|
|
|
Peter Goldsbury
Coordinator Tipu
Ake Team
c/o 20 Hastings Parade, Devonport
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
64 9 4454454
email
|
|
What is an underlying question that gives form
to your work or interest in this field?
Is our current preoccupation with the western scientific
and management world view a poison that prevents us from acknowledging
our collective wisdom and those other indigenous living processes that
could grow a rich and sustainable future for all our grandchildrens
to come?
What is your personal experience of collective
wisdom in groups?
In 1999 I with others in a group from the Auckland University
of Technology (AUT) discovered the small Te Whaiti school in a rich
rainforest in the backblocks of New Zealand that had gone back to its
indigenous Maori wisdom and values and made a revolutionary self transformation.
They were operating at and beyond the collective wisdom level.
Their approach has been distilled as The Tipu
Ake Lifecycle – An Organic Leadership Model (Published 2001)
which provides simple tools that help grow living organisations.
I have been privileged to coordinate an external team
of enthusiastic volunteers that is helping the community share its lessons
for the benefit of all future grandchildrens.
What is it about the work in this field that excites
you and connects you to your own deepest self?
In a few short years I have been painfully challenged
to learn more about life and making a new future happen by my new friends
in this community than I ever did in almost a lifetime in conventional
engineering, project, management and organisational development roles.
Tipu Ake is built around the metaphor of a tree growing
amidst the apparent chaos, competition, complexity and the high interdependence
of all the diverse species in a rainforest. The Te
Whaiti community is learning more; applying it on their community
sustainability project.
Please provide a brief storyline or snapshot of
what brought you to this work.
My vocation for almost ten years has been facilitating
workshops (Leading Projects
and Innovation in your Organisation). The inclusion of Tipu Ake
has allowed these to move well beyond a simple project management course,
to become a learning experience where participants come to understand
and deploy the power of collective wisdom, then infuse it in their workplaces.
How would you like to be available to others in
this field?
Tipu Ake and its tools are freely shared via the website
www.tipuake.org.nz and we appreciate any connection, links, application
experiences, reflections, discussion or feedback please.
Tipu Ake Learning retreats are regularly run by the
community at Te Whaiti. These have been attended from people around
the world who consider them as “once in a lifetime experiences”
that allow them to immerse themselves in the learning environment and
culture that inspired Tipu Ake.
Members of our team and community have shared Tipu Ake
at a number of international conferences including Sharing Indigenous
Wisdom, Authentic Leadership, Project Management, Organisational Development
and Sustainable Resources.
Tipu Ake is not a magic formula … At first glance
it may appear naïve, but as a behavioural model, it confronts us
to personally learn, grow and act collaboratively. Everyone must grow
their own Tipu Ake.!! It takes hard work by groups to move beyond our
familiar linear and hierarchical mindset to take lessons from the cyclic
and collaborative world of nature. Recent workshops “Tools for
Growing Living Organisations” that we facilitated in London, Helsinki
Wales and San Francisco challenged participants to step outside their
comfort zones and deploy their collective wisdom to work more effectively
as communities and organisations towards a sustainable future.
Links to this site or others:
Tipu Ake
New
Tools for Growing Living Organisations and Communities
www.Kaitiakitanga.net
www.projectmanagement.co.nz
|
