Previous Month: http://structureprocess.com/blog/january2018/

I had some difficulty writing these Work Notes. As I looked over my calendar and the outcomes of last month, I thought: “Oh dear! This is not interesting! I was mostly traveling, and involved with my more personal issues; and yes, while we made some important progress with our clients, there is nothing really interesting to say to the world about that…” 

When I raised this in our Monday Tactical Meeting, having almost dropped the project, Malwina told me: “Well: write about that. Share your process!” And I think she is right.

One of the aspects most important to beautiful work (our organisation’s purpose), is that I can set my own rhythm. Or tune into what might be the “natural” rhythm, not needing to force anything or raise the speed of development, when things are actually fine. It allows me to take myself seriously, and allow development for myself as a person, rather than just being a role-filler of the organisation.

So… what was it like?

I started February off in Hamburg, when I visited Bucerius Law School for an introductory lecture to feminist law studies, by Anna Katharina Mangold.

I enjoyed it so much, that for much of the last month, I have been contemplating how I might integrate studying law with my work as a coach and consultant here! :)

I find law fascinating: It’s the language of how people regulate their relationships. I love language. I love people. And I dig clarity. I might do more with this in the future.

I continued in Tampere and Helsinki, meeting friends and colleagues – people such as Antti Marjakangas, Jan-Erik Tarpila, Kirsi Joenpolvi and Structure & Process Co-Founder Tanja Korvenmaa. I was glad to have the opportunity to look back over the almost 6 years that the company has been around now, and share the joy about the depth and stability that it has reached.

I spent one week at the Finnish Festival of Contact Improvisation – a festival I have been part of since 2011. I spent enough time alone, and got a lot of work done in the afternoons, while flying on the dancefloor in mornings, evenings and nights.

• I produced the January Work Note, Malwina published the report from our January work retreat the same week.
• I finalised two offers for new clients and processed a new incoming lead (which was later dropped).
• I came across a four-year-old blogpost of mine, in which I dreamt about my ideal world of work and looked into what was missing at the time:

I would choose my own work environment, travel to where I need to be, and spend as much time as necessary on what needs to be done.

I would be connected to other coworkers who would be working on the same or similar things as me, and I would regularly meet people who did completely different, but somehow related things.
(Martin Röll, February 2014)

I was surprised to see how beautiful things were already back then. And how they have developed since then.

A delight was seeing our client reinblau eG publish a video from their team retreat in November 2017. We think it gives a lovely impression of their culture; and I am very happy to have been a part of it.

(Video: “Reinblau Teamtreffen November 2017”. See me in my rainbow jacket making goofy movements and Rainer looking solid and sublime, as always.)

Reinblau also relaunched their website – another beautiful reflection of the development they have been making. Check it out!

Our new client in Switzerland confirmed formally, so we set up a team and scheduled next meetings.

I rewrote the Structure & Process “About Us”, outing myself as transgender for the first time in the immediate company context. I am finding more and more ease living as a transgender person in a mostly-cisgender world, and this is an expression of it.

Current mood: Happy. Healthy. Well-balanced. Three clients at one time is just the right momentum at the moment – we can handle most things with 2 people, and everything with 3. Connections are easy, relationships good. Glad to have clarity that we won’t be growing further at the moment.