we20 on the Surf Coast

we20 is a grass roots gathering of small groups all over the globe around the time of the G20 Summit in London in early April. 

Geoff Brown and I will facilitate we20 gathering at Bellbrae, using Open Space to explore the GFC as an ‘offer’ to help us build resilient local communities. We’ll work locally and be connected to this issue globally.

We can’t afford to leave this global mess to just 20 ‘suits’ in London can we? Globally we face a huge challenge. A global economic crisis. 7 billion mouths to feed. Uncertain futures. How does that translate to our region?

Check out this film for a quick intro: http://www.youtube.com/we20media 

About we20
we20.org will act as a hub for we20 meetings, a place to organise your meeting, discuss your plans and vote on the issues that matter to you. we20 are not aligned with any particular interests and will try to help you implement ideas from your we20 meetings.

we20 meetings are being held by people like us across the world to create ideas for improving our lives. Please pledge to take part. Our leaders, face a huge task this year. The G20 is a group of 20 leaders including Obama, Brown, Lula and Sarkozy. The G20 are tasked with reforming our failed economies and mapping out our future. 

These G20 leaders meet in London on 2 April. 20 world leaders. 20 people together making plans that will affect our future.

You may have ideas to change your neighbourhood or ideas to change the world. Whatever change you want to create – it matters to we20.

If you don’t live on the Surfcoast but want to be involved please visit we20

And if you do live on the Surfcoast and would like to be involved, just leave a comment.

Open Space Technology – an ‘operating system’ for complexity

If I didn’t know about Open Space, I reckon I’d have to invent it! Barely a day goes by when I don’t use what I know about Open Space – sometimes directly by actually using Open Space Technology as a meeting process, or more often, as a way of understanding and relating to whatever is going on, especially in groups. And even when I can’t use the full-blown open space process, I can often use parts of the process to enable groups to become more connected to what they are passionate about and how they might take responsibility.

On the surface, Open Space is a simple process: seat people in a circle, introduce the theme, open the space, allow self-organisation, write some reports, develop some actions, close the circle. Yet it sits on a foundation of deep awareness of how people relate to each other, their passions and their responsibilities. It approaches who is present, and why, when and where they work based on complexity and self-organising systems. It is, indeed, an ‘operating system’ for these tricky, sometimes chaotic, times.

I find myself using Open Space, and it’s complementary processes such as World Cafe and Solutions-Focus, most of the time. 

And there’s also a great bonus in using Open Space. The people. The Open Space tribe is a diverse, fascinating and generous bunch. One of the reasons I try and get to Open Space on Open Space gatherings is simply to be in conversation with some of these people. (This year the World OSonOS is in Taiwan in October) In a world where we are all multi-tasking with limited capacity to focus on each other, let alone ideas, the prospect of deep and challenging conversations is very appealing.

Many of us around the world provide training in Open Space Technology. I’m lucky to partner with Brian Bainbridge to deliver training in Melbourne, usually one or twice a year. If you’re interested in our next public training, there’s some info here.

What gives you wings?

Today I was chatting with Andrew Rixon and he introduced me to a model of time (I’ll have to go back to him to find the reference). The essence of it was this:

The past gives you roots; the present gives you energy; and the future gives you wings.

It occurs to me that each of us has a preferred time in which we would willingly live. Some of us long for a time now gone, others of us are always looking forward, willing time forward. While all of us are actually in the present. Someone else said recently (I really should start taking notes!) that what makes us human is our ability to imagine a future. And our ability to imagine the future is based on our experiences in the past.

And given that the present is fleeting we are always dancing between the past and the future. Maybe this is what gives us the energy of the present. Our watches, clocks and calendars give the impression of linear time. And it’s easy to comprehend. Thinking of time as fluid or dynamic simply does my head in. Straight line thinking is easy, familiar and comfortable.

Is it any wonder then that the myth of predicting the future (aka strategic planning) persists? OK, I’m being a bit harsh. Often we can indeed predict the future. I know what I’ll be doing on any given day for the next few weeks – my diary sees to that. Yet if I try and look too far ahead the picture is fuzzy, generalised and non-specific. It also takes no account of the unexpected, the spontaneous, surprising and unimagined opportunities that may arise. We then ask people to describe this non-specific, partly predictable, partly unpredictable future with specific language aka a vision statement. Is it any wonder that the default is usually something that is over-generalised or more related to how they will work rather than what they will work towards. When in doubt, revert to the known and knowable.

Which brings me back to the past giving you your roots, the present giving you energy, and the future giving you wings. Instead of trying to encapsulate all of that in a single vision statement wouldn’t it be more productive to share with each other what grounds us, what energises us and what gives us wings – individually and collectively?

Ringing Bells

I was pitching for a job recently. When the client asked how I could ensure a ‘managed and controlled change rollout’ alarm bells tingled. That’s not entirely true. The alarm bells were deafening. It was at that moment I knew we were not well matched. Luckily for both of us, they chose someone else to ‘manage the change process’. Good luck to all concerned!

Learning from fellow facilitators

I love sharing stories with fellow facilitators. In this podcast, Geoff Brown and I chat with Nicole Hunter about her experiences with rural communities following the Grampians bush fires a few years ago. Go here to listen.

Heels. Up. Kick.

He lives on my wall, just outside the back door.

He comes from Sedona in Arizona and reminds me to kick up my heels occasionally.

What does he remind you of?

Talking with Gil Brenson-Lazan about the role of facilitators in disaster response

Anyone reading this blog over the last couple of weeks will notice a pre-occupation, of sorts, with facilitation and disaster response. This is borne partly out of the need to share what I know and believe regarding what facilitators can bring and partly due to frustration. Frustration that the authorities responsible for recovery following Victoria’s bush fires, and the media, commentators, and experts – seem to be oblivious to the important part that facilitation can play in helping communities rebuild.

So here’s the next installment – and it’s a beauty. Geoff Brown and I interviewed Gil Brenson-Lazan who has 35 years experience in this field and is a co-founder of the Global Faciltators Service Corps (GFSC).  We cover topics such as:

Gil’s experiences of disaster responses – good and bad. What happened when 26,000 people were killed in Columbia.

Why it’s important for people to participate in their own future.

Training facilitators in psycho-social recovery: personal (psycho) grieving processes and building community (social) resilience.

An aid mentality compared with a facilitative approach to disaster response.

Thinking like a facilitator.

Role of Community Fireguard in building resilient communities.

The power of participating and dialoguing instead of being ‘talked at’ by an expert.

Secondary crisis – not dealing appropriately with the loss and turning to ‘escape’ behaviours.

The problem of staying in the aid mode for too long and building dependency. The ladder of participation.

When is the right time for facilitation after a disaster?

Go here to listen (32 mins)