Not over-converging (a scientific basis?)

[Peggy Holman]

Not over-converging (a scientific basis?)From Chris Weaver:
>The person who continues to pursue her passion in an area that is not a mainstream priority may one day in the future >hold the key to the organization's evolution.  Whether she continues her work privately, quietly, or openly with some >degree of dissonance around her, she belongs in that work, for the sake of the whole.  And, perhaps, the more open the >organization is to the active presence of diversity viewpoints or endeavors, the better.


Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  

I think this is one of the keys to the future.  In The Living Company, Arie de Geus tells a wonderful story about Andes potato farmers and the US agricultural people who came to teach them about monoculturing crops.  More efficient, more cost-effective.  But, as generations of Andes farmers know, if a disease comes through that wipes out the dominant strain, having all those other options to dig up and grow is vital.  What becomes central to our future starts at the margins.  

My response to that is the "wild card" idea I mentioned in an earlier message.  The point is to welcome ideas at the margin.


>From Dave Koehler:
>Perhaps the real challenge is to allow chaos to flourish at the end, causing us to really see things differently.  


Part of me really wishes to do away with any sort of structured convergence activity.  I have now had several experiences in which the pattern of:

* start with a question
*  let it flourish through divergence 
* notice people noticing the resonant themes that emerge  (I think of this as collective consciousness bubbling up; quite magical)
*  convergence naturally follows as people flow to the work they feel called to do (passion and responsibility at work; not consensus but indivuals seeing and acting on their own sense of connection to the whole)

I think this sort of convergence is a leap of faith that we span by coming up with all sorts of convergence processes.  In truth, the most magical convergences I've experienced are the ones in which the time has been adequate to the subject matter.  And I know its the right amount of time because no formal convergence process is necessary, it just happens.

Peggy Holman



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