Collective Points

The Point People Monthly Collective Wisdom (and search for it)

Every month, we — The Point People — meet up at a different London location (and with others joining via Zoom as we are based in Copenhagen, Berlin, Brighton and Oxford too). Each of us has a slightly different definition of what we are, depending in part on when we joined and what we value most. For me, we’re a collection of women who are all on the edges of our professions, and therefore have connections into other worlds that we can collectively harness. We think systemically and empathetically about solving issues. And connections, and sense-making across those different but connected worlds, is crucial to that.

We’ve split ourselves into sub-groups to operate the organisation. Some think about finance and operations as a whole, others about the internal monthly meetings, the logistics and what will happen. Others (including me) think about content, and how we share with the world the collective knowledge that is so valuable to us all. Others think about events, places to amplify this sharing and create new connections.

One of the ways of sharing our collective wisdom is this series of blogs (of which this is the first) which summarises a ‘collective wisdom’ document that we all contribute to once a month. We used to go round doing updates, which was fascinating but time consuming. This way is better for three reasons. First, everyone prepares and reads each others’ contributions in advance, adding in thoughts, spotting connections to make. Second, as it’s written, we can start to spot patterns within the month and over time. Third, it forces you to self reflect on the previous month, a discipline that drives more focused behaviours in the next.

So, this is the first summary of our collective wisdom — an attempt to sense-make across some of our hunches and what’s on our radar, the different projects we are working on, and the different questions we are asking:

Patience is a virtue. You might know where you want to get to, or you might be searching for it. It takes time and that’s ok. And even better to look back and reflect on the distance travelled. Hannah’s post on this here.

Climate change has become and is a more focused priority for many of us. We’re setting up Climate Change Coaches, we’re worried that we’re going to need a climate disaster to lead to climate change, and we’re learning about climate activism and the Green Deal, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration and how the law can be used to create change at scale.

We’re asking how we can be more inclusive and diverse in our conversations. How we can spark and create conversations around social inequality and injustice that exist beyond a minority of like-minded individuals, or diversify events on innovation to attract more than the usual suspects (interesting as they are).

Funding, funding, funding. We’re either looking for funding for starting and scaling up our own individual work (go home or go big). Or convening funders to collectively think through new models for public value in social business.

We’re building relationships and laying the groundwork. Life is in constant transition, and for those of us making a move, we’re preparing for it thoughtfully. The Maori word for relationships and connections is whakawhanaungatanga which we think about a lot.

We’re ramping up conversations to develop various opportunities to tackle problems in a systemic way, from fashion to farming.

Denial and uncomfortability. Sometimes this is bad: people feel uncomfortable speaking about class, are denying climate change. And sometimes necessary: as people deal with grief.

Metaphors range from the pessimistic (a car crash) to the optimistic (ploughing a field) to the calm (a serene lake) to somewhere in between (bricolage).

Collaboration is an art. Working in partnership is valuable, and takes time and its important to be clear about the principles in which we are entering relationships.

We’re learning, and we’re teaching others. Something about our group is that we’re curious for new knowledge and keen to share and support others to learn about the world and themselves. We’re creating accredited courses, and we’re participating in them (e.g. ORSC, compassion focused therapy), and we’re looking for professional coaching and business development support.

Neurodiversity — an umbrella term for a set of neurological conditions such as autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD — has come up a number of times at home at work and feels important.

We’re convening our networks in different ways: a walk for a ‘warm circle’ of women to talk about parenting and sustainability, a Brexit party (commiserating not celebrating) on 29 March, a data in the city event for Data Outliers on 14 May, a breakfast with Edgar Villaneuva (on decolonizing wealth) on 15 April, an intergenerational workshop at the Barbican on 29 April, and Fixing the Future at the CCCB in Barcelona on 7–8 June (sign up here).

We can be better as a collective if we also self reflect individually and focus on ourselves. Whether it’s understanding how to be a better leader while maintaining a good work-life balance, how to be poised and focused in our work, letting go to create a distributed network of leaders in the team, having a policy of not working for free, creating the vision for me (not the initiative I’ve created) or developing my own story, talking about myself and my needs, how to keep angry and engaged while zooming out (for a while).

Things we’re being inspired by (and recommending are):

Reading:

• Active Hope by Joana Macy
• A piece on ‘changing everyday behaviours’ my friend Gina wrote in the wake of the Christchurch shooting
• Rebecca Solnit in The Guardian: Why climate action is the antithesis of white supremacy
• Psychoanalysis in the Barrios — working with political and gang related trauma in Latin America. Shocking in places but compelling reading and definitely parallels for responses to austerity in UK.
• William Morris — News from Nowhere — an 1890 speculative novel which is providing visual inspiration for art
• Modello — fascinating study from 1980s on US city estates and a ‘psychology of mind’ therapeutic approach.
• The Wellbeing Quotient
• Social Collective Intelligence — Combining the Powers of Humans and Machines to Build a Smarter Society — Daniele Miorandi
• Conscious Collective: An Aim for Awareness by Joseph P. Kauffman
• ‘Theory U’ … lots in it, “the success of the intervention depends upon the interior condition of the intervener” Lots in this resonated, generative listening etc.
• ‘Radical Candour’ (..and my need to avoid ruinous empathy)
• Bee Wilson’s The Way We Eat Now
• Andrew Taggart’s Total Work series — how we are turning everything into work.
• Hans Ulrich Obrist’s On Curating. It’s so nice to read. I am enjoying having a very different set of references, metaphors, vocabulary. And thinking about our work as curating different types of inputs and juxtapositions
• David Wallace Wells Uninhabitable Earth. He says some very thought provoking things for us all: that he doesnt believe we have time for a revolution — that we have to find ways within some of our systems to create the change at scale and in the time available. But he also talks about how we will keep adjusting the amount of human suffering we can mentally accommodate as the world warms up. It’s a very uncomfortable mix of distressing yet with pockets of hope.

Watching:

• Beach Rats on Netflix. Beautifully shot, so raw
• The Time for Love Poem shot in Glasgow Park. Powerful and disturbing.
• Roma — a steely look at power and the underheard and how this is mirrored in the mirco (domestic) and marco (politics)
• The new series of Fleabag which is glorious

Listening to:

• Dolly Alderton’s Love Stories is actually such a great interview format and she is such an empathetic interviewer. Start with Sharon Horgan
• Cal Newport on Hurry Slowly. About how we need to make a great leap forward in tech, to find stuff that facilitates the power of our minds rather than detracting from that power through constant distraction, interruption and busy-ness.
• The RSA events podcast series
• David Wallace Wells on Talking Politics podcast https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/?tag=David+Wallace-Wells