Further thoughts on Social Change Through Multi-Generational Dialogue

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The below is a section on my paper that I believe provides the foundation of why we need to change how we are talking in our organizations. Again if you would like to full paper, just let me know.

According to Bontekonig (2011) in organization and social structures based on hierarchical leadership models, newer generations are only able to contribute as much as the older generation allows. The older generations can choose to support the tendencies of the emerging generations which will update the surrounding culture or they can block these tendencies and effectively stymie social change. In a time of rapid change and complexity as we are now experiencing, slowing down or blocking the input of newer generations of leaders can be devastating to the social changes that are needed to address the complexity and challenges faced by our organizations and societies. Bontekonig says,
Each generation needs the support of the other ones to complete their destiny in improving the culture, be it in a company or in society….when a generation is not supported in a company, the leaders of this generation – about 15% of the generation – often leaves this company soon. The followers stay and adapt to the ongoing culture. Which means that the culture of this company will not be updated and slowly loses its vitality and inevitably will ‘die’ (p. 5).

Introduction to new paper: Social Change Through Multi-Generational Dialogue

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Social Change Through Multi-Generational Dialogue
“The root of our global crisis, more frequently than not, is a crisis of leadership” (Pór, 2008a, p. 14). This very well might be the foundation of the difficulties we face as we approach social change globally. We are depending on old paradigms of leadership which fall short of what we need as we organize to address the complexity and challenges of our world. Depending on older leaders who bring forth the knowledge and experience of leading in a world that no longer exists to train and develop emerging leaders is one of the artifacts we need to challenge if we are going to be able to act effectively to create the needed social changes to create a healthy world. Older leaders stand to learn just as much from younger leaders as younger leaders have to learn from older leaders. This paper proposes that we can transform leaders of all ages by bringing them together in multi-generational dialogue to address the pressing questions that we as people, organizations, and societies face now and into the years to come. Pór, a pioneer in collective intelligence, explains the old paradigm as well as what we can expect by changing the paradigm when he explains,
In hierarchy-ridden social institutions [or any organization]….the meaning making function is attributed to the top. Times of exponential expansion of knowledge and complexity call for a new, more capable mode of the social organization of meaning. When this happens, we won’t be drowning in information while longing for wisdom (p. 11).
As we bring generationally diverse leaders into dialogue around questions that are critical to our future, we provide a framework for community intelligence to emerge. And when we add to this a global perspective that understands that all things are interconnected, we have the opportunity for global wisdom of the group to emerge and it is this group wisdom that will provide us the direction to move forward. As group wisdom is one of the important outcomes that this paper hopes to highlight, let’s define what we mean by group wisdom and why it is different than collective intelligence. Atlee and Pór (2006) provide a us with a picture of the difference between collective intelligence and wisdom. They start by explaining that collective intelligence is not always wise and it is wisdom that we need which then leads us into their explanation of collective intelligence and wisdom. They say
In relation to intelligence, wisdom can be viewed as an expanded perspective and motivation that embraces more of the whole of the situation being considered. Collective intelligence is wise, then, to the extent it successfully embraces whole systems in all their complexity and contexts; the interests, capacities and perspectives of all stakeholders and of the systems, themselves; full, relevant, and nuanced information about the situation; the whole of who we are as human beings; any emergent realities and creative possibilities; and so on. The more that intelligence — whether individual or collective — embraces the whole of relevant reality, the wiser we can consider it to be.

A time to reflect on the years conversations

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With school, work, health, and family, this has been an incredibly busy year. I can honestly say that I do not remember a year quite like it. So many wonderful outcomes of the conversations that I have had as well. After four years in my current role at work, our site is performing and our leadership team is doing well. I have been coaching and mentoring our leadership team to coach through conversation using conversational leadership, engage with their direct reports, simplify messages, and create the discipline to have the right conversations at the right time and not procrastinate. Incredibly after four years they are doing it and it is paying off. Our staff is doing much better and morale is up. Our site feels successful. Wonderful.

My family is doing great. David is working as a barista and he has a wonderful conversational style with his clients. They love him and he is having fun.  Hazel and Kinnera are also doing well with my Hazel helping at school and again dance skating. Kinnera loves school and is one of the top students in school. She is an example why gaming is not bad for kids. She is a fantastic gamer,  a fantastic student, and socially very connected. A fantastic kid.

School is going well. I am finishing my coursework so that I can start my dissertation starting in May. I study so much it is incredible. But I love the work. My field is dialogue and deliberation and the focus of my thesis is going to be developing generationally diverse leadership in conversational leadership through sustained dialogue using The World Cafe. Very exciting work and I am excited to begin. I will be glad to have my coursework behind me and focus on my dissertation. Another exciting transition in my life.

I hope you have a wonderful new year. I know that I will.

A World Cafe for fellow Fielding doctoral students and faculty

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My friend and fellow doctoral traveler Bart Buechner hosted the November San Francisco Fielding Cluster meeting at the VA center in Yountville just north of Napa Calif. We had two faculty that came in to deliver a workshop on Critical Theory and I was to host a World Cafe after lunch. I did make it down but it was an arduous trip. I got to the airport in Redmond Oregon at 5:30 am and the plane was delayed and did not leave until 9:15. I got lots of reading in at least. I did make it down to the Bay Area and after picking up a car made it to the meeting at just after 1 pm, 4 hours late. But I did make it in time for some of the workshop, lunch, conversation, and then the delivery of the World Cafe. Most of the participants, 14 in all, had not experienced The World Cafe and one of those who had did not have a good experience so I was excited to introduce the fantastic dialogic process to the group.

We as a group came up with a question which focused on power differentials and the Obama election and whether Obama could make a difference and what our hopes and dreams had been in supporting the Obama election. We had a short amount of time so I did a quick philosophical introduction to The World Cafe as a dialogic process and then set 15 minute rounds and a 10 minute harvest. The conversation was outstanding and again based on the results it was clear that the power of dialogue is what can drive the healing of the world. Although it was a short meeting for me, the trip down was invaluable.

At 3:45 I hit the road to go to Woodside to have dinner and visit with my friend Deborah and her husband Stephen at the home of one of their dear friends. After driving in pouring rain the whole way I got there at 6 pm and stayed until just after 8 pm. Wonderful conversations with Deborah and the hosts. Let for the airport and got to the terminal at 9 pm. Noticed that my flight was delayed, thank God, as it had been scheduled to leave at 9:05. I have no idea how I thought that it left at 10. Well it was delayed until 10 and then until 11 and by the time I got home it was 1:30 am and I was exhausted. But it was well worth it.

The trip although a busy, was a reminder of how important dialogue is and how important gathering in friendship is to us. Have wonderful conversations and a great holiday season.

John

Dialogue Partner (Samtalspartner)

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It has been a long time since I posted and I can honestly say that my doctoral work is keeping me buried, both in time and mentally. With that said my doctoral work is focused on dialogue and deliberation and is an expansion of the work in conversation that I have been doing over the last ten years. Of note is that I have finally defined what my role is in our world, and that is the role of dialogue partner. As you see in my title, I identify a dialogue partner as a Samtalspartner, a term and a practice from Sweden. Here is the definition of my practice:

Dialogue Partner (Samtalspartner) – in a relationship of mutual respect and trust with partners (or client systems) accompanying one another in service to generating value to all the stakeholders to the enterprise.

My doctoral work in human and organization systems from Fielding Graduate University provides a strong foundation for my field of practice as well as a focus on social justice which is of critical importance to me. So as I have moved forward in my field of practice, I have been digging even deeper into the field of dialogue and deliberation and am excited to apply this work as I explore new ventures where social justice is a critical component of the work.

My general field of study is as follows: Doctoral Student – Researching social transformation through multi-generational dialog using The World Cafe within a living systems framework. I am also completing a certification in dialogue, deliberation and public engagement which is giving me more tools to help communities of all types socially transform to create a healthier world for all people both human and non-human alike.

Thank you for visiting and continue the conversation.

John

November Systems Thinking Conference in Seattle

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Another wonderful systems thinking conference produced by Pegasus Communications. This is my third year attending the systems thinking conference and it is a time to connect in conversation with friends and associates that I do not have a chance to see face to face during the year. The key note presentations this year were not only insightful but inspiring. In particular I enjoyed Peter Senge’s presentation and that of David Whyte, an author and poet whose message was heartfelt and transformative. Another presentation that I really enjoyed was from Linda Booth Sweeney as she wove her conversation into participation with the audience. The last key note was presented by John Seely Brown and he provided extraordinary insights into the transformation of our communities and the role of technology, gaming, and social networking. He really opened my eyes to the talents and capabilities of the generation that have these technologies as native to them. Graphic recording was excellent during the conference and weaving was provided by Gary Malkin between sessions. His beautiful voice certainly helped set the tone for the conference.

The conference theme was courageous conversations and as we progressed through the several days together, each speaker wove this theme into their conversation and by the end of the conference I began to fully appreciate the need for courageous conversations to not only set the tone for the future but to create the future that we envision.

As well this conference gave me a chance to delve deeper into the conversation community and meetings with The World Cafe team were powerful. What a committed, talented, and passionate team of people. I was disappointed to miss the national SoL meeting as I was involved in The World Cafe meetings. There simply is not enough time to do it all.

I left the conference with a new sense of connection to the greater conversation field and new friends and partners who all are dedicated to this wonderful work that we do.

John

A conversational “ahha”

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Every once in a while I realize that I am sliding out of line with my primary conversational practice. I suppose that I could blame my lapse on being a guy or any other excuse but the reality is I discovered a blind spot in my practice of conversation.

Now that I have started my doctoral program at Fielding Graduate University in Human and Organization Systems, our larger cohort is organized into small anchor groups for ongoing support and collaboration. It is a wonderful concept. In a very short period of time, we have shared more than is probable given that we still are learning who we are as a group and who we are as friends, associates, mentors, and confidants. Herein lies the discovery of my blind spot.

Given the stress of starting a rigorous doctoral program and given that we all have lives, work, families, and responsibilities outside of the doctoral program, it is natural that each of us experiences some uncertainty, fear, and doubts. I pride myself on listening, a critical aspect of conversation. What I found myself doing to my dismay was offering solutions to people right out of the shoot rather that just being there to listen and support. I remembered in this setting that offering critique and analysis is pivotal to this level of doctoral work, however I also remembered that I do not need to solve everyone’s problems. Each of us is a professional, intelligent, competent, and accomplished, who am I to try to solve problems for everyone else.

I am now more aware of this blind spot in my practice and will doll out advice more sparingly or when I am asked rather than immediately offering solutions when someone voices frustrations. I will be a better listener and in the end, I will be a better conversational practitioner.

Keep those conversations going.

John