‘Testing Questions’ For All Theory And Practice
Professor Stuart Hill
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To use these when considering change of practice or incorporation of new ideas or when working within your communities.
- Ask of all theory & practice – what is it in the service of? – before supporting or copying it
- Work sensitively with time & space, especially from the position of the ‘others’ (ask: who, what, which, where, when, how, why, if & if not?)
- Don’t get stuck in endless ‘measuring studies’ (‘monitoring our extinction’) – these are often designed to postpone change that is perceived as threatening to existing power structures
- Most of what is remains unknown – which is what wise people are able to work with; so devote most effort to developing your wisdom vs. your cleverness, which is just concerned with the very limited pool of what is known (Einstein was clear about this!)
- Work mostly with ‘small meaningful achievable initiatives’ vs. ‘Olympic-scale projects’ (most of these are abandoned or fail, & have numerous negative side-effects)
- Take small meaningful risks to enable progress, transformational learning & development
- Don’t let ‘end point’/goal differences prevent possibilities of early stage collaboration
- Collaborate across difference to achieve broadly shared goals – don’t end up isolated, alone in a ‘sandbox’
- Keep working on & implementing – especially with others – your (shared) benign visions
- Outcomes are only as good & sustainable as the people creating & implementing them – so start with the people; & remember that we are a relational/social species!
- Always be humble & provisional in your knowing, & always open to new experiences & insights
- Act from your core/essential self – empowered, aware, visionary, principled, passionate, loving, spontaneous, fully in the present (contextual) – vs. your patterned, fearful, compensatory, compromising, de-contextual selves
- Devote most effort to the design & management of systems that can enable wellbeing, social justice & sustainability, & that are problem-proof vs. maintaining unsustainable, problem-generating systems, & devoting time to ‘problem-solving’, control, & input management
- Work with business & the public/community; government will always follow, but rarely lead!
- Learn from everyone & everything, & seek mentors & collaborators at every opportunity
- Celebrate publicly at every opportunity – to enable the good stuff to be ‘contagious’
- See no ‘enemies’ – recognise such ‘triggers’ as indicators of woundedness, maldesign & mismanagement – everyone is always doing the best they can, given their potential, past experience & the present context – these are the three areas to work with
- To achieve sustainable progressive change, focus (at least first) on enabling the ‘benign’ agendas of others vs. trying to impose on them your own ‘benign’ agendas
- Be paradoxical: ask for help & get on with the job (don’t postpone); give when you want to receive; give love when you might need it, or when you might feel hate
- Focus on enabling the potential of people, society & nature to express itself – so that wellbeing, social justice & sustainability can emerge (in integrated, synergistic ways)
- Use the media – let me repeat – use the media! – such ‘political’ communication is key to change Note: These were compiled in 2005, based largely on Stuart’s university and international development experience over the past 60+ years
