A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

In understanding and accessing the intention for an organization it needs to be understand that a goal or mission is not the intention. The intention addresses the "why" behind what we do. There is, or are, underlying intentions for any organization that is created. A simply example as to the difference between goal or mission and intention is building railroads in the eighteen hundreds in the United States. The goal in all cases was to build a railroad. However the intentions for the railroads differed greatly. Some railroads were built with the intention of fulfilling a dream. Some were build with the intention of easing the shipping of good to market. Some were built for political purposes because the railroad supplied access to land that would otherwise not be readily obtainable. Still others build railroad purely for monetary return and there were enormous speculation deals that eventually resulted. Yet there were railroad that were being build as direct competition to another. In fact the roadbed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike was originally the roadbed for a partially build railroad being built by a competing railroad in the later part of the eighteen hundreds. It was being build in direct competition with the Pennsylvania Railroad until a banker arbitrated the competition pointing out that it really didn’t make sense to either railroad. So too any organization that exists today. There is an intention that is fueling the organization. Sometimes there are multiple intentions but there is nevertheless an intention that is not capture in the mission or goals of the organization.

Clear intention is essential for any creative effort and the intention one holds must become the single point focus for one’s actions for along with the thought that gives rise to the intention is the will to make it happen and the energy to do so. Probably the single greatest thing that affects the individual and collective creativity and the ability to create what is desired is clear intention.

Clear intentionality is not the same as having a clear goal, clear vision a strategic plan or a tactical plan. Intentionality is about having the resolve and determination to achieve a desire. That desire may be expressed as a goal, vision or plan but the desire is not the vision, plan or goal. Without the desire of all the individuals involved in the effort focused on the same intention, an organization will not achieve its full potential. In this way, the organization is very much like an orchestra. The effort of the entire group must be coordinated and orchestrated. Each person capable of playing their own part and that part must be fully integrated into the whole. More important, the individual leading the effort must be the focus of that intention and should somehow embody it and there will need to be a "keeper of the flame" who keeps the organization true to it intention.

An intention is really only a thought or an idea and the will to make it happen. This becomes very important for organizations. There are many stated goals, missions and/or intentions that the people in an organization will make about the organization. But the truth depends on where the organization is focusing it will and energy. Actions speak louder than words. To know the true intention of any individual or organization one simply needs to look at their actions. It needs to be remembered that we know a tree by its fruits. An apple tree does not produce pears and a pear tree does not produce apples. If we look at the actions of the organization that will tell you where the intention lies. It is there, in that intention were the organization is really focusing its energy.

Now what goes along with observing the actions of an organization is to look at what is motivating the actions. For example, the fact an organization has an Equal Opportunity Employment Offices does not mean the organization necessarily supports equal opportunity. There are rules and regulations and the organization may have simply created an Equal Opportunity Employment Offices solely to satisfy the regulators and the organization provides a false front as to its real employment practices. The question we need to look at is whether or not there is any spirit in the what the organization does about equal opportunity. That is, does the organization put its money, its energy, where it mouth is. Does the organization walk its talk?

Here again it needs to be realized is that an organization is only a collection of people and each person carries intentions for why they do what they do. Each individual has an intention as to why the are associated with one organization and not another. For an organization to have real strength, there needs to be alignment between the individual intentions and the organization’s intentions. If the individual intention is only to draw a pay check, the organization will have great difficulty in getting much done beyond the minimum requirements. If the individual intention is to use the organization for personal goals, here again too, the organization will have great difficult in getting much done beyond the minimum besides having to worry about misuse of organizational resources.

When dealing with intention one needs to become aware of the undercurrents that are carrying the organization. Organizations exist for a reason as does everything else. One of the major implications of the assumption of the equivalency of energy and consciousness and that they are just flip sides of the same coin is that Creation and all that is in Creation is not by accident. There is a conscious or nonconscious intention behind each flow of energy giving rise to Creation and/or any part of Creation. The cause effect relationship for a particular event may belong to an almost infinite cause effect chain. But, there is nevertheless some focus of the attention and awareness of some consciousness somewhere that has caused the cause effect chain.

When looking at intention, we need to be prepared to look at the deeper undercurrents that may be create the space for the organization to arise in the first place. In his light, there may be organizational events that really have nothing to do with the way the organization is managed and it makes little sense trying to engage management technique after management technique to improve something that is collapsing thought no fault of the organization. In fact the appropriate actions may be just to have a funeral and realize the organization as it was known is dying and will ether crumble into dust or be reborn as something new and different than the past.

There is where the choice really lies. It is to discern the flow of energy and to know when something is broke and needs to be fixed or one just needs to let something dies so it can be reborn. Here again, if one knows how to access these deep undercurrents one can use the information. However to do so one needs to be able to feel the flow and discern the feelings in the flow for there is an awareness which lies in feeling.

Related topics
Intention and the creation of a flow of energy

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