Partnership With A Capital P

I've been thinking a lot about partnership lately, but not the kind of partnership defined by legal definitions and business agreements. The kind of partnership on my mind is Partnership with a capital "P," Partnership where you give AND receive support to and from a thoughtfully-chosen, select number of people in your life.

In working with individual clients, I've noticed how much we resist inviting others to participate in our lives, to support us in pursuit of our goals and dreams. What keeps us from doing so? Usually it's a matter of noisy inner chatter, that voice inside that can be quite convincing. It tells us things like: "He's just too busy." "I don't want to impose on her time." "Why would they want to help me?"

I work with a number of people who do a lot of their work alone and yet, they really love people. They get energized by people and find it easier to be accountable to others than to themselves. That realization combined with an assumption in our culture that we "should" be able to accomplish things on our own, often keeps us on our own lonely little islands, in the procrastination zone, "trying to figure things out" alone.

I've found this is a very ineffectual way of being, and once I began to play inside the framework of "Partnership with the big P" I began to see nearly everyone as a potential partner! By informally inviting them to be my Partners, all kinds of possibilities began to open up.

Now, to be clear, I'm not talking about using people or manipulating them without their knowledge for my own "selfish" purposes! I'm talking about collaboration, an ongoing relationship, sharing and engaging in a set of conversations about our commitments and goals, to uncover the possibilities of mutual support.

I'll bet there are potential Partners in your life, just waiting to be "officially" summoned into your mutual-support-network. My challenge to you this month is to take a risk, reach out, and enlist support for at least one of your life's dreams. Initiating a dialogue might start something like this... "I see us both harboring some big dreams. I'm wondering how we might support each other..."

Get off your island. Enlist your support team and watch the sparks fly! Who KNOWS where that might take you and what might be ignited!

Lori Darley is a Certified Somatic Coach and Associate for the Strozzi Institute. Lori founded The Transitions Coach in 1998 and has coached organizations and individuals, supporting her clients in reaching peak performance through dynamic communication, conflict resolution and leadership skills.
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