Envision Is Celebrating and Taking a Sabbatical

As many know, Envision Halifax has been near and dear to my heart since 2005 and I have dedicated countless volunteer hours to this endeavour.  After much contemplation, reflection and conversation, Envision Halifax is taking a Sabbatical and  it is time to celebrate! Mark your calendars for Tuesday February 16, 2010 between 400-630pm, the Hub 1673 Barrington St. 2nd Floor.

Envision Halifax alumni, investors, supporters, founders, and friends will have the opportunity to reconnect with each other in honouring the impact of Envision – on us as individuals, on us as a community as we take a deliberate break – or Sabbatical – from the leadership program and the broader work of Envision.

This is a time to acknowledge and honour the many contributions people have made to Envision – time, energy, talents, resources – and to celebrate the growth and change that has occurred in each of us and in Halifax over this time.  There is no question that as we look over the landscape of Halifax, there is more percolating right now than five years ago, some of it can be traced back to Envision and it seems to have a different vibrational energy.

Read on to discover – or rediscover – a bit of the Envision story – and we hope to see you on February 16th!

The Envision Story

On January 21, 2005 Envision, after months of planning, hosted its first community conversation on a snowy day in Halifax.  St. Matthews Church Hall was packed with people, with more on the waiting list.  The conversations that day ignited a passion and vision for, among other things, the inception of a 10 month leadership program.

In September of 2005, Envision Halifax launched the first of four leadership programs.  It came out of a long period of reflection and seeding the ground by a dedicated group of volunteers who articulated and believed in the vision of Igniting a Culture of Civic Engagement across the Halifax Region. Implementation of the program was picked up by another dedicated group of volunteers who responded to the call to design and deliver the 10 month program, inform key business leaders about the initiative, engage sponsors and recruit participants.  The energy around the program was so compelling, it was like the program was its own entity wanting to come into form and would have happened no matter what.

The program was designed based on sensing into the need in Halifax at the time.  It used leading edge theories and methodologies like Theory U, Chaordic Design, World Café, Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry, Circle Practice.  It opened the doors for transformation and change, particularly at the individual level and also at the organization and community level as participants took what they learned and began to apply it to different aspects of their lives and work.

During the fourth year of the leadership program, Envision began to wonder about the landscape of Halifax, what has changed and what is the current need?  This led to asking some important questions – following the guidance of the methodologies promoted in the program.  Did the leadership program still reflect the original vision for Envision Halifax?  How has the need shifted and changed?  How has the community changed?  Who/what else is now igniting a culture of civic engagement that was not there five years ago?  What is wanting to emerge now?   What is the role for Envision Halifax?

As a result of this inquiry, the first strategic decision was to “let go” of the leadership program for the current year (2009/2010), despite all the acknowledged successes, in order to see what the next iteration of it might be – and what the next iteration of Envision Halifax more broadly might be.

What has been discovered so far:

• The next iteration of the leadership program is not yet clear
• There are other things percolating in Halifax right now that are serving Envision’s mission of Igniting a Culture of Civic Engagement – like The  Hub, Four Days of Thinking Forward Halifax, ChangeCamp, PodCamp, and many more.

What we have come to realize is that deciding not to run the leadership program in 2009/10 was not only a wise decision, it was the start of a 12-16 month sabbatical for Envision.  Now that we understand this, we want to be intentional about what this means and what needs to happen during this sabbatical so we can invite a conversation about re-emergence and re-engagement early in 2011.  We also know that those of us who hold Envision near and dear to our hearts will continue to be sensing into the need in Halifax during this sabbatical.

In reflecting back over the four years of Envision Halifax and the leadership program, we know we have seeded a richness into the landscape of Halifax.  Much has sprouted in that time and “Envision” has showed up in many places through its leadership program alumni and other volunteers.  A few examples (this list is by no means exhaustive):

• The Hub Halifax
• HRM by Design
• Citizens for Halifax
• Fusion Halifax
• Leaders of Today
• 4 Days of Forward Thinking
• Change Camp
• Pod Camp
• And more, much more…

So come and share your stories with us, laugh and reconnect with friends on February 16th.

RSVP if you can, to envisionhalifax@gmail.com

Bright Engines and Quiet Lights in Halifax

Oh to begin with a mixed metaphor!   Did you ever notice how we want to see many bright lights in our environments, but expect the engines that produce that light to be as quiet as possible?   Well, as an eager Envision Halifax volunteer, I’d like to see some showcasing of the engines.

Here are some things that I see right now.   Maybe you see more?   If so, please add them to the comments!

• ChangeCamp Halifax – basically an OpenSpace to talk about change.   In their word:  “to provide a forum where engaged citizens can collaborate with a goal of establishing new ideas, new networks, and new tools to resolve issues that Halifax is facing today and will face in the future.”
• Third Wednesday – just a coffee (and other related beverages) talk about the uses for Social Media in Community and Business.
• The Annual Halifax Zombie Walk – when George Romero came out with his gory Night of the Living Dead, it was intended as social commentary.   There was plenty of social commentary coming out of this event – and almost as many interested tourists taking pictures as there were geeky zombies.
• TEDx Halifax and 4 Days – oh yes, TED Talks comes to Halifax!   I cannot wait!
• FUSION Halifax – a networking group in Halifax that always seems to be offering some kind of social event.

There is alot more going on in this town.   Where do you see civic engagement in HRM?

Accountability Based Civic Engagement

In keeping with the themes of civic engagement and restorative leadership, diving deeply into Peter Block’s article Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community, the question of generating accountability is a key one and one that seems hard to get traction on – especially when we are only looking to others to be accountable.  Block says that accountability based civic engagement starts with a shift in our thinking.  Shifting our thinking alone does not change the world but it does create the conditions in which a shift in the world becomes possible.

“The shift is an inversion of our thinking and the key inversion is to move from thinking of ourselves and other as effect to thinking of ourselves and others as cause… and if you believed this to be true, in what ways would that make a difference or change your actions?

These ideas are primary thoughts in the notion of self-leadership or personal growth and development.  Did you choose the present or was it created for you by other people, by circumstances, by culture, organizations, systems?  The more you believe it was created for you and you had little control, choice or power of attraction, the more you will point to the need for other people to be accountable for the conditions in which you live rather than owning the possibility that you either created your own present or at the very least attracted your present circumstances and situations to you.

It is true that you are determined by the environments in which you live and work.  It is also true that you shape these environments by being in them.  You are the creator of your world as well as the product of it.

In order to create accountability based civic engagement we need to invert conventional or default cultural beliefs or ways of thinking.  What if the audience creates the performance, the subordinate creates the boss, the child creates the parent, the student creates the teacher, the future creates the present, the listening creates the speaker or the citizen creates its leadership.

We are all citizens.  What are we willing to acknowledge, own and commit to as we call for accountability based civic engagement?  This is a question of great interest to Envision Halifax as we begin hosting more community conversations.   Block says this shift in thinking is the condition for shifting the context of civic engagement within which the restoration of community can occur.