[Dialogue] Stick Chart Navigators

[Wayne Nelson]

On 1-May-11Sunday, at 5:51 PM, Lee Early wrote:

> My friend then asked if I went digging around in an archive  
> somewhere, or look up the answer in a book.  No, I hadn't.  I do not  
> believe any of us, in a similar situation would have either.

I have done both, but not in exactly an 'up against the wall'  
situation.  One of our 'projects' at ICA in Canada has been bringing  
our knowledge, methods and practices into the 21st century with  
integrity.  We've gathered a pretty good set of archives by combining  
our own files with those of generous colleagues like Ken Fisher and  
Greg Harris.  I've been through them many times and have discovered  
some genuine gems as well as being able to synthesize our wisdom and  
articulate for contemporary use.  We were in there like moles when we  
wrote "the Courage to Lead", "The Art of Focused Conversation" and  
"The Workshop Book." I'm  down there often in working on an  
articulation of our methodological foundations.

The old order may well be denying death and your friend may be right  
entirely.  To be honest, I don't see that it matters much whether the  
order is alive or dead.

How many death denying order members does it take to screw in a light  
bulb?
  - - - - Doesn't matter. They aren't looking for light anyway.

How many order members not denying the order's death does it take?
- - - - Doesn't matter. They are happy in the dark.

I don't go to the archives or look into the pasty for anything related  
to that process or argument or whatever it is. I go there for the  
future.  This world needs this approach now. As I look around at what  
is happening in the world of facilitation, what I see is a great deal  
of the processes and facilitation approaches currently active, I see  
mostly material that is based on individual  and organizational  
psychology.  That's not us and I believe our approach is significantly  
unique and valuable enough to carry it firmly into this century.  This  
ontological, participatory approach to group work is totally necessary  
if the world is to move forward.

We are actively working to keep our methodology alive, growing and  
evolving as a living approach to group facilitation that carries with  
it the wisdom and experience of our past and addresses the practical  
and existential challenges and questions at play in their real  
situations.

We also go to the archives and the books when a client asks for  
something that we just don't have on the shelf. Rarely do clients ask  
us for simple things any more.  I doubt we've done a simple, straight  
up, 4 beat strategic planning process for many years. The operational  
context seems to require a lot more creativity.  Often we do find  
ourselves out over nearly nothing and most of the time we have to  
design from scratch.  We strive to maintain the integrity of our  
methodology and innovate with them in ways that move organizations  
forward.

We did really hit the books, for example, when the Alberta Min of Ed  
asked us to facilitate a province wide consultation on distance  
education using RDS's Scenario Planning approach. We did it using  
material on the social processes from the archives and by reading Kees  
van der Heijden's book and a couple others. It was a massive success,  
involving Albertans across the province and a plenary with live video  
feed to and from several locations.

\\/