Thought-provoking ideas, and transformative tools and training for working with individuals, groups, organisations, and communities.
What question drives your work?
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Dear Reader, What question drives your work? Having a research question is one of the things that can focus learning. And as Process Workers we are always learning! So this is the question we have posed to our presenters – and over the next few weeks we’ll share what is driving their latest work – and informing their workshop presentations in Diverse States of Getting Along: 2025 Process Work Community Conference. Recently, we spoke with Mark Yettica-Paulson and Jane Martin about Mark’s presentation The Three Leadership Gardens, and the live interactive group process they will co-facilitate exploring where to after the referendum - Seeding After the Fire. But before we go there, it’s important to understand the long-term story of this work. Mark and Jane have been working together for more than 15 years. This video from back in 2019 explains why the work of Deep Collaboration is so important and gives a beginning perspective into why we keep needing to have and hold sometimes uncomfortable, but always energetic and meaningful conversations about how First Nations and Other Multicultural Australians can, do, and need to work together for purpose. Mark: The question that is underneath my work is: How can I help people improve their knowledge, awareness, and understanding to do and be better at intercultural collaboration? Using gardening as the primary metaphor for exploring leadership practices, the Three Leadership Gardens project seeks to generate insights that people can use to navigate preparing, seeding, cultivating, and growing leadership. The first trial of the project convened practitioners from various backgrounds and experience to explore insights in working across differences in culture and power between First Nations and other Australians. There was a First Nations Leadership Garden, a Settler Australian Garden, and a Combined Middle Space Leadership Garden. The Three Leadership Gardens project allowed us to explore dimensions of time and care required to prepare and convene spaces for leadership dialogue and development. The Three Leadership Gardens project also allowed us to name and frame a way of working that brings together layers of soil to describe depths of trust, safety, and relationship to work in collaborations across differences in culture and power. We applied focal points of reflection on Self (Individual/Personal), Role (Formal and Informal/Organisational or Community) & System (Context/Industry/Field/Population). Jane: The question I am holding that underpins facilitating this group process following the referendum is - what's naturally regenerating and what further nutrients are needed? The conference offers an opportunity for Seeding after the Fire. It’s a chance to garden together as a community. Fire can be devastating, some of us still feel the Referendum outcome as a devastation. Looking through a different lens of system and ecology, fire also offers a phoenix from the ashes. It's part of rebirthing and creating a new landscape. Yes, we'll likely feel vulnerable. Seeding through vulnerability is a process that helps us to rebuild and improve the garden. It ensures a sustainable ecology. First and foremost we want to nourish what's growing naturally, what’s suited to local conditions. The way I see it is that Seeding after the fire is a process of rebirthing and together creating a new landscape. To find out more and book your place at Diverse States of Getting Along Conference click here now! Or if you can’t get to the conference, you might want to check out the amazing free resources on the Deep Collaboration platform, held by our friends and colleagues at Collaboration for Impact. warmly ANZPOP |
ANZPOP
Thought-provoking ideas, and transformative tools and training for working with individuals, groups, organisations, and communities.
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