Members of Creating the Future’s community have been asked to help determine what’s next for the work of our mission. Yes, we are handing over the decision about the future of the organization to the community who will benefit from that work. And not surprisingly, we are using Catalytic Thinking to do so.
In this phase of the inquiry, we are asking the first few questions in Catalytic Thinking (if you haven’t answered those questions yet, please head here and do so!).
The only way we can all be part of this decision is if we all…
a) share our thoughts,
b) can see what everyone else has shared
c) can then talk about it together
This page will begin item (b), providing a place to see what everyone else is thinking about.
As for the last item – talking about this together – we are doing that in a few places.
On November 14, the Integrity Team (also known as our board) will be reviewing these responses, coming up with themes for the next stage of this process. So first, you can join us there.
In preparation for that conversation, we are discussing what we’re learning from this process in an online community specifically for this effort. You can find the link to join here.
The following are all the responses we have received to Question 1. Then in this post, you’ll find the responses to Questions 2 and 3, focusing on our work’s potential impact.
Please note: We have made these responses anonymous, deleting any identifying information to protect the privacy of the respondents.
Question 1:
What is happening in your life and your work, that has led you to Creating the Future? What does our work make possible for you? What benefit do you receive from Creating the Future? (Questions that allow us to listen to what’s important to you, what’s working, what you aspire to.)
I am a student midway through a Possibilities Fellowship, defining how to go about launching a project which would foster true community cohesion with gardening as the main external focus of activity.
Your work has inspired me to see and feel the equality which exists among us; that this project is only going to be successful as one created by the entire group, even from deciding its scope. Your work is teaching me that I am a catalyst who can ask questions which elicit creativity and responsibility from within the group, and even before the group is formed via the initial interviews with possible supporters and via the initial general meeting, e.g. in a community hall. It is teaching me that creativity and openness is called for at all times as we move toward a naturally evolving goal.
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Desire to have a far different year each year, a radical difference. The Creating the Future work makes me to see how that is possible
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I was first led to Creating the Future about 2 years ago when I started my current job. One of the first things I worked on in that role was attending the online class to see if this way of thinking was something worth sharing with the rest of my team. Fast forward to today, and Catalytic Thinking has been the #1 way I facilitate meetings, talk with friends, and problem-solve with my partner. Catalytic Thinking and Creating the Future have really changed my life by giving me a framework for thinking and then spaces to practice and learn from others to improve my use of that framework. In addition to providing me with a whole new way of working, Creating the Future also gives me a place to connect with amazing folks all around the world; experiment and try new things; get inspiration for new ways to do the work; and opportunities to slow down, think, and push myself to be better.
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I love learning what others are doing, best practices, etc.. By definition, best practices are really past practices.
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I first got connected to Creating the Future through my work. Since then, I still find ever-growing value in Creating the Future’s work. Catalytic Thinking and Catalytic Listening have made me a better listener, parent, not-for-profit consultant, and facilitator.
Creating the Future’s work has made possible deeper understanding amongst those I work with. It has made possible more joy in my work, supporting me to sustain my effort and deepen my impact in community.
Over the years I have accessed many benefits through Creating the Future. The practical videos, newsletters, and courses and have all equipped me differently in a gradual way.
Another benefit is the community of leaders that come together around Creating the Future’s work.
Lastly, I would add the benefit of showing that it’s important, even when we don’t know what the answer is, to keep asking the questions that might just change the world.
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My last workshop was years ago – our Executive Director announced we were attending. It was an extremely valuable workshop – it has influenced how I do my work today.
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Creating the Future helps me and my organization see beyond ourselves, helps us connect to catalytic change and helps us understand that we can be partners and participants in creating a better future for our communities and partners.
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What is happening in your life and your work, that has led you to Creating the Future?
In process co-creating a thriving network taking Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into our own hands and hearts (IDGs)
What does our work make possible for you?
You muddle through out loud. And by doing so you provoke me to do so, too.
What benefit do you receive from our work?
Your framing gives the facilitator in me more perspectives
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As a retired person, I’m looking for ways to improve upon how our democracy works so that our children may benefit in some fashion. Catalytic Thinking is a promising structure to use. So the benefit for me is learning to use a more democratic system of solving issues. How I implement this remains to be seen. But in the meantime, it seems to bubble up in my daily interactions.
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Working on legacy planning for financially successful boomers. Most often white. Very often culturally conservative closely held business owners. Find Vu and Hildy to be essential correctors of my limited vision. It is so important for our communities that they have made common cause.
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What is happening in my life and in my work is that I am noticing ‘roadblocks’ and obstacles to open, respectful communication as well as resistance to finding new ways to do things; folks seem more comfortable with the ‘same old, same old.’
The work of Creating the Future encourages me to persist in finding new ways to approach people, new ways to look for solutions.
I benefit from knowing, believing that this is a way of life, a way of thinking that brings energy to those of engaged in this work.
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I was introduced to Creating the Future several years ago through the organization I was working for. I have used the framework extensively ever since. The process is a “clean” way to reverse engineer from the desired goal…in whatever realm you find yourself. The benefit is the ongoing use of the framework. I am not aware of any other benefit I should be experiencing.
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I am a consultant working with organizations invested in systemic change. I’m interested in new models for change. I’m also interested in appreciative inquiry, and believe that expertise lies with the doers, and that the proper questions can lead organizations and individuals far.
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The biggest contribution the community’s work brought forward, and made possible for us over here, was a foundational approach from which to experiment and explore ACROSS interests, instead of under an organization. More specifically moving toward codifying the conditions (and pre-conditions) needed for humans flourishing human to human, instead of agenda to agenda, and how the sequencing of those conditions need to be different from doing so with an already cohesive group. The biggest benefit, has been the freedom to explore more deeply how to scale the work of matrixing out options for action against questions that represent values, how to make that flow more intuitive, and less arduous when responding to complexity. A benefit which we hope to share back to Creating the Future when it’s ready.
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I first found Creating the Future through the consultant’s Facebook forum which led me to getting to know Creating the Future and its work on a deeper level (and bonus: Meeting Hildy!). On the surface, the work allows me to show up for my clients in the best of all ways. It’s really a braintrust of really smart people who are showing me how my thinking might be flawed. The collective always has a different way of looking at things and different questions to ask to get at a better solution. The downstream effects of sharing different perspectives, really has not boundaries.
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I was looking for a way to facilitate meetings differently and was finding lots of pieces – do this one thing differently, or try that singular activity. Creating the Future and Catalytic Thinking was the first resource I found that said here is a model for how everything can be different. Bits and pieces can be great, especially to dip your toes into something new, but I was ready for big change and I didn’t want to go back to the same old same old after trying that one new thing. Since discovering Creating the Future, I’ve built meaningful relationships with people from around the world who share a similar passion for change, I have re-designed my organization’s approach to planning and project development, and am able to change the kinds of conversations I have with the people close to me.
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So far I’ve just been following and learning. My work is about systems change and that’s what led me here originally. I run a non-profit/charity advocating for equitable access to education for disabled students in K-12 and we need a real transformation. I would like to engage more actively but it hasn’t always been clear how.
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– In my life and work lots are happening! Ranging from wonderful, inspiring and rewarding work with (international) clients to following the (old) dreams of the inner child, discovering the gifts and treasures still waiting to be discovered!
– Your work and the benefits it brings, make it possible – challenge me – to keep reflecting on what I’m doing and to continue to grow my consciousness and awareness around my actions both in my personal life and my work.
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I am retired but I am an active volunteer in a number of non=profits and church. I share articles with other volunteers and board members. You pose good questions and interesting articles.
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My work involves helping boards and others come to decisions that they all will support, and Catalytic Thinking – and positive thinking – spoke to me, as it codifies how I was already working.
The lessons learned in the consultants’ immersive has carried through in all my work. It makes it possible for me to think through almost any situation that I may encounter.
Honestly, concepts embedded in Creating the Future’s work have become second nature to me. Admittedly, I’ve modified them some – or rather, incorporated other concepts into the framework for the particular purposes I use them for. Whenever I don’t know where to start on something, I turn to the idea of ‘what am I trying to accomplish? What’s the highest goal?’ and the rest flows from there.
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I am interested in upcoming virtual meetings as I’m able or available to be involved. Creating the Future has helped me rethink how I approach problem-solving and how I view the organizations actions. I’ve found value from both a leadership perspective and an organizational level.
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My current work is supporting a large federal client work through a significant technological change and the project is full of lots of drama, churning, visions of scarcity, focus on events and activities completed, and monitoring for compliance. It can be frustrating and exhausting for a multi-billion dollar project with hundreds of smart people behaving as if there are not enough resources to be successful. I try to use Catalytic Thinking as a way to focus the conversations on the results and those impacted by the work. I’ve used some of the questions while facilitating meetings to ask people what would good looks like and what are the conditions that need to exist to try to stop the drama and focus on the results instead of the problems.
In my personal life, while I am making a contribution, I miss working more at the community level and having more of a leadership role. I have tried to use the Creating the Future framework to guide my thinking about my situation and to define where I want to go. Also, while not as active as I would like to be, when I read the newsletters, see the work of Creating the Future, I feel like I am part of a larger community of folks trying to make the world a better place. My limited involvement keeps me connected to that broad community and world.
Catalytic Thinking makes it possible to move beyond feeling stuck both in my personal and professional work. The questions provide a way to guide conversations and thinking and a new way to frame the work.
I get excited when I read the Creating the Future newsletters because I know that there is a different way to achieve results and do important work. The Catalytic Thinking framework also challenges my thinking and forces me to pause in the middle of the drama and churn, to take a step back, and remind me to ask the right questions and think about the work differently.
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I was led to Creating the Future by meeting two amazing people named Hildy and Dimitri. I shared their dissatisfaction with the amount of systemic change we could catalyze by serving individual nonprofits.
What Creating the Future makes possible is that I ask much more insightful questions when coaching new nonprofit leaders, and they are impressed with my memory of prior conversations, which to me means I listened very respectfully and stayed in the present throughout coaching sessions.
Your work greatly improved my listening skills and my questions, including expanding my thinking around how people will feel in relation to the issue in question, and how we hope to make them feel. And that meant I had to think about how I needed to feel and be.
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The work of Creating the Future makes it possible for me to imagine that there are alternative futures. I’m reminded of the Mark Fisher quote – “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” I’m not an anarchist who is hoping for an end to capitalism, but I am interested in how we can centre people, values and activities in our lives that aren’t just about buying more stuff. I think these conversations help with that.
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There are so many challenging (and pressing) issues facing society. Opportunities to think critically about how to address these issues (at their core) are far and few between. Organizations like CtF are, therefore, needed to provide the space and intentionality required to engage in discussions around these issues (and, ultimately, solutions).
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I am shifting away from a lifetime of doing to a phase that focuses on being…and doing that is deeply rooted and connected. Creating the Future and I are not connected but the work, structures, and ideas have been part of my groping to this point. I have a wider lens and I believe our job is to become fully human and Creating the Future has connected me up with people on that journey.
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Now that I am largely retired, I’m not applying Catalytic Thinking so much in my work (although when I do take on a project it’s absolutely on the table). I use it regularly in my personal life. It enables pivotal conversations with friends and family that more quickly focus on shared ideals and desires rather than divisive details. It allows emboldened dialogue by asking questions that inspire, that give implicit permission for challenging “what has been”, and that grants/legitimizes input from voices not comfortable being in the minority.
I’m not an active participant anymore, but I benefit from being part of the Creating the Future community. I know where I can turn for advice if/when needed, from those who are like-minded thinkers. And when I do tune in, the content is always reinforcing and often inspiring.
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Hildy facilitated a strategic planning training with a work team I was part of about 12 years ago. It was an excellent training, and I’ve used the “working backwards from a vision” approach in my work ever since. I currently manage an educational program at the University, where I both plan and evaluate the program, and teach a workshop on visioning and program planning to college students. My understanding of Catalytic Thinking definitely influences my approach.
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As a Tucson resident engaged through a capacity-building nonprofit in providing planning and evaluation services to small and medium-sized nonprofits and community coalitions, I have been attracted to the work and evolution of Creating the Future for years. I immediately saw parallels with our organization (woman founder and leader, emphasis on listening for the wisdom of the group, customizing services to meet people where they are prepared for change, and engaging clients throughout the process). Following Creating the Future through your newsletters and other communications, I have often gotten ideas that inform my professional work or cause me to reflect on the strategies of our organization.
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A fellow nonprofit consultant invited me into your NP consulting Facebook group a long time ago. I found the group to be very helpful in sharing advice and resources in a safe space.
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Honestly, your work gives me another lens through which to check the integrity of my own work. It helps me keep my mind open to possibilities that I might have missed, and helps drop away walls built through culture or habit that I might not have been aware were blocking my vision.
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Leading a non-profit committed to eradicating parental substance misuse in every family with a child under the age of 3. The solutions will come from those directly impacted and we need wisdom and courage to effectively engage our parents in order to co-create our path forward. Creating the Future offers tested methods that will allow this to happen
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Searching for ways to support clients and figure out the methods I would utilize in consulting facilitation and research work. Learning about the model has helped me support one client project and maybe has more applications that I’m not fully aware of or integrating into what I do. I like how the lens of highest potential outcomes and working backwards feels. It makes sense to me for visioning and strategy development. They are different but related to outcome-oriented innovation which is one lens I use.
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Ongoing difficult and challenging conversations continue to lead me to Creating the Future. Whenever faced with the prospect of a discussion or dialogue on complex issues, the framework, questions, and approaches from Creating the Future are incredibly valuable and constructive in illuminating pathways forward. Creating the Future is incredibly powerful as a guide for truly generative dialogue, and to reveal new possibilities in how our systems work.
Also: in my work I am constantly setting up new projects and programs, and Creating the Future is also an invaluable methodology for project generation and planning, to enable projects that are both engaging and sustainable.
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As a development manager / director in the sector, what encourages me about creating the future is its mission to help people learn to actively change the systems they are in. There are a lot of norms in my work that do not serve our sector yet too much fear and uncertainty on what to do to let them go. So with Creating the Future’s work I see hope!
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From the moment I learned about Creating the Future to now, my life and work have changed quite a bit, and Catalytic Thinking has accompanied me all through that journey; it has showed me the path of possibilities: what can be achieved if we ask the right questions? I have moved from a small community in Florida, to the capital of the US, to now Sweden, understanding that change if possible, that things can be done differently, and wanting to be part of that change. Catalytic Thinking has always been on my mind, knowing that more can be done when we ask ourselves the right questions. Creating the Future’s work allows me to see that it is possible to achieve the goals we as individuals, as organization, and societies set for ourselves, that it is possible to leave the status quo, and create the future that we want.
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In early 2022, I was asked to lead an initiative called Aspirations to Actions. While this initiative has been in existence for many years, not surprising that covid-19 put a hold on the in-person efforts of having community conversations. Creating the Future was a perfect fit to begin to study and actively participate in new conversations that certainly seemed to have changed since prior to 2019. Hildy and Dimitri had the skill set to allow open dialogue among the group but then work to steer us in a direction that impacted our contributions to Creating the Future. The Work of Creating the Future has made possible the opportunity to have deep and thoughtful conversations among a group of individuals across the country and globally that are working in their communities in similar ways but seeking discussions that delve into the future of how communities can come together.
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When I “found” Creating the Future I was in a transition in my professional life into community based organizational and start up business consulting…and I was in law school. Having the framework and mentality that I learned with Creating the Future allowed me to show up, ask the right questions and reverse engineer solutions to community wide problems stalling the development of people, places and organizations.
I received a community and network of like minded people while re-framing how I address situations, problems and opportunities. I feel Creating the Future gave me a roadmap that succinctly defined my process in a way I could share through facilitation and consulting.
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I appreciate the way that Creating the Future opens mental horizons, to get to a place of vision that centers creativity and possibility while also grounding us in our assumptions about how to move together towards transformation.
It also allows for constant evolution, adaptation and learning as part of movement work, which can help as our base conditions for change shift.
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My involvement for over 35 years in the nonprofit world and really being energized by a more creative approach to governing. I’m just at the beginning of learning about Creating the Future and am excited to journey down this road to see what is possible for me and those I serve.
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Merging my credential as a personal and professional coach and Social Venture Partners has brought about more effective conversations within the nonprofit organizations we partner setting opportunities for the attainment of their desired outcomes. Creating the Future was part of the origin of this path.
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I continue to use Catalytic Thinking practice in parts of my personal life and work life. I’ve been using Catalytic Thinking a lot as I’m navigating how to access care for my mother who’s been diagnosed with dementia.
I have been working full time for the National Association of Independent Schools for a year and a half now and use Catalytic questions when coaching members schools through the Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism process.
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My partner of 18 years and I got married in April 2022, cementing in me that literally anything is possible with patience, trust, and endurance. It was funny that, when we said our vows, it was more a confirmation of what we had already gone through than what we were promising for the future.
At work, I was promoted to an associate director position that allows me to contribute to setting the direction for how we review our institution’s programs toward continuous improvement. I use the Catalytic Thinking framework in the work groups I chair in order for participants to develop a broader and more in-depth understanding of the problem to be solved. As a contributor to institutional committees I’ve participated in, I use Catalytic Thinking when asking questions, framing responses, and making recommendations. Working backward from the desired outcome provides a much more tangible roadmap where strategies can be developed that produce realistic outcomes.
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Everything is different, the world is changing and the way we work is changing. We had to refocus, reinvent and rethink how we will work going forward. These changing times also made us realize that we don’t know what would be the consequences if something should happen to any of us, and so we started our journey to figure out what is our succession/ continuation plan. That led us to Creating the Future and we are forever grateful. Your conversations are so thought-provoking! Your work is allowing us to see things from a different perspective, it is teaching us to ask ourselves difficult questions, AND continue searching for all the possible answers, trying to figure out which way to go forward. We remain laser focused on the well being and independent future of the women and girls participating in our programs in rural Kenya.
The journey is ongoing, but since we started focusing on the continuation plan, we have partnered with another wonderful organization, that trained our program manager and one of our past participants (both living in Kenya), to be certified business coaches and they will be sharing their newfound knowledge literally in the streets of their communities – teaching women how to start businesses, save money and invest in their future. Focusing on what our participants want, and asking them how can we help them achieve their goals, has made all the difference in our approach.
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I was a brand new consultant at the time. And the community was the attraction. So many smart people – who were/are also kind!
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I get ideas and alternatives that counter-act our standard capitalistic organizational approaches
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First intersected with Creating the Future in 2014 – my daily life and work was impacted then and it continues on a daily basis.
‘Meet people where they are’ has become one of my rules to live by and i use it frequently when mentoring others and setting expectations for myself. I led strategic planning within our 50 person development shop in 2021 and rolled out another Creating the Future expression ‘and what would that make possible.’ I reference the example of being at a negative point and going upwards really only takes you to stasis so many times to illustrate what building on weakness brings about.
I recently finished and obtained my Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy accreditation. Every time Hildy’s name and work was referenced in the lecture materials I was reminded how lucky I was to spend the better part of a year learning and growing my own future with Hildy.
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I value level headed thinking about how change can actually happen. I look things up that I need from time to time, but it’s hard to come in and out, and staying very connected is beyond my capacity right now.
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I’m looking for a way to make conversations and consulting projects with clients more positive and forward thinking. I operate my company in a very collaborative, positive way. I’m seeing how a Catalytic Thinking model can help us be more intentional in conversations and consulting engagements about what can be instead of what’s wrong.
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I connected with Creating the Future in its early days of establishment, when I was involved in teaching and consultancy work with not for profit organisations. I have been less in touch more recently since my work has focused less on NFP organisations and more on facilitating leadership learning spaces for people involved in community-led development (through https://inspiringcommunities.org.nz/), and with others leading change initiatives in their workplaces (https://capable.nz/study/study-postgraduate/doctor-of-professional-practice/).
Creating the Future’s work was particularly valuable when I was doing consultancy work with not for profits. The Catalytic Thinking framework and strengths based questions provided a valuable addition to my toolkit and aligned with the values and culture of my facilitation style.
I have also valued these resources when I was very involved in a radical new degree Bachelor of Leadership for Change for four years, until recently this has been put on hold by the education institution involved. We provided a wide range of frameworks and resources to facilitating learning for students who largely designed their own degree around the change they wanted to make in the world, grew and evidenced the capabilities they needed to make that change through designing their own practical real world project and significant personal development along the way.
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I have constant desire to dismantle, recreate and re-imagine the systems and structures that have led to the injustice and needless suffering it the world today. Hearing Hildy’s talk at the Rosso Forum a few years ago led me to Creating the Future where I hope to amplify the deep work in asking new questions and promoting Catalytic Thinking.
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Creating the Future’s work and Catalytic Thinking have helped bring clarity to my work and decision-making, especially when I’m at a crossroads.
I have benefited greatly from the time I’ve spent with Hildy, Dimitri and everyone else associated with the organization in helping me learn and infuse Catalytic Thinking into my work and life.
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Initially, I was looking for a way to approach strategic planning that would be more effective for a community serving organization. The traditional for-profit planning process was not helpful and kept us in a scarcity mindset. This scarcity mindset kept us in a loop of reactivity and fear that kept us from serving our community in transformational way. We were so focused on protecting our “scarce” resources that we missed a lot of opportunities to serve the community in new and innovative ways. Switching focus from SWOT analysis thinking to Catalytic Thinking has helped us move towards creating the future we want instead of reacting to the present situation.
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My work with the organization I founded led me to Creating the Future initially. The Catalytic Thinking questions were so in alignment with our work, and thus, members of your organization helped facilitate a retreat. I will never forget the learning we shared together.
I look at the Catalytic Thinking questions and see the impact of them in our work every time I read anything or experience any of the teachings and learnings that are in that work now. I think mostly the dedication to “Systemic Change” in our operating principles can only be served impactfully with this kind of thinking and living in these types of questions. I am no longer on the board of this organization but I still am a mentor to the E.D. of the organization. She and I will meet together in the near future to discuss the organization’s Strategic Planning process. We will access this kind of thinking and use these kinds of questions together. I know the Board will too.
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I discovered Creating the Future through Hildy–her presentations and books. I’ve assigned several of these in my Masters in Public Administration classes. I’ve also used the Catalytic framework to guide course design and assignments, constructing manuscripts, and making decisions in my work and personal life. Creating the Future has helped me in facilitating group decision-making in a host of leadership roles in my school, university, union, and the association whose board I’ve chaired.
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I am in a world where people, in the service of students and those who serve students, focus on the can’t. Therefore, I have found myself in many settings where I’ve said, “we need to focus what we can do. Let’s talk about what we want instead of what we don’t want.” Focus on the possible is the biggest takeaway and benefit from our work with Creating the Future.
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What led me to Creating the Future was a new relationship that came into my life around my work as a nonprofit leader for a school-based mentoring program. I was intrigued by how this amazing woman was asking questions that seemed to bring out the best in us and in our answers. The focus was always on what is possible and that was a refreshing way to “be” and to look at the “why” behind the “doing”. It filled me with energy and hope and I began to recognize that this is the way I believed, I just didn’t have the words to describe it. Creating the Future’s practice gave me new practice with words/questions that I could share with others to encourage the idea that we can all lead from the middle and help create positive change in our relationships, families, work places, and community.
This practice has no end to what it makes possible for me as an individual and all the things I am involved in, as strong, trusting relationships build strong communities when everyone has a place at the table.
The benefit I have received is an endless resource of practice (writings, videos, live chats, etc…) and people that also want to find joyful ways to communicate with diverse thinkers in an effective way. What I also love is that we can all be playing in different arenas, but the practice is something we can all use with what we are working in, then share out our experience for encouragement and support from others.
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I’m Vice President of the Board of Directors of a local organization. We are entering a period of significant transition, focusing on the long-term sustainability of the organization. Creating the Future’s great work raises my awareness of the challenges nonprofits face in uncertain times, with community-minded solutions for subscribers to consider and put into action. The Planning and Catalytic Thinking questions are very relevant for these times.
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I am always searching for ways to learn and grow. I’m a big fan of Hildy’s and know that if she’s involved in something it will be worthwhile. So far I’m benefiting from the posts I read online and a basic understanding of what you’re trying to do with Creating the Future. I particularly love how you have addressed your values in such a concrete, understandable way on the website as a model that others could emulate. I’ve already directed at least one colleague to that part of your website for inspiration.
I feel that when I connect with your work, I am potentially connecting with kindred spirits in this work. I look forward to that connection evolving over time.
I also appreciated Hildy’s willingness to share the case study of creating bylaws without the bullshit. It really hits home and for our participants, had immediate impact on their thinking.
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The positivity of the “Collective Enoughness” and “Catalytic Thinking” messages and the potential it holds for bringing the community together to achieve real results.
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I was connected to Creating the Future primarily through the Reimagining Governance project out of the Ontario Nonprofit Network. The relationship with Hildy and the organization was great for generative conversations, learning more deeply about the Catalytic Thinking approach, and also learning about the organization’s own journey with its governance. This all helped guide thinking in our own project, where the approach we were taking included asking different questions around governance to prompt different ways of working.
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Creating the Future is like a breath of fresh air in my work and my in-box. It reminds me that I am part of something bigger and that there are others who view the world as I do – opportunity and possibly as opposed to problems and barriers. It is a slippery slope maintaining a capacity paradigm when the dominant culture is to focus on deficit.
I appreciate the thinking that is shared and know that if I am in need of aspiration or a different way of looking at a situation I can reach out to this community of like-minded citizens
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Creating the Future was very helpful with our initiative to reimagine how we think about and do governance in Canadian nonprofit organizations. We used the the concepts of Catalytic Thinking as foundations to the design of our Reimagining Governance Lab by bringing people into our website with what are typically described as issues, but then in our resources, tools, practices, we have tried to shift the conversations. For example, instead of just telling everyone not to put the board at the centre of their governance, we instead provided a picture of the larger governance ecosystem and framed questions related to all its aspects, encouraged people to ask questions that get at the foundations of how they do governance without referring to the board, and provided processes that encouraged organizations to be more expansive in their exploration of who can and should participate. We’re hoping it will burst some assumptions, and create new ones, without overtly saying we are bursting assumptions.
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My work with the organization I founded led me to Creating the Future, as I am working to bring an abundance and collaborative mindset to the education world. Your work has provided me with critical questions and frameworks to ask myself and others in my work and life. I have found them particularly beneficial when I am stuck or a colleague is stuck in their thinking. Specifically, when folks, including me, are stuck in complaining mode, I found it helpful to ask, “what would it look like if X process/system was working well.” Versus just focusing on what is not working.
It has also helped me think about what information and support do the people around me need to realize their potential and share their unique gifts.
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As folks continue to respond, we will update this post. To see the responses to Questions 2 and 3, head to this post.
And please know how grateful we are for the insights you are all sharing. Having our community decide the future of this community benefit organization feels like the epitome of what democracy looks like.
Photo credit: Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons