Progress report from the field of Participatory Leadership in the European Commission - June 2012

Dear friends,

I'm immersed in some harvesting out of our very busy field of participatory leadership at the European Commission. We sense we're approaching some kind of tipping point, as our practice matures and the readiness to invite participation grows throughout our organisation. There will soon be 1000 colleagues and collaborators (in the best sense!!) who have gone through the 3-day entry-level training, and each new event is heavily over-subscribed. There are still plenty of challenges to face, but I want to share with you a reflection I wrote a few weeks ago about the state of play in our field, which I have now posted over on our group on the Art of Hosting Ning site:

Progress report from the field of Participatory Leadership in the C...

We've been a bit remiss in keeping the global community informed of what we've been up to in the Commission. Part of that is because we have a few bad habits around 'transparency', and part of it is because this work is still being done on a shoestring when it comes to resources, so finding time to do adequate harvesting is always difficult. However, I am very aware of the value that our learning and experience in such a 'tough' context can have for our mates out there in all the many other contexts where hosting is practiced with such love, courage and dedication, so I, for one, intend to make more of an effort to feed back our experience into the field.

In that spirit, I also attach a piece of harvest from a 3-day practitioners' gathering we carved out for ourselves at the end of last year. May it serve the greater whole. (sorry, too big to attach it here!)

Helen

Replies to This Conversation

Permalink Reply by Ria Baeck on August 1, 2012 at 5:33am

Comment by Kathy Jourdain:

Helen,

This sharing is so incredibly valuable. Thank you so much for putting it out there for inspiration. The work we are in and the stories we tell about it are not static. We are in it for the long haul. The story you would have told when the work started and a few years later is very different than some of the stories emerging now – and the check ins all along the way are helpful reminders that it is always a work in progress. By holding strong to vision and intention, we fuel the shift we are wanting to see in the world. Not always as we might have imagined of course, but that is why we work with emergence. For those people who wonder about the "real" work of AoH, these stories offer more substance and might become a doorway for others embarking on a journey of co-creation and emergence. A bow to you, the harvest, and those of you who have been forging the way in the European Commission.