Time Out of Mind?

I’ve attended leadership classes and listened to my most empathic friends explain that a critical element of all successful collaboration is finding middle ground or meeting people part way. No kidding. They also tell me earnestly that neither reasonable discourse nor clearly stated expectations nor chest thumping yield maximum results. I appreciate their good intentions, but that’s about as useful as being reminded I need the “right tool for the job.” Platitudes aren’t the correct tool for any job. What I’d really like is a trail map, however crude, that reveals the hallowed “middle ground.”

A full-on map is probably asking too much. So how about some waypoints? Those you can find. For example, it turns out that a person's perspective about time will influence their choices and behavior. In a May 2010 presentation to the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), Dr. Phillip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University, explains that perspectives on time can shape an entire nation. How people organize personal experiences, their perspectives about how long things last, and pace, among other factors, influence whether people are future oriented, past oriented or present oriented. Dr. Zimbardo suggests “many of life’s puzzles” and even conflict “can be solved by understanding your perspective of time and that of others.”

Our fieldwork in towns in the Northeast and Rocky Mountian West supports Dr. Zimbardo’s claims, and his observations have implications for our work. When listening to people talk about their towns and communities (your town, your community), be mindful of how they portray their notions of time. In some instances, it may be that top priority is the here and now. Others will only focus on the good old days or how badly things have turned out. Still others will talk only about the future. This oversimplifies much of Dr. Zimbardo’s message, but nonetheless, it could provide valuable insight into how people perceive Heart & Soul Community Planning, or any new endeavor, and how you might best engage them in planning.

To see an illustrated version of Dr. Zimbardo’s Secret Powers of Time (recommended), watch this video. If you’ve got a little more time—41 minutes—check out the full presentation, also recommended.

If you’re curious how the secret powers of time play out on the ground, check out this article in the Spring 2009 issue of Orton’s E-Journal, Scenarios, featuring the Heart & Soul Community Planning process underway in Victor, Idaho. Victor continues to struggle with tension between two dominant perspectives; many residents who have lived in Victor for generations are leery of plans that don’t reflect their past, while many newcomers are entirely “future focused.” Envision Victor is helping navigate toward the ground between those perspectives. It’s too soon to know if it’s the proverbial middle ground, but people are listening to each other, realizing they share pride in their home town, they share place-based values, and they’re working toward plans for the future that overcome different takes on the past.