Peter Block Speaks His Mind

Photo Credit:Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2011

How do you change the world?
You change the...
CONVERSATION

John McKnight and Peter Block have more in common than a Community Development profession.  They are both challenging the system, committing to working with one neighbourhood at a time, one room at a time, one conversation at a time.

If you haven't ever heard of John, then go back to last week's blog and read more.
(That's a hint... you need this background for our "conversations" in April.)

This time, let's hear from Peter Block in this short video about his views on what's happening in North America, and why the old bureaucratic silos won't get us where we need to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwwIF5OczHE&NR=1
(CCPS Imagine the Possibilities Part 3)

If you're interested, Peter is featured on 3 (10 minute) video clips featuring the City of Carlsbad California.  Thunder Bay is just beginning this journey...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwahGcEiAr0&NR=1

At our April learning day, we'll hear from 3 leaders who lead...and ignore the traditional path to get commitment and results. It's going to be...interesting!

Changing Conversations from Issues to Possibilities

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2010
Metamorphosis continues though seasons change...

Have you ever heard the term "Iconoclast"? 

It was new to me, too, until I heard a CBC radio interview with Gregory Berns,

author of the book, "Iconoclast.  I was hooked.  Let me explain why I had to learn more.

An "Iconoclast" is a successful innovator who overcomes most mental barriers

that stop many of us cold. 

The brain has 3 natural roadblocks that stand in the way of truly innovative thinking:

• flawed perception
• fear of failure
• the inability to persuade others

The question is, how do we - with these "typical roadblocks" - learn how to open up the channels of our perceptions, fears and skills of persuasion?

The answer comes from organizational strategist, Peter Block. 

 He says, start by changing the conversation.

(This month's Leadership Learning Day will feature speakers/performers who have learned to change their conversations... and their success proves the case in point.)

Peter Block says:

“If you want to change the world - or the culture - all you have to do is change the conversation. In the beginning was the word -- that was how the Bible started. Asking the question of what is true wealth invites people to have a conversation they may never have had before. That itself is a measure of wealth! The value of our coming together can be measured by whether or not we are able to have a conversation we have not had before. A conversation is an action." -

Let's look at 2 conversations: 

the first maintains the "status quo"

and the second promotes innovation and inclusion

(2 of the phases of iconclastic thinking).

Conversation "A"

What happens when we "Solve the Problem"?

• The community is defined by its history and its issues

• We solve problems identified by others

• The goals, plans, measures and consequences are set by others

• Cost and efficiency dominate (we can't  afford to do "this" and this is why...)

• We seek answers and a defined destination

• Members express dissent as a stance in reaction to others, a demand for how they should change, and the beginning of negotiation based on past examples

• Prefer safety and security, choose a predictable future

• Negotiation, force or control of resources creates a better future.

Conversation "B"

“What happens when Possibilities are explored?”

• The community is defined by its connectedness and its possibility

• We define and solve problems ourselves
• The goals, plans,  measures and consequences are set by us (and teams work within that flexible boundary)
• Purpose and relatedness dominate (silos are replaced by connectedness)
• We trust questions and an emergent path (appreciative enquiry looks for the best in people and their work)
• Members may express dissent as a personal stance, a choice that defines us. This kind of dissent is the beginning of a conversation ("Tell me more about what you are thinking")
• Prefer adventure, choose freedom, positive anxiety, and comfortable with vague future (when the leader role models, others follow the pattern)
• Relatedness, accountability and diverse engagement create a better future.

Conversation B creates a context that nurtures an alternative future, one based on inclusiveness and hospitality.

This context helps to initiate conversations that shift our experience - through the way we bring people together and the nature of the questions we use to engage them.

Innovation happens because people

(who know how to change the conversation)

go ahead

and do

what others say cannot be done.

As leaders... "respect" for others emerges in our conversations when

we focus on the gifts, talents and strengths of others around us.

See you  Thursday!

Maggie



Show Me The Way...

Photo credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Ten + 1 Tips for Leadership


If the “perfect” list of leadership tips existed, it would highlight “Take A Break”. Leadership is demanding, so demanding in fact, that burnout is much too common. Stress may kill, and as Tom Peters says, it also kills effectiveness. When "innovation" needs to happen, leaders need to show everyone around them that they are r-e-l-a-x-e-d.

How's that again? Innovation is about letting go of "the plan", the analysis, the financial implication. Innovation may end there, but it starts with...mindless meandering, crawling along the rocks by Lake Superior...wandering in the woods...playing with childlike abandon, preferably with children. When you are free to see issues from a new perspective, with a wide horizon, the solutions appear.


The Rest Of The "Almost Perfect" Leadership List

Just like "fast food" isn't healthy every day, "fast leadership" can lead to an unhealthy organization. For innovation, think "slow".

“Slow Leadership’s” shortlist of attributes would include:

* The willingness to think deeply and independently.

* A true focus on creating the best outcomes for the most people over the longest period of time.

* The willingness to reflect carefully on all the available options before committing to action.

* An acceptance of the ethical and moral responsibilities that go with all leadership positions.

* A sound appreciation that the bulk of his or her job is about helping others succeed, not improving his or her own position.

* An understanding that profit is an outcome of good management, not a goal to be pursued for its own sake.

* Open-mindedness and adaptability, in place of rule-bound, silo thinking.

* Most of all, moral courage to stand up for what is right and accept full responsibility for all his or her actions and their outcomes.

Source: Carmine Coyote is the founder and editor of Slow Leadership http://www.slowleadership.org/blog/

As we discuss “innovation” in community and organizations - start with “self-innovation”; look inside yourself first, before beginning a change initiative elsewhere.

Are you in synch with the demands of leadership as we know them now?

Or have you been left behind in a cloud of dust, while the innovators are truly changing the world?

Economic Renewal & Change

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright

For change to happen:

“Leaders need to be the rock of Gibralter on rollerskates.” - Tom Peters

Two Days’ Worth

Staying current on hot topics is essential for leadership. Here’s a sampling of Chronicle Journal columns which mirror recent Leadership Thunder Bay Community Learning Days. What's happening from a community wide perspective? What are the connections and consequences industry to industry, service to service? What is your role as a leader?

Friday March 13, 2009

Salaries Out of This World

That noise you hear in the background is a rude awakening, the kind of alarm clock jangle that has finally reached the ears of the NHL. ...The money crunch has been slow to hit professional sport, and conversely, pro sport has been slow to react. Carolina: Thunder Bay’s Eric Staal signs a $57 million, seven year extension in the hot-bed of southern hockey: $8.15 mill....

The one thing that has intrigued me over all the years around this game at the highest level, is wondering when somebody, anybody, an individual or even a group of players from one hometown is going to put in a financial infusion back into the source of their success....setting up an endowment fund for the minor hockey organization that gave them their start...” - Ross Brewitt

City, CEDC Boost Online Services.

The redesign of the website is initiative No 65 of the city’s Building a New Foundation Strategic Plan.

Among the major changes:

• Online users can subscribe to city news through RSS feeds, meaning whenever the city posts a news release, the user is notified.


• The “Event Calendar” has been revamped, new features added.


• Photos from MyTBay.Ca, the storytelling portal.


• CEDC has also developed a new website to attract investors and serve business.


• The Community Profile: Key Facts and Stats is a one stop shopping document.


• BizPal simplifies and customizes the business permit and licence process.


• http://http://www.thunderbay.ca/

Rebound Falls Flat: Finances Stymie Elizabeth Fry

Almost a year after the Elizabeth Fry Society closed its doors in Thunder Bay to regroup and sort out funding, it’s not much further along....The group helped about 200 women each year with one paid staffer and volunteers...There is a desperate need for women’s housing. Women inmates are falling through the cracks.

3 Cheers for Food: Security Research Network Hard at Work

Some celebrate with food, others just celebrate food itself. The organization which focuses on enhancing and sustaining the local food system, has more than 50 partners in the region, including food distributors and producers. http://www.foodsecurityresearch.ca/

Lessons for Native Youth

A change in the way aboriginal people are governed in Canada is necessary and inevitable, an aboriginal youth conference being held in Thunder Bay was told Thursday....

"We can rebuild our economies to the point where we can take care of the needs of our own people rather than rely on somebody else to never give enough. Undoing the damage that has been done is also our responsibility. No one else is going to do that for us."- Herb George, president of the National Centre for First Nations Governance.

Clinic Recruits Patients to Keep Staff

Health clinics in economically depressed Northwestern Ontario towns could lose in-house staff if the number of patients declines along with the general population, warns the Ministry of Health. Marathon Family Health Team has 3200 residents enrolled, but the Ministry expects us to have 4000. Marathon Pulp, one of the town’s main employers, has been idled and many of the plants’ 230 workers may have to move away to find other jobs.


Saturday, March 14, 2009

35,300 Jobs Lost in Ont.: Unemployment Jumps in Thunder Bay

There are even bleaker times ahead for Ontario as the province continues to take the brunt of job losses in Canada, the opposition parties warned Friday. Thunder Bay’s unemployment rate went from 6.9% to 7.6%.

Abitibi-Bowater Restarting Newsprint

The full complement of about 1100 employees who work for Abitibi-Bowaters’ various Thunder Bay operations should all be back on the job on Monday when the newsprint plant - the last division to come back on line - fires up.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

And finally, your readings for April 16, 2009

1. Chapter 7: Competency to Mastery, Dr. Brad's 7 Strategies

2. Chapter 9, Whole Brain Book: Styles of Management

3. EDC Site: http://www.thunderbay.ca/CEDC.htm

4. Gladwell's Tipping Point http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html

Your key leadership skill is GOAL SETTING.

Enjoy your Spring Break...St Patrick's Day

"Every day's a fine day. It's just that some days are better than others." - Irish proverb courtesy of our own George Burns