Leading Asset Building through Complex Change

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Leading Asset Buildingthrough Complex Change
Part of an online series of conversations about
asset building, complex change, and Human Systems
Dynamics
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Welcome!

• Purpose of Todays Session
• To start a conversation about Leading Asset
  Building as Complex Change that we will continue
  at the HC-HY conference
• To use the lens of Human Systems Dynamics (HSD)
  to view aspects of the Santa Clara County story
  and their Developmental Assets work.
• To continue our conversation about Human Systems
  Dynamics to
• See aspects of the Santa Clara asset building
  work
• Begin to imagine how these concepts can influence
  our own work as asset builders

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Structure of Todays Session

• Its about seeing and ultimately influencing
• Its a conversation
• Pam Von Wiegand, Vice President of Operations,
  YMCA of Santa Clara Valley Kristin
  Johnstad, Search InstituteRoyce Holladay, Human
  Systems Dynamics Institute
• Sharing stories and HSD concepts
• One in a series (www.search-institute.org/hchy)
• Use the chat space at the bottom of this screen

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What are we looking at today?

• Leadership of an individual
• Landscape of Santa Clara County
• What is Pams story?
• What concepts from HSD can help us understand her
  story?
• How can we see and use those concepts in our own
  stories?

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Pams Story

• Community-based and youth-serving organizations
  were looking to prove that
• what we do matters! (or the research to
  back-up our youth development approach)
• Finding a personal connection in the Asset
  framework

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Pams story
The best in art and life comes from a
center something urgent and powerful an ideal or
emotion that insists on its being. From that
insistence a shape emerges and creates its
structure out of passion. If you begin with a
structure, you have to make up the passion. And
thats very hard to do. Roger Rosenblatt,
essayist
I look for Passion a spark and belief in the
possible I look for Commitment to take action
large or small. Just do it!
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Pams Story

• Background
• Workshop unexpected opportunity became a call
  to action
• YMCA could be a catalyst for community change
• alignment with mission
• committed leaders
• reach (tentacles everywhere)
• Youth Alliance could mobilize for community change

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Pams Story

• Whats critical
• A easy to remember and understand frame -
  Policy, Program, Personal Behavior
• A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and compelling
  leadership
• Involving everyone/everywhere (creation of
  Project Cornerstone)
• Redundancy consistently reinforce with others
• GIVE IT AWAY!

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HSD concept

• that can help us view Pams leadership in Santa
  Clara county.
• Landscape Diagram

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Landscape Diagram- Santa Clara County, California
Help us prove it!
Common Language
Policy Development
Common Framework
Programming ideas
Untapped potential Everyone has the power to
make a difference!
Personal Behavior
All kids must thrive
Increased Asset Levels
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Landscape Diagram- Santa Clara County, California
Align policies
We can do better
All kids must thrive
Personal ways to engage parents/ volunteers
It take everyone
It takes you!
Restructure programming
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Pams reactions and thoughts
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Reflections or thoughts

• The Landscape Diagram and Leadership
• Think about where and how your own leadership
  fits in the landscape diagram? Or asset leaders
  you work with?
• Share any specific things that resonant with your
  experience

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Royces reflections or thoughts

• Significant aspects of Pams story and/or Kristin
  interpretation?
• Thoughts on how leadership varies in the
  Landscape Diagram and how that might relate to
  asset leaders

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Royces recap

• Pam works the whole landscape but particularly
  the edges
• County-wide potential/randomness (unorganized)
  and seeks to bring pieces in to self-organizing
  space whether networks or in more formal sectors
  (schools, other youth-serving orgs, etc.)
• Utilizes the YMCA structure (organized) to hold
  on to the best of this association and embed
  asset approach and practice in the system.
  Encourage individual action and innovation (more
  details on download YMCA of Santa Clara Valley
  asset plan)
• Comfortable with messiness and activity
  throughout the landscape diagram belief that
  people need to follow their passion and out of
  that structures may emerge.
• Its about relationships - the people (the spark
  to become change agents) using exchanges,
  containers, difference to mobilize.
• Pam is opportunitistic
• Actively looking for opportunities
• Knowing when to seize opportunities and nurture
  the spark in champions so they develop their own
  plan and structures (remember the Life as Art
  poem)

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Royce reflections on Leadership and the Landscape
Diagram
Leaders stand on the edge and watch for blips
that they can bring in and nurture to establish
or amplify asset building patterns.
far from

• Unorganized
• Random
• Chaotic
• Unpredictable

• Self-organizing
• Patterned
• Adaptive
• Emergent

Agreement

• Organized
• Ordered
• Controlled
• Predictable

Leaders stand on the edge and look for ways
to foster innovation and personal initiative
close to
Certainty
close to
far from
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Perspective on Pams leadership
Its about relationships The spark to become
change agents Be the change
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Pam as CHANGE AGENT in a complex adaptive system
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HSD concept
that can help us view Pams leadership in
Santa Clara county. Complex Adaptive System
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What is a Complex Adaptive Systems?

• Semi-autonomous agents (like Pam) who interact in
  interdependent and unpredictable ways such that
  they generate system-wide patterns. (system like
  the YMCA Youth Alliance or Project Cornerstone
  networks) Those patterns, in turn, influence the
  behaviors of the agents.

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What does that mean?
Norris
TBD
Sandra
Mary
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planning preparing reporting in
luncheons through procedures voicemail
email data sharing face to face
newsletters meetings over coffee
carpooling supervising competing requests in
the restroom
honest hidden agendas stealth suspicion
trusting protecting
strictly business friendly warm colleagues as
close friends professional confidantes happily sad
ly in a bad mood frightened
Norris
Deane
Dave
Akemi/Mary
Linda
Sandra
interact in interdependent and unpredictable ways
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Example When the interactions are characterized
by honesty and openness, patterns of trust and
support emerge across the organization.
that generate system-wide patterns...
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OR. . .
Example When the interactions are characterized
by an asset approach, strength- based patterns
emerge across the organization.
that generate system-wide asset building
patterns...
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Example Those patterns of trust and support
then reward and honor people who interact with
honesty and openness.
Those patterns, in turn, influence the behavior
and interactions of the agents (people).
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Or. . .
Example Those patterns of asset building then
reward and reinforce people who behave in asset
consistent ways.
Those asset building patterns, in turn, influence
the behavior and interactions of the agents
(people).
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Reflections or thoughts

• Complex Adaptive Systems, Asset Building and
  Leadership
• Think about how your own asset efforts are
  complex adaptive systems?
• Semi- autonomous change agent
• Interacting (inter-connected and unpredictable
  ways)
• Creating patterns (asset oriented, youth
  engagement,etc)
• Patterns reinforce
• How have you named or amplified the desired
  patterns?

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Pams reactions and thoughts
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Why HSD and Developmental Asset?

• Change is not linear A to B
• Theory comes from research base/science base
• Concepts and Tools easy to apply
• Scaleable (works on lots of levels and across
  systems)
• Looking for more ways to see emergent change and
  influence it in the desired direction

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Join us for this continuing conversation

• On-line series
• September 18, 2006
• TBD probably Eoyangs CDE model
• HC-HY conference Leading Asset Building as
  Complex Change
• October 25, 2005 (full day with Glenda Eoyang)
• October 26-28 (five sessions)

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Continue the conversation on-line

• To download any of the text of todays
  presentation resources or continue the
  conversation, go to the on-line discussion board
  or add your own relevant resources
• www.scvymca.org
• www.projectcornerstone.org
• www.search-institute.org/hchy
• www.hsdinstitute.org

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Thanks for Joining Us Today!

• We hope to you join us again in September and
  October!