For the forthcoming challenges we face it will be survival of the most co-operative and adaptable. We can’t live by ourselves, so ‘survival of the fittest’ will be the survival of those who can be most interdependent. We will have to learn to give and receive, to share what we have and to ask for what we need. It is the people who can think as a community and consider others, who are in the best position to do this and will give humanity the best chance of survival.
The third step of design is finding the steps that would take us to a positive future. This links with the action and momentum anchor points. In this chapter we are going to look at some of the overall patterns of change, individually and collectively rather than directly focusing on any particular system.
We all recognise things in the world that are disturbing and we would like to be different. Perhaps it is social injustices in faraway countries, habitat destruction in the rainforest or gangs roaming the streets in your town. There could even be things closer to home in your own family that you would like to amend, like sibling rivalry. A lot of energy could be spent worrying about these things and wanting them to be different without actually achieving any change. Our abilities to transform these situations can be small because we cannot or choose not to force changes in people’s behaviours; it is more effective if they decide to do this themselves. We can however create conditions for change.
Stephen Covey1 introduced the concept of circles of concern and influence as a thinking tool for where to focus our energies. Within our circle of concern are issues such as social or ecological problems as well as those involving other people. Within our circle of influence are things that we have a much greater ability to manoeuvre and direct.
For the vast majority of us our circle of influence lies inside our circle of concern, and we cannot influence all the things we are concerned about.
When we spend our time acting in the wider circle of concern, worrying, generating fear and playing out disaster scenarios of what could happen, we use up available energy that could be spent in our circle of influence. Our circle of influence shrinks as a result of lack of attention and energy and also because the energy spent in worrying disempowers us.
In contrast, when our energy is spent in our circle of influence it expands and we become able to tackle some of the issues that were previously out of reach.
Many people come to permaculture after spending time campaigning for change. Graham Burnett was an activist who came to realise that he was spending his time being ‘anti this’ and ‘anti that’ and wanted to discover what he was ‘pro’. Permaculture offered him a way of finding solutions and bringing positive change into his life. He described finding permaculture as turning a mental switch from a blame and ‘us and them’ paradigm to a proactive way of thinking about how we can create workable solutions together. His circle of influence has grown and he is now a permaculture author and teacher. Permaculture encourages us to find actions that are within our capacity for where we are at this moment with our lives, taking steps from the here and now.
The primary action is to focus our attention and energy on the things we can change. This brings us back in to zone 00, ultimately the place of most influence. Our own self is the place of minimum effort for maximum effect. Any activity that we can do to centre ourselves, align with our aspirations, increase our well-being, improve our communication skills and expand our knowledge is within our circle of influence. Just by demonstrating these things our words will start to have more weight with the people around us. When we have more presence and focus and keep the commitments we make, others are more likely to listen. When we are awake to our own leadership we are able to move forward. Teaching, modelling, designing, being strategic and effective come more easily. As Gandhi said, we can “be the change we want to see in the world”.
Within our families we may worry about our children’s future, their behaviour, the dynamic between them... these are all in our circle of concern. What is within our capacity to change is our own behaviour, the time we put into family activities or our home environment. Shifting these things can have ripple effects into the other concerns. For example a nurturing environment may help them to play together more.
Within our professional lives we can develop our skills, make contacts and be polite and honest with our colleagues. When we become good at what we do, provide a service and supply a demand, people will come to us.
In our communities we may desire change in our health, education systems or more integration between the generations. It is in our circle of influence to maintain our own health and research different tools for education. We can act to develop a sense of community by talking to our neighbours, offering support, smiling at strangers, using our local shops and walking around our towns.
Developing our observation and design skills increases our capacity for finding points of intervention and transforming systems. There may be something that was previously outside of our influence that now orbits close by as our circle expands, and perhaps there are stages within a spiral of erosion that come within our circle of influence. For example there are some phases of an electoral cycle that are more effective for petitioning politicians to influence policies than others. This brings us to a traditional poem with an addition from a friend.
The first line highlights the acceptance of problems in our circle of concern but outside of our circle of influence. The next bit emphasises the need for courage to act within our circle of influence, and the wisdom to see the edge.
The addition underlines the shifting nature of situations and the need to be able to respond to changes of our size of circle of influence; things that were outside of our influence may now fall within it. We can imagine the world orbiting around us. There are times when something is out of our reach, but rules change, people move, new contacts are made, and suddenly it comes within our grasp, within our sphere of influence; but we need to be observant enough to notice this and make the necessary actions. There may also be times when something we have been working on moves out of our reach, and we could waste our time and energy by continuing to work on it.
The edge of our circle of influence is dynamic and fuzzy; there are many factors affecting it at any given time. We have all noticed that we are able to convince some people and not others. This can vary with many factors, perhaps just the time of day can determine whether our words are heard or not. It can decrease as well as increase with a change of job or other circumstances.
The growth of permaculture illustrates how a circle of influence can expand. In the early days of permaculture in Britain it was a fringe activity, most people would say ‘perma what?’ During that time we have tried and tested ideas, developed resources and built up our infrastructure. Nowadays permaculture is receiving more national and international coverage and we have more scope for influencing policy, action and opinion.
When something is outside of our circle of influence there is a limiting factor that could be addressed to bring it within our circle. For example Bill Mollison was concerned about monocultures taking over the fields in Australia, and the use of chemicals on the land. He identified a limiting factor for changing this was lack of knowledge of alternative ways of farming. He spent his time working within his circle of influence observing nature, developing permaculture and writing books independently and with David Holmgren to provide alternatives to the conventional way. From his writing and teaching and the knock-on effects he has been able to influence thousands of people globally.
Most limiting factors are issues that stop the solution from being within your circle of influence. By identifying the ones that are within our circle of influence and therefore ones we have the ability to change we can find ways to expand our influence.
We can look to create pathways of influence that take us to a specific concern. We could become a school governor or the trustee of a charity. We could undertake research or initiate contacts. We will find our own desire lines of where we want to act, what we would like to focus on. This can lead us to our right livelihood.
Think of one issue in your work, family or community that is bothering you at the moment. Now break this problem down into component parts.
For each component on your list find at least one action that may help to mitigate either the problem as a whole or the component. These actions need to come within your circle of influence.
Next, you can weigh up which of these actions would a) be most do-able and b) likely to have the greatest effects.
This exercise is intended to be empowering for us to find our own choices even for problems that can seem big and overwhelming. We always have choices available to us, in how we feel as well as how we act.
What can I do?
I’ve seen the vast plains of destruction
Eyes devoid of joy,
Chaos and mayhem when our uncertain future arrives.
Our egos fighting for air clinging to what we once knew.
The fog of fear descending as we seek to protect our own
Paralysis in the face of the challenges ahead.
And yet,
And yet,
Do we really know the fate that lies before us?
Is there no turning from this path?
Is there nothing I can answer to the question
What can I do?
What can I do to turn towards the light?
What can I do to put a smile on a stranger’s face?
What can I do to build bridges?
What can I do to strengthen the web of connections in my community?
What can I do to deepen my love of nature?
What can I do?
I see I have a part to play
Lines to say on this great stage of life
I extend the invitation
To you and you and you
To join the party
And dance and sing and garden and play and create
And bring a joyful, abundant, magical future into being,
Together we can grace the skies
Shimmering as the dance of starlings
There are no certainties.
We have choice.
We have power.
We have community.
WE
Can do it.
There are many ways in which we can engage with people in our communities: community allotments, orchards and woodland projects, time banks, LETS (Local Exchange Trading Schemes)... Whenever we come together we create connections that build our resilience, as well as meeting more of our needs locally. Through these connections we make friends and find support.
A particular big and popular method of community mobilisation at the moment is the Transition movement. In this section I explore it in more detail to understand its patterns of popularity, growth and effectiveness.
The idea behind these initiatives is that we need to move to a new culture that is more life-sustaining. The age of cheap fossil fuel is drawing to a close and that will mean big changes to how we currently live. Instead of waiting for energy descent to happen and then trying to think about what to do and dealing with crises as they occur, the model of Transition calls us to put plans into place now so that the pathways are there for when we need them. It invites us to get involved and plan steps towards a more local, resilient culture based on sharing and interconnectedness.
The key message is ‘together we can build the future we want to see‘. It is not based on fear and guilt but tries to entice us into a future with abundant connections and benefits that nurture us on all levels.
It looks to integrate the solutions to many of the diverse problems we are tackling. When thinking about big issues such as climate change we have in the past looked either at individual actions, such as changing to energy efficient light bulbs, or living in hope and expectation of governments taking action. The Transition movement bridges the gap between individual and government action and covers the ground of community action. Transition groups combine practical grassroots action with engagement in wider debates and involvement with local councils, and they provide a framework for cohesive solutions to emerge.
Kinsale in Ireland was the first town to adopt an energy descent plan and to really look at how the town might work in a post-oil world. Rob Hopkins then took the idea to Totnes and from there started the Transition movement.2 The idea has rapidly spread across Britain and has extended across the globe, with over 800 initiatives in 2011. Activities include skill-sharing workshops, showing informative and inspiring films, courses, allotments, repairing workshops, local currencies, community orchards, community composting schemes and wood recycling.
Transition initiatives start to put pathways in place for local interaction that could then play a crucial part in a world trying to transition from a fossil-based economy to a thriving local economy.
The model is still in its infancy and there is plenty of potential for growth and evolution of the idea. This SWOC (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints) analysis is part of the reflection anchor point, where people working within the Transition movement have offered their insights.
These reflections lead us on to further designing and improving the effectiveness of the Transition movement. It is clear that one of the biggest challenges individual projects face is how groups function. Maintaining momentum and involvement is a limit of their success, so this maintenance becomes one of the building blocks of further design work. The meeting methods, decision-making tools and group structure work mentioned in this book are all vital to the overall capacity of the Transition initiatives to make wider changes in their communities. The weakness of people working together reflects one of the major limitations in our society and hence tackling this is one of the biggest opportunities for growth and transformation.
Another theme is the connection the group has to the outside. How is it perceived? How to bring new people in? How to acknowledge the outside influences on the group?
The strengths of diversity, inclusiveness, self-evolving and action can be utilised to support and navigate the way through the constraints and weaknesses towards the opportunities.
We can look back at the four quadrants to think about how we can address another theme that emerged of the balancing of the inner and outer. When we think of the problems faced in the world today they don’t just lie with the individuals or with collective systems. They aren’t just problems with our actions but also with the thinking that creates the actions. Problems arising in one quadrant shape and are shaped by the other quadrants.
If the problems occur in this way, it also makes sense for the solutions to as well. What happens in one quadrant will have knock-on effects in the other ones, but in order to have a complete transformation all of the quadrants need to shift. Changes will be quicker, longer lasting and more effective if all of the quadrants are attended to. For example laws might get us to change our behaviours but if we haven’t changed our beliefs we may keep looking for ways to avoid changing behaviours.
Nick Osborne from Response-Ability3 ran a workshop at the Transition conference illustrating how we can use the four quadrants to increase the viability of our work. Many change movements only focus on one or two quadrants and so limit their effectiveness. When other quadrants aren’t being stimulated it can slow or stall projects. By attending to all four quadrants we can make the ground more fertile, accelerate change and make a more complete transformation. Nick gave the example of how an energy group wanting to set up a community renewable energy project could be encouraged to create changes in all four quadrants.
In the outer collective quadrant there would be actions around business plans, finding investors, publicity, getting quotes and suchlike.
In the inner collective there would be an awakening shared value of community reliance. From this mutual understanding greater connections would form. It would start to shake the assumptions around how the community can meet its needs.
In the inner individual world our relationship to our own energy use could evolve. We may start to appreciate finite resources and feel more responsible for the energy we use.
In the outer individual quadrant we may start to use less electricity. There may be ripples into reducing our car use and where we buy our food. We may start to talk to people about other possibilities.
Each of these could stimulate further changes in any or all of the quadrants, helping the overall growth of the project.
These shifts can be prompted and facilitated, even just by naming and acknowledging they are occurring. By focusing on them we are able to see the resistance that there might be in each one and thereby work through it, so that it cannot limit the possibility of change in another.
Another example of where we might find resistance would be in setting up a garden share scheme, where anyone with land they are not using can connect with someone who needs space to grow food. Initially we would focus on setting up the infrastructures for people to connect and the functionality of the scheme. In our publicity if we are able to recognise and speak to the concerns people have around trust and privacy, we start to overcome some of the limiting factors of the inner quadrants. This scheme might have knock-on effects in how we view our parks and public spaces, and it may lead to them being planted up with edible and useful plants.
Transition initiatives aim to build bridges in the community and find common ground for people to interact. Ideally there is more community involvement for everyone and people are brought together in gatherings and celebrations as well as work and planning. The outcome of this would be people naturally knowing and caring for other people of other generations. There would be a rich social capital of friendships and reciprocity.
Living capital would be shared, with food and trees growing on community land. Experiential capital will have evolved through the familiarity of working together, decision-making and organising events and projects. Cultural capital will be stored in our tales of transition.
By having these capitals in our locality we are less vulnerable to global fluctuations in the financial climate and less reliant on oil to meet our needs from afar. By using more renewable resources we have less impact on climate change.
It is clear from the rapid spread and huge involvement in the Transition initiatives across the globe that they have opened up a desire line. People want to act to strengthen their local communities.
Our current government model follows a branching pattern. The branching pattern has the characteristics of spreading, covering a large surface area, gathering, exchanging and transporting information in both directions. We can use these properties in thinking about how to use governance to help create the Great Turning.
To improve our governance we could think of where there might be blockages in the system. One of the significant characteristics of this pattern is the ability for travel in both directions. Dialogue and consultations are part of this two-way flow. How can we create more flows of communication?
In the UK, the national government feeds into the county councils and then into community and town councils. This pattern is mirrored around the globe with slight variations. What is missing is the next level of flow between town councils and individuals. Transition initiatives are trying to fill this gap. It is a crucial hole in the effectiveness of the system. Without some mechanism in place there is a lost opportunity for the gathering and distributing of information and ideas. Using an analogy from nature where there is the same pattern we can see its importance: as individuals we are just a small stream; if we have to flow into a huge, fast-running river such as local councils, it is daunting and our voice feels lost in the current. However, if we are able to join with other streams we have a greater impact as we join the main river. Having formal intermediate steps increases the feeling of being heard and empowers us to speak up. These intermediate nodes could be representative of the diversity of members and generations in society, creating channels for the minority voices and encouraging more leadership.
Community councillors have more influence than individuals and can be effective in initiating actions at the county council level, although their presence, routes of communication and powers are not widely known or used.
Opening up communication can allow for the gathering of positive visions. How do we want our world to look? Can we put together petitions based on what we do want, as well as what we are opposed to? Having more of a flow allows greater feedback and responsiveness. As individuals we are more able to see where our ideas have landed, which will encourage more contribution, and our governments are more able to interpret the response to policies and laws.
What we are leading to here is a way in which people and government can work together to create the world we want. When people are involved in the decisions there is a sense of ownership and commitment to making them work. Governments can assist in creating a current to move people more quickly in the direction they are already going. With a greater communication system it is easier to see where the resistance lies before putting policies in place and work with this to find the edge of agreements and create whole-system wins. Our governments can be supportive of grassroots movements as they are part of the same direction of change.
The principle of designing from patterns to details is of great significance here. Policies are inevitably based on patterns; trends, averages, targets, budgets and standardisation. What is then needed is the opportunity and the ability to focus on the details: specifics, individual cases and towns, differences and exceptions. There needs to be a definition of the parameters from a national level, while allowing for regional divergences. Trying to micromanage from the top takes the energy away from the more strategic directional tasks. This is true at an organisational level as well, where a board of trustees needs to determine the overall aims and direction rather than trying to micromanage the staff.
This will increase local capacity to respond to situations as they emerge. We cannot always predict all the effects. More regionalisation will allow for shorter feedback loops, enabling the ability to respond and adjust accordingly. Our communities will increase in adaptive capacity, the ability to adapt to change as it happens. With a changing world ahead it is going to be increasingly important for us to be able to respond in the moment, rather than having a time delay while decisions are made by a centralised body. The regional levels need to be able to be more responsive to the social and physical uncertainties that will emerge in the next few decades. They will need to be able to make sense of complex situations and be able to think beyond the straight lines of cause and effect.
Alongside this responsiveness is the ability to take a more long-term viewpoint. This is thinking beyond the term of office, and even the current generation into the lives of future generations and the legacy we leave for them. We need to expand our parameters of cause and effect into the consequences for the planet. A Ministry of Integration would be useful to connect the policies across disciplines, from local to national levels, from now to the future and from people to land.
There are many skills that will be advantageous to politicians as individuals and as groups. Decision-making, thinking tools, problem-solving, ecological literacy and co-operative learning will all play a critical role in their ability to navigate the changing seas ahead. Coincidentally this skillset is the same as that of the education systems. While we may not be able to directly influence the politicians’ skills we can work within our circle of influence and expand our experiences of using these within our own groups. We can also pass these on to our children. From becoming practised at these our circle of influence expands and we might be surprised at the edges it touches.
It is easy to think of governments as impersonal entities but they are composed of people. We can get caught up in ‘us and them’ thinking or the blame game; thinking it’s all the politicians fault and they should do something about the state of the world. This doesn’t help us to move forward. We can respect their skills and willingness to do tasks of administration and finance that some of us would shy away from.
It is true that there could be a fuller representation of the diversity of our cultures. This would be achieved by more of us being willing to be one of these people. Danny Alderslowe is an activist turned city councillor in Glasgow. He has the courage and confidence to work within these systems to create change. When he first started he realised it was key not to barge in and try and make his points too quickly. He took time and used his permaculture observation skills to understand the system and learn what was already in place. He uses the ideas of Nonviolent Communication to pause when one of his colleagues interrupts him, and think about what their need might be rather than getting worked up. He believes that “we need courage to put permaculture on the table, and see how many times we can get it minuted in meetings. We can create healthy debate and find integrated solutions. Thinking just right or left narrows the magic we can hold.”
To move us to an Earth culture we have to make the Great Turning. We have to move from our current trajectory on to a new path.
This brings us on to the question: how can we facilitate cultural shifts in behaviour and attitudes in a direction that enhances the ethics? How can we move in the direction of regeneration at a speed and volume that dramatically halts the global spirals of erosion that we are currently swept up in? How can we align cultural values to the ethics so that our patterns of interaction and resource use follow suit?
This can seem like a big task but a small shift in our trajectory can lead to a big difference in destination.
Initially it may seem like not much is happening, but even a shift from automatic pilot and a subtle turn of the head changes the direction we are looking in. It is a source for hope to notice an increase in awareness and public debate, even if it can seem like we are still far away from solutions.
Awareness is fundamental to cultural shifts; firstly we need to become aware of the need to change; why something isn’t working. We can become desensitised to the problems around us, and low quality of life can be an acceptable baseline. Next we need to know about the alternatives and choices we have. Thirdly comes understanding of the steps to change, pathways to follow and empowerment to make changes. This is a mirror of the design process.
The catalyst for change can take different forms. If we think about it in terms of the six thinking hats again, people may be more open to persuasion from a particular hat. For some the facts and figures of the white hat inspire action, for others it is the desire to move away from the doom of the black hat. For some people it is the red hat of emotional connection that provides the motivation. For others it is the optimism of the yellow hat, and for others it could be the call to think creatively and try alternatives of the green hat. Some people may be looking at the overview of the blue hat, the bigger picture and seeing the connections.
Raising awareness in all of these different ways is important to try and motivate as many people as possible. There is a caution though that while some people will be persuaded by one of these hats more than the others, there are also going to be ways of thinking that turn people off and shut them down to the possibilities of change. It is therefore useful to use more than one method of communication to engage people, and to balance the different viewpoints, admitting it’s complicated.
The film ‘The Age of Stupid’ painted a very bleak picture of the future in the effort to move people away from this fate and incite change. For many this dose of black hat thinking was just too much and it was too uncomfortable to face. When this film has been screened by Transition initiatives, it was often accompanied by speakers afterwards who could expand upon the alternatives we have at the moment and engage people in what they could do.
Appealing to the heart and being genuine are more likely to build trust and confidence in the alternatives. Transition initiatives aim to attract people with a positive vision rather than making them feel guilty or fearful.
If people are able to slow down they can observe what is happening around them. We can perceive the need for change for ourselves. When we encourage people to think for themselves, the choices they have open up and change can come from within.
We need to facilitate the ground to allow for communication and development to occur and individuals to make their own choices, rather than being too prescriptive. What are the right ‘soil’ conditions for change? Observation and feedback are essential parts of the change process. When we allow ourselves to receive feedback about our actions and make the connections between actions and reactions we can make conscious decisions. Creating a culture of observation and feedback will start to shift other behaviours. If we see someone dropping litter on the street is it culturally acceptable to tell them we don’t like it?
We can encourage people to think and question for themselves and make connections between individual actions and bigger-scale problems, such as their buying habits and ugly, smelly landfills.
In 1988 Chris Evans started a permaculture network of model farms in Nepal. Their overall philosophy is to attract, engage and support. The project aimed to encourage change in the practices of surrounding farmers and did this in four basic ways: demonstration, training, producing resources and conducting research. This model has been taken up by the Permaculture Association in Britain with the LAND (Learning And Network Demonstration) project to link permaculture sites in England. We’ll focus on each one of these in turn and see how they make up a holistic, achievable way of facilitating change.
We can do these things as individuals as well, inspiring others by transforming ourselves, widening our own capacity and modelling the values we believe in and thereby promoting the benefits.
We can get messages top-down, bottom-up, sideways – from our peers, and internally from our own feedback mechanisms. If we get messages from more than one direction we are more likely to sit up and take notice.
We need to strike the balance between shying away from challenging people and speaking for what we believe in, and barking at people or being evangelistic.
There is an ongoing debate about whether to use existing terminology or to introduce new terms and phrases. The use of everyday language can make it more accessible. However using new words to describe original concepts can help us to expand our perception of reality.
Opening up conversations and debate creates waves of messages. There needs to be a degree of resonance in the message for it to sink in. We can practise our listening skills and understand where people are at in their lives. We are then more able to help them see the best next step for them to take.
When people are struggling to meet their basic needs they are less able to think about change. Naomi Saville was trying to encourage some Nepali women to attend a workshop on health; they told her they couldn’t because they needed to weed their potatoes otherwise their families wouldn’t eat for the next year. The same is true in the West when people are preoccupied with basic needs.
We need to meet people close to where they are. Not exactly where they are, but close so they have to make a step and expand their edges. We can also look to our edges: who is close to us that would be easiest to influence and inspire? If we imagine ‘the world being sung and danced into existence’ as the Aborigines say, we can look for people who are already swaying and tapping their feet. It is said we are all only seven steps away from being connected to everyone on the planet, so if we can influence seven people around us, and they can each influence seven others and so on, then soon enough we become the vast majority.
New paradigms can be created by providing a tool from which new knowledge can emerge. The tool can be a physical tool that allows a whole new branch of science to develop, such as the microscope. It could be an invisible tool – a process that facilitates further research and discovery. Permaculture design has been the tool that has enabled many people to bring sustainability into their lives. The design web is a new tool that will enable more people-based design thinking to emerge and push the edges of permaculture. Nonviolent Communication and Neuro-Linguistic Programming are methods that have provided frameworks for new tools to shift thinking. Ecofootprinting is a tool developed to assess actions and ecological impact to enable people and countries to take more self-responsibility.
There are some actions that we can take as individuals to make changes in our lives, and there are some things that need to happen on a wider scale. Sometimes what we are encouraged to do as individuals is not acted out in our towns. Take for example the heating of buildings. We are encouraged to turn the thermostats down in our homes to save on fossil fuels. However, public buildings are not following suit. People would need to make the connection between lower temperatures and a necessary move towards sustainability, and there would also need to be behaviour changes, so that it becomes the cultural norm to wear more clothing. I have visited Canada and the Ukraine in mid winter, both with outside temperatures of minus 30–50oC. In Canada all of the public buildings were exceptionally warm and toasty, in the Ukraine they were barely heated. In the Ukraine, this was handled by people wearing plenty of clothing, even indoors. There is probably a happy medium to be struck here with the use of appropriate technologies to increase comfort without using fossil fuels. Passive solar design for our buildings would be a first step. Becoming more active increases our circulation and keeps us warm. My friend who cycles and walks everywhere complains of buildings being too hot in the winter.
There are cultural shifts all the time; we could collectively be more reflective of the changes that have occurred and the benefits we have gained. Expanding what is working and celebrating our successes provides motivation for more change.
There are many ‘if everyone did that...’ arguments; if we all went vegan what would happen to the animals? If we all stopped buying food from Kenya there would be many people out of work. When change is in incremental stages that allow the build-up of alternative systems it is more manageable and sustainable. There is also the rationale for us all making small achievable adjustments rather than just a few of us overhauling our lives. For example, compost toilets use no water and save 30% of household water, however there are perhaps only 1–5% of the population in the UK who are willing and able to have one. Low-flush toilets can save up to 20% of household water but almost every household could have one.4 We would save more water overall by installing low-flush toilets in 50% of houses than having compost toilets in 5% of houses. Of course, we could have both.
The helps anchor point in our design web focuses on internal and external resources and the motivations we have to change. Connecting people up with their hopes of a satisfying life, in a meaningful way for them and their internal resources of confidence, stamina, courage and creativity, can push people in the right direction. Making the alternatives fun and appealing motivates people, as does seeing that small steps can make a significant difference. When we work with like-minded people to create community and support, we can make changes in our own lives more easily.
The limits, the things that hold people back and prevent change, are limiting beliefs, both self and cultural, emotional ties and peer pressure. Naming the fears we may have – fear of change, of letting go, fear of the unknown – allows us to move through them. If people feel threatened they are more likely to cling to the comfort they have. This is going to become an increasing challenge in the uncertain times ahead.
Change is a process we can invite people to participate in. How can we make change easy for people, for it to feel like something they want to do?
If we were to look at the principles to facilitate cultural shifts, what guidance would we get?
Think of a particular change you would like to see happen in your locality. This may be a shift relating to the meeting cultures of your Transition group, or it could be a decrease in the amount of litter thrown on the streets of your town.
We are particularly focusing on the process of making the shift and encouraging people around us to do so.
For example, the principle observe and interact would lead us to notice when people are dropping litter and to interact and bring their awareness to it, or perhaps to pick up the litter ourselves.
There are many scales of leadership, from our home to community groups, from political movements to global organisations. At whatever scale, it is our leaders who facilitate the breaking of new ground and forge new ways of being. It is not enough for us to sit back and wait for someone else to take the lead, we need more leaders who are capable of taking us in the right direction towards a sustainable and just future.
Leaders are charismatic, having a steadying presence that shows resilience. They are empowering, giving direction and enabling others to reach beyond their own expectations. Their humility, inclusivity and ability to listen and respond ensure they are able to compromise when appropriate. They are able to think on behalf of the group and guide it towards the bigger vision. Their patience and support facilitates everyone to give their best. They are inspirational and visionary.
This is the picture of the leaders of history that have kindled respect and admiration in their followers. However, there is also a different picture of leaders who have led through control and domination.
They have been imposing and use fear and violence as a means of ‘power over’, rather than finding ‘power with’. They are often corrupt, using their place of leadership as a way of feeding their ego. They can be blinkered in their vision, cajoling people to do things their way and obstructive to anything else.
Obviously these are two extremes and there is a continuum between them. However the latter image builds unhelpful beliefs in our minds about leaders.
Unhelpful beliefs we may hold:
If we hold these beliefs in our consciousness, they are going to keep us back; stop us from stepping forth. We are likely to feel self-conscious, to think that if we do stand for what we believe in and initiate projects that we may become bossy, a target or unable to have fun.
There are other beliefs that we may hold that may not be so immediately obviously negative, they are subtler, and could be holding us back none the less. ‘People are born leaders; leaders are on pedestals; leaders are superhuman; leaders need to be competent at everything; leaders are exceptional.’ Or we could hold an egalitarian philosophy and believe that we don’t need leaders.
Leadership can take many different forms. We can lead from the front or from behind, connecting and ensuring things happen. There isn’t one correct style, there is appropriateness for the group and time. We can take leadership for key moments, making critical interventions, for example to get the ball rolling and instigate a project. Leaders don’t have to be one person standing in the front alone, we can have rolling leadership, such as a revolving facilitator. We can observe what is needed in the moment, and ask ourselves if we are able to fulfil that role. Leadership can be a role that is taken to achieve a specific task, then set down when that task is completed. When the followers are closely aligned it becomes one movement, a unified dance, with a flow of leadership through the group.
Six ways of displaying leadership are described in Primal Leadership:5
The last two types are more of what we might traditionally think of as a leader, and people may have negative associations with them. There are times when each of these is appropriate though: in an emergency situation it can be reassuring and vital for someone to take charge. Historically pirate ships contrasted with the merchant navy, in that there was non-hierarchical control during trade and sailing, but a leader was always chosen for battle. When deadlines are looming a pace-setting leader is important. The first four types of leadership help to create a sense of connection and trust within the group.
Women often know how to nurture but often don’t recognise or step into leadership roles. Men are more familiar with leadership, but are less in tune with their nurturing skills. These are of course just generalisations, but provide us with a springboard for thinking about what is needed.
Women and men have different things to offer and distinctive perspectives on the world. Each gender has strengths, gifts and abilities to bring to our leadership. We also have faults, weaknesses and challenges. Transparency in our leadership and in our vulnerabilities will help us to strengthen our weaknesses, whatever they are.
Women tend to have strengths of co-creativity, nurturing and interdependence. Men tend to have strengths of focus and drive. A nurturing leader combines these strengths and is able to hear others, able to make and admit mistakes, acknowledge interdependence and give support as well as being purposeful and determined.
There are deep assumptions buried within our patriarchal culture that men are better at being leaders. There is a tendency for women to take leadership roles by ‘playing a man’. At this point in history we need to turn up the volume on the feminine voice in the world. We need to support women to find their path to leadership.
Jules Heavens works for the empowerment of the feminine on an individual and collective level, by offering a place and space for women to explore their femininity through sacred ritual and creativity. There is a literal process of women finding their voices and singing from their hearts and a deeper metaphorical message for them finding their voice in the world. Jules says, “Through the wisdom of heart and the strength in their belly women can find their way to leadership.”6
Some people are looking to our nation’s leaders to get us out of the mess we are in, waiting for them to take action and show us what we need to do. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Either way we can’t wait for them and avoid the responsibility of taking action for ourselves, for changing our own attitudes and behaviours. We need to redefine leadership. What do we want from leaders? What do we want from ourselves?
Leadership can take many different forms. In our homes and work places we can stand strong. We can start our own organisations and projects, writing and speaking in public, or take on responsibilities in our groups. We can be pioneering, breaking new ground. We can expand our circle of influence into our circle of concern. We can look for opportunities, align ourselves with others who share our concerns and take the initiative. We can forge new pathways of influence.
When we take time to look we can see leaders all around us, people who are stepping into their power, people who are willing to speak out against injustices, people taking charge of their own lives; movers and shakers, activists, writers, campaigners, spokespersons, organisers and the people who keep track of the administration that enables things to happen.
By standing for what we believe in, and being willing to push edges and boundaries, we are taking leadership in our own lives. We don’t need to wait until we know everything or even know the right thing to do. We can act now to speak our truth and step into our power, we can shine our light as brightly as possible and attract followers. We can know that we will meet challenges along the way and trust that support and our own inner resources will come through when we are ready and in need. Leaders are ordinary people who become exceptional through their leadership.
Look around you at what role models there are in your own workplace, extended family, and community.
What qualities do they bring?
What qualities can I bring to a leadership role?
