So, during the course of ELL I created a system for designing group dynamics in social organisms. Let's try using it to evaluate the dynamics within ELL during this summer session. So far I have 15 intentions for social organisms split into three categories of Social, Organizational, and Ecological Dynamics. I'll list each intention, any tools that we applied during the session. I'll grade how well I think we met that intention with five levels: Exceptional, Good, OK, Not Well, and Not At All
Social Dynamics
Supporting Healthy Behaviors - We utilized all six sources of influence to support each other in taking care of ourselves and each other. Exceptional
Cultivating Inner Peace - We did a lot of exercises that increased consiousness and self-awareness. We supported each other in healing spiritually. - Exceptional
Deepening Human Connection - We did a lot of activities that connected us as human beings, Ruben led several and we also played many games including original play. - Exceptional
Meeting Human Needs - We used a gift economy to meet our physical needs, and nearly all of our other needs were met through social contact. - Exceptional
Creating Leaderful Communities - We talked about leadership a lot, but I don't feel like we practiced it well. There wasn't a clear support structure for participants taking leadership within ELL. The de-facto leaders wouldn't give up power until they expressed overwhelm and threw up their hands refusing to hold coherence, when they could have delegated it from the beginning. - Not Well
Organizational Dynamics
Generating Community Wealth - We generated a wealth of knowledge, insight, and coherence for the community. We also used up resources through a gift economy, but I think our overall effect was positive. - Good
Building Collective Intelligence - We did a lot of this with both in group time and with Metamaps. I think that we missed a big opportunity to connect the intelligence of Agile Learning Centers and Regenerative Dynamics with ELL, these stayed separated. - Good
Driving Progress - We eventually used Kanban boards, which are a great tool, but this took a long time to implement. There are many other tools that I know that we could have used but didn't, hurting our ability to create the "outrageous results" we wanted. - Not Well
Accounting Comprehensively - At the end we talked about metrics with Felix Bivens and made a spreadsheet of value flows. I made my output packet for Gaia U and this . We could have done more accounting of our outputs from the beginning with things like the social media board we put up the last week. - Good
Designing Holistically - It seemed like a lot of design work went into ELL before the program. I was extremely curious and kept asking about this but feel like this information was held back from me for some reason. I don't think a design can be very holistic without accepting input from the participants. - OK
Ecological Dynamics
Extracting Resources Wisely - The farms where much of our food came from were organic. We were also operating off of solar energy at Solaqua. - Exceptional
Using Resources Efficiently - We minimized the resources that we used, mostly re-using and recycling. - Exceptional
Recycling Byproducts - We were gifted excess products like day-old bread and gleaning from farms. We also recycled the workspace at Solaqua and used biodiesel. - Exceptional
Connecting People with Nature - We spent a good amount of time outside, swimming in creeks and ponds, pulling weeds, playing ultimate frisbee and more. - Exceptional
Regenerating Ecosystems - We didn't do much of this directly, but our projects will enable people to do this more in the future. - OK
I think ELL did well compared to most social organisms today, but I think it could be better. Many of the deficiencies could easily be remedied by utilizing more agile organizational structures earlier in the program. Perhaps a longer session could focus more on the social dynamics in the first two months, but move on to focus more on organizational structures later. I appreciate the focus on the social, especially since that is what my output packet for Gaia U was about. I am concerned though with the lack of the "enterprise" part of "social enterprise" since that part is still needed to make a successful social organism.