| The
Context & Finding The Best Response
Our
Twelve-Year Experiment
Key
Concepts
Annual
Reports
Haitian
Organizations Using Open Space and Reflection Circles
What
American Know-How Has To Learn
and other stories
Open
Space Approach
Reflection
Circles
(Touchstones)
"Circles
of Change: a quiet revolution in Haiti"
mini
documentary
Photo:
D. Morel
|
The
Context
The
forms of leadership we are all most familiar with can stifle
creativity, motivation, and initiative. Even worse, they can
fuel conflict. Traditionally, any position of power is a license
to talk and not listen, to tell and not ask, to demand and
not serve. Challenging these tendencies is a responsibility
of all of us who long for a better world. Unfortunately, the
command-and-control style of leader-ship plagues the field
of international development with the predictable result of
conflict.
Haiti, sometimes called the graveyard of development projects
and known for political instability, is no exception.
When
people cannot exercise their creativity—and worse, when
they feel a lack of respect from their leaders—the price
we all pay is suffering, untapped human potential, and waste.
Finding
the Best Response
Gandhi
viewed cultural self-determination and freedom as the most
significant needs of developing nations. He and other development
experts since have seen that outside help can stunt what is
most needed, the emergence of homegrown leadership—a
result of dedication, nurturing, and time.
The underlying assumption of The Experiment in Alternative
Leadership is that the command-and-control philosophy—in
the classroom, in for-profit and nonprofit institutions, in
grassroots organizations, and in government agencies—can
inhibit the healthy evolution of individuals, groups, and
society as a whole.
The Experiment is a quest to discover and create conditions
that allow the human spirit to flourish. This involves developing
and trying out practices and organizational structures that
foster:
* Servant leadership, which encourages and supports people
in their pursuit of self-discovery and in their personal sense
of call.
* Communities of learning and practice where people seek to
grow and learn collectively as they care for those around
them, especially those who have been forgotten and marginalized
in society.
* An Entrepreneurial spirit where people are inspired to innovate and
take risks in pursuit of their goals.
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