CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP

Structure of Occupy

2011-10-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

In addition to GA, there are work groups in Occupy Wall Street. The workgroups are many and they are all ad hoc. My favorite type of "get it done" organizing. In the organizational development and facilitation world these are simply affinity groups; people gather around issues that matter to them and they work on stuff for the benefit of all. This is not unlike what corporations do to manage work teams, but there are different core values. This spokes model explains it well.

Some of the workgroups support the existence of the group itself. I learned that some of the groups that had emerged at Zucotti Park (a.k.a. Liberty Park, which was it's name when it was a public park) were the following: direct action, kitchen, legal facilitator training, non-violence training, kitchen workers, clean up, finance, media, medical and music. All of them serving the occupation. The groups converge on the GA and diverge in to groups. They are learning as they go.

What are they learning? How to be the type of society they want to be a part of, I think. I recall a moment when the finance work group at Occupy Maine's GA, reported how they would be managing transparency. It was modeling how they want to see business done. Very Nice.

What is Occupy Wall Street? It is a constant conversation about changes people want to make in the world around them. It is shifting the discourse from talk into walk. It reminds me a lot of designing change strategies of World Cafe, Open Space and Art of Hosting. All the methodologies that fit so well with the large-scale systems change work that I love and used in the Community Conversations Project; the collaborative social action group I managed in 2008.

As I watched the process of a GA, Oct 1, I was impressed with the inclusion, communication, consensus building work that was being done. The is a need for facilitators here in Maine for a local social action to take root.

Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-02T15:53:00.001-07:00

October 1, 2011 I attended Occupy Maine. I really just wanted to see what it was about. I had been watching on live feeds and in various social media threads that something was carrying on in Zucottoi Park in Manhattan. The event was part of Occupy Together at nationwide emergence of solidarity with the NYC group.

What was most intriguing to me was the process they call General Assembly (GA). So, I went to Monument Square in Portland, Maine to check it out. I met a few people there and I learned about the process.

I met another mom, Delina. She brought her two young children along. She shared with me that she was deeply concerned for the children that are growing up in this environment. They're stressed out parents, who have no time for they children and no means available to assemble any quality of life for their families. She talked about the young people coming out of college with debt and no hope of a role in society that will help the sustain there livelihoods, acknowledging that she was one of the lucky ones. There was an instant affinity between us.

I met John, a man is his 50's who stays home to take care of his elderly father. His dad needs nearly constant assistance so he was not able to commit to the occupation. Understandable. He seemed to really like the idea of inclusion and diversity of opinions, of lifestyles, of ethnicities. I liked that sentiment a lot.

There were also these three young men, Ray, Chris and Evan who where back packers. I learned that they were headed to Olso in a few days but they really wanted to spend every last minute in support of Occupy Maine. They were philosopher types. One had a sign that read "property is theft". Pretty radical. I imagine that most people would not grasp that idea but there is one angle from which that makes perfect sense so props to him.

I met a local business man, Tom, who carried a sign that listed a history of dates: organization of the Federal Reserve Bank, Glass-Stegall Act, Repeal of Glass-Stegall and another. One that I wish I could recall because I respected that he was bring historical context to the definition of the situation. He was intelligent, cogent and articulate. Boy, did I like how he took the opportunity in GA to block a statement in a consensus building session about demands. (Personally I think the compulsion toward forming demands is premature and instigated from outside the movement through the criticism that OccupyWallStreet should have demands.

I met a man named Chris, who was homeless and was overcome with emotion as he listened to what was happening. He had clear eyes and a willingness to be a part of something that would make his life have purpose. He wanted to spread the word.

I met a women who had been trained to facilitate general assembly at Zucotti Park. I learned she was an activist. She was totally invested in the civil disobedience of it all. I learned about the Occupy Wall Street process and structure from her. It was a lot like the self-organizing methodologies I love. She told me that she was in the medical work group and the facilitation work group in NYC. And she was able to help me learn a lot about what was going on. You can see exactly what is going on in NYC at The Official Website of the GA at #OccupyWallStreet

There were others represented there too: students, parents, grandparents, activists, veterans, computer savvy folk, young women and old men. More people then I could possible meet in a few hours. Not one fitting a stereotype cast in the mainstream media as a dirty hippy, anarchist or militant.

PUSH

2011-08-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Recently, I picked up a book by Clay Shirky (here is a link to his blog:http://www.shirky.com/weblog/) called Cognitive Surplus, where he highlights some of his favorite examples of crowd sourcing one of which is called Ushahidi which takes volunteer information from communities and maps it for the value it provides to local communities. It is called crisis mapping.

Another of his example of his is "lol cats" and in comparing these he is able to draw interesting points about the changing media landscape and peoples behavior in it. Shirky says the changing media landscape is allowing people to create and share more while consuming. Creating and sharing is natural for us humans because we have language. Still we are witnessing a very different behavior than the old way of consuming, which was passively. As Shirky asserts, there is a cognitive surplus in the masses of people consuming passivity. He says that is all changing because of social media. So what will this surplus do besides "lol cats" and Ushidishi?

It is a rich topic and I am not done with his book but I have I can't wait to sit down and read some more as he does talks about the behavioral science of motivation as well.

This is the thing, I have this idea for a start up; a research institute that gathers community intelligence; comm recon, if you will. It researches consumer markets not as passive data profiles but as engaged citizens having conversations. It then feeds the information to local retailers and producers so that they can join the conversation.

This is in away an alternative to advertising because adverts are projections to consumers that can be ignored or consumed passively as a commercial on TV. The research this group does will work like a like a canvasing organization seeks signatures but it will use surveys and mobile connectivity to aggregate the data it gathers and produce mines of market intelligence.

See I believe that markets can influence business-as-usual bottom-line-sensitive business decisions democratically. Markets may have even more capacity for democracy then political systems do , but that is another topic. Right now businesses will do anything to protect the bottom line from environmental atrocities (Oil spills, Nuclear core meltdowns) to questionable practices like trying to control their consumer though contracts (mobile communications model); to spend gads of money [blindly and expensively] on PR and brand management strategies that attempt to renew their surface image in the face of a market disgrace (for-profit education model).

These are all competitive strategies and often the leaders in these organization think they need to have the answer to secure profits but the social nature of humans actively creating and sharing (the birthright of our language-having species) is generating a different business environment one that requires sophistication, not control.

The new research institute will provide data for businesses and non-profits that understand and embrace collaborative strategies and community engagement on a practical and substantive level. It will invite market and executive conversation. Markets will be the change they want to see, they will become more self-organizing and our entrepreneurial culture will have plenty of intelligence to respond, even if the big business isn't willing to engage.

It is said that the US is the largest marketplace in the world. That may be true, and it may or may not be faltering now but either way, it is time for the market place of consumers to become a community of citizens again. Organizing for the collective good, and to do so in a more sophisticated way. I think I'd call the research coalition PUSH.

Crowd Sourcing

2011-04-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ever think about creativity and human interaction? I do and I have been thinking about how crowd sourcing works lately. Specifically, how it created social change.

There are a bunch of inspiring examples currently. Two of my favorites are open source ecology, and the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. Where creative collaborations and data are creating game-changing products and services of value.

Open source ecology is a growing group of farmers who are collaborating to engineer the tools needed to manage their agricultural operations. Inspired by the ridiculous cost of commercial farm equipment and it's repairs. They are sharing designs of tools that get the job done and at a fraction of the cost of traditional commercial tools and equipment. Here is a Ted Talk about it:

Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers is disrupting business as usual in health care by targeting the most expensive patients with an alternative health care delivery system, namely home visits. If you would like to learn more about this see the PBS website story about it or the New Yorker article Hot Spotters. Now, this example is not web-based as in the internet but it is social network based and that is important because social change is social change online and off.

Of course there are aggregate examples of creativity and interaction too like YouTube where you can follow any one of a million or more paths of interest to learn something new or to entertain yourself. You can also respond to what you find and engage in online conversations about it. You can even "broadcast yourself" as it were.

What types of engagement are you doing? What are you creating online and off that is changing the world? I am so interesting to know!

Launching Committment

2010-11-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

Asked to contribute my ideas on a new committment program for my clients (loosely defined) organization, I presented the sponsor with a systems perspective on committment I titled Launching Committment.

Economic Renewal

2010-11-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

There is the idea that has been seeded in me for about 10 years, mostly dormant. At times it surfaces with brilliant clarity. Lately, I think about it a lot. Now-a-days, I am thinking about who I need to talk to and who I will invite to a first gathering of social innovators in my area.

I had an idea like this before, about 15 years ago; right around the time the Internet began to unfurl. I was obsessed with a social media site. (That was "web-soap" for those of you that knew me then.) This time the seed idea is about economics. It is hydrological idea. Like a watershed flows with various input and outputs in a both simple and complex, this idea is about producing and delivering what sustains life. It is not apolitical but it is not about routing resources and power to a few.

Typically we intervene in watersheds, influencing water flow and accumulation. We trap it, channel it, pollute it, play on it and depend on it. We are not very intentional about it, meaning we don't think about the system so much. In fact aquifers are drying up! (By the way we need to dig holes to replenish them, a lot of holes.)

See, I have an image of the US slipping way back, kinda like Little House On The Prairie meets extreme poverty, fascism and climate change. Americans have so much farther to backslide than say a "third world" (dieing paradigm) country. This concerns me, but I am not scared.

The political climate in the US is gross, most people would agree. It is also symptomatic of a social system that is without boundaries, purpose, feedback or capacity for adaptation. The people (subsystems) in it are looking for a savior instead of being of use themselves, or bullying others out of fear that their needs will not be met. I believe passionately we are resilient adaptive! I am O.K not knowing what the outcome will be.

What is stirring in me could quell the current political rivalry, and stun the special interests frankly, long enough for real (not promised, but practiced) change to happen. Economic renewal has to be highly participatory, regionally contained and aimed at putting footholds and ropes in place, so that the backslide is more like a rigorous climb. (I am an idealist.)

I envision an economic renewal and social innovation path centered on food systems. (Control over food is the only way people can have sovereignty.) Heath care and elder care (insurance), and investment would follow. Also, interfaces for bi regional exchange (currency), would emerge, not to replace federal tender but to define regional systems. Ultimately, I see a reorganization of the economic system in entirety, one behavior at a time.

People making money on the current systems are not going to like renewal, initially. They'll probably call people terrorist, and charge the media up with lies, but that won't stop it. We can't blame them; change is hard. Harder still, if you have a gold spoon in your mouth and control of the International Monetary Fund and the military-industrial complex. Change is easier when we are not expecting someone (politicians or officials) to do it for us, and not clinging to the status quo. I have not believed in our political system for a long time, but I do believe in people.

Just thinking....

Learning Styles

2010-03-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I get really jazzed about learning. I loved what Rock and Schwartz say about the brain trying to hard wire everything it can; how paying attention changes the brain; and how insight represents a change in circuitry. (See, previous post)

Currently, I am teaching a class on academic success to a group students who are transitioning into a college program. One of the reasons I wanted to teach this class was to help people learn about learning. I believe this metacognition makes us better leaders; leaders of our own lives and leaders of the groups we serve. It is gift to be able to revisit the topic again.

Tomorrow, in class, I am introducing Kolb's Learning Styles, among other things. Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory is unique in that it provides a great deal of continuity by putting processing and perceiving on continua that cross. The modes of learning, that are natural, form in the quadrants made by the processing and perceiving preferences. Personal development can proceed from preference to flexibility in all modes of learning leading to increasing adaptability and resilience.

Personally, I find this more conceptually useful then the Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic (VAK) model. Ultimately, Kolb's model is scopeable to group and organizational functioning.

Motivation

2010-01-10T19:05:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow, my psychology class will be going over motivation and emotion. I reviewed Dan Pinks Ted talk on The Surprising Science of Motivation in preparation for the class.

I am making a personal note to look up ROWE, which stands for: Results Oriented Work Environment.

In class, I am going to discuss incentives (extrinsic motivators) like grades and pay (carrots and sticks) verses more intrinsic ones like autonomy, mastery and purpose. I'll be curious what they believe about The Candle Experiment that Pink discusses before I share the research done by the Fed Reserve Bank. Should be an interesting discussion anyway.

Next, I am reviewing Daniel Goleman's work on Emotional Intelligence. Wish I had access to This Emotional Life which aired on PBS last week. If you go there you can see some trailers.

Organizational Developement Portfolio

2009-12-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

I am creating a OD Portfolio for myself on PBworks. I use PBworks for my classes at Andover College but I was curious if this was a good use for wiki as well. What do you think? Will recruiters appreciate this?

The Creativity of Interaction

2009-11-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

We exist and develop in a world that is social. Because of this the social process of communication is vital. All life forms have communication as a major structure of their being connecting them with their environment; shaping ecosystems. The process of photosynthesis, and heliotopic nature of plants that turn with the sun through out a day come to mind as examples.

Communication has the power to motivate, and to overwhelm us, to heal us, and to dis-ease us. Through interaction with our environments, and one another, we literally shape our identities, our experiences, and our reality. From an experience of having piece of mind, to spiritual euphoria, to humor, our words, art, virtually all our creative expression shapes us and the world around us. We are formed in a social context, nourished in one, and through communication we are able to regenerate. How aware are we of this amazingly elegant process of emergence?

Interaction is creativity. It is a marriage between intention and interaction (Individual and group; I and thou) that allows reality to snap into place, just in time for us not to notice that we are creating it.

Value Creation

2009-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

When we consultants have conversations about organizational development, our services and the like, are we shaping material value or symbolic value? or both? What nudges people to want it?

If social media can create value for mundane human activities, what then is the medium for OD that will create value? What is the interface for how OD is done.

There are a few useful distinctions to make in regard to value. These are perception and reality. Given there are a multiplicity of subjective realities in every situation, what is the topography of value?

Advertising man, Rory Sutherland spoke on TED talks recently about value. With the OD Network Conference in Seattle (Oct. 18-21) this week I am in "mashup" mode. Sutherland's ideas of perceived value and interface design have me thinking about organizational development and value creation.

I am going to rest for the night thinking about behavioral economics and intangible value creation.

Chambers using Asset Mapping Tools to bring Value to their Networks

2009-09-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

That is the vision that is alive in me now. Chambers of Commerce using Asset Mapping Tools to bring Value to their Networks, and contracting me to deliver that value.

Last night, I attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Falmouth, ME hosted by the Maine State Ballet. The event had me thinking about asset based community development which is an approach to community-based development, based on the principles of:

(1) Appreciating and mobilizing individual and community talents, skills and assets (rather than focusing on problems and needs) and
(2) Community-driven development rather than development driven by external agencies

It builds on:

Appreciative inquiry which identifies and analyzes the community's past successes. This strengthens people's confidence in their own capacities and inspires them to take action
The recognition of social capital and its importance as an asset. This is why ABCD focuses on the power of associations and informal linkages within the community, and the relationships built over time between community associations and external institutions
Participatory approaches to development, which are based on principles of empowerment and ownership of the development process
Community economic development models that place priority on collaborative efforts for economic development that makes best use of its own resource base
Efforts to strengthen civil society. These efforts have focused on how to engage people as citizens (rather than clients) in development, and how to make local governance more effective and responsive.

Of all the virtues of of ABCD, it is the community economic development model and participatory approach that I am jazzed about. I am interested in tools that will help enable adaptive change and a capacity for innovation that our social structures (businesses, non-profits and governments) need right now.

So, this is a shout out to all membership driven organizations, like the Falmouth Chamber, that want to serve up a new, highly focused and interactive program for it's members in the form of an asset map and great community wide conversation. I also see a graphic facilitator playing in this space.

Tweets begin

2009-08-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

Today, I was excited today to see a member of the OD Network community providing leadership from the margins by inviting a Twitter conversation about the conference, on both Twitter and Linked In . Perfect timing Digittante!

See the conversation unfolding at http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23odconf2009

Flocking to Seattle

2009-08-13T16:19:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, I am kicking off a project with the OD Network to study Twitter at and around their national conference: Now is Our Time. In preparation, developing an online community of practice, I started a wiki. The address is http://flockingtoseattle.pbworks.com/. I've also been reviewing a few articles.

Steven Johnson wrote a piece in Time Magazine in June titled "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live" in which he states that there are three key capabilities of Twitter that make it unique and useful. He says they are: social networks, live searching, and link-sharing.

Social networks are the "following" and "friends" structures that form in social media.

Live searching is very much like searching on google.com but your search results are another thing entirely. Twitter search retrieves real-time information. It is what Johnson refers to as, "super-fresh web".

Link sharing is basically pointing capability. You can point to other content on the web that you want to share with your followers and it help drive attention. That is exciting to me because attention is creativity.

Some of my favorite features of Twitter are the self organizing behaviors that have shaped it. The use of #hashtags, and re-tweets are two great innovations created by users of the service.

Here is link (pointing) to a bit of interesting applied data collection about hashtags. http://hashtags.org/That is fun.

Here is link to pile of good information about retweets. http://mashable.com/2009/08/13/retweets-slideshow/

2009-07-31T07:06:00.001-07:00

Reflecting on collaboration today.

Cooperative Infrastructures

2009-06-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

"We mind as well get good at them." Clay Shirky said this on TED in 2007, as I was finishing up thesis project with a cooperative day care. I could not agree more with what Clay said about these structures tapping the value the whole system, something, he said, intitutions can not do solely because of the cost of organizing. I like what he said about nature of support groups being "value neutral" too.

These two ideas seem to validiate what community conversation project is doing. We are building cooperative structures that are adaptable, and cultivate capability for ingenuity and adaptation.

Check this out.

"No project is too small for big ideas."

2009-06-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

These are the words of an architect who was laid off from a frim in Seattle. He built a lemonade stand and showed up at the Fremont market (Sundays in Seattle) with a sign that said, "Architecture 5¢"! That man is John Morefield. He has a successful firm of his own now and has hired on staff (people he met through BizNik) to support the demand for his work.

Brilliant. Practical. Innovative.

Sound Connections: Community Conversation Project

2009-06-14T21:53:00.001-07:00

Check out this Presentation I gave at Sound Connections:

Sound Connections Community Conversation Project

View more OpenOffice presentations from Rachel lyn Rumson.

Entrepreneurs are the Heart of the Economy

2009-06-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Innovation is so practical it seems to me.

I was hanging out in BizNik land for a while today. I happened to catch a clip of the founder Darrel Kirk talking the economy and innovation. He talks about the hard work of growing a business and encourages entrepreneurs to share their stories. I like his style. Darrel says, "business is an act of creative expression".

Darrel's BizNik is social media for entrepreneurs that actually builds community and the economy at the same time. There is something about the formula that is delicious to me.

What is your big idea? Tell it here.

Bridge to the Future: Communities in Transition

2009-04-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Community Conversations Project has a date for our gathering. Bridge to the Future will be May 11th and 12th, 2009

Seeds

2009-04-04T00:20:00.000-07:00

Burpee and other seed companies are running out of seeds.

What would it take to start a seed bank?

seeds from gardens
people to forrige them, clean them dry them
containers
people to organize them
places to store them

Anything else?
What if every neighboorhood had a seed bank? Now, organizing that would be fun.

Tranistion Towns

2009-04-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Working on the Community Conversations Project has opened my radar to discover the transtion movement. I am currently working on this document to start my work toward transistion. There are some classes going on too in community activism and permaculture design. I am looking into one in Seattle, WA and one in Portland, ME:

- Transition Training in Seattle Aprill 11 and May 2,3
- Portland Maine 2009 Permaculture Design Certification Course
- Training in Portland April 18 and 19th

Four Key Assumptions of the Transition Initiative Process*:
• That life with dramatically lower energy consumption is inevitable, and that its better to plan for it than be taken by surprise.
• That our communities presently lack the resilience to enable them to weather the severe energy shocks that will accompany peak oil.
• That we have to act collectively, and we have to act now.
• That by unleashing the collective genius of those around us to creatively and proactively design our energy future, we can build ways of living that are more connected, more enriching and that recognize the biological limits of our planet.
*from an article by Jim Cole

Films to see:
Farm of the Future
An Interview with Rob Hopkins
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
A Crude Awakening
The End of Suburbia

Books to Read:
www.transitiontowns.org
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/Primer
http://permaculture.meetup.com/95/
http://www.ifg.org/programs/Energy/triple_crisis_av/panel5/3rob-v.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0912/p25s14-sten.html
http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/articles/2008/06/08/news/news01.txt

Neuroscience's answer to Transformative Learning

2009-03-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

The ARIA Model is the latest tasty morsel from the world of Neuroscience. ARIA stands for: Awareness. Reflection. Insight. Action. This model, created by David Rock and Jeffery Schwartz describes a process the brain goes through when changing how it thinks.

Today, I listened to a webinar they did with Strategy+Business.com . I loved the article when it first came out in 2006. This webinar was a great follow up.

One of the take-aways I got, was from a story about Rock's work with organizations. He uses the ARIA model to design high impact training and change management interventions that require a fraction of the resources of traditional program design. This really appeals to the lean process consultant in me. But what is exciting me is how much my clients will LOVE this!

Civic Engadgment

2009-03-19T15:19:00.001-07:00

I just became a Citizen Councilor for the King County Community Forums program. I am Citizen Councilor #1699!

The program is designed as an alternative to public hearings that, frankly, don't work. I like the idea of hosting salons to incresase civic engadgement. I'll be posting to my blog here what I learn from hosting and particpating in the program.

Cheryl Honey, oringinator and Master Weaver of community weaving, informed me about the program. Thanks Cheryl!

Gathering Data for Community Dialogue

2009-03-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ZLw4mg8iHI88N_2fk5CjUsWA_3d_3d

If you have recently lost a job or experienced a downturn in your small business,or if you know someone who has please take this survey.

The Community Conversation Project wishes to bring members of our community together to explore how we can support each other in these stressful times. One person we recently spoke with called this concept, “collective bootstrapping". Realizing the serious challenges that many people are facing, we invite you to participate in our first community conversation and together we'll learn how we help each other as we move toward a brighter future.

In order to help us plan this important community event, please fill out the survey by March 23, 2009.

what if we let them fail...

2009-03-04T11:59:00.000-08:00

Remember the presidential campaign? There was a moment, in the car listening NPR that I heard these words sort of in the air, "Change is coming! And doesn't have anything to do with you!"

Do you ever feel that? That faint awareness that what is happening is more like a weather pattern or a psunami than a social movement or a political shift?

As jobs evaporate, investors complain of tight markets. As leading banks refuse to "mark" their assets at market value, governments collude in denying their insolvency. Bail outs are increasing, more jobs gone and the snowball rolls. The reinforcing feedback loops that built these banks and political machines alike are now diminishing loops and economic development is no more about growth and expansion. Value once meaning "profitability" and "return" is now ambiguous; open for reinterpretation.

The essence of the quagmire is the information needed to drive effective decisions is not circulating. Balance sheets need balancing. But how right? We don't want to threaten the "brand value of this" abserdly huge banks. Bernanke needs to qualify his statement that there will be "catastrophic" effects of going nothing. If he can't then he might be doing something worse than nothing, as pundits suggest.

New banks with real accounting systems could buy up assets if they new the market value. Governments could get ready to help those affected by a fail out if they knew the measure of the impact. The only thing sure to grow in this economy is the pool of people in need. At least the stimulus package pays some attention to that. But lets get back to the numbers. Where's the data already!! How exactly is doing nothing worse than what we are doing Bernanke?

Accounting is the language of business for a reason. It works. It provides good data to base decisions on. To reveal the numbers of the truly insolvent banks is to set up the banking system for renewal. It will offer investors something to chew on. That is better than the blind speculation leading to the hording that is going on now. Bailouts are just delaying much needed renewal, innovation and proliferating of new economic inventions. We need a visionary leader like the Morgans and Rockefellers wonder were.

We need to change the conversation. For too long the language of capitalism as poo-pooed social responsibility. Now, we say "too big to fail". We are saying accountability and accounting principals are useless. When we listen to that language even to disagree with it, we are actively participating in the creation of a failing economy. The paradox is that when we let them fail, we resume fluidity in the economy. When we say yes to chaos, we find order again.

Dialogue vs. Discussion

2009-02-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, my challenge in holding knowledge is that what was once a big "ah-ha" for me the first time becomes "a given" later. It is interesting when I am reminded of what has become assumed.

My favorite Sociology professor, Dusan Bjelic informed my understanding of the phenomenology of knowledge. He taught me that knowledge is both assumption and context. In one class, he illustrated this will an exploration of jokes. What makes them funny is the assumptions we make based on cultural knowledge. The positioning of assumed and contextual elements is the craft of the comedian.

However, when knowledge accumulates it can create distance in people. How often the I have gauged my relationship or established a sense of belonging based on what is being "discussed". Alternately, I have found that "dialogue" as an electro-magnetic quality that pulls me in. Language is the field that we shape make meaning together and creating reality; the web that forms the bounds of community. Are you with me?

Kathrine Wismer, a master in her field of training and development and who is working with me on the Conversations for Social Action project just completed a webinar designed to help people learn dialogue and discussion. See Dialogue for Change-webinar-Katharine Wismer_Feb.2009.ppt on our wiki.

Thanks to Katharine offering today, I am join her in affirmation of the regenerative and renewing qualities of dialogue. Also, by creating this module she's provided me an opportunity to reflect on my knowledge of this as a given.

The Gifts of Conflict

2009-02-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

Healthy conflict management is a necessary part of life, work and play. Personally, I like harmony but conflict has uses. At least at level of creative problem solving conflict can be a course of creativity and regeneration. Ultimately conflict and diversity provide opportunities for large scale change.

In some organizational cultures and subcultures, hearing different points of view is a huge accomplishment. People are afraid to show up and be authentic. Sometimes it takes a heroic act of courage to explore differences, or extreme naivete. Group dynamics are visible through a lens of conflict management strategy and processing conflict transformative work.

My favorite theorists and masters in change through conflict management are Arny Mindell, Kenwyn Smith and David Berg. All of which have profound understanding of group dynamics and the use of conflict.

Cross-functional teams are fascinating to look at using a conflict management lens. Have you ever witnessed a team where one group is assertive (competing or compromising) and another is not at all(avoiding and accommodating). The unassertive group sabotages the plan of action by inaction. Or have you witnessed low commitment to solving the problem on all sides where teams spend all their time analyzing the problem. Perhaps you have seen groups just reel and reel. Idea after idea is advocated for (competing) without a single inquiry.

In these patterns we can descern modes of conflict: competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising and collaborating. They are all useful in certain situations. It takes luck or knowledge and skill to choose the right strategy.

Working with a cooperative, I was able to see that the espoused values of cooperation and participation were different from the values governing behavior. When I met the group they were embroiled in conflict. I observed silence from some of the members in meetings and some where attempting to process their differences by cutting each other off from information, manipulating and undermining each others actions. Power struggles and patterns of triangulation predominated interactions and crippled their ability to conduct operations. They had very low trust. In that case, they needed systemic renewal. We conducted an action research process to discover of core values to find common ground and review documentation to clarify roles. The group shared stories to find common ground for their vision.

In healthcare organization, a group of internal consultants could not challenge their clients behavior or manage an agenda effectively in the face of conflict. Disagreement would paralyze them in every phase of their work. When asked, they described their culture as very collaborative. We used the Thomas-Killman Conflict Mode Inventory to assess their individual and collective conflict management styles.

They discovered that they were a combination of things but the avoiding and accomidating styles were holdind a lot of them back. The TKI opened the door for an exploration of all the styles. They were able to use role play excersizes to discern the right mode for the situations they typically faced and speak candidly about their choices going forward. When the group reflected on the learning in the workshop they decided form conflict coaching partnerships to help eachother prepare for the challenges they anticipated. The pairings brought mad more resources available to each of them. That was a win for them and for the parent organization.

Speed Leas, one of my early favorite conflict management gurus says that in conflict, people stick to what works. He explains that we learn a style of conflict management from early successes then we apply it to every situation thereafter. Ruts aside, I like the idea that we all have gifts we bring to a conflict situation when we are in dialogue about conflict we can assess our collective gifts. I think that makes our organizations more creative and resilient.

Author of Eat Pray Love Speaks on Creative Genius

2009-02-12T09:38:00.001-08:00

I love that Elizabeth Gilbert shared stories from Ruth Stone and Tom Waits in the same talk on TED but her reflections on these stories and more promote the idea that we do not need to tormented by an internalized creativity. This is a huge take way for me.

She says, collaboration, a kind of coversation between us and something that is not us is the creative process. This is the part I am relating to right now in my work. The fear that I will not catch the wave is something I relate to deeply.

" If the divine cock-eyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed through you, Ole! to you, and if not Ole! to you anyway for showing up to your part."

Ole!

time for transformation

2009-02-10T00:03:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get that feeling that so much change is happening and that it is beyond anyone's power to influence it? Or that several of our social systems are overwhelmed, not just the economy?

Futurist Alvin Toffler coined the phrase "future shock" in 1970 when he wrote an article by that title in Nature. It basically means: too much change too fast blows the system. For the past decade business management literature has been referencing this term and the concept of "resilience" to counter the effect.

Harrison Owen coined another term "raplexity" which means change that is both rapid and complex. In 1980 when changes of this nature faced our large organizations, the hubs of economic systems. The ones that innovated stayed in the game. For instance, AT&T produced the touch tone phone and switchboards gave way to cybernetic exchanges of data packets. There is an unprecedented need for creativity and collaboration in our organizations, communities and social systems right now.

In the current wave of raplexity, innovation needs to be in the playbook along with downsizing. Today, it is not technological innovation that is called for as was the case in past three decades. And we can't rely on academics insitutions to absorb and assimilate all the knowledge that organizations once possesed. What is called for now is an innovation of social technology - financial, enviromental, and human.

Now, what would that look like? I have a few ideas....It starts with visionary leaders that empower people to transform the systems they use every day.

Group Genius

2009-02-10T00:02:00.000-08:00

The unemployed population is growing by the day and it seems like the right time to bring people together.

A few months back I starting a talking with a small group of folks about a service project to help people in career transition. I am personally getting more jazzed everyday about the power of converstation for social change. I am inspired. A small group of us have been cooking this idea for a while now and I think we are gaining clarity as a collaborative team. It is a great learning for me to excerise my leadership in a intentionally collaborative group.

Our new working title is Conversations for Social Action. I have undated the wiki site too as we have video and audio files of our work.

We are planning to design an event for April. In preparation, we have a new vision and mission statement and are in the process of clarifying our goals.

Our Vision:
We are addressing the needs of society in transition by fostering a shift from isolation to community.

Our Mission:
We endeavor to create a platform for self organization that will allow people to people to share their stories in unemployment and collectively pay attention to what emerges with a network of resources at the ready to assist with collective improvisation.

On February 14th, at 11am - 12pm, I'll be at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park holding and information session for folks who want to join in the project. And, on February 18th, at 5:45pm - 7:30pm there will be a conversation about it at ASTDs Collaborative Learning Communities SIG. Here is a link to information about the event.

"Collaboration drives creativity because innovation always emerges from a series of sparks” - never a single flash of insight." - Keith Sawyerm, Author of Group Genius

B Corporations

2009-02-07T22:15:00.001-08:00

I can't say enough about B Corps. I am sure I will be talking about this for the rest of my life. It is exciting. Check it out. B Corporations are world changing; the answer to green washing and out-facing social responsibility programs. B corportation are "baking" sustainable practices into their bylaws.

Some more articles about B-Corporations

- A New Kind of Company, Inc.
- 'B corporation' plan helps philanthropic firms, San Francisco Cronicle
- B Corporations: Verified Sustainability, Social Funds
- "B" is for Beneficial: The B Corporation, World Changing
- B Corporations and Employer Branding, Authentic Organizations

Conversations for Social Action

2009-02-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

The social action project continues to take shape. The need continues to grow as unemployment domintates the headlines.

We have taken on a new name as a result of our collective visioning work. Conversations for Social Action is initating converstaions as the title suggests. We are still planning to target unemployeed folks to participate. The vision is a simple one: to meet the society in transition by a fostering a shift from isolation to community.

The ambiguity of this work has been a little uncomfortable as with anything ambiguous. I think we were really tempted to plan this thing to death but today we made a choice to leave room for the emerging. Yes! I guess you could say we are visioning with the invisible in mind. I was happy that we all recognized that a part of what are doing is undefined and that part is actually rather significant to the actual design. The work in letting the unknown be unknown is exactly what we need for creativity to keep flowing so we can gain clarity on what we doing. I love operating by paradox.

We were produced a vision and mission today that will allow us to design a learning platform that will leave room for us to pay attention collectively to the emerging. We are operating under the hypothesis that the group that we convien will be self-organizing. We'll support them with setting the stage for dialogue, storytelling and provide them with feedback for their self-awarness as a group. There will be a choice point too to collaborate beyond the initial group process or not.

To be continuted...

OD Network Conference

2009-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure this weekend of participating in the program planning for the 2009 OD Network Conference. There were 400+ proposals to consider and reduce to about 61. There where some tough choices for sure but I really enjoyed reading all the great work people are doing. I am confident the final recommendations we made to the OD Network staff will make for a fantastic conference. Wow. I can't wait to attend.

Mothership, An Adhocracy Unlimited Company

2009-01-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

The vision for a social action I wrote about in an earlier post is gaining momentum and clarity since the initial meeting. A core group is developing and currently working to articulate goals.

In addition to the core group committed to weekly meetings, there are a number of folks that have asked to be pulled in later, for the actual event. The list of resources is growing. There are still people contacting me who want to be involved in the work, many of whom I would be honored to work with.

Today, just minutes after I had programmed the number for the Friends of Third Place Books into my phone, I met the Executive Director. I wanted to arrange meeting space for Mothership Social Action. When I told her what we where doing, she gleamed and seemed to be exulted when she said, "we have been trying to figure out how to do community outreach for that!" This is just one on many serendipitous occurrences this week. As my friend, Scott Melanson said today, "the air is just crackling with 'coincidence' right now".

Short of changing the world, one group at a time, Mothership will create a solid protoype and pilot a program that can hopefully be replicated 100 times over. There will be a program template and variables will depend on the audience or target populataion. We have begun to film a documentary to tell the story as in unfolds.

Social Action Mothership

2009-01-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

In 2006, a vison of a facilitated process came to me. It would bring disparate people together who are only connected by a thread of common experience, need, or interest into a 30 day workshop to develop community, gather and align resources and then offer incubation services. I called it "Mothership". The design was based on rapid cycle change methodology.

In the fall of 2008, when Washington Mutual was falling apart, I was collaborating with Ernie Hughes on a program about Organizations in turbulent times. Transition in Turbulent Times (3T) was built on Open Space principals, a systems view of everyday life/operations and Hurst's work on organizational ecocycle.

In this project, I was especially feed by Owen's idea about organizations consisting of spirit and structure. When spirit is high (entreprenuerial vision, founders essencial mission) structure is low. As structure increases (politics, culture, expertise) the organization spirit deminishes. Hmmm. When our non-sustainable systems break down then what of the spirit?

In December, a series of events, introductions and synchronicity coalesced into a plan of action.

This Saturday on January 10th at 10:30am, a group of talented folks are coming together to join other professionals in collaboration to design a program to facilitate groups of people in career/life transition to do a few things:

- share with others in the grieving process of letting go of the past job and identity
- explore what to do next for money / job
- create action plans for new work activities including starting one's own business.

Several really creative people with amazing hearts have come forward to be involved. Those folks are connected in the rich professional community here in Seattle. The hubs of this community are LIOS, Antiock and OSR Alumni, University of Washington, ASTD and PNODN.

There are many methods we could use in our unfolding work. Here are the ones we have been considering so far.

World Cafe
Conversation Cafe
Public Dialogue
Peer Spirit
Community Weaving
The Work that Reconnects
Four Fold Way

What other methods would you suggest we consider for this project?

Do you have ideas and energy to work on this project? If so, please join us. If not this weekend follow along at our wiki site . You can join at anytime you find the resources.

I am looking forward meeting this group and learning more about what's coming.

Microfinance and Economics

2009-01-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it be radical if when failing companies cry poverty, instead of socializing greed and bad management with bail out packages, they are given direction to the opportunities to raise capitol via micro-financing? Wouldn't it be neat if instead of a tax refund Americans were given certificates or loan vouchers to be used in a targeted program along the lines of a regional micro-finance?

Kiva.org is an example of one of the greatest innovations I have seen in my life time. As a growing number of investors find meaningful reward lending in this way, micro-finance is gaining momentum.

Organizations like Kiva are part of the present and future that can be scaled up to weave the economic fabric that risk-avoidant traditional financiers can not. This development serves the entrepreneurial spirit that fortifies economics and communities. Fascinating.

Kiva.org has a global mission to end poverty. They have lent over 6 million dollars in small sums ranging from 300-5000 and have aggregated the lending pool to meet funding needs of entrepreneurs all over the planet.

I am curious from a systems perspective how this technology can be used in economic stimulus at home. What do you think?

Linkages for Sustainability

2008-12-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

In the gym yesterday, I picked up a magazine on the way to the bicycles. In On Earth, there where were many articles I was interested in. The one in particular has me inspired me today. It was about was about a Brewer named Taylor Smack has a mission to make sustainable beer.

Smack keeps to his mission by keeping his distribution local, however he faces a supply chain dilemma on the other end of his operation. When brewing beer on the East coast, local ingredients are hard to come by. Hops and barley are commodities sold internationally. In the US they are grown in frontier states and in Canada. That is why Smack tried his had at growing hops himself at Blue Mountain in Virginia. He's learned a lot growing his own crops such as he's a brewer, not a farmer.

His business is a learning organization. By actively pursuing his mission, he realized that to actually be sustainable he needs a farmer to cultivate ingredients locally. That makes me think. In order for Smack to realize his vision for a truly sustainable brew and the lowest carbon footprint for his product, he needs a local supply chain, a community of folks who collaborate in business with him.

That makes me think. In order for Smack to realize his vision for a truly sustainable brew he needs a local supply chain, a community of folks who collaborate in business.

From a high level, this strategy is just another pattern of social organization for trade yet with intention it becomes an advanced operating system of production and distribution organized around ecological principals. His aim is larger than profit; it's planet-fit. The impact of this design, organized and mobilized in mass would be a paradigm shift for green-business. By taking the planet out of the "triple bottom line" (people, process and planet) and realizing planet is the meta-system to systems of people and profit, not another macro system on the scale of social systems and production systems.

In the Brewer's story, featured in On Earth, the strategy shifted buying international commodities, to growing his own, to building a social network to realize his mission. This is an important and revolutionary development, literally. He has essentially decided not to buy the King's Tea! The agrarian principals of colonial times are alive and well in his design yet he has striped away the colonialist principal of global food trade and the modern practice of food speculation.

Today, as I pulled a sled filled with boy through the snow to the post office and back, I found my self inspired to help organize these supply and distribution systems. Perhaps this is the vital core of "cultivating leadership" a more literal and focused approach to organizing intentional supply and distribution systems.

This guy Smack is a hero, a leader who makes good beer and cultivates sustainable business practices.

There are three heroes of mine that come to my mind when I consider approach to economic renewal. Cheryl Honey a friend and colleague here in Seattle is community weaving. She has created a methodology and an infrastructure to support development of a social safety net by linking Good Neighbors that provide and receive resources. (Not a bartering system but a family support network that is built on the principals of abundance and social action.) Another friend, Amanda Beal, the president of the Maine Organic Farmers association has been working tirelessly and locally for the principals of buying local food for the benefits of economic development and heath. Finally, another friend Ernie Hughes, a master of supply chain management and systems thinker teaches organizations how to innovate their businesses by leveraging their ability to collaborate in the supply chain. By blending these strategies to together I think it is possible to redesign the social and economic structures in to collaborative community of commerce.

It seems like this work would fit within the agency of local Chambers of Commerce and The Small Business Administration. I imagine it as part of a national strategy or social and economic development.

Observing the Human System - Questions for Cultural Analysis

2008-12-03T12:27:00.001-08:00

1. What is the background of the founders?
2. What explains the organizations growth and survival?
3. What does the organization stand for? What is its motto?
4. What values does the organization talk about?
5. What values does the organization act about?
6. How do people get ahead? What does it take to do well in this organization? To stay out of trouble?
7. What kind of mistake is forgiven?
8. Who is considered deviant in the culture and why? How does the organization treat them?
9. How are good employees rewarded?
10. What are the main rules that everyone has to follow in this organization?
11. How does the company respond to crisis?
12. What messages is conveyed by the physical setting?
13. How do things get done in this organization?
14. How do people spend their time at work?
15. How does the company take in new members?
16. What kinds of stories are told about the organization?
17. Who are the heroes and why?
18. Is there anything that cannot be talked about?
19. How do people exercise power?
20. What is the organization’s code of ethics?

The Neuroscience of Leadership

2008-12-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

The Neuroscience of Leadership

Paying attention changes the brain which in turn changes behavior. What we pay attention to effects and created reality. There are a tone of brilliant examples in this article.

Our ability to have an insights is the magic we need to harness to manage and lead change. Paying attention to the moments of insight helps hardwire the new connections in the brain.

It is easy to be egocentric about our moments of insight. When change happens in a large human system the early adopters are often the leaders and they need to allow others this process too. This is cultivating leadership.

Center for Ecoliteracy | Welcome

2008-12-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Center for Ecoliteracy | Welcome

What would life be like if children we taught ecology before reading and math?

Visual Literacy - It's a good thing.

2008-11-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Thanks to my network at PNODN.

Seeds of Compassion Wiki - What Are the Barriers to Compassion?

2008-11-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

Seeds of Compassion Wiki - What Are the Barriers to Compassion?

Come join the dialogue...

CHAORDIC CHANGE REQUIRES CHAORDIC LEADERSHIP

2008-11-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

I will never get tired of this article, The Art of Chaodic Leadership.

Dee Hock has a refreshing perspective. A "cooperative" organizational design that is Visa is a testament that the cooperative management is not just for students, greenies and whole-foods retail.

What can we do with the vestiges of authority and power in our organizations and make way for the regenerative capability of chaordic leadership?

The Macroscope-intro

2008-11-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

The Macroscope-intro

My new favorite online book. Rosney bridges knowledge of ecology and sociology, providing a lens to few reality systemically.

Weathering the Storm

2008-11-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Leading is like the work of a master gardener.

Planning to sow, knowledge of the terrain, climate and compositon of the soil is required. I liken this to having good data about our systems to drive the decision making process.

Intimate understanding of the crops needs is essential. Understanding the ideal requirements for them to thrive and minimal requirements for survival enable us to negotiate one crops needs in relationship to the others in your garden.

Leadership requires us to pay attention to the environment and the cultivation process. Organisms will themselves into being. The gardener facilitates the natural process using the pattern of seasons which are reliable to a point. However, there is always a growing season and season of change.

The systems of organizations, value streams and supply chains which we lead and organize our lives around are more complex and move quicker than any garden. In simpler times, agriculture provided rhythm for our economy. The agrarian cycles of work that once shaped our behavior have within them the strength and wisdom to weather the economic storms of our time.

Confluence

2008-10-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

This blog is the confluence of thought and information; my thought on human, biological and technical systems and a world of information.

Disclaimer: Writing copy is not my forte. I hope you get the meaning in my writing.

Rachel Lyn