I’ve done a ROUGH adaptation as a
worksheet for a meeting where we need a baseline agreement on the state of the
Presbyterian Church USA as the participants see it. We’ll go on with a
modified Town Meeting format on vision, challenges, action steps.
Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Avenue
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 503-1014 FAX
www.projectvidaelpaso.org
From:
dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Ellie Stock
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012
11:36 AM
To: dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Question
about the social process triangles . . .
Gene,
By Food Banks are you referring to local
food security/food soveignty/seed banks/local organic farms and gardens?
Ellie
-----Original
Message-----
From: Gene Marshall <jgmarshall@cableone.net>
To: Wayne Nelson <wnelson@ica-associates.ca>
Cc: Jean Watts <jeanwatts@cox.net>; Colleague Dialogue
<dialogue@wedgeblade.net>; Jan Sanders <janetasanders@hotmail.com>;
Herman Greene <hfgreene@mindspring.com>; Bill & Nan Grow
<billgrow@verizon.net>; James Wheeler <jimandjo@sbcglobal.net>;
Leonard Hockley <LenH@efn.org>; vinodkamalaparekh
<vinodkamalaparekh@gmail.com>; Larry Philbrook <icalarry@ms69.hinet.net>;
Larry Ward <Larry@thelotusinstitute.org>; Nelson Stover
<stovern@bellsouth.net>; Larry Loeppke <larrydloeppke@mchsi.com>;
Marianne and Clancey Mann <cmann@umuc.edu>; James Addington
<InaRja@comcast.net>; steve har <stevehar11201@gmail.com>; Bob
Fishel <thefishels@earthlink.net>; david
<david@mirrorcommunication.com>; Terry Bergdall
<bergdall@gmail.com>
Sent: Mon, Nov 5, 2012 10:57 am
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Question about the social process triangles . . .
Dear
Wayne, et. all.,
I wonder if the social process triangles are
more important for our own thinking as teachers than they are as explicit
content for most of our various courses.
What interested me most right now about
these triangles is how they can help revolutionary leadership be more
comprehensive in their thinking. The whole progressive movement needs
more unity and inclusivity. I have recently been brainstorming whistle
points over against my latest version of the social process triangles. I
will attach it to show what I mean,
Gene
On Nov 4, 2012, at 8:59 PM, Wayne Nelson
wrote:
I ask
similar questions. I think we could make a lot more use of it in our consulting
work. There are a couple of very simple reasons for low level use. They may not
be universally valid, but they are operating images.
One is that wrapping people's heads around yet another mental model in a 2 day
event is a bit much if you are not going to use it throughout the event. The
other reason is, I think, simply time. To use them in any real depth
takes time - more than most clients will commit.
A more substantial reason we aren't using them, I suppose, is what people ask
us to do with their groups. We are not often asked for results that really
require a social process analysis. Requests tend to lead us to use the Workshop
Method; so we are more inclined to gestalt without interposing a screen. A very
well targeted focus question provides a screen of its own and helps people find
meaningful patterns.
We do teach the Social Processes in our Organizational Transformation course.
In the same course, we also use the version developed by Priscilla
Wilson, Joel Wright et.al. They are expressed in clear, non-academic
terminology that people in organizations grasp immediately. I think they are
brilliant. We teach the course 2- 3 times a year.
Perhaps our most dramatic use of the social processes was in a major
consultation about Distance Education in Alberta. We used the triangles
to cluster concerns, trends and directions related to distance education. That
work identified areas of major attention. Those areas were used as the
foundation for a large scale strategic scenario building process. I think that
could be one it's most powerful uses.
One of the random thoughts that has passed my mind recently is that there is more
activity to be seen in the dynamical interactions than in the processes
themselves. It is, I believe, the dynamical relations that show the
nature of the imbalances most clearly. We can easily see the major
imbalances as we described them. It is in the way these processes relate to
each other that twists them out of shape. I think an analysis of the
relationships would reveal the depth and texture of our social function and
dysfunction in ways we may not be seeing it. It's brilliance is in it's
ability to take us out of our familiar social narratives - the tapes we play in
our heads.
\\/
- - - - - - - - - - Wayne Nelson
wnelson@ica-associates.ca
O - 416-691-2316
M - 647-229-6910
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