Replying to LO26202 --
As I said in a previous message (Minneapolis/St. Paul) I am an occasional
lurker here. I know little about the participants here or the content but
this Rose-coloured discussion has captured my interest. Thanks Jack for
finally asking the difficult questions. This discussion is at the heart
of the reasons why I am considering a job change.
I am an organizer for an effort that is attempting to build a statewide
citizenship network. The principles that we base our work on have many
similiarities to the principles that define a learning organization. I am
losing faith in our effort not because it is not working but because it
has become to costly to my soul to continue. We have organized around our
own religion - a set of values that we call the civic organizing
framework. This is very ironic because I happen to work for the
institutional church. The problem arises when you get beyond your initial
core group of believers...when you run into people who don't quite buy
into the religion you are preaching. Then the orthodoxy has a decision to
make. Do we allow people to come into our organization and disrupt it
with their questions about our set of values and beliefs or do we insist
that they must share our values and beliefs to enter into our
organization? Our group has decided that we must insist on the orthodoxy.
That if a person is not "buying-in" to our view of the universe then it is
not in our best interest to maintain that relationship. But of course
this ends up working against us in the end. I am struggling with the
spiritual question about the balance between grace and accountability.
Our network believes much more in accountability than grace. I however am
a believer in grace. Now I have a personal ethical decision to make. Do
I compromise my own values in order to honor and live by the group's
values. I think this might be the question at the core of every
collaborative effort and maybe every learning organization.
Jack, I am printing out your message where you listed five questions.
These questions are a gift to me as I try to sort out the mess I am in the
midst of. Thanks.
Karen Roles
--"Karen Roles" <kroles@uswest.net>
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