Futures Conversation

It’s kind of a “Think Tank”

Every month ten or so people get together and contemplate our future here in Frontenac – kind of an ad hoc think tank. The original prompt was a general sense that huge changes are coming our way from climate change, economic woes, peak oil, resource depletion . . . We wanted to prepare ourselves better and make ourselves and our community more resilient. We’ve called this group the “Futures Conversation” but it’s safe to call it a think tank, because it’s serving that function.

Status:
We’ve been meeting once monthly on the second Sunday since June ‘09. We meet for an hour and a half and then usually spend that much time again in a kitchen conversation.

We’re very much in the process of evolving a way of working that works. At present Andrew MacDonald is the meeting host. That may change because we’re heading toward being a community where leadership and roles are shared.

Working principles:

  • focus on possibilities rather than problems
  • analyses, descriptions, reports, studies, certainty about how-it-is are interesting . . . but not very powerful. Sitting with questions is better. Questions that are personal, ambiguous – and anxiety producing – are best. “Anxiety producing” because if they’re safe and easy we’re almost sure to be imagining a future just like the past. And that isn’t working very well.
  • let it be OK to not know
  • refrain from “helpful advice” on how others should solve their problems or why their idea wouldn’t work. As opposed to asking clarifying questions (”What do you mean by __,” or responding (”I really like that idea of ___”)
  • bring our assumptions to light
  • You can when and as you please. Tell others if you plan to leave before close time. Choosing not to speak or otherwise participate at any time if fine.

If you’d like to attend a meeting of the Futures Conversation, contact Andrew or Lynn through the Contact page.