Re: leadership LO333 (was Re: Self-organized Learning)

Jim Michmerhuizen (jamzen@world.std.com)
Sat, 4 Mar 1995 22:39:27 +0001 (EST)

Replying to LO315:

It's eerie lately how, in this group, ideas that must come forward _do_
come forward. Your references to "practice" -- and your wonderful
reflections on how the daily practices of your own life can, or may, or
do relate to what we are all trying to do here -- makes it unnecessary
for me to say something I was going to say.

So I'll say something else, in response. Over the past decades, for me
in particular and for Western culture in general, the fun has gone out
of explaining things.

That used to be what made science powerful. Scientists looked into the
causes of things. (If you're into science-fiction, for example, it's
utterly fascinating to follow the evolving images of scientific activity
and knowledge from, say, Jules Verne and H.G.Wells onward.) A great deal
of "newspaper" science today is a degenerate form that doesn't even
pretend to yield causes. Look at the almost weekly reports of still
another statistical study of some newly revealed carcinogen. Yawn.

To that notion of "explaining things", your practice, and that of this
group, stands in the _strongest_ possible contrast. Has it occurred to
anybody else here that we are _not_ trying to explain things? It hit me
in the course of reflecting on what you wrote.

I don't know where this is going. But thanks for your post.

Oracular saying number forty-two: "Actions speak louder than words, but
not as clearly."

Regards
jamzen@world.std.com
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- - - - There are far fewer things in heaven and earth, Horatio, - - - -
- - - - - than are dreamt of in your philosophy... - - - - -

On Fri, 3 Mar 1995, Vadeboncoeur Helene wrote in LO315:

> Replying to LO301 --
>
> This idea of practice brought up by Mike McMaster and by Jack before him
> has hit a sensitive cord with me. How many times in large change efforts
> have I prescribed behaviours to the leaders of the organisation,
> behaviours that were supposed to generate credibility and commitment.
> "practice what you preach" goesa the old saying. But my strategies met
> with resistance not only on the part of the top managers but also on the
> part of the other members of the organisation.
>
> What Mike's ideas suggest to me is the following: rather than prescribing
> behaviours, I could assist my clients in discovering practices that would
> allow them to generate a field of consciousness within themselves first,
> and then , slowly, around them. I like the quote that illustrates how
> beliefs change first and then , and not immediately, but sometime in the
> future behaviours begin to change, and the change flows out of
> consciousness, and not out of prescription.
>
> This approach suggests a different kind of relationship with my clients
> and my different consulting teams, one that would be based much more on
> inquiry, and less on my expertise ( although as Mike points out, I don't
> want to polarize expertise and inquiry, one excluding the other). This
> means a different consulting contract, one which creates space for
> questions, for reflection, for allowing results to emerge over a longer
> period of time, for allowing ourselves to be surprised by unexpected
> "side-effects" of our work together.
>
> This morning, as I brought out a bucket of vegetable scraps and leftovers
> to the compost heap behind the house ( I had to shovel a path in the snow
> to get there} I thought about how this practice has supported me over the
> years. I've tried on occasion to get my kids to take over the job, but
> never any success on that front. So I have accepted it as mine. And
> somehow, I have the feeling that this "practice" has worked subtly on my
> consciousness - returning vegetables to the earth, feeding my garden with
> the results of the multiple interactions between the soil, the scraps,
> oxygen, water, squirrel droppings, some bacteria that I sprinkle on , and
> who knows what else. This practice also involves turning the compost,
> sifting it, poking it and so on. And it seemed so clear to me this
> morning how this practice contributes to my understanding of how
> organisations work, about how I can better help them support the life
> within them, how it can sometimes be more productive to sit back and let
> time do it's work ( as it does in the compost). It's an uderstanding that
> feels deeper and more complete than when I just understand with my head.
>
> Is this the kind of understanding that we try to develop with the
> practices that Mike was referring to? Iwondered what other practices in
> my life contribute to deepening my awareness and transforming my way of
> seeing things. I didn't find very many, but there a few others such as my
> regular stints of improvising on the piano, of long walks in the woods,
> and believe it or not, my participation in this list.
>
> So the word practice has taken on new meaning for me and makes me look
> forward to discovering with my clients how we can continue to explore
> this.
>
> I'll finish with a question. How does practice fit into your lives? What
> practices contribute to transforming your fields of awareness? How do you
> bring this idea of practice into your professional lives?
>
> -------------------------
> ///// Steve Gildersleeve Groupe CFC /
> /// Vadebonh@ere.Umontreal.ca Tel : (514) 286-8212 ///
> / Mnntreal, Quebec.
> Ma devise: Fie toi a toi
>
>
>
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Host's note: I re-ordered this message to place the new text first and
the long quote at the end.
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