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2005-2006 Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows

 

Report on Workshop One • May 16 - 19, 2005 • Hartland, Vermont

 

Download pdf version of this report

 

Sustainability Institute (SI) is pleased to announce the launch of the second class of Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows!

 

Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows 2005-06 and SI Staff

Text Box: “The first workshop was so much more than I imagined. I’m floored by what I learned about myself and my motivations in my work. The visioning process was something I needed but hadn’t realized how much so. It was like they took my sunglasses off so I could see what was really going on.” – Sally McGee, Environmental Defense

 

The 18 new Fellows bring with them a rich array of experiences from the non-profit, business, government and philanthropy sectors, and a shared interest in building a sustainable world. Fellows’ work includes urban food production, youth leadership training, organic agriculture, corporate social responsibility, teen pregnancy prevention, solid waste management, marine and river conservation, forest resource management, paper production, pollution prevention, rural development and energy efficiency.  The Fellows workshop was held at SI-affiliated Cobb Hill Cohousing, an experiment in sustainable living.

 

Framework and Tools

In order to increase their ability to learn and act within complex systems, Fellows receive training and practice in systems thinking, reflective conversation, and visioning.  During this first workshop, they also built an understanding of learning cycles, identified some of their learning goals, began work in their coaching groups and went a long way towards building a community of learners.

 

“Learning these skills gives a sense of empowerment on so many levels…Work and family— they’re all systems.  I feel empowered to go forward and confront all these.” – Michaelyn Bachhuber, ForesTrade de Guatemala

 

The 3-Legged Stool symbolizes the equal and

integrated nature of these tools.

Peter Senge, long-time SI colleague and author of The Fifth Discipline, spent an afternoon with the Fellows, bringing his wealth of experience in systems thinking and organizational learning to a dialogue on what it takes to create change. He emphasized that human beings, like all things in nature, share a fundamental drive to create.  Peter contrasted the creative orientation, in which we focus on the future that we want to bring forth, with the problem-solving orientation, where we focus on making problems go away.  When we focus on creating the future, rather than fixing problems, we tap into much more creative and sustained commitment to change. Peter called on the Fellows to: 1) build their capacity in the creative orientation, 2) do so in community, and 3) do so in practical, applied settings.

 

During an evening talk, Fellow Dayna Baumeister continued the theme of using nature as a model, with a vibrant visual journey of scenes from nature and creative technology. The talk introduced Biomimicry ­– looking to nature for solutions to current challenges in engineering, industrial design, materials, architecture, energy efficiency and more.

 

To experience a complex system together, on the second day of the workshop the Fellows plunged into a simulation of issues affecting the Everglades in southern Florida.  Fellows played roles of developers, sugar companies and the water authority, while SI staff posed as environmental activists, the media, and government representatives.  A computer model delivered annual reports based on decisions each team made during the projected 20-year time span.  Emotions rose as time pressure mounted, profits plunged, and phosphate pollution climbed.  Participants struggled within the constraints posed by a multi-faceted system that makes it hard to do the “right thing” environmentally, socially and economically.

 

A Florida sugar company team reviewing the year’s financial performance

Building on the simulation experience, Fellows were introduced to mental models, behavior over time graphing, causal loop mapping and archetypes.  Presentations, interactive exercises and practice sessions gave them a chance to learn by doing and to apply the tools directly to their own work.

 

Liz Luc Clowes on left, Maria Carvajal on right.

In the coming months, Fellows will work with an SI coach and a peer coaching team to continue practicing and applying the skills learned.  Each coaching group met during the third day to learn more about each other’s work and aspirations, and to provide support, solidarity and accountability while modeling how to give and receive coaching.

 

“I’m really glad to have a coach and team so when I get steamrolled, I can go back to the team and say this is what worked, and this is what didn’t.”  – Liz Luc Clowes, The Food Project

 

 “For the first time in several years of attending sustainability seminars, workshops, events, etc., I don't wish anything to have been done differently. And I mean that after careful consideration. You reached full potential with this first seminar. The trick will be repeating the experience.”  – Matt Roman, Visteon Corporation