... a little dream I have: to one day be a Talk Show radio host. If you can stop your eyes from rolling, and put aside that "Here we go, another media-mogul wannabee!" thought, let me self-indulge for a little.

You see, a few years back I decided that I wanted to facilitate conversations for a living. The pinnacle of that goal is the opportunity to facilitate conversations on a national scale. Getting small groups to talk meaningfully is great (and exceptionally rewarding), but to be able to facilitate national conversations where one gets to grip with the narrative pulse of a nation and a truly diverse range of discourse is one of my ambitions.

This dream had a little but of confirmation today as David O'Sullivan graciously let me be a fly on the wall of his Drive Time show on 702 Talk Radio this afternoon. Thanks David ... it's a pity we don't hear more of your off-air quips.

Photo courtesy of Cordan

This is the first time I'm blogging during a conference - I'll see if I can pay attention and write coherently at the same time. Instead of providing a chronological account of my time with Dave Snowden (founder of Cognitive Edge) over the next few days at Sonja's Dialogue conference in the Cognitive Edge Accreditation course.

I did the very same course roughly 18 months ago (after I had just read a couple of Dave's articles). It blew my hair back and am thankful I took some fairly rigorous notes. We're only 40mins into the day, but I can already see how Dave has improved in communicating the philosophy and background to his complex adaptive systems influences behind sense-making (making sense of the world so that we can act in it).

I do wonder though if I feel this way because I have journeyed with this thinking over the last year or so?

*He looks around the room*

Nope, people seem to be grasping this better than I did last year. Well done Dave!

Onto my next thought ...

A few days ago I posted, in the midst of the FNB Crime Letter Saga, how I had perceived an increase in crime within my own social network. I know see some voices emerging who, despite the proliferation of crime, are being bold enough to maintain a position of hope around South Africa and the prospects for our nation. Examples that stand out are Christof Appel (and his experience informed perception), Nic Haralambous (and his awesome project SARocks), and Dave Duarte (and his lesson in Social Media Marketing).

These voices remind me of some lessons from group processes:  read more »

If there's someone I feel indifferent about, it is Donald Trump . His self-inundated series The Apprentice holds very little excitement for me besides his whimsical "you're fired" decisions and hoping the editors slip in a snippet of his hair catching sail in a gust of wind.

The latest season showing here in South Africa is The Apprentice 3: Books Smarts versus Street Smarts. Having previously pitted the sexes against each other, he now has those with Ivy League college educations battling it out against those with no formal education.  read more »

Chris Corrigan, over at Parking Lot , is beginning a year-long inquiry into how hosts (group facilitators) can be forces of conscious evolution.

Nice term ... conscious evolution.

From his post:

Conscious evolution is as simple as having the experience of becoming “bigger” in terms of consciousness of forces and systems and the impact we can have on those forces and systems.

I have my criticisms of how people approach change in organisations. Corrigan's work will be important in establishing an optimism in the way in which individuals, groups and organisations can deal with discontinuous change.

The leaf-in-the-wind-like position groups and organisations find themselves in reminds me of a Hasidic motif: A traveler loses his way in a forest: it is dark and he's afraid. Danger lurks behind ever tree. A storm shatters the silence. The fool looks at the lightning, the wise man at the road that lies - illuminated - before him.  read more »

Last night I spent some time with a group that meets on a semi-regular basis to discuss, in general, groups and the facilitation of group processes. We call this group the Group Interest Group (GIG). There are some amazing individuals who contribute to this conversation: Greyling Viljoen, Jean Cooper, Sonja Blignaut, Raymond Salzwedel (try saying that after two glasses of red wine) and some other like-minded folk.

 read more »

I'm obviously a huge fan of how the metaphor of Story helps us in optimising organisational success. But how do we see it in action, and how do we learn about it?

3 ways:

1 - invite me to facilitate a collaborative session revolving around a problem you're having
2 - sign up for my Taking a Step Back Community, or
3 - read a great case study by Harlene Anderson on Collaborative Inquiry.

You can find the full article here (beware: includes in-depth academic analysis), or just click on "comments" below to see it in action.