Wednesday, July 19, 2006

History, creativity at community level

In my post of 10 July 06 (Current Topics: Bliesner family, importance of organisational history, the creative organisation) I spoke among other things about the importance of organisational history and about individual versus organisational creativity.

Two of my colleagues - Tom Schwarz (Kinnogene Australia) and David Jago (Smart Meetings www.smartmeetings.com.au) - have been working on the development of new facilitation approaches at community level intended to help communities resolve problems and take greater responsibility for their own development.

This work links to a broader question. Why do some communities develop despite the odds while others in apparently similar positions stagnate or decline?

The answer appears to lie in the presence of key champions. However, when we dig down we find that it is normally the combination of those champions with community history, structure and culture that creates the positive outcome. Champions on their own do not appear to be enough. This equates to the difference between organisational and individual creativity referred to by Jeffrey Baumgartner.

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