Liz started an exploratory process to understand the common experiences that I see in my clients (and my own) coaching and development journeys.  Liz synthesised my words and descriptions and started the process of creating a fine-line visual that represents my work:

Liz asked me how would I describe the journey that I’d like the lines to represent. This led me to describe what I see in many client’s experiences when we work together:

Growth is what underpins my coaching and development work. It is both small moments of evolution and big realisations that shift the client’s view of the world, who they are being and what they are doing (and how they are doing it).   It can be a subtle unfolding over time for some, and for others, it can be a question or an insight that suddenly expands their awareness and evokes action.  Pow.

The light bulb moments don’t necessarily mean a drastic change in behaviour, it might just mean they are calmer, more settled in themselves, that they’ve put a fearful, anxious part of themselves down to rest, there’s space between them and their emotions/thoughts, more confidence in who they are/really are and clarity about who they want to be, and how often how they want to lead.

They’re less reactive and on autopilot, more present and intentional.  There’s a coming together and an integration of disparate parts of themselves.   There can be some discomfort, confusion, and challenge when they first see what beliefs, emotions, thoughts or behaviour have been getting in their way, a ‘so, what now?’ ‘what do I do now that I know this?’ but then being with and exploring that, there can be feelings of freedom, ease and excitement.   This enables a calm confidence and more space for holding greater complexity, multiple perspectives, the unknown, a softening of control, a changing relationship to time and emergence, conscious relating and creativity.

A visual of the development journey

The Wave represents a continuous, cyclical journey of life and growth and in a beautiful coincidence (as Liz and I didn’t discuss it specifically) it reflects the waves we move through in movement practices like Non-Linear Movement Method®, 5 Rhythms and Gaga. The practice of 5 Rhythms, which is part of the theory that underpins the Non-Linear Movement Method®, are Flow, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness.  From a lifetime of teaching and practice, 5 Rhythms founder Gabrielle Roth, saw that moving to different rhythms catalyses motion deep in the psyche. Roth sees these as universal rhythms, present in everything from the arcs of our relationships to bringing an egg to boil.

I also see these waves and rhythms in how we learn and grow, and expand and contract in my developmental coaching work with individuals and in the way teams form, storm, norm, perform and reform (see time-tested organisational and learning models like Tuckman’s (1965) Stages of Group Development model and the Conscious Competence Model of Learning (1960).

The waves of movement

“Energy moves in Waves. Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that —energy, waves, patterns, rhythms. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance.” - Gabrielle Roth

More about Liz’s work

Liz’s abstract line drawings and ink paintings draw the viewer through unfolding layers that morph and grow.

In some instances Liz’s work embodies a single seamless flow, in others she dissects and fastens together disparate parts to propagate and regrow, flow.

Integration sits at the core of her approach, where Liz strives to create work that depicts wholeness and systemic harmony.

Her art practice, which typically starts with drawing a single line, intersects with her organisational design work where she designs and delivers experiences for groups to collectively sense make, learn, adapt and ultimately align.

Liz Kreuger