Two of my colleagues/friends have written very useful posts reflecting on practices that can enhance any year end reflections and new years planning you may be cooking up. Many of you who know me how much I value what emerges from practice and my learning path is to understand these things from a complexity perspective in various systems. Recently a client pointed me to a FSG blog post which had a link to a quote that has enlivened this path.
Social Innovation Generation in Canada defines systems change as “shifting the conditions that are holding the problem in place.”
Savor that one for a minute.
For me, the blog posts noted below give us some ideas about shifting those conditions that are holding our problems in place!
First, Mike Parker of Liminal Coaching shares a great set of ideas framing the complexity of todays work world (work in the broadest sense!) What is wonderful is that if you keep reading, you will get to Mike’s gift: the value of daydreaming in helping us navigate our complex worlds. Yes, daydreaming. He riffs on the time management Pomodoro practice and creates Liminal Pomodoro – a practice to relax and let your mind do its work in that daydreaming state of mind. This might be helping conditions in our own minds that are holding our problems in place. Read the post – seriously. Then go take a Liminal Pomodor break and come back and read the rest of this post. Who knows, you may see it in a whole new light!
The second post comes from Michelle Medley-Daniel from the Fire Adapted Network Community. I had the chance to work with Michelle and hear team last year and we played with many complexity informed practices such as Liberating Structure. Michelle informed me that what she learned during that retreat had continued to add value over the year – which of course made my day.
Michelle’s reflections came around the US Thanksgiving holiday and reflected one of my favorite themes, abundance and ditching the scarcity mindset. To me, these are not Pollyanna-ish practices, but survival skills. When you take a different perspective, you have the chances of shifting the conditions that are – yes – holding the problems in place. I’ve snipped the high level essence of 2 pieces of advice below, but let the beautiful pie picture lure you into her full posting.
How Practicing “Enough” and Looking Ahead Can Support Social Innovation
Idea 1: Adopt an abundance mentality and give scarcity thinking the boot!
- Give freely.
- Check your pace; make space for your priorities.
- Practice gratitude.
Idea 2: As you reflect on the strategic opportunities that lie ahead, consider how people think about the future.
In the times of the immense wildfires in California, and the work that Michelle and her colleagues do at the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, this advice seems urgent and important.
Let’s shift the conditions that are holding the problems in place!
Thanks for sharing these ideas, Nancy. I love this quote from Mike’s post “daydreaming appears to be a big contributor to creative solution development. In fact it looks like it’s indispensable.” Cheers to a more creative 2018!