Peter Senge Speaks at the E3 Statewide Summit

Last week at the E3 Washington statewide summit; teachers, businesspersons and environmental educators were given the opportunity to attend a presentation by Peter Senge.  Peter Senge is a MIT professor, and author of the Fifth Discipline. Peter’s relevant topic was building community through collaboration. True collaboration is strategic – members need each other. I took away several key points about collaboration and convening groups with diverse members.

Empathic listening
Peter quoted one of his students as defining listening as what he did while he was waiting to talk. Who is not guilty of this? What’s more, Peter points out that most of what we think we hear is not what is being said at all. It is the human condition, neither right nor wrong, to filter what we hear through our emotions. Peter suggests that we ask ourselves what is triggering our responses to what others are saying. Instead of arguing or checking out, Peter recommends that we ask for clarification. Use inquiry rather than advocacy.

Dialogue
Peter put forth the difference between discussion and dialogue. He describes discussion as being a ping pong game of volleying opinions.. Peter suggests that we strive for dialogue.  Peter explained that the word, dialogue, means “flow of meaning”. Replacing discussion with dialogue means engaging in inquiry based information sharing that result in better understanding between members.

Community building through practice
Peter ended the presentation with some practical guidelines for convening diverse groups.

• Ask who is not at the table and who needs to be included.
• Use the World Café method of seating participants at small tables conducive to conversation.
• Check in with participants at the beginning and the end of meetings.
• After a group decision has been made, ask what qualms members have about the decision. This “qualming” exercise can hint at problems that may come up in the future.
• Peter finds it valuable for members to take “learning journeys” together for first hand experiences. Traveling there and back offers time to process and learn from different viewpoints.
• Peer shadowing is another technique that Peter uses. Watching each other deal with day to day events illuminates others positions.

Striving for true collaboration using Peter’s guidelines offers a fresh and useful approach to community building between diverse members.  Thanks to E3 for bringing Peter Senge to the E3 State Summit.

Washington Cooperative Conservation Report Issued

The Partnership for Water Conservation has released a first ever report summarizing the activities of water conservation efforts by municipal water suppliers in Washington. Since the passage of the Municipal Water Law in 2003, water suppliers with more than 15 connections must implement conservation programs and track their progress toward greater water use efficiency. This report is important as Washington is one of the few states with water use efficiency rules in the nation.

The Partnership for Water Conservation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to enhancing water efficiency in Washington. The Partnership's Cooperative Conservation Report was written by a diverse team of Partnership members.This report analyses data collected from 153 utilities responding to water use efficiency regulations set forth by the Municipal Water Law. The analysis shows that billions gallons of water have been saved since the implementation of the law and that cost effective conservation opportunities are still available to utilities.

Read Cooperative Conservation: A Report on the Implementation of Washington's Water Use Efficiency Rule to learn about analysis of system leakage, conservations measures, water metering and the setting of water use efficiency goals.

I had the honor, as 2012 Chair of the Partnership Board, to present the team the Partnership 2012 Leadership Award for the completion of this report at the Partnership Membership meeting on January 10. Sincere gratitude goes to out to all involved in collecting data, researching, writing and editing this important product.

Debbie presenting award to Committee Chair Dan Muir

Partnership for Water Conservation Leadership Award

Debbie accepts the Partnership for Water Conservation 2012 Leadership Award.

I proudly accepted the 2012 Leadership award from the Partnership for Water Conservation at its quarterly membership meeting on January 10 at Bellevue City Hall. The Partnership is a nonprofit made up of over 80 water utilities, businesses and non-profits. The interests of the Partnership surround water resource stewardship. I have had the pleasure of serving on the Board for several years. During 2012 I served as Board Chair.


My award is for my role in the process of completely reorganizing the Partnership - top to bottom. I got the award, but thanks really goes out to the wonderful folks making up the 2012 Board. I had the pleasure working with seven committed Board members who formed the structure of Partnership 2.0.


Earlier this year, it became apparent that the mission of the Partnership was being outweighed by administrative responsibilities. When looking at ways to better serve our members, we decided to streamline the Partnership, making it a much more simple and user friendly organization. The Board identified that the Partnership exists to provide networking, collaboration and communication between diverse members to promote stewardship of water resources in Washington. We want the initiatives of the organization to come from the expressed desires of the members not the Board of Directors.




To best fulfill the purpose of the Partnership, we now hold quarterly networking meetings for our diverse members. Each meeting will include a presentation on a subject important to them. Opportunities for Partnership funded and sponsored projects will be identified and sought out from the members. The five member board acts as a steering committee to schedule quarterly meetings and facilitate the accomplishment of chosen projects.


I turned the chairperson gavel over to Mike Brent for the upcoming year, but the Partnership for Water Conservation has been turned over to the membership. This award will remind me of this eventful year and how we met our organizational challenges.