Those of you who found inspiration in Ken's conversation with Tami Simon might be interested in the new book, "A Conscious Person's Guide to the Workplace."  It's written by George San Facon, the person who introduced me to Ken Wilber's work (SES) back in the mid 90s. As he says in the Introduction to the book: "This guide is about creating alternatives to what we normally experience at work, ones that better promote human well being and engage the spirit." He was able to do just that during his two decades as the director of a department of several hundred people within a large not-for-profit organization. The "Council of Equals" governance structure he instituted was based on the writings of Robert Greenleaf and, as far as I know, is unique.

thanks for the link, bernadette .. will definately check that out .. one of my goals is to bring more consciousness to the workplace

regarding tami .. what a role model she is ! not only in the groundbreaking way she is running her organization .. but in the articulate grounded way that she speaks

Yes, this is a sweet unfolding of some major principles at work at Sounds True. The wanting people to be able to be themselves is so high and bold - whereas it ought to be basic in the world and alas is not.

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Ambo Suno

yes ambo and that it is unfolding is good and true and beautiful

 

hi bernadette .. am sitting at my desk at work reading the link u had posted .. it says

For two decades, he served as Director of the Housing Facilities Department at the University of Michigan, where he pioneered implementing a council-of-equals approach to governance and management using consensus decision making.

does he take a green approach ?

Sorry to be so slow in replying, ff.  I haven't been checking in on the forum much in the past couple of weeks. 

My experience of the "council-of-equals" approach is that it's beyond green.  As the "first among equals" the director was held directly responsible for the outcomes of his department by the next level up, but chose to vest the power to hire and fire individuals who are members of the department's governing council in that entire group. When he made this change, it had the immediate result of removing fear of the director's power and creating a "we're all in this together" dynamic among the council members.  Communication became clearer, more honest and more direct.

"Using consensus decision-making" doesn't mean that all decisions were made by consensus of the governing council.  Those with high impact on the organization most certainly were, though. There was hierarchy in the department, but it was a hierarchy of teams rather than of single individuals. Each team had a defined realm of decision making.  With the exception of the director, each member of the council was the "first among equals" on another team.

My experience with some green approaches is that they tend toward including everyone in every decision (whether everyone wants to be included or not), making every decision by consensus, and being  somewhat allergic to structure - which can result in talking forever and producing nothing. The director was good at providing structure that helped ensure that the needed product (policy, service, etc) materialized.

If you want to know more about the nitty-gritty of this organization, go to this web page and scroll down to the bottom of the article for a link to a pdf document that contains the "Council Handbook".  Happy exploring.

A wonderful read from a man who implemented progressive policies in the workplace is Plain Talk by Ken Iverson.  Iverson led Nucor Steel for some 35 years thereabouts, during which period the company thrived, growing an average 17% per year (!) in an industry that was routed in the 1980s.  During those hard years, other steel companies shed on average 50% of their workforce; Nucor, in comparison, laid off not a single employee for lack of work.  Stunning.  For Iverson's part, he viewed his primary role as a manager (CEO at that) as one of listening, end stop.  I doubt that's taught at Harvard.