And paradoxical.

Words to describe the very near future.

Questions are a part of this, not only changing the culture, but also changing the questioner.

Organisations like Gore Associates trains its employees to ask good questions.  Indeed, in this flat, rather than hierarchical, organisation, people have to learn to ask better questions because there’s no one in charge to ask poor questions of.  Other companies provide employees with time to explore the things they’re fascinated or intrigued by, maybe up to twenty percent of their time.  Any organisation can learn and benefit from their example and courage, and create counterintuitive and paradoxical cultures:

‘the best corporate learning environments have some common elements.  Bringing in outsiders to teach and inspire; encouraging insiders to teach each other; putting employees’ work on the walls to share ideas, especially on work in progress – all invite questioning and feedback from others and encourage greater collaboration.’*

Cultures which intentionally include time for enjoyment and enthusiasm, alongside what must be done, are creating environments for more, including the more which will happen inside us.**

If there’s something at work you don’t like and/or are struggling with, what would it sound like if you asked it as a positive, counterintuitive question?

(*From Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question.)
(**Acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm are three modalities through which our greater awareness and consciousness can be expressed.  Even acceptance of what must be done is a positive modality because it is about finding peace with something.  Eckhart Tolle writes about these in A New Earth.)