Hope and inspiration are words that define my recent experience as a CAIR (Change Agent in Residence) at the BGI (Bainbridge Graduate Institute) March, 2010 intensive.
As a recent survivor of two consecutive graduate programs, I approached the weekend with some misgivings. For example, I wondered if traditional academic structure and hubris might interfere with my ability to connect and collaborate with students, staff and faculty. Would my ideas be too edgy? Would I find a community living the values espoused in their marketing? BGI claims to "prepare diverse leaders to build enterprises that are financially successful, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable." How, I wondered does the school meet this challenge in a traditional academic context?
From the moment I arrived at the beautiful, Islandwood campus where BGI holds it's monthly intensives, it was clear that this was no ordinary graduate school. The experience was one of being warmly embraced by a deeply caring community of brilliant and curious people. Antonya Pickard, head of the student CAIR committee sought me out immediately and informed me she would be my personal host for the weekend. Liz Kirkham, BGI staff Manager of the CAIR program made sure that I had the support I needed to ensure an exceptional experience for participants. Together, the entire community engaged in an opening circle. The circle is the basic architecture of collaborative exchange and combined with elegant and respectful process, this experience, repeated throughout the weekend, seemed to contribute to exceptional individual presence and involvement.
Students, staff and faculty at BGI appear to value and embrace the concept of co-creating an emergent future. Competition, rampant in most graduate programs, has been replaced at BGI by a spirit of co-opetition that encourages individuals to focus on their unique gifts in a way that enhances fellow student's sustainable projects.
The ideas of collaboration, transparency and focus on unique brilliance are at the core of the "Seducing Change" concept that I shared with students at a workshop on Saturday evening. This is an edgy idea because it requires a focus on what's working instead of trying to fix what's broken. It also requires the courage to trust that the best solution will emerge from the combined brilliance of the collective and that our success is interdependent. "Seducing Change" offers up a framework for approaching transformational change in a way that invites individuals and organizations to co-create new structures, behaviors and perceptions coherent with an emergent vision for sustainable solutions to some of our most pressing dilemmas.
It was especially gratifying for me to experience the willingness of the BGI community to engage in this conversation. It is my hope that this blog will provide a forum for ongoing dialogue on "Seducing Change" that leads to sustainable transformational change in an increasingly chaotic environment.
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