Finding like minded people

I have worked in "international development" for 30 years and live in Thailand.  I want to cultivate networks of committed people who see that the key transformation required for reducing poverty, creating peace and solving the plethora of problems and worries that beset us (insert all previous, current and future causes), is personal transformation.

 

This does not mean you have to acquire any beliefs, views or opinions.  Nor does it mean you have to become a spiritual recluse, monk or a nun.  It means that you have start to see how your own mind is an essential player in how you create the world as it is - its problems and its joys.  Like all people who work, I have acquired certain skills and experiences that are displayed in a CV of who "I" am.  What I see in the organizations I have worked in is that they are by their nature dysfunctional because they spend no time or effort getting beyond the CV and into shared responsibility, ego-reduced relationships and ways of managing the confused feelings and conflicts that arise in the workplace.

 

If organizations are to become even slightly better at what they do (reducing poverty, improving access to education, increasing political participation, improving egalitarianism in sharing of planetary resources) they must be managed by people who appreciate and take up the challenge of being awake and facilitating the same in others who work for them and for whom they work.  In fact, this requires one to be a full time student of one's own mind in order that one is able to negotiate the desire to own and take credit for the results.  Having a practice that encourages this and rehearses one's ability to step outside the personality view, the views and opinions and the doubt thrown up by thinking is essential.

Can we do something together?  Please get in touch!!  :-)

Mindful use of financial systems...

Recently I was saddened to receive word of a former colleague and friend (called X here) whose mismanagement of funds had been revealed by an audit. This kind of event can be more common in some environments, and we can learn so much from it.  
  
I had heard from a distance about the outcome of the audit and was disappointed to hear of the rather long history of X’s dishonesty. On the positive side, this has now provided X with a wonderful opportunity to take full responsibility for her action, to make a clean breast of this and to reexamine his own standards of behavior. Far better for X that it was discovered - for her ultimate health and happiness. He cannot be spared the full consequences of her/his actions. 
  
For those of us who observe this event and the suffering and embarrassment that X is going through (and will go through), it is a wakeup call to us to apply the highest standards of honesty and transparency in our own behavior in our jobs. Whenever we are called upon to deal with other people's money, this deserves the absolutely highest level of awareness and transparency. For those who believe their honesty is above reproach, the most important reason for this is to guard against lapses in memory (e.g. "I'll write that transaction down tomorrow" - is simply courting disaster.)  

Another important reason is to take full advantage of the accounting systems so that we remove temptation from others around us who, in a moment of weakness, might succumb to temptation made available by our own lack of proper management procedure.  
  
What I'm saying is that when this kind of thing happens is not only X’s karma that is functioning. 
  
I too bear some responsibility for this situation as I was unsuccessful in my attempts to get the necessary financial documentation from the project. In that sense I have compounded the misery that X now faces, since she might have been presented with the opportunity to confess to this much earlier had I and others been successful earlier.  
  
We have a wonderful opportunity (because of the availability of so many great teachers of the Buddha's gift) to cultivate mindfulness practice and with that the insights into the shallowness of the way in which we normally experience the conventional reality. Surely, waking up is a full time job. "To take responsibility for where we find ourselves" is as appropriate at work as it is at home! 

What do you think of this?

June 13, 2008 - Courage to all managers

Courage to all managers. Think about this ... "For you to understand it I have to understand it myself" - Kate Mulgrew speaking about her dificulty with making sense of her lines in her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway on the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager (1995 to 2001).

This came to me this morning ;-)

Why is it so important for managers and consultants in development assistance to be "awakened"?

Programs of development assistance are a place where two different cultures , belief systems, languages, governments, institutions try to communicate their shared interest. This communication has as its essential purpose something rather differentfrom "business as usual". Importantly, the money that is the potential for action, comes from the generosity of ordinary men, women and even children who make a donation or pay taxes. It is this generosity which is very holy in its nature and of a higher order than the systems - whether government or non-government - that only exist to serve it.

Within that context , managers and consultants have the duty , responsibility and huge opportunity to make it work well . This is because they are entrusted in their professional capacity, with the job to find out what works to allow that generosity to travel from someone's pocket, penetrate the administrative and working systems through which it passes, and enter the life of another human being . An appreciation of this context has been very supportive to me in remembering the amazing opportunity and potential power that lies in this job I do . The job is not personal. Anybody could have been recruited for this job . And , it is me who is here right now in this place . And so it is up to me to discover who "me" really is . A spiritual practice supports the examination and transformation of "me" (the mundane collection of experience, educational qualifications , skill set and personality that has allowed this person to be in this job ) to something less personal . I'm not saying that this is always the case , but that the direction of the practice is to be able to recall and remember. This I have found provides a steadying energy through which patience, creativity and the required humility can more easily manifest themselves . From there it is a short step to using the experience, educational qualifications, skill set and personality to determine the particulars that need to be done .

There must be a lot of people who are "awakened". Why doesn't development assistance work better?

Considering "awakened" in its grammatical form can also lead to a certain kind of laziness if one believes one is there . "awakening" is actually the continuing process which is much more linked to the immediate moment .  However, "awakened" can be understood to mean aware - that this is a discontinuous process and that we need to continually remember to wake up . A spiritual practice provides moments in the day to check in to awareness and to use that to see what needs to be done . I remember to look inside to the stillness and then to what "I" can do.

Would you call this a hobby?

A close friend wrote May 28, 2008: "I saw your new and interesting blog. Will this be a hobby of yours from now on?"

My reply:  "It's more than a hobby. At a personal level I really have found that the "spiritual teachings" (can't find a better phrase just now) I have been exposed to over the past 25 years have great (and even increasing) relevance to developing patience, renewing motivation and developing/ remembering that wider view of who I am and what I am doing. With more experience I am seeing the problems that projects and people deal with are all about the need to remember the context (could we call it) - of what development assistance is (poorly managed and often very inefficient and ineffective) and what it might be (a more mindful evidence of the deep desire we have to share and to find self-actualization and then, the increased success that might result from that).

Beyond the personal level lies the level of "you" or "the others". As a manager, finding inclusive tools to involve others, developing leadership and followership skills, cultivating opportunities to be a role model etc all fit well into the same model (which is developing insight and supportive management capabilities.)

It can't be a hobby anymore, although it must be something to have fun with as well!!  Thanks."

Welcome

This blog is designed to encourage movement in the planning, management, monitoring and evaluation of development projects towards "awakened management". This starts with the development of awakening in ourselves and leads to solution oriented thought, speech and action. We have spent so much time reacting to rigidities in the systems that employ us that we have ourselves become rigid and disillusioned. We have spent so much time with rules, regulations, criteria and regulations that we have forgotten the underlying reasons why we do this work. 

The way forward is first to wake up to ourselves as a continuous consciousness in the present moment. From this awareness we then expand and hone right thought, speech and action as managers, to both demonstrate our compassion for people and honour our responsibility to use taxpayer and contributed resources in ways that venerate and respect that generosity.

Please share your experience and resources for this dual task of being awake and effective as a manager.   I am especially keen to get resources from different cultural contexts on how awakened management can speak to the diversity of our need in this area.

Be well. Be happy!!