October 28, 2009
Sitting by a fire this morning. The wind is howling. There is snow on the rooftops, crusting in the wind. Winter has arrived.
I'm reflecting on several experiences during the last weeks. On people that have been involved in work that captures their hearts. It is what is common among many of us, that undeniable spark and trembling as we move into bigger versions of ourselves.
"We had no idea" is a theme common among these experiences. It is a statement about how far-reaching, purposeful, and enlivening our work or projects have become. These stories have my attention because it is typically so much easier to look back on a successful project with only admiration. Often there is an undertone of "we couldn't do that here." Yet, common in many is this sense of just getting started and growing into the bigness. From "we had no idea" to "wow, check this out."
The Mid Ohio Foodbank is one example of this. I heard it through Matt Habash, a former political leader in Columbus. He has had some affiliation with the Foodbank for 35 years now. It has grown to become the 10th largest foodbank of 260 in the US. They redistribute excess food, now 33 million pounds of it, annually. When I was with Matt last week, the new Foodbank was opening. A Leeds certified green building with space to convene community groups in dialogue and learning. They have funding. They have support from the community. They have vision in action. The have "wow, check this out."
The Flow Game is another example. It was created in 1997. Eight friends in Denmark new that they needed something new, a new way to work in deeper consciousness. They created the game. Questions to go with it. They used to draw the board on paper. Simple experiments. Simple resources. Now, this game is being used and practiced in several countries by many trained leaders. It is being welcomed as needed tool to accomplish mission and vision. The game is also being prepared for release in a broader way -- not marketed -- but as a tool for deepening consciousness and action learning. From eight friends to a global stewarding and network.
The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter is another example. It began with simple ideas. Some from a group of friends gathered at Castle Borl in Croatia, gathered in an open space learning group about 10 years ago. It began with desires to deepen work. It began with awareness that more was possible working with participation, co-creation, living systems, emergence. Friends talking with friends. Sharing "what if" stories. Today there is an explosion of hosts throughout the world. AoH has become a recognized brand. A shared identity in a community of practice that is in the thousands of people. A way of working in large scale change. A movement. We had no idea.
Our Optimal Health grew out of several Art of Hosting connections. One beginning was an Art of Hosting in 2005. Phil Cass convened several leaders focussed on how to improve the level of civic dialogue in Columbus. He thought it would be one event. From that training, an open space group formed, asking how might we be able to create affordable and sustainable health care for all in Franklin County. A bold question for a group of people ready to be bold. Since then, several assemblies have been held. Hundreds of people have been trained and now practice participative leadership. Columbus has become a model for large scale change that inspires other health care systems and other communities to create learning filled organizations and leader filled capacity. We had no idea.
Lastly, The Berkana Institute is another example. One beginning was in 1990. Meg Wheatley had just written Leadership and the New Science. Myron Kellner-Rogers and her were offering new paradigm work of leadership. They and others created Berkana through a series of dialogues about possibility. Friends gathering to imagine together. That grew to more dialogues. Seminars. Global leadership initiatives and communities. Pioneering work with leaders of other networks. Today, Berkana has significant reach. Thanks to Meg with her big heart and founding energy. But thanks to hundreds of others that have found in Berkana connections and courage to be pioneers themselves. Friends to hundreds and thousands of friends.
When teaching, I often offer the principle of "start anywhere, follow it everywhere." It is a way of working in a living system. It is a way of working in a network. It is a way of working with simple beginnings. Not complex, long term linear plans that become obsolete within months. Rather, deeply centered values that endure beyond time. In such, starting anywhere, is born the stories of "we had no idea" that can be shared with next generation leaders, ready to begin their dreams and wondering how to get started.
Showing posts with label Berkana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berkana. Show all posts
Berkana as a Self-Organizing System
July 6, 2009
Berkana is reinventing itself, and we’d like to share our new direction with you.
Since 1992, when Berkana was founded, we have been learning about how to create the conditions for self-organizing to happen. During this time, we ourselves have operated in a somewhat traditional form: as a nonprofit institute with staff, offices and professional leadership. The gift of today’s challenging economic environment has been to call us far deeper into the experiment in self-organizing.
For all of us working to create social change, we are confronted with the paradox that there is less money available but more need than ever for the kind of work we do. The nonprofit model Berkana has been working in is proving to be unsustainable, and we believe it is time to invent a way to do our work that is flexible, resilient and adaptive.
Fortunately, we know a little something about flexible, resilient and adaptive systems. The organizational model that we plan to experiment with is a self-organizing system that invites many people throughout the Berkana community to step forward with the leadership they wish to offer. It calls for entrepreneurship, creativity and ingenuity. It requires that many people engage in a whole new level of effort around the actions they wish to commit to.
We invite you to learn more about how self-organizing can harness our collective creativity and commitment for building healthy and resilient communities.
From Berkana's most recent enewsletter, an invitation to reinvent that is true for all of us, and one that I am in with dear friends.
Berkana as a Self-Organizing SystemBerkana is reinventing itself, and we’d like to share our new direction with you.
Since 1992, when Berkana was founded, we have been learning about how to create the conditions for self-organizing to happen. During this time, we ourselves have operated in a somewhat traditional form: as a nonprofit institute with staff, offices and professional leadership. The gift of today’s challenging economic environment has been to call us far deeper into the experiment in self-organizing.
For all of us working to create social change, we are confronted with the paradox that there is less money available but more need than ever for the kind of work we do. The nonprofit model Berkana has been working in is proving to be unsustainable, and we believe it is time to invent a way to do our work that is flexible, resilient and adaptive.
Fortunately, we know a little something about flexible, resilient and adaptive systems. The organizational model that we plan to experiment with is a self-organizing system that invites many people throughout the Berkana community to step forward with the leadership they wish to offer. It calls for entrepreneurship, creativity and ingenuity. It requires that many people engage in a whole new level of effort around the actions they wish to commit to.
We invite you to learn more about how self-organizing can harness our collective creativity and commitment for building healthy and resilient communities.
Leadership in a Self-Organizing World -- 90 Practitioners Gathered
May 19, 2009
Last week I was in Leavenworth, WA for a learning conference, Leadership in a Self-Organizing World. Berkana was co-sponsor -- another event to support the needed exploring and forms for these times. The place was beautiful. Gigantic pines. Icicle River running alongside the conference space and at the feet of Sleeping Lady, the mountain after which the conference center is named. A harvest video is here, including some beautiful shots of the land. Amazing people there. I particularly found it helpful to be with some old friends and feel the sense of meeting each other even more deeply -- the times are calling us to be in our deepest relations and creations together.
The gathering was held largely in Open Space format. Harrions Owen and Anne Stadler were there, people who really helped give Open Space its early shape, conditions, and practice. Peggy Holman was a core host -- her work is thoughtful and exquisite. Anne is among the most beautiful souls I've ever come to know. She is elegant, full of grace, lives from such a beautiful place of joy. Harrison is direct, has a cowboy's straight-talking edge, and spoke with simplicty. Below are a few of the gifts I got through this listening with Harrison, including added ways to talk about the principles and laws.
- What can we do together that we can't do alone? The invitation was for each of us and all of us to take our practice to next levels in the reality of a self-organizing world. It was an invitation to get to the "what's possible" in the companionship of many that are pioneering.
- This time is one of the most exciting times in history. It is a time where many recognize we are beyond bullshit and that we have to be honest with each other. Harrison spoke of "a whole mess of people" who are scared now and having fits. It's time for us to get lit up and go to the edge and beyond.
- There is a difference between doing something wrong and doing the wrong thing. The former presumes we have the right paradigm and just need to learn. The latter asserts we need a new way of thinking.
- There is no such thing as an closed system. A closed system is a mythology born in Newtonian science and perpetuated through many traditions of management and control. "Managerialism is the greatest evil and hypocracy of the 20th century," speaks Brian Bainbridge, a dear elder parish leader and consultant from Australia. "In my parish, they no longer ask, 'what do you want us to do?' That question has evaporated." Brian is leading with a different principle -- that open systems seek deeper meaning and fitness. They do this or they collapse and make way for the emergence of other systems.
- Open Space as a format came to Harrison over two maratinis and 20 minutes. It was a simple as naming areas of care, opening a market place and then getting to work with no advance planning needed and no facilitation of groups.
- From Harrison's book, Wave Rider, naming that surfers are not in charge of the wave. They are curious, go with the flow, see opportunities, work with invitation and appreciation.
- The focus is on the reality of self-organization, what has been happenign for 13 billion years.
- Everyone, every organization, every community will have bumps, hills, valleys and what have yous. Create a way for people so share what they have passion for and then take some responsibility. Create a nexus for caring that is real passion and real responsibility.
- Whoever comes are the right people. Why? Because they care. "I'd rather have 3 people who care -- that's gorgeous -- than 50 that don't give a damn." Structure contrains spirit.
- On the law of 2 feet -- when feet stop moving, and organization dies. We need to keep the grief working in organizations because it helps us get to the next that is needed. "Give people a place to say 'o shit' with vigor."
Last week I was in Leavenworth, WA for a learning conference, Leadership in a Self-Organizing World. Berkana was co-sponsor -- another event to support the needed exploring and forms for these times. The place was beautiful. Gigantic pines. Icicle River running alongside the conference space and at the feet of Sleeping Lady, the mountain after which the conference center is named. A harvest video is here, including some beautiful shots of the land. Amazing people there. I particularly found it helpful to be with some old friends and feel the sense of meeting each other even more deeply -- the times are calling us to be in our deepest relations and creations together.
The gathering was held largely in Open Space format. Harrions Owen and Anne Stadler were there, people who really helped give Open Space its early shape, conditions, and practice. Peggy Holman was a core host -- her work is thoughtful and exquisite. Anne is among the most beautiful souls I've ever come to know. She is elegant, full of grace, lives from such a beautiful place of joy. Harrison is direct, has a cowboy's straight-talking edge, and spoke with simplicty. Below are a few of the gifts I got through this listening with Harrison, including added ways to talk about the principles and laws.
- What can we do together that we can't do alone? The invitation was for each of us and all of us to take our practice to next levels in the reality of a self-organizing world. It was an invitation to get to the "what's possible" in the companionship of many that are pioneering.
- This time is one of the most exciting times in history. It is a time where many recognize we are beyond bullshit and that we have to be honest with each other. Harrison spoke of "a whole mess of people" who are scared now and having fits. It's time for us to get lit up and go to the edge and beyond.
- There is a difference between doing something wrong and doing the wrong thing. The former presumes we have the right paradigm and just need to learn. The latter asserts we need a new way of thinking.
- There is no such thing as an closed system. A closed system is a mythology born in Newtonian science and perpetuated through many traditions of management and control. "Managerialism is the greatest evil and hypocracy of the 20th century," speaks Brian Bainbridge, a dear elder parish leader and consultant from Australia. "In my parish, they no longer ask, 'what do you want us to do?' That question has evaporated." Brian is leading with a different principle -- that open systems seek deeper meaning and fitness. They do this or they collapse and make way for the emergence of other systems.
- Open Space as a format came to Harrison over two maratinis and 20 minutes. It was a simple as naming areas of care, opening a market place and then getting to work with no advance planning needed and no facilitation of groups.
- From Harrison's book, Wave Rider, naming that surfers are not in charge of the wave. They are curious, go with the flow, see opportunities, work with invitation and appreciation.
- The focus is on the reality of self-organization, what has been happenign for 13 billion years.
- Everyone, every organization, every community will have bumps, hills, valleys and what have yous. Create a way for people so share what they have passion for and then take some responsibility. Create a nexus for caring that is real passion and real responsibility.
- Whoever comes are the right people. Why? Because they care. "I'd rather have 3 people who care -- that's gorgeous -- than 50 that don't give a damn." Structure contrains spirit.
- On the law of 2 feet -- when feet stop moving, and organization dies. We need to keep the grief working in organizations because it helps us get to the next that is needed. "Give people a place to say 'o shit' with vigor."
Regional Learning Communities
March 8, 2009
I've just spend the last several days with with board members and friends of The Berkana Institute. It is an amazing group of people dedicated to social change and pioneering work. Many of us have been together in projects and deep learning together years. For me, this began in 1993. We really are family.
One of the initiatives that I became more familiar with this week is about Regional Learning Communities. These are groups engaged in local work (like solar cooking, which I learned about this week from Manish Jain) and trans-local learning (what happens when individual groups connect with other groups in their region or other places in the world).
From the Berkana website: "Each participant contributes to creating greater resilience in his or her own community through local action—from growing food to engaging youth to creating useful things out of waste. These pioneers are constantly experimenting with new approaches, ideas and technologies. When they connect regionally with others who share their culture and context, the capacity for learning and innovation accelerates."
I am inspired by the description below on why regional learning communities matter (key phrases highlighted below that are strong communication points). I can see in it helpful framing for local networks, including one that I am supporting on sustainability in the Salt Lake Valley. The full document is really helpful for further stories, in this case featuring a South Africa Learning Collaborative.
"There is no universal solution for the challenges of poverty, community health, or ecological sustainability. But there is the possibility of widespread impact when people working at the local level are able to learn from one another, practice together, and share their learning with communities everywhere."
I've just spend the last several days with with board members and friends of The Berkana Institute. It is an amazing group of people dedicated to social change and pioneering work. Many of us have been together in projects and deep learning together years. For me, this began in 1993. We really are family.
One of the initiatives that I became more familiar with this week is about Regional Learning Communities. These are groups engaged in local work (like solar cooking, which I learned about this week from Manish Jain) and trans-local learning (what happens when individual groups connect with other groups in their region or other places in the world).
From the Berkana website: "Each participant contributes to creating greater resilience in his or her own community through local action—from growing food to engaging youth to creating useful things out of waste. These pioneers are constantly experimenting with new approaches, ideas and technologies. When they connect regionally with others who share their culture and context, the capacity for learning and innovation accelerates."
I am inspired by the description below on why regional learning communities matter (key phrases highlighted below that are strong communication points). I can see in it helpful framing for local networks, including one that I am supporting on sustainability in the Salt Lake Valley. The full document is really helpful for further stories, in this case featuring a South Africa Learning Collaborative.
"There is no universal solution for the challenges of poverty, community health, or ecological sustainability. But there is the possibility of widespread impact when people working at the local level are able to learn from one another, practice together, and share their learning with communities everywhere."
How Are You Navigating in the Time of Dramatic Change?
November 27, 2008
Simply rich. Stories. Wonderings. Shared among Berkana friends. Focused on a question. Listening. Giving full support. Daring to be in our learning edges, knowing it is the only way.
How Are You Navigating in this Time of Dramatic Change?
November 2008
Can you hear me? I am near, me. Near without fear.
I’m tellin’ a story about these Atlantic waters.
In my first ocean worthy boat sailin’ with all of us new in the deep sea blue.
I thought the harbor would be visible and open.
Of fuck, it is all haze.
I saw the opening for one moment only, but it was all we needed in that day.
I would do it again. And I do.
Popped up in scale, I remind others I have no idea what I’m doing.
I’m shedding myself into longevity and multi scale.
I just read your article and committed to try it. Whack this out. Here we go.
Feelin’ the real, collapsing in the market.
We are nose to nose, on the hunt for what works.
Copin’ for me is in my hope. The only way that I can hold scale is by being in family.
The scale works me in my frail, my shaking tail.
I so want to be there, to get as close as I can.
Not waiting. No gating. Beyond dating. The journey of my soul awakens.
I sound like I don’t know what I am doing, but I do know.
I find my way in the immediately infront, the next simple elegant step.
I’m seeking clarity of direction. Detection of that direction.
Shape and motion in this collection to direction.
Looking at this land, my partner and I, but we are letting come.
Awaken to oneness.
Work with friends.
Work with simplicity.
These are the tools I know that help me navigate
My practice in the day to day, this way to that way.
I’m in my physical parallel breakdown.
Systemic crisis is teaching me what my life is.
Learning that I’m not less than. We are not less than.
In right relation in this station.
I’m so hungry for home. Building beyond this roam.
Integrity, feeling on my edge.
This phase in these days.
Takin’ it in like a sponge and needing my time.
Back in the day, we practiced river time.
Without watches, setting up camp,
watching the stars, seeing my clarity in tending my gear.
I’m often wrong, but never in doubt.
I’m not buying my own bullshit.
This phase is groundless and very confusing.
What is this crap? Grow some food!
There is no release as I spiral in.
Language separates. Sound anchors. Songs. Sounds. Rounds.
Meetin’ in vibration we find our unity in our community.
The ground I’ve found, but the compass of figuring it out isn’t working.
I can feel the gazillions of answers – we remember more in our silence.
I got through labor with low vocalization.
Moo with me. You too, with me.
We are holding you as you move to the rim and get your baby home.
I’ve been to that rim.
My center is in our house. Our home. Our basic home.
Nursing and getting people to bed.
Steppin with my grandfather to the places he couldn’t dream of going.
Travelling across these times, feeling the birth of possibility,
Bringing that baby home too.
It just comes naturally – the mooing. The moaning through the groaning.
I’ve been bailing out my ship, spinning through conversations with friends.
Talking about our stuff on the couch.
I’m trying to be with my mad, unaware of our own neighborhoods.
What if I lose the anger? There are hearts achin’ and breakin’
As I remember what it means to be together.
Speedin’ in this boat, afloat in the choppy waters.
I’m trying to slow down but feeling my heavy foot on the accelerator.
Sleep walking in the consumerist pattern.
Evicted from our garden, from our growing.
I’m opening dialogues, other gardens with conversations about Zim dollars.
Speaking from Greece, we eleven women
Cried our way into arriving, grieving our thriving.
Wearing masks as we show more of our selves in the world.
I knew we just needed to feed these women.
Making bread, up late at night, watching the grief clear.
I need to be clear.
Standing in my places with many faces.
Stil in the world. Being still, still in the world.
Wanting to know my place – it might just be a fantasy.
The dark in the coal mine teaches me to be where I am.
My perspective shifted ten years ago; I turned in to myself.
Taught by my hacking, again,
as I’m being navigated to the sweet spots of deep spiritual outside of all this stuff.
Boldly just be. Boldly just be.
What I need shows up in abundance as I take my jewelry off, just bein’ here.
Doin’ a lot of good deeply in some place.
The first time on that 26 footer in the Gulf of Mexico,
I learned about shielding myself to the sun.
Back up the Houston ship channel,
making our way amidst huge oil tankers in the mid of night.
I was completely aware of the fleet, the sail, and the harmony. Attentive.
Thank you Wendell – “Willing to die, you give up your will. Keep still until moved by that which moves all, you are moved.”
Connect.
Take in all that I can.
Tell the truth. We don’t have time not too.
Simply rich. Stories. Wonderings. Shared among Berkana friends. Focused on a question. Listening. Giving full support. Daring to be in our learning edges, knowing it is the only way.
How Are You Navigating in this Time of Dramatic Change?
November 2008
Can you hear me? I am near, me. Near without fear.
I’m tellin’ a story about these Atlantic waters.
In my first ocean worthy boat sailin’ with all of us new in the deep sea blue.
I thought the harbor would be visible and open.
Of fuck, it is all haze.
I saw the opening for one moment only, but it was all we needed in that day.
I would do it again. And I do.
Popped up in scale, I remind others I have no idea what I’m doing.
I’m shedding myself into longevity and multi scale.
I just read your article and committed to try it. Whack this out. Here we go.
Feelin’ the real, collapsing in the market.
We are nose to nose, on the hunt for what works.
Copin’ for me is in my hope. The only way that I can hold scale is by being in family.
The scale works me in my frail, my shaking tail.
I so want to be there, to get as close as I can.
Not waiting. No gating. Beyond dating. The journey of my soul awakens.
I sound like I don’t know what I am doing, but I do know.
I find my way in the immediately infront, the next simple elegant step.
I’m seeking clarity of direction. Detection of that direction.
Shape and motion in this collection to direction.
Looking at this land, my partner and I, but we are letting come.
Awaken to oneness.
Work with friends.
Work with simplicity.
These are the tools I know that help me navigate
My practice in the day to day, this way to that way.
I’m in my physical parallel breakdown.
Systemic crisis is teaching me what my life is.
Learning that I’m not less than. We are not less than.
In right relation in this station.
I’m so hungry for home. Building beyond this roam.
Integrity, feeling on my edge.
This phase in these days.
Takin’ it in like a sponge and needing my time.
Back in the day, we practiced river time.
Without watches, setting up camp,
watching the stars, seeing my clarity in tending my gear.
I’m often wrong, but never in doubt.
I’m not buying my own bullshit.
This phase is groundless and very confusing.
What is this crap? Grow some food!
There is no release as I spiral in.
Language separates. Sound anchors. Songs. Sounds. Rounds.
Meetin’ in vibration we find our unity in our community.
The ground I’ve found, but the compass of figuring it out isn’t working.
I can feel the gazillions of answers – we remember more in our silence.
I got through labor with low vocalization.
Moo with me. You too, with me.
We are holding you as you move to the rim and get your baby home.
I’ve been to that rim.
My center is in our house. Our home. Our basic home.
Nursing and getting people to bed.
Steppin with my grandfather to the places he couldn’t dream of going.
Travelling across these times, feeling the birth of possibility,
Bringing that baby home too.
It just comes naturally – the mooing. The moaning through the groaning.
I’ve been bailing out my ship, spinning through conversations with friends.
Talking about our stuff on the couch.
I’m trying to be with my mad, unaware of our own neighborhoods.
What if I lose the anger? There are hearts achin’ and breakin’
As I remember what it means to be together.
Speedin’ in this boat, afloat in the choppy waters.
I’m trying to slow down but feeling my heavy foot on the accelerator.
Sleep walking in the consumerist pattern.
Evicted from our garden, from our growing.
I’m opening dialogues, other gardens with conversations about Zim dollars.
Speaking from Greece, we eleven women
Cried our way into arriving, grieving our thriving.
Wearing masks as we show more of our selves in the world.
I knew we just needed to feed these women.
Making bread, up late at night, watching the grief clear.
I need to be clear.
Standing in my places with many faces.
Stil in the world. Being still, still in the world.
Wanting to know my place – it might just be a fantasy.
The dark in the coal mine teaches me to be where I am.
My perspective shifted ten years ago; I turned in to myself.
Taught by my hacking, again,
as I’m being navigated to the sweet spots of deep spiritual outside of all this stuff.
Boldly just be. Boldly just be.
What I need shows up in abundance as I take my jewelry off, just bein’ here.
Doin’ a lot of good deeply in some place.
The first time on that 26 footer in the Gulf of Mexico,
I learned about shielding myself to the sun.
Back up the Houston ship channel,
making our way amidst huge oil tankers in the mid of night.
I was completely aware of the fleet, the sail, and the harmony. Attentive.
Thank you Wendell – “Willing to die, you give up your will. Keep still until moved by that which moves all, you are moved.”
Connect.
Take in all that I can.
Tell the truth. We don’t have time not too.
Translocal Learning
August 24, 2008
I'm learning a lot lately about translocal learning communities. Translocal learning communities are physical communities of place. The do the work locally. Yet they connect regionally. They learn globally. I just read a master's thesis written by Aerin Dunford about this. Aerin is a friend and colleague who has been living in The Berkana Exchange, a collection of learning centers that are sharing their experiences, learnings, and questions with each other. These are around core areas of healthy community like sustainable food, schooling, upcycling, and more. Aerin's paper sparked many ideas for me. Much learning as I think about some people that I am working with, including Ben Mates at the Hemmingway Foundation. He, I, the Center for Engaging Community, and a lovely team are creating a shape for a Sustainability Summit to be held in Salt Lake City in early October.
I love these gems from Aerin that inspire me to be in good dialogue with others around this. Good starting points.
Conditions for supporting healthy, sustainable community:
1. Walk at our own pace.
2. Support a healthy flow of information.
3. Co-create rituals and culture.
4. Commit to discipline and freedom in self-organization.
5. Practice.
6. Be together.
7. Trust and be authentic.
8. Be accepting.
9. Tell stories and hear them from others.
I also love this definition of emergence from Meg Wheatley and Myron Kellner Rogers: "the surprising capacity we discover only when we join together. New systems have properties that appear suddenly and mysteriously. Relationships change us, reveal us, evoke more from us. Only when we join with others do our gifts become visible, even to ourselves." (From A Simpler Way)
And then these shared values, beliefs, and practices that grow out of much of the Berkana work I have known over the years.
Values
I'm learning a lot lately about translocal learning communities. Translocal learning communities are physical communities of place. The do the work locally. Yet they connect regionally. They learn globally. I just read a master's thesis written by Aerin Dunford about this. Aerin is a friend and colleague who has been living in The Berkana Exchange, a collection of learning centers that are sharing their experiences, learnings, and questions with each other. These are around core areas of healthy community like sustainable food, schooling, upcycling, and more. Aerin's paper sparked many ideas for me. Much learning as I think about some people that I am working with, including Ben Mates at the Hemmingway Foundation. He, I, the Center for Engaging Community, and a lovely team are creating a shape for a Sustainability Summit to be held in Salt Lake City in early October.
I love these gems from Aerin that inspire me to be in good dialogue with others around this. Good starting points.
Conditions for supporting healthy, sustainable community:
1. Walk at our own pace.
2. Support a healthy flow of information.
3. Co-create rituals and culture.
4. Commit to discipline and freedom in self-organization.
5. Practice.
6. Be together.
7. Trust and be authentic.
8. Be accepting.
9. Tell stories and hear them from others.
I also love this definition of emergence from Meg Wheatley and Myron Kellner Rogers: "the surprising capacity we discover only when we join together. New systems have properties that appear suddenly and mysteriously. Relationships change us, reveal us, evoke more from us. Only when we join with others do our gifts become visible, even to ourselves." (From A Simpler Way)
And then these shared values, beliefs, and practices that grow out of much of the Berkana work I have known over the years.
Values
- rely on human goodness
- depend on diversity
- trust life's capacity to self-organize in sustainable, interdependent systems
- live the worlds we want today
- make our path by walking
- the leaders we need are already here
- real change happens on the ground, in a community
- transformation becomes possible when the learning from local change is shared
- we have what we need
- turn to one another
- there are many, many ways
- foster a culture of reflective learning
- engage in hands-on practices
- look inward to understand how we work
- look outward to share what we are finding and to learn with others
- exchange our skills, knowledge, and practices
- gather physically on a regular basis
Killer Questions on Structure from Berkana
August 2, 2008
Below is an email from hosting mate, Tim Merry, reflecting on the deeper questions of structure. They come from a Berkana Board call. Tim shifts them to the Art of Hosting community. They are good for many places, particularly given the pattern of looking to structure first. I remember from some of my grad school studies -- form follows function. These questions from Tim and others takes this to another new level for me. I am particularly interested in how structure grows out of relationship to enable us to face the next in uncertainty.
Some thoughts coming out of a call I just had with the Berkana Board - to seed our stewards conversations in June ...
These times call us into living with, and coming to terms with, uncertainty.
What if the hunger for form and structure in the Art of Hosting community was just us clinging to something concrete in the journey to uncertainty?
What if form and structure was not the conversation to be in?
What if form does not arise when we focus on it - but only as bi-product of our relationships and co-practice?
It is our relationships which allow us to survive uncertainty. Turning to one another.
Form comes and goes - the seed is different from to the flower, yet the flower is in the seed. What if this was about how we move through forms that emerge as part of the path rather than what forms we create?
How can we be together beyond any attachment to form and enter the painful and potent ongoing life cycle letting go and letting come?
What if our hunger for form and structure - was truly a hunger for deeper trust and relationship across the AoH Community so we can be in the inevitable uncertainty of life?
What if we letting go of form was the way to enter into nourishing life and entering the forms of life ..?
Some thoughts to throw in the river ....
Love
Tim
Below is an email from hosting mate, Tim Merry, reflecting on the deeper questions of structure. They come from a Berkana Board call. Tim shifts them to the Art of Hosting community. They are good for many places, particularly given the pattern of looking to structure first. I remember from some of my grad school studies -- form follows function. These questions from Tim and others takes this to another new level for me. I am particularly interested in how structure grows out of relationship to enable us to face the next in uncertainty.
Some thoughts coming out of a call I just had with the Berkana Board - to seed our stewards conversations in June ...
These times call us into living with, and coming to terms with, uncertainty.
What if the hunger for form and structure in the Art of Hosting community was just us clinging to something concrete in the journey to uncertainty?
What if form and structure was not the conversation to be in?
What if form does not arise when we focus on it - but only as bi-product of our relationships and co-practice?
It is our relationships which allow us to survive uncertainty. Turning to one another.
Form comes and goes - the seed is different from to the flower, yet the flower is in the seed. What if this was about how we move through forms that emerge as part of the path rather than what forms we create?
How can we be together beyond any attachment to form and enter the painful and potent ongoing life cycle letting go and letting come?
What if our hunger for form and structure - was truly a hunger for deeper trust and relationship across the AoH Community so we can be in the inevitable uncertainty of life?
What if we letting go of form was the way to enter into nourishing life and entering the forms of life ..?
Some thoughts to throw in the river ....
Love
Tim
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