12 tips for fostering self-organizing work groups—at the very beginning

Quick update for those of you who are here with me weekly. My neighbors who were fighting to save their house won! They get to stay! Lori’s headline: Self-organizing group saves itself—community helps! http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2011/10/24/mitchells-get-new-loan-plan-can-keep-their-21st-ave-home. Woo hoo! Ok, now for the 12 tips… If you haven’t heard, Bas and I have just begun research for a series of eBooks we’re writing together. I got these tips … [Read More]

 
What lessons are self-organizing groups teaching you right now?

Here are a few self-organizing groups I’m learning with/from this week… 1. A touching and cute self-organizing group (love the response of all the different adults in the video): 2. A brave self-organizing group within my neighborhood: The Mitchells trying to save their already paid-off home from foreclosure the end of October 3. A very visible collection of self-organizing groups right now. There are tons of … [Read More]

 
Moving with and through fears as self-organizing groups and communities

My self-organizing groups help me practice moving through and letting go of fear, and my self-organizing community pulls and pushes me through fears to get an even broader and deeper perspective on them. As we pass through these fears together, the fears that don’t matter cease to exist and the fears that do matter have become valuable teachers and tools.

 
Learning about myself through the doorway of self-organizing groups

Thanks to Doug Nathan for pulling these experiences out before my eyes where I could see them, and thanks to my community for teaching me that no matter what I say as an individual, that I’ll be supported and loved.  Consciously studying my own and close others’ self-organizing groups has changed me and just keeps on changing me. One of the biggest, scary-to-say-out-loud changes for … [Read More]

 
Sustaining a self-reflection practice in a chaotic world (2 of 2)

Continuing from Sustaining a self-reflection practice in a chaotic world (1 of 2) … 7. What gets in the way of sustaining your practice? Most days, nothing. Some days, I do. On those days, I’ve learned to reach out to self-organizing group members until I’m back on track. 8. How does your professional self-reflection practice support your personal practice and vice versa? Learning and experimenting … [Read More]

 
Sustaining a self-reflection practice in a chaotic world (1 of 2)

One of my self-organizing groups (Doug Nathan of conflictmatters plus Neil Baker of Neil Baker Coaching and Consulting plus me) is creating a proposal this week to speak at a national conference next spring. One hour into our first discussion, we decided to talk as a panel about something we’re all doing right now but hadn’t entirely noticed until we came together: namely, sustaining a … [Read More]

 
SOGs decrease pointless anger and increase learning from anger

How many days each year are you angry?  I’m not talking about clearly warranted in-the-moment anger—the kind that causes you to shriek out loudly to stop a young child from running out into busy traffic (followed by a mini lecture about the dangers of running into traffic while your hearts are still pumping hard from the life-or-death scare). Or the kind that causes your whole … [Read More]

 
Five things my self-organizing groups taught me this week

Some of the things I learned this week thanks to my self-organizing groups: Chaos and order are both within us, and both ok. It’s in our nature to be chaotic, silly, ridiculous, and huge risk-takers. Within these groups, I can accept chaos as rewarding and even fun. Yet it’s also in our nature to appreciate order and structure and to minimize or avoid risk. Within … [Read More]

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