Drawing on Linda Stout's 30 years of experience training organizers, advocates, activists, and coalition groups, Collective Visioning provides a revolutionary guide to collaboration within and across diverse organizations.

The step-by-step guide to defining your vision—and making it reality As a leader, it’s your job to look beyond the present and envision a brighter future for your school. Choosing the right path, however, can be a challenge. This inspirational resource is your guide. By following its one-of-a-kind iterative visioning process, you’ll sharpen your vision into a road map for transformative change—tailored to the needs of your learning community. Features include: Key strategies and tools for building a shared vision Practical implementation ideas Case studies from exemplary schools Common trends at the heart of impactful, positive change Thought-provoking vignettes Turn vision into reality, possibilities into plans, and create an environment that strengthens engagement, provides safe and nurturing learning opportunities, and produces students with the skills, knowledge, and disposition to be successful in life.

“In this rich treasure trove of historical inspiration, contemporary ideas, and future-oriented how-to’s, Valerie Brown has brought together a lifetime of work synthesizing science, participatory processes, and action for sustainability. A seasoned explorer, she moves effortlessly between disciplines as she describes a comprehensive approach to tackling the great challenges of our time—together. Because together is the only way they can be tackled. Read, learn, and act.” - Alan AtKisson, author, Believing Cassandra, and Executive Director, Earth Charter International.

Envision and enact transformative change with an iterative visioning process, thought-provoking vignettes, case studies from exemplary schools, key strategies and tools, and practical implementation ideas.

An inspired and practical approach to developing the innate power of groups to make wise, compassionate, and creative decisions Based on nine years of research involving scores of participants Includes real-life examples and specific practices to help readers understand and cultivate collective wisdom and avoid collective folly If we are to disentangle the extraordinary challenges that we face today in organizations, communities, and nations we must transcend our divisions and develop solutions together. But what enables us to collectively make wise choices and sound judgments instead of splintering apart? When human beings gather together, a depth of awareness and insight, a transcendent knowing, becomes available. Based on nine years of research The Power of Collective Wisdom shows how we can tap into the extraordinary cocreative potential that exists in every group. Collective wisdom is elusive and unpredictable it cant be willed into being, but the authors describe six commitments people can adopt that will increase the likelihood of its appearing. Stories and historical examples throughout serve to illuminate and illustrate how collective wisdom has emerged in a range of settings and through the lives and traditions of varied cultures. Equally important, the authors describe how to recognize the pitfalls of polarization or false agreement, either of which can lead to collective folly a phenomenon with which recent history has made us all too familiar. And they offer a set of practices to help readers maintain the key lessons of the book. The Power of Collective Wisdom is a foundational book for an emerging field of study and practice relevant to everyone seeking more effective and satisfying ways of working with others.

As most managers know, you need a vision to motivate employees to achieve goals. But people, and companies, lose focus, and the future appears hazy. People say, We're getting stale, or, I just don't know where we're headed. Leaders know they need a vision to bring people together. And they know a good vision will renew enthusiasm and commitment. But waiting for inspiration rarely works—sometimes you need a vision now. But how? Recharge Your Team not only shows managers how to create an effective vision—it shows how to do it in as little as four hours, using a time-tested, proven approach. Traditionally, companies call in consultants to help create a vision. Experts can help—for $4,000 per day plus expenses. And then there's the time involved: Visioning efforts can take months. This book offers a less-expensive, faster method. Called Grounded Visioning, and based on a concept called appreciative inquiry, the process allows groups to come up with a revitalizing vision that everyone buys into in half a day or less. How? As this book shows, the key is to be sure everyone takes part, to base the vision on how the team acts when at its best, and to imagine a vision bold enough to inspire but practical enough to feel achievable. This book covers the six quick but essential steps that ensure such results—with small teams or large groups. And any manager, not just trainers or HR people, can lead a successful Grounded Visioning session. Grounded visioning is a breakthrough concept of breathtaking simplicity and power that any leader can put to use today. It works, because it frees employees to share their dreams, hopes, and aspirations. As they soar, a vision naturally arises that recharges the team.