A New Paradigm for Leadership Development
Regular readers know that facilitating for the Barr Fellows Network has been among the most rewarding work I have ever gotten to do – here is why, part 1
Leave a commentTag Archive: leadership
The Development Imperative
|Photo by Kevin Dooley|http://www.flickr.com/photos/12836528@N00/3258088498/in/photolist-5XUycC-5ZvJmF-6gFWtt-6gFWvZ-6gL89J-6Heyht-eafRy7-eafJZN-eaa4RT-9zXw32-9PjRyc-dUBdPR-ePgpZs-bquGjc-e5ErAJ-eiS65F-eiXPrU-eiS5Dk-eiXPfN-eiXP7y-7KUZXR-7KYVF3-7KYY9h-7KYVi5-eak2pE-arc5cE-eafK69-eafK7L-bPDQRR-bswXdc-8WhZdA-8WhXgs-8WeT5F-8WhY57-8WhWxY-8WhXMQ-8WeUqp-7KYZ1N-7KUZiK-7KYWu9-7KYZcA-7KYWd7-7KUYg2-7KUXtF-7KYWPu-7KYZi3-7KYUWU-7KYXPu-7KUZux-7KYTFd-7KUYmi|
It would seem that the only way for our organizations to be of ongoing service to the larger living systems of which they are a part is for them to be adaptive and in a state of ongoing learning and development, to have a fluid state of “fit-ness” and ability to contribute generative value to the larger whole. The only way for this to happen is for the sub-teams and individuals that comprise these organizations to also be in a state of ongoing learning and development. In order to help others grow, we must commit to growing ourselves. The leadership imperative then, is to model a commitment to personal development and to create conditions that encourage ongoing internal qualitative growth. Management and management alone is “horizontal,” over time becomes firefighting, and eventually flatlining. Leadership is “vertical” and takes everything to the next level.
What are you doing to create the time and space for evolution?
Leave a commentUnfinished March
Thanks to our colleagues at the Economic Policy Institute for “Unfinished March”—an initiative highlighting the original demands of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the work that still remains unfinished. Decide for yourself how many of the demands have been met and what’s still on our collective to-do list. Read the entire report here.
Leave a commentA Journey with the Social Change Institute
The following post was written by our good friend David Roberts and can be found at Grist.com. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Thanks for all your work David!
Trying to change the world for the better — being an activist, social change agent, do-gooder, whatever you want to call it — can be exhausting and dispiriting, especially for young people launching into it full of energy and hope. What activists need most is … well, money. They’re all stressed about funding.
But what activists need next most is, for lack of a better term, recharging. They need to get together and relax, share stories, celebrate each other’s victories, commiserate over defeats, and get back in touch with deeper convictions and purposes. That’s what gives them the energy they need to keep going in the face of setbacks.
Leave a commentOrganize for Complexity
Thanks to Harold Jarche for turning me on to this beta codex network presentation about seeing and designing organizations as networks. It captures much of the learning that has been coming out of our work at IISC with different kinds and scales of networks for social change. Below is a list of ten key points from the presentation: Read More
1 CommentSocial Change Institute
Beauty matters, nature nurtures us, this year’s “Social Change Institute” was a remarkable experience and a real privilege to facilitate. Get people with passion together, in the perfect setting, careful design and good facilitation, and good work is bound to happen.
Leave a commentSocial Justice Funders Network
Andrea Nagel and I have been facilitating retreats for the Social Justice Funders Network (SJFN) of Massachusetts for the last year and a half or so. What an honor! Network members include individuals who work at foundations both small and large across the state and who have intentionally created a space for learning and relationship-building across roles, institutions, and issues. Read More
Leave a commentThe Big Picture
This deceptively simple diagram delineates the first step in any collaborative process. Unless you are defining a strategic plan for your personal development, you can safely assume that successful strategic planning is collaborative by definition.
Leave a commentA Network View of the Future
In her new book, futurist Marina Gorbis references an inspiring passage from a document created in 2007 that supports the values of the Institute for the Future (IFTF):
“Valuing open collaboration, independence, and the ability of anyone to rise to the endeavor, we draw on network leadership models that provide a platform for self-organizing structures. The value of these self-organizing structures is that they can act quickly, responsively, and creatively from the edges. The guiding concepts in this view of leadership are openness, self-election, continuous prototyping, robust platforms, and low coordination costs. Leadership skills focus on community building, consensus building, mediation, commitment, and humility.”
Leave a commentFinding Focus and Minimizing Distraction
How often do you hear people saying they wish they were better at multitasking? And what percentage of the people surrounding you on the subway or on the sidewalk or waiting in line for something are peering into their smartphones? Read More
2 CommentsOPEN Summit US
In January of this year I was privileged to design and facilitate the first ever International OPEN Summit. Today I’m on my way to facilitate the first ever OPEN Summit US. The leadership of our nation’s “Online Progressive Engagement Networks” are coming together to support the development of an informal network by strengthening relationships among the people doing this work. Read More
2 CommentsWhat is Strategy
Photo provided by Alex Pelayo. Check out the rest of his amazing portfolio here!
This post is Part II in a series on Strategic Planning and Emergence.
It doesn’t make much sense to look at strategic planning without taking a look at what we mean by strategy. There doesn’t seem to be a clear consensus on what people mean when they use the word strategy. I like the way Thomas Rice, IISC’s founding board chair, talks about it here. Thomas stresses that strategy is about how you choose to deploy scarce resources in order to achieve your goals.
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