John O’Brien
John O’Brien – Dec. 2017
Cultivating Capacity is a series of THREE documents – compiled by John O’Brien for a course. It is a thoughtful guide to the journey to begin changing the social field we all live in.. It is simultaneously philosophical with a deep values base – and practical with exercise to explore on your journey. It is intended for teams to engage in the exercises in hopes of finding new pathways to changes that will improve the lives of all.
Every person has a higher self that wants to develop. Every place has possibilities for supporting bet- ter lives that want to be born. The sign of a healthy social field is growing capacity to see the highest future possibility in people and places and act as if that possibility matters. This capacity to sense highest purpose grows deeper and more fertile through intentional work among and within people.
Organizations create the conditions for a healthy social field when they invest in design teams that bring diverse people together to co-create new ways to assist people with developmental disabilities. Capable design teams include people with developmental disabilities, family members, direct support workers, people in professional roles and managers. Each design team will cross boundaries and build new relationships as it learns. An organization may have a single design team or a network of them. Necessary organizational investments in design teams include…
• Cultivating Capacity 1: PREPARING the Field for Change
• Cultivating Capacity 2: A FIELDBOOK for Strengthening Person-Centered Practices – Session 1
• Cultivating Capacity 3: FIRST GROWTH
