Today I worked with food system and network weaving colleagues in a rural country. It was the first workshop there on transforming food systems, hosted by one of the local funding leaders. As usual, I used part of the Agile Canvas process to facilitate dozens of people to dozens of committed projects and an unprecedented richness of enthusiasm and connection. Every time I do this work anywhere in the world, I'm struck by the nature of complex issues like food security. Of course these issues intrinsically resist big money into more of the same and silver bullet solutions. Nonetheless, I observe that what makes them feel so complex is that they exist in a space where the only possibilities come from self-organization.
In these contexts, unlike hierarchical and plutocratic organizations, no one is or can be "in charge." Power as influence is earned not entitled or assigned. No one wants to be managed or controlled. If anything new is going to happen its only going to happen because people come together in new conversations.
The power of the Agile Canvas is that it brings people together as peers to become inspired and productive together. This significantly simplifies the complexity in profound and important ways.
