I was fortunate enough to hear you at the National School of Government conference on Monday discussing these points. As someone seeking to make a difference in local government i found your observations and assertions challenging and enlivening.

The concept of civic leadership focusing on pro-social behavioural development as a means to achieving, rather than instead of, social, environmental and economic aspirations is simple and powerful.

The element that I feel you only hinted at in your discussion was the outcome focus and tangible product that must act as the nodes through which, or around which, these social networks can form: the rock for the coral?

Being clear about these nodes – early wins – that can allow others to observe or experience more active engagement in collective decision making, linked to more self sufficient behaviours, whilst contributing to the collective capacity of their society is what will mark out the winners and losers in the drive to address the social aspiration gap through community planning in the time of austerity.

Regards,

Ritchie

1. The meet …managed series of opportunities and/or opportunistic actions where people are
2. The works … what any individual in the meet can put in that enhances the conversation of the meet so that people willingly self-organise beyond the meet.

Opportunistic actions are for matters that are critical but either background or emergent. Managed opportunities are for critical matters that are at the front of people’s mind.

The history of the meetwork includes one-liners that people remember and reuse, quality and passion of argument. A one liner such as “consultation is not a substitute fro analysis of an issue” can persuade the audience to demand better quality information and stop a decision making process. Quality and passion of argument can make people demand that a different or minority voice be accounted for.

The history of the meetwork sets the tone for the future formation of a network.

I’m very jealous that you’ve got Sol as a coach – he came along to that big day-long event that I organised for Don Beck a few weeks ago (‘From Rule Britannia… To Cool Britannia… to Integral Britannia – Summit on the Future of Great Britain’ – what a name!).

Some years ago (the first time I met Sol) I even had a bit of a coachy-style chat with him – and he recommended mindfulness meditation to me. And then thought about it – and changed his mind. Gestalt therapy would be a better bet for grounding my clearly roving/undisciplined mind

I seem to run into Sol periodically these days – only when I make it along to particularly interesting events…

If you’re free on Wednesday or Thursday you and Sol should try to get along to some of that Harthill event on ‘Transforming leadership and generating responsive, inquiring organisations’. Or even just meet up with Prof Bill Torbert et alat the meal after the first day…

BTW, I suspect Sol’s even more of a Bill Torbert/Jane Loevinger ‘Leadership Development Framework’ person, than he is a Spiral Dynamics fan (as you mentioned once before). Though it’s a bit silly of me to speak for him – and I don’t know him well…

If you ask for a copy of that SOLACE ‘Flying High’ report on leadership, conversation etc – from Sol, I recommend you ask for the orginal, full-length, unedited version – not the final shorter version. And if he shares the more meaty version that with you, then please share it with me

Sol did some major work with the top 100 or so leaders at Kent County Council – and I think even did leadership maturity assessments of them. Boy would I love to know what that experience was like. And what the spread of maturities was! Where there many people who ‘in over their heads’, or even ‘in under their heads’?

As you know, I think this adult maturation stuff might be the hidden dimension that explains much of what goes on in organisations. (Or doesn’t go on, when we’d like it to be going on – like ‘Learning Organisations’).

Sol also worked with Beverley Alimo-Metcalfe, who has a ‘Transformative Leadership Questionnaire’/model that is quite popular (esp. in the UK public sector) – but I’m not sure Beverley actually has a model or practices for actually enabling leadership maturation into the more transformative modes. Which was, I guess, where Sol came in…

I’ll try to say hello at the NDI09 event tomorrow – the particular work stream I was in at the event seemed to have rather more energy and real insight than was coming from those various ministers, in general anyway…

Cheers,

Matthew

How would you define meetworks?

Matthew