Values/2016 discussion/Transcripts/H

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1	== your three values ==
2	=== 1 ===
3	Empathy and Compassion:
4	Listening, observing, caring enough to take the time to be in the shoes of others, and including that learning compassionately when making decisions, when taking actions including communicating.
5	Civility:
6	Care in communication - understanding that words make impacts, and consciously crafting communications with that understanding. Caring to empathize with those you are communicating with, working with, solving problems with - whether in person, remote, in written or spoken communications.
7	Inclusivity:
8	all the humans are A LOT of people. Creatively enabling ourselves to be fully inclusive (to the extent possible with resources) - what does that mean? Thinking about it and reaching out to far flung (by far flung, I don’t necessarily mean geographically far, but hard to reach) places, communities, groups of people, even if people don’t have the technology or communication tools others have - goes along with empathy and compassion.
9	=== 2 ===
10	Encouraging: I like to be able to think that everyone has something wonderful to add to any conversation (email, text, in person, etc). We should be encouraging to that person (or, a group of people) in order to make them feel welcome and able to share their thoughts.
11	Inquisitiveness: When you are in a conversation, or read something, or overhear something - it should be understood that you can ask questions to understand that topic or thought or action. Be curious...that’s how you learn and grow!
12	Patience: Not everyone moves or thinks at the same pace. Sometimes other people have things going on that you have no idea about. Thinking that ‘they should have finished by now’ doesn’t take into account that maybe their world just got shook up and right now they need to focus on something else. Don’t judge immediately - have patience and be encouraging and ask questions. Sit back, relax, get a cup of coffee and have a cookie - the work will still be there when you get back to it.
13	=== 3 ===
14	Generosity, Curiosity, Openness
15	Generosity - demonstrating your empathetic kindness by using your richness of expertise to meet the needs of others with no expectation of reward. Evokes the nobleness of our mission, our call to assume good faith, and compassion for our fellow man. (Marriage brought this to mind, a good leader showed how this works at the Foundation.)
16	Curiosity - the drive to discover and learn, and thus improve. Also thought the words ‘constant learners’ might have worked. It’s also a very humble word - you don’t know everything, you must be open-minded to new ideas and perspectives.
17	Openness - inclusion of everyone, sharing what is known and in decision making (sharing power). I was also thinking of calling this collaboration / teamwork but leaned towards the words openness / transparency since it contained that idea
18	=== 4 ===
19	I tried to imagine what my ideal version of our community would look like.  I saw a playground where everyone is super-excited to do whatever brings them the most joy.  There are problems here and there but the space is designed for safety so no injury can be too bad.  And then I tried to think what it would take for the world to let us work on this playground, and figured they’d want some accountability in exchange for money or time or trust they invest in us.  So I wrapped my values around this dream: Playful, Accountable, Safe.  In my mind they apply to us and the movement in different ways.  I tried to check them by running problems we’ve had for the past few years against them, and although I would love to pick *all* of the values, I’m happy with these :)
20	=== 5 ===
21	Knowledge: both inside the Foundation and in our mission, the heart of what we do is sharing knowledge, and we must value it boldly and inherently.  This advances us towards acting in a transparent and open fashion, it encourages us to be accountable to those we serve, it commits us to freedom of speech, it not only permits but encourages curiosity, it informs our decisions with data and foresight and understanding of how our actions may impact others, and it motivates our movement’s core projects and their fundamental purpose.
22	Collaboration: to accomplish our radical goals we work together.  We cooperate as an instinct and we do so across WMF teams, across affiliate organizations, across external partners, and across countries and languages.  Inherent to collaboration is that we view autonomous contributors as part of a community--a movement--which is active, healthy, truthful, diverse, understanding, supportive, accessible, communicative, networked, and inclusive.
23	Courage: without a commitment to do what is important when we have fear or face risk, we will balk at the most important junctures and decisions.  Courage is what keeps us honest, puts integrity before public perception or bureaucratic convenience, requires us to treat our staff and volunteers as fellow intelligent and empathetic human beings, and allows us to be vulnerable, playful, patient, and compassionate.  Courage also includes the courage to experiment and try new things.  Without courage, there is no creativity.
24	=== 6 ===
25	Integrity.  To me, this means you do what you say you’re going to do, and if you don’t end up doing that, you say that too. No sweeping things under the carpet or pretending that we never change our minds when new data emerges.
26	Humanity. We are all humans. All of the people in this movement are humans. The second we stop embracing this explicitly and at every level, I’m probably out.
27	Really valuing humanity means we constantly strive to reach across social / political / geographical chasms to bring people in, *particularly* if it is difficult to do so.
28	Something like “Careful deliberation” but I don’t like that wording…
29	Basically, I’m just trying to say that we never ever value snap decisions. There is a perceived tension between speed and accuracy that I don’t think actually holds up in our complex environment.
30	Weird note: Have you ever seen the way animated films are storyboarded, as opposed to the way live action movies are typically cut together? Our effort on any given initiative seems to be more in line with the former, when it works well...
31	== notes ==
32	Empathy and compassion - empathy is sensing them, listening to them, compassion is what you do with that understanding. It can inform inclusivity. How do we communicate.
33	Civility - i think about this a lot, particularly on the internet. I think it damages for people to be creative and communicative with one another. Your words have impact. It inhibits problem solving. Being conscience of your communication.
34	Inclusivity - it’s all over everything. Free knowledge. That’s so many humans. But how do we be inclusive. Taking time and care to reach out to people. Bring them in. Paving ways to include people.
35
36	Encouraging - I joined in January. I got a lot of these three values in varying amounts. I felt welcomed. We’re glad that you are here. We want to hear from you. You’re encouraging them to grow and share and think and feel safe.
37	Inquisitive - it’s a form of encouragement. Clarifying questions. Curious. Pay attention. Get involved. I think what you did was great, can I ask you questions.
38	Patience - with people that are new. With learning. She’s new. Having the patience to answer questions. Be patient with people who do not complete things. Don’t jump to conclusions (that’s what it sounded like). The work will still be there.
39
40	Generosity - been thinking about it a lot. Demonstrating kindness. No expectation with reward. Often you think about financially. I’m talking about the spirit of generosity. We’re trying to share this knowledge. That’s generous. As it comes in our day to day interaction, we could use some generosity. Taking care of other people. You are kind. You are considering them. When leaders show their generosity to their people.
41	Curiosity - everyone is very inquisitive. Discovery. There is this other side, you’re curious because you want to do something, build something, constant learning. It makes you humble because you don’t have all of the answers. Ask more questions to get all of the information.
42	Openness - teamwork, collaboration, I wasn’t sure what to call it. Inclusive of everything. Sharing power. Working together with others.
43
44	Playful - it was like a candy store in the values list. How I see working here and the movement. From the second I started working here. This playground where they build things, fluid, form relationships spontaneously. Very much in contrast to how other structures in my life have worked. How could we foster that feeling of being on a playground? Building it. It has to be SAFE. protects. YOu can’t have a playground where you spend a lot of money and nobody comes. Accountability. Playful, we should all just be having fun.
45	When thinking about safety, they were saying that kids could injure themselves, but not too bad. There were places that you could fall but not get too hurt. Speaks to a way of learning about the world in a safe manner.
46
47	I did this with Liz and I really liked it.
48	Knowledge - it’s not really a value, but I value it. It’s at the heart of what we do. It applies both inside and outside of the foundation. It encourages us to be transparent and who did what and how it went. Freedom of speech - the freedom to share ideas. Acquiring it. Curiosity. Includes knowledge about how we make decisions.
49	Collaboration - there is no way that we achieve our vision without working together. Across teams between affiliates. Partners. Demographics and language. It brings on a lot of other traits that we want to encourage. Active. Diverse. All of the relevant people. Supporting each other and communicating.
50	Courage - no matter how lofty our goals if we don’t commit to doing what’s important and right or it won’t look good to the press or the community or more convenient not to do it. We can’t become what we aspire to without that courage. Treating each other as human beings. Understanding and vulnerable. Courage, it takes courage. Courage and creativity.
51
52	Integrity. Not just personal it’s the integrity of the org and the face that you present to the rest of the world collectively. Do what you say, explain if you don’t. Talk about mistakes. They get us closer to the truth. No pretending that you never change your mind. It’s good to change your mind when you get new data. Use them. To do so, you need integrity.
53	Humanity - valuing humanity, a lot of things fall out of that. It’s not just oh yeah humans. Not setting up an unsustainable space for your direct reports. That shouldn’t be an expectation. Collaboration falls out of that too. Autonomy falls out of it. We value our autonomy, we’re going to think things through. We can meet in the middle. It’s hard to connect with people, that’s why it’s worth doing.
54	Anti snap decisions. We value understanding complicate problems before doing things that will have a lasting effect. Critical thinking. Thinking things through. Think before you hit the road. It’s not wisdom. It’s wisdom in action. Thoughtfulness in action. Scenario planning before you take an action.
55	How can you be wise in action and be agile? It’s not coming up with the whole package before hand. We either think too much and people are accused of not moving. Then there is be bold. Be bold only works if you can revert quickly. Is this experiment going to have long lasting repercussions, or is it safe to fail.
56	FORESIGHT.
57
58	Empath and compassion -
59	Why? We do things that impact many people. To understand the impact we need to understand people. Making decisions. It’s easiest to make decisions for ourselves and those around us. Because we have to get along with them. Easiest path is not the best path. It’s a vehicle to understand people. It can give us broader understanding.
60	Empathy feels too touchy feely, but the way you describe it is very practical. A practical definition. It helps us understand people and helps us make decision. It helps us decide how we are going to treat people.
61	5 pillars to get at the idea of trying to be inclusive and sensitive to different points of view. And that’s what we do on our projects (or should). It’s valuable to understanding and knowledge and critical to good decision making.
62	I value empathy but I feel like an alien sometimes and I can’t see if from another perspective and I wonder how it works if some of us don’t know how to do it. We all have our own recipe of who we are.
63	People who do not have a skill may not be as good as those who struggle to get there. If you’re really trying to build it.
64
65	Civility -
66	On the internet in general, society in general. To be able to be creative and do the things I need to do, I need to feel to be able to put things out and if i hesitate that someone is going to lash out to me. This happens in phabricator and on wiki. It’s intense. It’s important to understand the impact of your communication and shutting people down. You can critique, but don’t lash out.
67	Reminds me of safety. If we don’t have civility, thinking of putting yourself out there, not wanting to deal with the repercussions.
68	Is that the bedrock value? I don’t know if civility is the right word. Is it safety? Inclusive? Something to be said for not everything can be flowers and rainbows, but the way it is delivered matters.
69	The case of twitter, declining for lack of civility.
70
71	Patience - i’ve been known as the bull in the china shop. That’s something that i’ve worked on for years. It’s not just my will of things that need to be done. I need to think of other people and be patient with them. Also asking for patience when I am struggling. You have to work at this stuff. It’s not easy.
72	Why is it important to be patient? I’ve hurt feelings. Damaged relationships. LIFE EXISTS, right? Nothing is ever what you’d like it to be? Why is it important not to hurt others feelings? We need to get along. Reciprocity. Golden rule. It goes back to assume good faith. We don’t have anything about act in good faith. I”m not sure how to express.
73	What’s behind this? It stokes collaboration. It allows the collaboration to happen. We’re doing hard things in the time period we are giving. It’s a century long project and take on huge tasks that may not be on a certain schedule. Humility around the scale of things. We’re in it for the long haul. Awe. Or even terror of what we’ve taken on.
74	To me it’s about strategy and foresight. Pando the tree and surviving. Patience allows you to be the tree, not react. Look at things for the long run. We can’t do everything. FORESIGHT. PATIENCE. THE LONG HAUL.
75
76	Why? We’re trying to do a lot of good and in a good way. To be curious it does go back to being humble, you  don’t have all of the answers. It gives you the excuse to pause and ask questions and learn.
77	Curiosity gets a better understanding of the truth. Closer understanding. I don’t like truth being the underlying value because it’s static and they can stop. The curiosity to find out.
78
79	Playfulness - curiosity is the spark to playfulness. Automation that can collect all of the knowledge. We become more like those computers we’ve missed part of the experiment here. We’ve missed the point. We’re becoming machines. Why are we doing this in the first place. Deep motivation is that I want to have more fun. You get one life. You live it. That’s it. Just having a ton of knowledge at the end of life is not that fun. Discovery and the whole reason for embarking on this journey. Engaged. Not learning. Old people die when they retire because they are not engaged. Playful.
80	I studied working with new editors. Playfulness helps. Medical content. How can we have playfulness as a core value and not be seen as serious? And not be an asshole. Playing with somber concepts by getting to an underlying truth. It doesn’t have to be funny to be fun. We can have fun and do serious things. Capturing that kind of fun, not necessarily light. Playful is this middle ground that is not good or bad. Playfulness can move that on. In playful there is no bad or good
81	What play really is: about testing your understanding the mechanics of a simple situation. Testing what happens when you move something. If we can be careful about setting up playful areas where there are not a lot of bad things at stake.
82	A world without humor I don’t want to be involved in it. Same with playful. Play isn’t necessarily good or bad.
83	When I came to WMF I was new. I didn’t know you could edit wikipedia. To me i’m a child and that motivates the way I look at it. Child-like.
84
85	Courage - it’s not a contrast to empathy. It’s not just boldness. It’s not just about doing. It’s about facing vulnerability and doing the right thing anyway. It’s consistent with empathy. It takes courage. Especially if you are relating to people with deep ideological differences. It really is just if we as an org have values… it’s also about how you enact your courage.
86	If you have a value like courage- you see how the other values around it work together - it starts to balance how you would enact courage. This is why the group of us facilitating are stepping back and reflecting - how these values interact with one another is something we are looking for.
87	If your goal is to be transparent, courage helps you stick to the course on what your value really is.
88	Vulnerability - the courage to be vulnerable. Such a powerful thing as humans. That humans can do. You need to be in a safe environment (mostly). The notion that vulnerability is weakness. Any piece of personal truth takes courage to put out. In order to be useful you have to perfect. Thats bullshit. When you hide your vulnerability. When you set the bar here, then you arm up and it gets guarded.
89
90	Integrity - because I’m not sure that’s the one at the bottom. Integrity is just another way of behaving ourselves to get us all collectively closer to the truth. HONORING THE TRUTH. Accountability comes back to truth. If everyone is showing up in good faith, accountability is the way we don’t make the same mistakes repeatedly. We don’t waste time. Free knowledge. We don’t want that to be wrong knowledge. The way we create tools and the processes that we use to get the truth out there.
91	Is that related to transparency? If you’re going to have an honest collaboration you have to be transparent and truthful and it’s butting up against the civil. Being civil means that you are being less honest. That may be why people choose to be uncivil. Maybe some people feel inauthentic. That if I don’t express it as I feel it, it is a lie. It’s not true.
92	The connotation that the people who claim integrity are just the people that are pointing to everyone who is doing things wrong. There is a self righteousness to it. A refusal to compromise. That would be the shadow side.