We only organize together if we are in the push and pull of conversation, wrestling with the action we feel we need to take. If not, we are being organized, passive participants in the status quo doing others’ bidding.
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There are two kinds of inconceivable: 1) the one I tell myself isn’t possible and 2) the one I can’t imagine.
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How do you design a public meeting when you believe that everyone has something to share, not just the vocal few?
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When we avoid sharing opportunities to make meaning of our experiences and make choices from the meaning we've made, we avoid the challenges and brilliance of community. And the choice, in every moment, rests with each of us. Choosing transition means choosing to participate in our changing.
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We want change to happen without changing ourselves, without having to do anything differently. Yet, choosing transition means choosing to participate in our changing.
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When we avoid sharing opportunities to make meaning of our experiences and make choices from the meaning we’ve made, we avoid the challenges and brilliance of community.
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Agreements about how we’ll talk and relate to each other are a commitment to be responsible for the quality of our relationships. In this article: 2 symptoms of, and 7 antidotes to, relationship bypassing.
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Assuming that the expertise in the room is in one or a few people disables and minimizes the resilience of a community. In this article: 4 symptoms of conversation bypassing and 5 antidotes.
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Agreements about how we’ll talk and relate to each other are a commitment to be responsible for the quality of our relationships.
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The energetic pattern of a gathering, both in how we design them ahead of time, or the dynamics during the gathering, need our constant attention. One of the ways I keep an eye on things is to ask: are we aiming to fix or improve?
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My favourite fire chief had a split personality. He recognized and practiced two kinds of meetings with his staff in the fire department: the ones where instruction are issued and the ones where the team sits back to listen to their own wisdom and then act accordingly.
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What would it mean for a city to embark on a host-as-all-of-us journey, for citizens to be in conversation with ourselves about who we want to be as a city, and what it will take to be that city?
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When we use technology like Zoom, even with a panel presentation, when we choose to allow participants to see each other we are allowing the community that has gathered to see each other and make further contact with itself. We choose to enable, rather than disable, community agency.
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He was a conference speaker with an urgent message: we must change our ways or we will die. We will only save ourselves if we do what he says, what he prescribes.
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My two kids are great at metaphors. The latest: that they are buying a car “with training wheels”. Whether it is kids, co-workers, students, anyone for whom we serve as training wheels, this experience has taught me a few vital things about my relationship with the sovereignty of people making decisions, whether they are my kids, clients, friends (or myself!):
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