Apartheid is an\u00a0Afrikaans word meaning “separateness”. \u00a0And I see a surfeit of ‘apartheid’ in development processes in our city.<\/p>\n
Let’s look at the ‘Vision for Leeds’. \u00a0In its official version I\u00a0believe\u00a0this is a statutory requirement for the council to produce. \u00a0It has a website <\/a>and a series of workshops each aimed at a different sector. \u00a0Cultural types are kept apart from third sector types. \u00a0Business people have their own workshop provision. \u00a0 But there is also an ‘unofficial’ vision<\/a> being developed by the very wonderful ‘Together for Peace’ crew. \u00a0Again I was invited to a workshop for ‘business people’.<\/p>\n We have myriads of other networks in Leeds. We have them for start-up entrepreneurs; for artists and cultural types; we have them for financiers and digital creatives. \u00a0We have them for hi-tech businesses and university spin-offs. \u00a0We have them for community development workers and just about every niche you can imagine.<\/p>\n But they\u00a0nearly\u00a0all require you to adopt a label, and\u00a0nearly\u00a0all separate you from others who don’t. \u00a0Trying to find a truly diverse network is not easy.<\/p>\n Now in\u00a0many\u00a0ways this is not a problem. \u00a0If I want to join a network to explore the latest development in double glazing then a network for double glazing specialists hits the nail on the head.<\/p>\n However if I\u00a0want\u00a0to search for ways to make progress on the problems and \u00a0opportunities facing a complex system like the City of Leeds then I had better make sure the groups I work with contain enough diversity. \u00a0That, as the\u00a0systems\u00a0thinkers say, we have the ‘whole system in the room’. \u00a0 \u00a0The beauty of large group methodologies is not that they give us powerful ways to work with large groups – but that\u00a0they\u00a0give us powerful ways to work with the diversity that is necessary if we are to find whole system approaches to complex challenges. \u00a0When we practice apartheid we chop the large group methodologies off at the knees. \u00a0They become nice processes with weak outcomes.<\/p>\n We also fragment what should be whole. \u00a0So we have a group of ‘business people’ looking at ‘the economy’. \u00a0We have a group of ‘artists’ looking at ‘culture’. \u00a0And we have the third sector looking at ‘Big Society’. \u00a0These\u00a0are all facets of the\u00a0same\u00a0problem and we are\u00a0unlikely\u00a0to come up with useful interventions by consulting in\u00a0isolation\u00a0and hoping that we can\u00a0stitch\u00a0things\u00a0back together later in the process.<\/p>\n So next time how about doing the work to get a really diverse group in the room and who knows what new ideas we might be able to spark and what new relationships we might be able to develop.<\/p>\n What do you think? \u00a0Have I\u00a0exaggerated\u00a0the problem?<\/p>\n Or might it be that an unconscious level of apartheid could be a major barrier to real progress in the City?<\/p>\n