Constellation Mindset

How seeing potential in yourself and in others turns work into play.

So many of us have a hard time working in American corporate offices. I, and nearly all of my clients, were never happy working in an office environment. I have always wondered why. I usually could not get past being thrown into situations without having any say in it. Or working on projects that I felt would not actually help the client’s business. I'd often ask, WHY are we doing this? What is the goal?

I believe it's because a typical office has a ladder structure—You start at the bottom and work your way up. At one office, I was told that leadership was not given to you, you had to take it. This particular office encouraged throwing others off the ladder so you can climb up faster. This was not a good fit for me.

The problem with the ladder structure, you're either climbing up or down. You're winning or you're losing. It implies that some people are lower, some people are higher—And we're all climbing alone. No wonder it's the worst!

So what's the opposite of winning and losing?

Not playing? This is an answer that many people reply with, some people say 9 out of 10 people would say that the opposite of winning & losing is simply not playing. I believe the answer is to play! There is no winning or losing in play, which is why (I think) it's so hard for creative people to fit into a ladder or pyramid model. We're not here to win or lose, we're here to play, to have fun at work, to have fun with our clients and co-workers, to push our creativity, and surprise ourselves at what we can do.

Matthew Barzun and Simon Sinek give a great response to this question on the podcast, "A Bit of Optimism" Episode 33. They talk about the pyramid model and introduce the idea of a constellation model (that I love!)

I'm paraphrasing their thoughts, but they say something like:

'The weakness of the pyramid model is that your mindset is either self-deprecating (you're at the bottom) or you end up being judgmental towards others (seeing others at the bottom). In the constellation model, you see yourself like a star and see others as a star, you have a mindset of confidence and seeing the value and power potential in others—what can we do together?

The opportunity is not push up, push down. The opportunity is to find partnerships and draw lines.

Gah!

I LOVE this way of looking at office structure—Constellations. They go on to say that constellations are a visual leap that you choose to see. In other words, a mindset shift. The constellation model is how I see my working situation now. I'm connected to an amazing group of brand strategists after participating in Melinda Livsey's brand strategy Bootcamp. And not only that but I am absolutely drawn to clients who I see as stars. I see their power potential and I'm excited to see what kind of constellation we can make. Without realizing it, I’ve surrounded myself with stars, creating infinite constellations for me to discover.

We can't all leave the office and work for ourselves, so I hope that offices can manage to bring this kind of constellation model to the office.