NEXUS Africa Agenda

NEXUS AFRICA

Main Conference

AGENDA

12/09/2011 to 14/09/2011

NEXUS Africa Main Conference Agenda 110815.docx V7.0 2

Day 1 MONDAY 12/09/2011

Time

Activity

07:30-‐08:30

Arrival & Registration

08:30-‐09:00 (30)

Historical Ubuntu: Community Timeline Mural (experiential activity) We will use the principal of ubuntu to create a collective mural of our history and key events. We will look at ourselves, organizations, Africa, and the world.

09:00-‐09:15 (15)

Welcome & Agenda (presentation) Story line of how the Nexus Africa came about? Purpose/ Outcomes Introduce international Design Team

09:15 – 10:30 (60)

The Tree of Life: Connecting Our Stories (small group – whole room dialogue) “The tree features in many myths and tales of African oral tradition, often portrayed as an ancestral symbol of wisdom, authority and custom. For centuries it has formed a venue for political and social meetings, where people met to discuss and resolve issues facing them and their communities. We invite you to pay homage to this tradition by joining us underneath our symbolic tree in Africa, the cradle of humanity, where we can once again be reminded of the origins of collaboration.”


10:30-‐11:00

Tea & Coffee (dialogue & networking) The conference will have a bookstore, booths, and professionals who will use this time to make important professional connections. There will be spaces for people to sit and have discussion and make new connections with others.

11:00-‐11:45 (45)

Collaboration Panel: Pre-‐Hominids, Hominids, & Today (panel presentations) Experts will do short, powerful presentations on each of the categories mentioned above. They will explore collaboration from the origins through today – with a look to the future from each perspective. Dr Merrill van der Walt, Pre-‐Hominids Passionate science researcher, published author, trainer and facilitator in corporate, tertiary and school environments, speaker and facilitator for the University of Kwa-‐Zulu Natal Business Science Gradutes and Standard Bank. Bonita de Klerk, Hominids Laboratory and Science Manager for the Malapa Project (the discovery of the first new species of Hominid in Southern Africa in 70 years), speaker at the Sterkfontein Caves and Cradle of Humankind heritage sites and author of children’s books relating to the Cradle of Humankind. Harrison Owen, Today (Virtually) Originator of Open Space Technology and Author of Spirit: Transformation and Development in Organizations, Open Space Technology: A Users Guide, The Power of Spirit: How Organizations Transform and The Practice of Peace among others.


11:45-‐12:30 (30)

Panel Discussion: Questions & Answers (small group – whole room dialogue) Following the presentation, participants in small groups will discuss what they heard, their, reactions, and questions of understanding. Then, the panel will be engaged in conversation through questions from the groups.

12:30-‐13:30

Lunch

13:30-‐15:00 (90)

Gcina Mhlope – African Story Telling Well-‐known South African activist, actor, storyteller, poet, playwright and author who has appeared in theatres from Soweto to London. Much of her work has been translated into German, French, Italian, Swahili and Japanese. Her honours include BBC Africa Service Award for Radio Drama, The Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Festival, Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago, Sony Award for Best Actress, Britain and OBBIE in New York, and Honorary Doctorates from London Open University and University of Natal.

15:00-‐15:30

Tea/Coffee

15:30-‐16:30 (60)

Book of Learning: Identifying Collaborative Principles & Patterns (small group – whole room dialogue) The community will begin by connecting the patterns of collaboration to “best practice” principles that will form the basis of a book of learnings created as the African Community of Practice.


16:30-‐17:00

African Drum Café: Remaing True to Our Origin. “Basadi Le Moropa”. Learn about “Ubuntu” and “Ihlombe”(the transcendental joy of music) through this interactive drumming and dancing session. A unique relevant program used by many of the Fortune 500 companies worldwide. "Drumming is something everyone, and every culture can relate to. The first thing you hear when you come into this world is the beat of your mother's heartbeat. Drumming relaxes, energizes and motivates in a way most team building companies cannot explain."

17:00-‐22:00

Informal Activities & Events


Day 2

TUESDAY 13/09/2011

Time Activity

08:00 -‐ 08:30 (30)

Arrival/ Coffee & Tea

08:30 -‐ 08:40 (10)

Good Morning & Agenda for Today


08:40 -‐ 09:25 (45)

Best Practices Panel: 3 Case Stories of Collaborative Change (presentations) Dr. Andile Dube (Lovelife): Engaging South Africans in tackling one of the most crippling epidemics in human history. Dr. Eriaan Oelofse (ChangeWright): Adapted World Café, invented outside Africa, and blended it into the culture of a small business to achieve transformative results. Dr. Steve Cady (BGSU): 60+ Cases of Amazing Transformations from around the world were gathered and will be presented and reflected upon from a practical evidence-based perspective.

09:25 – 10:00 (35)

Panel Discussion: Questions & Answers (small group – whole room dialogue) Following the presentation, participants in small groups will discuss what they heard, their, reactions, and questions of understanding. Then, the panel will be engaged in conversation through questions from the groups.

10:00-‐10:30

Coffee/ tea


10:30-‐12:00 (90)

Parallel Session Room 1: Harrison Owen (Virtual Participation) Confessions of a heretic Please be warned – should any of the material presented by Harrison Owen turn out to be true it will probably be necessary to radically rethink your personal and professional position in the world. The bad news is quite obvious: Doing this could be quite painful. The good news may be less than clear, but it could turn out that we may be liberated from much of the tedium of professional life and enabled to perform at vastly superior levels which are both productive and fun. In a worst case scenario we will have to abolish the distinction between work and play.

10:30-‐12:00 (90)

Parallel Session Room 2: Dr. Diana Whitney Appreciative Leadership: The Call of Our Time In the midst of the many economic, social and environmental challenges facing us today there is a glimmer of hope. A positive revolution in human organizing and change leadership is underway, offering new possibilities and practices for the fields of human resources and organization development. Research into positive psychology suggests that people flourish and perform at their best when surrounded by positive emotions and positive communication. Teams, departments and entire organizations thrive in a positive emotional environment. Strengths based research makes the case for human learning and development in areas of strength rather than weakness. And the success of the fully affirmative, high engagement practices of Appreciative Inquiry provides a compelling course for creating large-‐scale alignment, innovation and positive change in organizations and communities worldwide. Dr. Diana Whitney, who is best known for her work with Appreciative Inquiry will explore leadership at the intersection of these three emerging fields: Positive Psychology, the Strengths Movement and Appreciative Inquiry. She will provide an overview of the research and ideas in her newest book Appreciative Leadership: Focus on What Works to Drive Winning Performance and Build a Thriving Organization. Diana will preview Five Core Strategies of Appreciative Leadership: the Wisdom of Inquiry; the Genius of Inclusion; the Art of Illumination; the Courage of Inspiration; and the Path of Integrity, illustrated with practical examples and stories from her experience as a leading consultant and executive advisor. Join her for a rich and enlivening consideration of how the strength based, relational strategies of Appreciative Leadership can be used to enhance your organization or community.

10:30-‐12:00 (90)

Parallel Session Room 3: Dr. Louise van Rhyn and Alison du Toit Community Building – Learn about and experience community building conversations whilst connecting with fellow citizens The Community Building Sessions are based on the methodology and work of Peter Block. “Most sustainable improvements in community occur when citizens discover their own power to act… when they stop waiting for the professionals or elected leadership to do something, and decide they can reclaim what they have delegated to others.” Peter Block “Community: The Structure of Belonging.” Louise van Rhyn is a passionate social entrepreneur and South African citizen. Louise has worked closely with


Peter Block over the years and is deeply humbled by the opportunity to do this work for the future of our country. Louise incorporates the “Dinokeng Scenarios” and is committed to making the “Walk Together” scenario a possibility. She sees the Community Building Sessions as an opportunity to mobilise citizens to contribute to an alternative future for South Africa, “one conversation at a time.” At this Session you will learn to: • Turn your company into a community • Create a sense of community and belonging in an organisation • Engage existing communities through conversation and powerful questions • Become a community leader in order to engage the school community • Build community in government • Strengthen the fabric of society What can you expect? • To learn and experience a practical, profound and creative methodology • To meet and connect with diverse individuals • To participate in and learn from powerful community building conversations • To hear from and engage with people and groups that are actively building community • To be challenged and inspired to “walk together” and contribute as citizens

10:30-‐12:00 90

Parallel Session Room 4: Peggy Holman Engaging Emergence: Practices and Principles for Turning Upheaval into Opportunity What does it take to see opportunities where others see problems? This session is about engaging with change in complex situations so that the people of a system uncover and pursue their own answers. Based on the recently published, Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity, we’ll work with your challenging situations for a lively session that applies theory, principles, and hands-‐on practices for engagement. By connecting the science of emergence with “whole system change processes” – methodologies for involving the people of a system in addressing complex, important issues – you will discover practical sense inherent in deep patterns of change in human systems.

12:00-‐13:00

Lunch


13:00-‐14:30 (90)

Parallel Session Room 1: David Isaacs Principles and Practices of the World Café An evocative interactive program in which participants will experience how the World Cafe design principles set the stage for co-‐evolving large scale collective organizational capacity.

13:00-‐14:30 (90)

Parallel Session Room 2: Olivia Saunders Shifting the Economics Olivia Saunders will discuss some ideas about the new economics developed in collaboration with Peter Block. In this session a different perspective of Economics is presented. It is a shift away from the core Economics principle of scarce resources to a principle of abundant/unlimited resources. The assumption of scarcity pervades all areas of society. It separates us. It produces unnecessary individualism and competition. It increases the cultural wounds most of us are trying to heal. Participants are engaged to challenge their thinking for communities and nations as regards the distributive effect of scarce resources vis-‐à-‐vis the distributive effect of abundant resources.

13:00-‐14:30 (90)

Parallel Session Room 3: Prof Freddie Crous A Life Worth Living in the Overberg When the wife of the local pub owner in a picturesque village in the Southern Cape’s Overberg was killed in a skirmish with their employees the inhabitants were understandably traumatised: Both the deceased and the perpetrator were part of the same community. When, however, the incident took on an ugly racial colour that threatened to tear apart the community some of the local women came to the realisation that a restorative intervention was greatly needed to turn the situation around. Freddie will present a case study to show how, by means of an appreciative inquiry (a positive, participative process to change) was used to empower people of the village to reach out to each other. Crossing cultural, economic, gender, generational, language and racial boundaries, they were able to discover anew why life was worth living in their beautiful village.


13:00-‐14:30 (90)

Parallel Session Room 4: Jake Jacobs and Leslie DePol If You Want Radical Change, You Better Go For Radical Stability Why does there always seem to be so much resistance to change in organizations? Paradoxically, it’s because there’s not enough attention being paid to stability. In this session we will explore: § How as leaders and “change agents” we create our own resistance; § Why the harder we try to make needed changes the harder they are to make; and, § What we can do to support organizations in creating their preferred futures faster, better and easier – and

sustaining the gains they make over time.

13:00-‐14:30 (90)

Parallel Session Room 5: Roosevelt Finlayson Festival in the Workplace (FITW): Transforming People & Organizations The idea of the FITW was first conceptualized in 1997 by Roosevelt Finlayson to answer the question “Why is it that many workers in some countries including The Bahamas, generally are observed to be going at half or less of the expected pace at work, yet when these same persons become involved in preparations for their annual festivals they are transformed into highly productive workers?” In this session we will explore: § How to stimulate people to become their most creative, productive, passionate selves. § Apply the lessons from festivals and the arts to serve as a catalyst for development of new organizational

cultures. § Case examples of how FITW ignites the creative spirit, passion for excellence, joy, meaning, and fulfilment.


14:30-‐15:00 (30)

Tea & Coffee

15:00-‐17:15 (120)

Appreciative Inquiry and The Power of Possibility in Africa, hosted by Diana Whitney (experiential dialogue) Given the profound effect that people’s perceptions of their power in the African context, we ask ourselves questions. How can we liberate the power in Africa? How can we transform deficit discourse and negative thinking into a movement for positive change? What creates these possibilities for personal transformation, and for people to discover and be their best? What are the conditions that foster cooperation throughout the whole of Africa with highly diverse groups of people? (Appreciative Inquiry)

17:00-‐17:30 (30)

Gestalt Check-‐Out with Playback Theatre – (experiential activity) Playback Theatre will be used to connect the delegates experiences into story and theatre.


Day 3

WEDNESDAY 14/09/2011

Time Activity

08:00-‐08:30 (30)

Arrival/ Coffee Tea

08:30 -‐ 08:40 (10)

Good Morning & Agenda for Today

08:40-‐11:30 (180)

Our Book of Learnings: World Café Style hosted by David Isaacs (experiential dialogue) How do we connect the practices from Africa with the various methods from around the world? Connecting our stories...connecting our learning in a way that set’s in motion collective intelligence and the foundation for the building of our learning community in Africa. (World Café)

During Cafe

Coffee/Tea

11:30-‐12:30 (60)

Lunch


12:30 – 15:30 (180)

Possibilities to Action: Open Space hosted by Peggy Holman (experiential dialogue) During the past 3 days we have been exposed to various African collaborative practices, individual whole scale change methodologies in the super sessions, etc. What is it that we need to take action on to move from possibilities to action? (Open Space Technology)

During OS

Coffee/Tea

15:30-‐16:30 (60)

Closing event/ Conference Closure

NEXUS Africa Agenda

Documents

Transcript of NEXUS Africa Agenda