July 31, 2012

Napkin Notes on Collaboration

The foundation of Pomegranate Center’s work is collaboration. Here are napkin notes on the subject, collected from writings to myself over the past twenty-five years.

• Collaboration is a fluid, interactive state where the parts have power to influence the whole while the whole influences the parts.
• In collaboration, teamwork and individual excellence are equally required: as in jazz, the greater the individual virtuosity, the greater team virtuosity.
• Collaboration should magnify individual greatness rather than deny it.
• Collaboration requires coexisting differences, not sameness. Where there are differences there are tensions.
• The purpose of tension is to create a field where creativity grows.  As long as there are differences, tension is there to stay.  When one is resolved, another appears.
• Working willingly with tensions is the prerequisite for collaboration.
• Modern cities and communities are filled with differences—people from myriad cultures, ideologies, religions and world-views, all expressing their values and talents.  These differences (and their inherent tensions) are our greatest, and most untapped, asset.
• Collaboration’s purpose is to relate to each other in such a way that typically irritating differences can be transformed into valuable gifts.
• To turn differences into gifts requires strength and flexibility.  It involves the confidence to express ideas and the humility to adjust them to those of others’.
• This requires us to stand in one’s center while falling into the unknown-a demanding circus act.
• To hear and see without instant misrepresentation and distortion is an act of utmost bravery. Great 20th century artist Henri Matisse stated long before our pop-culture that everything we see is more or less distorted by acquired habits and ready-made images that are to the eye what prejudice is to the mind. To see through the noise takes courage.
• In collaboration we rely on others to help uncover the greater truth of any situation.  One of the most powerful sentences is one of the simplest: And what do you think, observe, understand?
• Avoid jargon that is the language of lazy shortcuts and presumed shared assumptions.
• We are all smart in some areas and ignorant in others.
• Collaboration is about increasing our collective smartness and decreasing our collective ignorance.
• This requires a mature degree of self-knowledge where we claim not only what we know, but also our gaps, acknowledging deep oceans of blissful ignorance.
• When lazy, we talk only to those who are alike which is just another form of talking to ourselves.
• Collaboration is only possible when all parties are willing to steps into the empty space beyond pre-existing ideas where mutual discovery is possible.
• Collaboration is not possible between fixed ideas.
• When we are able to share our different “smarts” we quickly realize that, amazingly, together we know more and that together we are able to accomplish what no one individual or group could separately.
• We discover that the results of collaboration meet many important goals at the same time.
• Collaboration is next step in our evolution. We are all invited to practice.
• Our world is a school where collaboration is the main lesson plan.  We have all been invited to enroll into collaboration kindergarten.

I trust that very soon we will be able to move to the elementary school.

November 28th, 2011

Pomegranate Center’s Landmark Year

2011 was a landmark year for Pomegranate Center.  We had the opportunity to test our collaborative philosophy in five parallel projects and demonstrated that, when conditions are right, ordinary communities are capable of extraordinary things; that meaningful community projects can be done quickly and with moderate funds; and that people, given a chance, are eager to jump with both feet into improving their neighborhoods.

In 2011 we completed five gathering places in five different communities in the greater Seattle area.  One was a pro bono project in Bellevue, WA.  Four were made possible with a generous grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters through Tully’s Coffee. Here was the timeline:
·      In March we put out a Gathering Places Request For Proposals and received seventeen responses.
·      In May we trained the leaders of the four selected projects in our gathering places model.
·      In June we held planning and design sessions in each community.
·      Between August 5 and September 17, we organized intensive, participatory four-day building workshops culminating in opening celebrations with proclamations, musical celebrations and, of course, Tully’s coffee!

Here are the stats: these five projects engaged 781 volunteers who gave 8000 hours of time to conceptualize, design and build.  Pomegranate Center’s four-person staff received assistance from two summer interns and a dozen Public Space Rangers (professionals in design and building who offered their services pro bono – at a value of $139K).
We:
·      used 20 gallons of paint and 18 gallons of wood preservative
·      mixed 473 bags of concrete by hand
·      placed 67 tons of rock
·      spread 81 cubic yards of soil
·      painted 45,000 dots on banners
·      carved 350 sq. feet of cedar
·      installed 500 feet of paths
·      polished, bent and twisted 500 feet of stainless steel flat bars
·      constructed 44 benches (20 on bicycle wheels) and
·      planted 500 plants.

These are remarkable achievements, especially in our current charged civic situation where acrimonious blaming and complaining are the norm.  Our projects demonstrated that given the opportunity and under experienced leadership, people are capable of remarkable accomplishments.  It is good to remember that, typically, similar projects take years of planning and unrealistic budgets.  Our intensive, streamlined process unlocks a surprising amount of positive energy because the process moves quickly and people can actually see their ideas taking shape on achievable budgets that are complimented by volunteer work and in-kind donations of materials and equipment.  In addition, because our projects offer an easy opportunity to deposit care and artistry, they become a stark contrast to the anger and violence that dominates the news and our public awareness.  Our model works because there are so many ways for different people to be involved.  But mainly it works because every neighborhood has people who have a keen awareness of how things ought to be and they jump at the chance to realize such potential.
Today, when most municipalities have no resources for such projects, our model provides a powerful alternative.

Pomegranate Center’s goal now is to transfer this model in many communities throughout the country.  A complimentary goal is to train new leaders capable of creating their own projects in the future. We know that to achieve this goal we will need more partners in this exciting adventure. With the help of a new Tully’s grant, we will take the show on the road with a project in Tuscaloosa, AL, creating a gathering place in that tornado-ripped city.

These are challenging times for our country and we agree with those who demand changes for a more just and sustainable future.  Destructive policies and practices must stop.  Pomegranate Center’s approach, however, has always been to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes,’ to find a way to realize a mutually preferred future within the limited possibilities of each project. Our five 2011 projects accomplished this.

I would love to hear from those who wish to get involved with our next steps.

Milenko

(more…)

A Message from Milenko
Every time I pick up my luggage at the airport I need to fight the hoards of people crowding around the baggage carousel in the belief that it will expedite their departure. In fact, it slows everyone down.

The appropriate hokey pokey would be to “put your right foot back and then your left foot back,” creating open space and visibility. This would allow us all to pick up our luggage in a peaceful manner. The problem is that this kind of “community-minded” hokey pokey is counterintuitive for most people.

I see similar behavior at community meetings. We promote our agendas and, when pushed back by others with their own agendas, we simply make our point louder, prompting a corresponding volume increase in others. Trained by the squeaky wheel theory, we’re convinced that turning up the volume increases our chances of triumph.

In fact, just like airport luggage wrestlers, we contribute to the problem. In order to build vibrant, sustainable, livable communities, we all need to understand that problems affecting the entire community cannot be solved from the perspective of a singular view or interest.

We must conceive of a community as an integrated totality containing numerous perspectives, interests and agendas. Every person should attempt a Hokey Pokey and “put their right foot in” the center where the competing agendas intersect. Only in the neutrality of that position can the common good be discovered.

In both examples, the problem is that this counterproductive conduct is widely accepted, even expected. We see others stepping forward at the baggage carousel and we follow suit. We hear others shout, exhibiting their anger and frustration at community meetings and we counter with more of the same. People think that this is the only possible approach because it is all they know. After all, many elected officials practice such conduct.

I hope to see a shift in the way we conduct our community processes. And it would be a nice perk if baggage areas become more navigable in the process.

Through our work, we’ve seen time and again that when people are willing to step into the center and away from their singular agenda, even for just a moment, they are capable of great discoveries and joyful insights. They begin to realize that others are not necessarily enemies and that their differences of opinion help to clarify and improve their own views. It is in those moments that solutions with multiple victories are discovered, where two or more agendas can coexist and support each other.

I still stand by this paragraph that I wrote 20 years ago:

No group can solve its problems without the expertise and perspective of others. Artists need business-minded people to complement their creativity with economic savvy. Developers benefit from artists who create neighborhoods that have character and aesthetically unique identities. Planners profit from mothers’ input in designing neighborhoods that nurture children. To solve the problems of today’s multifaceted communities, we must bring together everyone’s ideas to construct a collective vision of the future.

At Pomegranate Center, we are committed to practicing and performing the Community Hokey Pokey in order to create projects with multiple victories that are good for the economy, environment and communities everywhere. Without this cooperation, our futures will be arbitrated not by our greatest values but by blind power, economic caprice and pure chance.

A Message from Milenko

Judging from the frequency of inquiries Pomegranate Center receives, there are a lot of people in a lot of communities that would like to build a gathering place. Here are a few of my tips to help turn ideas into reality:

1. First and foremost, trust in the integrity of the process. Many are skeptical that a community group can produce something of value. Our experience is the opposite: under the right conditions, people are capable of great things and the best ideas will rise to the top.
2. Create the right conditions. Community decision-making is a vulnerable process where the group’s work can be derailed by just a few naysayers. Ask all involved to agree to a code of conduct that reminds everyone to be positive and creative. Abide by these rules throughout the process and your chances of success will increase.
3. Form a steering group. Invite future users to help you guide the process. These stakeholders should come from public, private and non-profit arenas, so they can unite the community. Look for individuals willing to collaborate and negotiate. Include representatives from the Parks departments who can provide early guidance on what is or is not possible.
4. Act like it’s already built. It’s hard to see the value of a hypothetical space, but if you create an event whose perfect venue just happens to be your fledging gathering place, people will start to see possibilities. In planning the event, they’ll co-imagine the space, and therefore, co-own it.
5. Make it personal. Turn every step into an opportunity to increase ownership. When people are meaningfully involved–contributing ideas, working with their hands, planning events–they will be more proud of the work and will become natural protectors and stewards of the place.
6. Define roles and responsibilities. Clarify how the community and designers work together. Community members shape the vision; designers lead the design, both partners offering what they know and do best. Make sure designers respect the community’s vision, but also make sure that designers have freedom to exercise their creativity and excellence. Bad things happen when designers start telling the community what it needs to do, and community members insist on designing.
7. Keep moving. Invite everyone (not only those who already support the idea), but make sure that those who show up do not waste time. Each step should lead to the next: people are usually only willing to participate as long as the process is productive. The goal should be to develop a shared, community-owned concept within 3-4 meetings, receive permits ASAP, and build during an intensive participatory event.
8. Be practical. Realize that many factors influence the design and explain this to all participants. While all ideas are important and must be considered, other forces (budget, permits, materials, building abilities) will influence the final design. Explain at the beginning that not all ideas can survive, but commit yourself to explaining why.
9. Make it hands-on. Encourage designs that involve lots of hands and benefit from many viewpoints. Gathering places are about community, and there is an artist lurking in everyone. With encouragement, each person can create something that expresses their love and care for the community.
10. Have high standards. Volunteer or DIY work should be no excuse for poor quality. Just because you’re doing it yourself doesn’t mean you should cut corners. The work may seem hard at first, but in the end, everyone will say with pride: we did this.

Message from Milenko

When the environment goes to toxic hell, we should speak out on its behalf. When justice is thrown out the window, we must demand corrections. When a tomato travels farther to reach my table than my grandfather did in his entire life, we need to support local growers.

When the system breaks, when we lose track of what’s important at the center, we need to point out the problem and correct it. Today, there are thousands of causes that require this kind of leadership.

However, when I think about all these causes, one key question stands out for me: how does each important issue align with all the other important issues?

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen many a powerful leader or activist promote his or her work as if it is the only important one.

Society is one integrated system. Imagine it as a wheel: it can only work when all the spokes align in the center and on the rim. To make one spoke longer or to have another missing makes the wheel wobbly. With this perspective, to be a spokes-person (ha, ha) for one issue only is not enough. Our efforts must strengthen the whole wheel. The question is how each activity supports others.

This perspective of community building requires a different kind of leadership. It needs leaders who stand, first and foremost, at the center of the wheel and lead from the knowledge that economy, environment, education, equity, aesthetics, ethics, justice, health are all equally important. The result of each project should be a multiple victory. Ideally, a project is good for all spokes of the wheel. To advance any one issue at the expense of others just makes our society wobbly.

A Message from Milenko

Building strong communities is critical, hard work. I feel it’s one of the most courageous, important things each of us can do every day.

We can speed up the realization good community building ideas if we live our lives consistent with community priorities. The good news: practically every activity and every moment grants us the opportunity to practice community-minded behavior.

Here are 10 ways you can start the courageous work of building community today:

1. Take interest in other people’s passions as much as you want them to be interested in yours. We all have ideas for how life should be. The thing is that, unless we are unsurpassed geniuses, we only see a small part of the picture. Asking others what they see can only enhance understanding.
2. Become a mentor to others less involved in their community. In every community there is a small, overworked group of leaders who try to figure out everything for everyone. They go to all the meetings and take on huge loads of work while others are silent…until it is time for them to complain. This will not do. If you are such a leader, mentor someone with less experience. If you are not, approach someone and ask them to mentor you.
3. Support a cause with no direct personal benefit. We are involved with things we care about the most. That’s natural. My experience tells me, however, that the most interesting and possibly most important discoveries happen in the spaces between interests and disciplines and ideologies. Step outside your natural zone… it’s necessary for uncovering new solutions.
4. Invite “them” to your meeting. It is convenient to show our importance by pitting “us” against “them.” But “they” may have insights that will help us better understand the problem and appreciate the marvelous tensions that form a healthy community.
5. Reject the tendency to blame. Everyone plays a role in the problem and everyone must participate in the solution. Practice compassion towards those who, like ourselves, unwittingly contribute to the problem they wish to solve.
6. Confront internal contradictions. Claiming the problem is someone else’s doing conveniently absolves us from doing our part. If I drive my car to a transportation meeting and complain about traffic jams, it’s necessary that I acknowledge my contribution to that traffic. At the very least, acknowledge the irony of the situation.
7. Practice industrial-strength listening. Do not react until you’ve received.
8. Render unto community. Shrink your home to what is necessary and conduct the rest of your life in the community. For example, resist a “theater” room and visit your local theater instead. Anytime you bump into others you make your community a tiny bit stronger.
9. Clarify your image of the future. I find that most decisions we make are shaped by impulses so deeply ingrained we fail to be aware of them. Unexamined impulse is prejudice. Examined impulse, once confirmed, is guidance that leads to something better. Examine your embedded assumptions, embrace the relevant ones and discard the rest. What remains is a clear intuition, an image of a possible future. Then engage with others to make it a reality.
10. Resist the temptation to choose between the ideal and the reality. Hold them both in your awareness. Learn to enjoy the creativity and humor this tension offers. It can be quite funny.

I would love to know what courageous community building acts you are doing. Please get in touch! milenko@pomegranate.org

Take care,
Milenko

A Message from Milenko

Pomegranate Center was born out of the intuition that artistic practice is not only relevant, but necessary for creating a healthier world. The elements of this practice are complex and every artist will explain them differently. I think it’s a safe bet, however, that most agree there is a time of “taking things in” before “putting things out”, which ensures that the art-making is relevant.

What do I mean by “taking things in”? I don’t mean passive waiting, but rather engaged and active listening. It’s the time when connections are intuited, relationships appreciated, and meanings detected. It requires a determination not to surrender to what others have deemed important, but instead to arrive at our own hard earned conclusions. In my opinion, the well-being of the world relies on this internal commitment.

“Putting things out” demands similar moxie. An artist assumes that a painting must be an improvement on the empty canvass, a poem an improvement on the empty page, and music an improvement on silence. This is, of course, the high standard for all the work that goes on in the studios of artists the world-over.

My point, my intuition, is that this same principle should also be practiced outside the studios. This is what I intended by incorporating Pomegranate Center 22 years ago. When working with communities, the quiet contemplation that is possible in the studio is replaced by a cacophony of voices, and the studio by a gathering place of many different people and ideas.

The process, though very different in shape, follows the same progression undertaken by a solitary artist. For me it starts with listening, discerning patterns and common themes, identifying possibilities, selecting the most promising ones, and then finding elegant and powerful forms to express the community’s intent.

To participate in such a process is a great privilege, and with that privilege comes a responsibility to uncover what is the best possible pathway for success through joint discovery rather than coercion. This is done by committing to honest inquiry, consulting multiple perspectives, absorbing new information and uncovering the best possible strategy that deserves our best efforts and artistry in its execution.

I’ve been fortunate to lead more of such community projects than I can count and I am continually amazed by what can be accomplished. I have come to view every community member as an artist practicing this model. And it is a beautiful, powerful thing to see.

Message from Milenko

Early on in my work, I read and was greatly influenced by the little-known work of Fred Polak, a Dutch sociologist. My library included a well-read copy of The Image of the Future (which is now out of print and difficult to find). Polak does an impressive job of looking at the relationship between images of the future and cycles of culture:

The rise and fall of images of the future precedes or accompanies the rise and fall of cultures. As long as the society’s image is positive and flourishing, the flower of culture is in full bloom. Once the image begins to decay and lose its vitality, however, the culture does not long survive.

Pomegranate Center’s work in facilitation, public process and community-based design is built on a basic philosophy that imagining, clarifying and owning a shared picture of what our communities can be is a powerful, and vital, step in moving us toward that desirable end.

Creativity flourishes within the tension between what is and what could be, between realities and ideals. The two poles of this magnetic stretch form imaginary paths along which we create.

In our work with communities, I have noticed an ever-present desire to resolve this tension. I see splintering into the realist and idealists camps, one pushed from behind by a hardened reality check, the other pulled from the front by compelling ideas and possibilities. Before we know it, we start seeing the other as either unimaginative or wishy-washy.

I believe we need to hold both in our awareness and enjoy the creative possibility, and even the humor, this tension offers. Dreaming big is important as long as we tolerate humble beginnings. Depending on your attitude, wanting to play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony when all you have is a banjo is either discouraging or truly funny and delightful. Because the process and the end results are inseparable, it is better to be able to take a few small steps in the right direction than to take the entire journey in the wrong one.

Share your thoughts with me about this philosophy at milenko@pomegranate.org. I would love to hear from you!