Sue and I ran our AQ/KQ of Change workshop the other day and used Push Hands to demonstrate the nature of healthy work relationships.

The two themes we concentrated on were ‘adherence’ and ‘listening energy.’

It certainly made our audience focus on these themes in a physical way and it was something very different with regard to their experiences in understanding relationships.

The group consisted of leaders and managers who were there to learn about change.

Adherence was used to demonstrate that you need to stay in contact if you are to develop and maintain good relationships at work.

When you let go and there is no adherence, gaps exist and that’s where problems can creep in and affect the quality of a relationship.

Listening energy was also emphasised.

From a Tai Chi point of view, listening energy makes you aware of your opponents’ moves at all times.You can sense their energy through your arms.

From a relationship viewpoint, listening energy is the ability to focus and really hear what the other person is saying.

There were other aspects of Push Hands we went into regarding relationships – but that’s another post for later.

It was a great fun introducing the group to Tai Chi exercises and concepts in a practical way.

And we had a very good response from the group.