Facilitating for Cooperation & True Sharing in Individualistic & Competitive World with Johanna de Ruyter & Tirrania Suhood | Monday July 09, 2018 | 5.30pm

Individualism and competition have been central to our society’s way of operating. While it’s hard to deny they have an important place these forces have contributed to the current challenges of climate change, growing inequality and concentrations of wealth, increasing homelessness, inadequate affordable housing and disruptive technologies leading to employment uncertainty.

Even the term sharing economy has regularly been used to describe activities that progress the concentration of wealth.  Companies like Uber enable everyday car owners to earn income by providing a taxi service. At the same time pay rates and conditions have been downgraded with the bulk of the profits going to a few.

There is a resurgence of interest and activity in cooperatives, organisations owned by communities or workers. Though coops aren’t everyone’s preferred way forward. We do however need to take action to cooperate more broadly towards a true sharing  and ecologically healthy economy, with fairer distribution of wealth and if we are to effectively address the challenges we are facing. At same time cooperation isn’t always easy to do. Individual motivations, different cultures and approaches can be challenges for this. 

While there have been important innovations from social enterprises the sector is challenged with its winner takes all approach, despite contributions from many others to the success of a single social enterprise. While acknowledging this broader context and our perspectives we recognise how we move forward is a big question and cannot be covered in a short session. However we are keen to begin this dialogue with the SFN community. 

We will allow for some big picture exploration though particularly aim to draw out our personal motivations and challenges in relation to cooperation and competition.  

About Johanna de Ruyter

Johanna de Ruyter is passionate about getting people moving and utilizing movement and action for expanding and strengthening communication. For over twenty years now she has been exploring the complementary relationship of communication and the performing arts. She has worked as an actor and collaborator on various award-winning theater projects both nationally and internationally. She is a long-term improviser, facilitator and trainer with Playback Theatre Sydney. For over 30 years Playback has been commissioned to facilitate their unique improvised and story - based communication forums for a range of organizations all over Sydney. As a theatre company Playback functions within a cooperative leadership model and practices consensus decision making. Johanna also facilitates training in Leadership Presence throughout the Asia Pacific region with The Ariel Group, a leading US and Australian Executive Training Company. Through her own company, Moving Communication, she designs and delivers her own experiential and movement - based Training, Coaching and Presentations for a range of clients.

About Tirrania Suhood

is co-founder and director of InCollaboration which is a social change agency and consultancy that operates at multiple levels with a focus on collective impact to address social, economic and ecological challenges.  She engages with big picture issues while staying connected at the local level. She works with organisational ecosystems, movements and leaders catalysing action in communities.

Prior to InCollaboration Tirrania was the Executive Officer of a community-based organisation for many years and led the development and implementation of a systems and network approach to achieve collective impact for tackling social issues. This work involved collaborations across a range of sectors and engaged community, government and business. She also led a collaborative initiative that raised the profile and value of small community organisations and network approaches. The initiative, that many called a movement, was known as Voice for SONG (small organisations – non-government).

Venue: [We will be at UTS]

University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Jones Street, Ultimo corner Thomas Street. Room 5.580 Level 5, Building 10, Take the lift to level 5, cross the atrium footbridge, walk straight ahead to room 580.

Time:

From 5:30pm to 7:30pm sharp | No RSVP - Just turn up | Donation $5

Enquiries | Eoin Higgins  eoin.p.higgins@gmail.com ; 0407 411 684

Call for Guest Facilitators:

If you have an idea or know someone who has an idea for a session at a Facilitators Network meeting in please contact Eoin Higgins 0407 411 684 eoin.p.higgins@gmail.com