A conversation mashup with Biren Shah

March 24, 2016 | Expressive Change | Conversation| 3 Comments

“It is only when we don’t have a social purpose that we’re truly serving the world.” That’s a pretty mind-bending statement, especially for those of us who are working in social purpose organizations. What exactly do you mean?

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A conversation with Dayna Cunningham

February 23, 2015 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| No Comments

I’m just finishing up a fascinating six-week on-line course on Theory U. I found this 10-minute excerpt from Otto Scharmer’s interview with Dayna Cunningham particularly moving. She shares about her experience as a civil rights lawyer and how she came to understand the importance of developing an individual and collective capacity for empathy in social change work.

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A quick dip into anarchy

November 15, 2011 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| No Comments

When I heard that the first-ever South African Anarchist Book Fair was being organized in Cape Town, I jumped at the opportunity to check it out. I had been to the anarchist book fair several times in Montreal, but never with a specific goal in mind. This time, I was going with a more tailored curiosity: How do anarchists go about […]

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Becoming a festival

February 9, 2015 | Expressive Change | Katherine Therese Whaling|

In a letter to her fellow organizers, Katherine Therese Whaling offers a heartfelt reflection on her experience organizing last year’s Muizenberg Festival, a week-long celebration of community-led development in the seaside town of Muizenberg, South Africa. We were struck by how beautifully her reflection illuminates what it means to live an event as a process rather than simply plan it as an outcome.

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Podcast: Emerging from hibernation

July 29, 2015 | Expressive Change | Podcast| Comments Off

In 2012, we hosted a podcast with Aerin Dunford of The Berkana Institute about the organization’s decision to go into an undefined period of hibernation. Given its focus on promoting ‘living systems’ principles in social change work, we were curious to learn how they were putting these principles into practice internally. Berkana recently resurfaced from its restful state, and so we followed up with Aerin to find out what the experience has been like for them.

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Gestalt at the South African Treasury Department

July 20, 2012 | expressive-change | Tana Paddock| No Comments

I’m stumbling along, trying my best to remain in the single file line the path has forced us to form. We crest the hillside, overlooking a quiet river freckled with boulders and dragonflies. I overhear Jonathan and Kirsten chatting in front of me. They are introducing themselves, having only just met on this day hike organized through the Cape Town Hiking Group. I hear Kirsten say that she works for the National Treasury […]

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Liberating Structures

November 27, 2018 | Expressive Change | Organization Unbound| Comments Off

Earlier this year we were contacted by Keith McCandless, co-developer of Liberating Structures. He was interested in exploring the synergies between Liberating Structures and the work of Organization Unbound. After some initial conversations, I became intrigued and am excited to share the start of our inquiry here.

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Sneak preview of 'A Delicate Activism'

July 17, 2014 | Expressive Change | Allan Kaplan & Sue Davidoff| 1 Comment

One of the gifts of being based in South Africa has been the opportunity to get to know Allan Kaplan and Sue Davidoff and their work at The Proteus Initiative. We’re excited to share a sneak preview of their soon-to-be-launched short book A Delicate Activism: A Radical Approach to Change.

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The Bike Shed

June 27, 2012 | Expressive Change | Sadaf Kashfi|

Once members get past the initial challenge of putting together a jigsaw puzzle of missing parts, they quickly realize that something greater than bike repair and the inhalation of kerosene is happening here; a sense of purpose and community is beaming through the interaction of those involved in the repair.

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The Organization Unbound giving field

May 5, 2017 | Expressive Change | Tolu Ilesanmi | 5 Comments

One of the many Organization Unbound ideas that I love is the Giving Field, where giving is not a unidirectional transaction but a field in which all participate, where there is no longer a distinction between giver and receiver, where everyone contributes and benefits continuously. I have experienced the […]

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Unbinding continued

February 13, 2011 | Expressive Change | Warren Nilsson| 3 Comments

Tana’s recent post on “unbinding” reminded me of some reflections I had made in a paper I wrote a few years ago. In a section that was actually called “The Unbinding,” I was thinking about how difficult it can be to recognize exactly what it is that binds us. For someone like Tana (disciplined, orderly, […]

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Unbinding

January 26, 2011 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| 11 Comments

I have to admit, my yearning for control often outweighs my yearning for a better world. My visions are large, but my daily interactions are laced with an urge to put things in nice orderly lines and boxes. My ‘shoulds’ outnumber my ‘what ifs?’ Literally. I use the word ‘should’ promiscuously (I had been doing […]

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Daring to hibernate

May 31, 2012 | Expressive Change | Podcast| 3 Comments

A couple of months ago I received an intriguing note in my inbox from The Berkana Institute. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Berkana, you might know one of it’s founders Meg Wheatley, a well-known author who writes about […]

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What if an art gallery was itself a work of art?

February 24, 2012 | Expressive Change | Tana Paddock| 8 Comments

Is it possible that creativity in arts organisations not be limited to the gallery space? Anne Bertrand has been flirting with this question for as many years as I have known her. When we first met almost a decade ago, she was asking it from a place of frustration. She had spent several years working for an artist-run organization and was feeling quite disheartened as a result. How can it be, she would say to me in exasperation, that […]

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Posts tagged "unbinding"

A conversation mashup with Biren Shah

A conversation with Dayna Cunningham

A quick dip into anarchy

Becoming a festival

Podcast: Emerging from hibernation

Gestalt at the South African Treasury Department

Liberating Structures

Sneak preview of 'A Delicate Activism'

The Bike Shed

The Organization Unbound giving field

Unbinding continued

Unbinding

Daring to hibernate

What if an art gallery was itself a work of art?