Deepening and widening our thinking around the topic of ‘Community’
Deepening and widening our thinking around the topic of ‘Community’
When Margaret Wheatley said “Whatever the problem, community is the answer” , what was she getting at ?
When we are working with complex challenges, like how to respond to the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss, no single person has the answers and if we try too hard to come up on our own with answers, then it is easy to get overwhelmed and trapped in personal bad habits.
So ‘community’ is both the key to making progress and getting things done and a key part of how we look after ourselves. Yet, we live in a society where a lot of activity is very individualised and we often feel that we don’t have time for ‘community’, particularly not if our involvement doesn’t pay us money.
Notions of community are double-edged too. We tend to feel we want to be in community with ‘people like us’ – our tribe – and the reality is that lots of people aren’t like us. ‘Like us’ groups give us reassurance that we are not the only ones thinking a certain way and yet ‘Not like us’ diversity is what creates richness and greater potential. It can be confusing to know what we want.
A further complication arises when we relate the notion of ‘community’ with notions of ‘sustainability’. Ultimately, sustainability happens (or not) in physical places. It depends on how we look after and relate to the soil, water, air and all that live there. Communities that are not rooted in places can help us think and may support us, but they can only have so much impact in terms of actual physical realities. We need local communities to be in healthy relationship with local environments.
So, what do we do ? We need support. We need diversity and we need to be in healthy relationship with our environments. How do we live this in practice ? What have we collectively learnt about ‘doing’ community well ?
This session will explore what we are learning, as a loose Community of Practitioners, about how notions of ‘Community’ work for us. What is working and what needs to change to enable things to improve ?
You are very welcome to register and join us.
Additional Details
Event Timezone Reference - Ireland / GMT - event is late afternoon, so should suit Europe / Africa / Americas
Presenter(s) Bio
Grattan Donnelly
Grattan Donnelly is a highly experienced coach, facilitator and trainer, passionately interested in how we can create a better world for all life.
With a background in leadership and management development, Grattan has been coaching since 2006 and a leading figure bringing mindfulness into coaching since 2014. He integrates neuroscience, mindfulness, somatic and nature practices into coaching, facilitating the people he works with to do deep transformational work and be at their best to contribute to a more peaceful world and healthier planet.
He is a faculty member with both Dublin Business School and the Irish Management Institute and a keen sailor and dog walker.
He is an Honorary Life Fellow, Founding Council Member and former Chair of the Association for Coaching, Ireland. He is a member of the Climate Coaching Alliance.
Is This Event Being Recorded? -
Event Language - English
Posted By - Chris Chapman
Email - chrischapmaninireland@gmail.com
Spare Field - Not in use - Chris Chapman Chris Chapman is an experienced systemic facilitator, working particularly with large diverse groups and communities of interest that go beyond single organisations. Most of Chris's current work is in the fields of education and sustainability. He has an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies from the University of Surrey Business School and a particular interest in the relationship between adult development and our collective capacity to work well with complexity and uncertainty. Chris leads facilitation work at the beautiful Burren College of Art, helping organisations and systems to find creative approaches to complex challenges.
Spare Field - Not in use -