Nourishing a Culture of Leadership

Vi behöver en ny typ av ledarskap - extraordinärt ledarskap. Det innebär att leda så att alla kan leda. Min goda vän och kollega Birgitt Williams skriver om detta i sin nya bok The Genuine Contact Way: Nourishing a Culture of Leadership. Hon har precis startat en internationell turné där hon lär oss hur vi kan främja en sådan kultur för ledarskap som våra organisationer behöver för att vi som arbetar i dem ska må bra, kunna utvecklas och arbeta från vår potential. 

Här är hennes egna ord om första workshopen på turnén: 

Last evening Ward and I launched the promotion tour of The Genuine Contact Way at an event in Durham, North Carolina sponsored by two women who are deeply immersed in Dynamic Facilitation and find our Genuine Contact work to be wonderfully in alignment and complimentary to their learning and their beliefs. We explored beliefs and their impact on leadership, and introduced the five beliefs upon which the Genuine Contact way of working and living is based. There were so many great breakthroughs in the three hour workshop and those breakthroughs affect the world. Some comments in the closing circle included ‘I now commit to taking leadership of my life-I have given lip service to this for a long time and only now realize that I don’t lead my life and it is time to do so’; ‘in theory, we believe that leadership is in everyone and we need to lead our organizations accordingly—in practice, we don’t follow our beliefs of what is true—it is time to bring our beliefs and our actions into alignment’. So, we had a great beginning, and I am thrilled that there are many more opportunities coming up to stimulate thinking and choices. Next stop in the tour is Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.

Blessings to all,

Birgitt

Vår tur att få lära oss mera och delta i de här omvälvande eventen blir i april 2015, Håll ögonen öppna i Oslo, Göteborg, Malmö och Stockholm. Vi ser verkligen fram emot detta. Läs mer på Genuine Contact Way

Open Space för idéutveckling

Landsbygden lider ingen brist på idéer. Många som bor på landet är självgående och har många goda idéer för hur man kan utveckla sitt område. Tyvärr stöter de ibland på attityden att "det har vi försökt och det går inte" eller "så har vi aldrig gjort och det går inte". För att stödja idéerna och människorna behövs ett stödteam och en bra struktur som leder framåt. Vi har ofta fokus på att göra, men ibland behöver faktiskt fokus vara på att vara, att få tid att tänka efter före och fokusera på sin egen energi, vision och vilja.

Lokala idéväxthus kan vara en väg framåt. Vi bygger dem med hjälp av Open Space-metoden som är suverän för att ta fram idéer, hitta andra som är intresserade av samma idéer och hinna reflektera och diskutera. Open Spacemetoden eller Open Space Technology har en struktur som inbjuder till engagemang, eget ansvarstagande, samarbete och inte minst glädje. De som inte kan mötas öga mot öga kan använda online-versionen på www.CollaborativeWays.com.
Läs gärna mer projektet med idéväxthus på www.outdoorcampus.se

 

Att utveckla ledarskap, en personlig berättelse

Min resa med the Genuine Contact© program började egentligen redan när jag var barn. Jag såg hur bönderna i trakten hjälptes åt för att kunna få in skörden i tid, hindra skogsbränder från att förstöra hela deras årsinkomst och dela maskiner för att slippa stora investeringar. När de behövde köpa eller laga något så gick de till närmaste grannarna. Affärer gjordes ofta upp över köksbordet. Det fanns inte på kartan att de skulle åka förbi närmaste affären för att köpa socker och kaffe. Jag tror inte att de var de bästa vänner. Det fanns grannfejder och tvister om jaktmarker och gränser men alla bjöds till de stora kalasen och alla var tvungna att jobba ihop för att överleva.

När jag började jobba så ville jag samarbeta för att ett bra resultat skulle komma alla till del. Jag tyckte inte att det gjorde så mycket att man gick över gränserna mellan organisationer eller avdelningar, om man då fick ett bättre resultat. Tyvärr fungerar det inte riktigt så i dagens samhälle. Den lokala gemenskapen där man pratar med varandra och löser problemen tillsammans har splittrats och organisationer är ofta uppbundna av direktiv och kontrollsystem från regionala eller nationella enheter. Därför blev jag glad när jag efter många års arbete, äntligen kom i kontakt med Genuine Contact©-programmet, som bygger på att man tar tillvara alla människors hela kompetens och visdom. Arbetssättet i programmet skapar en miljö där samarbete är normen och där människor får lov att vara sådana de är.

Min första kontakt med Genuine Contact©-programmet kom redan 1999 när jag arbetade för Centerpartiet och tillsammans med dåvarande partisekreterare Ola Alterå letade metoder för att låta det nya partiprogrammet skrivas av medlemmarna. Det var då Open Space Technology kom in i bilden. Den föreläsning och kurs som jag gick för att lära mig metoden leddes av Birgitt Williams, Dalar International. Hon hade precis skapat Genuine Contact©-programmet efter att ha jobbat med enbart Open Space-metoden under många år. Det kändes som om jag kommit hem och Centerpartiet fick en stor dos Open Space under några år.

Det som Birgitt insett när hon lade till några komponenter och skapade GC programmet var att det räcker inte med Open Space vid några få tillfällen. Det behövs ett helt nytt operativsystem i organisationerna. Det behövs en genomgripande förändring av arbetssätt som i sin tur leder till ett helt nytt tänkande. En person eller en avdelning kan mycket väl arbeta enligt Open Space-principerna under lång tid men om inte ledningen också förändrat sitt arbetssätt utan gör som man alltid gjort, så återgår man till det gamla vid minsta förändring eller hot från omvärlden. Det blir inte bara en återgång till det gamla utan en mycket värre situation, särskilt för dem som blivit vana vid öppenhet, kreativitet och rak kommunikation.

För mig var mötet med Birgitt, början till en helt ny fas i livet. Det var ett naturligt sätt att arbeta på, som stämde med min innersta övertygelse. Jag gick alla utbildningar i programmet, en i Berlin där jag direkt efteråt flög till Centerpartiets riksstämma och gjorde ett Open Space-möte med ca 1000 personer. Det var häftigt! Den respekt som alla förslag hanterades med under den stämman, var verkligen något särskilt. Till och med de som inte fick igenom sina idéer, var nöjda för de hade blivit lyssnade på. När en kollega frågade om vi skulle åka till USA och bli auktoriserade trainers svarade jag naturligtvis ja. På sjätte dagen efter 9/11 landade jag i Raleigh och tog en taxi till Birgitt och Ward som hade utbildningen på sina föräldrars hästranch.

 

De tio dagarna var en omvälvande tid då jag upptäckte att det fanns verktyg, berättelser och metoder för det samarbete och den grundsyn jag växt upp med. Jag ville ha mer och insåg att jag behövde komma tillbaka. Under 10 års tid återvände jag varje år i september för att under en månad hjälpa Birgitt och Ward med deras kurser. Jag deltog i kurserna, såg till att deltagarna fick ordentlig mat och gjorde min egen personliga resa som både förändrade mitt arbetsliv och mitt privatliv.

Tillsammans med en kollega startade jag utbildningarna i Sverige och Norge. Ett par hundra personer har gått några av delkurserna och använder programmet i sitt jobb. En stor utmaning var att genomföra den första auktorisationskursen utanför USA där jag var den som höll i kursen tillsammans med min kollega Cia Brinkåker. Det var en fantastisk vecka där sex nya trainers blev auktoriserade. Jag har sedan dess auktoriserat ytterligare två trainers och gruppen växer, nu senast i Tyskland och Indien.

Så hur utvecklas då ledarskapet? To be continued……….

New opportunities

I just finished updating my website with the Spring Academy Courses. If you are interested in the Genuine Contact program they are for you! Take a look at www.gatewayc.com and see what you are interested in learning - Open Space Technology, Organizational Health & Balance or maybe Individual Health & Balance. They will all take place in the beautiful valley of Forshälla, just south of Uddevalla on the west coast of Sweden. I am so happy to be able to offer these workshops because the Genuine Contact program is a wonderful program that give you results beyond expectation. It is created for human beings and acknowledges the wisdom in people. Please send me a mail if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity.

We are also now launching a new project to stimulate ideas and entrepreneurship in the countryside of Sweden. It was a great Christmas gift to get the funding for the project. I have found that there are lots of ideas among people about how to solve the problems with services in the countryside, for example providing elderly care and schools, keeping the grocery store and post office and being able to make a living without having to move to town. All these ideas are often really good but something seems to happen when they have been thrown out into the daylight. Sometimes when people tell their neighbours they could hear that it will never work and people should better stay where they are instead of trying to change how it used to be. Sometimes the community people tell the man or woman with the idea to hand it over to them for investigation. It might also be the opposite case, that people are so used to leaving everything to the politicians to implement so they don´t think it is their business to do anything about their ideas.

So now we will create a greenhouse for ideas where they can grow and get enough water and nourishment until they are big enough to take the step out into the world in the form of an enterprize, a projekt or a joint venture.  It will be so much fun to build this prototype and test it together with local associations and communities. I am really looking forward to 2014.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jag har just uppdaterat min hemsida och lagt in vårens kurser. Om du är intresserad av Genuine Contact-programmet så kommer de att passa dig!  Ta en titt på hemsidan www.gatewayc.com och se vad du vill lära dig - Open Space-metoden, Hälsa och balans i organisationer eller kanske Individuell hälsa och balans. Kurserna genomförs i den vackra Forshälladalen strax söder om Uddevalla på Sveriges västkust. Jag är mycket glad att kunna erbjuda de här kurserna för Genuine Contact-programmet är ett fantastiskt program som kommer att ge dig resultat över förväntan. Det är skapat för människor och uppmärksammar den visdom som finns hos varje individ. Skicka mig gärna ett mail om du vill veta mer om den här möjligheten.

Vi lanserar också ett nytt projekt för att stimulera idéer och entreprenörskap på landsbygden i Sverige. Jag har förstått att människor har många goda idéer om hur man löser problemen med service på landsbygden, t ex vad gäller äldreomsorg och skola, affär och post eller att kunna skaffa sig inkomster utan att behöva flytta till en stad. Alla de här idéerna är ofta mycket bra men något verkar hända när de kommer fram i dagsljuset. Ibland när människor berättar för sina grannar så får de höra att det aldrig kommer att fungera och att de ska sluta att försöka förändra hur saker och ting ska göras. Ibland kan kommunfolket säga till idégivarna att de ska lämna över idéerna så att kommunen kan göra en utredning. Det kan också vara motsatsen, nämligen att folk är så vana vid att lämna allt genomförande till politikerna så de tror inte att det är deras ansvar att göra något åt sina idéer.

Nu ska vi skapa ett växthus för idéer där de kan gro och få tillräckligt med vatten och näring tills de är stora nog att ta steget ut i världen i form av ett företag, ett projekt eller ett gemensamt samarbete. Det kommer att bli så kul att bygga den här prototypen och testa den tillsammans med lokala föreningar och kommunerna. Jag ser verkligen fram emot 2014.

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!

 

Using meetings for change

Using meetings for change could have a big impact on the results of an organization and also make the change really quick if the meetings are well designed when it comes to methodology and timing. Many organizations contract a facilitator for their annual conference because they feel the need to set some time aside for participation from the staff. Sometimes they even use most of the time for collaboration and only have a few speakers, if any. That is great! Who would better know what is needed for the organization than the real experts, the employees. When the leaders are courageous and leave the space open for the staff to be really creative and work with what has heart and meaning for them, the results could be stunning. The leaders are very often surprised with the ideas and solutions that have come up and how quick and smooth the work was. They might also be surprised afterwards at how soon the decisions are implemented.

These annual conferences could be a door opener into a new way of working, where innovations and ideas are worked with on a daily basis. That is, if the conference is designed that way. The annual conference could have a lasting effect on how work is done in the organization. It could even change the culture or climate in the organization. Organizational change will get a quick start with a well done meeting that involves everyone in the organization and allows them to use their full potential. But it can not end there. These meetings need to continue for the whole year around and the meeting methods have to be brought into the organization and used over and over again.

All meeting methods are founded on values and assumptions so when you choose one that is founded on the values that people are a valuable asset and extremely important for the organization to thrive, the staff will know that and act accordingly. They will take responsibility, be creative, collaborate and try new paths. Sometimes they will fail and learn a lot. Most of the time they will be really successful and learn even more.

So are you thinking about the need for change in the organization? Start with a well-done meeting!

Changing organizational values

“The most common and continuous means of communicating to people their worth and potential is: the organization”. Stephen F Covey in his book The 8^th Habit, from Effectiveness to Greatness.

Reflect on this quote for a while and then tell me how your organization communicates the worth and potential of the people working in it. Or maybe it does not!

Too many organizations have a structure that instead communicates that all they want is a body for the production. And then another quote from Covey: “When all you want is a person´s body and you don´t really want their mind, heart or spirit (all inhibitors to the free-flowing processes of the machine age), you have reduced a person to a thing”.

Organizations that believe people are things often build systems for the managing of things instead of leading people. They install control systems and regulations that make it difficult for people to do their job and take away the very space where people can breathe. When we don´t have breathing time and space, we are like the wood man who didn´t stop to sharpen his ax. We just go on swinging the dull ax at different trees at the same time. We might get some of them down, but if we just had taken time to stop and look at what we were doing, we might even have invented a double ax instead of just sharpening the one we had.

The way to have organizations communicate the worth and potential of its people, is to use methods and approaches that are based on that very same value.  When the way of leading meetings, working in teams and making decisions are changed to participative, engaging and creative methods, this communicates that the organization is changing its foundational values. It is never enough tell people that things have changed. If the organization still uses the same methods it did before, they won´t believe you.

There are never such things as quick fixes but a quick way to start the organizational change process is to change the way meetings are conducted. If the old-fashioned board meeting style with a list of speakers and a chairman is still used, then change it to a flexible and participative method, such as Open Space Technology or Whole Person Process. Those methods not only show people that they are valued but teach them another way of working together, that builds the foundation of the new organizational style and culture. Use another method for decision making, such as Five to Fold process where everyone shows to what degree they have energy for working for a topic to move it forward. This allows the group to create teams by self-organization built on passion and engagement. The change in meeting and decision making methods is a change in the organizational body language. It is just like being a parent, your children will not do as you say but as you do and they will always be able to distinguish the truth by watching and feeling, rather than by just listening.

 

Leadership vs Fellowship

This morning I came across a very interesting article on Leadership vs Fellowship by Bob Marshall at http://flowchainsensei.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/leadership-or-fellowship/. It said that our focus on leadership and leaders caused followers and increased the pattern that a few people were thinking for many.  

My perspective is that leadership is something that is within everyone. Every person can practise leadership, at least for themselves. Stephen F Covey said that leadership is about communicating to people their own worth and potential so clearly that they see it in themselves. Sometimes we need someone taking the lead, to support us to grow. Sometimes we need the mentor by our side showing us another perspective, another worldview or our own potential. If that is called leadership or fellowship, I don´t know. I just know that this ability is within everyone and it shifts between people depending on the situation.  

That is why I like Open Space Technology, Whole Person Process Facilitation and similar methods for collaboration, because they create a space where everyone can practice their leadership and choose to work for a topic that they see is important for their organization or community. Those methods are not just methods in that they can be used to achieve results in singular meetings. They also, as any meeting methodology, are based on values that creates an approach, a pattern, a way to be, in the organization. These meeting methods are based on values that each single person is important and brings with them much wisdom to the whole. They value collaboration, are open to new ideas and experimentation. They invite each participant to come with their whole self, take leadership and work together with joy and openness for learning and surprises.

 The methods used at work, such as meeting methods, work processes etc, are constantly communicating to us the values they are based on at an unconscious level. So when organizations are still using meeting methods from the industrial era and working in processes that were launched in the early 1900, we are still influenced to think according to the values of that century. Which means that one person is thinking for many. And that is a loss of great wisdom from all our fellow workers.   

Leading Online Collaboration

More and more often we work in the online environment, because those we work with are in distant locations. It might be easy to think that online is another tool, just as the telephone or cellphone. It could be when you want to connect and talk to someone, but if you want to really collaborate and work together in a creative and productive way, online becomes the new office or conference room in your business building.

Whenever you move into a new office space, there are things to be considered. What kind of furniture is needed and how should it be arranged so it supports your work in the best possible way? How will you lead that work so it is focused, efficient and successful? How can people find the ones they need to collaborate with and where can they store things? Where is the coffee-mashine and what about creativity?

These questions belong to the online environment as well. How can it be designed so people can be creative, efficient and use their whole knowledge to achieve the best solutions possible? How can you lead the work so everyone is inspired, stays focused and the results are successful? And what about coffee breaks?

Whatever solutions you choose for the online work, the office space online and in your usual office building have something in common. What does not work in your usual office does not work in the online office room. If you can´t get people energized and enthusiastic about certain topics in your usual conference room, the same goes for the online conference.

Leading online collaboration requires designing rooms and using methods that inspires people and give them the freedom to explore, experiment and play with different ideas and solutions in order to find the best one. Actually the same that is needed when you want to get the best out of people gathered in usual office spaces too.

Real online collaboration goes beyond webinars and other information meetings when one person presents something and the others are required to listen. It goes beyond the usual thinking that the leader or chairman should present the solution. Real collaboration in any room, taps into the wisdom of all the people gathered and allows them to work with joy and creativity and self-organize around the topics that are most important at that time.

As leaders of collaboration, online or in usual conference rooms, we use Open Space Technology or Whole Person Process Facilitation as the best methods for real collaboration. These methods give an appropriate structure for the meeting and maximum freedom and maximum choice for the participants to work in their own best way with all their wisdom and energy. We find these methods function in many different spaces, even when the conditions are somewhat problematic, as when participants are not used to online work, the meeting room lacks daylight or there is a traffic jam so people come in late. The structure of these methods makes it easy for people to jump in, to find their way to where their energy is and to create incredible results.

 

Want to learn more? Take a look at www.collaborativeways.com and register for our upcoming workshop on Open Space Technology.

Creating community – a highway to vision

A community is a web of relationships, blending together in unplanned and unknown ways. Since many communities are connected through the internet, the threads of relationship are invisible so sometimes one might think, there are no connections. But if the right question comes up, there is quickly a lot of movement among the members, an allocation of resources, a mobilization of energy to work with that question. In between there could be silence for long times.

So how can this invisible web be a highway to achieve a vision? First, information spreads quickly in ways that are almost impossible to follow or and definitely impossible to control. Second, the mobilization for a topic that is of interest to the community, is almost immediate. Does this happen in every community. No, of course not. Some things have to be in place for this to happen.

The community needs a culture where listening, trusting and allowing each other space to take leadership and do things are invited. Other things that support community creation are common purpose and a shared vision. The agreement for openness where leadership can just emerge and take care of what needs to be done, does not have to be in written but more as a work approach. It might be helpful having some rules about the responsibility and accountability that follows this leadership. You can certainly use the principles and law in Open Space Technology together with some givens decided by the senior leaders or the CEO. Givens are the outer frames of what is allowed and asked for in the organization. They can certainly be discussed from time to time but they are a safety net so people will know when they are outside of the organizational boarders and where their energy would be wasted.

Trust is not complementary, you have to earn it. The best way to earn trust is to start trusting others. If you are interested in this theme, you are highly recommended to read The 8th Habit by Stephen R Covey, a very interesting book about leadership. Trust is really instead of many control systems, especially those that are put in to allow managers to control the behaviours and actions of people. It is interesting that some managers still think they can control people, even now when people living now exist in a very different era than the industrial and thus have different values and norms.

Do you feel that creating community in an organization is difficult? It does not need to be. There are easy tools to use, such as Open Space Technology, Whole Person Process Facilitation, Appreciative Inquiry and World Café. You can also use the Medicine Wheel Tool© to assure the readiness of the organization and to measure your success. You just do as when you are cooking, use the recipe to find out what is the flavor of this special cake and then go forward and make it with the things you have at home. And remember to make the cake together. The others will help you get where you want to be, so much faster. Cooking together is a great way of creating community. Help me with the cooking in the Genuine Contact Way!

Merry Christmas!

Eiwor

The space in the middle of the forest

“There is a space in the middle of the forest that can only be found by those who get lost".

"Two truths approach each other, one comes from the inside, one from the outside and where they meet you get a chance to see yourself."
With gratitude to the Nobel Prize Laurate Tomas Tranströmer, the author of these wise quotes.

Changing the body language of an organization requires just that – finding that special space, the meeting place for inside and outside, where there is enough freedom to find spirit and creativity. To reach this space there has to be a possibility to get lost so different perspectives can meet - looking from the inside out and from the outside in and allowing the blending of those different views. In nature where the forest meets the meadow is the place where you find the biggest variety of plants. Two perspectives meet and results in wonderful creativity.

Do you want to find this space in your organization to have access to all the wonderful solutions and ideas that could mark a new era for the organization? So how can you create the possibility to get lost and allow perspectives to meet? How can you find that special space where there is room for the mind to soar to new hights and many sparks can ignite new ideas?

There is one blockage to creating this kind of space and that is when the environment is too restricted, when there is so much to do and not enough resources, when there are so many control functions to adjust to and where there is no one asking you to share your wisdom.

With that said, I would like to share a really simple recipe with you, that can be used as a gateway to the forest. It is called Open Space Technology and it creates the possibility to get lost so you can find the wonderful space in the middle of the forest. It also allows for many different perspectives to approach each other and meet and the result can be a diversity of beautiful plants that could assure the successful future of the organization.

To do an Open Space Technology meeting you only need an urgent issue, a warm heart and some guidelines to follow. The only things that could mess up the meeting are those mentioned above, control and restrictions. If you don´t want to do it yourself the first time, call a facilitator. A facilitator is a person who comes with another perspective that meets yours so you have the possibility to get lost and find your space of creativity and inspiration.

Creativity comes with spirit as in in-spired. When the roads is so narrow and surrounded by walls, there is no room for spirit so it might well hide in a drawer in your desk. Artwork from the Genuine Contact program, created by Birgitt and Ward Williams, Dalar International Consultancy.

Nonvisible body language

When we discuss body language in organizations there are some parts that are more obvious or visible such as the space where we work and the written principles and strategies we follow. These are important parts but there is more to the body language than what can be seen with your eyes. Have you ever experienced an Open Space Technology meeting? There are some parts that are visible and easy recognizable such as the circle of chairs, the agenda wall and the facilitator walking the circle when opening the meeting. But what is it that creates the dynamics, that open for the creativity and creates such amazing results. Is it really only that we are sitting in a circle with no tables between us?


For those of you who are not familiar with Open Space Technology (OST) I would like to share my experience after having facilitated many hundreds of OST meetings with between 7 and 1000 participants. OST is a very result-oriented method focused on solving urgent issues. The participants are sitting in a circle of chairs. The agenda is created by those who have topics they feel are important to discuss regarding the theme for the meeting. The smaller discussion groups are self organized through a simple system with a time matrix. They discuss their topics as long as they have passion for them and provides a report for the news wall, where anyone can read what the highlights of the discussion and suggested solutions. If the sponsor expect a plan or strategy as a result of the meeting, there is often time for prioritizing, convergence and creating plans. It is my experience that much of this could be done within a day or so, depending on how detailed the plan should be.

When I facilitate an OST meeting there is a big focus on the planning meeting. That is where the boundaries or givens are expressed such as budget, decision making authority etc. That is also where the sponsor discusses what results they want from the meeting. Now get this right, they can´t decide what the plans should look like, but they can decide that they want plans. They can´t decide that the solution should look a certain way, but they can decide that they want a solution to an urgent issue. The most important part of an OST meeting is that there is space for the wisdom of the partipants. Is that visible? Not with your eyes but there are some things telling you about this open space where you can work together with your whole creativity, intuition and your whole self, if you so wish.

Some of what tells you about this space are the four principles: Whoever comes are the right people, When it starts is the right time, Whatever happen is the only thing that could, When it is over it is over and then the Law of Mobility, inviting you to move and follow your spirit where it wants to take you. And then, this is not all that creates the space either.

What impact has the energy of the facilitator? The facilitator speaks about the wisdom of the participants. As a facilitator, you better believe what you are saying, because if you don´t, the participants will feel it. They are also likely to feel when your self-critique is stronger than your self-love. Once after having opened an OST meeting with politicians, a man said to me that it seems to take a dictator to create the space for democrazy. I am not sure if this space can be said to be democratic, that is a topic to be discussed in other places but I know that the facilitator has to conquer the space in order to hand it over to the participants. Much of that work is made in the planning meeting but the symbolic handing over is made through the opening. The facilitator generates a resonant energy field, which is a field that is easily sustained. This field and the job of the facilitator to be a resonant energy field generator is something that creates much of the open space. It can´t be seen with your eyes. Some will feel it more and some less, but it is still an important part of the body language. Interesting? Read more about energy fields in Stalking the Wild Pendulum by Itzhak Bentov, one of my favourite books and a gift from my dear friend Birgitt Williams.

      Butterflies and bumblebees, in Open Space Technology meetings as in Nature

Harrison Owen on assymetrical patterns

Today one of my friends invited me to read an article of Harrison Owen on Facebook. A lot to think about. He speaks about assymetrical patterns in the world and we can easily see it but what does it mean in the organizations? We know that doing more of the same is seldom the answer to solving problems we face today. So when I later read about the culture in Gothenburg where it seems that it is okey to use public money (taxes) for private affairs and where bribes are part of the normal, I started to think about what the assymetrical pattern means here. Some people want more control. Will it help? Is that only more of the same symmetrical thinking that has not helped before and will not help now. Here are some of Harrison Owen´s own writing to consider:

Supposing everything is asymmetrical? Or what would be perhaps more distressing – everything is so complex, interconnected and fast moving that even though patterns of symmetry may exist, our capacity to comprehend, and certainly control, is so limited as to be non-existent. Not only would the world be out of joint, as we perceive it, we could do little, if anything, to rectify the situation. And certainly our previous tools of the trade (planning, system design, to say nothing of the Diplomatic Code or The Rules of War) are inadequate for the task.

Why don´t go there and read the rest of it. I am still thinking.

Resonant energy fields

Today I read the posting of Birgitt Williams, Dalar International Consultancy, on her blog Genuine Contact Way. She writes about whether the energy fields of facilitators are affecting the meetings they are facilitating. Her discussion is specifically about facilitators of Open Space Technology meetings. I think the discussion could be about any facilitator and/or leader and how their energy field affects their environment and the results in a meeting and workplace.

I imagine that many of you have experienced a time when you entered a room and immediately got a sense of the climate in that room. I remember very well when I was elected to the church board and thought it would be a very nice experience. When I entered the room to participate in my first meeting, it was like walking into a solid wall of antagonism. I later found out that some people in that room disliked each other so much that they could hardly bear to be together in the meeting. Of course this energy field affected the whole meeting and the results of it. There were constant misunderstandings and problems to come to agreements.

We are all energy field generators. When we are in a position as a leader/facilitator we might have more space where the energy field could extend. If the leader/facilitator wants to achieve positive results, the energy field needs to be resonant. A resonant energy field is vibrating at a frequency that is harmonious, which means that it is a natural vibration that takes little effort to sustain. Our energy field is made up of emotions and thoughts among other things. To be able to generate resonant energy fields, we could do our homework with self towards a state of positive loving thoughts and allowing the emotions to guide us without dominating us.

The energy fields of the leaders are often influencing the workplace more than that of the co-workers. So when the leaders want to change the culture of their organization, they also have to attend to their own energy field and then generate the energy they want to have in their organization. Easy said, not so easy done. In every workshop with Birgitt Williams, where I have participated, and they are quite a few, she usually tell the participants that this is homework for tomorrow but the rest is homework for a lifetime.

Do you like the resonant energy field generator below? Beautiful, isn´t it?