Last week members of Daily Acts Organization (DAO), Ecology of Leadership (EOL), Transition US (TUS) and an independent filmmaker took a pause from busy lives. In a beautiful setting in rural California we reviewed our programs, skills, audiences and interests in the light of synergies, leverage and potential. We surprised ourselves with the richness of the possibilities and the natural fit of many seemingly different pieces. Ordering and reordering, prioritizing and rolling out timelines - in effect, we sizzled. Excitement grew, respect landed and new programs came to light.  

In five days we were able to achieve a year's worth of meetings. The added bonus was that we spent time relaxing together, sharing meals, soaking in hotsprings, walking in the moonlight and watching the stars. What we learned about each other in these "down times" suffused our "business" meetings with deeper listening and wider appreciation. The end result is that we have an incredibly exciting collaboration that will make more impact than any of us could achieve independently.

We went into the week with an idea of what some of our specific outcomes/"deliverables" could be, by drawing on the strengths of our respective partners.  However, by taking this pause together, we began to see the potential emergence of a more coherent set of offerings that could prove to be truly transformative in the wider ecological and social change movements we serve. This included clarifying a focus on four primary areas: Personal Ecology, Home Ecology, Organizational/Group Ecology, and Community Ecology.  

Some specific outcomes for "Phase One" of our roll-out of deliverables include:
A collaboration between EOL and DAO to provide webinars and workshops in the areas of personal leadership
EOL and TUS to provide webinars and workshops on effective group process to support members of the Transition movement
DAO to prepare the template for our "Case Studies/Do-it-yourself" models, which each organization will then follow
TUS to look into preparing a specific page on their website, or possibly our own collaborative website to house our new collection of offerings
All organizations to look into future funding mechanisms, including Phase 2 of an Invoking the Pause grant process
A teaser video for the whole project
Videos capturing "stories of success"
Progress on specific components of the book "Reverence and Resilience".
Great possibilities were also foreseen for a future Phase 2, beginning in 2014, including the creation of a more in-depth video trainings, online courses, a collaboration between our organizations to support a specific local community, and a full-scale website with a comprehensive set of educational and training offerings for people at the edge of eco-social change from diverse sectors.

For the members present, it became clear that this is just the beginning of our collaboration- we see our work extending into 2014 and beyond. We are grateful to ITP for giving us the opportunity to take a regenerating and rewarding pause and can't wait to connect with other "pausers"! As was often sited at our retreat, and when we were about to step back into our fast-paced lives, "May the pause be with you!"