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 2
Leave a commentTag Archive: systems
The 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 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 CommentsHow Story Moves the Mind
|Image by Pietro Zanarini|http://www.flickr.com/photos/zipckr/4688416205|
The following is a segment of a blog post from Pamela Mang that appeared on edge::regenerate. Pamela references the newest book from Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. In particular she highlights a section on the Pixar formula for storytelling, and how this can help us to frame our change work in engaging ways. I have also found it very helpful for getting people to open their minds to complex initiatives and imagine what it would take to really shift things. This can often be a humbling experience, in positive ways, and can lift up the importance of reaching out to others, taking a holistic approach, and speaking to both hearts and minds . . . Read More
2 CommentsWhat Strategy Is NOT
Photo provided by Alex Pelayo. Check out the rest of his amazing portfolio here!
This post is Part III in a series on Strategic Planning and Emergence.
Your vision is not your strategy. Neither is your plan. Your benchmarks are not your strategy, nor your complicated grids. Your hedgehog or your very audacious goals are not your strategy either. Your predictions of what the future will look like, no matter how organized and well researched, are definitely not your strategy.
1 CommentWhat 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.
3 CommentsStrategy, Planning, Emergence
Photo provided by Alex Pelayo. Check out the rest of his amazing portfolio here!
I spend a lot of time figuring out how to work with emergence. You don’t plan emergence, you create the conditions for emergence. But how does that fit with strategy? How do you do strategic planning in a world that is too complex for straight lines and long timelines?
6 CommentsImmigration Reform and Movement
Hope you enjoy this article as much as we did! It’s a great illustration of the kinds of connections we need to make between movements–in this case immigrant rights and environmental sustainability–to stand a chance of seeing the kinds of transformation we’re seeking.
Philip Radford of Greenpeace and Bill McKibben of 350.org recently joined the growing crowd of people calling for comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship.
1 CommentNetwork Organizing
Our colleague Bill Traynor describes essential inputs and outcomes of network organizing. See what you think!
In a recent presentation to the Ways and Means Staff of The Community Builders, we discussed the primary inputs and resulting added value that the Network Organizing practice can bring to a service environment. This slide captures the essence of this.
1 CommentConditions for Emergence
The following comments was posted by Gibran as a response to Curtis Ogden‘s Collective Impact and Emergence blog post. In it we are challenged to think beyond our institutions and think about how to truly impact the communities we work with.
This is excellent Curtis. It brings me back to one of our most important inquiries – how do you nurture the conditions for emergence? With this inquiry, we are not just saying that emergence happens; we are saying that our best approach is to nurture it. It is a significant shift from a more top-down technical approach.
Leave a comment"We don't need to make it better"
The following post has been reblogged from our amazing friends at Seth’s Blog. We hope you like it as much as we did!
Improvement comes with many costs.
It costs time and money to make something better. It’s risky, as well, because trying to make something better might make it worse. Perhaps making it better for the masses makes it worse for the people who already like it. And risk brings fear, because that means someone is going to be held responsible, and so the lizard brain wants out.
1 Comment“We don’t need to make it better”
The following post has been reblogged from our amazing friends at Seth’s Blog. We hope you like it as much as we did!
Improvement comes with many costs.
It costs time and money to make something better. It’s risky, as well, because trying to make something better might make it worse. Perhaps making it better for the masses makes it worse for the people who already like it. And risk brings fear, because that means someone is going to be held responsible, and so the lizard brain wants out.
Leave a comment