Art of Convening: Graduate Community

New! AoC Grad Intensive Workshop

AoC Graduate Intensive Workshop
Introducing the 9 ways to transform your meetings, gatherings and conversations.

Join Craig for a one-day intensive workshop in either Minnesota or California. The AoC Grad Intensive Workshop is based on new material, practices and processes from the upcoming book The Art of Convening: 9 Ways to Transform your Meetings, Gatherings and Conversations.

What will we do?
The curriculum reveals the 9 aspects (circles) of the inner and outer factors the Convener must consider in designing and executing any engagement. The 9 circles form a wheel or sequential path the Convener follows, starting with Getting to the Heart of the Matter and continuing to Commitment to Action. Learn the 9 principles of the wheel and corresponding 6 questions that give you the theoretical background and practical knowledge for using the convener wheel in your life and practice.

The Value of the AoC Process- A Case Study

The Value of the AoC Process

On May 26 I had a meeting with 30 angry parents regarding who their children’s teacher would be next year.  They were angry at not being included in the process of making the decision and they were upset at the timing of the decision.  Furthermore, they used activist techniques to make their feelings known.  On the day of the meeting they passed out t-shirts to all the parents, children of the class, and to other children/parents in the school.  They had everyone, including children, write letters to the administration.  They had met repeatedly ahead of time and outlined their issues.  All of this was done within a 4 day turnaround after the meeting was announced.

I had discussed a meeting outline with Craig ahead of time.  This ensured that everyone was heard at least twice via bead stringing and going around the circle.  This format worked for the most part except that people did not stick to their 2 minute limitation, nor did they heed the chime telling them their time was up.  At one point, there was a mob-like feeling because a teacher was speaking who I found out many of them were angry at.  I had to stand up and ask for quiet.  Some people used inappropriate language in their two minutes and many spoke vehemently.  The meeting was three hours long.

I and my five teammates listened well.  We heard what they were saying and we were able to make a plan going forward for a continued meeting the next week.  After the meeting, some people thanked me for being calm and for the process.  I felt very grateful that I had the meeting outlined.  It helped to keep me grounded in a difficult situation.

My question is about what I should have done with the energy of 30 angry people that I allowed into my body as I listened deeply.  At some level I feel like allowing the energy into me was necessary in order to really hear.  However, it almost felt lethal, or like being poisoned to live with it and process it in the next week.  I woke up during the night having to “rescue remedy” myself.  I had to take sleeping pills to sleep.  I feared for my job and for all the pain that we had inadvertently caused a large number of people.  Luckily, I was out of town away from the school on a vacation so was able to get space and distance. Unluckily, I was on vacation and the joy of that was quelled by the processing.

The next week, June 4, I had another meeting with a smaller group of these parents and this meeting was markedly different.  We again followed a Craig-inspired format and were able to use it where each individual did a bead-stringing, could ask questions, could provide a community circle comment, and could give a one word closing at the end.  Again, people came up and thanked me for remaining grounded and for the format.

I really don’t know what would have happened without implementing the techniques from the Art of Convening.  I feel like it saved me, even though the experience was so difficult.  It saved me because there was no way out except through, and it was very clear that everyone was heard.  From that we could move to resolution.  We reached a good place and are now are trying to negotiate funding our resolution.

Cheryl Rice on using AoC in leadership

Cheryl is in the current AoC#30 group

Craig

Dear AoC Colleagues:
I have been given an opportunity to apply the AoC principals, practices and agreements in a consulting assignment. Craig graciously took time to review my application of the material to this opportunity, and in return asked me to provide you all with a brief summary of what happened and what I learned. Feel free to email or call with feedback or questions. Best wishes,
Cheryl Rice AoC #30

Background:
The CFO of a pharmaceutical company asked me to help develop the leadership capacity of 18 person leadership team.
My engagement includes designing and delivering two large group meetings, attending monthly staff meetings, and facilitating monthly Learning Groups (LGs). Each LG is comprised of 4 – 7 leaders and meets for 90-minutes once a month for 6 months.
The stated purpose of the learning groups is to create a safe, spacious and useful container for leaders to reinforce the development of specific company defined Leadership Capabilities; to receive support and feedback from colleagues, and to increase their leadership competence and confidence.  
My unstated purpose is to introduce them to new ways of sharing, listening, and being together so that they can grow more deeply and cohesively as individuals and as a team.
My intentions are: to create a powerful and impactful and wonderful experience…to be brave, compassionate and patient with what shows up for all!

Consciousness...The Blind Spot of Economic Thought

Intellectual bankruptcy in most organizations
Stages of Capitalism
4 levels of crisis response for organizations/ecosystems
7 Acupuncture Points
Creating Co-sensing Infrastructures: Listening the New Into Being
What is needed
Principles of groups

Heartlanders gathered today to hear Otto Scharmer speak online. More powerful, incisive reflections from Otto, who is a true visionary, in the most collaborative, generative way possible. Download SevenAcupuncturePoints

Intellectual bankruptcy in most organizations: How people pay attention collectively affects the outcome. The quality of consciousness we share as human beings directly connects to the future we collectively want to create going forward. What do we really do? What is the essence of leadership work on how people pay attention to shifting the fields of collective attention? The reflective turn opens the possibility of something new. How do we help people to be attentive?

Paul Hawken Commencement Address Unv. of Portland

Friends

Paul Hawken is one of the true elders speaking clearly and passionately to what is before us as an interconnected & interdependent planet. I have know him since the 60's and marvel at his growth and maturity into the kind of leader we are yearning for.

Craig

Commencement Address to the Class of 2009
University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.

But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not onepeer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. 

Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food – but all that is changing.

Theory U: the future is now

Our May 7 Thought Leader Gathering with Otto Scharmer as Conversation Starter was mind-blowing! 110 of us gathered and experienced presencing the future, modeling the behaviors of leadership that support a positive future and a world that works for all. Both Otto and David Sibbet have blog posts that capture the essence of the day.

As Otto notes, "In spite of most people in the room meeting for the very first time, what happened throughout the morning was profound. it felt like a huge energy shift (or energy generator) that changes the state of self, awareness, and personal source connection.  This morning we had time to [take the conversation to] a deeper level by applying the U to one’s personal situation right now, right here.... I wonder how we could use this enormous potential for shifting the state of awareness more fully?"

A critical question posed during the morning: "How do we create the inevitability of sustainable, positive change?" By practicing and presencing and continuing to gather with people who are engaged in these important conversations.

Many thanks to Otto for his vision and great energy, and all TLG participants for a powerful morning session.

Leader as Convener

I had a very good fortune to be a conversation starter joined by 2 leaders, Pablo Gaito, Cargill Corporation and Michael Trebony, Best Buy Corporation, April 3 at the Twin Cities  Thought Leader Gathering. The theme Leader as Convener: The Power of Intelligent Community touched off an explosive conversation with the 65 in attendance. Please post your insights and reflections after to you listen to the audio of my remarks here:

The question is: “Who you gonna be while you do what you do?" –song by Barbara McAfee

My life work has, in large part, been influenced by the concept of "Leader as Convener" and these remarks outline the tenets, practices and principles of this concept.

Craig

RSVP next Grad Calls

AoC grads,

We’re pleased to announce the next 3 Grad Community calls. Please register below for any or all.
In addition to Stringing the Beads, hearing about Craig’s latest work, and reconnecting, here is the proposed theme designed to continue the practices of the AoC.

Register at any of the links in the left column and you'll receive a confirmation with call-in information.

Looking forward to being with you!

Craig