First call and next steps, Sept-Oct. 2007

Maria wrote:

> So - my sense and suggestion is this - that we create a journey of online and conference call inquiry between now and next summer (or whenever we have a face to face conference). I feel that that the online inquiry and conference call should be seperate to the design and planning of a conference

I fully agree, with one caveat. The online dimension would be not sustainable and not add much value to the overall process if it was nourished by only one or two people's passion. To make it work and valuable it also needs a hosting team of folks who relate to technology not as a force that alienates warm, human relations but as an extension of our human faculties and adding to our collaboration useful modalities not available in f-t-f settings.

There is an art of hosting online communities and, as some of you know, I've been practicing it for 25 years. I'd be glad to bring my experience and passion for this art to the protoporos inquiry IF there were two or three younger ones interested to learn cultivating it with me. So, I suggest to include in the "Circle on Journey" part of the next call the question whether that kind of interest is present.

> We could have bi-monthly conference calls around a key question - which is surfaced at the end of each conference call (or a small design triangle surfaces from each call to surface a question) - the same question is on line - as well as space for other questions to emerge.

That's an excellent idea and to do justice to it, it needs the online hosting team that I refered to above. Its functions would include: knowledge gardener, technology steward, and social host.

Besides the f-t-f and the inquiries, I also have appetite for forming a 1-on-1 learning partnership with any younger pioneer whose learning agenda overlaps or complements mine. I believe that such learning partnerships/friendships can enrich any broader, collective, intergenerational initiative.

love, george

We need to hear the younger pioneers to speak about their needs and dreams - so that they become truly co-creators of our journey. In solidarity with them, I will shut up until we hear from them.

Dear Maria, Carsten, Sarah, Samantha, and Bjørn:

I give heartfelt thanks to Maria for the record of, and reflections on, our conversation, which can help moving it to its next stage. Let’s turn that possibility into action and reality. Here’s my small contribution to it.

Maria wrote:

> I feel it is important to enter the next call with clarity around purpose and to clearly frame this for those who were not on our 19/9 call so that we can continue to flow with this and not go through the same loop again.  

Indeed! I was part of a number of co-initiating conference call series, where participants had good conversations, inspired check-ins and check-outs, but nothing was ever accomplished and finally the whole thing fizzled out. Maria’s calling for clarity around framing a purpose, in this early stage, may prevent repeating unsustainable patterns. Given that we are practitioners of such process arts of as Hosting or Presencing that can help with that, let’s use them. That was my intention when I called for the formation of a co-initiation/hosting team before making wide calls to those who are interested in the possibilities of intergenerational pioneering but do not necessarily want to engage in the rigorous, systemic work of a co-initiation/hosting team.  

> Therefore, it seems wise for us to sense into what is the purpose of the call on 22 October, e.g.

•  Are we having another ‘initiating’ conversation on what is the intention and how we can go about inviting others into it and organising around this  – with the wider field of people who said they would be interested in sensing into this with us – or
• Are we ‘being’ in the conversation, i.e. This would be our first conference call around a question, e.g. What is dying and what is waiting to be born (like Sam was suggesting) that would begin our intergenerational conversational – and inform our journey to a gathering next year – or
• Do we need to do a bit of both – ground intention surfaced during this call one level deeper, be in conversation around a question and organise around key areas of activities

I do not think that either or both, in themselves, would be helpful but am willing to suspend my assessment until the day after the call. Why I think so?

1. “Initiating conversations” with a large number of participants with diverse views, using the linear medium and limited time of a conference call, are typically, ineffective.  

2. A conference call around a question, if it has any other purpose than to hear every voice, needs to be designed, including the design of its harvest. I’d be interested in Samantha’s suggestion of thematic, monthly calls, but even more so if it was envisioned as the co-sensing phase of the full Presencing cycle. In fact, that difference will define the nature of my further participation in the process. In any case, I will be an interested participant in some of the conversations. If there is enough of us interested in a disciplined, presencing-style inquiry, I’d be delighted to be part of its hosting team.

I feel with Maria when she writes:

> I am feeling that creating some structure will serve our inquiry which is quite large and without a container can go astray.

Earlier, I suggested to Carsten to re-create Presencing conversation container on Nexus, which he set up for his Unfolding Cards initiative. My guess is that he might not have felt that the time was right for that. Maybe it was not and maybe it is still not if we don’t know whether we are committed to that type collaboration that goes beyond inquiry and conceived form the beginning as a practice of prototyping the next level  of intergenerational, collective intelligence.

> it would be wise to gain clarity on process, e.g.:

• Parallel streams of online and conference call conversation with organising gathering - or
• A period of conversations and then organising gathering, etc.  The organising a gathering in particular needs some logistics around it – place, timing, invitation process, etc. – or
• Focus on organising a gathering with conversations focused on gaining clarity on intention and value of gathering together through beginning to share pioneering stories, etc.

Either of those options would make sense, in function of what is the overall purpose, which is still not clear for me. Maybe there is not one but several, which is OK, as long as we have a shared clarity of their mutually supportive relationship. So far, I heard the following purposes:

-  Celebrate 10 years of PoC

-  Bring intergenerational pioneers together

-  Mark the next generation of pioneers and the shift of the previous generation (I have a guess of what that may mean, but it needs a bit more precise articulation.)

- Prototype a learning expedition into sustainable, inter-generational pioneering

The one that inspires me the most is the last one that can be synergistic with, and also, goes beyond the first three. The suggested learning expedition would aim at becoming a conscious force for scaling up social innovation, by providing a focal point for our networks to spawn intergenerational learning communities of practice that can grow into systems of influence. Words in italics refer to the three stages of the Emergence model developed by Meg Wheatley and Debbie Frieze, which is the best one that I saw so far for connecting individual initiatives with large-scale, transformational impact.

> It would also be wise for us to put a period of our conversation on this, e.g. Up to 15 October and then for one or two of us to harvest the essences and then create a flow/agenda for our next call with a covering email to all who will join us.  

That’s another great idea. Let’s do it. I will be traveling in the US, Oct 10-19 and busy with events oin the ground but will try to chip in the conversation.

>  another level of harvest that we could host is to begin capturing the unfolding of this story – how an email sparked an energy, how that energy was harnessed, etc.

Ria has started that, right here. We can continue using that topic or decide on other forms for the ongoing harvest. For example, a wiki could be a good tool when we’ll need meta-harvesting, beyond highlights captured in chronological order.

Co-evolving with you,

george