But then... things started to get hot. Someone interrupted someone else. Someone's voice got a little louder. Three people started to talk at once. The moderator began to lose it.
And then... someone said in no uncertain way, "freeze!"
What was this? And then, he said it again. "Freeze. And breathe. I'm calling a time out." And he just sat there. No words. It was powerful. And everyone stopped in their tracks. (It turns out, this was a norm they had agreed to previously. Note to self...)
And once everyone had found their breath again, taken a step back, gotten their own feet back underneath their own selves, he asked a couple of AWESOME questions:
Are we on track right now?
What would be helpful?
The questions really didn't need to be answered. The answers were self-evident. In less than a minute, the group as a whole had their feet underneath them, figured out how to continue the discussions, and moved on.
It reminded me of how important it is to know how to get back on track... to get myself back on track, and to perhaps help another as well. Want to pack another tool in your kit? Download the one-pager... "Getting Back On Track".
Onward!
V
