Margaret Wheatley Study Group

 

Find details here. 

"Relationship is all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationships to

everything else." (p23) 

"Free from the roles and routines that conceal the most of who we are." 

"Grace filled moments of greeting." 

"It’s often difficult to extend ourselves, to let down our guard… strangely what we say is not that important. We have ended the silence that keeps us apart." (p161) 

"Conversations only take place among equals…Those who act superior can’t help but react others as objects to accomplish their causes and plans. When we see each other as equals, we stop misusing them." (p163) 

"My sense of self expands --- I’m no longer locked inside a small self. I don’t feel alone or isolated. I feel here. I feel welcomed." (p137)  

"Staying curious about each other" 

"It’s not our differences that divide us. It’s our judgments about each other that do." 

"We don’t have to agree with each other in order to think together." (p213) 

"Listen for what surprises you, rather than for what you agree with." (p212) 

"All organisms have a need to connect and create" 

"When we serve others, we gain more than hope. We gain energy. People who volunteer for a community or service project often arrive straight from work, exhausted. But after several hours of meaningful volunteer work, they go home energized." (p131) 

"A self that fails to create itself as a contribution is irrelevant in a systems-seeking world… if our self-expression is not meaningful to others, we will not survive." (p52) 

"When we’re brave enough to risk a conversation, we have the chance to rediscover what it means to be human." (p162) 

"Human creativity and commitment are our greatest resources" 

"Anytime when making a decision ask yourself “Is this decision going to bring people together? Will it weave a stronger web?… In what I am about to do, am I turning toward others or turning away?” 

"The simplest way to discover what’s meaningful is to notice what people talk about and where they spend their energy." (p77) 

"It helps to put ideas, proposals, and issues on the table as experiments to see what’s meaningful to people rather than as recommendations for what should be meaningful to them." (p77) 

"No one can create sufficient stability and equilibrium for people to feel secure and safe. Instead as leaders we must help people move into a relationship with uncertainty and chaos." (p126) 

"Instead of fleeing from the fearful place of chaos or trying to rescue people from it, leaders can help people stay with the chaos, help them walk through it together, and look for the new insights and capacities that always emerge." (p127) 

"The conditions of freedom and connectedness are kept vibrant by focusing on what’s going on in the heart of the community rather than being fixated on the forms and rules of the community." (p50) 

"What called us together? What did we believe was possible together that was not possible alone? If we stay with these questions and don’t try to structure relationships through policies and doctrines, we can create communities that thrive in the paradox (of freedom and community)." (p50) 

"Most of us were raised in a culture that told us that the way to manage for excellence was to tell people exactly what they had to do and then make sure they did it. But you can’t direct people into excellence: you can only engage them enough so that they want to do excellent work."

 
"The primary task of being a leader is to make sure that the organization knows itself… A good 
leader supports a continuous conversation about organizational identity and how it is changing as it does its work in a changing world." (p69) 

"People do not need the intricate directions, timelines and organization charts that are assumed to be necessary. These are not how people accomplish good work; they are what impede contributions. But people need a great deal from their leaders. They need information, access to one another, resources, trust and follow through—all while helping everyone stay clear on what we agreed we wanted to accomplish and who we wanted to be (p70). 

"When we’re so overwhelmed with tasks that we have no time to reflect, it is very important that the leader create time for people to remember why they’re doing this work. Who are we serving by doing this work?" (p128)

"Just 3 Rules – take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of this place" (p51)

"People want to love their organizations. Love is saying yes to belonging. When we say yes to an
organization and agree to belong, we are called to new ways of living."