Emerging Leadership Structure of TW: An Open Space salon

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Comment by Heather K on June 16, 2010 at 1:04am

"Transition Whatcom's VISION is resilient and more self-reliant communities throughout Whatcom County with a local food supply, sustainable energy sources, a healthy local economy, and a growing sense of vitality and community well-being."

I don't have the vision & mission statement memorized, but thought worth reposting, as this was the vision/mission that held the initiating members together through consensus and to action.

continue quote: "The MISSION of Transition Whatcom is:
1) To explore and then follow pathways of practical actions that will reduce our carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.
2) To rebuild our community's resilience, that is, its ability to withstand shocks from the outside, through being more self-reliant in areas such as food, energy, health care, jobs and economics.
3) To inspire and support the communities and neighborhoods of Whatcom County as they establish Transition Initiatives at these local levels; and
4) To coordinate a county-wide, citizen led Energy Descent Action Pathway by creating a collective 20 year vision of Whatcom County. From there we will devise the paths on which we may achieve our objectives."

Comment by David MacLeod on June 15, 2010 at 8:49pm

Hi Heather,

At our last meeting, Alan Seid brought up Holacracy. You learn more about it here:
http://www.holacracy.org/about-holacracy

Thanks for linking to the discussion I started on Hopkins' latest thinking.
I haven't listened to this audio presentation yet, but here is Rob's presentation to the recent Transition Network on Transition as Pattern Language:
http://sheffield.indymedia.org.uk/2010/06/453429.html

Comment by Heather K on June 15, 2010 at 5:41pm

Are there some links to the pattern/purpose style of decision making or organizational structure that Alan S refered to at our last meeting? I would like to read those before this Weds.
What are the main questions we will focus on at the meeting? How will we make decisions and who will be part of making them?
It would also be of value to read David M discussion :
"An Important Development in Transition Thinking: Rob Hopkins"
http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/forum/topics/an-important-develop...
quote from Rob Hopkins:
"....Over time though, there is a danger, identified sometimes in a near-obsession with “doing Transition properly”, that what was a model thrown together in order to communicate it to people becomes ossified and encourages slavish adherence rather than creativity and innovation.
For some the 12 Steps becomes something where they feel they have to do in a particular chronological order, they have to do all 12, they
can’t add new ones, and so on.....Therefore, in the interests of promoting non-attachment to ideas and enshrining the principle that none of us really know what we are doing, as encapsulated in the ‘Cheerful Disclaimer’, for the Transition Handbook 2.0 I am taking the original Transition model and throwing it up in the air, using ‘A Pattern Language’ as a way of recommunicating
& reshaping it." end quote

Rob further writes that any pattern language designed to communicate Transition therefore needs to be able to embody these qualities:
Viral: It spreads rapidly and pops up in the most unexpected places
Open Source: It is a model that people shape and take ownership of and is made available freely
Self organising: it is not centrally controlled, rather it is something people take ownership of and
make their own
Solutions focused: it is inherently positive, not campaigning against things, rather setting out a positive
vision of a world that has embraced its limitations
Iterative: it is continually learning from its successes and its failures and redefining itself, trying to
research what is working and what isn’t
Clarifying: it offers a clear explanation of where humanity finds itself based on the best science available
Sensitive to place and scale: Transition looks different wherever it goes
Historic: it tries to create a sense of this being an historic opportunity to do something extraordinary – and
perhaps most importantly of all
Joyful: if its not fun, you’re not doing it right

Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on June 11, 2010 at 8:19am

I have my monthly MNAC meeting that night. Enjoy!