Learning to Let Go and Let In
When guide runner Mikail Huggins was asked by a reporter how he works with champion sprinter Libby Clegg, he remarked, "I have to put myself in that situation so when I run with her, we feel as one."
What does it mean to feel as one with another? For starters, it means letting go of the self.
Bearing Witness Design is a new human centered design methodology that incorporates experiential empathy in order to develop impactful solutions to improve the human condition. Core to the methodology is the principle of "Not Knowing" that we develop in part by "letting go and letting in."
Letting go and Letting In: An Exercise
There are countless team building exercises that involve blindfolds, mostly intended for cultivating trust, heightening senses, or developing a greater appreciation for sight. Being led blindfolded can also serve as a powerful exercise in “letting go and letting in.”
This exercise works especially well with strangers and even better in unfamiliar settings, ideally outside where there are lots of stimuli and differing terrain. To begin, one person serves as guide and the other is blindfolded. With talking limited only to directions, the guide takes the arm of the blindfolded and leads them around for a period of about fifteen minutes.
For most people being led blindfolded, especially in an unfamiliar setting, there is an initial desire to take control. One’s sense of self is heightened, and the mind is flooded with thoughts ranging from “be careful” to “do I look foolish to bystanders” to “why am I doing this?” to, “I hope I have a competent guide”.
But over time, most people almost automatically let go of the need for control and “surrender” to the guide. When this happens, the sense of self diminishes, calm often overtakes us, and the mind quiets.
The guide also initially encounters a heightened sense of self where the mind is flooded with a different set of thoughts ranging from, “pay attention” to “communicate clearly” to “how do I lead effectively.” As their partner relaxes, the guide relaxes and what’s frequently reported is that with time, the two strangers feel as though they become one.
Letting in Empathy
Developing deep empathy often involves learning to let go - letting go of judgments, our notion of right and wrong, our insatiable desire for control, and sometimes even our desire to help. Deep empathy requires letting go of the self and letting in the experience of another. Applied to professional settings, this could look like a doctor becoming the patient, a patient becoming the caregiver, a manager becoming the employee, or a business owner becoming the customer. In all these cases, by letting go of our self-identifiers, we can let in and appreciate another who is serving us or for whom we are seeking to serve. In product design, by letting go of our identity to let in the experience of another, we can develop solutions that better reflect the needs of our customers, leading to greater adoption and impact.
Learning to Let go and Let is just one of the skills we teach in Bearing Witness Design workshops with executives and purpose-driven organizations. If interested in learning more about how experiential empathy can help your team, send us a note at info@bearingwitnessdesign.com