The Art of Hosting2024-03-28T19:07:26ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthurhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2795062418?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=14zh1lk5yhldy&feed=yes&xn_auth=noImportant: Ning is no longer being used!tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2023-06-23:4134568:Topic:1897102023-06-23T19:37:36.347ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p><b><i>IMPORTANT: This NING is no longer actively used by the community, we keep it online for repository purposes only until there is an alternative in place. </i></b></p>
<p><b><i>For further details on how to connect with Art of Hosting / Participatory Leadership practitioners and to access existing resources, please visit:<span> </span><a href="http://www.artofhosting.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">www.artofhosting.org</a></i></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><i>Other ways to…</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>IMPORTANT: This NING is no longer actively used by the community, we keep it online for repository purposes only until there is an alternative in place. </i></b></p>
<p><b><i>For further details on how to connect with Art of Hosting / Participatory Leadership practitioners and to access existing resources, please visit:<span> </span><a href="http://www.artofhosting.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.artofhosting.org</a></i></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><i>Other ways to connect:</i></b></p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/artofhosting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-282" src="https://artofhosting.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/icon-facebook.jpg" alt="icon-facebook" width="30" height="30"/></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/artofhosting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook group </a>– Follow our activities and connect to the wider community</p>
<p><a href="http://artofhosting.ning.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-284" src="https://artofhosting.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/icon-ning.jpg" alt="icon-ning" width="30" height="30"/></a><a href="http://list.artofhosting.org/mailman/listinfo/aoh">The List Serve</a> – Take part in the ongoing email conversation about AoH practices</p>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/channels/393360" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vimeo</a> / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtofHostingConversations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youtube</a>– Watch videos illustrating what the The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter is all about</p> The Interpersonal Shifttag:artofhosting.ning.com,2021-04-27:4134568:Topic:1836902021-04-27T12:20:45.208ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
<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"…</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
<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>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
</div>
<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>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Campus Co-Evolve will start on Apr 29. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
</div>
<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:1838312021-04-27T11:44:19.674ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<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>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
</div>
<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>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj"><strong>The purpose of the Community Host role</strong></div>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
</div>
<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>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><strong>The Community Host accountabilities</strong></div>
</div>
<ul class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso">
<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>
</li>
<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Welcoming new learners and inspiring their online contributions</span></div>
</li>
<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>
</li>
<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>
</li>
<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>
</li>
<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>
</li>
<li class="bi6gxh9e aov4n071 lfifhrf7 _3kpz _3kq1 _3kq6"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span>Attending the learners' wellbeing and special needs</span></div>
</li>
<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>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="bi6gxh9e"><div class="_1mf _1mj"><span> </span></div>
</div>
<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> Online Manualtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2020-08-14:4134568:Topic:1217442020-08-14T21:10:15.330ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p>I am trying to find a post that had this document attached to it:</p>
<p></p>
<p><span>Online AoH Manual CoCreation Practices for Meaningful Participat…gement V1.0.pdf.html</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span>I believe it was sent out in may and it did not download properly on my computer. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span>Does anyone have a copy that they could share with me?</span></p>
<p>I am trying to find a post that had this document attached to it:</p>
<p></p>
<p><span>Online AoH Manual CoCreation Practices for Meaningful Participat…gement V1.0.pdf.html</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span>I believe it was sent out in may and it did not download properly on my computer. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span>Does anyone have a copy that they could share with me?</span></p> Digital meetings following Coronovirus - what is needed for success?tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2020-03-02:4134568:Topic:1211272020-03-02T17:34:59.980ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p>Hello all, </p>
<p>As we transition into a world with a more limited ability to meet in person due to Coronovirus, I wanted to tap back into the Art of Hosting network for ideas or suggestions of virtual technologies and best practices for online meetings. </p>
<p></p>
<p>- What works?</p>
<p>- What doesn't?</p>
<p>- What tools and trainings does Art of Hosting provide to help organisations make this transition?</p>
<p>Hello all, </p>
<p>As we transition into a world with a more limited ability to meet in person due to Coronovirus, I wanted to tap back into the Art of Hosting network for ideas or suggestions of virtual technologies and best practices for online meetings. </p>
<p></p>
<p>- What works?</p>
<p>- What doesn't?</p>
<p>- What tools and trainings does Art of Hosting provide to help organisations make this transition?</p> AOH Training for Social Innovation Labs tentative Proposaltag:artofhosting.ning.com,2019-03-11:4134568:Topic:1175442019-03-11T15:15:34.223ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<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>
<ul class="ul1">
<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> Art of Hosting and organisationstag:artofhosting.ning.com,2019-01-07:4134568:Topic:1173192019-01-07T12:59:55.590ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<blockquote><pre class="moz-quote-pre">From the email list, starting late 2018:</pre>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre"><br></br>On Dec 20, 2018, at 2:43 AM, Monica Nissen <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"><monica@interchange.dk></a> wrote: </pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre"></pre>
<blockquote><pre class="moz-quote-pre">And I still have a working assumption that the four-fold practise is foundational in this shift - as are good methods, useful tools, skills and theory (=AoH)…</pre>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><pre class="moz-quote-pre">From the email list, starting late 2018:</pre>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre"><br/>On Dec 20, 2018, at 2:43 AM, Monica Nissen <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"><monica@interchange.dk></a> wrote: </pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre"></pre>
<blockquote><pre class="moz-quote-pre">And I still have a working assumption that the four-fold practise is foundational in this shift - as are good methods, useful tools, skills and theory (=AoH) </pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre"> Yes to this. I think our little framework is powerful enough and fractal enough that it holds this work on multiple levels. When a group of people begin practicing the four fools practice over time, my experience is that they begin to become a community that learns and a community that hosts itself and others, participates, and co-creates. </pre>
<blockquote><pre class="moz-quote-pre">So in short - how do you expand/scale up the “Art”?? </pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre">To me that is how it scales: organizations take on the practice as their core function. I’m seeing it in my work with foundations, non-profits and even a few local businesses, like Percolab, who do this as their raison d’être and not just their marketable offerings. </pre>
<p></p>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre">Chris<br/>---------------------------------</pre>
<div class="">On Dec 21, 2018, at 7:04 AM, Monica Nissen <<a>monica@interchange.dk</a>> wrote:</div>
<p></p>
<div class=""><div class="">Hi Chris<div class=""><br class=""/><div class="">Love the way the computer has its own will to innovate …</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">"the four fools practice “</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">And I still wonder if the viral version is enough or only works for networked mind-sets and organisations - are there hybrids? - bigger organisations - that need more conscious and/or structure approaches???</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Not sure - But I just have an intuition that there may be a bigger, nested “four fools practice” in there somewhere - so I’m in the mood to explore..</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">hugs to all of you & merry x-mas</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Monica</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">---------------------------</div>
<div class=""><span>It’s definitely deliberate and networked. For me, it’s about building capacity. Our biggest work the last 9 years has been providing this program to social service workers in British Columbia working with children, youth and families in agencies, indigenous communities and government: </span><div class=""></div>
<div class=""><a href="https://fcssbc.ca/leadership-2020/" class="">https://fcssbc.ca/leadership-2020/</a></div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">You can read a summary of our five year evaluation of this program here: <a href="https://fcssbc.ca/sf-docs/2020/2020_evaluation_report.pdf" class="">https://fcssbc.ca/sf-docs/2020/2020_evaluation_report.pdf</a></div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">We continue to developmentally evaluate as we go, and as a result, each cohort is different, each curriculum is slightly changed and we find new and more relevant ways to introduce people to this practice.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">The basis of that program is a leadership approach that is very similar and deeply informed by what we in the Art of Hosting community know as the four-fold practice: that great leadership is personal, practice-based, participatory and perceptive. The program is structured in cohorts made up of people that have to apply. We mix “legacy” leaders with experienced and emerging leaders to show that learning never ends. Each cohort participates in two 5 day residencies - which are basically extended Art of Hosting workshops - and a nine month program of learning in between, featuring webinars and coaching and peer support for the application of tools and methods.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Over the past eight years we have brought about 450 people through the program. While it's about learning in participatory ways, the program has a kind of hidden agenda. We are very clear that, about every 20 years or so, the child welfare system in our province goes through a massive restructuring, often provoked by a crisis, but not always. We have always invited our participants to both practice their leadership on the issues that are immediately in front of them, but to do it in a way that builds their capacity to respond when that later transformation happens. We want them to be the first to run to the centre when the old system is dying, eager to use their capacity, relationships, and practice to create the new.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">In these days, the system is now beginning that deeper transformation, and fortunately it hasn’t been preceded by a crises. Instead, the woman who founded the Leadership 2020 program, Jennifer Charlesworth, was appointed to a five-year term as the <a href="https://rcybc.ca/" class="">Representative for Children and Youth</a> in British Columbia, a very powerful position that is independent of the government and that can make powerful recommendations about systems change, usually as a result of different issues or events. In the past, this position has been held by people who have been very confrontational in their work, but Jennifer is bringing a more collaborative approach to her work and to be successful in that, she is partly relying on the 450 Leadership 2020 graduates that are spread all through the system. There is a built-in capacity that is being invited into its biggest calling, reaching across traditional divides of indigenous/non-indigenous and government/community. We are hoping to see that the system is able to evolve faster with this capacity embedded in a way that is less painful than a collapse and transformation. You can already see in Jennifer’s reports how she is talking about the need for connection, and you will recognize the perspective that is informed by participatory approaches to this work. In this report on <a href="https://rcybc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/reports_publications/timetolisten-youthvoicesonsubstanceuse-2018-web-final.pdf" class="">Youth Substance Abuse in BC</a>, look at the Findings and Analysis section. Something important is starting.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Participatory practices have been used for a long time in the field of social work and child and family services. In 2003 I started working with David Stevenson to use Open Space, Cafe, Circle, and the four fold practice to begin to build an indigenous governance systems for child and family services in BC. Our colleagues Kris Archie and Kyla Mason, Pawa Hayupis and many other indigenous Art of Hosting practitioners came into and out of that work. Toke and Monica joined us to teach Art of Hosting to families and community members who were participating in that work: <a href="http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/healing-cousins.htm" class="">http://www.turtleisland.org/healing/healing-cousins.htm</a>. Between 2003 and 2009 we did something important on Vancouver Island. We started something and then had to abandon it for a different form, because not every idea works. But David later took that work with him into his work in executive positions in government. Kris has now become the CEO of the <a href="http://www.philanthropyandaboriginalpeoples.ca/" class="">Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada</a> and Kyra has become an extraordinary executive director of Usma, a Nuu-Chah-Nulth agency on Vancouver Island. Pawa is currently doing her Masters of Arts in indigenous governance and she and David continue to offer Art of Hosting trainings locally, as do Caitlin and I.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Meanwhile, Jennifer and a small group of us began Leadership 2020 in 2011. It has taken 15 years of developing leadership at the grass roots level and seeing that leadership grow into positions of power that has allowed us to work with the system this way. There is capacity in BC now, hopefully enough to take the system through the changes that are now coming, the ones we have prepared for, the ones we are waiting for, the ones we are making.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">It takes courage, patience, time, power, stewardship, relationship, and community to do this work. It takes a common language and shared perspectives and it takes massive diversity and difference to build resourcefulness and resilience. It is costly, both emotionally and materially, and it is not easy work. It requires a fierce commitment to relationship and a willingness to be at the edge of safety, with one foot out into the dangerous world. You get uplifted, hurt, angry, and joyful. But it’s a long game and you cannot sacrifice the depth of the work for ease and comfort. And no one person can do it alone.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">It is not enough to do some trainings and walk away. The viral network does not just magically appear. Beautiful workshop experiences are only useful for systems change if they are connected to power. It requires staying in.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">I just realized a few weeks ago that, although I never intended to work in the field of child and family services, that this may indeed be my life’s work. It has been nearly 20 years since I first walked into Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services to take on a job organizing their negotiations to become a “delegated agency” able to make decisions for indigenous children and families instead of government doing it. I think in that time I’ve learned a bit about what it takes to create the capacity in a large system that gives us a chance. That’s all I can say we’ve done at the moment, but I’m an optimist, so I live with the hope and gratitude that the legacy of the work we have done will make the world better for the kids who suffer the most in it.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">I hope that provides some insight on your question, Monica.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">Chris<br/>---------------------</div>
<div class=""><span>Thank you Chris for taking the time to make your insights explicit and sharing the story!!.</span><div class=""></div>
<div class="">This is an important and encouraging lived story!!<br class=""/><div class=""></div>
<div class="">And I feel honoured to have been a tiny part or at least a witness to some of the journey.<br class=""/><div class=""></div>
<div class="">I will include this in my personal path of research ;-)<br class=""/><div class=""></div>
<div class="">And I certainly recognise elements from our own experiences and work.</div>
<div class=""></div>
<div class="">For me this is an example of a complex system changing with the experience, relationships and capacity built into and between the people participating.</div>
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<div class="">And as you say it has taken 20 years so far - and probably another 20 to come.</div>
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<div class="">Still sitting in the inquiry ….</div>
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<div class="">What if we don’t have the 10-15-20 years???</div>
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<div class="">Is there a simple “pattern” or practice - maybe the next spiral in the four-fold practice that can help us transition from interventions to living it long term and large scale?</div>
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<div class="">And if yes - what are the steps in the journey? - and are they replicable in any context?</div>
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<div class="">Best</div>
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<div class="">Monica</div>
<div class="">-------------------------</div>
<div class=""><span>Part of the answer here is that we are changing a culture. The only way to change a culture is to change the interactions between agents in a culture. Introducing more diversity and connecting people in a culture to more difference helps to create adaptability. </span><div>But the culture that is emerging in the system here in BC is being countered by the culture of accountability, outcomes and linear causality which has political appeal because it can deliver short term results, but it doesn’t make the system work better for kids and families. </div>
<div>It’s not that the project is long or short term. It’s permanent. It’s 5 years and 30 years. It doesn’t end. It has no achievement with a static state of bliss at the end of a long journey of many steps. </div>
<div>There are no easy answers, merely patterns and contexts that change and invite us to do things differently. We must sense what is needed and create responsively. That’s all. Sometimes it works, like Leadership 2020, sometimes like VIATT it fails. But it always moves. </div>
<div>Chris<br/>-----------------<br/><span>Hi everybody in here,</span><div dir="auto"><br/><div dir="auto">I totally agree with "We must sense the genuine needs and create responsively" sort of approach in orientating our thinking too. Putting some measures of sense into the thinking.</div>
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<div dir="auto">Learning is continuing. Natural, very naturally exciting each time it thus is enabled to happen.</div>
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<div dir="auto">Creating an such a manner that, projects maintain their temporality nature, while ensuring that only their consequences are permanent in any perceivable manner.</div>
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<div dir="auto">Regards</div>
<div dir="auto">Mugyabuso R A</div>
<div dir="auto">(African rural environment)</div>
<div dir="auto">Tanzania</div>
<div dir="auto">--------------------------<br/></div>
<div dir="auto"><p>Hi all....</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’m loving this conversation because it helps to raise really important questions about one of my own life’s questions as a practitioner W<em>hat are the key leverage points for large scale systems change?</em>....a passion of mine since my early days with Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers movement and later becoming an “accidental consultant” for several decades with senior executive levels in the multi-national corporate world (where, incidentally, the World Cafe was born and initially spread.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It seems to me that, in addition to large numbers of people in trainings gaining more robust relational and participatory leadership skills, another dimension of architectures for large scale systems change has to do with the design of infrastructures/processes that can then channel the constructive energies that are released from learning programs like AoH or others. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the systems dynamics world, there is a mantra that “structure determines behavior”--meaning that the intentional “architecture” of people related infrastructures and processes in the HR/OD world.... things like recruiting processes, reward systems, and even things like building design, determine people’s behavior and therefore, the results we see (good or bad!) In the business strategy world (also in non-profits) this might include the architecture of disciplined strategic planning processes, including data analysis, strategic futuring, scenario analysis etc. as critical elements for creating the outcomes we see.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many practitioners/consultants as well as those within organizations who are newly exposed to our approaches, may operate with an assumption that learning programs that enhance individual and group capacities for relational integrity and participatory methods will somehow necessarily and organically change organizational level infrastructures that link “business strategy” (ie the design of the “hard” stuff) and “organizational strategy” (the design of the “softer” stuff) into a coherent whole. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>For myself, I’ve found that large scale leadership capacity development (and follow up implementation strategies) in BOTH areas simultaneously are important in discovering the “sweet spot.” It seems to me that highly developed leadership skills <em>both</em> arenas are critical to thinking and acting systemically in order to gain strategic leverage toward the results organizational leaders and members seek.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Doing this kind of work, as Chris says, can take many years in large organizations, so a stance of both loving patience, thick skinned tenacity and a high tolerance for ambiguity, as well as an enduring focus on heartfelt human values are qualities essential to engaging in this kind of tough work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyhow, those are early reflections and I still, after these many years, have lots of unanswered questions in my own head and heart, that I’d love to explore with others in our field.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With fond best wishes for a wonderful holiday and deep appreciation for the reflections in this thread,</p>
<p>Juanita</p>
<p>-----------------------------------</p>
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<div dir="auto"><span>Chris,</span><div>I am so moved by your description of the long term trajectory of your work. I see so many lessons for what I’ve been attempting to do in journalism. Notably, I’m struck by the inherent evolutionary nature of the four fold practice. </div>
<div>Can the conversation on AoH in organizations transcend to a social system like education or journalism? I see glimpses, as I think about seeding AoH-inspired workshops in journalism support organizations that reach into journalism organizations. Perhaps along the lines of your farm workers activities Juanita?</div>
<div>Or is this a different conversation?<br/><br/><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Peggy Holman<br/>--------------------------<br/><div>This thread (and your grounded personal reflections particularly Chris) are one of my favourites from anywhere in a long time. You are reinforcing patterns I have lived in, felt, seen and believed in, from further along a similar path.<br/><br/>Thank you Rolf, too, for your ‘forest and hill’ metaphors of where we are in the seeding of the process.<br/><br/>----<br/><br/>when you feel the beginning of your new spring,<br/>let it blossom<br/>at the speed of the blossoming<br/><br/>do you think this world<br/>does not know<br/>how to change the seasons ¿<br/><br/><i>— dec. 12, 2005</i></div>
<div><br/>Thanks,<br/><br/>Ben</div>
<div>--------------------------<br/><br/></div>
<p><span>Hi Juanita and friends</span></p>
<p><span>Good to hear your thoughts Juanita. These resonate/coincide very clearly with my own inquiry over the past few years. I have worked exploring the nature of being and acting in complex human systems together with my colleague Mark Gatenby. One result is a focus on the process of co-design. To that end I am very thrilled to announce that we have just published three volumes drawing upon our 6 year long inquiry into practice. Our three strands are designing, developing and learning. The interplay and confluences between them are what we have found in practice to give us a glimpse of co-designing human (and humane) systems. Please do take a look and even purchase if you wish:</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://www.businessexpertpress.com/?s=co-design&book_author=0&post_type=product">https://www.businessexpertpress.com/?s=co-design&book_author=0&post_type=product</a> (Also found on Amazon)</span></p>
<p><span>The learning for us emerged from extended work aimed at bringing back learning into higher education (somewhat ironic!) and also into professional practice in healthcare. The significant individual emotional reactions to learning with others alongside institutional pushback showed to us that new practices and ways of thinking are in the process of being birthed. Of course, birthing is hard and potentially painful, but through intentional co-design such experiences can open up news ways of living and organising. This work also signposts what I describe as a ‘post-organisational’ future where organising is the priority and the organizational paradigm that has held western thinking for the past 100 or so years is lessened in its strength. We go on with our inquiry and our stepping into practice in 2019.</span></p>
<p><span>Warmest seasons greetings from the UK</span></p>
<p><span>Stefan Cantore </span></p>
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</div> Inspiring examples of large, multi-day online gatheringstag:artofhosting.ning.com,2017-11-09:4134568:Topic:1113152017-11-09T21:11:17.293ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p>Hey folks! A question for those who geek out to the challenges of online event design. </p>
<p>Have you ever experienced wonderful well-facilitated online events? I would warmly welcome any inspiring examples that come to mind in which online discussion, webcasts, "unhangouts" or other forms of social media engagement were woven together in an engaging and effective way?</p>
<p>Why I'm asking -- I am organising a multi-day "virtual summit" to launch a major report and host some dialogue and…</p>
<p>Hey folks! A question for those who geek out to the challenges of online event design. </p>
<p>Have you ever experienced wonderful well-facilitated online events? I would warmly welcome any inspiring examples that come to mind in which online discussion, webcasts, "unhangouts" or other forms of social media engagement were woven together in an engaging and effective way?</p>
<p>Why I'm asking -- I am organising a multi-day "virtual summit" to launch a major report and host some dialogue and discussion around its findings. My organization has one foot in academia and one foot in community work. It tends to favour more traditional event formats -- with some willingness to experiment and hold space for dialogue.</p>
<p>I would be much obliged for your links and leads in the comments below! :-)</p>
<p>~Chris</p> Groundworktag:artofhosting.ning.com,2017-10-09:4134568:Topic:1100252017-10-09T16:41:40.421ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p>I have not been able to take part in any of the Groundwork trainings so far. I see it as essential. also for capacity building. Does anyone have an overview over trainings in the coming 6-8 months?</p>
<p>I have not been able to take part in any of the Groundwork trainings so far. I see it as essential. also for capacity building. Does anyone have an overview over trainings in the coming 6-8 months?</p> On stewardingtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2017-08-08:4134568:Topic:1097272017-08-08T09:49:09.005ZMary Alice Arthurhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/MaryAliceArthur
<p>from email exchanges, summer 2017:</p>
<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Toke Paludan Møller <<a href="mailto:tokemoller@me.com" target="_blank">tokemoller@me.com</a>> wrote:<br></br><blockquote class="gmail_quote"><div><p><b>On the Art of stewarding.</b></p>
<p>Friends, these are my reflections today on the 2. August 2017 - on The art of Stewarding , as 3 practitioner mates recently have recently asked me…</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>from email exchanges, summer 2017:</p>
<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Toke Paludan Møller <<a href="mailto:tokemoller@me.com" target="_blank">tokemoller@me.com</a>> wrote:<br/><blockquote class="gmail_quote"><div><p><b>On the Art of stewarding.</b></p>
<p>Friends, these are my reflections today on the 2. August 2017 - on The art of Stewarding , as 3 practitioner mates recently have recently asked me about “becoming” a Steward…….</p>
<p>Being a steward or not, is not so much the focus for me, rather to live in the exploration of the art of stewarding something I practice and care enough about to stay conscious, in on going practice and in service of the deeper qualities and essence, that is the life of that practice.</p>
<p>For me it is a verb not a title, so to say - :)</p>
<p>We each begin to know when that awareness begin to surface, to be real - and others stewarding humans will notice too. </p>
<p>It is a beautiful, gradual and natural process of becoming more human, awake and feeling life & love flow in you more freely.</p>
<p>I welcome you to the joy, companionship and responsibility of stewarding this art and practice - and to care for and protect Life in all it forms.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here a wee poem from 2009 that expresses my deep feeling about this:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wordsfrom-tokesheart.dk/words_from_Tokes_heart/This_love.html" target="_blank">http://www.wordsfrom-tokesheart.dk/words_from_Tokes_heart/This_love.html</a></p>
<div><i>This love is </i></div>
<div><i>indeed stewarding us all </i></div>
<div><i>and all there is </i></div>
<div><i>- I have no doubt in that</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>To learn how to be stewarding</i></div>
<div><i>as I am being stewarded by life</i></div>
<div><i>is a gift of great proportion</i></div>
<div><i>I hear my heart singing to me</i></div>
<div><i> in this moment </i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>So much space is there</i></div>
<div><i> in that knowing of the reality of love </i></div>
<div><i>and </i></div>
<div><i>as this life web of love weaves us</i></div>
<div><i> into being alive for a wee while,</i></div>
<div><i>to meet others in companionship </i></div>
<div><i>to be healed </i></div>
<div><i>to come back to zero and enter ONE</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>- to know and to let go into</i></div>
<div><i> a trust in trust</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>To know truly that this sweet kindness</i></div>
<div><i> is our core </i></div>
<div><i>- one and all</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>what a gift to be able to offer good work</i></div>
<div><i> from such heart </i></div>
<div><i>in service of this quality</i></div>
<div><i>that words can not ever reach</i></div>
<div><i> </i></div>
<div><i>bowing from my center</i></div>
<div><i>to your center</i></div>
<div><i>I am in happiness</i></div>
<div><i>once again.</i></div>
<div>- toke 2009</div>
<p> </p>
<p>When you step up and in to this space and next level of learning about yourself, Life and the art of hosting and harvesting conversations and work that matter, you will know - and be seen by other mates - in you seeking depth, simplicity, courage, humility, kindness and clarity.</p>
<p>- and more good can happen in the service of peaceful coexistence and well being for All on our beautiful and troubled planet Earth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here is the harvest of the first Art of hosting on Art of hosting gathering in 2005 for you inspiration - we where 12 of us at the Tim’s and Katie’s learning center in Nova Scotia, called the Shire</p>
<p>Here is a folder in dropbox for you to see….<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sa9d7bvhvdx8kn1/AABN-EY8EOGfFFXKucY62Y_ua?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sa9d7bvhvdx8kn1/AABN-EY8EOGfFFXKucY62Y_ua?dl=0</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>in the folder is these 3 documents so far….</p>
<p>* The story so far from 1996 /7 - 2005….</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ps9jo4nsc3xv8mv/AOH%20Story%20Shire%202005%20copy.doc?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/ps9jo4nsc3xv8mv/AOH%20Story%20Shire%202005%20copy.doc?dl=0</a></p>
<p>* Our clarity on the Chaordic clarity of the Art of hosting:</p>
<p> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/onfh2vf0zbj0i6l/AOH%20chaordic%20clarity%201.0%20copy.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/onfh2vf0zbj0i6l/AOH%20chaordic%20clarity%201.0%20copy.jpg?dl=0</a></p>
<p>* and the art of stewarding - both still holds true to me:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1xur89krklj0p9/AOH%20steward%20-%20leadership%201.1%202005%20copy.jpg?dl=0" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1xur89krklj0p9/AOH%20steward%20-%20leadership%201.1%202005%20copy.jpg?dl=0</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>May it inspire you and bring clarity, joy and strength to your life and Work for our world, however you chose to do it.</p>
<p>I would appreciate to hear others reflection in this circle…..</p>
<p>With love and respect</p>
<p>Toke</p>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">----------------------------------</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I really have only a little to add to this. The clarity that arose at the Shire in 2005 has only been reinforced for me over the years. Every time I think about the practice and responsibility of stewarding the Art of Hosting community I return to Toke’s observations on this. <div>That is not to say that what we are doing collectively doesn’t change over time - it does. But the role of a steward is to have the long view, to witness and notice how the changes are either inspiring and creating the community or how they detract from it. And the role of protecting something is important. </div>
<div>I can’t exactly say what that something is, but I notice more and more that as people make offerings that pull the Art of Hosting away from it’s simple clarity, I can help protect the generative centre by asking questions that help us to see if their inquiry is rooted in what we have been doing or is outside of what we have been doing. It is not any one person’s job to decide what is in and what is out, but collectively we entertain and explore the fuzzy boundaries while protecting the powerful generative and empty centre of our work - empty because it is no one’s to own, and generative because our deepest questions have come from there from the collective intelligence and curiosity of stewarding practitioners who have been at it collectively for thousands of years now. </div>
<div>You are venturing into the kind of mystical territory of stewardship, not the conversation we have every day with everyone. But it’s how I understand my responsibilities.</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div>-----------------------</div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Thank you, Toke, for responding with this clarity and historic perspective. I took the time today to read (re-read?) the story from Maria of that first steward gathering and I felt a sense of gratitude for the consciousness and care that was apparent. I suspect that the current Art of Hosting community that we have today would not exist had less conscious, more egoic or more fear-based responses emerged from that conversation. It fills me with awe and gratitude to recognize the wisdom and consciousness that has held this field by so many different people over the years. This, to me, is stewardship and a challenge to live into such a pattern in my stewarding. Yes, after years of resisting and questioning, I am ready to fully accept that I am stewarding and to practice embodying this. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I wonder what it means that this question is arising so frequently right now. Just this week, I heard of a person who is anxious to attend his first AoH training and wants to know how he can become a steward. In recent months, I have had several conversations about what it means to steward and especially what it means to steward the emergence of hosting work in a geographic region. Every day, I feel like I am confronted by my lack of knowledge and skill and challenged to continue my practices in the quest to learn how to steward. Stewarding can be lonely work, in my experience, and I am constantly appreciative of the field that is holding this work and holding me in it. I wonder how we might be more intentional and conscious in sharing the struggles and learnings of stewardship. To be in the unknowing and the trembling of working beyond the clarity of established patterns and structures while listening for the wisdom of the deeper patterns and to do all of this out of love for the wisdom and the sustaining presence of those patterns - this feels to me like the experience of stewarding. I suppose that it is just the next level of learning and of service that becomes obvious and unavoidable when the time is right and always just beyond the grasp when it is the object of one's desire. My question for any aspiring steward would by 'why do you want this? what do you imagine would become possible if you were recognized as a steward?'. In my experience, I discovered that I was stewarding and that people recognized me as a steward when I was just doing the work that needed to be done without thought for the title or role. What is it in our field that has made this designation something to be desired or sought after? Or is this a contamination of our field by the allure of status and hierarchy from the current popular culture? </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">I welcome more conversation about this as it feels very important for our field and for the world. I don't know that we need more stewards but it sure feels like this world needs more stewarding if we understand this to mean the protection and care for what one loves. For those of us who find ourselves in this work, do others sense the need for collective learning about how we steward well?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;"></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">with gratitude,</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Steve</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">-------------------------</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small; color: #000099;">Steve and others…<div>I truly don’t know why someone who has just discovered Art of Hosting would “want” to become a steward. The pay is terrible, and there are no benefits! :-)</div>
<div>It also not some kind of advanced designation. You either become really good at hosting within the art of hosting world, or you become really good at something else. But you only become good through years of practice and failure.</div>
<div>I know over the years that there have been ideas and thoughts about some orderly step to becoming a steward, but I just can’t see this happening. The journey is different for everyone. And yes I know that leaves unresolved shadow questions about “well, if there is no clear way to become a steward, does that mean that only those who are already stewards are exerting some kind of hidden power?” I actually welcome this question and I welcome the fact that the answer is both yes and no, and that it will always require a conversation. Neither the question of orderly stewardship, not the shadowy things are every going away. And so that makes it a worthy question to host, with maybe a bit of fear and trembling, but also with courage and love. For always. And that IS in fact something that stewards can and do do.</div>
<div>But as a father I was reflecting today on how one knows that one has become a steward. The metaphor that best fits me today is that it is obvious when your child is born that you become a biological parent. But there is another thing that begins to happen, and that is you start to become a father. Not every male parent becomes a father. And how do you know you have moved from just being a biological parent to being a father? </div>
<div>That is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves. And I can also say that it is even possible to become a father without being a biological parent. I think of someone like Juanita Brown or Christina Baldwin or Anne Linnea who, although they might not describe describe themselves as Art of Hosting practitioners, would surely accept the title of mothers to our practice, and in Juanita’s case especially, even feeling that role of stewardship for our community of practice. And I would not dispute her feeling that way. </div>
<div>It’s a mighty complicated question, with no straight answer ever in sight. And so, let’s keep hosting it, together, for as long as we are a part of this global community of grace.</div>
<div>Chris.</div>
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