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KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
Volume 40, July 2004
Publisher: © Key Associates, 2004
ISSN # 1545-8873
http://www.mkkey.com
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This Issue: On "Building Community"
Contents:
"Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community."
-- Anthony J. D'Angelo
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing
that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be
prepared to take the helm." -- Henrik Ibsen
"I want to work for a company that contributes to
and is part of the community. I want something
not just to invest in. I want something to believe in."
-- Anita Roddick
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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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RECOGNIZING THAT YOUR ORGANIZATION
IS A COMMUNITY AND ENHAMCING THAT
COMMUNITY.
BUILDING ON INTRINSIC MOTIVATION:
Deep longings for community, meaning, dignity,
and love in our organizational lives.
SEEING YOUR SYSTEM AS A TOTALITY
OF INTERDEPENDENT PARTS, ALIGNED
FOR A COMMON AIM. USING SYSTEMS
TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE COMMUNITY.
GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY OF
WHICH YOU ARE A PART.
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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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An organization is a collection of people in
common pursuit. Increasingly, people
come to work in search of more than a job;
they crave meaning and a sense of belonging
to something important. Peter Block says that
organizations are the new cathedrals.
Building community is about weaving relationships,
nurturing growth, and caring. To engage your
community, polish your skills in facilitating groups,
listening, and communicating. Celebrate. Foster
the exchange of resources among the citizens,
there for a common purpose. You create the context
and set the tempo, they fill in the music.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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How do you create community?
First, note that we are all "joiners." Belonging
to the inner group of any organization results
in a sense of purpose, usefulness, and appreciation.
Invite "belonging" from the beginning. Hiring,
orientation, coaching, all oriented to the purpose
and values of the organization. There is no
manual on culture, but the new initiate can
clearly see what behaviors are expected.
Use ritual in their induction. Reinforce their
place in the community, and elevate to others
how their job role contributes to the whole.
This says to all that there are no unimportant players.
An exercise I have used to weave a culture together
capitalizes on stories. I divide the organization into generations
and invite them to share stories about their era. See:
Story-Weaving.
We are stuck in silos, guilds, castes, different
geographies. How do I begin to break down
these barriers and integrate the system?
It is our organizational design and rigid chains
of command that have put people in boxes and
kept them there. Add to that, naming the boxes
(=teams), limiting cross-communication, urging
them to turn a profit, make budget, meet goals,
without regard for the other boxes. Keeping
score by box titles. It is the perfect set-up
for internal competition. You have a collective
of small communities, with some rough roads
between them.
What if you began by defining the WE as
the entire community, in which all of us win
or none of us? Using tools, such as shared vision,
planning together, open meetings and dialogue,
shared rewards and recognition, plentiful
information, working in fluid partnerships--
with freedom to combine, reconfigure, and disband as
it makes sense. And keeping score as One.
I have heard of organizations that give employees time
off for community service. Is this advisable?
It would be easier just to collect money, wouldn't it?
Anita Roddick, CEO of The Body Shop , feels
she has the unprecedented opportunity to create
a special place where community service is honored and
celebrated as part of the workplace day. There, you
can bring your heart to work with you. Employees
take externships to places like Romanian orphanages.
When they return with fire in their eyes, proclaiming
"This is the real me," you know they have connected
to a noble purpose. She calls it "socially engaged
spirituality."
Their trucks are billboards addressing war,
poverty, and ignorance. Every shop undertakes its
own community project, on company time. Their
products are allied with causes. Employees can
take a half-day a month for community action.
Business, she believes, can and must be a force
for social change. With this mission, she is
building community and connecting her business
to the larger world community.
I am self-employed and work alone. Where do I find a community?
You have to create your own. Join professional
societies, create marketing action groups, find
ways to network and learn with others. Many
people are joining or hosting virtual communities.
See our back issue on Evolving Workplaces: Telework,
Volume 23, February 2003
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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Key Associates can help you integrate your
organization via Visioning Conferences:
http://www.mkkey.com/Courses2/FutureSearch.htm
and build a Culture of Service:
http://www.mkkey.com/Courses2/ArchitectingCulture.htm
A comprehensive site on systems thinking:
http://www.css.edu/users/dswenson/web/System.htm
Synergy and reintegration in the science of systems thinking:
http://www.systemsthinkingpress.com/
Enterprise-wide change workshop:
http://csmintl.premierdomain.com/enterprise-wide_change.htm
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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES
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Open agenda conferences to build synergy:
http://www.communitycollaboration.net/id27.htm
A virtual community of community builders:
http://www.vision-nest.com/cbw/
How about building community on-line?
http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communitymanual.htm
Use open space technology to build community:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/english/openspace.html
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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS
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See related topics in prior e-zines:
Volume 10, January 2002 - Meetings
Volume 14, May 2002 - Learning Organizations
Volume 27, June 2003 - Facilitative Leadership
Volume 28, July 2003 - Pride in Work
Volume 39, June 2004 - Bureaucracy
Bibliography on Systems Thinking:
http://www.systemsthinkingpress.com/systemsbiblio.htm
Community Psychology reading list:
http://www.radpsynet.org/teaching/odonnell.html#Community
