Communities of Practice — Minimal Structure and Minimal Practice

Last week I was in Edmonton, Alberta. It is my hometown. It was the second time I have co-hosted an Art of Hosting training there in the last four months. I find it fascinating to observe hometown culture, now through my eyes of having lived and traveled in several places for many years.

One of the Open Space sessions I joined was on the third day, focussed on growing a community of practice in Northern Alberta. About 12 people gathered. What I saw was people interested in carrying forward the learning, working, and relationships that were being created at this training. There was real hunger. And even more, a sense of real possibility. Powerful, yet simple. I love it when this moment arrives.

Of course there are many choices of how to do that. I was happy to share some of what I have seen working and offer a few inspirations on minimal structure and practice. In the spirit of “minimal elegance” as I’ve often heard from Juanita Brown, Tom Hurley, and David Isaacs at The World Cafe.

As Minimal Structure…
  1. Meet Monthly for an Evening: A couple of hours together. First to explore what is possible in a deliberate community of practice, what people yearn for. And then later to move into sharing work together. An evening on which the focus is someone’s particular project. Listen and learn as friends and colleagues. Offer help. No doubt, gain a few insights that apply to other projects.
  2. Meet Quarterly for a Broader Community Share: A half day or six hours together. Enough to hear more from many people and to share some of the journey of current projects. Enough to be reflective with each other about knowns and unknowns. Enough to be in inquiry together about underlying patterns of hosting as it is showing up in projects and in the community.
  3. Meet Annually as a Full Learning Village: Come together for 3-4 days in the pattern of the Art of Hosting. To add to the energy that is there. To welcome new people in. To bring colleagues or clients. To drink deeply from the place of community in learning.
As Minimal Practice for Monthly Gatherings…
  1. Check-In: Practice the principle of slowing down to speed up. Of story-telling with each other. Of inviting the energy of possibility.
  2. Rotate Leadership: Though it typically takes a couple of people to steward initial monthly meetings, support immediately the group creation. Just take turns. Similarly for quarterly learning gatherings. With annual learning villages, bring in an Art of Hosting stewards team. And grow / practice together so that the local community gains more of the capacity to host the whole of such a gathering.
  3. Focus on Work: I’ve noticed that initially, people are very happy just to get together and renew aquaintances. This isn’t minor. I find many of us need support in working from a different pattern. At some point, however, most want to move into work together. Or just learn about applied practice together. To give a group the space to share a project (or design, or meeting format, or wild idea…) is simply the invitation to be wise. I’m delighted when people notice who they can experiment with working together.
  4. Meet in Circle: As the group grows it can be moved into additional formats. But practicing meeting in circle is just the best way I know to create a deep center. It’s the kind of center that doesn’t require coercive invitations. People come because it helps them go to the deeper place individually and together. And because it helps them in their needs.
  5. Check-Out: Seal the time together with deliberateness. Honor the difference between the social space and this deep listening space. A simple question works: What are you leaving with? Or, what has been the gift of the time together for you?
  6. Stay Simple: Have the courage to be simple. In the places you choose to meet. In the preparation. Rely on the fundamental resource of human beings turning to one another.

Thanks to Corinna, Chantal, Mary, and all that joined this conversation, both from Edmonton and from Calgary. It was a gift for me to feel a simplicity and clarity that feels like a massive container for good work and capacity-growing. These very qualities of a culture — simplicity, clarity, container, good work, community — they are, in fact, home, wherever that shows up geographically.

12 Principles for Creating Healthy Community Change

One of the teachings that I’m really loving offering is “12 Principles for Creating Healthy Community Change.” A week ago with Teresa Posakony at an Illinois Art of Hosting. At other Art of Hosting trainings in Japan and Nova Scotia. Working with core leadership teams. Each principle is accompanied by a few questions to help focus leadership and social engagement. One of the reasons I love these is I feel a deep embodiment of them. I’ve been living in, applying, and learning some form of these principles with many friends through The Berkana Institute since the early 90s.

These principles were created by friends and colleagues, Margaret Wheatley and Nancy Margulies. They are part of an Engaging Community Toolkit created in partnership by The Berkana Institute and Neighborhood Centers Inc. When I use these, I introduce the principles as “principles for freedom in design,” whether working with teams, communities, or movements. A bit of what is underneath choices of engagement methodologies and practices. I introduce the questions as “questions to get started.” Great for many things including process reflection, staff meetings, setting group norms and agreements, and working with community movements at scale.

Last week I shared these with a group at the Edmonton Art of Hosting. There were about 15 people that showed up to learn. I shared stories. Asked questions. Offered applied practice. Explored together. The check-in and check-out from this group is representative of what I’ve seen in myself and with many others as they explore these principles. It shows a kind of hunger and appreciation for the simple that they can use. To get a bit more of that flavor, a few of the words spoken in Edmonton are below:

Check-In: What brought you to this group?
-appreciation of the invisible
-desire to use in the work I’m doing
-desire to spark change
-longing to be released from the recipe of forms
-desire to use with my board
-appreciation of knowing at the “gut” level
-welcome of more tools
-freedom, my yearning for it
-applied possibility

Check-Out (after an hour together — yes, short, but a powerful touch): Please share a bit of what you leave with / appreciate…
-the spark of yes
-awareness
-tools for a community of practice
-clarity of common sense in need of common practice
-“failure in the middle” — I want to learn more
-good to feel the identity of us as human beings
-I could use this with my exec team over 12 weeks
-this is good scaffolding
-this is ultimate garden preparation for fertile soil
-a checklist to breath and get grounded

Loving offering this. Loving exploring with people. Loving seeing the birth of the simple in people and in myself. Loving the work that is getting done that supports healthy change.

Thanks all in Edmonton.

Rural Health Network — Pioneers of the Possible

I just completed a day with a growing core team in Klamath County, Oregon. Yesterday, we were a total of 10 people. Lovely people. Leaders in the community. Mostly, providers of health services. Colleague Steve Ryman and I worked with Klamath Health Partnership CEO, Bob Marsalli to design the day. Our work yesterday was primarily

  • to build relationships to help hold the intention of transformation
  • clarify the central purpose
  • take next steps on convening a community event for 50

Our central purpose that we arrived at was, as community, “How might we together improve heath and access to health services in Klamath County?”

Our design was simple. Some contexting from Bob. Some explanation of how we would work together, building on the earlier exploration of team that had happened two months ago. We invited people to speak some of what they knew as pioneers (or stories of pioneers) and what they knew of engagement. It was a great energy to begin with. We deepened the inquiry into the project by using The Flow Game, a simple round of inquiry to understand more of what was involved in this project. And then we asked people simply: What do you need to be well in this project? Great sharing.

After lunch, our time was committed to sharing the 5 Breaths, a model for architecting change at scale. And then the first level of shaping language for an invitation and a list of who we would hope to have in the room to join this inquiry.

It was a powerful day. A good dive.

Bob introduced it as “Pioneers of the Possible.” A great invitation for all of us. He spoke of his recent journey to Southern Utah, and learnings of the Pueblo people and the kiva. “Out of the kiva to do. Back to the kiva to learn.” A great way to think about this core team. Good gatherings to center the work. Then clear steps of action that bring the work into a level of being and usefulness to the community and each other.

I always pay attention to reflections and appreciations in a closing circle. A couple from this group stay with me. “This is not an ask for trivial work.” “It has been a personal day, which I didn’t expect.” “It is refreshing to see the possibility of things I’ve been cynical about for a long time.” “I always leave more hopeful. I feel like I’ve been meditating all day.”

Gratitude to this team and the work we are supporting on heath and wellness.

Harvest — Art of Social Innovation

I am grateful to have worked last week with 43 beautiful people in Nova Scotia, Canada. Our focus was the Art of Social Innovation. It was a very skilled and experienced set of practitioners.

Most had a basic understanding of hosting and participatory leadership. Most had a next level understanding of the methodologies, mental models and practices and how they connect to large scale social innovation and change across regions, communities, nations, trans-locally. Most had understanding of the models we were using in social innovation, like 5th Paradigm of Organizing, U Theory, Two Loops (taking Social Innovation to Scale), 5 Breaths of Design. Most were peers cracking new levels of work in their spheres of influence.

A summary for me of what was unique about this is that we were a group of practitioners learning next levels to work deliberately with everyone: across teams, networks, professions, geographic boundaries. Learning in the spirit of Clay Shirky’s work, with “here comes everyone.”

There was much that happened that was rich. A few of those are below, offerings of harvest. Gratitude to all. An extra thanks to cohosts, Tim Merry, Kathy Jourdain, Sera Thompson, and Greg Judelman.

Held By Windhorse — Poem / Rap after being hosted on the land.

Inspirations After Day 2 — A few sparse thoughts from midway through the event.

Social Media Harvest — Real time blogging and posting from participants, hosted well by Greg Judelman and Thomas Ufer.

Who’s That Man in the Hockey Mask — Spontaneous Video Humor Haiku Harvest / Susan Szpakowski Poetry

Check-out Circle — Reflections from closing in our last circle.

Everything is Energy — Blog post of inspiration through Stephen Duns.

Photos — A few that worked out well. People. Flipcharts. Scenery.

Collective Learnings Harvest — From a final World Cafe on what we now know of the landscape of social innovation, as well as the dragons / questions that are good to be aware of.

Invitation — As posted on ALIA’s site.