Author: Tenneson Woolf

Earlier this month I blogged about a planning tool, Chaordic Stepping Stones, that I was using to map a conversation with our local practitioners circle. I referenced there, that this is a tool I use all of the time. Particularly, when I’m starting with a client. I find it is a great way to hear the story of what is happening and what is wanted.

In skimming through some old email on the plane yesterday, I found this description from buddy and colleague Chris Corrigan. Chris outlines a series of three conversations that help to ground a project well. Big thanks.

“I often lump together the first four “stones in one conversation: what is the need, purpose, principles and people?  Once we know those we have a handle on the kind of thing we are planning and we have enough material to also create a first level invitation.

The second conversation can look at limiting beliefs, concept and structure which gives us a good sense of what we should be doing and how to support it, and what work we need to do on ourselves to get where we are going. That gives us a second level of invitation as well. We can send out a note to our people about how we aim to meet the need and purpose.

The third conversation is on practice and harvest, in other words, the feedback loops and artifacts that will be most useful.

So these three conversations are quite useful ways to me of grouping together the various stages of planning a meeting or an initiative. It weighs heavily towards purpose and need, which I think is a good thing, as getting clarity on that can be very generative.  I don’t mean getting a clear statement, but rather, its a felt sense of purpose that is shared and enables us to act rather than constraining action (“oh, we can’t do that, it’s not in our purpose”).”

Earlier this year Peggy Holman asked for an updated definition of the Art of Hosting to use in her book, Engaging Emergence. This is a definition that continues to evolve. I like what is below, contributed to by fellow practitioners Chris Corrigan, Toke Moeller, Teresa Posakony, Peggy, and myself. Though long, the first paragraph says a lot. I like that it references a community and a commitment to action through participation.

Art of Hosting is a global community of practitioners using integrated participative change processes, methods, maps, and planning tools to engage groups and teams in meaningful conversation, deliberate collaboration, and group-supported action for the common good.

The Principles

High quality conversation arises when:

*      People in a group are present and grounded, working with a common purpose.

*      Conversation is hosted in a container that invites participation and self-organization.

*      People engage in participatory leadership, not top-down leadership, making the group’s wisdom more available to itself.

*      Groups working together over time act and harvest their learning and through feedback loops that support action.

As the Art of Hosting scales these generative principles up to larger and larger settings, the work becomes the Art of Participatory Leadership. Rather than working with pre-determined methods, the “art” is approaching each conversation from a design perspective, offering the best design for the context based on simple principles.

The Process

The Art of Hosting is the “jazz” of emergent change processes. A team of hosts works with the conveners — often traditional leadership — to surface questions and activities that support their intentions for bringing people together. Hosting teams design the flow of an engagement by discerning what is most useful in the moment. Specific processes are often selected the evening before or morning of an interaction. As hosting teams create the experience for participants, they invite them into the hosting itself. As a result, in addition to addressing the intended issue, participants are introduced to the skills of hosting, learning to ride the waves of the present moment while tending to an abiding intention.

“Artists often have a lack of voice. And yet the expression of art, in its many forms, opens doors for people. Doors of mindfulness and a spiritual component. There is huge potential. I want to support or create an umbrella organization, or a forum in support of local artists. An organization that can help with funding, resources, and recognition for local artists.”

This is how Tay Haines began our Practitioners Circle this week. There were 15 of us gathered to meet in circle to support Tay, to learn together about the broader approaches to participative leadership in groups, and to further connect us in relationship.

With framing I learned from friends working in indigenous communities, “it is kind to ask for help,” Tay and I welcomed the group. Tay shared more on her specific desire. We invited check-in on how people connect to Tay’s project. I heard many beautiful expressions in celebration of artful communities and artists. My friend Bruce, a painter, talked about his desire to make people happy with his art, and the accidents in his work that become beautiful art. Others shared desires for the devine and sacred, welcoming of authentic expression, the importance of creating in community, and being swept away in beauty. As I listened and participated, I could feel the strengthening of a question I’ve been asking for a while now: Is it even possible to be human and not be artful? Regardless of whether in work, community, family, etc.

For 45 minutes, the group shared insights, stories, questions, and thoughts. I mapped this into a planning tool called, “The Chaordic Stepping Stones.” It is a process I use all of the time to make visible some of what is being shared in conversation that can help support the clarity of action on a project or initiative. Here is some of what I heard about Need, Purpose, People, Principles, Concept, Limiting Beliefs, and Structure. Helpful for telling the story of this project as Tay further invites people to join her. It is also helpful as a tool to name the next conversations that help to support the work.

Erin Gilmore captured some of the harvest. We asked people to share some of what they felt was particularly energizing. To name what they were hearing — to be another set of ears to help name for Tay what was present in the circle. Much richness there about building bridges between artists and supporters; awareness that art matters to all of us; just go with who is going with you to start a movement; letting go of any feelings of being crazy; strengthening an identity with clear purpose; working with joy and fun that speaks to the heart.

We closed our evening with appreciations. And as Tay shared, with awareness of the sweet and simple courage that is born in being together.

Photos

Purpose (thanks Jennifer Hamilton for this harvest)

Our next Practitioners Circle will be August 19th.

This phrase is one that anchors so much of my work. It is a tag we use all of the time at Berkana. It is an invitation for people to see ways together. I often offer an alternative on this: whatever the dream, community is the answer.

Berkana’s 2009 Annual Report is out. It is a beautiful piece. It includes further description and stories about anchors like this. It also includes a model on taking change to scale, on working translocally — Name. Connect. Nourish. Illuminate. And it tells some of the story of Berkana shifting into it’s next level of self-organizing system.

A good read. Some great anchors for setting context. And a beautiful creation (with a bow to Lauren Parks in Berkana’s Boston office, and to Maira Rahme, who I met this year in Sweden for an Art of Hosting, for her design.

Enjoy.