Sharing session - connecting remotely with Minders across the world

It was 2020 and all of us were going through something unseen by several generations. Five months before, the World Health Organisation had declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Since then, most countries had declared it a national emergency and issued mandated confinements - including most of Europe.

This is the backdrop of a group of people, now living and working from home full-time, some of them for the first time.

That’s when a lot more remote workshops and meets started to happen in Mindera. The point was to keep us connected and help some of us to cope with those uncertain times we were in. It was around July that a group chat was created on the Mindera Slack channel called Coaching Learning Circle. The purpose was a group of people getting together to learn about coaching, as Luís Simões explained. This was not meant to be a coaching workshop or training. The goal was to explore the tools of coaching, improve the group’s communication, and gain skills to enable us to understand ourselves and others a little better.

How the Sharing Group started

One year of coaching learning sessions followed and the group changed in the meantime. At the end of the meetings, five participants decided they wanted to continue to connect with others and create a safe space to share with other Minders. These people were Darshak Lakhlani, Carolina Carvalho, Alicja Kropidlowska, Marta Calhias and Diana Paiva, who became the first organisers of the Sharing Group, focused on choosing topics and gathering resources to bring to anyone who wanted to join.

It was on January 13th 2021 that the #sharing-group channel was created in Mindera’s slack, with the first session shortly after. The first theme was “How can we survive another lockdown?” The themes around lockdown would return several times, as we felt the need to talk/vent about the challenges of this time, like how to focus on work and separate it from personal time, as well as stress management, lack of movement/exercise and missing our previous routines.

It’s been almost two years of this incredible journey, alongside many Minders that have attended the sessions. We keep track of most sessions on a Resources folder, accessible to all of Mindera.

In it, there can be found notes on the meetings, with points shared by those present and many recommendations: books, videos, articles and other mediums relevant to each topic. But don’t worry, the notes taken don’t include names or references to anyone in particular. We also don’t record sessions, it is important to us to keep the common agreement that what is spoken in Sharing Sessions remains there, with the participants that day.

Meet the Sharing sessions organisers

Darshak Lakhlani:

“I love the Sharing Group, what we stand for, how far we have come and grown. Connecting to what we are doing in order to achieve the best for each other. We have all grown together so much, as facilitator and participant. We have implemented our learnings, living by them and sharing with everyone. I love all the topics and helping to run the sessions, as I am super passionate about each topic and love to serve to give back to everyone. Each of us does this, as we hold it very close to us, it is what we love and are passionate about. Without everyone joining us we would not be where we are today. “

Imran Nazir:

"From personal experience, I recognise the importance of self-improvement through sharing. It's something that has benefited my life. I'm someone who can spend time living in my head. I've found that talking through things has helped improve the quality of my thoughts. The sharing group gives us a platform for sharing and learning from others. We have had a mixture of workshops or discussions around a topic of interest. Participation is voluntary and some choose to only listen in to what's said. Its value comes in the long term as you learn a little and grow a little with every meeting."

Alicja Kropidlowska:

"I joined Mindera in March 2020, missing a bunch of connections that would casually occur in the pre-pandemic work environment. However, in the middle of self-isolation blues, the Sharing Group has been my safe space, where I could have conversations that would hardly happen in a daily work-at-home routine… Actually, I feel that my relations developed in the biweekly meetings got more profound than the daily ones, focused on work only."

Carolina Carvalho:

After introducing my friends and co-organisers, it’s my turn to say what the Sharing Group means to me. “It’s been a journey of exploration of human experiences - it’s warming and uplifting to find people that understand and relate to each other with such grace. To see that we have so much in common as people, there’s a great feeling of belonging that makes it easier to get through life. I feel honoured to be present in sharing our feelings and memories, and seeing as we welcome each other. I feel really grateful to have found a group of like minded people.”

“How do the Sharing Sessions work? How can I join?”

The sessions happen four times a month, every other week. Two sessions are held, on Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings, to allow more people to join. Sessions are remote, lasting one hour and open to anyone. Whether Minders join just to listen a bit or aren’t able to attend every call, all are welcome. These meetings would not have been possible without so many Minders that gave this group a chance, showed up and shared about themselves.

To give an example of how the sessions work, I'll recap the last two months. November's theme was “Feedback - How to take it & give it”, a special theme with the participation of Marta Pinto - she is the facilitator of many workshops and training sessions at Mindera, with much experience in Feedback sessions. These four sessions were structured as a long feedback workshop, with each session focused on a perspective of feedback. In December, we've had two sessions on “Overcoming Procrastination”, with Alina Flestea, from Mindera's Romenian office. Her focus is People & Culture, and she delivers workshops and coaching sessions to her fellow Minders. She was with us for the two following sessions, that were holiday-themed: we built holiday cards for each other at the call and shared bout the season. After a short break, the Sharing session is back for 2023, with the topic "New Year’s resolutions and goal setting". Everyone is welcome, join us!