Penny Walker Eabis08 Organisational Leader Or Part Of A Wider Change

Organisational leader or part of a wider change movement? How change agents see themselves. Penny Walker EABIS Colloquium 2008

Aims
Share some observations
Make suggestions about their significance
Enquire into your own experience
Share practical implications
Signpost further reading

Observations
Organisational change agents for sustainable development see themselves as in the service of a bigger goal.

Why are you involved in sustainable development?
One top reason:
It’s the only logical thing to do, given the impact of the way we’ve done things up to now. (27%)
To ‘save the planet.’ (25%)
Three other reasons
To help people in the future have better lives, by working for social justice / fairer use of resources / human rights / maintaining eco-system services. (58%)
To help people now have better lives …. (46%)
To bridge the gap between my personal values / lifestyle, and values / activities at work. (44%)

Observations
They believe that for society to move onto a sustainable development trajectory, a very great deal of change is needed.

How much change is needed?

Observations
From time to time, the challenge is overwhelming.

From time to time, it’s overwhelming

And it’s hard to stay optimistic

Observations
Whilst they agree that sharing their positive feelings in a work situation makes them more effective, they are divided about the way they should manage their negative feelings.

Views about sharing feelings

Observations
Whilst they agree that sharing their positive feelings in a work situation makes them more effective, they are divided about the way they should manage their negative feelings.
So it ‘leaks out’ in conversations ‘at the margins’.

Leaking out at the margins
“ Anyone else feel like packing it in and going to the pub?”

Significance?
Organisational agency
Eco-doom at work?
Values in conflict
Who am I working for?

Your experience
Does this echo your own experience?
In your experience, how do SD change agents see themselves?
Have you experienced these tensions?
What do you do, to manage negative emotions related to the scale of the wider societal challenge?

Practical implications
We need to get better informed and skilful about the emotional journey.
Importance of safe spaces with high trust, to enable sharing.
We can equip ourselves - coaching, action learning, tools.

Further reading
See references in the paper.
Your own suggestions for reading and experiential learning?

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Penny Walker Eabis08 Organisational Leader Or Part Of A Wider Change

by PennyWalker on Sep 05, 2009

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Penny Walker Eabis08 Organisational Leader Or Part Of A Wider Change — Presentation Transcript