Issue 3, May 2014Dear reader, Welcome to the May issue of our newsletter. In a recent conversation, we asked ourselves what one idea might be central to the ongoing development and health of our organizations and we agreed that being able to see our organizations as living entities is a fundamental perspective that has helped all of us in our work. So this month we are exploring the idea of the Living Organization. With your help, the LeadTogether community has been growing steadily over the past month, with new members from across the world. The work of this collaborative community is still just beginning. We encourage you visit the forums and share your questions and ideas with the growing community of LeadTogether members and share this newsletter and our site with your own colleagues. Michael Soule LeadTogether
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“We shape our buildings. Thereafter they shape us.” This is equally true of organizational structures. We create our organizations out of our vision, values and relationships, and thereafter, they shape us in our development. So how does one work within an organization to create and sustain healthy development? A first step in understanding this process requires developing an imagination about living organizations. . . Read more.
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There are two major challenges to the ongoing creative activity of an evolving organization. These two challenges are similar to the two elements we must deal with in managing our individual lives. We must deal within each moment and each day with what is living, growing and evolving immediately before us and widely around us. We must also look at the present moment in relationship to the whole of our lives and our lives in the whole of culture and humanity’s evolution. It is actually easier to perceive and understand the form, processes and evolution of a human being than it is an organization. The principles of human development are a part of us and as educators, it is something we have trained ourselves to perceive and that we continue to develop with our colleagues every day. We experience theses principles through our lives. . . Read more.
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Ch. 2 from Partnerships of Hope, Building Waldorf School Communities by Christopher Schaefer Underlying this description of the life cycle of Waldorf schools are a number of principles. The first is that all institutions are human creations; they are created by people with an idea in response to a perceived need. In the case of Waldorf schools, this need is a sense that the children in a given community or region want Waldorf education. The second principle is that schools, and indeed all organizations, are living entities, with phases of adaptation, growth, crisis and development . This means that organic metaphors such as seed, stalk, bud and flower; or birth childhood, adulthood and old age are more relevant to the biography of schools than mechanical images such as that of an input-output system, a clockwork mechanism or a well- running engine. . . Read more.
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by Rea Gill As modern human beings we have an opportunity—maybe even a responsibility—to find sustainable ways to exist in and be in relationship with our environment . This is just as true in the social realm as it is in relationship to our physical environment, and we need to invent, discover and utilize socially responsible forms . In fact, creating new effective forms of leadership and management that honor the relationships of the human beings and that also respect the living nature of an organization could possibly provide a model for social health in all organizations and in society in general. . . Read more.
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Organizational Integrity: How to apply the wisdom of the body to develop healthy organizations by Torin Finser All around us, we see living systems in plants, animals, and human beings. Our environment is alive, vibrant, and full of innate wisdom. Even the stars and planets speak in the language of ancient folklore to those who have ears to hear. Our very lives depend on this interdependence and on the myriad connections that surround us. Nonetheless, many people experience organizations as inert, bureaucratic, inflexible obstacles to innovation and human initiative. People have struggled for years under the weight of apathy in organizations such as large school systems, corporations, and government agencies such as FEMA. . . Read more.
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We have also posted in the forums a list of other related articles and resources that provide insight and further explore the living nature of organizations. Organizations as Living Organisms by Magda Lissau which looks at a school in light of life processes and the elements. School as a Living Entity by Rea Gill, an ebook exploring the story of Rea's work in Vancouver and the dynamics of creating a school as a living entity. Theory U and Presencing by Otto Scharmer from MIT, a creative new approach to living systems. Learning and Organizations by Mark Smith is a scholarly exploration of the definition and principles of a learning organization and the wide range of perspectives on what is meant by a learning organization. Sociocracy, a new approach to organizational life and health being used worldwide to develop communities which is very congruent with the life of Waldorf schools. The images used in this newsletter are borrowed from the work of Andy Goldsworthy, a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.
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