Dynamic Emergence #llobo
I met Clare Hedin at #tuttle a couple of weeks ago. She was talking about an event she wants to run called “The Big Connect” sounds like my kind of thing, so we spoke briefly but then she had to leave before the end. Just as I was about to leave there myself I got a text from her asking if I’d time to meet for a cuppa that afternoon. I did. So we met. In a Pret a Manger near Bank tube of all places.
We talked about lots of things but the thing that she mentioned that I really felt I needed to hear was what she called “Dynamic Emergence” She said that she’d started calling it that because it was something that we all are aware of, but don’t have a good term for describing it. It’s the principle that we behave differently with different people. That being with a particular person draws out particular aspects of our selves – these aspects (we) dynamically emerge dependent on the environmental context, the most important part of which is “other people”
This is why I think that open events with inclusive entry and a diverse memebership work so well in a a creative context – they give us the opportunity to experience different aspects of ourselves. There’s doubtless a whole book in just that. But where it helps me most now is to recognise it’s role in the things I do. The hobo stuff is me moving around experiencing different parts of me in reaction to my hosts, employers, collaborators etc. But it also works the other way round – I’m being useful by providing a different field or context for people to work in, a field that often results in them doing things they’ve always wanted to do but had no excuse to do yet. I’m increasingly being asked to do work that looks a bit like coaching but is actually about being with me and allowing the “client” to experience an unusual aspect of themselves. It’s also relevant to the Tuttle Consulting model. I have a scribble on the wall at #C4CC from a while back – “the answer is inside you, among your people, our presence helps draw it out”.