become aware of your invitation.

Another thing we can do is to be seekers for brilliance. We can look for and uplift the capacity we find in each person. We can name the brilliance they may not be able to see for themselves. We can help others to be seen. Questions to ask: What invitation am I being right now? How can I refine my ability to see brilliance in others?  

Balancing the strategic and the emergent

We design and plan for a harvest. That's the strategic part. But life happens. What i often say is: "Human beings... so beautiful! So messy!"

No matter how well you plan, the emergent will always appear. Can you stand the groanzone? Can you be comfortable in the uncomfortableness? Do you have the trust and the stamina to see the process through?

I call what I do "stamina hosting." Over time your practice helps you develop the stamina to see things through and to stick by people even when it gets messy (and it always will!). Remember, perfection is not required. But showing up is. Questions to ask: What is my relationship to the groanzone? What helps me have the stamina to fully show up? What helps me to see through the mess to the potential hiding beneath it?

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So what is your practice?

Now you might notice that none of what appears above is about methods. A method is simply a tool and a tool is only as good as the one who wields it. You can have all the tools in the world, but they won't make as much difference as who you've decided to be. I'm more interested in the foundation you've decided to stand on. That's why I am still deeply committed to the Fourfold Practice, almost 20 years since I was first introduced to it.

The Fourfold Practice gives me a core to my practice and an ecology to be in practice with others. It reminds me to HOST MYSELF so I can truly be present. It supports me to BE HOSTED, to allow myself to be truly in. It gives me the ground to HOST OTHERS in ways that support them to create wiser action, and it strengthens my will to be part of a community of practice leaning in to HOST EACH OTHER.

All of this is simple. None of this is easy. But it is worth giving my life essence to.

What have you noticed about those colleagues, inspirational role models and stand outs in your field? What are their practices and what can you learn from them? Where is your own potential hiding in plain sight?