Me, my project, my goals, and a question

I always have trouble introducing myself because introductions so often rely on stating one’s vocation, and that’s something I just can’t pin down. I’ve done a million things, working in publishing houses, law firms, a university, an English language school, an airline, a factory, a doughnut shop . . . and I’ve studied a few things, too: social sciences, law, Reiki, acupressure, multimedia development, nonprofit administration, usability analysis. But really, I’m just a dog-loving race walker who would love nothing more than to win the lottery so that I could take classes and travel, especially in South America. Work has always been a way to make a living, and I’ve never found work that I love.

As for my project, I’m feeling a bit sheepish because the project is just starting and my role is still undefined. Nonetheless, I’ll move forward as I were clear on my tasks. In essence, the nonprofit where I work is designing training materials for in-person training of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) adjudicators who determine whether to confer refugee status on applicants. The education is around LGBTI applicants, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa; understanding their claims and experiences, their special needs, and how to talk to them. Most adjudicators are locals who may hold the same prejudices and assumptions as the surrounding community, and may not even have the vocabulary to speak respectfully with these applicants for refugee status.

My primary goal is to learn more about adult education and learning retention. My secret agenda is that anything I learn here could be applied to ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching if I end up moving to Latin America again – or, perhaps, even if I stay stateside and work with English language learners here. Beyond all that, I really do care about making the world a better place for LGBTI refugees.

One of my questions is “Where can I learn more about teaching adults?” It’s a priority because I have never had any training in this area, despite having been an ESL teacher. I suspect there are learning differences with adults who choose to be in a learning setting, but who are busy and distracted, may bring prior knowledge of the subject that could conflict with the new information, and may have goals that diverge from the assumed goals of the training. Additionally, their brains may be different, and some may have memory problems. They may even be healing from a concussion!

As to how to go about answering this, I think I need to start by spending more time online, where there is surely a plethora of information. If I’m wrong, I’d probably hit the library next – but I doubt that will be necessary. One area in particular to check out are the MOOC sites, where I may be able to find online lectures. Much more challenging than the source of information will be the time to explore it.

This feels plenty long for this post, so I’ll leave it here for now.

The Importance of Asking Why

Hello!  I’m Renee and I am going to admit this is probably my first ever public blog post.  Yeah, not a blogger.  So Bootcamp is a great way for me to push my boundaries and practice being more transparent without the need for as much polish.

I am a Program Officer at the General Service Foundation, an awesome family foundation committed to social justice grant making.  I manage a portfolio to build a strong, multi-issue progressive base in Colorado by strengthening a set of core civic engagement grantees and connecting them via infrastructure innovations.  I work with a large network of other funders and organizations to inspire similar local infrastructure efforts and innovations in other states. You can read more about my program here.

I signed up for Bootcamp to gain tools and practice supporting groups (of grantees and funders) to create and achieve collective vision.  The organizations I work with increasingly intersect with each other to create a network – whether intentional or unintentional – in service of similar goals.  I find myself often leading processes to illuminate the shared purpose of the network, make it more explicit, and get people working more collaboratively toward an agreed-upon outcome.  Along these lines, here’s the project I’m focusing on at Bootcamp:

To co-create a vision with my grantees and a funder partner that takes our collective work together to the next level. Ultimately, I hope to develop a new investment strategy for my program based on that united field-funder vision.


In our first Bootcamp session, Eugene asked us to think of all the questions we could about our project and post them in clusters.  I came up with a ton of “HOW” and “WHAT” questions about the process I had envisioned in my head.  Interestingly, the one that provided the most insight to me was one I didn’t ask: “Why would we co-create a vision?” and a follow-up “Why would we take our work to the next level?”

This was a great reminder about generative questions.  I have talked to several stakeholders about my project and I tend to ask “Should we do this… (e.g. co-create a vision)?” and usually they answer yes, it’s needed, feels important, etc. especially because I tend to make a pretty compelling argument for it before I ask the question : )  Oh, and I’m their funder so of course they’re going to say it’s a great idea!  But just by shifting the frame of the question, I can get so much more insight into what THEY are thinking and find ways to design a process that will meet THEIR needs too, not just my own.  This is key to one of my priority questions: “How to build buy-in from the participants ahead of time?”.

So how will I go about answering these questions?

I already have plans to interview key stakeholders before the meeting but Bootcamp is helping me rethink the frame of my questions to a generative one so I can really tap the knowledge and insight of everyone else, rather than relying on my own brain to design it.

I also will be working with the fantastic Rebecca Petzel from Groupaya on a co-creation process for this project that will include representative stakeholders in the design phase.  I’ll try to break my habit of coming to these design meetings with my ideas fully fleshed out and instead allow for generative work to happen in the design phase itself.

Can’t wait for my next workout!

Apply to Participate in Changemaker Bootcamp!

I’m starting another round of Changemaker Bootcamp in a few weeks, and I’m looking for participants! It will be once a week (Wednesdays from 10am-12pm) for six weeks (June 12-July 17, 2013) in San Francisco. I’m accepting applications now, and I’ll be limiting participation to eight people.

Why apply? Changemaker Bootcamp is an opportunity to practice the skills you need to transform groups, be it your organization, your community, or the world at large, regardless of your position in that group.

Changemaker Bootcamp is learning by doing, not through teaching. You will be spending two hours a week (plus homework) actually practicing a set of critical skills with other great changemakers and getting real-time feedback.

Changemaker Bootcamp is also a place to think strategically about the work that you’re already doing. You come to Bootcamp with a real project in mind, and you’ll be given the opportunity to think more strategically about your project and to apply the skills you practice immediately toward your project.

Read the About page for more about this process and about me.

Who should apply? Eventually, I plan on opening this up to changemakers of all types, but for now, I’m looking for people who are:

  • Working in an organization (large or small)
  • Not part of the top-level leadership team (e.g. no C-level leaders or executive directors).

How much does it cost? You decide! Seriously!

This is still an experiment for me, and I don’t want to commit to a pricing model yet. However, it’s also clear that this is providing a lot of value to participants, even in its rough form, and I think it’s important for participants to put skin in the game. (You can see what my previous participants, Anna and Marie, had to say about their experiences.)

So here’s how this will work. If you apply and are accepted, I will ask you to tell me how much you’ll be paying. It needs to be at least a dollar, and you will need to pay it up-front. I will agree to whatever price you name without judgment, whether it’s $1 or $1,000.

I’m looking for great participants who are passionate about the world and who will work hard and enthusiastically over the course of six weeks. Whatever you decide to pay will be the right amount.

How do I apply? Fill out this form. You can also click on the Apply! link at the top of this page.

I will review applications as they come in and cut off the process when I get eight enrollees or by Friday, June 7, 2013, whichever comes first.

Thank you, and as always, feel free to leave your thoughts or questions in the comments below!

The Story Behind the Three Ground Rules

When I first started crafting this experiment, I wanted to come up with a set of ground rules that embodied the spirit of this work. Having done this kind of work for a decade, I had lots and lots of potential ground rules to draw from. However, the three I chose were quite different from ones I’ve used in the past.

1. Be nice to yourself. Many changemakers I know tend to want to take care of others before they take care of themselves. In fact, many seem to feel guilty about taking care of themselves. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, changemaking needs to start with self-compassion. I wanted to establish that from the very beginning, and I’m glad that I did. Anna and Marie joked that I cited this rule so often, it should go on a T-shirt. Great idea!

2. Be nice to others. Self-explanatory, but good to make explicit.

3. Don’t be nice. I went to see the YouthSpeaks finals a few years ago, and I noticed that the participants would shout this in support of their peers on stage. I loved it! Making change isn’t about being nice. Neither is learning. It’s about being real. I realize that this rule seems to conflict with ground rules 1 and 2, but one of the key literacies in today’s world is effectively balancing tensions, so I felt perfectly comfortable with this.

What do you think about these ground rules? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Lessons Learned from Inaugural Bootcamp

Changemaker Bootcamp Inaugural Participants!Last Wednesday, we finished the first Changemaker Bootcamp! I can’t believe how quickly four weeks went by, and I am very grateful to Marie Haller and Anna Castro for being wonderful, inaugural participants.

This first round was meant to be an experiment. My goal was to test the model and to explore possible answers to some of my strategic questions about this project. I intentionally kept it small and was selective with my first participants, and I learned a ton from the process.

In particular, I got to test the basic premise — that a focus on practice with feedback rather than “imparting knowledge” is valuable and much needed — and some specific exercises in a safe space. This was my own opportunity to practice, and it helped tremendously. It also helped me flesh out my overall conceptual framework, which will help me be more intentional in designing future workouts and assessments.

Some key takeaways:

  • Place to practice and process. In conceiving this, I originally focused on creating a place to practice. What I realized from this first session was that bootcamp is a great place for people to process — to reflect on their everyday work, to integrate their learnings, and to be more strategic in the moment. That’s different from doing a retrospective or going on a retreat after your project is over, because it allows you to learn and adapt more quickly.
  • Practice matters. That said, the original premise still stands. I was delighted to see the impact that even small amounts of practice had, and I was even more delighted to see the participants become very aware of this.
  • The homework worked really well. It forced participants to think about how they were going to put what they practiced in bootcamp into practice immediately in their own projects. It also kept the work very grounded in their real lives.

Some decisions and open questions moving forward:

  • I’m definitely going to do another round. For this next round, I’m going to target six-to-eight participants instead of two. I’ll be increasing the length of the sessions from 90 minutes to two hours in order to accommodate the larger camp size. Finally, I’m going to extend the cycle from four to six weeks.
  • It will stay once a week. I went back and forth on this the entire four weeks. On the one hand, an extra session per week would have made a big difference in terms of integrating some of this work, and it’s more in line with a real bootcamp in terms of building habits. On the other hand, homework would not be realistic for a twice-a-week session, and as I stated above, the homework turned out to be a really valuable part of the experience. I like the balance of practicing with each other, then practicing at work once a week.
  • Face-to-face only. I originally thought that I’d experiment with a remote version of this after I tried a few face-to-face versions. I realize I have no interest in this. A remote version is definitely doable (and I’d be happy to help design it if others are interested in pursuing this), I’m just not motivated to do it. There are plenty of changemakers in San Francisco who need something like this, so I’m going to focus my energy there. That said, I’d like to create something that scales, and so I’ll continue to put energy into sharing what I learn and fostering a larger community, so that this model has the potential to spread and replicate without me in the center.
  • Integrating technology into the process. Not doing a remote version doesn’t mean that I won’t be addressing technology-mediated collaboration. I think this blog worked well, and I’m going to introduce a chat-like function for participants to encourage more asynchronous interaction during the week. I’ll also likely create practice opportunities for technology-mediated collaboration: from teleconferences to far more sophisticated types of engagement. Again, all of the fundamental principles and exercises apply regardless of what tools people use to collaborate.
  • Should I charge for the next round? I am definitely looking to charge for this. I strongly believe this format — even in my early explorations with it — is far more useful than traditional trainings and content. I’m in the process of doing some research to figure out what the right pricing is. The question is whether I should figure this out first before doing another round, whether I should just do another round for free again, or whether I should do something in-between and charge something nominal. Thoughts? And again, to be clear, I fully plan to continue to do this work in a completely open source way, meaning all of the content will be available for people to steal and replicate.

If you have questions or comments, please post below. If you’d like to be notified about what happens next, subscribe to our newsletter!

My brain is a muscle

Last week Marie and I teamed up to develop a framework for effective collaboration. The exercise that led to our draft framework consisted of two basic but super important questions: 1) What was your best experience collaborating with others? 2) Why was it so great? The exercise allowed me to practice my active listening skills and work with my fellow bootcamper to generate questions and find points of divergence and convergence in our answers. More importantly, we charted questions to help us think through and analyze our framework. The process of writing our ideas down, wrestling with them together and receiving supportive coaching along the way really helped. It also reminded me that this really is bootcamp. I actually felt mentally sore and achy afterward.

We came to consensus on a number of elements for our “working” framework:

  • The ability to co-create and/or participate in the creation of something (like an idea or plan)
  • The opportunity to contribute without regard to position or expertise
  • Structures that are flexible and fluid
  • Working toward a meaningful result

After interviewing a number of my colleagues, I’d like to consider adding the following:

  • Shared values 
  • Sense of mission

Having to come up with generative questions as part of this exercise was really instructive and a few things clicked for me. I realized that my active listening skills could use some work and that while I pride myself in being a better than average listener, I am not always as present as I should be in certain settings. I believe that active listening requires a person to use all their senses and be fully present to what’s being said and what’s not being said. I think active listening is enhanced when a listener is able to pose strategic questions that work to open up conversations to more opportunities or possibilities. I am clearer about the importance and usefulness of asking strategic questions that aren’t skewed toward your biases or peppered with your assumptions. When I reviewed my list of questions generated during our first bootcamp workout, I realized that many of my questions have a lot of assumptions built into them and that those assumptions can be quite limiting. One of them was “How do staff feel about the opportunities to work collaboratively?” I now see that this is not necessarily an effective question. I reworked it and came up with “What will it take for us to work together as a team?” and “How do we want to work together?”

I’ve got bootcamp runner’s high. I am so excited about the next workout!

Framing it Up!

My favorite part of this week – getting to ask other people to tell me a story about their best collaborative experiences.  Sometimes I feel like this work can get jargon-y, so it’s nice to cut through that and listen to a story without all of the big words.  Not only did I get some more data for our “Effective Collaboration Framework” but I also got to learn some new things about my colleagues – from AJ’s fascinating Burning Man camp project (3D Printers and Scanners that made people miniatures of themselves!) to the incredible non-profit organization (about-face.org) that I had no idea my manager, Kathy, founded.

Their narratives definitely converged around similar themes we touched on during last week’s session:

  • co-creating/creation
  • no ego
  • meaningful result (even if the intended result didn’t occur)
  • open communication/equal participation

Two new ideas also emerged:

  • energy/passion
  • diverse skill-sets

All 3 of my colleagues said these two things were what made their collaborative efforts so great.  I remembered that Anna’s story also included a group with diverse skill-sets, so I thought these two factors were definitely worth inclusion in our framework.  The framework is still loose, but I’m excited to continue revising it throughout the bootcamp and as I continue in my career.  I’m sure I’ll hear about and experience many other collaborative experiences to add data and depth to this framework over time. 

Speaking of revision…..Eugene kindly prompted me to think about our discussion around generative questions last Wednesday in reference to one of my overarching questions for this experience.  Instead of asking whether you have to be in the same physical space to collaborate, I think my real question was the latter half of that sentence – “How can one support and spark collaboration and community virtually?”  Still working on the answer to that one….

 

 

My Questions About Changemaker Bootcamp

At our first session, I had Anna and Marie brainstorm their questions about their projects. (Marie mentioned hers in a subsequent blog post.) I gave them five minutes to come up with many questions as they could, and then I had them repeat the exercise over and over again.

Why? Because I think that asking generative questions is one of the most fundamental skills that every changemaker should have. This first exercise was designed to force our participants to think in question form. I call it my “Jeopardy!” exercise for short, because everything needs to be in the form of the question.

This exercise is not about quality. It’s about coverage — making sure you think as comprehensively as possible about a problem. It’s good practice as an individual, and it works even better with a group, because you get a broader swath of questions, and get to see how others think about the same problem.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not just a trainer, I’m also a participant. When I started designing this bootcamp, I started with this very brainstorming exercise, and I continue to add, organize, and refine. You can read and add your comments to a live link to my questions. As always, feedback encouraged!