Engaging Leaders Innovating Across Sectors — Western Australia
by The ELIAS WA team
curated by Rachel Hentsch
The inaugural Engaging Leaders Innovating Across Sectors (ELIAS) Western Australia (WA) program has now graduated its first cohort. The group of 24 senior leaders from business, government and civil society came together for an eight-month awareness-based systems change program based on Theory U.
The cross-sector program was run by the Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia (UWA) Business School in partnership with the Presencing Institute, the Academy for Systems Change and Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute.
The program was comprised of an initial orientation workshop that included 2D and 3D mapping of the current social ecosystem in WA; as well as a live stream with colleagues Frans Sugiarta and Dr Ben Chan, and alumni from the IDEAS Indonesia program which inspired this inaugural ELIAS WA. Case clinic groups were also formed during this time.
The orientation workshop was followed a week later with an intensive day with Dr Otto Scharmer that included a 4D mapping of the current WA ecosystem, as well as emerging future possibilities. Otto gave a sold-out lecture at the UWA Business School that evening.
Later, the Social Impact Summit (as part of the Social Impact Festival) formed a rich ground for sensing what is currently taking place in WA; a number of ELIAS WA leaders also presented their work and facilitated different workshops during the summit. We were joined for a large part of the summit by local Aboriginal elder and ELIAS guest faculty Dr Noel Nannup.
On our sensing journey we visited places of potential that the ELIAS WA leaders were connected to in order to see and sense our place from each other’s viewpoints. This included visiting initiatives that are working towards ending homelessness; speaking with students at one of the most multicultural schools in Australia; and a tour of the city of Fremantle with Mayor Dr Brad Pettit and Fremantle Foundation CEO Dylan Smith who took us to various sites to hear behind-the-scenes stories of what makes up a thriving city.
All of this sensing process formed the basis for a residential deep-dive in an Australian bush setting. We were joined by Noel, as well as Kelvy Bird (generative scribing) and Claire Vanderplank (Way of Nature). Prototyping field groups began to form at the end of the retreat.
About a month later, we came together for our first prototyping lab where we began to share various prototypes from the fields of food and health; fisheries; energy; belonging; and WA as a whole. The group then offered feedback on each other’s prototypes within their prototyping fields.
The first lab was followed by another prototyping lab and public walk-through session in which people could offer feedback on the various prototypes that had been generated. New prototypes also emerged during the day, with over 100 people testing and giving feedback on the many prototypes presented.
During the next period, leaders were able to integrate their feedback and continue to develop their group prototypes as well as integrate prototyping into their existing workplaces. At this time we also created a prototyping workbook (including weekly activities) which leaders could use to help guide their work, and to then reflect on their journey as a whole. (We created, by necessity, a number of different tools during the program.)
Case clinic groups continued throughout the program, and various webinars took place with faculty from the Academy for Systems Change and elsewhere, including Becky Richeson, Hal Hamilton, Dr Peter Senge, Robert Hanig and Darcy Winslow.
At the end of February we came together to reflect on the ELIAS WA journey. It became apparent how much prototyping leaders were doing not only in the groups that had formed during the program, but also within and across their existing workplaces. We also began to map co-shaping/co-evolving elements and ‘performing’ practices, and saw that much was already taking place within the WA eco-system and beyond.
Some of the sharings from leaders during the graduation day:
“I’ll value this for the rest of my life.” (Ronnie Duncan, Founder and Non-Executive Director Meerkats)
“I’d like to share the observation that I’ve spent my whole life in teaching and learning — either participating in it or facilitating it — and I have never experienced transformative deep learning like this before.” (Trudi Horler, WA State Manager Teach for Australia)
“I’m incredibly grateful for the whole process and the shift … I have gone through a huge shift.”
“Even if I personally don’t ever do anything else to change the world for the better at all, this whole thing has made me a much happier person and calmer, and you can’t put money on that. And now I’ve got it, no-one can take it away from me. So now I’ve got it, hopefully I can make some change.”
“I thank you for the way that we have learnt because it’s so different from the way I used to learn in school … I think it’s been a remarkable experience. I’ve been so much more productive. I get so much out of just hearing everyone sharing their own thoughts, and their highs, their lows, their vulnerabilities, and it’s been remarkable in that respect … I thought Perth was always going to be very content at being mediocre, and I just now sense that it’s going to be brilliant if we all do our bits togther, and that’s what excites me.”
“This is WA re-creating and re-imagining itself; and we are too, as part of it. What we and each of us is doing, is one aspect of WA creating itself. And I’m leaning into where it all goes beyond today."
“I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from everyone — fresh ways of thinking and fresh ways of approaching issues that only comes with collaboration.” (Dr Brad Pettit, Mayor City of Fremantle)
“We’ve come this distance together and yet have many more steps to go.”
“This is just the beginning.”
John Stubley, Katie Stubley, Renu Burr, Bradley Chenoweth and Dr Ben Chan for the whole ELIAS WA team
