Chaordic Occupation

Goosebump inducing if you ask me!

The entire theme of chaordic leadership is fascinating and even more so that it has been given a name.

It explains the kind of leadership that is needed in times of chaos in order for order to arise.

Allow me to put what I speak of into context. We were happily skipping along our YIP path feeling somewhat in control of what we felt and what we were involved in.

As with life, some sort of interruption had to arise.

In It arrived in the form of an invitation to participate wholeheartedly in the Occupy Stockholm movement. The invitation itself was a lesson to all. If I had to sum it up, I would let it seep into your mind and heart with the use of this quote, “Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected” Mahatma Ghandi.

While the group dealt with this invitation and the feelings it brought up I decided to see what it was all about and decide if amidst all the madness, I could find a little spot of comfort or growth.

I swiftly fulfilled the role of communicator or mediator between those at Occupy Stockholm and YIP (our home).

It became increasingly difficult to satisfy the collective needs.

This is where the most powerful learning I acquired from Chaordic Leadership came in to save the day.

I realised that chaordic leadership need not only apply to the madness and chaos we find in the outside world (and there is a lot of it) it also applies quite deeply to our internal conflicts, on an emotional and mental level. When we are flooded with so many options and opportunities and we feel paralysed by what to do next.

How do we bring that internal chaos into order?

How do we best lead ourselves?

I stumbled upon yet another favourite quote, this time by David Allen, which reminded me of a sheer reality that I needed to address - `You can do anything but not everything`.

It was time to stop and re-evaluate what was within my capabilities.

I ended up silencing all the noise around me and sitting with my internal voices and finally decided upon following what felt right.

Me and a couple of other YIPPIES are still playing an important role in `Occupy Stockholm` movement and are still battling with the endless chaos which is the internal and external voices and options of how to face this particular situation.

This has been a priceless experience for the YIP4 family and the course content and the events could not have been better aligned.

What a gift! Although it didn't feel like it at the time.

As we continue on our turbulent, challenging, beautiful, sometimes painful yet enriching journey that is YIP we continue to use the concept of Chaordic Leadership to sift through what we should do next.

We live and we learn and we continue to jump.