Exciting New Developments - The Art of Hosting2024-03-29T13:13:49Zhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/categories/exciting-new-developments/listForCategory?categoryId=4134568%3ACategory%3A508&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe Interpersonal Shifttag:artofhosting.ning.com,2021-04-27:4134568:Topic:1836902021-04-27T12:20:45.208ZGeorge Porhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/GeorgePor597
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<li><span>Upgrading our relationships from friendship to developmental friendship to evolutionary friendship...</span></li>
<li><span>The difference between </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/loneliness-v-aloneness-wh_b_8032702"><span>loneliness and aloneness</span></a></li>
<li><span>Nonviolent communication</span></li>
<li><span>What makes one trustworthy</span></li>
<li><span>Discovering "higher WE"…</span></li>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><ul>
<li><span>Upgrading our relationships from friendship to developmental friendship to evolutionary friendship...</span></li>
<li><span>The difference between </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/loneliness-v-aloneness-wh_b_8032702"><span>loneliness and aloneness</span></a></li>
<li><span>Nonviolent communication</span></li>
<li><span>What makes one trustworthy</span></li>
<li><span>Discovering "higher WE" spaces</span></li>
<li><span>Creating #safespace and #bravespace</span></li>
<li><span>How to find my “tribe”</span></li>
<li><span>Circles of support: from belonging to becoming</span></li>
<li>Embracing conflict, and other qualities of developmental friendship</li>
<li><span>The practice of 4 levels of listening: downloading, debate, emphatic, and generative</span></li>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8852664482?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8852664482?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;"/></a>The <a href="https://campus-coevolve.org/interpersonal-shift/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interpersonal Shift</a>, segment 2 of the Protopia Learning Expedition at</span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Campus Co-Evolve will start on Apr 29. </span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>There are still a few places available. Come & help to shape the journey.</span></div>
</div> Paid work for someone with online hosting experiencetag:artofhosting.ning.com,2021-04-27:4134568:Topic:1838312021-04-27T11:44:19.674ZGeorge Porhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/GeorgePor597
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>The <a href="https://campus-coevolve.org/protopia-grow-your-future-with-evolutionary-impact/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Protopia Learning Expedition</a> of Campus Co-Evolve</span> <span> is looking for a part-time (8hr/week) Community Host, with experience in hosting online communities. May-June and Sept-Oct. Low pay, high learning opportunity.…</span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>The <a href="https://campus-coevolve.org/protopia-grow-your-future-with-evolutionary-impact/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Protopia Learning Expedition</a> of Campus Co-Evolve</span> <span> is looking for a part-time (8hr/week) Community Host, with experience in hosting online communities. May-June and Sept-Oct. Low pay, high learning opportunity.</span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj"><strong>The purpose of the Community Host role</strong></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>The cohort of the learning journey is nurtured into not only a community of learners but also, a community that learns.</span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><strong>The Community Host accountabilities</strong></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq0 _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Liaising with the faculty about how community building can support our educational objectives</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Welcoming new learners and inspiring their online contributions</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Inspiring practitioner-participants to connect with and support each other's project work</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Following online conversations and stoking their fire with informative and engaging comments, pictures, stories, quotes, or videos</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Studying and applying the permaculture principles to online community hosting, as outlined <a href="http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/permaculture-and-art-hosting-online-communities-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>: </span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Generating reports on platform usage patterns and community interactions, at mid-term and before the end of the course</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Attending the learners' wellbeing and special needs</span></div>
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<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Staying on top of best practices in building online learning community</span></div>
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<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Of course, not all these accountabilities have to be attended simultaneously and it's the role energizer's prerogative to define her/his work schedule in a way that will bring the greatest value to realizing the role's purpose. <br/><br/>The role is available immediately. Applicants should send their CV with a letter explaining why they are interested to george@campus-coevolve.org .</span></div>
</div> AOH Training for Social Innovation Labs tentative Proposaltag:artofhosting.ning.com,2019-03-11:4134568:Topic:1175442019-03-11T15:15:34.223ZPhil Longhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/PhilLong
<p>I wasn't sure where to post this and I'm not sure it qualifies as exciting new developments but here goes...</p>
<p class="p1">I've been researching and networking within the social innovations lab scene and I've found that they tend to rather insular and poor at sharing 'best practice' (i.e. stuff that they have found works) between each other. There are several possible solutions to this but such as developing a stronger sharing culture within and between communities of practice - or an…</p>
<p>I wasn't sure where to post this and I'm not sure it qualifies as exciting new developments but here goes...</p>
<p class="p1">I've been researching and networking within the social innovations lab scene and I've found that they tend to rather insular and poor at sharing 'best practice' (i.e. stuff that they have found works) between each other. There are several possible solutions to this but such as developing a stronger sharing culture within and between communities of practice - or an explicit triple-loop harvest which focuses less on context specific outcomes but on what patterns might be ubiquitous in other contexts. </p>
<p class="p1">Social Innovation Labs are highly creative places in which the outcome is unknown - in order the ground and centre this innovation work there is I feel a strong need to ground it in processes for nurturing positive inter-relations, open communications, feedback that is grounded in conversations that matter and a meta process that involves the group stepping back and evaluating and reflecting on the quality of their communication and relationship.</p>
<p class="p1">Social Lab Teams are typically smaller that a the kind of 'whole systems a room' events AOH tend to favour - however social labs always have the need to engage with a wider community of organisational stakeholders - often from very diverse backgrounds: ultimately success of failure depends on the ability to inspire, empower and enable the agency of stakeholders to believe in themselves and ultimately take ownership of the initiative if is is to have a lasting impact.</p>
<p class="p1">During my research and networking I found that the same issues came up time and time again - issues that as AOH practitioners we may have something to offer: There's an appetite for training in dialogic processes: some of the issues that came up up include:</p>
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<li class="li1">inviting and convening he people who need to be involved (diversity/cross-sector);</li>
<li class="li1">how to help people show up with their whole selves and be present;</li>
<li class="li1">creating a safe space where people can express be vulnerability;</li>
<li class="li1">holding open the divergent stage without rushing to a solution;</li>
<li class="li1">how to better engage stakeholders so they feel ownership;</li>
<li class="li1">managing energy (cadence) through the groan zone;</li>
<li class="li1">storytelling skills, telling the truth without blame of judgement;</li>
<li class="li1">listening with open heart, open mind and open will to what has heart and meaning;</li>
<li class="li1">handling difficult conversations;</li>
<li class="li1">creative problem solving, working around obstacles.</li>
<li class="li1">co-creating experiment and prototypes; (although I think the actual solution prototyping might be out of scope);</li>
<li class="li1">getting people into the mindset that repeated failure is an essential prerequisite for success;</li>
<li class="li1">better understating of systems thinking and working within Emergent and disruptive change in Complex Adaptive Human Systems (cynfin, HSD etc);</li>
<li class="li1">strategies and tactics for approaching wicked problems and the 'infinite game';</li>
<li class="li1">negotiating the tension between strategic commitment coupled with radical tactical flexibility - What can we learn from Agile?”;</li>
<li class="li1">how to leverage improvisation, spontaneity and authenticity;</li>
<li class="li1">facilitating participatory decision making processes;</li>
<li class="li1">creating a legacy of deep long lasting change.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p1">Phew that's quite a list: far more that could be covered int a standard 3.5 day training. Maybe we'll just choose those things AOH is strongest - or who knows maybe we'll do a series and bring in other wise souls with deep experience in some of the more liminal areas.</p>
<p class="p1">I've purposefully left out action inquiry experimentation and prototyping which is at the heart of many social labs methodologies as well as triangulating multiple disciplines and perspectives.</p>
<p class="p1">The focus in my opinion should be on the the "we space", on radical collaboration through facilitated dialogue - the way the lab members can use process, rituals, ceremonies and agreed working practices to anchor their work in consistent collaborative way of working that will provide a foundation for their for their innovation work.</p>
<p class="p1">Many social labs practitioners are poorly paid, many are volunteers, many are part-time. So costs would have to be subsidised. I will be approaching various social lab networks and foundations with my proposal and supporting evidence. </p>
<p class="p1">In the meantime if anyone feel inspired to contribute in any way to this training please shout - especially if anyone has ideas for funding!! Seriously anyone thats done at least on AOH 'basic' training is more than welcome to express an interest in contributing in anyway they feel able.</p>
<p class="p1">Of course social innovation labs dot the globe - I don't know where physically we would convene it yet - depends where the demand is - probably somewhere in Europe or possibly the UK. </p>
<p class="p1">Your feedback gratefully received. </p>
<p class="p1">Felipe (aka Phil)</p> Self-management & public administration -> AoH practitioners as artiststag:artofhosting.ning.com,2017-08-02:4134568:Topic:1097122017-08-02T09:44:43.167ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<div>A thread on the AoH emaillist that is worth keeping - many great topics were raised!!!!</div>
<div>July 2017: Tatiana Glad <<a href="mailto:tdglad@gmail.com" target="_blank">tdglad@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<blockquote><div><div dir="ltr">perhaps some of you working with the European Commission and/or those of you following <a href="http://medium.com/" target="_blank">Medium.com</a> already saw this - but thought useful testimony to put through on this list especially for those…</div>
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<div>A thread on the AoH emaillist that is worth keeping - many great topics were raised!!!!</div>
<div>July 2017: Tatiana Glad <<a href="mailto:tdglad@gmail.com" target="_blank">tdglad@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div>
<blockquote><div><div dir="ltr">perhaps some of you working with the European Commission and/or those of you following <a href="http://medium.com/" target="_blank">Medium.com</a> already saw this - but thought useful testimony to put through on this list especially for those working with public administrations <div><a href="https://medium.com/percolab-droplets/self-management-and-public-administrations-are-not-a-match-you-say-f0272df5446e" target="_blank">https://medium.com/percolab-droplets/self-management-and-public-administrations-are-not-a-match-you-say-f0272df5446e</a><br/></div>
<div><i>credit to Samantha Slade @Sam5</i></div>
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<div>Chris Corrigan <<a href="mailto:chris.corrigan@gmail.com" target="_blank">chris.corrigan@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div>
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<div><div dir="auto"><div>One thing I have never understood about Laloux's work is the insistence on transformation being top down. Culture and evolution don't work like that. Can someone tell me about the basis for his theory? Evolutionary purpose is emergent yet is seems constructed in these examples. Also notable is how many organizations change away from Teal if the CEO or the owners change. If teal is actually a new way if being than surely it's root in organizational culture would transcend any leadership changes at the top. This article is interesting:</div>
<div><a href="https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00344?gko=10921" target="_blank">https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00344?gko=10921</a></div>
<div>Also I'd like to point out that the developmental timeline used by Laloux and Wilber is PAINFULLY Eurocentric. Human cultures have developed and evolved in a myriad of different ways around the world. Is anyone in India, Thailand, Mali or Tuvalu or elsewhere finding this work relevant and applicable?</div>
<div>Asking with genuine curiosity. </div>
<div>Chris.</div>
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<div>Helen Titchen Beeth <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:helen.titchen.beeth@mac.com" target="_blank">helen.titchen.beeth@mac.com</a>></span>:<br/><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid;"><div style="-ms-word-wrap: break-word;">Hi Chris,<div>I love your question - I also challenged this insistence that there has to be ‘teal thinking’ at the top of an organisation in order for these practices to stick. And yet… Embedded as I am in a hierarchical bureaucracy, I see all around me the deep conditioning which allows people to tolerate being subject to a paternalistic culture. And so, yes, I am still seeing many, many people who need permission before they can start to be free. Like battery hens let out of their cages, to begin with they flop all over the place and just want to go back inside where it’s safe. It takes months, even years, to build up the muscles of independence and purpose-led self-organising co-action. </div>
<div>I guess that as human beings, succumbing to conditioning into the dominant collective we are born into is part of of how we survive. I think this is true of all cultures. People respond to their conditioning in different ways - and some cultures are more lenient with rebels than others - but getting to a place where we can start to deconstruct that conditioning is quite a journey. Based on the developmental research of Robert Kegan and Co rather than Clare Graves and Co (Spiral Dynamics), this deconstructing behaviour belongs to ‘stage 5’ on the spectrum of adult development. A place that (if I recall correctly) fewer than 5% of the population gets to. This means deconstructing one’s social conditioning and one’s own developed value system - regardless of the content and culture that conditioning comes from.</div>
<div>I think that European civilisation (including modern North American countries in that) have undergone more transformations (complexifications due to evolving life conditions) than most other cultures in the world. The danger lies in classifying these more complex cultures as superior. We’re certainly cooking ourselves up a lovely cauldron full of challenges!</div>
<div>Sending you my love, Chris - keep on critiquing!</div>
<div><3</div>
<div>helen</div>
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<div>Ágota Éva Ruzsa <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruzsa.agota@dialogos.hu" target="_blank">ruzsa.agota@dialogos.hu</a>></span>:<br/><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex; border-left-color: #cccccc; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid;"><div dir="ltr"><div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Dear Helen and Chris, </div>
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<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">What a great start for a major and very relevant theme. </div>
<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Both the question on wondering about the Western European development as a "model" for societal evolution and the reflection on change in organizations and society is exciting.</div>
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<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Long time ago I always wondered why it seemed so important for some to adapt any new methodology and thinking exported from the "West" to our Hungarian setting and had a judgemental approach that it is the typical Hungarian attitude to believe that we ARE different and just cannot be like the others. Yet the truth is that none of the so called foreign approaches seem to have taken roots in an organic way in our social and organizational practices. They might have been taken on board without much change and were a bit of a sensation and fad and trend for a while, yet have not really swept through the collective consciousness of the people in the country. Then later I thought that it is due to the lack of dialogic, emergent processes that do impact the collective intelligence of the people, so i did commit myself to them. by now I am hesitant and a lot more aware and have slowed down in assuming that all fits everywhere. </div>
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<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">it seems that the long emphasized value of diversity has its role in social contexts of our emergent global society and many assumed values need be held at bay when it comes to other societies with a different history and social and cultural psyche. </div>
<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Thus now I have turned my attention towards deep dialogues to enhance understanding of where we are at, what we hold precious and learn to appreciate them ALL without any desire to wanting to change and influence.... be it hierarchical, teal, or authocratic, etc.... <br/> Generating dialogue spaces without any, I mean any underlying assumptions and hopes - just to hold AN AWARE and appreciative SPACE seems to be the possible next step, where the word change becomes a self generative process without any particular goal and desire. </div>
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<div style="color: #073763; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Agota</div>
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--------------------- Rainer v. Leoprechting wrote: > Dear all, > > I love that thread! We have the theme on the agenda of our Art of Hosting gathering/training in Obenaus this 11-13 August. > One of the elements to consider is how the four-fold practice can be seen as a developmental practice, spiraling up our individual and collective hosting consciousnesses. > > <a href="http://www.obenauscommunity.org/hosting-next-stage/">http://www.obenauscommunity.org/hosting-next-stage/</a> > > Warmly from Obenaus, Austria, > > Rainer ------------------------ Ria Baeck <ria.baeck@vitis-tct.be>: Hello Rainer, wondering if you - or anyone else - has been writing about 'the four-fold practice as developmental practice' - because I am not sure what you mean by it. I have always seen it as an iterative process, but that might not be what you have in mind. Whenever you write about it, let us know! with love, Ria ------------------------ Rainer v. Leoprechting <rainer@pro-action.eu> wrote: Hi Ria, It is an hypothesis to be explored this AoH inquiry/training in Obenaus. My hunch is that the four-fold practice can be read in the light of spiral development and then produce insights in levels of consciousness of the practitioner, their requisite alignment with the tasks at hand. And in general make AoH more compatible with next stage organizing. I'm sure there will be a little article coming out of this :-) <a href="http://www.obenauscommunity.org/hosting-next-stage/">http://www.obenauscommunity.org/hosting-next-stage/</a> Warmly, Rainer ---------------------- Chris Corrigan <chris.corrigan@gmail.com> wrote: I understand your inquiry. For me I’ve been looking at the development of AoH practitioners as artists. There has been a great deal of work done over the last 50-60 years on artisanal learning, and I have compiled a little set of links of research on this topic which I have found interesting. I’m musing on this a little bit as we are trying to work with AoH learners to help them see that their job is to develop an artisanal mindset and approach to work rather than seeing facilitation as a technical practice. At any rate, here are some links. Between them perhaps you will see some basic principles of artisanal learning that also show up in our AoH community: development of skills in practice, mentorship and the concept of the guild and mastery. <a href="https://www.one-tab.com/page/MOY1wO4oQxKZqLkRB_Nc0Q">https://www.one-tab.com/page/MOY1wO4oQxKZqLkRB_Nc0Q</a> Chris ------------------------ Linda <linda@lindajoymitchell.org.uk> wrote: > YES YES YES to the ART, it is an art …..not painting by numbers but creating beauty and form > > Fabulous thanks for sharing Chris xx ------------------------ Chris and I did a video blog together talking about the artistry of Hosting work (not a technical skill you can get a certificate for!) ... you can see it here : <a href="http://www.timmerry.com/blog/engagement-hosting-as-an-art-not-a-profession">http://www.timmerry.com/blog/engagement-hosting-as-an-art-not-a-profession</a> Tim ------------------------ Thomas Perret <thomas@dooning.fi> Hi Chris, For me the top down "requirement" is clear. It's a stick in the ground to provide the space for another kind of "being inside a being". It's due to the ownership structure, because the CEO represents the legal ownership and consequential hierarchy. Were it a cooperative, the morphogenetic field would be different from the start. If the thing is owned by someone also than the staff equally, this power needs to be in support of equality, which needs a stand. Without this blessing to consciously clear way for another morphogenetic field, it gets "sucked back in". A metamorphosis needs a cocooning. Thomas ------------------------ From Rainer: Hi Chris, It is because the Artisans of Hostings are indeed that: artisans, their development cannot be dissociated from their very personal development of Self. It is in that area that developmental psychology has brought in useful advances in knowledge. We now know how humans evolve as individuals. The form of this can be described as a spiral movement between Me and We, like in the model of Robert Kegan. Now the understanding where an artisan of hosting is in their practice is at the same time an understanding of where that person is in their life journey. That makes our work so juicy, we're in it for ourselves as much as for our clients and social challenges we engage with. So how is the four-fold practice manyfold in its various levels? How do we measure the requisite level of practice towards a task at hand? How do we measure the level of practice needed, in the first place? As "TEAL" is a level of consciousness (in principle an individual-focused statement), it's hard to say an organization is at a consciousness level (a collective-focused statement). What one can aspire towards is to explore how a system of human interactions (an organization) looks and feels like if lead and influenced from a "Teal" level of consciousness. In other words, what is an organization likely to receive from an artisan with a young adult level of consciousness compared to a Chris Corrigan level? And what does the organization in question require for the current task, and what does it require for the more complex task in the shadow of the current task and so on. Notice I just take Teal as a shorthand for a somewhat more developed level of consciousness. I just notice this thread has gone far beyond the issue of public sector, yet its deep link with the prevalent organizational system of bureaucracy makes it still relevant. Some say there are ways to organize where the control and boss functions are replaced by self-management and alignment processes. That's the for us artisans. What are the processes many people have already done some design on. At what level of practice to do them? has been a more hidden question so far as I can see. Good vibes from over the Atlantic, Rainer ------------------ from Chris Corrigan: Cultures change (or don’t) because the interactions between actors in a system change, and that is down the physical context in which people operate. Human brains are very good at pattern entrainment. Ever notice how a conversation is different in a board room than it is in a park? One reason we work with things like circles for conflict resolution is that the very shape itself helps disrupt the cognitive patterns that people get in when they are seated around a board room table. Never try to resolve a conflict in the very place in which it happens. A leader can create a new physical container for people or change the rule structure of constraints and so on. But culture is emergent and it will emerge in a non-directed and unpredictable way. To change culture, make small changes, learn what works and support that. And be sure to stop doing things that aren’t serving you. Which means you have to look for things that are working and things that are not. My issue is not that people at the top don;t have power, it’s that they don't have power to decide that the culture of an organization will be one thing or another. You cannot decide that the culture will be “teal” (or any other pre0determined ideology) and then pull a few levers and make it so. Spiral dynamics is an interesting theory of cultural evolution (interesting, but not accurate, in my mind) but it makes the fatal mistake of predicting future events from patterns of the past. Tier two consciousness simply cannot be predicted from the sum total of tier one layers, regardless of whether they are actually true depictions of stages and levels. Chris ----------------------- From David Cooper Thanks Chris for referring to developmental psychology and spiral imagery. Long ago, I read the book by Robert Kegan, the Evolving Self, and was intrigued by the spiral imagery of development used in his book. I recommend the book and the imagery therein. <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674272316">http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674272316</a> Lever-pulling thinking and planning may work for some things; however, in human development linear, production orientation simply does not yield what might be expected. Best, Dave ---------------------- John Mortimer <john.mortimer@uwclub.net> wrote: To Helen, Chris, and others… I wanted to reply to the top down discussion about culture and change and permission to change. I find it really fascinating... From my view, the way I see organisations work today, is that employees need to have a common direction and guide to work towards. Imagine an organisation where people could do as they see fit. That might work in teal organisations, but they have to be created to work. In more traditional organisations the employee quickly learns what and how they have to behave. The senior managers seem to impart their direction and expectations on everyone else - whether they like it or not. I once helped a chief executive of a housing repairs organisation fthat provided social housing in the UK. She was a quaker, and passionately believed that her ideals of openness, honestly, talking, and letting people work as they see fit was the way to go. The organisation was a mess, with little direction of guidance. The cutlure was created by managers who recognised their chance to influence, and became bullies. They also reacted with hostility at the lack of guidance. The result was that she had to leave her post. I have never seen an organisation whose culture and way of working was not in some major way defined by the top. When I help leaders create teal structures and ways of operating, the result is local empowerment and devolved decision-making. But I cannot see how this can happen without the active work and leadership of the top. The senior leaders have a very important part to play to remove barriers to this way of working. The front line staff also need a framework to help them understand their boundaries, and how to react that is in sync with the rest of the public sector. Too often, I have designed this at the front end of the organisation, and it works well. After a year I go back and it has fizzled out because of opposing pressures from the top management imposing another way of working. As an example a project I have recently completed was where a part of the council that focus on enforcement - fining people who fly-tip, or drop litter, or have a messy front garden, or who create too much niose. They now operate very differently - they first talk to the person and look at the cause of why they are behaving that way they then help them with whatever is the root cause of the problem. The money received in fines has dropped drastically, but the resolution and the help people who are in need get, is very well received. However this can only happen because the leaders want it to, and they change their managing style and measures to ensure it happens. They also hacve to remove lots of barriers. There are a few middle managers who do not like this way of working - it gives front line people the freedom to decide on the course of action. If those managers do not change, then the leaders have to replace them. It would be interesting to hear other points on leaders and the culture they impose, John Mortimer ------------------------- My own sense of why it is that people need direction from top down is that we are still all so strongly conditioned from birth into the paternalistic thought habits of the paradigm of patriarchy that has ruled for so many thousands of years. This is very slowly starting to change, but it will take a few more generations, I think, before it finally gives way to something else. In the mean time we do what we can, and what will work… hence the need for liberated thinking at the top, a lot of patience and some really good practices. I see teal organisations as practice-based - you can practice a practice without having ‘teal-level consciousness’. Andpart of the work to be done in any organisation, I think, is an intentional conversation around the assumptions that the culture is grounded in. When an assumption is revealed and tested for adequacy and revealed to be an inaccurate representation of reality, another assumption can be introduced in its place - to be tested for veracity itself… Since practices are based on assumptions, it is good to practice making the implicit explicit wherever possible. :-) helen --------------------------- marco valente <eccemarco@gmail.com> Dear mates, thank you all Listening with deep curiosity to this conversation RE: AoH and Teal practices; top down vs bottom up and what roles do they have in creating this emergent pattern of culture. A few threads to harvest, and a few ideas to chip in: Cultures cannot be mandated because indeed there is no such thing as a certainty of a pre-determined outcome in a complex adaptive system. It can be nudged but never really instructed -I very much agree with Chris on this point. But then the question comes: what's the role of hierarchy, power, advocacy in all this? Teal, Spiral Dynamics, and... are they useful, accurate frameworks to map out our reality? If I understood the inquiry from Rainer (please correct me) it seems like his inquiry sounds like: is the 4-fold practice path inherently developmental? That is: if and when AoH is practiced for long enough and held as a conversational DNA, does it lead to vertical development? (or, given all that has been said before about no certainty of outcomes, better say: is it 'conducive to vert dev'?) I find this question really fascinating because myself I do not use anymore neither Spiral Dynamics nor Integral Theory to inform my ideas of development (long story short: I don't find them theoretically and methodologically sound, theory and its staunchest followers have built logical tricks make it seem unfalsifiable, etc.) But I do believe that Kegan's approach to vertical development is more academically robust. Essentially Kegan argues that vertical development happens along a line of increasing capacity to hold complexity and "make sense" of things; along with it goes a deeper capacity to be aware of one's assumptions and hold them as objects of observation. What I really like about Kegan, and especially some of his scholars like Jennifer Berger (her book Changing on the Job is great by the way) is that she talks about developmental practices which can help a person develop because they are inherently pushing a person towards questioning assumptions, taking increasing responsibility for their own thoughts and emotions, etc. Kegan calls it moving things from subject (we are own by our filters of reality, assumptions, etc) to object (we can see them in front of us and choose what to do with them. I am simplifying a lot) Practices such as deep listening, the iterative and reflective loops of harvesting, maybe can be (are?) inherently developmental in that they are geared towards moving things from subject to object, which may be in line with what Helen pointed to "making the implicit explicit whenever possible". This is in fact one thing I do not understand yet about Teal organizations: if we build a community of practice that is well-versed into conversations that matter, and hold practices that are inherently developmental (or: have the potential to be) then it is more about what we consistently do (e.g. practice listening and being aware of our assumptions and judgements during every meeting) than organizational structures, specific forms of hierarchy. PS: Which to me comes as the question: are we doing this already in the AoH community? PPS: I believe there is nothing wrong with vertical development (on the contrary it can be great) as long as is never mandated on anyone as a form of cultural colonialism (e.g.: who gets to decide which people need to change? and in which direction? and have these people that need to 'be changed' been asked their opinion on this matter?) A bow, m.</div>
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</div> A path between Chaos and Chamos??tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-05-29:4134568:Topic:976322015-05-29T08:00:38.026ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>from the emaillist, May 2015:</em></p>
<p>Dear friends!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve been following the threads of many interesting conversations here on the list. I think this is the first time I will jump into this well of abundance and ask you for help and your thoughts and experiences.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In Sweden, we are some in my organization Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, there are a group of colleagues in municipalities and county councils , and partners in civil…</p>
<p><em>from the emaillist, May 2015:</em></p>
<p>Dear friends!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve been following the threads of many interesting conversations here on the list. I think this is the first time I will jump into this well of abundance and ask you for help and your thoughts and experiences.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In Sweden, we are some in my organization Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, there are a group of colleagues in municipalities and county councils , and partners in civil society organizations and independent consultants who practice AoH. We're really starting to become a community of practice, a living system that extends across sectors and we are delighted!!<br/> <br/> Some of us are engaged in one of Sweden's major cities with a collective work that involves strengthening a culture of dialogue and co-creation where we form a hosting team on participatory leadership one-day training sessions for public employees that are expected to host citizen meetings in next year. In this particular town there are gang showdowns and shootings in the suburbs that have come to form patterns how social excluded youngsters resolve conflicts. There have been in a way “defining moments” when politicians have neglected or responded with indifference towards citizen dialogue results, and residents and employees of the city are insecure, angry, disappointed and scared, and trust in politicians and senior officials drops dramatically.. In short, in some of the city districts the citizens are experiencing a kind of of crisis, and probably also live with a sense that chamos’ approaching. It happened some unexpected things in the group during our training that evokes thoughts on how to build trust and constructive relations despite this condition in the city and among the participants.<br/> <br/> Mine and my friend Kaisa Balkfors thoughts are some of the following; Is there anyone here in the network who have attempted to draw a path or position in the borderland between Chaos and Chamos? Has anyone been working on methods to manage people's feeling of being on the border of Chaos / Chamos? Have this condition/ movement to get out of there and into the Chaordic way been a theme for/in any AoH training?<br/> <br/> Grateful for your experiences and thoughts in this area!</p>
<p><br/> Sincerely,<br/> Anna-Karin Berglund</p>
<p>--------------------------------------</p>
<p>Hi Anna Karin <br/> <br/> I love your questions they really got me thinking - often our focus is on the path from order to chaordic rather than from chaos or chamos. There was a lovely piece of writing by Vanessa Reid recently about this <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/vanessa-reid/when-there-is-gratitude-for-crisis-and-chaos-for-real/10153176593635901?pnref=story">https://www.facebook.com/notes/vanessa-reid/when-there-is-gratitude-for-crisis-and-chaos-for-real/10153176593635901?pnref=story</a> <br/> <br/> Some of the places I work are also at the sharp end of conflict and inequality. Im finding myself drawn to wanting to work with the more 'invisible' but often very potent dynamics of 'how did we get to this place, how does it feel and how do we navigate our way forward now" which sometimes a participative conversation or dialogue process alone won't get to....as its somehow beyond words. <br/> <br/> Ive found both Process Work and Systemic Constellations a useful frame here as it seems to open up a deeper wider space for more to be seen, presenced, acknowledged... and potentially healed or at least understood differently, a new perspective. Arnold Mindell's book ' sitting in the fire" is a great resource here. <br/> <br/> We once did a constellation with Ria Beack here in the UK on social inequality and found that the 'root cause' was very far away from what we all expected. Some of the local authority participants changed their working practices as a result. Constellations have since been used in something called the 'poverty truth challenge' <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://leedspovertytruth.wordpress.com/our-blog/">https://leedspovertytruth.wordpress.com/our-blog/</a> where once experienced the local council leaders could not continue to hold the same entrenched views about 'the other', they had been changed by the very experience of meeting. <br/> <br/> Those patterns and defining moments you speak about might hold quite some clues. And yes to building more trust and constructive relations. How do we do this by including the disturbances and difficult stuff rather than despite it. My experience is that much gets excluded as it feels too difficult so we turn away (me too!) and that's when the chaos gets bigger and bigger .... oh so much to learn about and lean into here. <br/> <br/> I've also been tracking Tuesday Ryan Hart and her analysis of social injustice and power and some of the work she has been doing in the USA. (can't wait to meet Tuesday in Beyond The Basics Europe this summer, where I sense this question around working at the edges, chaos, power and inequality is gonna be a big topic) <br/> <br/> Just some initial thoughts would be very happy to continue this enquiry as its one so very close to my heart... <br/> <br/> Love Linda x</p> Principles, values, heuristics...tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-05-27:4134568:Topic:976252015-05-27T08:32:14.404ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>From the emaillist, May 2015.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>Dear AoH colleagues,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>During the writing of my dissertation I sought to develop a list of principles and values that reflect both an Art of Hosting and relational constructionist approach to the work we do. I offer the listing here in the spirit of sharing, invitation for reflection and opportunity for further co-creation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In…</p>
<p><em>From the emaillist, May 2015.</em></p>
<p></p>
<p>Dear AoH colleagues,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>During the writing of my dissertation I sought to develop a list of principles and values that reflect both an Art of Hosting and relational constructionist approach to the work we do. I offer the listing here in the spirit of sharing, invitation for reflection and opportunity for further co-creation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In peace,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>jerry</p>
<p><u> </u></p>
<p><u> </u></p>
<p><u>Principles:</u></p>
<ul>
<li>Conversations matter and conversation is the way we think, make meaning together and build strong relationships that invite real collaboration.</li>
<li>Meaningful conversations lead to wise actions. We seek to explore what can be done rather than what cannot.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We work from a place of appreciation and not judgment, bringing play and improvisation to imagining new ways to go on together.</li>
<li>Curiosity and judgment do not live well together. If we are judging we cannot be curious.</li>
<li>Hosting meaningful conversations opens up the space for collective inquiry and finding collective intelligence. We shift from individuals being responsible for decisions to being relationally responsible to each other.</li>
<li> We work to co-create in friendship and partnership.</li>
<li>We listen from a place of not knowing so that we “are more open to other(ness), to multiple voices, and to possibilities”.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We show up to our work fully present, not distracted, prepared, clear about what is needed and the contributions we have to offer.</li>
<li>The practice is the work.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><u>Values:</u></p>
<ul>
<li>Being curious is essential and being curious means being willing to step into a place of not knowing.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Diverse perspectives open up new possibilities. All the voices from all local forms of life are welcome and invited into the conversation without fear.</li>
<li>We create and hold space for a multiple of local realities to be in dialogue with each other in different but equal relationship.</li>
<li>As practitioners we work toward the common good. We are committed to making the world as a whole a better place.</li>
<li>We believe in human goodness. We work to support personal aspirations.</li>
<li>We work in the place of emergence without preconceived notions of what must happen, instead allowing what wants to come forth to emerge. We trust in the not knowing. We trust in the generative field of co-creation.</li>
<li>Participation by all is central to the work.</li>
<li>We take time to be aware of our own prejudices and habits and take time to reflect on our (re)actions as part of our ongoing learning as hosts.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>We practice generosity. We share what we know and invite others into the field of co-learning.</li>
</ul>
<p>------------------------------</p>
<p>Hey there…</p>
<div>How are you distinguishing between principles and values? </div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div>------------------------------</div>
<div><p>Hi Chris,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>These two words are often used interchangeably and sometimes one is used to define the other, so we could get into all kinds of deep weeds around your question. For me, as I reflected on the difference and developed the list, I equated principles more with modes of action – how we go about our work or a characteristic of behavior – and values more in an axiological sense as in the realm of how we valuate something (i.e. how we determine what is good or evil to us or what is beautiful or not to us) so how might we evaluate our work, what is ethical, moral, or aesthetic.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And, all of this could be challenged, that’s the beauty of philosophical exploration.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In peace,</p>
<p> </p>
<p>jerry</p>
<p>------------------------------</p>
<div>Deep weeds for sure. But I'm excited to go there. I think it helps us to have a good theoretical basis and understanding of what we are doing and why it works when it works. </div>
<div>A technical term I have been introduced to is "heuristics" which I understand as experienced based principles. It's a sort of pithy statement about how you know in your gut what to do. It's sometimes distinguished from principles by being less lofty, more grounded and basically a "rule of thumb" that helps you operate in many different contexts. ("Rule of thumb" has controversial origin in English being derived from the law which specified the width of a stick that a man could use to beat his wife with. So I try not to use the term but it helps to illustrate what a heuristic is)</div>
<div>The way you are using <strong>principles</strong> looks like this. These could be answers to the question <strong>"how do you know what to do when you don't have a plan?"</strong> Answers to these questions might be:</div>
<div>"When no one person has the answer, pause and have a conversation."</div>
<div>"When exploring a problem listen with curiosity when evaluating options agree together on how to judge the options."</div>
<div>"When entering a conversation remove all distractions and be totally present." </div>
<div>These kinds of guidelines could be really helpful because they illuminate deep practice and the kinds of intuitive decisions practitioners make when confronted with a new situation. </div>
<div>And above those I see <strong>values,</strong> that point at what you are saying, <strong>indicate what we consider good</strong>. </div>
<div>Things like:</div>
<div>Conversation matters. </div>
<div>Generosity is important. </div>
<div>Each person has something to offer. </div>
<div>That sort of thing. When these values are violated, we might find ourselves instinctively reacting negatively to the violation. </div>
<div>Your list is really helpful and inspiring to me because I feel like I could use it to generate a set of basic guidelines or heuristics for practice based in your research and the experiences practitioners shared with you. This might become an important addition to our training material to accompany the four fold practice. </div>
<div>Awesome!</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div>-------------------------------</div>
<div>Great stuff mates<div>hunting for practical clarity - useful in the moment of living as it happens<br/><div>keep it going……</div>
<div>it could become useful for many of us</div>
<div>A bow</div>
<div><br/><div><div style="color: #000000; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: #000000; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0px;"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3423FF">Toke</font></font></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3423FF">---------------------------------</font></font></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div>Dear Chris, </div>
<div>please have a look at:</div>
<a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-pluralism/"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Handwriting - Dakota'"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3423FF">http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-pluralism/</font></font></font></a><br />
<div>best regards,</div>
<div>Carmen</div>
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</div> We don't need shared purpose, shared work is enough!tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-03-22:4134568:Topic:967102015-03-22T12:18:12.939ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>from the emaillist, March 2015:</em></p>
<p>Hi Folks,</p>
<div>I am excited to put out this blog. It has taken some time to think through and has resulted in me changing one of the the core models I use. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.</div>
<div><a href="http://www.timmerry.com/blog/we-dont-need-purpose-shared-work-is-enough" target="_blank">http://www.timmerry.com/blog/we-dont-need-purpose-shared-work-is-enough</a> </div>
<div>Some tasters to entice you onto the…</div>
<p><em>from the emaillist, March 2015:</em></p>
<p>Hi Folks,</p>
<div>I am excited to put out this blog. It has taken some time to think through and has resulted in me changing one of the the core models I use. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.</div>
<div><a href="http://www.timmerry.com/blog/we-dont-need-purpose-shared-work-is-enough" target="_blank">http://www.timmerry.com/blog/we-dont-need-purpose-shared-work-is-enough</a> </div>
<div>Some tasters to entice you onto the blog:</div>
<div><span style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;">"Purpose is not an essential ingredient to get into good work, in fact it can be the outcome of getting into work together - one of the things we discover along the way. "</span><br style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;"/><br style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;"/><span style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;">"Shared Work allows us to start together without agreement. </span><span style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;">In that way it is a bigger container and more inclusive of marginalized voices. It creates lots of space for disagreement (and therefore learning) and lots of space for action (and therefore learning).</span><span style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;">"</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: MonotypeGurmukhi; background-color: #ffffff;"> </span></div>
<div><font face="MonotypeGurmukhi"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences,</span></font></div>
<div><font face="MonotypeGurmukhi"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;"> </span></font></div>
<div><font face="MonotypeGurmukhi"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Tim</span></font></div>
<div><font face="MonotypeGurmukhi"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">-------------------------</span></font></div>
<div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">I like it a lot Terry and have sensed the distinction (and complication of 'shared purpose') myself.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">Reading about gamification recently, I was attracted to the idea of 'goals' of a game, rather something different to the purpose that is the mantra in our field. 'Shared work' if anything is clearer.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">I have very rarely felt that shared purpose was realistic, and where there is such a thing (as in organisational purpose, where such things are defined from above), agreement is often superficial.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">The one type of collaborative endeavour where I think common purpose is valuable is Collective Impact type initiatives; cooperative rather than collaborative, very long term, and fundamentally about learning how to best dance (together) with complex adaptive systems. It's suitable then that the gestation period for such an initiative often extends for years.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">It is less compelling when you head into 'need is the invisible leader'.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">In Theory U or according to Peter Block, the invisible leader would be a sense of what is possible (the emerging future). Not sure whether I would fully buy into it, but that's where I would start looking for an invisible leader if one was needed!</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif; color: #444444;">Thanks for writing! John Baxter -------------------------<br/> This is an important topic in one particular community right now that I'm working with on developing restorative approaches specific to their community need, cultures, and resources... Prior to my involvement the group had been doing good work with a deep focus on possibilities, but had never really spoken about need. <br/>
<br/>
I'm using the chaordic stepping stones as my guide because as Tim says, the action is so important, especially as people are planning implementation of practices with which they are only abstractly familiar and need to experience in order to really "get." <br/>
<br/>
At our last meeting I left feeling sort of like a Debbie downer because as I entered into process in the group we dug into need a bit with the question: "What do you see from your particular lens that drives you to believe that now is the time for a more restorative approach?" (We have already defined the solution; and need to go back and identify the why)... After we went through the pretty brief description of why rest. <br/>
<br/>
Approaches are needed now, there were two comments from participants which left me a bit uneasy: 1.) "that feels kind of negative..." 2.) "I prefer to focus on possibilities, like in the Peter block book" My internal responses were all over the place... And my conclusion has been that the feeling negative is probably very important, because it's a reality. The possibilities and feelings of hope are an equal reality but not at the expense of need. <br/>
<br/>
should we not consider invisible leaders in shared work, possibilities, AND need? They represent a constellation of drivers for people who arrive at the table through different avenues. For those living in the community where there is need, it already feels negative.... So should we not visit there for awhile ourselves if it's not our reality In order to remember that our possibilities are grounded in real need? <br/>
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Such a timely post Tim for me. Thanks. Also of note, in case it's evident here... I've not yet read peters book... I'm curious if it's being interpreted quite the way it was intended and now need to do my homework!! <br/>
-Ryun<br/>
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Hé friends, <br/>
Good thread. I would just add that while we might not need to get to a collective purpose with a group and it might not even be possible to do so, the team that is holding the work does need to be clear on the purpose for which is undertaking the work – to learn to be in conversation with each other, to bring diverse perspectives together, to turn their attention to shared interests. If we do not know the purpose for which we undertake the work we will be directionless in designing the process for what we are about. Many breaths to this. A bow to the conversation. Kathy<br/>
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<div>Tim, thank you for the thought provoking and detailed post. As I read it, what struck me was the language. Nothing has changed except for understanding and perspective, and therefore, in the way we we use words as symbols for concepts, we can feel a need to use a different word to accentuate an aha.</div>
<div>For me personally, I have a much broader concept in defining "purpose" and the definition of it changes with context. Shared work is a reason for coming together. Shared work might be the purpose exclusively for a group, and I can imagine using either purpose or need interchangeably when speaking in broad terms.</div>
<div>The complexity begins when we look at the details. A group of individuals may or may not agree on shared purpose if the scope is too narrow. In the local permaculture guild, one guy wants to replace lawns with edible gardens, one woman wants to educate the community on worms and composting and create a network for worm sharing, and another wants to get neighbors in hilly regions to work together and re-grade the landscape across property lines to address rainwater runoff that's causing erosion. These diverse things would not bring agreement among these individuals until the scope is broadened to the Permaculture scale where they would see their shared purpose or need, which is in benefiting the shared ecosystem.</div>
<div>Still within that scenario, we also have each individual's complex personality and various lenses (a shout out to Kathy and Jerry's World View work lately), which is where things get really tangled if you want people to agree on something.</div>
<div>Tim, you've written a lovely piece. Thank you for opening this conversation. I especially like your references to the invisible, and I think that is our key to the shift we might be wanting at any point in group dynamics. The power of inquiry, as demonstrated in your question, can create the space for the invisible to emerge, where a stated purpose might keep it locked away because of an illusion that we have things figured out and we don't want to invite the messy process of inquiry. </div>
<div>Enough for now. I look forward to more on this thread. Good day all!</div>
<div>Lori Sortino</div>
<div>-------------------------------</div>
<div><span>Hi friends,<br/> <br/>
I'm loving this thread! Thanks for blogging about it, Tim. It's been great to explore and learn about this together with you. Lots of great thinking happening here and over on the blog. <br/>
<br/>
I wanted to share that when I've brought this idea of "shared work" into groups it somehow feels quite liberating to them. It helps us get to work without demanding convergence or false commonality. I</span><span><span>t allows and invites multiple perspectives without pushing us toward artificial agreement. </span></span> <span>(I've found we can fool ourselves into thinking we have agreement or consensus when actually some voices have just been quieted or folks just want to get to work already and so will go along...) <br/>
<br/>
With shared work, we're allowed to bring all our stuff and ideas and perspectives and analysis with us without having to give it up to some sense of collective convergence. We were working with a group last week that discussed how much time they had spent trying to come to shared purpose for their group. They shared that if they could take a step back and simply look for shared work, it was much clearer how and where to get started. <br/>
<br/>
And that's my thing right now when I'm working with groups: how do we get started, then how do we take the next step, and how do we stay together while doing it? And shared work seems to really resonate with folks in a way that (sometimes) shared purpose doesn't. </span> <span><span>And I think your point is a good one, Lori, that it does depend on how we're defining purpose.</span> </span> And I think, for me and my practice, it's enough of a shift that it's worth naming and sharing. <span><br/>
</span> <span><br/>
<span><span>And we had to remind that particular group who was spinning on purpose that if they could identify a shared purpose not to throw that out either! :) </span></span></span> <br/>
<span><br/>
It's great when we can identify shared purpose, but my sense is that often purpose is richer and deeper and more widely held if we come to it through some shared work.</span> <span> I wrote a bit about it last year over on the BtB blog -</span> <a href="http://www.aohbtb.com/blog/shared-work-not-shared-analysis-or-aspiration">http://www.aohbtb.com/blog/shared-work-not-shared-analysis-or-aspiration</a> - if folks want to check it out.<br/>
<br/>
I'm also just particularly interested in what we've held to be "true" and whether that fits with what we're all finding in practice and application. The idea of shared work rather than shared aspiration/analysis came to me from direct practice application of purpose and finding sometimes that didn't always quite fit for me or the groups I'm with.<br/>
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Good to be in this conversation,<br/>
<br/>
Tuesday</div>
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<div><div><div>Fantastic thread and teach going on here...</div>
Thank you... I love coming to the question of what we do with the wonder and warmth of our difference, how it comes to be not a chasm to be bridged, but a point of contact and learning, even in the midst of our terrors and often divergent senses of why we are, at any given moment, in the room or at the table...</div>
thanks to you all!</div>
<div>Maurice</div>
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<div><p>Hi All,</p>
<p>An interesting thread indeed. I’ve been reflecting on it and wonder if the idea of “shared work” has an implicit purpose? Why would a group of people choose to engage in shared work if there isn’t some purpose to it? I love how a group might be freed up from getting hung up on purpose and get on with the work.</p>
<p>Thanks for the challenge.</p>
<p>Stephen</p>
<p>-----------------------</p>
Focusing on possibilities is fine. But there is a chaordic stepping stone that deals with limiting beliefs and if you don't face up to these you will build them into your structure and you will mitigate against them. <br/>
<br/>
You simply HAVE to deal with shadow if you are trying to build structures that are intended to last. It's called shadow for a reason. <br/>
<br/>
Tatiana taught me a key difference between need and purpose. Need is the state of the present that has caused you to do something. Purpose is what you are trying to do about it. It's not completely useless but in a complex system it is much better to undertake shared work (or even parallel but connected experiments) than it is to talk endlessly about purpose, vision, goals and objectives. If you are getting bogged down in talking, start trying things. <br/>
<br/>
Other than that, I see nothing wrong with people saying things that leave you uneasy... good hosting is not about making everyone comfortable, it's about dealing with what's real. <br/>
Chris<br/>
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From all I read what caught my attention was: "Good hosting is not about making everyone comfortable, it¹s about dealing with what¹s real." It may be so because I agree with dealing with what is real. <br/>
Thank you Chris<br/>
Marcello<br/>
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Thanks to everyone for all the responses to the blog on this list and on the website. Amazing. I am still digesting much of it.<br />
<div>The questions around possibilities that Ryun and Chris dive into here and that John Baxter raised is interesting to me. We are right in the middle of exploring how a transformative scenario planning process across our communities could begin to work on collective beliefs (change isn't possible and / or necessary) ... what I love about it is that it is focuses on possibilities together. Perhaps a combination of shared work and possibility is a ripe mix for the complexity to come together ... and not that we all need to agree on the possibilities (in our scenarios we are looking at 3 or 4 narratives being the outcome) - but that we all need to agree there are possibilities!</div>
<div>Tim</div>
<div>-----------------------</div>
Of course working with scenarios one has to be very very very careful that what one is doing is analyzing the present rather that trying to determine an outcome. So often I’ve seen scenarios used as a strategic planning tool that just offers more than one option for the purpose/vision and desired outcome of an initiative. <br/>
<div>In increasingly complex contexts scenarios become less useful about future states and more useful for seeing who you are and what you’ve got in the moment. In less complex environments, scenarios are more useful for thinking about outcome options. </div>
<div>Think of building a house, vs. being lost in the forest. In building a house, you pick from a variety of outcomes based on your available resources. Your starting state is largely known - cost, materials etc., possibilities are highly constrained by what’s available and therefore you need to choose an outcome that works for your current state. No point building the Taj Mahal if all you have is eight sheets of plywood. This is a very clear articulation of purpose, and there is a known outcome. In that case, scenarios are really useful for determining what you future state will be. Once you have made the decision, you need to pretty much stick to it, unless you get a massive influx of resources, or a catastrophic failure.</div>
<div>When you are lost, you can design a few scenarios that will help you make a decision now. You need to carefully sense your environment, knowing that you can never have all the data you need to make decisions. You use your gut and experience to assess where you are. You ask questions: what might happen if I climb to the top of the mountain? What will happen if I follow the watercourse down? What might happen if I stay here? What am I equipped for? What bet should I take?</div>
<div>Each of these scenarios gives you a choice that can have radically different results and once you have make the decision, you need to come back to it and reassess. You don’t want to do anything too risky, because massive failure is not an option. BUT little failures are, and they will give you excellent insight as to what to do next. You will learn more about yourself, your predicament and the context, and as a result you might become more resourceful and able to respond better. It is a good strategy for getting found. Note that the emphasis on the scenario planning here is not the choice of the future state, although it is guided by the much higher level purpose of “getting to safety.”</div>
<div>For me, it is becoming vitally important that we understand the context (or the multiple contexts) we are operating within before we choose methods of addressing our current state (need). I’m not prepared to completely reject the idea of purpose, or completely adopt the idea of shared work. I adopt my favourite answer of “It depends.” In certain complex contexts shared work is a good strategy. In contexts in which experts are important, it is not as good a strategy. I definitely want an architect and a builder working on my house, rather than a bunch of us just getting started. But, as our recent renovations here on Bowen Island showed us, that doesn’t mean we don’t need good hosting practice! We do, because experts need to be invited into relationship with those outside their expertise if the project is bigger than what they know about.</div>
<div>Great reflections here. Thanks. No doubt we’ll dive into this at Beyond the Basics.</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div>-----------------</div>
<div>Perhaps good hosting is about making people comfortable <span class="moz-txt-underscore"><span class="moz-txt-tag">_</span>enough<span class="moz-txt-tag">_</span></span> to deal with what's real? Cheers Mark<br/>
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<br/>
Sweet reflections. Thank you. Perhaps good hosting is about being present, sensitive, and open to the possibilities for shared work now? And good hosting may also be about actually creating space and holding it there for uncomfortable realities to emerge. <br/>
Ryan<br/>
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</div> Neuroscience and Leadership - Adverse Childhood Experiencestag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-03-06:4134568:Topic:964362015-03-06T14:55:05.080ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><em>From the emaillist, March 2015:</em></p>
<p>We just finished our AoH on Bowen and I’ve posted two blog posts connected to our dialogs around the Neurosciences, and Adverse Childhood Experiences, Personal Mastery and Resilience.</p>
<p>Neuroscience and ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Resources based on the work here in Washington and work nationally: …</p>
<p><em>From the emaillist, March 2015:</em></p>
<p>We just finished our AoH on Bowen and I’ve posted two blog posts connected to our dialogs around the Neurosciences, and Adverse Childhood Experiences, Personal Mastery and Resilience.</p>
<p>Neuroscience and ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Resources based on the work here in Washington and work nationally: <a href="http://www.emergingwisdom.net/2015-aces-and-neurosciences-resource-list/">http://www.emergingwisdom.net/2015-aces-and-neurosciences-resource-list/</a></p>
<p>Draft Neuroscience and Social Justice Leadership Article: <a href="http://www.emergingwisdom.net/neuroscience-and-social-justice-leadership/">http://www.emergingwisdom.net/neuroscience-and-social-justice-leadership/</a> which was created for a Social Justice Leaders program I helped host locally called Leading from the Heart. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>Teresa</p>
<p>--------------------------------</p>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">Hi dear Teresa,</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000"> </font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">Thank you for all those great resources!</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000"> </font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">Something you might like to add to your list: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician in the Bay Area, gave an excellent TEDMED talk a few months ago on the profound impact that childhood trauma has on adult-onset illness, and the work she and colleagues are doing to address it:</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000"><b><a href="http://tedmed.com/talks/show?id=293066">http://tedmed.com/talks/show?id=293066</a></b><br/></font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000"> </font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">love, Christy</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">----------------------------</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Hi Teresa! <br/>Love your work.... so helpful to share understandings about stress and the brain!<br/><br/>I am writing particularly in response to the inquiry in your blog, on, "How do we develop individual and team practices to support healing & creative brilliance in times of uncertainty and radical change?"<br/><br/></div>
the area that I and others have been exploring, is using cognitive empathy to "minimize interpersonal anxiety while maximizing creative tension"... i.e, create a field where differences can be explored safely and lead to greater systemic understandings.<br/><br/></div>
We've found that in these contexts, people truly enjoy having passionate conversations about significant social issues...<br/><br/></div>
I've begun to call this work <a href="http://diapraxis.com/home/dynamic-inquiry-">"Dynamic Inquiry"</a>... While it's clearly an outgrowth of my fifteen years exploring Dynamic Facilitation, I'm also wanting to acknowledge all of the other "streams" that have been nourishing my work... including my interest in neuroscience, and its various implications for our work with groups!<br/><br/></div>
along those lines, I'm fascinated by having recently discovered Nancy Kline's "Time to Think" work... on how human attention can create a fruitful "Thinking Environment" (which also includes feeling... :-)<br/><br/></div>
anyway, lovely to see all of these convergences, and thank you again for your wonderful work!<br/><br/></div>
with all best wishes,<br/><br/></div>
<font color="#000000">Rosa</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><font color="#000000">---------------------</font></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"></div> AoH & The Circle Way in civic politicstag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-02-09:4134568:Topic:962482015-02-09T10:42:15.490ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p>I am on friendly terms with the front runner in the mayoral race in our city (Winnipeg) and I really want to have a conversation with her that might spark her imagination about how AoH and The Circle Way might transform the way conversations are held in our city. In particular, she has just announced that she wants to create a roundtable to forge a new accord with the First Nations community.<br></br><br></br>Before I initiate a conversation with her, I'd like to pull together some stories of where…</p>
<p>I am on friendly terms with the front runner in the mayoral race in our city (Winnipeg) and I really want to have a conversation with her that might spark her imagination about how AoH and The Circle Way might transform the way conversations are held in our city. In particular, she has just announced that she wants to create a roundtable to forge a new accord with the First Nations community.<br/><br/>Before I initiate a conversation with her, I'd like to pull together some stories of where AoH and The Circle Way have already been used in civic politics (or related environments) and ideas for ways in which it would be applicable.<br/><br/>Any thoughts, stories, ideas, insights, articles, videos, etc.?<br/><br/>Heather Plett</p>
<p>-----------------</p>
<p>Hi Heather!</p>
<div>I've thought about responding to your e-mail for a while now, yet I've hesitated, as in the English-speaking world the work we do is not often perceived as being related to "Circle" approaches.</div>
<div>And then today, I received an <a href="http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=0c43e36b-3c57-4615-8816-ec96f008a037&c=071d2280-926c-11e3-9966-d4ae5292c426&ch=07216840-926c-11e3-9966-d4ae5292c426">e-mail newsletter (in German)</a> from Matthias zur Bonsen, announcing two new books, both of which he has helped to birth. The first is his translation of "The Circle Way" into German, and the second is his translation of the Dynamic Facilitation manual, with additional chapters in German written by various European practitioners, including one by Matthias himself.</div>
<div>Two of the new chapters in the German-language book describe in detail the work that has been taking place in Vorarlberg with regard to participatory public policy. In addition to hosting several Art of Hosting trainings, the Office of Future-Related Issues has also been hosting Wisdom Councils (a large-system application of Dynamic Facilitation) to generate high-quality public input into municipal, regional, and state policy issues. Since 2006, they have hosted 35+ of these councils, and this highly cost-effective format has begun to spread in Germany and Switzerland. Here is a link to the English translation of an <a href="https://dk-media.s3.amazonaws.com/AA/AL/diapraxis/downloads/284034/PublicEngagementAustria_pdf.pdf">article that originally appeared in Biorama,</a> an Austrian online magazine on sustainable living, describing this significant body of work. </div>
<div>If you are interested in any additional information, I can send you an English translation of two of the new German chapters, that are specifically focused on how has been applied in the context of civic politics. Also if you are interested there is an evaluation of this work, conducted by Kairos and the European Institute for Public Participation.</div>
<div>with all best wishes,</div>
<div>Rosa</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"/><div><div dir="ltr"><i>Rosa Zubizarreta</i></div>
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</div> Layers of Purpose for an AoH trainingtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2015-02-09:4134568:Topic:960512015-02-09T10:13:31.615ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<div class="blog-header"><p class="blog-date"><span class="date-text">This is a blog post that I found too good not to post over here: (Jan 5, 2015); originally posted <a href="http://aohbowenisland.weebly.com/blog/the-art-of-hosting-an-invitation-to-layers-of-purpose" target="_blank">here</a>.<br></br></span></p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph" style="text-align: left;">This post is from <a href="http://tennesonwoolf.com/about/bio/" target="_blank" title="">Tenneson Woolf.…</a></div>
<div class="blog-header"><p class="blog-date"><span class="date-text">This is a blog post that I found too good not to post over here: (Jan 5, 2015); originally posted <a href="http://aohbowenisland.weebly.com/blog/the-art-of-hosting-an-invitation-to-layers-of-purpose" target="_blank">here</a>.<br/></span></p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph" style="text-align: left;">This post is from <a href="http://tennesonwoolf.com/about/bio/" target="_blank" title="">Tenneson Woolf.</a></div>
<div><hr class="styled-hr" style="width: 100%;"/></div>
<p><span style="display: table; z-index: 10; width: auto; xg-p: relative; float: left; max-width: 100%; ;clear: left; margin-top: 20px; *margin-top: 40px;"><a><img src="http://aohbowenisland.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/8/9/23890438/5378284_orig.jpg" style="margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; max-width: 100%;" alt="Picture" class="galleryImageBorder wsite-image"/></a></span></p>
<div class="paragraph" style="text-align: justify; display: block;">Over the last ten years I’ve been asked many times to define the purpose of The Art of Hosting. Each time I’ve responded, I’ve been aware there are many layers to the question and any response I might offer.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Below are four of those layers, all of which I suspect will be present and poignant when we gather in <a href="http://aohbowenisland.weebly.com/" target="_blank" title="">February for the Art of Hosting, Bowen Island.</a> Our hosting team of Chris Corrigan, Caitlin Frost, Teresa Posakony, Amanda Fenton and myself all bring significant experience and genuine inquiry to contribute to these layers.<br/><br/><br/><ol>
<li><span>Better Skills, Better Meetings</span> — This is what many people want. It is as basic to organizational health as regular exercise is to personal health. The Art of Hosting, and the general framing of participative leadership, offers a set of tools, methodologies, perspectives, and practices to help improve meetings. Committee meetings. Staff meetings. Or repeated meetings that are engagement strategies for long term community involvement. Our intent at The Art of Hosting is to help all participants leave as improved practitioners able to host better and more meaningful meetings.</li>
<li><span>Leaning in to Longings</span> — Most of us have hopes and dreams about what our organizations can be. About what we want to be in them. Most of us are not satisfied in simply “getting by” or “enduring.” Most of us want to actively lean in to our longings, individual and collectively, on behalf of a deliberate and desirable future together. I believe because we are daring, and caring, enough to do so. And because we know that real longings, spoken genuinely, and heard with curiosity, reset and recenter the clarity of our endeavors.</li>
<li><span>Create a Narrative Arc to Hold Us Into the Future</span> — For change to happen, or be sustained, most of us need a story. An overarching narrative that reminds us of a purpose. Sometimes it is the story of us as individuals. Sometimes it is the story of our teams. Sometimes it is the national or global story of a world that requires us to evolve with it. It was <a href="http://www.peerspirit.com/" target="_blank" title="">Christina Baldwin</a> in her book Storycatcher that spoke, “Life hangs on a narrative thread. This thread is a braid of stories that inform us about who we are, and where we come from, and where we might go. The thread is slender but strong: we trust it to hold us and allow us to swing over the edge of the known into the future….”</li>
<li><span>Practice Presence as Core Competency</span> — “Core competency” is language most commonly used in a business setting. Yet its meaning is widely known. An ability that is essential, a skill that is at the crux, a muscular memory central to accomplishing purpose. Like flour is to bread. Like kneading is to preparing it. Core competencies are very utilitarian. They help us get things done. They are things, or steps, that we wouldn’t, or couldn’t, live without. A premise I hold for the Art of Hosting is that presence is “the” core competency that is called for in these times. In professional life. In communal life. In the often fast paced, hyper-connected, ever-changing world, presence, perhaps more now that ever, is most needed.</li>
</ol>
The Art of Hosting, Bowen Island is one of the events I most look forward to during the year. The location is outstanding, nestled in forest. I trust our team, all of us, as friends and colleagues, who understand much about layers. I trust us to get to the needed layers that make lasting and significant difference for those who come.<br/><br/>Welcome.</div>