Team Coherence and Heart
Science Highlight
“Here I talk about the relationship between heart intelligence and productive, fun teams. Part of my journey towards heart intelligence came from studying with the Compassionate Listening Project. In 2012, I joined them in a listening delegation to a Mayan-led school on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. For years now, these Mayan educators show me what it is like to develop team coherence in a culture that has vast resources of heart intelligence.
Much gratitude also to the HeartMath Institute for its tools and research on team coherence. Life-spanning appreciation also to Peg Rubin and Betty Rothenberger, who are proof of the kind of heart intelligence that produces team coherence.”
Sophia McCoy, founder of Moving Intentions.
Have you ever experienced differences between times when your work group has high energy, fun, and doesn't need a lot of rules to be productive? And other times when everyone appears to work at cross-purposes?
Would you like to offer skills to volunteers that encourage their empowerment and improves their relationships with team members?
SCIENCE HIGHLIGHT
In science lingo, researchers have said team coherence is:
reflected as a stable, harmonious alignment of relationships in a group (family, team, network organizations, etc.) which allows for the efficient flow and utilization of energy and good communication ...necessary for group cohesion and aligned action"¹.
That’s a mouthful, but it sounds like a work group during a time of high energy, fun, and productivity.
There are lots of understandable reasons why work groups have low team coherence: rigid or vague job descriptions, resources that don’t match goals, unconscious family dynamics, destructive competition, loss of meaningful purpose, and more. What is exciting is that we now have concrete, research-proven tools to measure team coherence. HeartMath Institute research shows that team coherence is related to individual heart coherence, a physiological state of inner harmony that can be measured. Qualities of that state of inner harmony are care and appreciation.
Team Coherence
At Moving Intentions, when we consider team relationships, we call on this “Heart Intelligence” which is the 4th Door to Power in our overall program. We call this Fourth Door, “HEART.” It is based on our assumption that we are interdependent with other people, communities, and our environment. HEART harmonizes information from our INTENTION (First Door); LISTENING (Second Door); and ACTION (Third Door) to help us in our interactions with the world around us.
Do you need to take the steps necessary to integrate your personal intention with your Heart Intelligence? One way is to learn the Trident Exercise for activating your intention.
The good news is that the Trident Exercise lends itself to volunteer groups as well as to individuals. It is a way of discovering meaning and purpose in group action. It also reduces stress. Meaning and stress reduction add value to volunteer effort.
To begin right now, click on the button below to watch “The Trident Exercise”. In addition to learning one way of doing the exercise, you will also hear an ancient mythic story that resonates with current times and offers a good basis for discussing power.
For consultation with Sophia about your group’s intentions, contact her by clicking here.
¹Rollin McCraty. "Heart Coherence: Access to Heart Intelligence." Doc Childre et al in Heart Intelligence: Connecting with the Intuitive Guidance of the Heart. Waterfront Press.www.waterfrontdigitalpress.com , 2016, p. 70.
¹Deborah Rozman. "Attributes of Heart Intelligence" in Heart Intelligence by Doc Childre, Howard Martin, Deborah Rozman and Rollin McCraty. Waterfront Press: http://www.waterfrontdigitalpress.com, 2016, p. 30.