Things I've learned from 2016. Part 1: Grad School

This year, three separate trees came down blocking the road
and causing property damage on the deadend street I am
living on in Jamaica Plain, MA

My last post was over a year ago, and I know I am not alone in saying that it has been the kind of year that beats you like an abusive lover telling you the whole time that you are their everything and all you can really do at the end is pick up the pieces and hope that you learn some valuable lessons so that you never experience something like that again. I think everyone I know has at least one story about 2016 being awful, but I like to find the learning experience in it and the bright side, so as I am in grad school, which is all about learning, I'll start by talking about that.

As those of you who regularly follow my blog know, I decided to go back to school partially to gain a better understanding of systems thinking and partially to improve the skills I would need to be able to do important work in environmentalism. As a part of this,I am focused on acquiring the tools that will help me to use systems thinking to help the communities I am a part of. So here are my top three tools for inspiring change in complex systems:

A system network map

1. Kumu  -  https://kumu.io/

I don't think I can begin to express my appreciation for data mapping and the tools that make it easier to show visual representations of data. Kumu is a great tool for mapping out organizations, people, or other data points and drawing out the connections between them. This network mapping tool is fantastic with a powerful free version that allows an unlimited number of public facing projects. The paid version lets you also have private projects.

As soon as I first started looking at what could be done with Kumu, I started thinking of projects that would benefit from its use. The big project that I've been working on is the New England Communities Network. I am using Kumu to create a network map of how the different intentional communities in New England are connected to each other. As the communities movement grows, it is becoming more and more important to learn from each other, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

Question Everything.

2. Incisive Questions and the Question Agenda

To sum up a whole lot of quotations on the topic, asking the right question is often more important then having the answer. Incisive questions are questions that have been formatted to remove limiting assumptions; questions like "what would this situation look like with a positive outcome?" or "how will you feel once this decision is made and you are able to move forward?" These questions are not yes or no, but instead they are questions that encourage thought and processing.

One of the ways that I have learned to use this tool is in creating agendas for meetings. Rather than simply a topic of discussion or a bullet point or who's weekly report is next, an agenda made of questions is a great way to encourage deep thought and creative solutions.

Art from the World Cafe

3. World Cafe and the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter
        http://www.theworldcafe.com/

So, these are two separate tools that work very well with each other.

The art of hosting is a complex tool that looks at meeting facilitation as a form of hosting. As with hosting a party or an overnight guest, hosting a meeting means taking everyone's needs into consideration and putting your own best foot forward. The Art talks abut creating spaces that encourage meaningful conversation and enhance the probability of coming out of the conversation with the outcomes you were looking for. This tool looks at what it means to be a host, both to yourself and to others, and what it means to be hosted.

Art from the Wold Cafe

World Cafe is a hosted series of conversations in which a large group is broken down into tables of four. Each table has space for doodling and participants are encouraged to be in a casual atmosphere, like being in a cafe. The host poses a question for the conversations and a time limitation. At the end of that time, three of the four people at each table move to another table. This method shares the ideas generated in the first round of discussion with other groups while keeping someone at each table to continue the thread of that conversation. It is a great tool for understanding complex systems problems and generating solutions.

These are just some of the explicit tools I have been able to put into my tool kit this year. Sometime around New Years, I'll post a year in review. As I move forward with the New England Communities Network, I'll look forward to posting in the coming year!

Happy December, it's almost another year!