What do you dream of?

• Starring in a broadway musical?
• Making money doing things you love?
• Living in a beautiful house overlooking the ocean?

Whatever your dream is, it’s time that you get what you really want and go for whatever makes you happy. In this workshop, I’m going to show you that even your wildest wish can be achieved without positive thinking, heaps of courage or self-discipline. You’ll get by with a little help from your friends, as the Beatles would say.

During this workshop, you will:

• Understand your wishes and the obstacles towards achieving them,
• Tap into the collective intelligence of the group and brainstorm ways towards your dream,
• Pool resources, ideas and contacts to make things happen, and
• Have a lot of fun.

Everybody is welcome. No dream is too big or too small.

Wiebke Herding studies strategies for change in individuals and organizations. She’s trained as a coach by Barbara Sher and offers success teams in Belgium, an action program for people keen on making progress on their mission. 

My new agency for worldchanging communications, ON:SUBJECT, has seen the light of day last month. You’ll find me blogging over there from now on.

Even if you might have the money today to pay for someone to programme all the bells and whistles you might want today, think beyond the current contract. A website is not a brochure that you print once and never touch again – you want to build a site that sustains your organisation’s growth well into the future.

The programmes that power today’s websites have grown in sophistication over the years. Most problems have been solved before. Thousands of developers have poured their collective wisdom into the leading open source content management systems (like WordPress or Drupal) – and they will continue improving them even if you don’t pay a dime. This collective wisdom is yours to benefit from.

Do ask yourself: What will happen if your web development company goes bankrupt? What happens if they start charging ridiculous amounts? What happens if you fall out with them?

If your developer has built a proprietary website system for you (and maybe a couple of other clients), you don’t stand a chance. You will have to start over again. But if you’ve chosen a widely-supported open source system, you’ll just smile and find someone else to do the job for you.

A friend of mine is deeply involved in setting up a sustainability scheme for restaurants here in Belgium. One of her problems: Restaurants touch upon so many aspects of sustainability that it’s hard to decide where to focus. Local, seasonal or organic food? Consumption of energy and water? Recycling? Workers’ rights?

Her idea is to weigh the sustainability achievements of each restaurant and to distribute gold, silver or bronze marks depending on how well they scored. That, of course, raises new questions: What is more important – changing the lightbulbs or changing the menu? Cooking with ingredients from the farmers’ market or with those that carry ecolabels? And how do you verify each of these?

At a recent advisory group meeting for her project, the restaurant owners at the table adamantly made clear that whatever the scheme would look like, they would not be prepared able to take on any additional cost. They would already face too much competition, too many constraints. And under no circumstances would it be possible to compare one restaurant with the other! Too different their circumstances. Local food? While possible for a Belgian restaurant – close to an impossibility for the Italian. Organic? Too expensive, and often of too low quality. While they would be willing to start where they are, there was no way they were going to change their character or become the greenest of green.

While definitely polemic, the two were speaking honest concerns. The biggest challenge for my friend in this process is to honour the complexity of her chosen sector while keeping her messaging and claims truthful and simple. This challenge is familiar from the long-winded attempts to establish a label for sustainable tourism.

In my opinion, she has three options:

1. Simplify Radically (or as the Heath Brothers would say: Shrink the Change). Instead of solving everything at once, focus on one or two high-leverage actions. Introduce a local food Wednesday (in addition to the already existing Veggie Donderdag). Introduce MSC-certified fish in Belgian restaurants (while phasing out the endangered ones at the same time). Have restaurants sign up to the 10:10 pledge (or rather 11:11 by now). Not everybody will go along, but those who do get an instant publicity fix (and the verification is easy).
2. Focus on the Process. Find a group of restaurant owners who are willing to go through a (maybe year-long) process of making their restaurant more sustainable. Instead of certifying an end goal, talk about the journey (“We’re becoming greener”). An idea would be to limit the number of participating restaurants and focus on telling the story of their transformation (along the lines of the good old reality TV format or campaigns like Nine Lives).
3. Get Serious. A properAn internationally applicable ecolabel for restaurants would be a worldwide first (as far as I know). It might be worthwhile to dig into the science of sustainability interventions and convene a dialogue process with the restaurant business and other stakeholders to define principles and criteria that guide meaningful interventions and are relevant across contexts. This process might take time, but it will help to build the market and yield better criteria than anything one person could develop on the back of an envelop.

Whatever path this process takes, there’s so much potential. Many people would prefer a more sustainable restaurant to one that ignores the planet (as long as the food is still good). And those that come only come for the food might be inspired by the stylish sustainable interior design and the tasty creations from local varieties of vegetables. This could inspire a movement.

Get updates from the project on Facebook.

Update

The US Green Restaurant Association has an established certification standard. UK readers might want to check out the new-ish Sustainable Restaurant Association.

The European Commission clearly is a difficult beast to change. Together with a group of likeminded officials, U. had hosted a series of events and conversations to focus the culture of the commission back on its purpose: Building a European Union that serves its citizens. The process was always meant as a grassroots effort, but had run into one clear obstacle: How can you inspire the volunteers engaged in those conversations to action?

When U. brought this question to an open space I attended last week, it reminded me of work I had been involved in more than a decade ago.

Lessons from Grassroots Organizing

Right after I left school, I worked for a while with one of the most amazing grassroots activist organisations I know. As part of the protests against nuclear power in Germany, X-tausendmal quer had set out to organise non-violent blockades of the trains transporting nuclear waste to the final disposal site in Gorleben. Just imagine thousands of citizens sitting down on the railway tracks and not leaving until forcibly removed. All of this without a hierarchy that would have repulsed the more anarchistically-inclined amongst us.

How did this happen? It would be naive to think that those countless hours of volunteer enthusiasm could have emerged without a structure. Without a boss, president or chairman to call the shots, we used three main tools:

1. Crystal-Clear Purpose Everybody involved had a clear picture in their head how the final event would look like. We also knew the date, or rather: We knew that whenever the next train would arrive, we would be there to greet it. We were determined to be prepared by that time and bring as many people as we could possibly find. The timeline helped us to remain focused on practicalities and not get stuck in an endless pursuit of the perfect solution or the perfect political demand.
2. Explicit Structures We used a sophisticated division of labour, documented on a two-page organisational structure. Instead of a hierarchy, it listed functions and responsibilities. Functions normally associated with a chair person were divided amongst many and would rotate often: There was a fire fighter responsible to lead on unforeseen emergencies between meetings, someone to follow up with and support others with their tasks, a facilitator and a volunteer coordinator.
3. Planning for Flexibility and Contingency We had frequent open meetings to plan further and revise the structure. New volunteers could thus easily join and check us out. If they wanted, they would take on tasks from the get-go and volunteer for a role that matched their strengths and interests. Wherever possible, we would ask two people to work together in a role. This way, they could support each other and agree on procedures. And if one of them got swamped at work or had to drop out completely, the other was still around to take over.

My tip for our friends at the commission? Once you know what the ultimate objective is, don’t be afraid of asking people to step up and volunteer – and then build support structures and check-ins so that they can do their best work.

P.S. Pssst – very exciting developments around the corner. If you want to join my ultra-secret mailing list and provide feedback, let me know.

Last week, I had a conversation with Adam Kahane, author of the book “Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change”. He had related his impressions from witnessing the Copenhagen climate change summit to a group of social entrepreneurs at the Hub in Brussels by describing two opposed camps: Those that focus on their own needs as individuals and those that focus on the needs of the whole no matter the costs.

I asked Adam: “What is it that could make a difference in such a stuck situation like in the climate change negotiations?” The answer I got: “It’s difficult.”

Indeed it is, and that is why I am asking the question. If it was easy it would be boring.

So many people willing to take action against climate change. On their own they are powerless. Even the powerful get stuck.

There’s a story Adam told about South Africa in the early Nineties:

A joke at the time said that, faced with the country’s daunting challenges, South Africans had two options: a practical option and a miraculous option. The practical option was that we would all get down on our knees and pray for a band of angels to come down from heaven and fix things for us. The miraculous option was that we would continue to talk with each other until we found a way forward together.

It took hard work and determination, but miracles do happen.

On climate change: Maybe we’re looking for the solution in the wrong place. Maybe we are placing too much trust that our leaders are going to solve this for us. Maybe there are other ways. Maybe we can find them.

Change is difficult, but it’s not impossible. Maybe we can start now.

Having gone through a year of studying these dark arts, I’m no longer sure. My textbook defines marketing as “a process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others“. It’s all about establishing a relationship with your network that helps you achieve your goals. The best nonprofits are using marketing techniques across their operations – though they hardly ever call it that. They might talk about fundraising, about communications, about policy or membership development instead. The tools, however, are often the same.

I’ve been thinking about the connections in my life journey recently, moving from campaigning and organizing to communications and marketing. It slowly dawned on me: All of this is about the art and science of behaviour change.

A good campaign aims for a specific decision to be taken, ideally by a known decision-maker. It’ll find out what would need to change to make the decision a no-brainer: Maybe there’s a way to frame the decision in a way that meets the individual’s self-interest? Sometimes this calls for a shift in the external environment or for the help of numerous influencers. In short: Campaigning is the art of changing the behaviour of the few with the help of the many.

Marketing often tries to influence purchasing decisions on a grand scale. It’ll identify a group of people to target and try to understand what would make the decision a no-brainer for them: It might be all about price, about quality, about image. Sometimes this calls for the same message to be broadcast a million times or for the help of a celebrity endorsement. In short: Marketing is the art of changing the behaviour of the many with the help of the few.

With approaches so similar, it is surprising how different perceptions of both terms are. While the nonprofit sector remains skeptical about marketing, campaigning is a dirty word in most of the business world. Will we need a new term?

we haven’t spoken a lot recently, but I have to tell you: I can’t stop thinking about you. The more I do, the more I know for sure: I want to hang out with you more often. I want us to go steady.

You’ve existed in so many places by now. Your baby steps at Jetzt.de, still online. A handful of articles on Stumbleupon, later transferred to Blogger, now all reside at the mothership. We’ve spoken about love and beauty and professional development. About learning French and saving the world. You’ve come to know me well in the past eight years.

But clearly, we’ve never been close. Months could go by without notice and no, I don’t think I ever really missed you. I either came back because I had a special occasion or, more often, because of this sense of obligation: “You’re a social media person, you should have a blog” or “You believe in learning and reflective practice, why don’t you do it already!” I don’t think it worked. Some of my friends use you as a way of keeping abreast with me, but honestly – Facebook is the better medium for that.

It wasn’t until this summer that I’ve understood what I really want from my relationship with you. I want the two of us to work together. I want us to rock the boat. I want us to be read. And maybe we’ll even manage to inspire one or two people. Maybe we’ll make them laugh. Maybe we’ll send them to greener pastures somewhere else on the interwebs.

Yes, I’m on a mission. And I need you to join me on it. How that looks like? Let’s find out together, one step at a time.

Here’s what I think: Let’s start with a schedule and commit that we’ll publish, say, every Sunday night. When I write, I’ll resist the itch to publish right away and give the post some time to mature. Over time, we’ll come up with useful categories and give you a facelift. We could also ask some people explicitly to read and comment, if you like.

You know – I’m really happy you’re still around, and I’m sorry you had to wait so long. It’s only now and slowly that I’m getting a sense of what I need to write about. Even though I know that I’ve probably spent more time thinking and reading about change processes than most people, I’m still scared that I won’t be able to publish anything interesting and relevant. But if I don’t start writing down what I learn, it won’t be helpful for others.

Shall we give this a try?

See you next Sunday then!

* Wiebke

Since I had my papers stolen a month ago, I went to the police three times: to announce the theft, to pick up the official declaration de vol and to verify my address. I also had the police come to my house to verify my address (once more). When I asked them whether they would give me a document with the verification, they said I should just go to the town hall on Thursday and I would be fine.

Well, today’s attempt to apply for my new identity card failed because I didn’t have the so-called convocation de police which I clearly should have received. Back at the police headquarters, the person responsible won’t be around until tomorrow.

That’s now seven visits to administrative offices in a month. It’ll take at least three more to get that one piece of paper I’m after. Patience.

In terms of comparison: it only took one visit to get my preliminary ID card in Germany. Two weeks later, my mum went to pick up the proper one. What if it’s easy?

[Update 12 Sep 2010: It turned out to be easy. All is good. ]

It still felt like yesterday. An election that didn’t result in a government. A prime minister that didn’t want to govern. A nation that didn’t know its identity. All that was now past, soon to be forgotten.

In the distance, King Albert could hear the countdown: Trois – Deux – Un – Zero. He closed his eyes as his seat began to shake. The momentum pressed him into the seatbelts. He could feel the spaceship moving. It had started to happen.Thirty minutes from now, he would be in orbit. Then, he would flip the switch that would connect him first to the Flemish, then to the Wallonian television satellites. Several hundred thousand meters above his former territory, he, the last Belgian, would officially announce: His country had moved on.

The bickering, the bitching the Flemish could keep. The nagging and complaining should stay with the Walloons. But Belgium, Belgium was to thrive.

His secret plan, hatched for years and refined in classified negotiations with the European Space Agency, was this: Belgium was leaving on a one-way mission to Mars. Behind the king, also pressed into their seats, sat a hundred volunteers. They would build the new country on the red planet.

The new Belgium would occupy not a crowded corner of Europe, but would settle a magnificient planet. Belgium would be famous as the most innovative location in the entire universe, not for being a failed state. Never, vowed King Albert, was he to return.

It had started to happen. From now on, the rest was to become history. Belgium was never going to be the same.

Credits: Edina’s and Monica’s Creative Writing Workshop and Adrian for the first sentence.