En Octubre junto a Tracy Benson, presidente de The Waters Foundation realizamos un taller de Pensamiento Sistémico para Linea Directa y la Fundacion Educativa MultiEstudio.

Muchas gracias a cada uno, por el compromiso con el aprendizaje, a Tracy por su maestría como coach y Sandra Fajn como coach.

During the first week of October, 2013 Tracy Benson of the Waters Foundation teamed up with Taishi Consulting owner, Omar Ossés and his colleague, Sandra Fajn, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and traveled to Medellín, Colombia to facilitate two systems thinking workshops.  This opportunity was not typical for Systems Thinking in Schools, Waters Foundation work because the scheduled workshops were not for educators, but for leaders in the fashion industry and adult and student leaders of the company’s foundation.  “Just do what you normally do with educators,” Omar Ossés advised.  “The way you teach systems thinking habits and tools is so practical, the corporate and foundation leaders will see the benefits and be able to easily make the connections to their work.”  Thus, the 75 corporate leaders from Carmel’s Linea Directa actively participated in a 3-day systems thinking leadership workshop and learned the habits and tools just as any 3rd grade student would learn in schools.  Participants were engaged in experiential activities and small group exercises using behavior-over-time graphs, causal loops and icebergs.  They made large group presentations and plans for how they would continue to use the tools in their work.

After the corporate leaders experienced systems thinking, Tracy, Omar and Sandra spent two inspiring days working with the MultiEstudio Foundation.  This foundation supports the transition of students from school to the workplace.  The workshop was held in an open-air tent setting outside of Medellín with beautiful views that made it hard to stay focused on facilitation.

The Colombian people who attended both workshops are passionate about their country, their work and their futures.  The facilitators left with long-lasting memories of their experience and new friends and colleagues who helped reinforce the important connection between relationship building, learning and leading.  As they were developing a common language and expertise using a set of visual tools around systems thinking, the workshop participants highlighted the importance of the human social system and the value relationships bring to the corporate world and the community.  It was an inspiring experience that will inform the work of the Waters Foundation across the US and abroad.