CLIPs: Communities of Learning, Inquiry and Practice

Wellborn Evaluation SymposiumMarch 25, 2010

Delia Clark and Matt KolanConfluence Collaborative at Shelburne Farms

CLIPs: History

An Ancient Idea:• Guilds• Indigenous Cultures

CLIPs: History

Broad Contemporary Applications:• Business• Government

CLIPs: The Promise

Innovation:• Improving one’s individual practice• Evolution of the field• Tapping a sense of collective understanding, intelligence and creativity unavailable when working alone

CLIPs: The PromiseSafe Environments for Risk:• Willingness to accept and offer feedback• Openness to multiple perspectives•Willingness to make mistakes, explore new territory

CLIPs: The Promise

Open Source:• An antidote to our cultural norm of intellectual property• A rapid way to disseminate promising ideas

CLIPs: The Shadow Side

Group Think:• Codified habits of mind

CLIPs: The Shadow Side

Stagnation:• Lack of authentic relationship leads to lack of tension, lack of willingness to challenge ideas

CLIPs: The Shadow Side

Exclusion:• Attract like minds• In order to build common language and experience, exclude new perspectives

CLIPs: The Shadow Side

Idea Appropriation:• Great ideas get instrumentalized• Partial adaptation of promising ideas

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Common Purpose:• Common set of problems and learning goals• Specific shared practice•Continually revisit the premise

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Interdependence:• Build trusting relationships through story-telling, shared experience, time liberation• Sustain those relationships

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Engage in the tension:• Encourage each person to speak their truth, choosing their finest and kindest words• Cultural commitment

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Build Diversity:• Invite fresh perspectives• Intentionally expand the network• Have agreements that welcome diverse points of view

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Design for Emergence:• Self-organization• Collective responsibility, yet coherent governance• Facilitate for diverse perspectives

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Evolving and relevant content:• Space for discoveries and new insights•Aliveness: excitement, relevance, value• Open source

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Enough time:• Ensure that participants are realistically able to devote time to the CLIP, during and between meetings• Have occasional retreats

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Meet Face-to-Face:• Meet face-to-face• Between meetings, use simple, accessible, flexible IT tools

CLIPs: Promising Practices

Honor Life Cycles:• Let CLIPs end gracefully when they’ve served their purpose• Seek renewal when appropriate

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• How do we simultaneously continue to deepen relationships while maintaining a sense of inclusiveness?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• How do we simultaneously continue to deepen relationships while maintaining a sense of inclusiveness? • How do we balance outcome-oriented governance with a desire for self-organization and emergence?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• How do we create conditions for shared ideas and open source while honoring the lineage of ideas and respectful exchange of information.

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• How do we create conditions for shared ideas and open source while honoring the lineage of ideas and respectful exchange of information.• How does a CLIP tell when it has run through its natural life cycle and it’s time to end?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• How do we create conditions for shared ideas and open source while honoring the lineage of ideas and respectful exchange of information.• How does a CLIP tell when it has run through its natural life cycle and it’s time to end?• How does a CLIP continue to evolve to stay meaningfully focused on the questions that matter most?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• What are appropriate design principles for different levels of participation and access?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• What are appropriate design principles for different levels of participation and access?• In what ways can we develop meaningful, accessible, and useful contact between meetings?

CLIPs: Ongoing Tensions and Questions• What are appropriate design principles for different levels of participation and access?• In what ways can we develop meaningful, accessible, and useful contact between meetings?• How do we differentiate between a CLIP (collaborative, reflective, practice-oriented?) and a larger network (advocacy, system-oriented?)

CLIPs and YOU