1. Inject enthusiasm

1.1 Leadership for 7 generations

2008-12-11T14:11:00.001-08:00

A major source of inspiration for the e-course is Oren Lyons, closely tied to Naturakademin. A faithkeeper of a native american clan with an important message. Listen to Oren Lyons talking about the idea of leadership for 7 generations:

If you would bring up a person worth listening to on nature and spirituality, who would that be? Please, leave a message and justify your choice. If possible, comment on someone else´s input.

1.2 Check-in

2008-12-11T14:10:00.004-08:00

This week we build on last week´s story. Will this be the introduction to your 3-hour exercise that inject enthusiasm to your participants? An approach that tends to bring enthusiasm after an introductory story is to perform a "Check in/check out", an exercise I picked up at the Chaos Pilots in Aarhus, Denmark. The exercise consists of the following steps:

Gather the participants in a circle
Enter the middle of the ring
Tell them your name and a strong nature experience.
End by saying: "I check in".
Stand back and urge each one to the same.
Carry on until everyone has spoken.

As you know, you set the tone for the others. Therefore, tell them something unexpected. This exercise builds a sense of community and prepares them for what you have to offer. We will return to a "Check-out" during "4. Sharing experiences".

1.3 Know your audience

2008-12-11T14:10:00.003-08:00

Before focusing the attention of your participants, you need to capture their interest. Sometimes physical games is a good start, sometimes talking will do the trick. You decide. Within each group there is what pr-consultants call "communicative target groups". If possible, adapt your message to suit those different target groups within your bigger group of participants. Here is a list of attitudes you may encounter:

Skeptics - need to decide for themselves and see what´s in it for them
Passive - need to try in small, simple steps
Newly awakened - need solid advice and inspiration
Moderates - need concrete and comprehensive guidance
Elite - needs reassurance and clarity

Are we not all skeptics a bit skeptic at times? One way is to assume that participants are a bit skeptic at start, but that you can move them towards being passive and newly awakened. How do you go about to awaken your group´s enthusiasm? Add a comment below.

1.4 Suggest exercises that engage

2008-12-11T14:10:00.001-08:00

Reflect on a team building exercise you took part in at work or in your free time. Is this something you can use to bring up the pulse and enthusiasm of your participants? The aim is to increase motivation for exercises that require more concentration later on.

Participate in a teleconference (see "This week´s assignments" in the right column) and discuss engaging team exercises you want to share with the others. Present the exercise in five simple steps from start to end and define what resources are needed to carry it out.

1.5 Add nature to your story

2008-12-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

Can you adapt your team building exercise in 1.4 to you use nature for tools and play ground to bring enthusiasm among the participants? Leave a comment below where you describe your exercise under the following headings:

Title of the exercise
Resources needed
Expected results
Introduction to the participants
Five steps to carry out the exerice

Is this a team building exercise to use as part of your "recipe for nature experiences"? If possible, leave a comment on someone else.

1.6 Blog title and blog description

2008-12-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

One way to create momentum in the title is to join two words and create a new combination, like "natural presence". Define your title and describe in one sentence what the blog is about. Why not start with: "A blog about..." Then make your first entry with a couple of sentences. Publish it and view the result. Looks professional, doesn´t it? If you are not ready to publish it, you can save it as a draft. Later on, we will put links, slide shows and video into your blog. For the time being enjoy your own homepage, all for free.