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Welcome to LOPN NewsFlash, January 2007
Dear all,
Happy New Year! We wish you and your families a blessed new year that help create your deepest aspirations and brings to bear all the joy and inspiration that you are seeking.
Around the Christmas holidays, I was in Vietnam for a week because a group of young Vietnamese there had become intrigued with the ideas of Learning Organization. I was truly touched that many were in the midst of their year-end university examinations worked really hard around their school and work schedules to attend the workshops the organizers had arranged. I was of course on non-stop routine of training workshops and facilitated sessions with the group but with such enthusiasm abounding around you, it was hard to find the energy to be tired (smile).
The reason was, the group was trying to understand why their country was rife with corruption. As the days unfolded they were surprised to learn there is a root to corruption and it does not lie with the government as it is commonly believed. That meant too that the leverage to create a turnaround is not as difficult as they had presumed. This was because citizens had a huge influence in the system not just in the ways they said 'no' to corruption (because it was the moral thing to do) but in the ways they built relationships and dialogue with the government (their roles go beyond voting some party into power and then holding them up to task or threaten them with votes!), worked hard with the government in creating a robust economy and learning to build more collaborative governance structures today (they could learn to do that in the ways they built collaborations and networks all around them) that they can one day use these learnings as older adults within the government systems to change the nature of collaboration that naturally see more justice and wealth return in the country and corruption disappear. These were ideas that the group had come up with. I thought they were brilliant! Don't you think so? What surprised me was how close the solutions were to the leverages we had identified in the systemic structure of the issue. See here for details.
These and other similar issues that rile our lives are the subject of systemic work that as Systems Thinking practitioners we strive to understand be it work-life balances, or in the fights against global warming or HIV/AIDs to learning and development. Yes, they can each stand the benefit of new year resolutions that we hold steadfast in our heads and our hands but watch our energies shift with a clearer resolution when we gather greater systemic perspectives on each of those issues. This was so apparent in the minds of the young Vietnamese that they did not even think they needed to ask 'when will we see the results' yet it felt to me that these ideas are now a part of every breath they take. Isn't that what matters? I wish you joy in finding similar steadfastness in every system-wide issues that you embark on this year. My defining moment came when a young man stood up to say he hoped he can learn the tools of Learning Organization and one day bring it to the government officials of Vietnam. You have no idea how happy I was there and then sitting in my seat!
In January, the LOPN Forum is fortunate to receive a guest speaker from India who is doing amazing work bringing and working with Systems Thinking in various ways (including revolutionizing schools) and who has a special heart on environmental sustainability issues and the role of citizens and corporations in this effort. He is Rajinder Raina and is taking the time to come to Singapore. This happening on January 19, 2007 (Fri). Do book early. You would not want to miss him! If you wish to host the forum, please let me know. More details of the Forum below.
The LOPN 2007 calendar is out! In the coming months we are expecting forums on, hosting conversations, re-runs on Servant Leadership and more work on Systems Thinking. We are also starting Learning Organization clinics for workshop graduands (see details below). If you wished to check it up, book dates or wish to consider hosting the sessions, please feel free to look up this link: LOPN 2007 Calendar! If you wish to host any of the events, drop me a note at sheila@lopn.net.
We wish all a pleasant and successful year ahead. Do feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would like to hear about these.
Warm regards Sheila Damodaran http://www.lopn.net Look out for brand new links on the LOPN website here! Sign-up here to be on the LOPN mailing list.
"Organizations and Environmental Sustainability" by Rajinder Raina, India
So exactly how many earths would we need to sustain everyone, if we all used resources like the way you do? Find out in this link - take a 3 min quiz from Canada and discover your Eco Footprint - www.royalsaskmuseum.ca. While there, also check out the pdf document on Foodmiles. Have fun! The Forum is to:- 1)First understand "sustainability" more clearly; 2) Understand deeply more fundamental laws that generate sustainability, and; 3)Look at options that we have.
Learn what made it possible for groups of villages to turn their lands around from becoming a desert into greens? In Rajinder's words: a) They help stakeholders become more aware of their 'hopelessness' and 'scattered-ness' by bringing in 'participatory pedagogy' and 'voluntary in-kind contribution'; b) They take them to villages where the 'magic' is already working - "they see and therefore they believe"; c) They very gently facilitate the creation of a 'servant leadership' among them which guides and binds the rest of the village during the whole process, and; d) They do rigorous training and teach the leadership about basic planning and monitoring tools. Most organizations and industries get away with environmental sustainability by including some targets that suggest they have not forgotten the environment. And there is a reason for that - business as usual (don't we say "we have been doing this all the time!"?) - and to me it goes beyond mere economics to insecurities and vulnerabilities. Still, the point is, that is different from taking a hard look and stand at reversing the effects of global warming as these villagers (and some agrarian societies) have done. MBA students who study this case are surprised by how much the villagers didn't know what the five disciplines are, yet at every step of the way the students learn how these disciplines guided their thinking, decisions, interactions and eventually the actions they took very intuitively to bring back the greens. It is a wonderful illustration of the connection these five disciplines have to sustainability (see here: www.wotr.org)! This is the subject of Rajinder Raina's works with MBA students! We hope you like it.
Come and watch the videos, listen in the experiences and involve in discussions and share in what we have been forgetting, that mankind had been living in harmony with nature for 90,000 out of the past 100,000 years of human life on earth!
Date: January 19, 2007 (Fri) Time: 2.30 - 6 pm (please arrive by 2.15 pm) Veue: Pending [We are looking for a venue with easy access and possibly with greens nearby. Drop us a mail to sheila@lopn.net.]. Potluck: For 3-5 persons, finger food would be great! More details here. Register here by Jan 15 (Mon)
LEARNING ORGANIZATION CORE COMPETENCY WORKSHOP DATES IN COMING MONTHS:
(click on the above link for more details) Target Audience: For novices and/or have not attended any LOPN workshops and wishes to pursue the four modules eventually. Duration: 2 days Time: 9 am - 6 pm Date: January 22-23, 2006 (Mon-Tue). Register by Jan 13, 2007 (Fri)
(click on the above link for more details) Target Audience: Must have attended Level 1. Duration: 2 days Time: 9 am - 6 pm Date: January 24-25, 2006 (Thu-Fri). Register by Jan 16, 2007 (Mon) Register online here if you wish to attend the workshop suitable for you.
LOPN PRACTITIONERS' GATHERING-CUM-CLINIC SESSIONS
This is a monthly exclusive coaching event for workshop graduands to raise questions, share your learning, perhaps your frustrations with using the tools or explore resistant or complex problems you have been noticing, test or wish to bounce off ideas with each other or with more advanced practitioners before trying it. This session is for you if you find you like coaching or support in deciding how the tools can be applied to your unique application. This can be done in individual or group work.
It is really intended as a space to deepen your understanding and practice and leave the session clearer about what you need to be doing or thinking about the issue when you take it back to your organization. This is happening on the second Friday evenings of every month unless otherwise specified. If you wish to use this space, contact Wahid at mailto:AWahid.Yahya@sg.teletech.com.
Date: February 2, 2007 (Fri)
Time: 7 - 9 pm Venue: Teletech Customer Management, Training Room [You can also reach me on Skye on Thus evenings from 7 pm to 8.30 pm at sheila_singapore where I offer clinics online as well.]
2007 COMMUNITY EVENTS AND CONFERENCES:
Servant Leadeship Conference 2007.Organized by Greenleaf Asia. Date: April 23 or 24, 2007.Contact Ms Low King Yang at
Large-scale Intervention Fiesta - March 26-28, 2007 (Mon-Wed). More details later.
Asia Facilitator Network Conference - Jul 25-27, 2007 (Wed-Fri). More details later.
2007 GLOBAL SOCIETY FOR ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING (SoL) AND RELATED GROUPS
A FIFTH DISCIPLINE CONFERENCE: SYSTEMS THINKING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: February 14-15, 2007 (Wed-Thu),
Beatrixtheatre, Utrecht, Netherlands
Who's to attend? Every participant in education. The insights and tools used during the conference can be used at every level: the board, the region, the school, the classroom, etc. and everybody with an interest in sustainability, systems thinking and excellent education. Registration is only possible for individuals by sending by mail to duurzaamleren@deelnameregistratie.nl or by fax: 0031 174 441339.
SOCIETY FOR ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING (SoL Global) DATES:
