A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

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Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com Massive education and awareness raising is needed to create the tipping point at which human creativity clicks in and all the millions of changes, brought about by millions of people lead to a transformation. There is a great need for a strategy to build awareness and engage as many people as possible by showing films and getting in experts for meetings. It also requires networking, making friends, being interested in their concerns, what they are doing and their thinking, listening more than you talk – simple as that. Uniqueness is important – everywhere is different. The essence of a sustainable city or town is that it is unique, created over time by its citizens to meet their needs in the unique bioregion in which it exists. Citizens know best. Equally, we need to see ourselves as part of a great global, national and regional endeavour. Good models open our minds to possibilities – study what works and why. Excellent models inspire, expand our imaginations and make us aware of what is possible. We need to be creative and do it “our way” yet learn from good models. They save our having to re-invent the wheel, help us avoid unnecessary mistakes or missing opportunities to do something imaginative and bold. We need to learn how extraordinary achievements came about – mostly because a few determined people believed in the power of possibility. Merton, Taunton Deane and Winchester Action on Climate Change show how citizens’ organisations, working with their councils can create visionary strategies for a sustainable community. Influencing strategies and processes A paradigm shift requires new paradigm processes and structures for transformative meetings. We need processes that build consensus, not majority rule. “Consensus design is about everybody getting - if not what they originally wanted - what, after working together and listening to the whole situation, they have come to want”. Christopher Day. Every organisation needs to be good at handling the day-to-day and envisioning the future. These two different kinds of meetings require different processes, structures and skills: Business meetings The traditional agenda structure will work with modifications. Strategic meetings need to engage heart, soul, body and mind, releasing the human spirit for cocreation. Transformation is hard work. We need support with our feelings. Resistance and denial are a big challenge. We all resist and deny; it’s part of being human. Processes need to help people to think big, long-term and creatively. Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats can help. All this requires facilitation skills many of us may not have experienced. It helps to have someone in “consultant” or “facilitator” role, not otherwise involved, to focus on process and to observe, reflect, challenge and enable. Everyone needs to learn these roles by practising them in the group in turn. Liberating, energising processes encourage people to get involved, not just through invitations to speak, but through the structure and processes of a meeting. People can be reluctant to try new things and cautious about engaging in public meetings. Chairs arranged in a circle, semi-circle or round tables of eight encourage participation. It’s important to agree not to interrupt each other. One way is to use a “talking stick”. While you hold it you have attention, unless you talk too long. Using such processes may seem risky but taking the 208
Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com risk is rewarding. Most people end up loving them because they are fun, they work and new possibilities open up. Good, easily remembered, simple processes for working together need to be learned by everyone! Train people in them. Vision, Commitment and Action (VCA) is a useful basic structure. Structures for transformative public meetings We need to learn how to help large groups of people, representing the full diversity of a community and all its stakeholders, enjoy co-creation. Participatory processes like Future Search and Open Space Technology engage collective intelligence and creativity and are widely used in companies and communities all over the world. See my website for articles about these and other processes that involve people. Creating vision needs to involve everyone. Many leaders of organisations make a simple mistake. They prepare a vision statement at a retreat; then hand it down to the workforce. It means very little. The process of creating the vision needs to engage everyone, in dreaming of possibilities, creating a collective vision and strategy. People need to speak with integrity, do what they say they will do. It is important to hold an end of meeting review - to celebrate, reflect and learn from what worked and anything to do differently. Processes like these are fundamental if people are to have the energy and belief to achieve the “impossible”. Networking Neighbours, family and friends are important. Using our connections and making new ones is a powerful way of engaging people in transformation. A wise change agent I know talks of having two kinds of connections: a wide circle and a close one. Inspire by being who you are. My neighbours, family, friends and acquaintances teach me a lot. Most do not want to hear from me about sustainability. My family are the same, having heard from me at length for many years. I have learned, painfully. It’s best to be interested in their concerns and what they are doing. “How’s it going?” Being the change has more power than words. People notice and get interested. Friends and good neighbours are part of sustainability, part of our support system. We are part of one another’s well-being. It is the same in our transition town. We are all on the same journey yet surprisingly different. My “shop local” policy is part of “being the change.”I rarely use a car. Mostly I walk. The exercise is a bonus. Possibly I pay a bit more, but it saves fuel and I put my money where my mouth is! We go to an organic, biodynamic, ethical whole food shop supplied by small traders and co-operatives, local where possible, for almost all food and household products. On Saturdays we go to the market: Country Markets, the French delicatessen, the fishmonger from Suffolk, and the Farmers Market every third Sunday. We enjoy the high street and markets in our town as a social, community experience. We connect, meet and chat, getting to know new people this way. It’s part of the pleasure of being a community. Only if we cannot buy locally do we go to any Big Co or the internet. That’s not much or often. Pressures on people are enormous. It is important to acknowledge this. Most people are very busy, couples both working hard to earn a living, bring up children, be good parents, maintain friendships or support elderly relatives, singles too. The pressures can be extreme, at times unbearable. Many are just coping. Yet, it’s extraordinary what they contribute, taking leadership and doing what they can to help create a sustainable community and fairer world. I am astonished by what people in Berkhamsted manage to do. They get exhausted. So it is important offer holistic processes that are enjoyable and release energy. Act Global “Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most important that you do it.” Mahatma Gandhi 6.7bn people have the power to bring about radical change. Despite the disappointing results at COP 15, we must lobby to bring about decisive results at the next UN Climate Change Summit. Lobbying brought 209
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