Creating Change

Leadership for Sustainability

3 July 2013

Change begins!

What attracted you to come tonight?

Where does change happen?

I am here -

because _ _ _ ?

for _ _ _ ?

to _ _ _ ?

Change begins with _ _ _ _ _ ?

Leadership – whose role is it?

Seldom do we ask the “who” question…

Who is the self that leads?

How does the quality of the selfhood form or deform the

way I relate to family, my work, my colleagues, my world?

Parker J. Palmer

“If it’s going to be,

it’s up to ME!”

Leadership – whose role is it?

Getting engaged in changing things is quite straightforward. If we have an idea, or want to resolve an injustice, or stop a tragedy, we step forward to serve.

Instead of being overwhelmed and withdrawing, we act. No grand actions are required; we just need to begin speaking about what we care about. We don’t have to wait for official support. We just need to get started — for whatever issue or person we care about.

This is how the world always changes. Everyday people not waiting for someone else to fix things or come to their rescue, but simply stepping forward, working together, figuring out how to make things better. Now it’s our turn!

Adapted from Margaret Wheatley (2010) Perseverance

Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco

‘Outer Work’ Governance, Systems & Processes

‘Formal’

“Neither is more or less important. Both are necessary; neither is sufficient!”

Inner work engagement and enquiry supporting

Outer work roles and results

‘Inner Work’ Culture, Values, Beliefs

‘Informal’

Situation

Source

Shift - toward a different

result

Solution ???

Living Organisations

Living Organisations … have to do not only with physical technologies but also with social architectures: how the living relationships that compose an organisation become living processes that feel alive to those within them and that help create the conditions for life all around.

You start with life, and ask, how do we generate the conditions for life’s flourishing?

Adapted from Marjorie Kelly (2012)

Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution

Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco

- Learning and applying new skills and knowledge…

- for a specific reason (e.g. leading innovative change in sustainability)

- through a mix of individual and group activities, and…

- the ‘right’ combination of action, discussion & reflection.

Action Learning

Action Learning - Program Structure

WORKSHOP

1

Generative

leadership

Leading

Change

The power of

language and conversation

ACTION-

LEARNING

PROJECT

WORK

ACTION-

LEARNING

SET

INDIVIDUAL

and

GROUP

COACHING

WORKSHOP

2

What is my

Leadership

and how can

I offer it?

Conversation

purpose and

Intention

ACTION-

LEARNING

PROJECT

WORK

ACTION-

LEARNING

SET

INDIVIDUAL

and

GROUP

COACHING

WORKSHOP

3

Self-

Organising

Systems

Emergent

design

ACTION-

LEARNING

PROJECT

WORK

ACTION-

LEARNING

SET

INDIVIDUAL

and

GROUP

COACHING

WORKSHOP

4

Emergent

design

Taking responsibility for what you love

Taking responsibility for what you love, or, stated more fully, taking responsibility for what you love as an act of service, liberates us to act on our own passions—as long as they also benefit the greater good.

Since we don’t know which interactions among us make the difference, this practice points us to a promising source for guidance. I consider it the heart of the practices, because if we step up to it as a daily practice, it can change everything. It opens the way to situational leadership. We no longer need to wait for formal leaders or facilitators to declare an initiative or pose a good question.

Any one of us can do so by taking responsibility for what we love as an act of service. In doing so, they discover their connection to themselves, others, and the larger whole.

Adapted from Peggy Holman, (2010)

Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity

Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco

ActiveSustainability.com.au ARCACTIVE.com.au

“Be brave enough to start a

conversation that matters.

Talk to people you know.

Talk to people you don’t know.

Talk to people you never talk to.”

Margaret Wheatley (2009) Turning to One Another:

Simple Conversations to Restore Hope in the Future