Learning About Learning Communities

All of my life I’ve been learning about learning communities.

Sometimes articulated. Sometimes noticed and felt. Sometimes journaled. Sometimes experimented with.

In the 1990s, it was grad school. There were 20 or so in the Masters Program I attended. Organizational Behavior (we graduated in 1993 as MOBs). I learned how to go with others rather than alone.

The 1990s were also about Communities of Practice. That’s when I worked with Berkana. That was some of the work of Etienne Wenger. Berkana had this phrase that I often find myself repeating today about learning places — “what happens at Berkana doesn’t happen at Berkana.” It was a reference to the way we learned well beyond the event. To the ways we were forever changed.

In the 2000s, it was The Art of Hosting. I was invited by my friend Toke to learn and participate in the pattern. I was supported by my friend Meg to discover. In that general time, I came to practice and offer so many Circles, World Cafes, Open Space Formats. I saw so many people open to something deeper, something more lasting. That’s when I met Chris, Caitlin, who would come to reshape the way I learned about learning communities. And so many others that found new purpose.

In the 2010s, I was honing all of that work. And experimenting. That’s when I found Soultime, a group of men getting to the deeper work. I started hosting events like The Art of Humans Being. I started living outside of the lanes, yet connected to the same road system.

And in these 2020s, I’m honing further. I listen to my belly. I get excited about the deep inner work that I get to do with others and that I get to do with myself. I get to further follow aspects of activation and animation. That’s now my Wander School and Becoming & Belonging Sessions.

Once you tasted it, you never forget it. That learning. That syncing. That has been true for me.

All of my life I’ve been learning about learning communities. And (thx Robert Frost), that has made all the difference.