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A decade of living and learning, hosting and harvesting

August 31, 2009 By Being 7 Comments

As summer begins to close here on the west coast of Canada, I’m starting to head back to work, digging into to 20 or so projects that will unfold in the next nine months, which will take me across Canada, the US, Hawaii, Estonia, Denmark and Australia.  And as I look ahead to my work year that is restarting, I notice that this is the tenth time that I have done this.

Indeed ten years ago this day, as a precocious 31 year old fed up with travel (ironically) and the various despairs of working for the federal government, I quit my job and hung out a shingle.  August 31 was my last day of employment.  My first contract was a retainer with the BC Assembly of First Nations, working with Chris Robertson and the then vice-chief Satsan (Herb George).  Chris and Herb were (and still are) both enamoured with Open Space Technology and were wondering how we could use it for various organizing around Aboriginial rights and title.  That retainer – for which I will always be grateful – gave me a start in the freelance world that was all I needed to build a pretty solid little practice.  Since then, I have facilitated literally hundreds of gatherings from two person retreats to international conferences using a variety of participatory methodologies.

In the ten years since I went out on my own, I have been anything but lonely.  I have worked with people from various communities of practice, including Open Space, World Cafe, Genuine Contact and most deeply, the Art of Hosting.  I have, in the words of song writer Dougie MacLean “moved and kept on moving, proved the points that needed proving, lost the friends that needed losing and found others on the way.”  It has mostly been an incredibly rich journey,working with tiny communities and huge coporations, young and radical youth and wise Elders.  I have friends and colleagues in dozens of countries on every continent, and count myself lucky to be in their embrace.

There is no way there was a strategic plan in place when I left my job ten years agao.  I have mostly survived by holding questions, opening myself to learning, and reminding myself that I don’t have to be the expert all the time.  I could never have said that where I started ten years ago would leave me here, typing a blog post outside my favourite cafe on my home island.

I have met and worked with literally tens of thousands of people over the past ten years and as I sit here and picture many of them, I feel immense gratitude for their patience, trust, support and deep friendship.  Thank you to you all (and please leave a comment here saying “you’re welcome!”).  My partner Caitlin and our two kids are foremost among them, for it was to spend more time with them that I originally left my job, and if there is to be one regret, it’s that travel takes me away from them too much these days.  So that’s my edge to work on for the future.

And who can know what I’ll be writing about on August 31, 2019, in my 51st year, as I catch myself surprised at all that has happened.

From the feed

August 21, 2009 By Uncategorized

The week that was of webby goodness:

  • ANAblog continues with their series of Mercury Prize nominees, with full length sounds samples.
  • The Onion with the best analysis of US health care reform.
  • Geist magazine posts a photo essay of dying British Columbia towns

Reforming Town Halls

August 20, 2009 By Art of Hosting, BC, Collaboration, Facilitation, Leadership

My friend Kenoli Oleari on the possibility that the conversation can be changed:

We are finding that there are lots of opportunities for public meetings, town halls, task forces, etc. as well as a lot of dissatisfaction with the way things are done.  People fear new approaches, but we are finding if we don’t buy into those fears, rather working with them to stay focused on outcomes and the best way to achieve what they want, that there is some degree of receptivity.  In many cases people do care about good outcomes and let this desire assuage their fears.  There is certainly huge gratitude when they see the amazing results they had never imagined.

We are also finding that little process tweaks can have huge impacts on the quality of results.

In the Art of Hosting world we call this “chaordic confidence” the ability to stay in the heat and fear of chaos and uncertainty and hold space for collaboration and participation to unfold.

What the CMA really thinks about universal health care

August 20, 2009 By Uncategorized One Comment

You know, truth has been in short supply in the American “debate” over health care reform.  Today now everyone is quoting the outgoing and incoming presidents of the Canadian Medical Association using the word “implode” to describe our system.

So here is my last input to the American debate, as if facts and truth matter.  Read the speeches of the CMA Presidents.  It is true that they are shilling for more private care, to make more money, have more opportunity and maybe some of them even believe that patients will be better served by choice.

But nowhere do they say anything about abandoning universal care.  In her inaugural address this week, the new president, Dr. Annie Doig, said this:

Canada’s physicians have always stood four-square behind the principle that no Canadian should do without needed medical care because of an inability to pay. That is an irrefutable fact. Canada’s physicians also stand four-square behind the principle that all Canadians must have appropriate access to the care they need. That, too, is an irrefutable fact.

Even the outgoing president who took a pretty hardline in favour of more private care  said this:

Start by building a patient-centred culture that ensures that the patient has unfettered access, with no financial barrier, to continuity of care dispensed at the right time. In concrete terms, this means that when the patient arrives at the hospital, doctor’s office or other facility, he or she is seen quickly. And it means that when a patient requires surgery, he or she receives it within an acceptable timeframe.

In the United States right now people are actually debating this point. We might have differing opinions on this, and radically different ways of getting the job done, but no serious leader in Canada would question equal and fair access of all patients to the care they need, regardless of their ability to pay.  That is universal health care.  It means that people get cared for, and not that 10s of millions of people don’t ever get care because they are afraid that they can’t afford it.

So, understand this.  In Canada the debate is about coping with rising costs, making services more efficient and ensuring that everyone gets the care tey need.  It is not about fundamental access.  It is a debate that is alive in every country in the world.  But it is not the same debate as the one going on in the States right now.  And using single words like “implode” from a rhetorical speech that actually supports improving universal health care to oppose Obama’s plan is like quoting Einstein in a divorce settlement: sure you’re both talking about “relativity” but the similarity ends there.

Good luck my American friends.  I hope the level of discourse returns from its dive into the ridculous soon.  And I hope no one gets hurt before it does.

Describing participatory leadership

August 19, 2009 By Art of Hosting, Collaboration, Leadership, Organization 4 Comments

Sometimes we describe what we do with practing the Art of Hosting as bringin participatory leadership to life.  THis can be a major shift in some people’s way of thinking.  To describe it, Toke Moeller sent this around a few days ago – an explanation of participatory leadership in one sentence.

How do you explain participatory leadership in one sentence?

o Imagine” a meeting of 60 people, where in an hour you would have heard everyone and at the end you would have precisely identified the 5 most important points that people are willing to act on together.

o When appropriate, deeper engagement of all in service of our purpose.

o Hierarchy is good for maintenance, participatory leadership is good for innovation and adapting to change.

o Complements the organigramme units with task force work groups on projects.

o Look at how well they did it in DG XYZ – We could be the ones everybody looks at.

o Using all knowledge, expertise, conflicts, etc. available to achieve the common good on any issue.

o It allows to deal with complex issues by using the collective intelligence of all people concerned & getting their buy-in.

o Participatory Leadership is methods, techniques, tips, tricks, tools to evolve, to lead, to create synergy, to share experience, to lead a team, to create a transversal network, to manage a project, an away day, brainstorming, change processes, strategic visions.

o Consult first, write the legislation after.


Traditional ways of working

Participatory leadership complementing
Individuals responsible for decisions Using collective intelligence to inform decision-making
No single person has the right answer but somebody has to decide Together we can reach greater clarity – intelligence through diversity
Hierarchical lines of management Community of practice
Wants to create a FAIL-SAFE environment Creates a SAFE-FAIL environment that promotes learning
Top-down agenda setting Set agenda together
I must speak to be noticed in meetings Harvesting what matters, from all sources
Communication in writing only Asking questions
Organisation chart determines work Task forces/purpose-oriented work in projects
People represent their services People are invited as human beings, attracted by the quality of the invitation
One-to-many information meetings A participatory process can inform the information!
Great for maintenance, implementation (doing what we know) When innovation is needed – learning what we don’t know, to move on – engaging with constantly moving targets
Information sharing When engagement is needed from all, including those who usually don’t contribute much.
Dealing with complaints by forwarding them to the hierarchy for action Dealing with complaints directly, with hierarchy trusting that solution can come from the staff
Consultation through surveys, questionnaires, etc. Co-creating solutions together in real time, in presence of the whole system
Top-down Bottom-up
Management by control Management by trust
Questionnaires (contribution wanted from DG X) Engagement processes – collective inquiry with stakeholders
Mechanistic Organic – if you treat the system like a machine, it responds like a living system
Top down orders – often without full information Top-down orders informed by consultation
Resistance to decisions from on high Better acceptance of decisions because of involvement
Silos/hierarchical structures More networks
Tasks dropped on people Follow your passion
Rigid organisation Flexible self-organisation
Policy design officer disconnected from stakeholders Direct consultation instead of via lobby organisations
People feel unheard/not listened to People feel heard
Working without a clear purpose and jumping to solutions Collective clarity of purpose is the invisible leader
Motivation via carrot & stick Motivation through engagement and ownership
Managing projects, not pre-jects Better preparation – going through chaos, open mind, taking account of other ideas
Focused on deliverables Focused on purpose – the rest falls into place
Result-oriented Purpose-oriented
Seeking answers Seeking questions
Pretending/acting Showing up as who you are
Broadcasting, boring, painful meetings Meetings where every voice is heard, participants leave energised
Chairing, reporting Hosting, harvesting, follow-up
Event & time-focused Good timing, ongoing conversation & adjustment