[Dialogue] Testing a story

Fri Oct 7 09:12:34 PDT 2016

Jo, I was not in the middle of workshopping to the degree that most of the
folks who have responded to you were (if that is even a sentence😉) But I
have always believed that the contradictions section is what is key and
unique in our method and our work. Without getting to the bottom of
contradictions, a group is simply program oriented. We were never that; our
work always grew out of the contradictions.

JWM sat with a group working on the 5th city model in the Lumumba room at
4750 Sheridan (I was not in the group) and hammered out the method that
went on the road in establishing development projects around the world
(where it got polished, as Marilyn said).

Thanks for you work. We look forward to the published version.

Doris Hahn

On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 10:01 PM, Jo Nelson via Dialogue <
dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> Thank you very much, Marilyn.
>
> I am grateful for all the work you all have done in developing our work. I
> often tell the story from the Bayad consult of how you managed to turn the
> back of the room(actually a tent) into the front so the women were at the
> front of the room! A great demonstration of quick strategic thinking that
> set the tone for development in Bayad.
>
> Wayne's intent with this book was not to write a history or freeze the
> methods in time. He realized that we were losing track of the deep
> philosophical roots of our methods, as the common memory was held in the
> heads of many of us growing older. He ferreted out the phenomenological and
> existential roots through conversations with old hands and lots and lots of
> research over several years. The week before he died he shared with me the
> chapter on phenomenology and for the first time I understood it.
>
> He had not finished the chapters on how the core methods are are based on
> the phenomenological method. I have been working for years with
> transmitting the profound nature of our methods through our training
> programs, so I am finishing those chapters.
>
> The intent is to give a new generation the foundations of ICA's methods so
> that we and they can continue to adapt and grow the methodology with
> integrity.
>
> Because of all the contributions and editing from a wide range of people,
> I am hoping that people will find it easier to tackle the use of ICA's
> methods at a profoundly human level.
>
> With gratitude,
> Jo
>
> From the mobile desk of
> Jo Nelson
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 6, 2016, at 9:20 PM, Marilyn Crocker <marilyncrocker at juno.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hi Jo,
>
>
>
> The Crockers have just moved a week ago, so there is not much time to read
> and respond to e-mail.  However, if I might weigh in on the question of the
> origin of “our methods” – and I would recommend you talk with Sarah Buss
> and Aimee Hilliard before you print much, as they were there in the
> foundations of 3444 West Congress Parkway where the germs of the methods
> were initially refined.
>
>
>
> Joe and I were married in 1967 (JWM officiated at Boston University’s
> Marsh Chapel where Joe did his M Div.) and we joined the Order as Interns
> in June 1968.  When we left to do our first International Teaching Trek
> with David McCleskey in spring 1969 the “mode du jour” of strategic
> development was “battleplanning.”  Brainstorming and organizing was in its
> nascent forms. That is what we shared with our colleagues in the ITIs in
> Singapore, Hong Kong, Jabalpur and Addis Ababa.
>
>
>
> We (the OE) created the LCX booklets only just after 1970 and the Jabalpur
> ITI participants were the first to benefit. I remember clearly, since
> Chicago was unable to send the booklets to the participants for the final
> course, and Kaye Hayes and I began to dutifully type all that verbiage,
> under the direction of Joe Slicker, who had the day before sent a message
> to JWM in Chicago “May Day, May Day!”  Only a fellow WW II vet would have
> understood.
>
>
>
> When the Weigels and Crockers travelled with JWM to launch the first 8 of
> the initial 24 HDPs  in 1975, the LENS, SP, ToPs processes were nascent at
> best.  In fact, they built on what we developed in the field.
>
>
>
> We (Jim, Judy, JWM, Joe, Marilyn, Lis, Garnet and others who trekked from
> site to site) fine-tuned and honed the process we inherited, project, after
> project after project.  JWM assigned me to “watch me and write down what I
> am doing” – which led to the first HDP Consult Textbook.  He asked Judy to
> capture and promote the design of what we were doing, that led to the
> charts in the HDP reports.  He asked Joe to figure out how to get to the
> root causes beneath the issues and irritants and to express them as
> fundamental contradictions (that which contradicts the vision of a new
> reality).  He asked Jim to transform the many tactics that had been
> generated from the Proposals Plenary (broad strategies) into doable actions
> that could be plotted on a one, then a two-year calendar.
>
>
>
> And Jim invented the scatter cards (now used by many planning
> competitors)  at the Jeju Consult.
>
>
>
> And we labored for DAYS in Canberra (after Oombulgurri) to discern how to
> tease out the” actuating programmes” from the complex tactical programmes,
> not to speak of the “Anticipated Benefits” section of the document, which
> JWM insisted was critical.  And we DID and now I believe him. That is was
> important. Joe and I loved working with Jim and Judy on these
> groundbreaking projects (which ultimately led to LENS, TOPs, etc.) that
> were originally born in the cauldron of “the village” the classroom, the
> church, the community, the local town hall..
>
>
>
> I’m thinking of late that the “systemitization”( if that is even the right
> term) of our methods might be a gross simplification of, and even a
> demeaning of the power of “our methods.”  How can we lay out the steps by
> steps for what we know is an organic process of transformation, and some
> one of us –who knows -- might be the catalyst.?
>
>
>
> Grace, peace and love,
>
>
>
> Marilyn and Joe Crocker
>
> 62 Charles Wesley Court
>
> Wells, ME 04090
>
>
>
> 207-502-7737
>
>
>
> *From:* Dialogue [mailto:dialogue-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net
> <dialogue-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net>] *On Behalf Of *Jo Nelson via
> Dialogue
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 06, 2016 6:37 PM
> *To:* James Wiegel
> *Cc:* Colleague Dialogue
> *Subject:* Re: [Dialogue] Testing a story
>
>
>
> Don, the naming process is simple. Wayne came up with it one day and we
> all went Duh!
>
>
>
> O. Read the cards in the column out loud.
>
> R. What key words on the cards jump out at you?
>
> I. Explore the insight behind this cluster -- what is the larger answer to
> the focus question that all these cards are pointing to?
>
> D. Summarize the insight in a phrase that answers the focus question and
> write it on a card.
>
> From the mobile desk of
>
> Jo Nelson
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 6, 2016, at 5:05 PM, James Wiegel <jfwiegel at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> As I remember the story, folks went around the 5th City community looking
> for the problems, all the problems (one of the 5th City presuppositions)
> and found 500 and some odd of them (there was a specific number that they
> found in the story) and these were the basis of the 5th City Model -- here
> is an excerpt from testimony on 5th City to the US Congress
>
>
>
> "Second to imaginal education in import is the creation of the "grassroot"
> social construct. This begins with an inclusive analysis of the human
> problems in the area, the constant problem being a lack of adequate
> structures. In Fifth City a problem mat was constructed which identified
> over six hundred surface problem areas and organized them under five
> rubrics: economic, political, education, arts and life style."
>
>
>
> You can find the 5th City Social model that resulted HERE.
>
> Assets - Fifth City
> <https://wedgeblade.net/wordpress/fifthcity/collection-items/>
>
>
> Assets - Fifth City
>
> Links to further resources about Fifth City
> Village leader in rural India with pictu...
>
>
>
> Jim Wiegel <http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=123>
>
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>
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>
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>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Jo Nelson via Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> *To:* Don Bushman <onedonbushman at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 6, 2016 1:28 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Dialogue] Testing a story
>
>
>
> Thank you, Don. This is very helpful.  I had heard that it was 900
> problems.  Whatever it was, it was definitely overwhelming!
>
>
>
> I know we did not invent brainstorming.  However, we did invent gestalting
> the data — looking for larger patterns in the data rather than sorting into
> categories.  And we added individual and small group brainstorming before
> group brainstorming, which addresses much of the current criticism that
> brainstorming as a group is not very effective.
>
>
>
> We have also relatively recently added a simple focused conversation to do
> naming, which captures insightful results in a much shorter time.
>
>
>
> And all of the method is an application of the deeper phenomenological
> method, which is where the magic of the process is…..
>
>
>
> I am so grateful to have had a lifetime of working with profound method.
>
>
>
> Take care,
>
> Jo
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Oct 6, 2016, at 3:25 PM, Don Bushman <onedonbushman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> My memory is that your second story is the way it happened and that the
> total number of brainstormed issues was 5,000. We did not invent
> brainstorming however.
>
>
>
> Don Bushman
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 3:21 PM, Jo Nelson via Dialogue <
> dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
> Hi, all,
>
>
>
> I am in the final editing process of finishing the book Wayne started, *Getting
> to the Bottom of ToP:  The Foundations of ToP Methods.*
>
>
>
> In an introduction of the Consensus Workshop Method, Wayne had a paragraph
> that went:
>
> "One of Mathews’ firm beliefs was that the role of the church is to act
> out its faith in the world. The workshop method was, perhaps, the clearest
> step into the world in that it provided a practical way for any group in
> any context to examine a situation and form practical responses. The
> story goes that one of the first uses of the method was in the West Side of
> Chicago community development project called 5th City with a group of
> youth in and on the edges of criminal gangs."
>
> This is where his story ends.  A couple of people editing the book asked
> “What is the rest of the story?”
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, I don’t know what Wayne would have said, and I don’t know
> the rest of that particular story.
>
>
>
> I’m thinking to replace that story with a story that I know about, but I
> need to check the specifics.
>
> This is what I currently have to replace Wayne’s sentence:
>
> "One of the first uses of the method was in the West Side of Chicago
> community development project called 5th City.  A group of community
> leaders and ICA staff met to articulate the problems in the community.
> They started brainstorming problems until three huge blackboards were
> filled with hundreds of different problems.  The group was overwhelmed and
> in despair.  Someone said, “Let’s try to cluster similar problems together
> to see if we can see some patterns that will reveal some root problems.
> The clustering revealed about 20 root issues, and the group began to have a
> hope that perhaps they could address them.”
>
> Can anyone finish Wayne’s story, confirm my story and the details of it,
> or give me another succinct story of the earliest use of the
> brainstorming/clustering/ naming process?
>
> With gratitude,
>
> Jo Nelson
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jo Nelson, CPF, CTF  <jnelson at ica-associates.ca>
> Certified Professional Facilitator and ICA Certified ToP™ Facilitator
> ICA Associates, Inc.
> 401 Richmond Street West, Suite #405, Toronto, Canada. M5V 3A8
>
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> *“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
> change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.*
> *Richard Buckminster Fuller”*
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jo Nelson, CPF, CTF  <jnelson at ica-associates.ca>
> Certified Professional Facilitator and ICA Certified ToP™ Facilitator
> ICA Associates, Inc.
> 401 Richmond Street West, Suite #405, Toronto, Canada. M5V 3A8
>
> Ph. 1 416-691-2316, x2230  Toll-free 1 877-691-1422  Fax 1 416-691-2491
> Website http://ica-associates.ca
> Cellphone 647 233 6910
> Skype “jofacilitator”
>
> <IAF-CPF-Logo-email.jpeg>
>
> Vendor of Record: Government of Ontario Learning and Training Services
> #OSS00536903
>
> Vendor of Record: ProServices Canada E60ZT-120001/826/ZT Business
> Consulting/Change Management
> Pre-qualified Vendor, Alberta Education Resource List
>
>
> *“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
> change something, build a new model that makes the existing model
> obsolete.Richard Buckminster Fuller”*
>
>
>
>
>
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