Archive for May, 2010

May/20/10//Curtis Ogden//Featured, Learning Edge

Welcome to the GeoDome

Last Thursday my IA colleagues Ashley Welch and Andy Atkins and I teamed up with David McConville of The Elumenati and Ned Gardiner of  NOAA to take a group of cross-sectoral leaders and thinkers on a unique journey.  This trip included a visit to the outer edges of our universe, passing through our solar system, galaxy, and neighboring galactic bodies.   Then, out of breath, we zoomed back in to take a new look at our planet Earth through the lens and visualized overlay of data about our terrestrial home – warming trends, population density, biodiversity and traffic patterns.  Welcome to the GeoDome!

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May/18/10//Curtis Ogden//Facilitative Leadership

Vision, Microtrending

A couple of weeks ago, during a training with early childhood advocates from around Connecticut, an interesting conversation ensued about vision.   This was prompted by one participant’s comment that in this day and age, “There is no such thing as vision.  There is no such thing as magic or miracles.  People are cynical.  People just don’t respond to vision anymore.”  There was some immediate push back to this comment, and also some acknowledgment that vision may not be what it used to be, thinking of the old standards a la MLK and JFK.

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May/14/10//Curtis Ogden//What We Are Reading

Future Present

“A bright green future begins when each of us, today,              decides to live as if that future were already here.”

- Alex Steffen, World Changing

Many of us here at IISC were taken with Peter Block’s book, Community: The Structure of Belonging, and you have no doubt heard it referenced in other posts or ensuing conversations on our blog.  At this point our couple of office copies have been through many hands, bookmarked, underlined, and are readily referenced in work with partners and clients.  One of the most profound parts of the book for me is where Block makes the point that we often think of the future as this far off thing, and subsequently make our meetings and community gatherings all about planning for that eventuality.  What we miss is the opportunity to manifest a piece of that future now.

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May/13/10//Curtis Ogden//Sustainability

Collaboration for Sustainability 4: How?

For the past few weeks, in a series of Thursday posts, we’ve addressed what it takes to tap the full potential of collaboration to shift to more environmentally sustainable ways of living and working.  We’ve explored the importance of bringing diverse systemic perspectives together and developing shared identities and values as a way of achieving greater ecological intelligence and commitment.  And as a friend of mine says, you can bring great groups together with the best of intentions and still end up with nothing or a mess.  So what else can we put into place to help ensure we reach the sustainable ends we seek?
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May/12/10//Linda Guinee//Race, Class, Power

Narrative and Power in Groups

This is the fourth in a series of postings about power and group facilitation processes, based on research from a few years ago.? Today’s post is about how power is built into group narrative.

As I was doing research, I came across a batch of work about narrative theory by Sara Cobb and Janet Rifkin (cited below).? Cobb and Rifkin researched how a narrative is constructed and what impact it has on the ultimate outcome of mediation sessions.? They found that the first story told tends to be privileged and “colonize” later stories told.? By framing the discussion to come, this initial story tends to narrow and define the direction of the ensuing conversation.? Later versions are generally tied to the initial story and thus are unable to be fully developed.? And the outcome of mediation is generally tied to the initial story. Read the rest of this entry »

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