Join us for the first Social Innovation Lab

I see most most systems in our society hitting walls as we try to solve new problems with old tools. From how we provide health care to how we do politics, we are in need of lots of innovation to find new ways of meeting community needs. In the past six months, I've organized a series of gatherings about Presencing, which is a way of paying attention to the future that is seeking to emerge.  I've been delighted by all the connections and learning that I've found in this work. One outgrowth of the work I've been doing with Presencing, is that I'm now partnering with InCommons, Wendy Morris, and many others to start a Social Innovation Lab in Minnesota. The first gathering of this lab will be on May 22 from 8:30 to noon in St. Paul. I'd like to invite you to join us, and help shape this resource and community. 

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The Social Innovation Lab is a quarterly, half-day gathering that brings together tools, projects, and networking to increase capacity for social innovation, for the purpose of building sustainable and inclusive communities in Minnesota. 

The inaugural lab on the morning of May 22 will focus on identifying and working with leverage points for change in complex systems. For instance, what are the most effective points of intervention for increasing the health of systems that provide education, food, health care, and public safety? Glenda Eoyang, from the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, will be one of the trainers, and help us find tools for change in complex systems. Several people who are leading systems change initiatives will join us, as we experiment with how the tools that Glenda introduces us to can be applied to the challenges in these initiatives. For example, people who are working to remove barriers for money transfers from Minnesota to Somalia will engage us in this challenge. Many other groups, including people working on health care reform and green affordable housing, will also be inviting us to learn with them about how tools for systems change can be applied those issues. Read more here.

Next steps for presencing in Minnesota

We've had three Minnesota presencing gatherings in recent months, with about 200 of us participating in these events. The goal of our times together has been to strengthen the Minnesota hub of people practicing awareness-based collective action methods in pioneering a more sustainable, inclusive, and aware society. Thank you for your participation in co-creating the learning, relationships, and work that has grown out of these gatherings. We have one more presencing gathering planned. We'd love to have you join us for that gathering as we build bridges from the momentum of the presencing gatherings into what is seeking to emerge next.

March Presencing Gathering.  Join us on March 1 from 9:00 am to noon at the Carondolet Center in St. Paul for open space, sharing stories, and connecting with each other as we explore our next steps in pioneering a more sustainable and inclusive communities in Minnesota. To get us started, we'll have a quick review of what we've done and learned in the previous presencing gatherings. 
  

Harvests from our prototyping gathering: Last week, about 110 of us gathered for a presencing gathering focused on prototyping and learning with 13 different projects in Minnesota that are doing social innovation work. Here is a link to the PowerPoint slides that Wendy Morris used to introduce the rapid prototyping tool. The following video and word collage capture some of what we did together last week.


I hope to see you on March 1 as we continue to notice and follow what is emerging among us.

Are you drawn to healing justice or the practice of presence?

The past couple months have been one of the most satisfying and growthful times in my working life. Part of what has been most satisfying has been discovering and collaborating with others who share my passions. I'd like to tell you about and invite you into two of those networks of interconnected passion and vision. 

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Presencing: One thing I'm most interested in is how our inner lives impact and change institutions we are a part of. I'm in the midst of organizing a series of forums and trainings about an approach to leadership called Presencing or Theory U. In this process, I've discovered an abundance of partners in this journey, including great partnerships with the Creative Leadership Studio and InCommons. Together we are exploring how to pioneer a more sustainable and inclusive society, and finding a lot of fun and learning along the way.  On January 17 from 9:00 am to noon at the Carondelet Center in St. Paul we're organizing a training about using Presencing to support deep shifts in human systems and communities. The training is free, but space is limited. Register now to confirm your spot. The video below gives you a flavor of a day long forum about Presencing that we had this fall. 

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Healing Justice: For many years, a focus of my work has been seeking healing responses to crime and the causes of crime. I'm very grateful to be working with the American Friends Service Committee to assess how healing justice could be furthered in Minnesota. On the evening of January 10, we're having a community meeting that will gather people who are doing some amazing work in this area, and we'll envision how it could more fully expressed in MN. I invite you to a>. If you aren't able to be there on the 10th, I invite you to fill out this online survey, providing your input about how the American Friends Service Committee could contribute to healing justice in Minnesota. 

Organizations gaining more consciousness: Nick Ellerby

I've had the privilege of doing two rounds of video interviews with staff and clients at the Oasis School for Human Relations in England. Oasis supports transformative learning in organizations through consulting and training. One of my favorite conversations at Oasis was with Nick Ellbery about what it takes to raise the consciousness of an organization. Here are Nick's suggestions.

What are the elements of organizations gaining more consciousness?

• Discover what you are connected to
• Find the optimum moment
• Global questions create a lever
• Face the question, "What is your purpose?"
• Allow new questions to emerge
• Deepen to new layers
• Make space for an emergent process

An Invitation to Partner with me: From Death to Life

I'm trying something I haven't done before, and I'd like to ask your help with that.

This fall I have the honor of supporting the organizational development of a group called From Death to Life. Mary Johnson founded the organization a few years ago after her son was murdered, with a purpose of bringing together parents who had a child murdered and also parents of people who committed murder, for healing and reconciliation. Since she started the group, she met with the man who killed her son, and the two of them slowly grew close and now do a lot of work together. In the past couple months, they have gotten lots of media attention--on NPR, CBS Evening News, People Magazine, etc. Here's a powerful video about From Death to Life from local filmmaker, Dawn Mikkelson.

I've known Mary for several years, and I know many people on her board. They asked me to facilitate discernment and visioning with them, and also to help them figure out how they can best structure the roles in the organization. They have lots of interest and attention in their work now, and a need to have more organizational capacity to make use of it. And, they currently have very little money. They are committed to being Spirit-led, and they also recognize they need to define clear long-term goals and decide on the best strategies and division of responsibilities to get there.

I feel called to support their work. When I agreed to work with them, I proposed three things:

• I would reduce my rate by about 25%
• The organization would pay me a small amount they could afford
  
• I would try to find an additional $800 though donations that I requested. That $800 would be donated to their organization, and then they would use it to pay for my consulting time.

I'd like to invite you to make a donation to From Death to Life, earmarked for this visioning work we are doing together. It would mean a lot to both me and the board and volunteers of this organization. To make a donation, click on the link below and use the online donation form. Donations go through their fiscal agent, the Basilica of St. Mary. In the "tribute" part of the form, type "Visioning" in the name box, and then select "in honor of" for the type of tribute. Thank you very much for joining me in this work. I'll report back on my blog about the progress toward this goal. Any amount over $800 will go toward the programs of From Death to Life, bringing together parents impacted by murder for healing and reconciliation.