By Lisa Chacón

[Note: The morning included two events, neither of which I attended. I heard great things about both events secondhand, but perhaps those who attended the Ziptrek tour and the sustainably retail tour led by Lululemon could share their experience with the rest of us!]

Conversation about TNSF/FSSD & the TNS relationship with the alumni network

Pong Leung led us through some dialogues about our challenges and successes working with the framework. A few things that emerged were:

• The value of the Five Level Framework for keeping group discussion at the right level and covering all of the bases. Some groups tend to get stuck at the strategy and/or actions levels and miss sight of the bigger definition of success, and others never leave the higher level vision and success/goals level and get down to action. Most people rarely consider an explicit principles level. Sharing this model early in a group discussion can help the group self-orient and be more productive.
• The importance of language in general was a common theme, with several facets:
• Our common language of sustainability was something that we all valued.
• However, the wording of the principles was sometimes challenging to communicate to others. (For example, I was ‘forced’ by some non-TNS collaborators to reword the principles to make them more user-friendly and easily comprehensible for our client!).
• Using language provocatively: Dave Waldron shared a phrase that he likes to substitute for the word sustainability: “life on earth.” This reframe gets to the heart of the matter, and may even cause the listener to question whether life on earth is potentially at risk.

TNS and the SSD network

Pong led a session on the relationship between TNS the organization and the SSD network of alumni. He sees the future of the organization including more outreach to support the network of alumni practitioners, but this is beyond its current scope as an advisory and consulting services provider. Further, the current scenario potentially pits the TNS organization and MSLS alumni as competitors in the marketplace. We all seek massive change in society, and there is an urgent need for SSD knowledge and skills in society, and a growing number of SSD-trained practitioners each year, so how best can we work to achieve this together. 

The group dialogue that ensued was healthy and constructive, and an opportunity to air any tensions around the relationship with TNS. Since the gathering, this conversation has already evolved, precipitated by an email to the MSLS listserv posted by Neil Pegram ‘08. Miriam ‘06 shared a lovely metaphor about learning to sit with the tension long enough for the inherent wisdom to emerge. Perhaps holding the tension and seeking creative ways to align with the desires of both the alumni and the organization will result in some fruitful and synergistic solutions. While it will take some time to sort these matters out, other voices pointed out that the network needs to self-organize and solidify on its own, regardless of how and when the TNS organization determines that it wants to engage with the network.

This was a perfect segue to our next activity, a conversation about “Who we are as a network,” led by Rachelle ‘06. Of the many highlights of our time together in Whistler, this dialogue about our network stood out to me as a major turning point. It marked a significant moment - a dawning self-awareness of our identity as a larger group that transcended our primary identification with each individual class. As we all contributed words and images to describe our larger collective group, I reflected that this conference was really the first opportunity that most of us have had to meet groups of people from other classes. This gathering gave us a chance to meet face to face, share space and time, and get a sense of the broader network that extends beyond the smaller networks that we forged each year in Karlskrona. The simultaneous gatherings around the world reinforced this awareness and brought us all closer together, despite the technological barriers that enabled us to hear only every other word, half of the time! It was great to be able to see each other at least.

I’d like to digress for a moment to make a somewhat academic point, so bear with me. In human development, there is a natural progression towards a point in time when a child becomes self-aware as distinct from her surroundings. Further development requires that the subject of one stage becomes the object of the next, higher stage of development. This happens when the self, or the “I” is examined from an external perspective - through a process of self-introspection, or engaging in a dialogue with the self. Group development seems to parallel individual development - at a certain stage a group gains self-awareness and can begin to view its collective identity from an external perspective. It is important to recognize that it required a certain passage of time, and a critical mass of alumni in order to reach this turning point.

Through our questions and dialogue, it was exciting to notice that we had spontaneously arrived at this process of collective self-introspection:

• Who are we as a group?
• What makes us “attractive” to each other?
• What values and aspirations do we have in common?
• How did we self-select to become a part of this group?
• What do “outsiders” see when they look at our group?
• What does this group want to be when it grows up?

This sense of self-realization was reinforced by the legacy document that was recently published by the fourth class. What a beautiful and moving expression of the ongoing project that we have all participated in, and a reminder of the transformative experience of our time in Karlskrona. It was wonderful to see how organized things have become! The earlier classes had to essentially bootstrap everything, and many of the activities and programs seem to have been refined, improved upon and the scope expanded by later classes. In other words, the first class crawled so the second class could walk, enabling the third class to run, which in turn allowed the fourth class to fly. And the fifth class? I expect them to go stratospheric.

At the close of our time together in Whistler, I reflected that we had found our answer to the question of how to increase our impact. The answer will emerge from our ongoing inquiry, experimentation and self-organization as we come to know and fully leverage the depth and breadth of skills, talents and passion that we collectively possess as a network of SSD practitioners. This may take the form of more organized virtual spaces and collaborative activities, as well as more frequent physical gatherings. We can also increase our impact by co-creatively leveraging our relationship with the TNS organization, when the best way to do that becomes clear.

So let us move forward in the world, innovating and engaging in meaningful work, and creating safe places to practice and learn together. Let’s never forget that we are all facing the same challenges - we are on the leading edge of this evolving field, and what we’re doing is hard and has never been done before. There is comfort in knowing that we are all in the same boat. This gathering was an opportunity to meet, share and learn, and ultimately to inspire and reinvigorate each other.

Many heartfelt thanks to the organizers of this event for their leadership and initiative, and for creating a deeply meaningful, learningful and purposeful experience for the rest of us: Laura MacKay and Mitch Rhodes (‘05), Magdalena Szpala, Rachelle McElroy and Melanie Dubin (‘06), Katie Pease (‘07) and Jennifer Nichols, Neil Pegram and Renate Sitch (‘08), and last but not least, Pong Leung. And to all of the participants - thank you for bringing yourselves and contributing to the richness of our gathering.

The presentations and notes from the dialogues and working sessions are being uploaded to a wiki page on the Stratleade site on WiserEarth. Check it out and if you have something to add, please feel free to do so!