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Isn’t it funny how even when you have heard it before, it doesn’t actually “hit” you until some later date? While it rang true before, the noise is a lot louder today for the meaning of this statement: when planning a meeting, we are really planning a harvest.
4 mates and I are preparing for an Art of Hosting (and Harvesting) gathering in Edmonton, Alberta next week http://berkana.org/pdf/AoH_Edmonton_Feb_2010.pdf. And of course, now that we are getting into the design of the gathering, we are contemplating what it means to harvest the conversations we will be having. We are contemplating this diligently in service to the invitation we have extended to explore how to cultivate Albertans’ collective ingenuity in order to renew and sustain Alberta’s communities.
When in conversation with anyone, including myself, meaning is generated. There is the tangible meaning, such as a record of what decisions are made. In addition, there are the impressions we make of each other, the conflict we carry, the assumptions, the sabotage, the agendas, as well as goodness and love. Yet we struggle with our conversations – especially the ones we choose not to have. Bad feelings are clearly a pattern, and this leaves a lot of conversations never held.
But what if we are more than that? What if instead of leaving the fruit to rot on the tree, we choose to enjoy it? What if we consider every apple, blemishes and all, as a sweet treat? What if we planned for that when we gather? More importantly, what if we planned to explicitly expose those sweet treats for us all to see? What if we held the intention to fully harvest the abundance that is just sitting there – each apple, and all the things we can make together?
A harvest is about both content and process, the tangible and the intangible. The content is not about a message to be delivered to others, but about pulling out of ourselves what is just sitting there waiting to emerge. Our unconscious, or semiconscious knowledge. In terms of contemplating a harvest, content is about knowing what the conversation is for: is it to explore ideas, or to nail down a plan for action. To build a common sense of direction, or generate a diverse range of options? Knowing the overall purpose of the conversation assists greatly with ascertaining the appropriate design for the conversation – the process- as well as sense of harvest (to design for) that is in service to the intention. Intention provides clarity for both content and process.
The form of a harvest is various and unlimited: photographs, a movie, a song, a poem, a report, a picture, a performance, a document. The harvest at times tangible and explicit (such as a report or document) or more intangible and implicit (a song or poem). Both add value and meaning when aligned with the purpose and context of the people gathering.
Skillful design for conversation is the process, and when aligned with the purpose/intention, conversation will provide wonderful fruit for harvest. Our design choices dictate whether we gather effectively the collective wisdom. The quality of our presence in the gathering will dictate what we notice – whether one apple, the whole tree, the whole orchard, the ecosystem, etc.
Whether from an individual or as a collaborative effort, the harvest takes the unarticulated and unconscious to the articulated and conscious that is an expression of value and meaning. It is an expression of learning.
In times of abundance or scarcity, just like an apple, the harvest of conversation is nourishment.
We (Marg and Hugh and I) are at the Village at Pigeon Lake hosting a conversation with Alberta educators around leadership in education. Here is the harvest from yesterday’s discussion:
What brought us here
An off road learning experience
In a complex web of challenge
Energized by possibility
In communities of learning
We collect expertise
Everywhere
And ask
What does leadership look like as a practice
For me
For us
Leading new projects
With no road map
Messy moving forward
Seeking confidence
Feeling stretched
Effectively handling hats
It’s about kids
What they learn and
How they learn
There is something about
Atmospheric reflection
Positive permeation
Sharing, reflecting, learning
I left what I knew in and out
From theory to practice
With lots to talk about
Professional development
Is also cultivating
The expertise in the room
The stories where we see transformation
In learning
With transformative questions
My gifts
The kids’ smiles every day
Energize me and in return
I energize them
I make places for trust
Selfless and safe spaces
For the all of everyone
For people no matter what
They have to say
I provide unconditional love
Nurturing no matter what
With warm and inviting dedication
Deeply
I am in the right place at the right time
Knowing it will come
Generating dedication, faith
Everyone celebrating
The challenge and the learning
I accept myself as I am
I no longer trade these in for weakness
What I do not have someone else will
What I have no one else will have
Patterns in learning
We all have roadblocks
And leaders who support us
Look out for us
The struggle is something to work through
And we move through
Learning through
Continuously
With necessary tension
With others we meet
Forks in the road
To find extraordinary in the ordinary
When the child comes first
When learning comes first
With questions…
What will I be when I grow up?
Where are the open doors?
This is the closing debrief in yesterdays creative process session at the Authentic Leadership in Action Institute in Halifax. We were exploring story:
Our similar stories
Got better as we told them
When I wrote mine
It was all about me
When I told it
I found some distance
I can see the monster
When I get out of the way
When I whisper
Transported to a garage and toolbox
A love of listening
With sadness
Pure negativity is not evil
It is the pleasure we find in negativity
That is
We make decisions
About our personal stories
The evil and the good in our hearts
The passion without definition
Random meaning
In our lives
When we get out of the way
With imagination and insight
The storyteller is a guide
Letting the story unfold
Each time
With the prince
The wolf and the horse
What do I do now?
That’s up to you?
Crush the Giant’s heart
Or put it back?
And live happily
Alchemically
ever after…
I am attending the Authentic Leadership in Action conference in Halifax this week. A thread throughout are the notions of wealth and currency. Below is a poem created while listening to this morning’s debrief after a world cafe discussion…
How the hell did it happen
That money is more important than people
How do we stay so confused
Every day
Trust is the heart of
Exchange
A core
Of investment in future
Sustaining savings
devalue
Poverty for all
Do we perceive ourselves as being poor?
Complexity measures community
Wealthy when intention and reality are one
What drives our actions
Isn’t real
2 of us came to the table
without talking about money at all
Can you make money of money
Culture, class, gender
Are at the heart of the matter
In social transformation
A shifty mood
Where I put my attention
What if I just put trust out there
In the university
In giving my needs will be provided
Wikipedia, linnux, what’s next
When wealth is genuinely exchanged?
Without fear of scarcity
In touch with humanity
Engaging
Together in
Homes and communities
My back hurts
What am I willing to pay?
On June 16, 2009, volunteers from New Sarepta, Sherwood Park, Leduc and Leduc County gathered to explore volunteering. Their goal – to sustainably recruit and retain volunteers. Again, in my work with ACE Communities (www.acecommunities.ca) I facilitated the creation of their goal and identification of strategies to reach the goal. Their main finding: we know what needs to be done, we just needed to take the time amongst ourselves (as individuals and together) to find it. We just have to do what we forget we have to do.
Here is their work and what their conclusions:
I was burned and sick and tired
Reminded why I will continue
A boost to run a festival!
Appreciating people where they are
I reemphasize the importance to reinvest
Taking time to consider
What we are doing right
I will mentor others and transfer the best I can
I found categories of why we volunteer
Making it easier to work with my agencies
I take away this process
In organizations
We will know what we are about
And what is expected
Keeping board members with more effort
I will mentor
An interesting thought
Why do I volunteer?
Oh, ok.Now I get it.
I bring connections to my volunteers
I don’t just say be intentional
I can be intentional
I actually know
That I am an expert
In my work with ACE Communities (www.acecommunities.ca) I had the pleasure last night of facilitating a workshop with volunteer experts – the people who showed up to learn about how to recruit and retain volunteers.
With ACE leaders at Leduc County, we designed an experience that brought out the experts in Thorsby and Warburg. Here is their work and what they concluded at the end of the gathering:
The value of the conversation and commitment:
Sharing it all, networking
We know more than we thought
We renew positive
Practice
Remembering why
With inspiration
To appreciate
Encouraging community
Still cares
We don’t let the nay-sayers get me down
We keep trudging along
Walking with more support
With people like me
Not alone
What wonderful work we do
As volunteers
We do all those things!
It’s nice to hear once and a while!
We will appreciate volunteers more
I will appreciate myself more
Good to hear what others are doing
Hearing from other volunteers
I have taken in a lot
I can’t say just one thing
We are out of the box
With 39/20 networking
When we need it
We are out there
We are impressed
So many with similar ideas
We know what works
We’re on to something
We will find more people
That don’t know the word no
Always the same faces
But there are lots of kinds
Of volunteers
Worker bees and people like us
Start saying no to no!
We have lots to take home
Actions to remind myself
Once and a while
Fanning connections
What everyone said is what I was thinking
Try harder
The Terry Fox run will be running
Playing off one another
Making the connections between us
Last week I joined a decade-long conversation about values, culture and leadership in Dallas, Texas.We were 35 people from Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Iceland, the United Kingdom and across the United States.With the sweltering weather outside, we found ourselves creating some cool experiences. Top of mind is Jessica Roemischer’s contribution: prior to gathering, she asked us what music is most meaningful to us.Once gathered, she sat down at a piano to describe what she has been exploring – the connection music has in culture, using us as examples. (For more on Jessica, see www.pianobeautiful.com or http://jessicaroemischer.blogspot.com/)
Below is the meaning I made of the experience…
Here’s Jessica
Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrre’s Jessica
with culture
from who we are
from where we are
Enlightened epiphany
personal and universal
as one
Musical meme spirit
intangible power
shift
to divinity
within
Music reveals
dynamic human nature
expressed
forged to future
Old Joe in the room
in the world
in the garden
in a house like I have
(Amen)
Improvising voice
and crawling skin
crazy love
in lineage
an unchained melody
loving loch lomand
This is called trust
new consciousness
without fear
makes possible
single notes
in twinkling melody
played perfectly
flying free
Improving life conditions
makes music possible
frees deep spirit
catalyzing beauty
I’m Jewish by birth
don’t know What by life
What women are we talking about?
You can watch anything on YouTube
Nonlinear blend
circulated
Palestinian purple sparks
my dear beloved
lands
How are we doing for time?
Imagine
I’ll add something
then let it be
imagine…
We will all be
as one
Wherever I go
I feel at home
in transition
in harmonic exodus
On Friday May 1, 2009, I offered a workshop in Calgary as part of the Alberta Association of the Canadian Institute of Planners’ AGM. The subject was public engagement. Below are the participants words in answer to the following question: What is the value of today’s conversation. Enjoy.
New faces and players
This is my passion
Developer
Municipal planner
New tools
I see in new ways
Ditto ditto
I am on the learning cliff
In a new world
My gut applies
An open house is one component
Other things to integrate
Looking for the silent majority
Looking for ways in
Different backgrounds
Similar issues
Under lying threads
Risk management
Practical strategies
Solve problems
Constant learning
Student of life
I’m glad I’m not sitting over there
My intuition is correct
I learn by doing
I appreciate
An evolution is going on
Engaging more
Perhaps better decisions
Develop and show respect
Develop trust
Reinforced for success
Values and strategies
I think about why
Engagement differs
From person to person
The constant:
Open, honest communication
With room for a voice
Engagement is the new norm
Bricks and the mortar
Passion to collaborate
Processes are valuable
I share experience
With many backgrounds
New ideas
I have to check my assumptions
How do we know where they’re at?
Not what they say, what they do
Always a student
Gaining perspective
What works with one
Does not with another
More learning
Understand audience
Appropriate approach
Experimenting
Transitioning
Thinking about where I am
Where are the people coming from?
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