The Art of Social Innovation

Awakening the Power of Core Teams

Participatory Leadership for Strategic Results
with Kathy Jourdain, Tim Merry, Sera Thompson and Tenneson Woolf

April 27-30, 2010
Windhorse Farm, Nova Scotia

Change is on. We are leading the way. It is time to take our learning to the next level.

What does it take for teams of people to successfully lead in the face of a complex, diverse and rapidly changing reality?

Art of Hosting Social Innovation is a training that arose in response to a vibrant, organic and powerful yearning that is moving quietly across Nova Scotia and beyond. Many of us are looking for renewal in our systems and taking action to make a difference. Across multiple organizations and systems, strategic teams are forming and working together in new ways to improve health and wellness, fight poverty, create sustainable economies and run our organizations well. Many of us are engaging fresh practices and approaches, shifting cultures and bringing new life to our communities and colleagues.

This 3.5 day program is rooted in the Art of Hosting family of facilitation and leadership practices. You will leave with an in-depth understanding of strategic teams as a catalyst and propeller of the deeper shifts needed in our organizations and systems. We will:

• Build on our foundation in the practices of hosting and harvesting conversations that matter.
• Developing our capacity for noticing and shifting patterns at an individual, team and systemic level.
• Learn principles and practices for "taking social innovation to scale" — influencing larger systems through emergence, including knowing and leveraging the life-cycle of any initiative.
• Connect and learn with others who are leading innovation in teams across Nova Scotia.

If you are working with a team seeking to create genuine and lasting results, this gathering was designed for you. The time has come to take your learning and impact to the next level.

Fee, Schedule, and Location

Windhorse Farm, Nova Scotia (near Bridgewater. Map)
Registration Fee: $1450
Begins at 12 noon on April 27 and ends at 3:30pm on April 30.
All meals and accommodations included with registration fee.

About the Workshop Hosts

Kathy Jourdain's passion is co-creative, collaborative leadership born out of what more is possible in teams, organizations and communities when people are also engaged in self leadership work. Through her work with a full cross section of clients she has noted the yearning of people for reconnection, a sense of community and the desire to pause. She is deeply curious about the universality of this yearning and what emerges as we touch into it in our work. Kathy has been a driving force behind Envision Halifax: a voluntary organization whose mission is to ignite a culture of civic engagement. Art of Hosting practices have infused Kathy's work since 2005.

Tim Merry loves to work with people. Tim believes that we all have a potential, within ourselves and together, that holds the answers to the problems we face in our lives — whether that be in our families, communities, organisations, networks or world. His passion is creating participative processes that enable us to work together and enjoy overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. Since moving to Nova Scotia in 2004 Tim has co-founded a rural learning centre called the Shire and founded Split Rock Learning Centre, a non-profit working with youth in transition and their adult supporters. He has been fortunate to gain diverse experience ranging from major international businesses and government agencies to local communities all over the world. All this work is rooted in creating participative processes where stakeholder voice is key to creating the systems, structures and services that meet their needs. He is one of the founders and global stewards of the Art of Hosting and privileged to sit on the board of the Berkana Institute, an international not for profit leading the way in participative leadership and communities of practice.

Sera Thompson has lived and worked in Canada, the United States and Southern Africa. She facilitates conversations, conferences and strategic change processes that invite transformative action for a broad range of people and organizations. Sera also trains facilitators and change agents in the methodologies of Deep Democracy and Art of Hosting. She currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she serves on the Governing Council of the ALIA Institute.

Tenneson Woolf, Host and Consultant, The Berkana Institute, Utah. I am a practitioner of change and group process artist. I am dedicated to what is possible when we explore the heart of our work and the edges of our communities. I use participative leadership methodologies, maps, and models as strategy to create helpful meetings and inquiries. I have hosted interactive processes at large conferences, worked with many teams, and coached many individuals in diverse organizations — from hospitals to financial planning associations, from universities to faith communities, from corporate clients to labor unions. I am a steward of two communities of practice: The Art of Hosting and The World Café. I am a practitioner of the Flow Game. I work locally with The Salt Lake Center for Engaging Community supporting and designing local dialogues on living in healthy community.