2020 Resources – Reflections on mindfulness

05/03/2016/in Leadership 2020 /by caorda

I went on my first 10-day silent meditation retreat 34 years ago. Back then, I didn’t dare tell anyone at work that I was meditating. Even telling friends and family was a challenge. They wondered out loud if I was going to shave my hair and head to India, or renounce my worldly possessions, or whether I could levitate (yes really).

I too was under some major misunderstandings back then. I thought that I could achieve a higher consciousness (if not enlightenment ) after those 10 days and that I would be impervious to the stressors in my child welfare job as a result. However, after the first 10-day retreat, I came back to Earth and learned that my mind was incessantly narrating my life and focusing on stupid things. I was a lot more judgmental about others than I had known or was comfortable with. And although meditating all day was painful, I became present and more fully alive through the experience.

It did not make me impervious to life’s challenges, I was just in my life in a more mindful way. I loved it and I sustained a daily practice of sitting meditations and annual retreats for many years. But then work got really demanding, children arrived, divorce happened, and there no longer seemed to be a way for me to get back to my daily practice of meditation.

Fast forward many years. I began to notice that meditation and mindfulness practices were becoming more mainstream in the Western world. Jon Kabat-Zinn brought Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) into the realm of health care and demonstrated that participants suffering from a wide array of chronic and serious medical conditions and stress-related illnesses experienced significant improvements in health and wellbeing through simple mindfulness practices over an 8-week program. Brain Imaging has enabled researchers to see the ways in which the brain works both when highly stressed and when practicing mindfulness. This has demonstrated that the parts of the brain responsible for ‘higher order thinking’ (aka executive functioning) are more active when people engage in mindfulness and meditative practices. Long-term mindfulness practice has been shown to thicken the cortical regions related to attention and sensory processing, and may offset thinning of those areas that typically comes with aging.

We are continually learning about the science of mindfulness. For example, mindfulness enhances the neural circuitry and neural integration leading to more balanced self-regulation and flexibility. Psychiatrist Daniel Siegel (whom many of you will know from his work on the “developing mind” in children and youth) states that: “being mindfully aware, attending to the richness of our here and now experiences, creates scientifically recognized enhancements in our physiology, our mental functions, and our interpersonal relationships. Being fully present in our awareness opens our lives to new possibilities of well-being” (2007, p. xiii).

Research suggests that mindful leaders are able to see things more clearly, cope more effectively with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), “disentangle itself from premature conclusions” and routinized behaviours, generate creative ways to solve messy problems, make better decisions, and be more effective in their relationships at work (and elsewhere). Increasingly, we see health care providers, corporations, academic institutions, governments and schools embracing mindfulness practices to enhance wellbeing, reduce health care costs, and improve performance. Meditation and mindfulness are now mainstream in the Western context.

Although I still don’t get to the cushion and meditate for an hour a day as I used to, I have found that I can still weave mindfulness practice into my everyday life in a helpful way. In the hopes that you might be willing to explore mindfulness further—to enhance well-being, nurture relationships, develop your leadership, address stress or simply to practice the pause—I offer a few Q’s and A’s and some recommended resources below.

Q. What is the distinction between meditation and mindfulness?

A. Contemplative meditation traditions and practices have existed in all faiths and in diverse contexts and countries for thousands of years, and I can’t possibly represent all forms and intentions of meditation here. However, the tradition of insight or Vipassana meditation that I am most familiar with is the practice of training our attention to see things as they really are; to enhance awareness of both internal and external here-and-now experiences. It requires that we focus on a single object (often the breath to start), and as distractions arise we aim to let them go and re-focus on the object. This gives us a ‘centre’ to come back to when things get hairy in our minds. Meditation requires that we be still – or at least very intentional in our movements as in the case of a walking meditation – in order to bring a high quality of attention to our practice. This is where ‘time on the meditation cushion’ matters, as by being still we become aware of the incessant chattering, distractions and interpretations that our minds fix on, and gives us an opportunity to see them for what they are and let them go.

Meditation cultivates concentration, mindfulness and compassion. As Sharon Salzberg states, “Concentration steadies and focuses our attention so that we can let go of distractions. Distractions waste our energy; concentration restores it to us…Mindfulness refines our attention…” (2011, p. 11-12). As we enhance our capacity for mindfulness through some kind of meditative practice, we can then take it into every aspect of our daily lives. It enables us to become more aware of sensations, thoughts, feelings, reactions, and create a space for the “nonjudgmental acknowledgement” of experience. This gives us a bit more space to shift from habitual reactions to seeing different options.

For example, if you are having difficulty with a colleague and are dreading the meeting you are about to go into, mindful awareness might allow you to see the habitual patterns that the 2 of you are locked into, or the way in which your mind creates a whole storyline of how awful your colleague will be and why you have every right to be disappointed and frustrated – before you even get into the meeting! Mindfulness helps us catch ourselves in the spiral and disentangle ourselves from the judgments and stories so that we can try something different. As Salzberg suggests, “mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening” (p. 13). I love the story she shares about a student who, after a particularly stressful day, was in the gym locker room and tore a hole in her pantyhose. She said to a stranger, ‘see, I need a new life’, to which the stranger responded, ‘no, you need a new pair of pantyhose’.

Q. How can I bring more mindfulness into my days?

A. As noted above, our capacity for mindfulness is enhanced if we do some meditative practice – even 15 minutes a day can be very beneficial. However, can also practice ‘mindful moments’ in which you are stably present and attentive to one thing for a minute or more, including:

Sensations – such as the smell of your toothpaste or morning coffee, the sound of the rustle of leaves in the wind or a child’s giggle, the different tastes in your meal, the sensation of your back against the chair or the way in which you are holding your jaw.
Thoughts –noticing what thoughts are arising, how they evolve in your mind and how your body responds to the thoughts.
Feelings – noticing what different emotions (from pleasant to unpleasant) arise in particular situations, and how your thoughts and body are affected.

You may find it difficult to be aware and focused for even a minute, in which case, just notice that and be aware of the way you are distracted. It helps to bring curiosity, openness and a sense of humour into these mindful moments.

Q. How can mindfulness support my leadership?

A. Research suggests that mindfulness enables us to detach from habitual judgments and responses and see things as they are. Instead of mindless inattention to the small things that can become big things if ignored, we are more alert to early warning signs and can take appropriate action. As our capacity for concentration and awareness grows we can become more flexible, innovative, productive, and make better decisions. Further, mindfulness enhances our capacity for compassion and empathy, which helps us as leaders (see Langer, 2014).

Michael Carroll, in his book, The Mindful Leader, suggests that the primary act of mindful leadership is “to open – to fully appreciate our circumstances before we seek to influence or act upon them. When we are willing to open to our world before we act, we not only learn what we need to know, but equally important, we express a vital, innate intelligence that is sharp, flexible and unassuming…We grasp directly the full measure of our present circumstances, recognizing opportunities, appreciating other’s views, [and] acknowledging difficulties” (2007, pp. 23-24).

Recommended references:

Carroll, Michael (2007). The Mindful Leader.

Focuses on ten key principles of mindfulness and how they apply to leading groups and organizations.

Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2012). Mindfulness for Beginners.

Kabat-Zinn brought mindfulness into Western medicine and remains one of the best teachers of mindfulness practices. This book is a series of short reflections and stories that can be used to stimulate practice. A CD of guided meditations is included.

Langer, Ellen (1989/2014). Mindfulness.

This classic written by a Harvard psychologist in 1989, concluded that ‘pervasive mindlessness’ was costing us dearly (limiting mindsets, unhealthy aging, loss of control and self-regulation, burnout, etc.) and proposed a way out through mindfulness. It is still a great read.

Salzberg, Sharon (2011). Real Happiness – The Power of Meditation.

Offers a thoughtful, balanced 28-day program that introduces the basics as well as different forms of meditation (e.g., walking, eating, hearing) and simple mindfulness practices; includes a CD with guided meditations.

Siegel, Daniel (2007). The Mindful Brain.

For those interested in the research pertaining to mindfulness and neurobiology and how they interact.

Stahl, Bob & Goldstein, Elisha (2010). A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook.

If you are interested in developing mindfulness practices to relieve stress, anxiety and health concerns, this workbook does a great job of presenting MBSR techniques and practices.

Online resources:

Palouse Mindfulness, MBSR Program.

Dave Potter is a certified MBSR facilitator and psychotherapist and has created a free 8-week MBSR program, modelled after the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s program (which was founded by Jon Kabatt-Zinn). A number of 2020 participants have gone through this program and found it very helpful.

Dr. Tara Brach is an author and meditation teacher (her books True Refuge and Self-Acceptance Acceptance are powerful) and she shares many guided meditations, as well as how to meditate articles on her website.

2020 Resources – TED talks on the benefits of sleep

03/31/2016/in Leadership 2020 /by caorda

Every time I read an article on the importance of sleep and the negative cumulative impact of insufficient sleep, I cringe. For decades, I was one of those people that confidently stated, “I only need 5 hours of sleep a night.” Now I am confident that I simply can’t bring my best to the world if I keep starving myself of sleep. The research on the importance of quality sleep is compelling and these two TED talks offer some compelling insights.

Jeff Iliff – One More reason To Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Jeff Iliff is a neuroscientist and he and his research team have learned that, during sleep, our brains are literally ‘cleansed’ of the waste and toxins that build up when we work the brain. This helps our brain stay healthy. Conversely, poor sleep quality and duration results in a build up of wastes – the same type of wastes that are in high concentrations in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer’s. They don’t know if there is a causal relationship but it is an interesting correlation!

Russell Foster – Why Do We Sleep?

This is another interesting TED talk on sleep if you are keen to learn more. Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist, which means he is an expert on the body’s sleep cycles. In this talk, Foster slays (with humour) several common sleep myths and challenges dominant attitudes about sleep being a ‘waste of time’. He says it’s high time we take sleep seriously as a society. “This isn’t some sort of crystal-waving nonsense,” he says. “This is a pragmatic response to good health. If you have good sleep, it increases your concentration, attention, decision-making, creativity, social skills, health.”

2020 Resources – Thinking about wellness

03/31/2016/in Leadership 2020 /by caorda

In Leadership 2020, we offer a simple framework for assessing our wellness practices, adapted from the First Nation’s Healthy Authority’s perspective on wellness and wholism. A visual of this is offered below.

You can use whatever labels make sense to you but the key point is to attend to the different dimensions of wellness. Each of us might have different wellness practices within the dimensions, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach nor is there a definitive ‘how to manual’ for wellness practice (despite what the self-help gurus might claim), but it is helpful to build awareness about what we have going on – or not – in each dimension. Where am I lean? What have I got in place that is working for me? What have I not been paying attention to? What do I want to introduce or re-introduce back into my life?

As we are in the generative Spring season – a time of new beginnings – it may be time to consider the questions above for yourself and then make some commitments – what will you keep doing, start doing and stop doing in order to enhance your wellness and well being over the next 6 months?

These don’t need to be big and bold – sometimes it is the small stuff that can make a big difference, e.g. drink more water, stretch for 3 minutes every hour (set your phone to remind you to get up, stretch and get a glass of water), write a gratitude or ‘what went right’ statement at the end of each work day as your last act before you head home, listen to a talking book on something inspirational on your commute rather than listening to the news.

One of the things to be aware of is that our brains have a harder time allowing us to stop doing something than to start doing something. Old habits die hard because the neural pathways associated with behaviours become deeply rooted. To introduce new wellness practices may be a better place to start – the novelty captures us and over time we can establish new neural pathways that may challenge the old patterns and pathways.

2020 Resources – What Makes a Good Life?

03/31/2016/in Leadership 2020 /by caorda

Recommended TED talk: Lessons from the Longest Study on Human Happiness by Robert Waldinger

Robert Waldinger, a professor at Harvard Medical School is the Director of a study that has been tracking two groups of men (and now their partners and children) for 75 years. One group is comprised of Harvard graduates and the other from the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and families of Boston at the time the study began. Throughout this period of time, researchers have interviewed the participants every one or 2 years, collected medical records, undertaken brain scans and tracked their life journey and stories.

This study has informed our understanding of what makes people happy and healthy through their lives. In this easy-to-listen-to 12-minute TED talk, Waldinger shares three factors that make a difference – all connected to a sense of belonging and having meaningful relationships. “The people who fared the best had leaned into relationships with family, friends, community” even when messy and complicated.

While this talk is not about leadership per se, it is still relevant to our work in a number of ways. Our personal well-being influences how we show up as leaders, so how are we tending to the relationships we have with family, friends, and community? How might we foster positive relationships in our teams and organizations to create a sense of belonging and connection amongst the people we work with? Given the vital importance of strong attachments and relationships to long-term physical, mental and emotional health, in what ways do we design, deliver and lead services to foster healthy connections for children, youth, and families?

We know this stuff, but a little reminder doesn’t hurt!

Resources on Theory U

03/24/2016/in Leadership 2020 /by Amy Mullis

In the Leadership 2020 final residencies we work extensively with Theory U as both a framework for the final week’s design and as a method for change leadership. Our design and hosting team loves working with Theory U as participants both ‘see themselves’ within the model/method and discover a language and process that informs their work in the world. However, learning about and working with Theory U doesn’t need to wait until a formal residency. It is learnable through self-study and practice, and applicable to the complex situations we frequently find ourselves in.

First some background: The ‘U Procedure’ or ‘U Process’ was first developed in the Netherlands in the late 60’s as a change management approach to address conflict and shift unproductive organizational behaviour. Otto Scharmer and his colleagues at MIT, The Society for Organizational Learning, and the Presencing Institute have been further developing the concepts as ‘Theory U’, for application in organizational, community and systemic contexts. They note that the deeper social, economic, ecological and spiritual challenges of our times cannot be addressed by either looking to the past for direction or by looking for simple solutions. Instead, this complexity work calls for “a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity to meet challenges in a more conscious, intentional, and strategic way.”

Theory U evolved after a deep and extensive inquiry into what effective leaders do when they successfully address complex challenges. Scharmer and his colleagues discovered that “successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation. Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each operates.” Theory U thus informs a way of being as well as offering a framework and method for change.

Central to this way of being is:

Shifting from reaction to inquiry and from acting alone to engaging with others
Cultivating the qualities of attention, observation, presence and deeper listening
Uncovering the voices of judgment, cynicism and fear that hold us back
Challenging these voices by cultivating an open mind, open heart and open will
Illuminating the blindspots that keep us stuck in old patterns (letting go)
Being willing to act in small ways to probe and test out ideas – and yes fail – in order to learn and evolve new solutions to complex issues.

A scenario might help to illuminate how Theory U can be applied. Let’s say that you and your colleagues are noticing that a growing number of youth in your community are engaging in high-risk behaviours and the community is becoming alarmed. Your agency is getting pressured to respond in some way – and quickly! Now what? When we are faced with such pressure, our response is often to act from what we currently know and do, for example, look to an existing program to address the concern, or seek funds to implement a known crisis intervention. While there might be value in these responses, Theory U encourages a deeper level of inquiry and understanding.

The first ‘movement in Theory U calls for ‘co-initiating’ – inviting and engaging with others who share similar concerns and interests in order to develop a shared purpose or intention, such as better supporting youth in the community, or stemming the high risk behaviours. At this point in the process, the voice of judgment often arises, in which we explicitly or implicitly look for and judge the circumstances or people that we believe might be causing or contributing to the problem. This sounds like, “Government cut our program and this is why there is a crisis” of “If the (agency, school, parents, etc.) paid attention, it wouldn’t have come to this”. The voice of judgment clouds our capacity to see what is going on beyond the obvious and narrows our views of what is possible – not a great way to begin approaching a complex situation. The antidote to the voice of judgment is an open mind as curiosity and judgment cannot co-exist. The open mind allows us to ask, with others, “What is going on here?” and “What do we need to learn in order to make sense of the situation?”

An open mind prepares us to engage in the second movement in Theory U – ‘co-sensing’ – in which those involved inquire and learn, to discover new information about the phenomenon, from multiple perspectives. The Presencing Institute website noted below offers an array of tools and practices that support this. I have assisted a wide array of organizations to engage in co-sensing processes – from small non-profits, to BC Women’s Hospital – and the results have always been illuminating and inspiring for the participants and frequently shift the course of action taken.

As we go deeper into the ‘U’, we come up against another insidious voice – the voice of cynicism. This sounds like, “We tried this before and it won’t work” and “No one will support us, they won’t get it”. The antidote to the voice of cynicism is an open heart. This enables us to be available to the learning journey and discoveries, and to receive the gifts of diverse perspectives and offerings. From this openness we will receive insights or offers that we might have never conceived of, as we widen the circle of inquiry and engagement. At this point in the U process you may also hear the ‘realist argument’, which sounds like, “I am not being a cynic, I am just a realist – we haven’t got support before so we won’t get support now” or “How is it going to help us to talk to all these people? They don’t really know what is going on and we have to act now!” However, by cultivating an open mind and heart we can suspend judgment and cynicism and ask, “Is this true?” and “What can I understand about what holds people back?” and “What/who else is out there?” and “Who can help here?” Returning to our scenario, you might learn from all sorts of people that have not traditionally been involved in youth work, but who nonetheless have something to offer such as a unique perspective, assistance, support, critique, etc.

At the bottom of the U is the third movement – presencing. At this point, stillness is required. Rather than rushing straight from information to action, there is value in tapping into ‘the pause’ that we often talk about in 2020, so that our minds can be present with and available to what has been discovered. We can sift and sort, find patterns, discover dissonance and perhaps gain a more nuanced or broader understanding of what is going on. Sometimes in our field, even with the most complex and urgent issues, there is great value in “slowing down in order to go fast”.

Another voice that often emerges as we approach this deeper level of understanding of the need to act is the voice of fear. This sounds like, “I/we don’t know how to do this and I/we might fail” and “If we fail, we will look foolish/incompetent/cause harm/waste resources” and “I/we will lose” and “Something terrible will happen here.” As you can no doubt appreciate from your own experience, fear is very incapacitating. This is because our ‘survival brain’ is activated and the executive functions associated with our neo-cortex (our thinking brain) are hijacked. Instead of being able to see an array of possibilities for response, our repertoire is limited to fight, flight, freeze, or appease. The antidote to fear is easier said than done – open will. There is a quality of self compassion and empathy for self and others associated with an open will and it can sound like, “I/we might fail, but I am not a failure and I will figure it out” and “This is really important work and it matters to me/us so it is worth it to try”. In this way, we let go of our judgment, cynicism and fear and become more open to possibilities

At this point of the U process we are ready to act – and act with intensity. This is a time for co-creating probes and protoyping – for trying out a number of ideas to see what difference can be made and what else can be learned. There will still be judgment, cynicism and fear lurking about, but the qualities of openness that have been cultivated and the joy of enacting things that have been co-informed and co-created can help to keep the voices at bay. I will share more about probes and prototyping in a future communiqué but know that if we are going to address complex issues we will not ‘get it right’ the first time – or the second, third of fourth! However, as we try, and fail, and discover, in small and low risk/low resource ways, we can learn and develop the ideas until such time as we are ready for the final movement of co-evolving. This is when we enact the new, well-informed and tested response to the complex concerns we identified at the beginning of the process.

Here is a visual that shows the five movements, three voices and three ‘antidotes’ to the voices:

For further reading:

Presencing Institute: Otto Scharmer and colleagues host a wonderful array of resources on their Presencing Institute website. Here is an overview of Theory U, and here are some tools for practice (especially in the co-sensing movement).

Al Etmanski’s speaking notes from the FCSSBC Social Policy Forum

03/02/2016/in Federation News /by caorda

The political announcement in Tuesday’s budget to increase spending for children in care occurred in large part because FOR THE LAST 15 – 20 YEARS:

You spoke up IN DEFENSE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA’S children and families
You worked with public service and political allies to prevent further cuts
You developed new resources with your ingenuity and enterprise
You worked inside systems w/o acknowledgement

It happened BECAUSE You didn’t turn your back when Children, Youth, Women, Families WERE NOT SEEN AS a political or economic priority even though your professionalism was often under attack.

Thank you for standing firm against what Pope France calls the “globalization of indifference”. Thank you for your leadership. And for taking on what must often feel like a thankless task.

You must feel this is the way it will always be. But it’s not. THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL WINDS ARE CHANGING.

BOB DYLAN once sang – You DON’T HAVE TO BE A WEATHERMAN TO KNOW WHICH WAY WINDS ARE BLOWING. The winds are blowing in favour of Justice AND equality again.

One of the first signs was the election of the current Mayor of New york Bill de Blasio on a campaign to address homelessness, poverty and racial injustice. Bill de Blasio was an underdog unlike any New York mayor in recent memory – a staunch progressive, a crusader against income inequality and for affordable housing – very different from former Mayor Bloomberg.

The next wind to blow was the appearance of Pope Frances on the world stage. Here are a few of things he has said: “Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the ‘culture of waste.’ If a computer breaks it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people end up being considered normal.” “We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.”

And speaking to youth recently, he asked them to become revolutionaries, “I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, that believes you are incapable of true love.”

Within the last year the Ford Foundation redesigned their whole grantmaking to focus on the 5 key drivers of inequity. I think you would find them very familiar. Here in Canada the Maytree Foundation is leading a campaign to enshrine economic and social rights for our most vulnerable in our Charter.

Here is another strong wind that ‘s blowing around the world – a guaranteed annual income. Finland is implementing it. I Canada the idea is picking up credibility after a 40-year hiatus from the remarkable Dauphin Manitoba demonstration. The Globe and Mail wrote a favourable editorial last weekend. I also detect justice and equity as the ‘juice’ behind our newly elected government and the surprising strength of Bernie Saunders’ campaign.

If you factor out the political and religion elements of these winds of change they all have in common a challenge to the “iron rule of economy,” i.e. that we must first take care of the economy before we take care of each other.

What they mean to you and me is that the time is right in British Columbia for a transformative Vision. YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO TREAD WATER. You can regain your historical role AS ADVOCATES FOR THE BOLDEST RENDITION OF THE WORLD WE WANT FOR OUR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES. INSTEAD OF being under a cloud you can show us what is beyond the horizon. INSTEAD OF Playing defense YOU CAN regain the offence. INSTEAD OF Playing catch up you can take the lead.

We are at a Crossroads in BC. Your SACRED TASK is changing. You can now be bolder than you’ve ever been. Here’s the thing: YOU CAN’T DO IT ALONE. Furthermore, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You SIMPLY NEED TO THINK AND ACT LIKE A MOVEMENT.

Movements do 3 things much better than other organizational forms such as committees, task forces, partnerships, non-profits, sectors, government, coalitions and FEDERATIONS. THEY change culture – THOSE DEEPLY ROOTED HABITS attitudes and beliefs THAT KEEP THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE. They do it in three ways:

ONE – Movements provide a vehicle for collaborating and co-operating across sectors, organizational boundaries, social and economic strata, origins, backgrounds and jurisdictions. They are the ultimate inclusive container, encompassing the full assortment of actors AND ACTIONS required for transformative change.

TWO – Movements shift the boundaries of what is socially acceptable and expected. They provide a climate for new ideas. Movements create the favourable political conditions for the combination of legislative change, resource allocation, policy shifts, new stories and new behaviours you are looking for. THEY Embolden Politicians. The recent Paris Climate Agreement would not have happened without a global, grassroots climate movement. This movement of movements was DELIBERATELY CULTIVATED FOR THE Failed COPENHAGEN climate TALKS but proved its effectiveness in Paris. INCIDENTALLY one of the chief organizers was JASON MOGUS who lives on SALTSPRING.

THREE – Movements don’t just open our minds, they touch our hearts. University of Victoria’s BUDD HALL suggests that movements are evolving from simply describing the world we want, to giving us the experience of what this new world would resemble using the power of dance, drama, ritual, ceremony, poetry and humour. Movements, he says, are increasingly “about flow, networking, connectivity, immediacy, creativity and an immediate sensual intimacy.”

The arts and social movements make a good marriage because they’re both iconoclastic, set up by their very nature to challenge sacred cows. They lend movements compelling symbols and images that are more meaningful and hopeful than slogans and clichés.

You don’t need to start a new movement. Simply support the one(s) you are already part of. For example, the poverty reduction/anti-poverty movements comprise welfare reform, minimum wage, fair wage and guaranteed annual income advocates. Chances are high they could find a common agenda with folks addressing underemployment, unemployment, homelessness, food sovereignty, agri-business, urban gardening, social isolation, addiction, AND TREATMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH, to name a few.

NOTE: The FCSSBC isn’t a movement, it’s a federation. If you are a member you have your organizational objectives and Federation objectives. You also have movement objectives. Your movement objectives will support your organizational and federation objectives. Here are 8 questions to help you think and act like a movement.

Which movements are you already part of?
Who are the key players and actors in these movements?
How can these movements help you achieve your organizational mission?
How would you describe your movement objectives?
What actions can you take to support the movements you are already part of?
Which movement players could you align with?
Are you welcoming and supporting disruptive, frontline, grassroots individuals and groups?
What about artists, painters, dancers, poets, sculptors, singers, storytellers…?

By setting aside time and resources for movement thinking and acting, we give greater lift to our collective aspirations. There are no shortcuts. Only when people come together in large numbers do we get the world we want. There is one important qualification to movement thinking and acting. MOVEMENTS IN CANADA MAY BE DIFFERENT from THOSE IN THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE THEY MAKE ROOM FOR GOVERNMENT.

YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD THE EXPRESSION THAT GOVERNMENT SEEMS PARALYSED? THERE IS A CERTAIN SENSE IN WHICH THAT IS TRUE. Off the top of my head, I CAN THINK OF AT LEAST FOUR SPINAL CORD INJURIES of Government.

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN – FOCUS ON IMMEDIATE
RISK ADVERSE
EXCESSIVE FOCUS on ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY and PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS
LIMITED POLICY and RESEARCH CAPACITY. MOST GOVERNMENT POLICY SHOPS HAVE CLOSED DOWN OR ARE SUBSTANTIALLY UNDERSTAFFED. THEY NO LONGER are as up to date on emerging problems and TRENDS as we think they are.

ALL these ‘spinal cord’ injuries TAKE THEIR TOLL. IF A FRIEND WAS PARALYSED – YOU WOULD MAKE ACCOMMODATION TO ENSURE THEY PERFORMED AT THEIR PEAK. THAT’S WHY A NEW BREED OF ADVOCATES HAVE EMERGED – Solution-based Advocates.

Solution-based advocates want to do more than oppose government or focus unduly on what’s not working. They’re tired of reacting, and they work hard to cultivate a proactive mindset. Their focus is on workable solutions. These folks haven’t gone soft, parking their issues until government gets its act together. Neither are they naive. They are prudent however. They want results, just like everyone else, but they take government’s limitations into consideration. They have two objectives:

To propose solutions and
To enhance government’s capacity to make better decisions.

While pursuing their issue proponents of solution-based advocacy seek to improve relationships among all the players, to attract new allies and to build a base for addressing the next set of challenges.

Former prime minister Joe Clark calls the symbiotic relationship between civil society and government a marriage between imagination and mandate. What non-governmental organizations don’t have, he says, is “the authority to change the rules . . . Non-state organizations often have the imagination which the world needs, but only states and governments have the mandate and power to change laws and regulations and obligations.”

You know the expression necessity is the mother of invention. I’d like to propose a friendly amendment – If necessity is the mother of invention then love is the other parent. Passionate amateurs are inspired by love and motivated by necessity. Someone or something they care about is vulnerable, under siege or in trouble, and they have no choice but to respond.

Passionate amateurs don’t quit. They can’t quit. They are prepared to pour their life’s energy into resolving a challenge. Their commitment is freely given, beyond the boundaries of job descriptions, office hours, strategic plans, funding, fashion and political priorities. They are on the front lines, spotting and dealing with injustice years and sometimes decades before the issue seeps into the consciousness of our institutions.

You are all passionate amateurs – wherever you work in the ecosystem surrounding our children youth and families. Your actions are expressions of the heart.

Whatever role we play, our effectiveness improves when we fall in love with the issue – its mystery, its brokenness and its contradictions. Without that love, we are more likely to walk away from a challenge; to blame others, or to get distracted by a search for more technology and techniques.

The necessity to do something is usually clear. We have more than enough studies, reports, projections and statistics about what is wrong, horrible and not working. We now need to envelop our challenges with love. To tap into what people care deeply about. To rally the lovesick. Why? Because it’s 2016.

Thank you.

2020 Resources – Al Etmanski’s speaking notes from the FCSSBC Social Policy Forum

03/02/2016/in Federation News /by fcssbc

The political announcement in Tuesday’s budget to increase spending for children in care occurred in large part because FOR THE LAST 15 – 20 YEARS:

You spoke up IN DEFENSE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA’S children and families
You worked with public service and political allies to prevent further cuts
You developed new resources with your ingenuity and enterprise
You worked inside systems w/o acknowledgement