Reflections

From the first days of this inquiry I found myself following the advice we give to clients and students - searching for a metaphor that seemed to accurately reflect the spirit of this ‘thing’ we were trying to get our heads around. I tried and discarded a few ideas - a public library (too sequential and too static), and a mirror (too fixed and too shallow).

One morning I stumbled across the metaphor of the reflecting pool - a deep (but not bottomless) pool of data into which users could look to see what they could see about our community. This felt like a perfect metaphor. Perhaps it was.

The metaphor started to teach me from the first moment I shared it. I enthusiastically extroverted the idea to David who reflected for a split second and said, “Narcissus?”

I immediately responded, “No, just a reflecting pool. Those who look into the pool will see whatever it is that they are looking for.”

A few short minutes later Kevin Scribner stopped by for an update. Again, with even more enthusiasm I shared my metaphor - this time extending it with an explanation about how this source could be a continually refreshed pool - not stagnant, polluted, or suffering from summer algae bloom and how users could draw data out without diminishing the source. I loved my metaphor even more this time.

Funny thing - The first words out of his mouth were, “Like Narcissus?”

Again, I explained that the metaphor was just a reflecting pool - which, by its nature is neutral. If someone approached the reflecting pool already in love with their reflection, they would find much that would reinforce that belief.

For me, the metaphor ‘stuck’. Like stepping on a piece of used chewing gum on a hot day, I couldn’t scrape it off.

On Thursday evening I remembered that metaphor as I reflected on the afternoon’s session, which we had designed to be a means by which the assembled community could look into our inquiry, and report back what they saw there.

I learned all too well that the metaphor that found me for this project continued to reflect true.

Will a reflecting pool of data about the community be built? Only time will tell.

What will it reflect back and how will those arrayed around that source interpret what they find? Will it be another source of division and unhealthy competition or will it provide the insight by which everyone of us and each of our organizations becomes the best we can be? Or will the initial reactions to my metaphor find themselves disturbingly prescient?

Only time will tell.

Clueless

Following Thursday's meeting, many people went back to what good Walla Wallans do best: whispering in the hallways, wondering what in the heck happened. Some sent emails. Others called. I made a few calls myself.

There's an old adage that says if the only explanation you can muster for another's behavior is that they're crazy or evil, you don't understand their perspective well enough to even complain about it. Well, I left Thursday's meeting deeply concerned that I didn't understand some of the perspectives nearly well enough, because a few people's perspectives seemed crazy or evil to me.

The easy path, one we're all too familiar with, is to cognitively shoot the upsetting messenger. This is what we do whenever we decide that another is crazy or evil, rather than continue to try to understand. I know the alternative is tough. It can be painful, especially when understanding means letting loose of some cherished certainty. But understanding doesn't mean you'll agree with anything they spout, just that you understand and accept their perspective as valid---not some variant on crazy or evil.

There is not, never was, and never will be any guarantee that such generosity will be reciprocated by anyone.

I am grateful for the many appreciations I've received for the transparency of this blog. I received only one off-the-record complaint about the transparency. (Irony intended.)

What will happen next? I believe, though I don't get to vote on this, that the Port will perfect their contract with EWU to make available data more public before year-end. And that the roll-out will be gratefully received.

I'm hopeful that this project will inspire Riding The Wave to operate in a more transparent way. I've learned over the last month that while most voiced unqualified support for Riding The Wave, none (not one!) were able to explain what it actually is without obliquely referring to a model everyone seems to have interpreted quite differently. While it's seductive for people like me to conclude that RTW must be crazy or evil, I intend to get more and better information so I can understand where they've come from and where they're going. I might not join them for the ride, but I'm certain I'm currently clueless about what they represent. I'd better put on my detective hat!

While the Port demonstrates transparency and RTW decides what they want to be, Amy and I are off to our next projects.

As my Uncle Bob used to say, "See ya in the funny papers!" david schmaltz

Shadow and Light

The Ass and His Shadow

A TRAVELER hired an Ass to convey him to a distant place. The day being intensely hot, and the sun shining in its strength, the Traveler stopped to rest, and sought shelter from the heat under the Shadow of the Ass. As this afforded only protection for one, and as the Traveler and the owner of the Ass both claimed it, a violent dispute arose between them as to which of them had the right to the Shadow. The owner maintained that he had let the Ass only, and not his Shadow. The Traveler asserted that he had, with the hire of the Ass, hired his Shadow also. The quarrel proceeded from words to blows, and while the men fought, the Ass galloped off.

Moral: In quarreling about the shadow we often lose the substance.

Aesop's Fables

Today's meeting attracted the right people, but then the right people always show up.

We outlined the proposal's history, revisiting EWU's story, True North's evaluation, and the Port's intentions. We framed the conversation, not around what the Port should do, but what the community might choose to do.

Then we opened the floor for comments. There seemed to be two "camps," one which lobbied for the Port to do nothing until Riding The Wave initiates and the other for the Port to run with this opportunity. I thought all present had fair opportunity to weigh in on their favored side, and those who spoke, did so eloquently (and well).

My most memorable comment in the session came at the end, when Dennis Hopwood of Key Technologies, a new-comer to the community and who also served for two years on Portland's Sustainability Indicator Project Board , said, "As a newcomer here, I want to congratulate you on how passionately you argue politics. I wonder, though, how much better it would be if that energy was focused on finding and retaining living wage jobs for the people who live here!"

Here's the handout from the session.

I'll make what will probably prove to be the last posting for this Blog a little later. I'm very tired.

david

Counting Chickens

Amy and I have been taking phone calls and responding to emails the last couple of days. People wanting the back story. People offering advice. Others wanting to know "what people think."

As I've told them, if I was a pollster (I'm not, nor do I aspire to be), I'd count up the comments and come to one conclusion. If I was a politician (again, not), I'd line up the influencers and lobby them to one point of view. If I was a spy, I might trust the one self-described clued-in informer. If I was a chicken farmer, I'd wait until the eggs hatched, then count the chickens.

We've relearned that every initiative really IS like the blind men and the elephant. Every person has their own perspective and no one can personally experience any other's point of view. When someone asks, "What does the community think?" no one can credibly respond.

I don't know what our community thinks.

We've received various reports about what the Riding The Wave Founding Board decided in their meeting this morning. I won't comment further. I understand that members of that Board will be present at tomorrow's meeting. Better that they speak for themselves.

I'm confident only that we now have a better informed consideration of this conundrum. I'm hopeful for chickens, but I'm not counting even one little red hen until I see what hatches in tomorrow's meeting.

Community

Famed Project Management Consultants Masters and Johnson claim that there are three ways to approach any project. One might do a project 'to' a community, 'for' a community, or 'with' a community.

So here's the dilemma: EWU has demonstrated technical capability, True North has project management capability, and the Port has some funding to build a community resource.

Does it make sense for the Port to proceed? If so, in what direction?

Of course, the Port, who holds some purse strings and took the initiative to share their vision, could decide FOR the community to do it TO the community, but where's the community in that?

So, the Port has called a public meeting for Thursday, July 19 at 1:00 at the Port offices. Dr Patrick Jones, Dr Linda Kieffer, and two other members of the EWU Indicator Initiative team will share their proposal. True North will share our findings from our inquiry. And those assembled will engage in open conversation about this initiative. Together, as a community.

Because, regardless of what famed project management consultants Masters and Johnson might say, I think there's really only one way to approach any project, and that's with a community. david@projectcommunity.com

What's In The News?

Jacksonville Community Council, Inc . Deputy Director Ben Warner (jcci.org) recently posted notice of our investigation on his Community Indicators Blog.

I spoke with Ben last week. Though his office told me he was on vacation, he returned my voice message within an hour. As I reported in an earlier post, JCCI hosted Dr. Partick Jones from EWU to attend their most recent conference. He was familiar with and supportive of EWU's approach as a good example of a process that's worked.

Transparency

“Politics is an honest effort to misunderstand one another.” ~ Robert Frost

It seems like almost everyone complains about the lack of transparency. We started this inquiry under the guiding ethic of transparency. We want anyone interested to know what we are up to, what we're thinking, and how we're thinking. The old adage counseling anyone living in a glass house to just get naked, seems good advice.

Anyone trying to do anything in any community lives in a glass house. Whether the curtains are opened or closed, there's little to hide behind. Might as well acknowledge that fact.

Those unaccustomed to living next to a glass house can find transparency a little shocking. And also perhaps more frustrating than opaqueness. Notice the window in the adjacent picture. It reflects what's outside rather than showing what's inside. Transparency can seem capricious, mirroring when you expected to be able to see right through it.

The posts here describe my experiences with this effort, they do not (could not) describe anyone else's experience. I trust my neighbors to understand that. I can only describe what I see out my window, not what anyone else sees.

Can you see the man standing behind the above transparency?