Dee Hock is the author The Birth of the Chaordic Age. An organization has grown up in support of his ideas called the Chaordic Commons. They have developed a new tool for building synergic community–The Chaordic Design Process. This process coupled with ORTEGRITY should be very powerful.
The Chaordic Alliance
Conceiving Terra Civitas
Humanity today faces overwhelming challenge and unprecedented opportunity. Advances in technology are reshaping society, dissolving boundaries and fostering new patterns of communication, competition and cooperation among people around the world.
Every organization must adapt to an increasingly complex, knowledge-intensive, relationship-based world. Those willing to take risks lead change rather than resist it.
Every field of human activity – from health care, education and religion to economics, commerce and governance – is busy reinventing itself, to provide a new foundation for the future. Innovation and creativity are required, not optional.
What once was unimaginable – what we could only dream – may now be possible, if we can evolve organizations and institutions as dynamic and diverse as the emerging world of the 21st century. Organizations that are equitable, inclusive, flexible and resilient, based on our highest aspirations for ourselves, our children and all future generations.
In many different fields and diverse communities, people are working toward that end. Those involved in such efforts seek greater connection. The time is now right for individuals and institutions, around the world, to form and bring to life a more cohesive global network dedicated to transforming and strengthening our organizations and institutions, guided by our most deeply held democratic, ethical and spiritual values.
We call that network Terra Civitas, which loosely translates as “citizens of the Earth”. We envision Terra Civitas as an expanding cluster of self-organizing, participant-governed entities, called Commons, designed to be both independent and interrelated.
Together, the Terra Civitas Commons will comprise a multi-faceted web of collaborative learning, innovation and action. Individually, they will be fully self-governing, free to pursue their distinctive purpose in any way consistent with the shared purpose and principles.
Terra Civitas comes into being with creation of the Chaordic Commons, a 501c3 nonprofit organization which supersedes The Chaordic Alliance. The Chaordic Commons is open to all who subscribe to its purpose and principles in conducting the organization’s activities. Those who join are called Owning Members.
You are invited to help form the Chaordic Commons and breathe life into Terra Civitas. Its success will depend on the participation and support of a wide range of visionary, caring and committed individuals and organizations from every country, field and sector. Join us and help shape a continually evolving network of individuals and organizations dedicated to cultivating wisdom and transforming our organizations and institutions!
The Chaordic Design Process
Definition
The Purpose is a simple statement of the common pursuit of a community. More than just a conventional mission statement, it identifies that which gives meaning to participants’ lives and binds them together.
Purpose – In Context
The first step in the chaordic design process is to define, with absolute clarity and deep conviction, the Purpose of the community.
An effective statement of Purpose will be a clear, commonly understood statement of that which identifies and binds the community together as worthy of pursuit. To be effective, it must reach beyond instrumental goals and speak of that which has utmost significance both for the individuals involved and for the community.
The first step will usually result in a single, powerful sentence. It will express deeply held personal aspirations and provide a powerful focus for collective intent and enterprise. Participants will say about the Purpose, “If we could achieve that, my life would have meaning.”
Work on Purpose is the foundation for everything that follows. The Purpose and the Principles constitute the fundamental body of belief on which the organization is based.
Processes and Approaches
Honest conversation is the key to arriving at a compelling statement of Purpose. Such dialogue is based in mutual respect and involves both a willingness to state one’s own thoughts and feelings clearly and a capacity for listening carefully to the views of others.
Work on Purpose asks participants first to explore, perhaps in ways that go unusually deep, what is most personally meaningful to them. From these deeply personal statements of caring, concern and aspiration can emerge a sense of what participants have in common – a shared concern or aspiration that is significant for the organization, community or field as a whole.
We have used the following approaches to illuminating deep Purpose, among others:
- Begin with a simple question: Why are you here? Urge participants to speak openly about the questions, concerns, hopes or curiosity that drew them to be part of the organization design process, or part of the organization undertaking the process. Initially, try not to guide participants’ responses; they might answer from a personal perspective or from an organizational, professional or vocational perspective. Both are important.
- Probe participants’ response using the “five whys”. When individuals respond to the question “Why are you here?”, gently probe their response by again asking “Why?” When this is repeated a few times, individuals will often begin to articulate the deeper, more fundamental dimensions of their commitment, dreams or concern.
- Explore participants’ vision of a desirable future. Ask individuals to talk about what kind of world they want their children and grandchildren to inherit. Have them describe the role that their organization, field or industry might play in helping bring that world into being. Alternatively, they might talk about their vision for their own organization and how it evolves to more fully address the deeper issues they care about.
- Invite participants to tell personal stories that reveal something essential about why they are involved in the organization, industry or field. These stories often express truths about the organization’s potential Purpose that would otherwise be difficult to articulate.
- Discuss current and emerging issues and opportunities in the organization, industry or field. (Sometimes it also helps to consider the evolution of a particular organization, field or industry.) By identifying critical needs, particularly those that are emerging or inadequately addressed, participants will begin to articulate different potential dimensions of a Purpose statement as well as potential Practices.
The processes described above, and others, will provide ample material for developing a statement of Purpose. As the work continues, we try both to sharpen the inquiry and to move toward articulation of a statement that captures the essence of what participants have said.
Specific steps toward articulating a powerful Purpose statement include:
- Develop draft statements based on what participants have said. The best statements will come from participants themselves. Sometimes a single initial statement will be forthcoming, sometimes two or three will be proposed by different people. We have even had everyone in a group draft a purpose statement and then read them aloud for comparison and contrast. Eventually you will want to identify one to work with, recognizing that it is likely to change radically in the process of review and refinement.
- Aim to clarify the social function served by the organization. Often what is trying to be achieved is not something new, but rather some basic human activity that has been organized into many different patterns over hundreds or thousands of years. For example, Visa didn’t change the need for money; rather, it reconceived money as more than paper, coin and drafts into an electronic medium for worldwide exchange of monetary value. Similarly, institutions for conflict resolution have been with us since pre-history, but globalization has outstripped their ability to succeed at local and global levels simultaneously. Along the same line, the United Religions Initiative seeks a new way to work on issues of violence, though the underlying need will persist as long as there is a human race. Whether the challenge is to manage a commons or produce and distribute healthy food, the purposes of all of the groups with whom we have worked are focused on an important and abiding social function.
- Work toward shared meaning. Carefully probe the meanings associated with every word and phrase. Participants will invariably be making different assumptions about a given statement, have different connotations for the same word, place varying importance on a particular issue or opportunity. Honor these differences, but make them explicit to the extent possible and work toward a field of understanding and vision that encompasses them all. A rich exploration of language and its meaning is at the core of Purpose.
- Seek a succinct expression of common concern and shared aspiration. There is often a tendency, initially, to craft a long statement that encompasses many individual statements of purpose. Take the time to discern what is most fundamental, especially when there are two or three potential purposes that seem to compete with one another.
Work on Purpose involves continually exploring the relationship between what is deeply personal and what is collectively meaningful. This is a lifelong inquiry that will continue well beyond the chaordic design process. Conclude this phase when participants have created a statement that everyone agrees is “good enough” for now.
Test a draft Purpose statement by asking: Can you easily imagine all potential participants identifying with this Purpose as their own?
As the process unfolds, participants will return continuously to the statement of Purpose and refine it in the light of their emerging understanding of issues and opportunities.
Process Notes
Teams that undertake the chaordic design process are usually diverse, with participants coming from very different parts of the organization or community. The individuals involved may not know each other well. Creating a sense of community, developing trust among participants, and fostering shared meaning are crucial if the enterprise is to succeed. Without shared meaning and cohesiveness, subsequent work is fraught with difficulty.
Participants may assume that they know each other well. However, it’s likely that sustained conversation about Purpose will help them discover assumptions and preconceptions that have clouded deeper understanding and the discovery of real shared Purpose – as well as things they simply haven’t known about one another.
Strong feelings, deep emotion and conflict are evoked as participants explore the ideals, aims and assumptions that underlie their work – as well as their perception of others. Common experiences during work on Purpose include insight, exhilaration, excitement and catharsis – but also discomfort, frustration, impatience and a pervasive sense of being unsettled. In fact, if people don’t become frustrated at some point, they may not have stretched themselves far enough. Welcoming such experiences can provide an opening to unexpected insight, mutual understanding and common ground.
Educator Parker Palmer talks about the “great questions” that serve as the focus for communities of truth. Such “great questions” are not capable of being exhausted. The Purpose a group seeks is a statement like this – a “great question” that can live at the heart of an organization. As such, it will be open to endless inquiry and exploration through practice as the community and its needs, opportunities, technologies, capacities and knowledge evolve. Over time participants will come, in their living relationship to the Purpose, more and more fully to experience and understand its richness, depth and meaning.
The Purpose is not a marketing slogan, or a tag line for the organization, or a preamble that provides more detailed information on the context and rationale for the enterprise. In working on a statement of Purpose, participants will often recognize the need for these and may even produce them, but this work should be kept separate from the work on Purpose.
Don’t rush through the work on Purpose. The Purpose statement needs to be clear and robust enough to support the next steps. Eventually it will be a statement that lives at the heart of the organization, so take the time to develop a field of shared meaning and to “go deep” individually and collectively.
At the same time, again, recognize when a draft statement is “good enough for now”. Participants will come back to the work on Purpose over and over as they become more comfortable with one another, and gain greater insight into their own aspirations as well as the needs and opportunities in the organization or field.
What You Need For Work on Purpose
- A group of diverse individuals representing the full range of relevant and affected parties.
- Willingness by participants to talk honestly about that which matters most to them, both personally and professionally.
- A capacity to listen openly, suspending judgment in order to understand different perspectives.
- Respect for diversity, together with a capacity to discover shared meaning.
- Comfort with expressing and acknowledging deep feeling.
Statements of Purpose From Selected
Chaordic Organizational Initiatives
The following statements were developed by participants in some of the organizational initiatives aided by The Chaordic Commons. Use them to reflect on what contributes to an effective statement of Purpose and on your own fundamental commitments or concerns.
Appleseed Foundation
To effect and enable constructive systemic change leading to a more just, equitable and sustainable society.
Community Alliances of Interdependent AgriCulture
To enable people to create food and farming systems that improve and sustain ecological, economic and social health through systemic, community-based, self-organizing governance.
GeoData Alliance
To foster trusted, inclusive processes to enable the creation, equitable, effective flow and beneficial use of geographic information.
Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance
To restore and enhance an enduring Northwest Atlantic Marine System supporting a healthy diversity and abundance of marine life and human uses through a self-organizing and self-governing organization.
Society for Organizational Learning
To discover, integrate, and implement theories and practices for the interdependent development of people and their institutions.
United Religions Initiative
To promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, end religiously-motivated violence and create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.
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