I attend conferences to meet people who are willing to share the edge of their not-knowing, not just their knowing. Sometimes, the experience feels like stepping into a field, where my “hungry learner” is served delicious soul food—generative questions, heartfelt conversations, and intellectual deepening.
I sense that the gathering of the Teal tribe at the Lake Balaton in Hungary May 4-8 will serve up such soul food. And that it will also act as an accelerator, connecting people and projects. This issue of EE, dedicated to the Teal Organizations track of Integral European Conference 2016, is a heartfelt contribution to that acceleration. It is also an invitation to you, whether you attend the conference or not. Even if you are not attending the conference, you can be part of it. Follow the #16iec hashtag on Twitter. You can also ‘get every new post as they appear’, by requesting it in the upper right corner of our home page. This will give you updates about conference happenings. Through the posts’ comments, you can even participate in the ensuing conversation.
If you are present at the conference, you’re invited to take a walk in the forest and breathe the fresh air of presentations and workshops brought to you by 150 prominent Teal innovators. To help you find your way, here are three signposts that will help you see the forest for the trees, the revealing patterns that connect the multitude of vibrant details.
- “Dreaming Teal’s Future: Midwifing a System of Influence Together” is a “big picture” interview with me, by the folks who are running an Appreciative Inquiry project called Unity in Diversity before, during, and after the conference.
- Unity in Diversity is collecting and sharing stories from the field in order to “connect individuals, networks, and communities of practice, in service to the vision of reinventing organizations.” Whether you’re present at the conference or not, you may find a way to participate in their project, here.
- The Teal Organization track at IEC 2016, curated by Enlivening Edge, has given rise to projects with a synergizing orientation and potential movement-building impact. One such notable event is the action research practice of building Teal organizations, initiated by Bjørn Uldall.
Bjørn energizes the Participatory Action Research Lead role at Enlivening Edge. This role was inspired by his realization that “successful pioneer organizations and their founders and leaders can certainly provide inspiration, but so far we have little knowledge of how—and how well—their particular solutions and approaches translate to other contexts.”
If you’re reading this issue of EE while at the conference, and if you picked a workshop or presentation in the Teal track, look up our related articles. You may encounter a fascinating background story. Or you may be inspired to ask a question. While not all questions can be answered in a time-limited workshop, the conversation can continue well beyond the conference.
By now, you may have noticed EE’s new look and magazine-style interface. I find it more visually pleasing and also easier to navigate and locate pieces of interest. We hope you do, too.
We are transforming along with you. That’s true for what we report on, and also for what EE is morphing into. EE, the magazine, is at a halfway point toward becoming an interactive multi-media enterprise—a community hub for the burgeoning ecosystem of next-stage organizations and initiatives.
Please remember that this is our first issue after moving to this new website format. You might find many things that could be improved. We’d like to hear from you about what you notice.
As we deepen and expand our coverage of the reinvention ecosystem across countries, industries, and the various movements that make it up, we need more volunteers. Consider joining us if you resonate with our evolutionary purpose: to amplify the collective wisdom and effectiveness of initiatives for reinventing organizations and social systems.
We are a joyful international team. Please join me to warmly welcome three new members of the EE team, who joined us since the March issue: Bjørn Uldall (Denmark), Edith Friesen (Canada), and Eric Babinet (USA). They bring diverse cultural and professional backgrounds to EE, and a common passion for energizing the next-stage organization movement.
Check out our team page to meet all of us.
Consider this your invitation to join us. We’d welcome media producers, community facilitators, copy editors, social media ambassadors, knowledge gardeners, movement cartographers, social reporters, WordPress wizards, and writers. If you are up for exploring these or other ways to play with us, please contact Alia, EE’s Volunteer Coordinator, at [email protected] .
