Our ability to provide quality Montessori education for children is greatly influenced by our ability to work together, as a school, faculty, Board, or student/family/regional/statewide organization. Recognizing the essential role the prepared environment plays in a child’s development, the Ohio Montessori Alliance (OMA) has spent a year considering and experimenting with structures that align with Montessori principles, to support our organizational development. What follows is a reflection, and an invitation...
The potential for the Ohio Montessori Alliance (OMA) was birthed through dialogue...a quiet truth that existed within each of us that transformed into a palpable presence within the safe space and energy created by the group -- “We are all in this together, and working together is necessary for real change to happen”. The magic of Life is that you never know how it will express itself through a particular form or being, and so we waited in wonderment of what would unfold, and set about the task of nurturing our development.
Montessorians excel at establishing conditions that enable Life to flourish...the question before us was, "How can we transfer our shared knowledge of the critical role the prepared environment plays in an individual's development to nurture the development of our Montessori-community-as-an-organism?"
Montessorians excel at establishing conditions that enable Life to flourish...the question before us was, "How can we transfer our shared knowledge of the critical role the prepared environment plays in an individual's development to nurture the development of our Montessori-community-as-an-organism?"
Considering structures for our prepared environment, we quickly recognized that traditional hierarchical organizations are based on the same understanding of the world as is conventional education: “Newtonian images of the universe [where] we manage by separating things into parts, we believe that influence occurs as a direct result of force exerted from one person to another, we engage in complex planning for a world that we keep expecting to be predictable, and we search continually for better methods of objectively measuring and perceiving the world.”(Pg 7) This recognition echoes the words of Edward Deming, who, “revered around the world as a pioneer in the quality management revolution...would often say, ‘We will never transform the prevailing system of management without transforming our prevailing system of education. They are the same system.’” (Pg xi & xiii) This system and its underlying assumptions has served a phase of humanity’s evolution, but is not accurate or comprehensive enough to help us interact with change and each other, at the pace and scale necessary for the Earth’s survival.
An alternative paradigm for understanding Life is emerging through discoveries in a variety of fields (quantum physics, biology, chemistry, partnership studies, chaos and complexity theory, systems thinking, etc), that echoes the indigenous wisdom of our ancestors, and aligns with the truths observed by the scientific mind of Dr. Montessori. This paradigm focuses on holism and integration, rejoices in complexity and interdependence, and recognizes “relationship [as] the key determiner of everything”. (Pg 11) It is in this paradigm that the OMA sought an organizational structure to serve as our prepared environment.
For the past year, the OMA Board has been experimenting with Dynamic Governance, “a decision-making and governance method that allows an organization to manage itself as an organic whole” [Pg 2]. Based on equivalence and Systems/Complexity theory, Dynamic Governance (DG) seeks to leverage the creative forces of self-organization, which allows the overall organization, as well as each of its members, to “achieve their full potential”. (Pg 20)
Some benefits of DG-as-a-prepared-environment include:
*establishes a “power-with” governance structure
*maximizes inclusion and efficiency
*builds autonomy and enhances alignment
*fosters engagement, productivity and commitment
*encourages creativity and innovation
*creates energy and harmony around decision-making
Although we have only “dipped our toes” in the DG waters, we have noticed that, similar to how the prepared environment shapes the development of the child's brain and personality, the practice of engaging with others within the structure of DG seems to guide and shape our optimal development, as individuals and an organization.
A little over a year into our growth, I’ve had a chance to glimpse the form of Life that seems to be unfolding within the OMA: This past week I fumbled. As one of the leaders of the OMA, I missed an important detail; dropped a major ball. With full trust in the safety and wisdom of the group, I sent out an SOS -- sharing my failure and seeking help. Within an hour, support and resources appeared, and multiple solutions emerged where none had seemed to exist.
I believe the structure of DG has helped the OMA organize for change by building our capacity to manage crucial conversations, cultivate a learning culture, tap the group's collective intelligence, harness system's thinking and the healing power of inclusion, embrace complexity, and develop a “win/win”, “both/and” approach to decisions-making.
Striving for real and sustainable impact, the OMA Board has committed to a two day training in Dynamic Governance with John Buck, by embedding it within our Annual Meeting, an opportunity we wish to share with all interested individuals and organizations throughout the Montessori community...
If you are someone who is excited about Montessori education (parent, administrator, directress, student, alumni, grandparent, etc), we welcome you to join us at the OMA Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio, on October 26th and 27th, to:
*gather and grow as a community,
*deepen our connections, as well as our understanding of the work before us,
*better understand this new paradigm, and consider ways to leverage Montessori Education, Dynamic Governance and “collective impact”, as complementary tools for architecting a new culture, within our schools, faculties, Boards, and student/family/regional/statewide/national organizations...and perhaps, the world.
We hope you will join us!
