Principles of Transformation

Building "Capacities for Transformation"

By Rick Smyre

The Context of Transformation

One of the most significant needs in the U.S. as we enter a new millennium is to help prepare local communities for a constantly changing, interconnected and increasingly complex society. The very assumptions of how we work, how we govern, how we educate and learn, how we lead, even how we think, are no longer appropriate in a world where diversity explodes and information arrives in real time.

There is a growing realization that our society is in a historical transition. It is more than the recurrence of an old cycle. It is nothing less than transformation. In a 1997 article for Atlantic Monthly, Peter Drucker suggests that:

"Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society - its world view, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions - rearranges itself… We are currently living through such a time."

If this is true, and the Center for Communities of the Future believes that it is, local communities are ill prepared for thinking about a different type of future. Too often when faced with new types of issues, local leaders revert to traditional ideas and existing tools in the name of "fixing the problem." Such an approach assumes that there exists appropriate knowledge, methods and techniques to make things better. This assumption is false.

In the concept paper developed to promote the need for an International Futures Network, the following is stated by the CEO of British Petroleum in Scotland:

"Too many of the trends we now see gathering speed suggest that systems are quite unsustainable. For example:

Declining trust in government and other sources of traditional authority and lack of confidence in 'legacy institutions';
Increasing consumption of non-renewable resources to the extent that it would now take four planet earths to meet the needs of the world's population if we all live the US lifestyle;
Rapidly growing inequality, within and between countries, on almost any measure - education, wealth, life expectancy, access to opportunity;
Increased levels of stress-related and other mental illness, self-harm, violence and personal disorientation in society;
Increased volatility in a number of systems - stock markets, trade, the weather system, financial markets.

There is a realization in a number of areas that we are, as a society, approaching a limit and that we will need to transform the way we live if we want to survive and thrive. For this to occur we need to build "capacities for transformation" in local communities as well as have public policy adjust to create an "environment for transformation." Instead of trying to continue to make old ways more efficient (reforming change), local citizens must begin to focus on trends of the future and how such trends impact basic assumptions of community life. Only by creating an environment that encourages transformation to occur will people begin to realize that "they don't know that they don't know." Only by creating new tools through community research and development (the capacities for transforming change) will the behavior and activities of the people become consistent with that needed to anticipate and adapt to an emerging society that is constantly changing and increasingly complex.

So what can local communities do to prepare themselves for such a different future? There is no one thing. In fact, we are leaving the world of independence which fosters either/or thinking and standard action (where we look for the model that we can use for every situation), and moving into a world of interdependency which will require people to think systemically, make multiple connections, design parallel processes, and look for value in others. For this to occur, more than applying new technology will be needed. There will be a need to "transform" how we see the world, how we act as human beings, and how we focus on a family of values that will sustain the kind of society into which we are moving at light speed…it will not be easy…and it will takes years to occur. Yet, when the new society that is emerging is fully formed, it will have created its own institutions and underlying principles and capacities that will support a sustainability of environment, people and communities. This society will be different in many ways, but one attribute will be historically unique. The emerging society will require an interdependence of human, spiritual and economic values capable of integrating the needs of the individual with the needs of the community. As previously stated, we will no longer live in a world of either/or.

Building Capacities for Transformation

For the next several decades, local communities throughout the U.S. will be challenged to develop new capacities to transform themselves in many specific ways. There is a great need to help people think about the future in non-traditional ways. There is an even greater need to help build connections among different people and ideas to build a new context for the future. No one changes until one sees a need for change. Yet local leaders will need to go beyond the concept of traditional, reforming change. They will need to help prepare their communities for true "transformation."

Since there is no blueprint for transformation, new capacities must be created. Since new capacities for transformation must be developed, communities will need to engage in community research and development to determine what will work and what will not. Since most people resist any type of change, community processes must be established which allow interested citizens to experiment with new concepts, methods and techniques, at the same time that others are responding to current demands using traditional methods. For this to occur, local leaders need to be able to shift between policy and actions based on traditional methods and community research and development based on new thinking and new methods.

In other words, for a community to prepare effectively for a constantly changing world, parallel processes will need to be designed….one set of traditional actions to deal with existing day to day problems in parallel with a network of community experiments to build capacities for transformation.

Center for Communities of the Future

Over the last decade, the Center for Communities of the Future has networked people throughout the U.S. and other countries who express interest in collaborating to develop new capacities for transformation. Anticipating the impact of interacting trends, network groups have designed process projects for community research and development in three key areas of community life: education/learning, economic development, and governance.

As a result of this decade of experience, three key ideas have emerged:

The Digital Economy - The globalization of economic activity and economic development based on the impact of the Internet. Local communities need to prepare electronic access, and understand that the very structure of economic activity is shifting from large hierarchies to networks of entrepreneurs. E-business is the wave of the future. E-commerce will dominate the purchase of goods and services within fifteen years.

Transformational Learning - A combination of factors is interacting to reframe the very concept of the educational/learning process. The Internet provides access to information from anywhere in the world at any time. As a result, people will not limit their education to a place. In a fast changing, connected world, knowledge will quickly become obsolete. As a result, core knowledge will continuously change, and learners will need to know how to apply knowledge in many diverse ways. Methods of evaluation will not only focus on content, but also evolve to account for how well learners ask appropriate questions, and how well learners can connect disparate information for innovation.

Knowledge Democracy - The structure of our democratic processes will need to adapt to reflect the desire of many citizens to be involved directly with decisions affecting their lives. The impact of the Internet will allow those interested to 1) help set community agendas, 2) identify key factors impacting the most important of those issues, and 3) build collaborative strategies able to meet the majority of needs of the common good. Elected leaders will need to be strategic facilitators at the same time that they are decision makers. Public staff will add positions of capacity builders to help citizens prepare for involvement in a Knowledge Democracy.

To support all three of these emerging areas of community transformation, local communities will need to develop five different types of "capacities for transformation":

The most easy to identify is the need for all communities to develop an electronic infrastructure. Without access to broadband capacity, citizens will not be able to work from home, have medical tests occur through telemedicine, use the Internet for education/learning, and be involved in its local Electronic Republic. Whether wired, wireless or a combination of both, the need for local access for all citizens to the Net is now.

Equally important, though less obvious, is the need for local citizen leaders to develop an ability to think and act within a futures context. Not only does this mean the ability to spot trends and see their impact, but also the ability to challenge old assumptions of how we learn, do economic development, make decisions, lead and even think. Each local community needs to initiate the following to help its citizens learn to rethink and retool its institutions: 1) 21st century conversations of transformation, 2) establishing a "futures institute" at community colleges, 3) creating Community Learning Centers to build networks of local futurists, and 4) establishing 21st century think tanks to resolve issues within a futures context.

Two types of leadership will be required to prepare a community for transformation. Traditional, action oriented leadership will always be needed to deal with existing issues and crisis situations. Yet, to develop capacities for transformation, a new concept of leadership will be needed, requiring different ideas, skills and personal attributes. A "process leader" will need to be able to 1) understand the meaning and use of thinking and acting within a futures context, 2) build and manage a family of processes for building relationships and collaboration leading to personal, organizational and community transformation, and 3) evolve personal growth capable of understanding transformational ideas as well as helping diverse people and organizations succeed.

All citizens will need to become familiar and support a 21st century concept of the common good - "to look for value in what the other person says, and help them connect with others to be successful as individuals and groups." In an independent world of self-sufficiency, the rule was self-interest, and maybe self-interest rightly understood. In an interdependent world, individuals will be connected to others in a dance of creation…requiring mutual support and collaboration.

There will be a need for all citizens to have basic 21st century skills. The following skills will be important: 1) an ability to use a computer, 2) an ability to understand and network diverse people, 3) an ability to facilitate generative group dialogue, and 4) an ability to understand the concept of transformation.

Conclusion

The Communities of the Future is a network of people throughout the U.S. and other countries interested in identifying, testing and building "capacities for transformation" to help local communities prepare for a constantly changing and increasingly complex world. Using the concepts, methods and techniques developed over the last decade, COTF recognizes the importance of helping all local areas to become learning communities. Based on ecological principles and the ideas of chaos/complexity theory, COTF believes that it will be important for all citizens to understand and use 21st century concepts to include 1) understanding the difference between reforming change and transforming change, 2) knowing how to think systemically, 3) using the idea of building capacities for transformation through the mechanism of parallel processes, and 4) focusing on the interdependency of all things. Those communities that recognize the need to build human "capacities for transformation" (in its leadership and citizens) at the same time that technical "capacities for transformation" are built will be the communities that are sustainable and vital in a constantly changing, interconnected and increasingly complex society.