Often at ALF, we strive to achieve the balance between productive tension and creating safer spaces to grapple with the complex issues we face in our communities. This skill is not only cultivated in our Fellows Program. It’s also central to ALF Insights, our facilitation service, which aims to bring teams together to build deeper relationships that lead to meaningful impact.
Led by ALF’s Chief Facilitation Officer, Jenny Niklaus (Class XXIV), ALF Insights was born out of a need for “ALF-type” conversations outside of the Fellows Program. Arising organically, ALFI began as an affinity group where leaders could come together to discuss real-world problems that require practical, tangible solutions. As Jenny noted, “the integral foundations for productive tension are good agreements, a brave container, and an inherent cone of silence to allow for the confidentiality needed to show up and participate.”
Because effective solutions depend on authentic relationships, we need to be vulnerable to cultivate change.
Vulnerability, however, doesn’t come without risk. We share an idea, and it falls flat. We give an opinion, and we’re invalidated. We argue our perspectives, and we’re disagreed with. This contrast is a reality, but what if we learn to harness this contrast as a tool to identify a solution beyond ourselves?
What can we learn about our relationships when we’re faced with this contrast?
I asked Jenny what the most challenging and satisfying aspects of the ALFI work are. She said that it is the nuance and complexity that arises when tackling tough issues and engrained systems within organizations. She detailed, “Satisfaction comes from working with these nuances instead of ignoring them. There is a history within these groups. There are different and layered connections and relationships. If we embrace these layers, we can move towards an impact or a product.”
“The work in ALFI is a continuation of the relationships that are created during the Fellows journey—you can make what you do in the class tangible and real in your community.”
We can acknowledge a complicated history and move towards a powerful change. So often, we assume the mindset of “No, but” when we’re faced with webs that are too tangled to make any sense. However, once we’ve created a set of agreements and a container for productive tension to arise, deep and meaningful relationships can be fostered. A mindset of “Yes, and” can emerge.
I asked Jenny where ALFI and ALF intersect and what our network can learn from this intersection? The answer was simple; they’re one and the same. They are both grounded in our values. The work in ALFI is a continuation of the relationships that are created during the Fellows journey—you can make what you do in the class tangible and real in your community. The network can take what they learned in the Fellows Program and take it to their companies.
Dialogue, open and active listening, and productive tension are relevant skills we can utilize in our daily lives. The relationships we build, whether personal or professional, are the fabric of our society. We cannot make change alone.
We can create change by being curious.
The power of curiosity is why we establish check-ins, check-outs, group agreements, and time for emergent dialogue to unfold naturally. Jenny has learned high-quality listening provides excellent data on what’s truly going on within a group. Not only does it make people feel like they’re truly being seen and heard, but it allows for a plan to come together.
“When we’re on the leading edge of thought, we become resilient and thus determined to keep moving forward. ALF Insights further cultivates this resiliency that emerges in the Fellows journey.”
Being authentically seen and heard is an inherent human desire we all have in common. We can take what we’ve heard and transform it into a meaningful solution and honor the complex history that inspired it. This is the balance ALF and ALF Insights work to maintain. Tension, disagreements, and harsh truths are not bad things. It’s about what we do with them. Jenny added, “It’s unique. We don’t want to gloss over the rough edges. We want to use these tension points to grow.” When we’re on the leading edge of thought, we become resilient and thus determined to keep moving forward. ALF Insights further cultivates this resiliency that emerges in the Fellows journey.
Let’s lean into our vulnerabilities. Let’s feel tension. Let’s keep exploring the leading edge.
The well-known African proverb “If you want to go far, go together” comes to my mind, and how relevant it still is. Together let’s create the container to flex our dialogue skills and question the systems that no longer serve us to create a better reality for our communities.
In ALF and ALF Insights, our vision is that we will get there. And we’ll get there together.
Learn more at alfinsights.org.
Allyson relocated to San Jose from Central California and joined the ALF team in June 2021 where she’s grateful for the diverse communities she gets to work with everyday. In her free time she enjoys writing stories, drawing, and reading the latest fantasy novel on the beach.
