Australian Aboriginals have a peculiar custom deeply rooted within their native culture.

Throughout their continent, landmarks are identified by songs and form a subtle navigation mechanism called Songlines. A Songline is a sequence of songs that describes how the world came to be and even indicate a distinct direction.

By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, the indigenous Australians knew how to travel vast distances, even crossing deserts and other people’s territories. Over the ages, thousands of Songlines emerged from their culture, overlapping and connecting the many indigenous peoples of Australia.

There is a deeper meaning even. To the mind of the Aborigine, in singing the Songlines, the world is being recreated, keeping the land alive and resourceful.

What might seem as a mythical, almost spiritual thought remarkably resembles the way our own neurology works. In fact, as we explore and discover the world, new neurological connections and pathways are formed. The complex neurological network of pathways forms a map of the world. Much like the Songlines, this map is not the same as the territory it describes. It is a vivid albeit limited and very personal representation, or model of the world.

Singing Songlines recreates reality. This is also true for our own neurological system. As we think back to any particular past event, we re-present the images, the sounds and the feelings in the present. The more often we do this, the more vivid and real the experience becomes.

Although a mythical thought, the concept of Songlines, describing and creating our world, is a beautiful metaphor both in its simplicity and its complexity.

ubeon launches an online database where independent, freelance consultants, coaches and trainers can register their profile. By registering your profile you create a new channel for yourself to get new job opportunities. Registering is free.

So if you are an independent professional, register your profile at sourcing.ubeon.com

About ubeon | business experts
ubeon guides entrepreneurs and managers of medium-sized and large businesses to improve the performance of people, teams, processes and organizations.

As coaches, trainers, writers, therapists, sales-people and leaders it's good to be able to tell powerful stories. 

Stories with metaphors. Stories about real-life events. Stories about magical miracles. Stories that inspire. Stories that make sense. Stories that make us laugh. Stories that make us wonder. Share your stories, cases and anecdotes with others on this brand new LinkedIn group: Powerful NLP Stories!

Or, feel free to browse and comment on other stories...

Another excellent RSA animation! Jeremy Rifkin on the dynamics of empathy.

As an NLP Master Practitioner, I've come the understand the concept of time orientation. American psychologist Philip Zambardo takes this concept towards the future. Beautifully animated.

Since this week, ubeon offers a podcast named "Inspired Interviews". The purpose of this podcast is to offer valuable content on topics like collaboration, systems thinking, corporate social responsibility, etc. to our audience.

A few weeks ago, our Collaboration Expert Erik Lauwers interviewed me as a pracitioner of collaboration on the founding of ubeon, which is a collaborative enterprise. You can download the interview from the podcast section of the ubeon.com web site.

This is just the first part of the total interview, which took about an hour. I trust that Erik will post the other parts online soon…

I'd like to share some of the ideas that came out of a discussion yesterday, when Julian Still and I were discussing the structures that underpin the story of our new book.

To be able to coach is to be able to think in systems. Systemic coaches do not merely work with loose elements and trends; they examine the underlying structures and interdependencies. Understanding these structures and systemic relationships enables you and your coachee to find (and influence) the driving forces for certain behaviour and phenomenon. Approaching the individual as part of a whole system, the systemic coach considers both the individual and the group dynamics.

Most of the time, reality eludes us because reality seems overwhelming (there’s a lot of data to process), dynamic (everything changes all the time) and overly complex (there’s no clear cause or reason for certain phenomenon or behaviour). The brain uses different strategies in order to cope with complexity. It filters (removes data), reduces (chops up) and recognizes patterns from the input. 

The brain then constructs abstract models (maps) for us to be able to process the input more efficiently and act more effectively. 

But the brain doesn’t stop there. It actually will construct a ‘version’ of reality based on the models it holds. Or as neuroscientist Henry Markram explains:

“The brain creates, builds, a version of the universe. And projects this version of the universe, like a bubble, all around us. […] 99 percent of what you see is not what comes in through the eyes. It is what you infer about [reality].”

So where’s the good news? We know that our observation of reality is really limited. And now it’s also distorted, because the brain actually builds its unique ‘version’ of reality? Well, the good news is that, as a coach, we can help people by:

• helping the coachee to build richer models of the world, by pointing out the deletions, distortions and generalisations he or she uses;
• pointing out the sensory input filters;
• making sure that the coachee understands that what he or she always thought was real, is actually their own ‘version’ of reality;
• inviting the coachee to explore other ‘versions’ of reality by associating in different perceptional positions;

PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) is a process-based method for project management. It widely recognised and used in the private and the public sector, both in the Belgium and internationally.

In this two hour introduction, people who are new to PRINCE2 will learn:

• the PRINCE2 Process Model:
• the relationship between processes and components:
• how projects start and how they move from one process to another:
• when, where and by who the important documents are created:
• the role of the Project Manager and Project Board:
• how the project board control the project, and
• how a typical project closes.

The presentation is given by Frank Turley, an independent and certified PRINCE2 practitioner and trainer. He will make sure that you:

• will understand some of the basics about PRINCE2
• will be able relate PRINCE2 to how your work today
• will have the opportunity to ask questions

Date & Location

22nd of June, 18h30 - 20h30
ubeon | business experts
Cederdreef 9
9230 Wetteren

Price & Registration

This is a free workshop!

The Global Compact Network Belgium organizes a new workshop together with Transparency International and KBC on anti-corruption and anti-bribery.

Corruption represents a major challenge to sustainable development and a quest of titanic proportions for poorer communities around the world. It represents also a very costly imposition for business, with the extra financial burden added to the cost of doing business in many parts of the world. The World Banks has stated that “bribery: has become a $1 trillion industry”. Corruption faces business in different industries, taking many devious forms which prove deadly all the same.

Join us and discover what UN Global Compact members are doing about it at this workshop!

Date and venue

June 10th 2010
KBC, Havenlaan 2, 1000 Brussels

Registration

This is a free workshop!
Click here to register online