-- Rick
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:41:03 -0700
From: Robert Theobald <theobald@iea.com>
Subject: Proposal for Transformational Work Plan
One of the things I wanted to complete before being away for three weeks
was a statement about the ways in which I think tranformational work can
be more effectively carried out. Here it is. Comments will, as always, be
much welcomed.
An invitation to connect and support those involved in
Fundamental Transformational Change, so as to create
Individual, Community and Ecological Resiliency.
By Robert Theobald - for the Transformational Learning Community.
Societies throughout the world are unable to keep up with the pace of
change. One essential reason is that our institutional structures are
designed to maintain stability and the status quo rather than to go with
the flow of constant change. This proposal suggests a profoundly different
approach to breaking through this barrier.
Throughout the world, a new set of cultural norms and behaviors are being
born. There are many areas in which highly positive dynamics already
exist but they are largely hidden from our view by the currently dominant
media patterns. Change agents who exist in abundance are not connected to
each other. As a result they feel isolated. This sense of isolation is
enhanced because there is no overall sense of how the various parts of the
total transformational movement are connected.
Today we all use different language and images to convey the same
underlying truths. We must learn to be "multilingual" so that we can hear
and support a wide range of framings. The constant search for a single
rhetoric to explain the overall needed pattern of change is, in my
opinion, part of our dilemma.
I propose that there are three primary tasks if those committed to
positive change are to become more connected.
1) We need to show that apparently disparate movements are all connected
at a more basic level and that a new way of looking at the world is
rapidly emerging. This requires a positive picture of how a
transformational worldview is already emerging.
2) We need to provide people with better information about "What ms
Working" and "Best Practices." This will enable groups to learn from
others who have created positive models.
3) We need to set up processes which encourage the formation of
transformational geographical, work, professional, internet and other
communities.
We shall be working in these areas over the period around the millennium.
We believe that there is rapidly growing energy in many parts of the
society which can be linked. We are interested in working with those who
see this way of looking at the current moment of history as relevant.
(This invitation is based on a set of assumptions that are explicitly
stated at the end of this document.)
STARTING POINTS.
We are committed to finding ways to encourage geographical, professional,
work and internet communities to reweave resilience into their networks.
In order to do this we shall deal with the following topics. We shall take
up one subject a month from January to May 1999 using a variety of media
to share our ideas.
4* The shift from leadership styles for a stable world to those which will
work in the rapids of change.
5* The ways to develop personal resiliency so people recognize that they
can, and indeed already do, manage their own lives with far more success than
we normally recognize.
6* The ways to develop community resilience so groups of people, whether
geographical, work, professional, internet, can respond effectively to
changing conditions rather than being bound by past assumptions or
organizational patterns.
7* The ways to restore ecological resilience, recognizing how badly it is
being damaged by the currently inexorable increase in population and
production.
8* Providing ways for people to see the signs of hope in our world: the
directions which are already developing which show that we may choose to move
in positive directions.
Here are several approaches that are available as a result of work that has
either been completed by our group or is being planned. These are our own
ideas about what seems most important to us. There are many other highly
relevant efforts going forward. A central part of our work will be finding
ways to make connections to these efforts.
I hesitated, indeed, in listing the opportunities set out below but finally
decided that some reference points would help to show practical results of
this style of thinking.
9. Conversations. Several people (Tham Hartman, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Eleanor
LeCain, Robert Theobald, Jim Turner, Neale Donald Walsch) have agreed to
produce 30 minute audiotapes to encourage small-scale dialogues. The hoped-for
launch date is early September.
10. Radio shows. Robert Theobald developed for Spokane Public Radio and the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation a series of broadcasts under the title "The
Healing Century." These talks have created a highly unusual level of resonance
where they have been played and are available now for use by any interested
radio station. The series consists of introductory and closing talks and
dialogues on work, learning, health, family and community.
11. Video Programs. In cooperation with Clemson University and South Carolina
Educational Television, five brief tapes will be produced. These will deal
with new forms of leadership, personal resilience, community resilience,
ecological resilience and the nature of the emerging world. These tapes
will be available in the fall.
12. Satellite programming. It is our intention to create programs on the same
subjects which will be available using satellite technology in the winter and
spring of 1999. We expect to work with 200 down-link sites.
13. The common thread which unites all this work is the need to break down the
barriers in our culture, move beyond the cultural trance and then realize that
fundamentally different directions are required. The maximum possible
amount of space will be provided so people can develop their own ideas
about possible directions rather than feel inhibited by assumptions about
the way the culture should move in the future.
ASSUMPTIONS
14. A wide and deep demand for fundamental change exists the challenge is
to enable it to emerge rather than to create it. (This is radically opposed to
the belief that our primary challenge is to convince people that the current
system needs to change.)
15. The electoral process in most rich countries is so discredited that an
effective carrying wave cannot INITIALLY emerge from this source. (This is
radically opposed to the belief that we can work within current
win-lose/dominator models. I have developed a scenario which suggests how a
profoundly different movement could win the year 2000 election. While it needs
updating, its core arguments still appear valid to me. It is available from
the address below at $15.00.)
16. There are many people, networks and organizations, which are gathering
followings around their transformational ideas and have extensive contact
lists. There are two barriers to this huge resource becoming available. The
first is that we all use different languages and images when supporting the
same ideas. The second is that many people are driven by ego and
organizational agendas rather than the overall good.
17. There is a hunger for small-scale intimate conversations: these appear
to carry more potential for fundamental change than large-scale events.
18. The required work moves us away from ltechniquen and toward heart
connections. In this universe, lless is more.n We need to invite people to do
the learning which is most relevant to them rather than to structure
activities which yield results which seem most important to us.
19. Dramatic shifts in the ways in which the world is seen and organized are
inevitable in the immediately coming years. Y2K is one trigger but the basic
reality is that the dynamics which have dominated the twentieth century are
played out and that we will either suffer massive breakdowns as they continue
or we shall find fundamentally new approaches within an lincrediblyn short
time-scale.
20. Core books: Because people are coming from such different experience
patterns, a core reading list might be helpful. Here are three volumes
which in different ways argue that transformational change is required and
that the time-frame in which we have to work is short.
"Creative Evolution." Barbara Marx Hubbard. 19?? (neither Books in Print
or OCLC showed this title by this author. Two books by the same title were
listed)
"The Healing of America." Marianne Williamson. 1997 - Simon & Schuster
"Reworking Success." Robert Theobald. 1997 - New Society Publications
Blessings and Peace,
Robert Theobald
East 202 Rockwood Blvd, #1 - Spokane, WA 99202, USA
509-835-3569, e-mail <theobald@iea.com>
http://www.transform.org/transform/tlc/index.html
--Richard Karash <rkarash@karash.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>