Living in Peace and Wisdom on our Planet

Community Action for Sustainability. Day #5

The story so far:

Reporter Max Wahlter has been visiting the sustainable city of Porena (see earlier journeys).  He has discovered a new way of working based only on behaviour and what can be done today. He has attended four parts of the workshop. This is the fifth, where they get ready to go before the committee to present their proposals for change. Can't be done? Read on ...

Preamble - Tapescript: Day #5

Preamble

The theme of this visit is looking at the methodology for cross-community wide collaboration towards sustainability. What we ask to look for this time is how they actually prepare to present their proposals to the council. And get them approved and get them through.

Last time we got as far as people preparing to write the report and I typed up the headings for the report. If I remember correctly they prepared how the idea would be tested and a simple time plan to complete the proposal to the council.
 

The Journey

I see the lift in front of me; I stand behind the ornamental plants. On the other side is the bench I sometimes sit on. I see a guy with grey hair, looks like the facilitator. 'Good afternoon!
'You ready?'
'Anything I need to know before I go?' I ask – 'no tricks?'

'No tricks this time.'
We go over to the lift and push the button for up.

'You don't like surprises do you?' says the facilitator. The lift ascends slowly.
 'Why so slow?' I ask.

'They had complaints.'
I think going slowly is worse – more time for vertigo.

The lift door opens onto a brightly lit bridge. We cross over. I notice the portcullis again, this time with ivy growing on it.

Not a lot is happening on the square. 'Shall I go over to the Town Hall again? I ask.

'Yes, same place as last time,' replies the facilitator.
Hands on the door 1-2-3 open! A musty, churchy smell hits my nostrils. Reminds me of my old Sunday school. We go into an empty meeting room. A piano stands in the corner; there is a stage at the opposite side.

People start to bring in tables and arrange them in a large U around the room. They are setting up a mock council meeting to prepare for the real thing. Each group will present their section and the others will 'play' council members. To the left of the stage is the running order for the council meeting, to the right the order in which sections are to be presented. In the middle is an overhead projector, but I think a 'beamer projector' is available too.

We start off with the first item which is fizzy drinks. The first part is the vision power point. The presenter is talking about the dangers: pictures of damaged teeth, etc. They use the map we had in the first session to illustrate the extent of the problem throughout the community. It covers the number of people affected, the areas and the negative effects. The dietary effects, the health effects, the effect on insulin and diabetes frequency. Then the mechanism of how insulin works in the body.

He goes through the solutions: Alternative products, banning in the schools etc.
They show a picture of voluntary agreements, substitution, banning. Some graph of expected results then how they expect testing to go.
Questions and comments from the council:

The other groups pitch in. They are actually quite struck by the impact of the presentation.

'What about the ability of schools to ban these drinks. Can they really do that?'
'Schools know how to do this and that they can do this'
'How far established are the negative effects on insulin production and the effects of raised insulin levels on child health?
'Researchers have a wide range of tests to confirm results'
Next, comments on methodology
'Should you present about the testing, or just present the problem and solution?'

Any suggestions? The facilitator asks.

Discussion leads to the consensus that it is best to tell the whole story from need to solution to testing and implementation.

'Happy with that?'
'Yes, thanks.'

Next, the group is to present the time plan. They show it on the overhead, and everyone gets a paper copy. It covers one page, in colour. Activities are listed down the left.
•    Enter voluntary agreement
•    Ban fizzy drinks in school
•    Test spread
•    Alternative drinks are ready
•    Measurements using Six Sigma methodology
•    Spread voluntary agreement by shopkeepers
•    Brochure
•    And the time for the spreading of the behaviour
•    Final follow up using Six Sigma on sales

We are only discussing sequence and time, not resources.

Over to the group to practice answering questions.

'I am unsure about the mechanism of the test  - is it just a few weeks long – of the rings on water?'

'The association of shopkeepers will use this presentation to 'market' to their members. The local paper will be involved. There is an information campaign by shopkeepers towards the newspaper.'

'Can I ask about the process for testing the effect in an area? Won't people go to another shop that sells more fizzy drinks?'

'The fizzy drinks will still be on sale, just not as prominent. Then the school will inform parents, who are in that catchment area.'

'The displaying changes will create a long term effect'
Next, feedback about the presentation of the plan.

'Good,' someone says, 'good to show different phases, good that it's on one paper, good to show steps down the left.'

The phases comprise test, implementation, spread & follow-up. 

The next bit is engagement. The group now shows the budget and engagement slide. Activities are at the top now, down the left is the stakeholders and level of engagement details. Numbers are needed, and  column for confirmed engagement or not.

Then, yellow, red, green markings on the right side. The red marking shows which areas are not engaged and the decision needed and impact.

The presenter gets ready to talk us through it.

We have engaged the local shopkeeper association and the school. There is now agreement with the local newspaper. That is marked in yellow. They are uncertain as to whether the effort is needed or not.

If I were running the local newspaper I would say 'If it is newsworthy we would print it. 'We will do all we can to assist'

I look for a red-marked column. Either the spread will take longer or will cover less area. One of the supermarket chains is outside the voluntary agreement. That would have an effect on the spread by slowing it down. Extent and impact are on the squares in the next column. Another red section has to do with transport is it? No, the ability to get the range of the substitutes out in time because of production schedules. It will affect the rings on water but not the test.

Here we ask them to hurry up production schedules
'Anything else we have learnt?'
'Good on one page only.'
'The colouring is useful.'
'The diagram is in the proposal.'

What comes next? Approval from the committee. They ask stakeholders to agree to continue with the project and formally agree to commit resources. There is a show of hands here. Unanimous.

Next stage is 'Do we approve the plan?' This can be up to reporting back on the first trial. Approving the whole thing with amendments, without amendments or not approving. Here they come to the point where they must convince the committee that what is being done will impact enough, that this is worth prioritizing.

The role play continues.

'Someone asks why fizzy drinks should take precedence over, say overweight?'
'We actually have a transport action which will partly address overweight.
Anyway, this one gives long term effects.'

So to summarize, they role play each section, role play the questioning, give feedback on presentation skills and argumentation, handling questions. They practice until they are happy with it. To follow up, once the action is approved, the council sends out a press release, which goes to the sustainability office, then to the groups

I wondered about communication. A simple web page communicates results ongoing. The local paper has a role.

'You've got it!' The facilitator says, 'and this is how we train people.'

The council meets regularly. On the agenda are applications for new actions, application to close projects and interim progress reports. The portfolio of actions is managed as a continuous process. Spreading the methodology is built-into the process. You have to be involved once to understand it. Then the facilitator group works to develop methodology and how to spread it in order to be able to intensify the work. 'Another time maybe?' the facilitator suggests.

I thank everyone for a very effective process – five times.

'You are always welcome back with difficult questions or whatever.'

'Good luck!'

I see there is some kind of report gong on giving a community wide picture. That is a separate organization who acts in the expert groups and are responsible for data gathering. This gives footprint, GRI indicators etc. Each organization has its own report, each consumer reports in.

I walk back over the square and take my leave.
 

Follow up to Community Action

I like the idea of engaging stakeholders in a way that uses already pledged resources and ties it in to their existing goals.

I like the idea of the standard project structure using only existing infrastructure and technology.
Especially, I like the way the stakeholder committee approves which challenges to approach and the group focuses on achieving visible results. I also realize the whole thing as it is may not work in practice. It may need developing.

I saw an exhibition of Leonardo daVinci's notebooks. His sketches looked very much like he was. They seem to just come from nowhere. A program on TV showed how they tried to take his drawings and build full scale models. One comment was that he often got things 'the wrong way round' or 'purposely put mistakes in' to confound people who would steal his secrets. For me, I believe they were more like 'right brain copying errors'. When I review the process for Community Action I see that I haven't quite got the whole thing right. Parts of it do not 'hang together'.

This is not to say that the insights are not deep; they are. I met a standard methodology, based on what can be done today, using pre-committed resources, maximizing effect through cooperation – the whole thing seems to be extremely powerful. And definitely a good tool for communities who have decided to go down the energy reduction/sustainable development path.

One thing I do take on board is the persistence of this facilitator person. I'm getting the message that in order for change to happen, a separate group of people with very special skill sets needs to be formed. This group is independent of the group working locally, but an essential part of the change. This group needs to work with itself to spread and develop techniques. The facilitator seems to be saying to me that I should be concentrating on just this area.

Next time: Max finds a way to provide drinking water almost free! Oh yes can't be done huh? Wait and see....

Can't wait? Buy or download the book from http://Stephenhinton.avbp.net.