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framework for sustainable management This way of supporting people in self-managing their relationships with each other and the natural world originates in the work of Allan Savory. He developed the approach over decades of practical work with range managers in Africa and the southwest United States. We have adapted his approach to the perspective and language of Nova Scotians through the "Planning for Seven Generations" process conducted by the Nova Scotia Environmental Network in 1998, and currently in the use of the framework by the Woodens River Watershed Environmental Association, and in the management of Bluedoor itself. The framework is an adaptable conceptual tool for learning about sustainable management. It is meant to account for the relationship among all the basic elements that have been found essential to the process. Your comments and questions about this framework are welcome. They help us demonstrate a real-world example of adapting and using the framework, so that it becomes a more relevant resource for everyone. Although a sequence of elements is indicated, the framework outlines a cyclic process of discovery and innovation that takes place over time. The specific content of each of the elements will vary with each situation and each different environment. The following paragraphs are not definitions, but indications of the territory covered by each element of the framework. The link at the end of elements is to Bluedoor's specific use of this management framework. 1. Contemplation: silent awareness of the basic ground of our being-in-nature. "The first and most fundamental step to understanding the forest is simply to walk frequently into the forest with no agenda, with no particular purpose, just to BE in the forest. Only onto that foundation can the next steps of scientific study and then physically working in the forest, be successfully built into sustainable forestry and foresters." (Jim Drescher, Windhorse Farm, Lunenburg Co.)2. Intent / Values: the intent based on shared values (sometimes unstated) that drives the process for the individual, groups and communities. For example, many people believe we have a collective obligation not to destroy what future generations will need in order to have the quality-of-life we enjoy. Relating that belief to a person who does not already hold it, might be done in terms of shared valuing of life itself, or of one's own family or community. Talking together about the things we do actually value deeply is a good first step in any group development process. Especially if you think you know what the other people value, it's always interesting to have the discussion, because it begins to build a foundation of trust within the group, and it's the first step in developing a goal statement. MORE ON VALUES 3. Group: (action group, committee, board, management team): the core group that is able to agree on a goal and objectives, and to work together in specific ways to fulfill a strategy. BLUEDOOR WORKING GROUP 4. Support: the help and information that becomes available to the group as it proceeds to achieve its objectives, and through evaluation of the results. BLUEDOOR EVALUATION 5. Community: the context of other groups and the environment within which the action group lives. Also refers to the process when groups come together in community to consider coordinated action. For Bluedoor, this process is reflected in the connections indicated in this website. 6. Three-part Goal: 1. What is the quality-of-life the group intends to maintain or achieve? 2.What do we want the social and natural landscape to look like in the near and long term, so our quality-of-life is available to our children, and theirs? 3. What will the group or communities produce to achieve their quality-of-life goal, and how will they produce it, so that the social, economic and ecosystem processes they impact will move toward the kind of future we all want to see? BLUEDOOR GOAL Having established our goal, we set out objectives and our strategy to achieve those objectives. BLUEDOOR OBJECTIVES In carrying out our strategy, we specifically evaluate its impact in terms of our objectives, but also in terms of the whole system in which we operate. 7. Whole System Foundation Blocks: We carry out our management mindful of the whole system of which our enterprise is a part. For easier grasp, in terms of the ecosystem, we refer to our impact on four processes that, together, govern the ways in which all life on the planet relates as one whole: succession, the water and mineral cycles and energy flow. In terms of human activity, we refer to our impact on three sectors of society that similarly relate as one whole: civil society, the private sector, and government. The reason for this is to better understand those processes, so to increase our understanding of how to better manage toward our goal. What will nature and society allow us to do here? What do nature and society require of us? The greatest challenge is to develop our understanding of how the processes and sectors are interconnected, interlocked in a whole, that is yet greater than the sum of these parts. 8. Use of Tools: refers us to all the possible types of tools we might use, including capital and human ingenuity, and to our choices among tools based on how they tend to affect the whole system we're working within. 9. Evaluation Guidelines: provide the means to actually measure the effectiveness and impact of our choices of production and tools. "Testing" includes quantitative and qualitative tests to help determine whether or not a given tool should be used in the specific environment and conditions we are managing within. "Management" refers to different forms of monitoring that help us to use chosen tools in the right way. The results of these evaluations feed back into the "Support" available to the group and its community, and renews the cycle with new information and insight. BLUEDOOR RE-PLANNING For a full account of the meaning and relationship among these elements, see "Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision-Making", Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Island Press, 1999. See also the Savory Center website. |
resources savory center windhorse farm kathryn graves bluedoor management forum |
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management forum revised 18 april 05 bluedoor goal revised 5 feb 04 Through kitchen table and email discussion, the working group developing Bluedoor used the holistic management approach described above to develop the following mutually-agreeable goal statement:
Our goal is to help maintain a quality-of-life that is sustainable, that meets our basic needs for economic security and gives full opportunity for individual and social development. [Quality-of-life]top bluedoor objectives revised 5 feb 04 Given this goal, and our particular abilities and resources, we decided to use a website hosted by Chebucto Community Net as our basic communication medium. That decision provided the following objectives, in an order of priority: A. To establish an "always-on" contact point for anyone who is referred here; to enable sharing of resources and participation among people who share a common interest in effective communication for action groups in Nova Scotia.top bluedoor evaluation, re-planning revised 18 april 05 Since Bluedoor.chebucto.net was first posted in September 2003, by a working group of less than ten people, more than 35 others have deliberately contributed to the resources available through our navigation bar. So far, this participation has been built on a one-to-one basis; there has been no promotion of the site. These contributions from a wide range of individuals and organizations increases the value and guides the development of a mutual resource. Our thanks to each of you for helping us to demonstrate one way to make this happen by design. We have also been very fortunate to be able to implement the approach and some of the uses of Bluedoor with the Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization (WRWEO). We are very grateful to WRWEO for their initiative in developing a more effective communication program. evaluation In the spring of 2005, response from participants indicates little problem with the approach, or making use of the site. Reviewing our objectives (chosen to implement our strategy), we could say that the technical parts of objectives A and B, our top priorities, have been achieved, and have resulted in a website we can work with and improve on. The rest of the objectives have each been achieved, but only to a limited extent. Some weak links were evident: D, "To create a common ground between action groups and culture workers, on a local scale." A website can represent or reflect this common ground, but it needs to be made tangible in some way, so that more people are actually meeting, to their mutual benefit. That would mean our existing goal--focusing on a website--has to be reconsidered to include some form of concrete action. A weak link on the side of organizations we would like to help, is identifying and supporting people to implement the approach within the group. In other words, getting people in place who are able help groups run a more effective communication program. Very few groups have the luxury of starting from scratch. In terms of the strategy outlined here, most groups may not have some of the fundamentals in place. In those cases, bringing the organization up to speed in the midst of its on-going concerns can be real challenge for any communication coordinator. This evaluation led to the need to do a more intense evaluation, to look again at the action part of our goal, and to adjust our objectives. In other words, to go about re-planning. re-planning Given this evaluation, some members of the working group and contributors (seven people in all) created a simple management forum using personal discussion and email to respond to this question: If we consider that Bluedoor.chebucto.net is an environment, what specific feasible, reasonable change could we make in that environment, that would have the greatest effect in enabling organizations as they are to use our resources, and in enabling artists and communicators to help them?Forum participants underlined that it simply is the case that many groups are "almost exclusively formed around their issue, and everything else--a way to get there, organizational structure, goals, strategies, communication--is secondary. Getting folks to sit down and define a strategic goal is like pulling teeth." j.m We have been able to respond to this challenge, first, by revising our page on "developing a goal statement" to suggest a simple exercise any group can do in 30-45 minutes. Second, by offering a free consultation service for groups who want to do a brief preliminary exploration of how they might benefit from our approach. Third, by creating a new section in our index page, how to use bluedoor. We are discussing longer-term ways to open up the flow, and as always, we'd be glad to hear your thoughts. The greatest opportunity based on our experience so far? To shift our perspective from the needs of individual organizations, to the needs of associations that groups of organizations have cooperated to create, to get things done that would not have been possible for them as separate organizations. For example, the Farmers' Markets Association of Nova Scotia was created to serve a communication and management support function for 10 farmers' markets throughout the province, at a level that would not have been possible for any of them individually. In fact, this is the community's way of responding to the constraints known to operate on the level of small groups. It suggests that an important way to support the communication needs of groups is to work with the common-purpose associations they've already created to address (among other things) the need for more effective communication at all levels. Our evaluation also suggests that if we wish to gain greater participation in Bluedoor, and be of service to more groups, an effective way to do that might be to serve their associations that have a mandate for communication. It is within these associations we can expect to discover at least some of the "tangible common ground" we'd like to cultivate. This means revising Bluedoor.chebucto.net to relate to organizations that are generally operating in a more advanced environment. So our immediate challenge is not only to make our resources more relevant and accessible to small organizations, but also to associations operating well beyond the basic level. This re-planning process has already produced changes to the site, and an outreach program to a few common-purpose associations in Chebucto to see how they're operating and how we could support or complement what they're doing. Comment on the site changes and feedback from our discussions with these associations will produce revised objectives for Bluedoor, and a clear strategy to achieve those objectives. These will be posted here as soon as they're established. Your contributions to this on-going management forum are most welcome; they are what make the site progressively more useful. PRIVACY POLICY |
goal objectives evaluation re-planning |
top / communication strategy / guidelines / uses of media / artists and communicators