Building Capacities for Transformation in the 21st Century
Self-Help Through Learning Communities
Building Capacities For Community Transformation
by Rick Smyre, President, Communities of the Future

[ Overview ] [ Identifying the Need for Transformation ] [ What Are Capacities for Transformation ] [ Organizing a Transformational Learning Community ] [ The Use of Parallel Processes ] [ Ecological Planning ] [ Specific Ways for Building Capacities for Transformation ] [ Conclusion ]

All local communities are faced with the need to prepare themselves for a constantly changing, interconnected and increasingly complex society. This article emphasizes the needs to develop webs of learners throughout any community who have the capacity to understand the impact of trends of the future and who work in parallel to community strategic planning.

Without developing new capacities for transformation, communities will continue to try to improve existing ways. It is important to be aware that incremental change and the old ways of doing things no longer work. Because existing schools and universities are often wedded to old forms and traditional concepts of thinking and power, improving what exists may well be counterproductive because people are allowed to avoid deeper causes and issues. This gives a wonderful opportunity for local citizens to build networks of 21st century learners who are willing to explore new ideas and innovative ways of preparing for the future.

This article offers suggestions of how citizen leaders can introduce the concept of building capacities for transformation into the thinking and activities of local communities.

Identifying the Need for Transformation

Almost without exception, new ideas are resisted. One local leader was overheard to say, why do we need to look at the future, we canít even deal with the present. Although there is some truth in this statement, it also reflects a lack of understanding that we are in the midst of change that is increasingly complex, interdependent, threatening, uncertain and faster. In a fast paced society we will have to deal with the present and prepare for the future at the same time using parallel processes. Without an ability to understand the trends of the future and their impact on existing issues and future challenges, one will not see the need for major transformation of how we think and act in a constantly changing society.

Until an individual sees the need for change, no true change can occur because of the struggle and commitment that is necessary. In addition, until a community environment allows people to be open to new ideas, there is no safe haven for thinking differently. Finally, until local communities begin to see value in talking about ideas, there will be resistance to real change.

The impact of new technology, the increase in population and the connections due to real time communications, are changing the very essence of our institutions and how they are structured. No longer fixed and rigid with standardize rules, a pattern of dynamic and constantly changing connections require a change in our human consciousness and a change in:

• How we understand the world

• How we relate to each other

• How we think

• How we educate and learn

• How we lead

• How we govern

• How we find deeper meaning and purpose

• How we promote and maintain health

• How we relate to the planet and to Nature

• How we understand and work within a global economy

If we use old ways of thinking, old ways of acting and old ways of organizing our strategies, we will not be ready for the present or the future. Unless we begin to search for new ideas, methods and techniques, we will find we cannot move fast enough, be trustful enough of each other, have enough different solutions available or understand the realities of constantly changing situations.

We are entering an age where there are no standard models because there is constant change. New principles of thinking and new structures of organization will emerge as community research and development is creates new experiments, new pilot concepts and new networks of collaboration.

As one begins the journey of helping a local community begin to think and act differently, one needs to understand that there are several simultaneous efforts that will be necessary. All will need to be developed in parallel. All will be based on creating a positive environment that will help others see the need for change and come to the conclusion that transformation should occur.

What Are Capacities for Transformation

Transformation does not just occur. It is different from more or less of the same. It is always messy and halting. It cannot be evaluated with the same methods of accountability used in strategic planning models. It cannot be predicted nor controlled. So what is transformation and how can it occur.

Transformation is the type of change that restructures the very nature of what has existed before. Transformational change reflects a change in the very essence of the institution, concept, method or technique. In education and learning, the impact of the Internet has allowed the introduction of multiple learning approaches beyond the traditional concept of change reflected in just reducing class.

Because communities are not able to draw on decades of tradition and experience when transformational change is needed, they need to focus on building new capacities that presently do not exist. This is why the Center for Communities of the Future is focused on the idea of "building capacities for transformation." Because there are no existing models for new approaches, all efforts to build capacities for transformation are community research and development.

No standard model will work for varied situations if things are constantly changing. However, if enough citizen leaders learn how to recognize key trends, their communities will be able to anticipate important changes and learn how to develop new capacities to deal with the impact of these trends. As an example, the appearance of the Internet is changing the environment of economic development. Without creating an electronic infrastructure where all citizen have instant access, no community will be able to learn and respond in real time, and thus will find themselves not able to compete in a worldwide economy. An electronic infrastructure is one of those capacities for transformation that will be important for any community to develop if it wants to be vital in a dynamic and interconnected world.

As local communities begin to understand the need to go beyond reforming what has existed for years, they will be faced with identifying what other capacities will be needed to transform their attitudes, behaviors, institutional structures and ways of thinking in appropriate ways. Although many new capacities will be needed over time, five are key. The following capacities for transformation will become the most important in the opinion of the Center for Communities of the Future:

1. A community based electronic infrastructure

   Wired and wireless access to real time information will be necessary to allow citizens to compete and collaborate at the same time. In a fast-paced world, all people need to be able to receive information at any time from any place as they determine. Whether responding to a real estate quote or providing an opinion for a community survey on important community issues, no person will be able to meet the needs of real time information flow without having access to electronic connections.

2. Developing a Futures Context

   In a world of constant innovation, people have to be shown new ideas. This capacity we call learning within a futures context. No longer will it be enough to learn by the experience of others. In the future the context of any area of community life will be in constant change. One will have to anticipate these changes and learn how to think differently to be able to create new ways of economic development, new ways of governing, new ways of education/learning -- even new ways of thinking. Every community will need to have new ways to describe new emerging patterns and structures.

3. Process Leadership Development

   The third capacity focuses on a new concept of leadership which emphasizes how to connect diverse people with deeper, more trustful relationships in a constant conversation of innovation. The skills and knowledge needed to be a good transformational or process leader is different from that of a traditional leader. A traditional leader provides a vision for others and sets the agenda that is needed. A process leader frames a generative dialogue and helps people see the need for personal change using questions, stories and other appropriate mechanisms. All process leaders will need to understand how to integrate 1) a futures context, 2) diverse process of building human relationships, and 3) a journey of internal personal transformation.

4. A 21st Century Concept of the Common Good

   A fourth capacity is the need to help each other succeed in an interdependent society. In the past, we accepted the myth that we were self-sufficient and could exist by taking care of ourselves. We confused the idea of being self-reliant with that of being self-sufficient. In a world as interconnected as the one that will exist in the 21st century, we need to balance the needs of the community with the needs of the individual. A new concept of connected individuality will be necessary if we are to have vital communities and vital individuals. The two are interconnected and not separate. A 21st century concept of the common good will demand we help each other succeed to support a true learning community.

5. Basic Skills for the 21st Century

   A fifth capacity important to a learning community is the need to redefine what skills and knowledge will be needed in the 21st century as core capacities for all individuals to be able to be involved in a fluid flow of constant transformation.

The Center for Communities of the Future believes that three of the above are critical skills for all citizens:

• The ability to access the Internet

• The ability to facilitate small groups of diverse people

• The ability to help people connect and think differently

Organizing a Transformational Learning Community

All communities will be faced with the need to transform themselves as the effectiveness of old ways crumble. Without exception, many community citizens will be threatened and resist the nature and scope of change that will be needed to rethink ideas and institutional structures necessary for true transformation. Since old ways no longer work, new concepts and techniques of preparing a community for transformation will be required.

The Use of Parallel Processes

No one process of strategic planning or futures thinking will be enough to prepare a community for transformation. Many things will need to be done simultaneously. Diverse methods and skills will be applied simultaneously. For example, most citizens of a community don't see the need to dialogue about ideas, they want to do something to feel they have used their time wisely. Those that do see the need to study trends and talk about how to develop a futures context are usually few.

To be able to involve multiple types of people there is a need to establish parallel processes. A traditional strategic planning process allows task oriented people to use their experience to set goals, objective and benchmarks for tangible outcomes and defined projects.

However, in a society of constant change one cannot predict specific outcomes and control the actions necessary for more than one-three years. If one seeks to help a community transform, only those interested in talking about new ideas and creating new concepts will have the patience and take the time to be involved in this type of process. These types of capacity building processes will need to exist parallel to strategic planning processes. Therefore, both types of processes will be needed for different reasons.

Ecological Planning

A new term, ecological planning, is bubbling beneath the surface of community development. In strategic planning outcomes are defined and measured to determine accountability. This is very appropriate if the outcomes are in oneís base of experience and can be identified as needed. But what if new ideas are needed and what if old ways arenít working? That is when small groups of diverse people begin to come together to talk because of their interest in doing something differently. Usually this phenomenon begins outside old institutional structures because of the need for traditional groups to maintain power and control, and because of the difficulty of changing large structures whose programs have been standardized over years.

Structured Community Learning Centers, and other methods of developing capacities for transformation, are ready made to be points of entry for ecological planning. Small groups can come together without policy and rules to begin a creative dialogue and to ask questions that are not appropriate for public sessions. Nature provides a great example of the principle of organization that is necessary for learning communities to evolve. In nature, for any complex system (the overall community) to evolve, small networks need to be connected by mechanisms of information that appear spontaneously due to the need of a new situation.

In today's communities, our standard approach to education is focused on delivering content and skills to provide opportunities for work. As important as this is, there is a new needÖthe need to have citizens learn how to think differently about the future. Existing institutions will continue to focus on narrow content and narrow skills. Small groups of webs of learners will be needed throughout any community to allow those who are interested in thinking differently to be able to get together and talk about new ideas.

Specific Ways for Building Capacities for Transformation

Once you have reached this point in the article, you should have realized that any attempt to build capacities for transformation will be a struggle and require immense patience, an inquisitive mind, and true caring for others. Future needs will be too complex and will change too quickly for individuals to be able to use old methods. If you found yourself growing impatient with the time it took in this article to lay the base for a different way of thinking, you are like all of us in this culture of doers. However, unless we are willing to transform ourselves no matter what our age, we will not be able to be helpful to our communities.

We need to learn how to introduce people and organizations to concepts and activities that lead to transformation. Remember, no one changes unless the need for change is understood. It will take time for a new community environment to evolve which will reinforce a new set of fundamental principles consistent with true community transformation.

Now that you are thinking differently, lets introduce a list of new ways to help organize your community to build capacities for transformation. As previously identified, how one attempts to organize communities in a society of fluid and dynamic change is totally different when compared to a static, hierarchical and slowly changing environment. One cannot predict what will emerge. Process Leaders need to be able to anticipate and respond to new opportunities that arise as seeds of transformation begin to sprout. The following are specific suggestions for you to introduce the concept of capacities for transformation into the thinking and activities of your community:

• Approach your library to sponsor a transformation dialogue group. Recruit up to 15 volunteers who are interested in talking about new ideas. Provide a list of reading materials ( see futures bibliography ) and encourage all participants to find articles, papers, web sites, and books that focus on new transformative concepts. Meet once every month or once every two months.

• Connect interested organizations into a generative dialogue group to focus on thinking about issues from a futures perspective. Have the group become Knowledgeable about future trends before they try to resolve any issue. Have a qualified process leader facilitate the group and provide information that helps the group understands the need to rethink how they think about the issue.

• Build futures citizen teams throughout your community. Have an annual event at which each team presents a transformative idea. Have an outside ( the community ) panel approve each idea as truly transformative and not just a reforming idea that improves an existing way of doing things. Have a network of at least fifty diverse citizens recruited who will volunteer their time to select the five best ideas. Make sure that at least 25% of those on the selection committee are task oriented citizens. Present the five ideas to a local foundation or co-sponsoring outside source of funding. Have the board of that organization rank the five ideas from best idea, great idea, excellent idea, very good idea and good idea . Make sure that each of the five ideas gets at least $5000 to begin to build the capacity for the idea in the community.

• Develop a web site for the community which focuses on "ideas outside the box." Promote the web site using traditional means of publicity. Have a Spotlight Idea of the month for each of the following areas: a) education/learning, b) governance, c) economic development, d) leadership, and e) non-profits.

• Work with your local community college to establish a futures institute which would be the focus of thinking about the future in your local area. Emphasize three key ideas: a) internal college curricula. 1) one day orientation, 2) modules of key trends to be integrated into existing courses, and 3) semester and quarterly courses; b) work with organizations in the community to introduce new trends and their impact; c) provide research and development for specific organizations to help them have a futures context within which to think about issues.

• Have a group of interested people focus on developing new metaphors and stories to help citizens understand new transformative ideas.

• Develop a bibliography and feature futures books within key organizations of the community. Use the library as the hub of this effort. Have one person from each participating organization become a part of the selection committee.

• Have a funding group provide one year subscriptions of Wired, American Demographics, Futurist, and/or Business Week to citizens who are willing to become involved in one of the community "networks of learning."

• Search for Centers and other key organizations in the country that specialize in "thinking about the future" and develop in-depth connections with one person on the staff.

• Establish a 21st century think tank to develop new transformative ideas. This group will be different from the futures institute and the libraryís transformational group in the following ways: 1) the local think tank will develop major ideas for the community and not just respond to the need of other organizations, and 2) a key objective of this group will be to connect with people and organizations from throughout the world to build networks of people in support of any new major idea.

• Pick one country that is closely identified with the history of your community anD make contact to help local citizens integrate their history and their future simultaneously. Build as many common capacity building projects between the two areas as possible. Have as many interested citizens as appropriate become friends and associates with their counterpart overseas.

• Establish 21st century learning webs in different neighborhoods just to have citizens become familiar with future trends. Bring these groups together quarterly or semi-annually in a social event. Focus on the need to have collaboration to gain support for new ways of thinking.

• Approach your local public health center and work with them to co-sponsor a community survey to find out the percentage of citizens susceptible to resistant viruses and bacteria. Help prepare your community to understand the potential for major health issues and the spread of diseases for which any community is not prepared to cope. Help citizens understand that the increased connections of worldwide travel and economic trade is raising the probability for some major health scare in the future.

• Work with the local chamber of commerce and community college to establish a "process leadership" development program/process. This is different from the basic local leadership program. Itís core values are three: 1) understanding the impact of future trends, 2) building multiple processes of connections, thinking and decision making, and 3) evolving personal attributes capable of 21st century leadership.

• Establish a network of entrepreneurs interested in the digital economy to begin to think about how to utilize the Internet. Focus on the new concept of nanocorps (individuals that are considered corporations of one) that emphasize the collaboration of electronic entrepreneurs throughout the world.

• Have a community group ( individuals representing different organizations ) develop a strategic plan to establish an electronic community network to allow all citizens to have instant access to the Internet.

• Have the chamber of commerce focus on building capacities for the digital economy.

• Develop a millennium center in the downtown area. Select a building with four or more stories that can be retrofitted and refurbished. Recruit people to live on the top floors that reflect the community as well as those from outside the community. Use the bottom two floors as rooms that can be used for: 1) a place for dialogue, 2) a restaurant where ideas are discussed, 3) a game room of the future, and 4) a room of technology that also has the potential to be used as a Millennium Center decision making room.

  The objective of this concept is to introduce all the transformational ideas in one building. The building will serve both as a symbol of building capacities for transformation for the entire community as well as become a part of itís economic development.

• Establish a Knowledge Democracy project in one or more neighborhoods which will utilize the Communities of the Future concept of Direct Consensus Democracy.

• Insure that each house has a computer. Involve neighborhood leaders in the ideas of Knowledge Democracy. Coach them to become process leaders.

Conclusion

When considering what initial steps to take to introduce the concept of building capacities for transformation, it is important to determine who may be interested and what specific access points might be available with different people and community groups.

Start small with those who are interested. Build small networks of people capable of networking these ideas throughout the community over time. Establish a framework of parallel projects, programs and processes that will allow the ideas to grow. Donít force ideas on anyone. Have the patience to ask questions and listen to find value in what the other person says.

Above all, realize that building capacities for transformation is a new concept and requires leaders who see the potential of the concepts as community research and development. Introduce principles and concepts and then allow new ideas to emerge. Focus on building a core group of community leaders who have passion for learning. The potential for all communities of the future is to evolve an overall framework of innovation by developing small networks of learners. In so doing, you will become a key catalyst in Creating Learning Communities.

by Rick Smyre
Gastonia, NC USA