Picture from:
http://d3fhkv6xpescls.cloudfront.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Home-61.jpg
"As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people persmission to do the same." - Nelson Mandela
Societal leadership begins inside of one's self. It begins by exploring reflective questions like: What are my values? What am I here on Earth for? What am I passionate about at this time and place?
Youth are particularly challenged to comprehend these deep introspective questions simply because of their short length of time on earth. Generally speaking, their worldviews are rapidly changing through experience and brain development as compared to our elders. Indeed, a few people are born with a known destiny (i.e. to be a rock star, an accountant or a farmer) which guides them through youth but the majority of us experienced youth as a journey slowly winding us closer to our purpose.
It is my belief that to discern our purpose and act on it is to enable our full human potential (to activate societal leadership). Should societal leadership proliferate today, the implications are extraordinary for posterity. The key ingredient: passion.
Are there ways to support youth in finding their passion? What sustainable creation could emerge if all of our youth were societal leaders?
In addressing these two questions, the intention of this blog post is twofold: to share the learning of a collaborative project that LeadWell Initiative has been part of and to tell the story of the project's development.
To address the latter, the project was to convene a group of champions in a series of conversations on connecting youth to their passion. Its birth was due solely to synchronicity following a previous LeadWell Initiative blog post titled "Unearthing the Youth Voice on Societal Leadership." An international project team (Elise Bouvy and Bieke van Dijk from Brussels, Bas Kools from Berlin and myself, Matt Mayer from Calgary) formed around the same burning question: What sustainable creation is possible if youth are connected to their passion? Employing the Chaordic Stepping Stones to frame our process of moving from question to collaborative intention, we eventually landed on our two-part global conversational project on connecting youth to their passion.
Once we booked dates and invited participants, our planning (and collaboration) accelerated.
Conversation #1: Sharing, Conversing and Presencing
"Everything in the universe is a bundle of potential and it doesn't manifest itself in one way or another until it is in relationship" – Margaret Wheatley
Our first conversation hosted 18 amazing participants from 12 different countries. In a completely virtual format, we employed Check-In, Circle, WorldCafe and Check-out to structure our conversation. Conversation was rich and there was a palpable hunger for more. The key learning from this first conversation was captured here in this blog post. Kara Stonehouse, our Graphic Recorder from AHA! Graphic Facilitation (www.karastonehouse.blogspot.com), created this piece as a visual harvest of our conversation:
Conversation #2: Co-creation and Action
"Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" – Albert Einstein
Using the Constellation Model as a guiding framework, we chose to organize the attendees into different conversations based on their level of interest in the key themes that emerged from Conversation #1: Youth Education, Youth Mentorship and Safe Spaces for Youth. Our goal was to tap in to the collective intelligence of the group as we moved towards action. For each theme, we looked at the best of what already exists, what our wildest dreams would entail and what the key next steps would be to move towards it. Most of the learning was captured in the following Wiki-mind maps. They are completely public so please contribute and share as necessary!
Youth Education Wiki-mind map
Youth Mentorship Wiki-mind map
Safe Spaces for Youth Wiki-mind map
As well, here is Kara Stonehouse's graphic recording from Conversation #2:
A project with limitless beginnings and infinite possibilities...
Currently, the core team is investigating what ways they can further guide the energy from the conversation amongst participants into further collaboration. We will let you know what emerges!
As you share in our learning, if you have any additions, reflections, suggestions for next steps, etc. please don't hesitate to get in touch. We would love to add your voice to this crucial, open-source project!
