[Springboard] Junaluska Gathering

Sun Sep 30 22:31:04 EDT 2007

I like this dialogue and had the following reflections:

Watching several 100 organizations rise and crumble over the years, I am
fairly sure it has a great deal to do with the green pill principle in
achieving the initial change. However, I still believe all things pass away
and must either be reborn or replaced. The structure may be there but it
becomes a lifeless and meatless skeleton and no matter how much you rattle
it around, it no longer lives. It was, as described by Larry, dependent upon
a "presence" and when the presence is gone, the organization is dead.

The most durable structures seem to be those that put in place "deep" (not
surface) principals. For instance, "care for the earth" vs care for the
environment or global warming or even less deep, "let's all recycle." If you
grasp fundamentally what care for the earth is all about, the care for the
environment and recycling may flow from it, but if the latter are the only
basis for your structure, it will be short lived. So will many other things
- care for all cultures and people of the earth to just name a couple.

So when global warming is over (and yes it will be someday whether or not we
are here to see it) and global freezing sets in, one needs a deeper
principle or the structure dies.

Founding temporary structures that you know are temporary and that you
expect to go out of being when their job is done is another approach I have
come to appreciate. Another approach that makes sense to me is creating
movements or campaigns that are focused on immediate concerns (and by
immediate I actually mean those that last 100 years or less like creating
public education for all children).  You know after you get the structure,
it is going to have problems and you move on to the next thing important to
that structure or you take it out of being and replace it. 

Fundamentally, I believe, all organizations are learning organizations, like
all children learn. For them to be viable for "care for the earth" it takes
a radical force from within that guides and focuses what they learn - puts
the depth into the learning - that makes the difference in whether they are
transformational to creation, or just meteoric blips. The issue is not
learning organizations, but what they learn and who is teaching them.

As Neil Vance used to like to say, our village development projects are not
about creating little groups of happy poor people; they are about
transforming the society that allows poverty and degradation to exist. You
might say learning organizations are not about happy little organizations,
but building the earth. And it will take a hell of a lot of them to create a
change in Baghdad, Somalia, Kosovo, Cyprus, Tampa and Junaluska. 

To maintain our sanity and to be effective, we all must focus, but the focus
is transient and only meaningful when it flows from something much deeper.

George

4240 Sandy Shores Dr

Lutz, FL 33558

USA

Tel: 813-948-7267

Fax: 813-948-4167

Em: m.george.walters at verizon.net

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From: springboard-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:springboard-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of R Williams
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 18:51
To: Springboard Dialogue
Subject: Re: [Springboard] Junaluska Gathering

Dear Larry,

Certainly individual transformation is at the heart of all permanent change.
Given that fact, two thoughts come to mind.  One, I remember that we
identified the three major contradictions of society as economic domination,
political powerless and cultural disenfranchisement.  The "master"
strategies with which we sought to resolve the contradictions were
contextual reeducation, structural reformulation and spiritual remotivation.
My question has to do with structural reformulation.

Second, some years ago Peter Senge and his colleagues at MIT began to talk
about "learning organizations," suggesting that not just individuals in an
organization learn, but the organization itself, as a living, organic,
systematic entity, also learns.  What he means is that organizations undergo
the same sort of transformation, or conversion of heart and mind if you
will, that individuals do.

Hence my question was what are the programs or approaches that are aimed at
organizational learning, i.e. the transformation of the organizational
culture itself.  What this acknowledges is, I believe, that it's not just
the thinking and actions of individuals that shape organizations, but the
organization, for better or worse, shapes the thinking and actions of the
people who are part of it.

Thanks for asking for clarification.  I hope this helps.

Randy

Lawrence Philbrook <icalarry at ms69.hinet.net> wrote:

Dear Randy

We have been working in several areas in working with individuals especially
in the Facilitation Certification Program and in organizations through
leadership training and leadership mentoring.  Part of our task it bring
awareness of the authentic struggles and successes that each person brings
to their task and vocation of leadership. What is your specific question?

Last week I was meeting with the Generative Change Community in Manila and
they asked what made the community of facilitators different in Taiwan and
the spirit different.  One of the people with who is an old colleague and
facilitator answered that the key has been having the Wests and the
Philbrooks the ICA in Taiwan, the methods or processes can be transformative
but the key is the willingness of our colleagues to share their own lives in
humility and to invite others to do so as well. This vulnerability
demonstrates service and spirit.  

I was speechless and did not know what to say. Now a week later my
interpretation is  living a life of spirit is not about perfection but the
reality of continuous work on the discipline of living as authentically as I
can at every moment and inviting others to do the same.

With respect, Larry

R Williams wrote: 

Jack and all,

I am reading with interest of the various offerings that have, I assume,
spun off from RS-1, like the Courage to Lead and Cock's weekend that calls
forth spirit giants.  These are apparently geared to individual
transformation and development, as was RS-1.  I am wondering if anyone has
developed program approaches aimed at the transformation and development of
organizations?

Randy

Jack Gilles  <mailto:icabombay at igc.org> <icabombay at igc.org> wrote:

Wayne,

I have always thought that Courage to Lead was a fine way to present 
our historical spirit work. Thanks for reminding us. I would love 
to hear more on just how people are responding to it; what do they 
find most helpful, have you added any "twists" to it etc. Do you 
think it might be the basic component in a larger program that could 
include other methods and work and do you think it would work on-line?

Jack

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