All Conversations Tagged 'participatory' - The Art of Hosting2024-03-28T18:27:53Zhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?groupUrl=art-of-participatory-leadership-eur-commission&tag=participatory&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWhat is the 'next level' - there's a shift in the fieldtag:artofhosting.ning.com,2013-04-30:4134568:Topic:780652013-04-30T16:35:11.003ZHelen Titchen Beethhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/HelenTitchenBeeth
<p>I wrote this reflection in response to an inquiry going around on the AoH mailing list, and thought it belongs here too. It is around What is the next level of AoH?</p>
<p>"I have just come out of some rich hosting work in the tough, mainstream environment of the European Commission. That is giving me, also, a perspective on the 'next level'. Maria Scordialos, one of the co-creaters of the AoH pattern, spoke that she has seen an evolution in her work with these patterns over the years. The…</p>
<p>I wrote this reflection in response to an inquiry going around on the AoH mailing list, and thought it belongs here too. It is around What is the next level of AoH?</p>
<p>"I have just come out of some rich hosting work in the tough, mainstream environment of the European Commission. That is giving me, also, a perspective on the 'next level'. Maria Scordialos, one of the co-creaters of the AoH pattern, spoke that she has seen an evolution in her work with these patterns over the years. The Art of Hosting started off really as an amazingly innovative form of training that uses its own pattern to teach itself. People come to the training events from all over - different contexts, backgrounds, places. Something else happens when the pattern is brought into an organization. Our sense is that 'the art of Participatory Leadership' (as we are calling it in the EU context) is a next level up, where the patterns are applied in a very specific context, over time. Now that we have gone past the point of no return, and the practice is no longer in danger of being killed by the immune system of the status quo, we see that another level of potential is opening up, which calls for another level of practice, beyond what we traditionally think of as AoH, but still very much within that DNA and practicing those forms. It is what Maria calls systemic transformation. It calls for working with core teams and different levels of engagement, as well as pulling in many more mental models and practices, as needed. It is ongoing action research, a lived, ongoing collective inquiry, into whatever it is that the people are gathered around - the purpose that the organization is in pursuit of.<br/><br/>I am also noticing, very specifically, a beautiful and hope giving phenomenon around this whole thing of the 'core team'. As we seek intentionally to grow our hosting capacity in the Commission, we are creating ever-greater hosting teams for our training events and other forms of work. Typically, we work with one or two 'externals' (bureaucratese for 'honoured stewards of the practice from the global community'), one or two experienced practitioners who work full-time for the Commission, and a handful of 'apprentices' - people (who might be internal or external) who have gone through the training, been bitten by the bug and feel called to deepen their practice. We might have up to 13 people on the hosting team. What I am noticing is that teamwork and co-creation in these hosting teams is invariably seamless and inspired. When we have a bumpy ride, we learn from it gracefully, and often find that our experience reflects the system we are hosting. Ego never seems to be an issue. People not only learn, they transform to their own next level, in their practice but also in themselves. My way of explaining this to myself is that thanks to the strong and coherent intention with which the (ever-growing) 'core team' has been holding this work in EU institutions, the field of practice is now so strong that people are automatically aligned just by stepping into it.<br/><br/>Now that we have run 29 3-day 'entry-level' Art of Participatory Leadership trainings (we also offer 2-day art of harvesting trainings and regular 3-day practitioners' gatherings which are more like collective inquiries than trainings) we are also able to notice the way the field is evolving, through the quality of the conversations taking place, the speed at which the group reaches co-creative cohesion, and the truths that are now becoming available to the collective consciousness (specifically awareness of the fear in our corporate culture, that used to be acted out but not available for inspection). I get the image of the advancing glacier - each new cohort steps on the the leading edge of the glacier, which is further down the valley each time.<br/><br/>So a key pattern to start working with and exploring in more depth is, for me, the core team, for this is what holds the potential of the field."</p>
<p></p> Progress report from the field of Participatory Leadership in the Commission - June 2012tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2012-06-19:4134568:Topic:569112012-06-19T14:38:15.741ZHelen Titchen Beethhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/HelenTitchenBeeth
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b>This extract from my journal was written during the preparation day before our 3rd practitioners’ gathering, in June 2012 <br></br></b></p>
<p><i>As I write, during the hour before lunch in the preparation day, the rest of the hosting team is busy rearranging the space to create beauty for those who will be joining tomorrow. Nature is coming into the room, and we are working to music.</i></p>
<p>During our preparation day, the members of the hosting…</p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><b>This extract from my journal was written during the preparation day before our 3rd practitioners’ gathering, in June 2012 <br/></b></p>
<p><i>As I write, during the hour before lunch in the preparation day, the rest of the hosting team is busy rearranging the space to create beauty for those who will be joining tomorrow. Nature is coming into the room, and we are working to music.</i></p>
<p>During our preparation day, the members of the hosting team who had been present at the most recent entry-level training (in May) told the story of how different that training had been, and we inquired into what this meant.</p>
<p>We saw that the hosting team had somehow reached a deeper level of maturity, where we were able to show up with authenticity at all moments, able to hold the dissonant voices with serenity from an energy of invitation, with no need to convince.</p>
<p>The mix of participants itself was exemplary of the way this work is beginning to move out from the core to the periphery and beyond: we had external consultants who are supporting the Commission in changing its ways of working, we had staff from the Commission’s external agencies, as well as two very dynamic ladies strategically positioned in the European Parliament. 90% of the participants had already experienced participatory approaches in the context of their own projects and teams.</p>
<p>We also saw the creativity, discipline and attitude of learning in the participants, and the high quality of their practice – even when it was their first time hosting. The opening check-in circle itself bore witness to a level of ambition and recognition of the need for change in how the Commission engages with the outside world. People hosted themselves from the start, and all our many stories from years of practice interwove into a fabric suggesting a very different reality than the one we often assume when we think of life inside the European Commission.</p>
<p>Leaning back to sense why everything seems to happening so smoothly, we saw that what has shifted and deepened is the resonant field that arises in response to this different way of working. (Rupert Sheldrake calls it the morphogenic field). Inquiring into what this field is, the words that came were: Participation, people agency… in fact: Democracy. Participation is found in the first room of democracy, together with deep listening.</p>
<p>Matthieu recalled the words of a technical support colleague who had witnessed our first ever fully on-line hosted process with the Digital Futures project. Someone who had no prior exposure to explicitly participatory ways of working: “<i>I have never seen people work together like this before. Today I’ve seen people prepared to sacrifice anything to ensure that every voice can be heard.</i>”</p>
<p>Words that we captured from what we had spoken into the circle evoked the elements of the practice of democracy:</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2655754373?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2655754373?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" height="378" width="592"/></a></p>
<p>So, it seems that what is emerging from the depths in our midst is a re-membrance to democracy. As the Commission becomes democracy, it can host a new level of democracy in Europe.</p>
<p>Since its inception, the storyline of the European Union has been around building peace. The times of disturbance we are living through tell us that this is no longer enough. A new story for Europe is coalescing around the New Democracy.</p>
<p>The <strong>Digital Futures</strong> project that some of the core community of practitioners are engaged in is exemplary of this new emergence, seeking as it does to harness modern technology to create a conduit for modern democracy – where individuals truly can participate directly in the governance of the collective space.</p>
<p>A report on our 3rd practitioners' gathering will follow.</p> Meta-Harvest of Open Space sessions on day 2tag:artofhosting.ning.com,2011-11-29:4134568:Topic:460052011-11-29T14:32:59.730ZRia Baeckhttp://artofhosting.ning.com/profile/RiaBaeck
<p><b>Meta-Harvest of Open Space sessions on day 2</b></p>
<p><b>Guiding question: What do we sense is emerging now?</b></p>
<p><b>Harvest to bring back into the convergence: new forms and next steps</b></p>
<p><em>(as a separate document attached below)</em></p>
<p>This meta-harvest looks at all that is happening and proposed as an ecology or a complex evolving system. This means that there are many nodes or centers of activity, that it is important that nodes are related or connected and that…</p>
<p><b>Meta-Harvest of Open Space sessions on day 2</b></p>
<p><b>Guiding question: What do we sense is emerging now?</b></p>
<p><b>Harvest to bring back into the convergence: new forms and next steps</b></p>
<p><em>(as a separate document attached below)</em></p>
<p>This meta-harvest looks at all that is happening and proposed as an ecology or a complex evolving system. This means that there are many nodes or centers of activity, that it is important that nodes are related or connected and that there is no central hierarchical leadership. A system is fractal in nature, with lots of ‘things’ appearing on all levels.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>1. Principles</b></p>
<p>We see some principles emerging. They work on all levels of the system, in all fractals. This is not an extensive list, but what came out of the Open Space sessions. The first six were clearly mentioned; the last ones were more implicit.</p>
<p>- Keep slowing down</p>
<p>- Authentic place and contribution. Identify what you are an anchor-point for in your practice.</p>
<p>- Connect, re-connect and illuminate</p>
<p>- Walk the talk</p>
<p>- Think small first</p>
<p>- Track stories – bridge past, present and future</p>
<p>- A clear shared purpose is key</p>
<p>- Reflection is key too</p>
<p>- Keep sensing the whole, seeing the whole system: see Europe in the world</p>
<p>- Sensing the membrane(s), that’s where innovation happens.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>2. New forms – Innovation:</b></p>
<p>- Do more of what works:</p>
<ul>
<li>Form core teams / local cells</li>
<li>Harvesting: let the stories talk and travel</li>
</ul>
<p>- New forms arising – they come from the edges</p>
<ul>
<li>Local cells in immediate vicinity of where practitioners are (in own DGs)</li>
<li>Integration of new methodologies: Flow Game, Systemic Constellation work</li>
<li>Set up Labs: working on real topics in a new way</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>3. BIGGER CONTEXT</b></p>
<p>In an ecosystem, in a complex evolving system it is always good to understand what is the bigger context we are working and living in. At least to be aware of it. It is about being aware of the bigger wholeness of which we are part.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>Beyond Polarities</b></p>
<p>One way of looking at the bigger context is to see that we are invited to go beyond polarities in different ways.</p>
<p>- beyond unity and diversity – a challenge for Europe</p>
<p>- beyond individual and collective</p>
<p>- beyond in- and outside the European Commission</p>
<p>- beyond masculine and feminine</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>A holding circle</b> – there is a need for a holding circle for the unfolding of the potential of Europe. This goes beyond the EC. In complexity there is no possibility of planning as usual; but the combination of a holding container and a guiding question can do the job of providing guidance for the unfolding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This circle – and all the work we are doing – is from and by <b>people inside the EC and outside</b>. In complex evolving systems borders make your identity, but it also makes possible to take your food in!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A need to <b>integrate the spiritual dimension</b>. In the systemic constellation 4 elements were looking for a right relationship with each other:</p>
<p>- Art of Participatory Leadership: Will it be ready to interact with the Member States?</p>
<p>- Member states: with all its elements: government, people, land/place</p>
<p>- Spirit of Europe, as sourced from the future</p>
<p>- The EC appeared as host and convener</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>4. WE NEED A HIGH PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>- We need to build <b>more and strong (inside) capacity</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Training AoPL 1 and 2?</li>
<li>Training on the job</li>
<li>Mentoring – apprenticing – coaching</li>
<li>Community of Practice</li>
</ul>
<p>- <b>Link internal and external to increase capacity</b> through the wider network</p>
<p>- <b>Form Art of Harvesting core team</b> – with people from current and new ones.</p>
<p>- Create <b>a core team on the link AoPL and strategic OD</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p><i>Note how the different principles and new forms are showing up!</i></p>
<p> </p>
<p>A high professional practice can translate in 3 main points:</p>
<p>- Strengthen the current Community of Practice</p>
<p>- A new AoPL – not a ‘next level’ or ‘2.0’, but more like ‘AoPL continued’</p>
<p>- New developments</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>4.1 Strengthen the AoPL CoP</b></p>
<p>- define a clear purpose for this CoP</p>
<p>- mapping all the CoP activities, and let people know about them</p>
<p>- create a member space for all to see</p>
<p>- connect and share the stories – the ‘lore’ of the CoP</p>
<p>- reflection in the CoP on: what am I learning about myself and the systems living Participatory Leadership</p>
<p>- feeding forward the insights of this inquiry to the larger community</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>4.2 Art of Participatory Leadership continued</b></p>
<p>- take a new look at the workbook</p>
<p>- Collective Story Harvest into the workbook</p>
<p>- AoPL as engine for strategic OD</p>
<p>- translate Circle Practice to being a Core Team in AoH / AoPL context</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>4.3 New Developments</b></p>
<p>- Finding seedbeds for Labs</p>
<p>- starting a Art of Harvesting CoP</p>
<p>- designing a 2<sup>nd</sup> Art of Harvesting pilot – an integrated hosting/harvesting training</p>
<p>- Call in an Art of Systemic Transformation Training</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>5. Strategic Organisational Development (O.D.)</b></p>
<p>- Get mandate – partner with whoever holds the power/resources – strategic level can remove structural obstacles</p>
<p>- Present to Commissioners</p>
<p>- Identify the conversations needed with key decision makers to create better conditions for this practice (meeting rooms – resources – conferences - …)</p>
<p>- Start/continue the movement with the same decision makers</p>
<p>- launching the Contracting Service from HR to match internal and external resources for specific projects.</p>
<p>- Kick-start the new org. development framework contract with Demos</p>
<p>- Set up the internal/external core team to steer the new OD framework</p>