It all comes back to the Yellow Brick Road

Even when I'm not in my world, writing my material, the Wizard of Oz analogy continues to creep back into my work. There has to be something to that, right?!I've started a new facilitation role with Swinburne Professional here is Tasmania. This is the business training part of Swinburne University of Technology, which is branching out into Tassie. As well as facilitation, I'm currently managing a project to update all of the public program curriculum - which is incredibly exciting and not just a little daunting at the same time (but that might be for another post).

Being Bold at Work

So a couple of weeks ago, I had to develop a new course in a very short timeframe - see this is why I haven't been writing here and in other online places, I've been busy. It is a course designed for women to gain some skills in being more powerful and influence in their workplace. And this is why it's so exciting because I get to write courses like this!I started the conceptualisation; don't worry I won't get into my writing process and everything here. About 10 minutes into it I realised I was writing a Dorothy course. By that, I mean I was writing a course to give the participants all of the Wizard of Oz elements:

• there is foundational information about social conditioning and the like to give them a greater understanding of the issues and that they are common (brains)
• we include sections on emotional intelligence and not thinking that female boldness has to be like what they see men doing - they shouldn't stop being kind (heart)
• then they learn and practice some skills and hopefully acquire a bit more of a toolkit to support them being bolder in their interactions (courage)

But where is Dorothy, if this is a Dorothy course? Well, there is a focus in all of this about embracing who they are and what they want, and then learning to ask for it, create opportunities for it, and allow people to help them get it. This is the authenticity element, which I would love to spend more time on in the course, but we only have a day.

It's not just there

But it's not just in that course, I'm seeing it everywhere at the moment - in a range of other courses, in some of my writing (yes I am still trying to make time for my writing). It permeates and informs so many things.And what does that even mean? I don't know, other than the fact that I can't ignore it. It might mean I'm so absorbed in that story and analogy now that I simply see it a lot - or there could be a thought process developing that I'm yet to consciously realise. But there is something, and it will be something I share with you when I finally work it out.I'm going to share some other little epiphanies from the courses I'm writing in the next couple of weeks - yes, there are other posts about the human brain but my brain is such that I am struggling to write them, so that will be a little later again. I had a great idea about a better way to explain/conceptualise failure, which I can't wait to share.In the meantime, is it only me? Or do you see the Wizard of Oz analogy in your world as well? I'd love to know if I'm losing it a little, or if this does permeate further than I realised.