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Google Mail - [New post] Interview with Jean Russell:

How to Kickstart your Agency Engine

agency :: the capacity of an agent (a person or other entity) to act in a world

The concepts of individual and group agency are recurring themes around our virtual water cooler
discussions of late. As eager change agents, edgeriders, and transitioners to a new world, we’re all
more than blessed with big ideas. What many of us lack is the ability to reign in the ever expanding
“cone of possibility” into a laser beam, pick a specific actionable project, and execute. Instead of
implementing ideas, much time is wasted pitching them at each other, with no discernible path
towards action.

How do we break through this inertia and start “getting shift done”??

Well, there are two mantras that might be appropriate here:

1. If you want to level up, ask for help.

2. Our community has within it all the resources we need.

If this is the case, then those of us who have project ideas and a true hunger for manifesting them
have a pathway forward. Time for action!

So who’s bent on helping us help ourselves?

I took a quick look around and found that friend and colleague Jean Russell just launched a new
initiative, The Agency, to assist us cultural creatives and innovators in bootstrapping.

Jean is a facilitator, coach and social ecosystem designer, and founder of the “thrivability” meme.
(Perhaps you’ve seen her Collaborative Sketch, a curated compilation of perspectives from 70
authors on the values, qualities, cycles, and actions that comprise Thrivability. Recommended!)

I caught up with her via email interview to find out more details about The Agency, which she
describes as “a vigorous accelerator to catalyze innovative people creating the emerging transition
to a more thrivable world.”

Below are her thoughts on how to kickstart your agency engine, and start bringing more magic and
light into the world!

--

You’ve just launched The Agency. Congrats! How does it work?

I wanted to design something thrivable - an engine that uplifted people and projects to make them
better. I am checking every level of activity in it to make sure it generates upward spirals for
everyone involved, thus the accelerator term: an engine to create more thriving.

The Agency isn’t a one-dimensional service.

There are elements of coaching in it.

And, it is also about accountability - we use a “SCRUM” to say how you are meeting your
goals (crucial when we are doing it for ourselves).
It is also about barn-raising - getting a few people to pitch in, even just for 10 minutes, to get
you past your biggest challenge. That might be marketing help, editing, or strategy etc...
Whatever challenges you.
Oh, and I of course do network weaving, as I can.

The Agency requires about six hours each month for an agent, but my sense is the time and energy
saved are worth much more than that.

The Build program offers a structured process for getting work done through two core methods:
SCRUM and Barn-Raising.

Our Incubate program offers a bespoke yet structured process for getting to what matters and
getting what matters done.

For those who want a lighter taste of acceleration, our weekly email stimulates and challenges
people, like a coach in your inbox.

We also explore a monthly theme to bust stuck-ness for everyone involved. March was
Perspectives. April is Collaboration.

How do I know if your program is right for me?

We are accelerating people who act on thrivable principles in very practical ways. Are you working
passionately to take action that leads towards a more thrivable world? If you want to be bold and
pragmatic - as we say on the site - “play for an epic win.”

Nathaniel with his Adventures in New Giving project presents a terrific example. He has decided on
a project. He is fundraising for it using StartSomeGood. Collectively, we have been helping him by:
reviewing his project presentation, editing his emails, keeping his energy high amid the emotional
turmoil of donations (which can lift you up) and gaps to goals (which can be quite challenging).

Several agents are turning successful business towards a more new economy market, so we have
been working through those challenges which are both internal (story we have about ourselves) and
external (what to say to others).

You mention you to “Coaching to activate your potential” - what does that mean?

Reduce barriers to success.

People get in their own way. I know I have. And that is something everyone has control over. At The
Agency, we get people unstuck. Somewhere in the process from idea to result, people get stuck. To
be innovative, we need play and divergent thinking. To implement, we need focus and discernment.
And to shift from one to the other, we need solid lightweight structures carrying us from idea to
action to tangible outcome. I can be a bit “outcome-focused,” as Art Brock says.

Tell me why you’re the woman for the job of helping me help myself!

I have been stuck. I taught myself how to get unstuck. I have worked for myself for a decade. When
you are a master of knotting yourself, you have to learn how to be Houdini. Whatever the resource
constraints, skill needs, or decision barricades, I learned from my failures, and I can help others
benefit from that hard-earned wisdom. The Agency feels like the culmination of a decade of learning
how to be an effective social innovator. Unstuck. Un-knotted.

I am trained as a coach in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). How people work totally fascinates
me. I learned how to work with what you have to get what you want. As for track record, I coached
social entrepreneurs on 4 continents.

Really, much of what the Agency does is a more structured version of what I have done for years:
work with people to get stuff that matters done. The Agency itself was built this way. A dozen people
pitched in to help me pull it together. I want to help other people be this nimble too! After hundreds of
social swap sessions given with people in the thrivable network, I know how to put social capital to
work in mutually supportive ways. The Thrivable network knows that already. We did it with the
Thrivability Sketch in 2010. I know how to activate resources, leverage social networks, manage
complex projects with lots of moving parts and people, navigate scope creep, and move through
production process to create something that is seen and valuable to many people - all within a short
time frame. The Sketch was completed in 3 months! I want to help others get those kinds of results.

For those that don’t know me, I worked for or been in a variety of start-ups, mostly in the tech/social
media space over the last 5 years. Clients like Zyozy for a Pepsi project, PeopleBrowsr (Analytic.ly),
Sceneverse, OsoEco, Wagn, and Guildsmiths (whose first client was the Gates Foundation).
Sceneverse, for example, said:

“Jean Russell is a facilitator like none other. You simply cannot compare her
services to any other group facilitator’s work. In the preparation and execution of
her facilitation plan for our first corporate retreat, she made absolutely certain that
the event would deliver on many levels at once. She prioritized and helped us
clarify our strategic needs and key outcomes for the session. She made sure that
the schedule was organized to deliver on that promise, and she held us to our own
goals throughout the event – making sure that the value she promised us for the
 event would be the value we received. We’ve each participated in many
facilitated workshops over the years (even been paid to facilitate them ourselves
on occasion), but neither of us have ever seen anyone link creative team building
to organizational outcomes as deeply as Jean Russell did for us. Her workshop
facilitation for us was geared towards actually doing work. She has a unique talent,
and if you are looking for a facilitator who will ensure that your collaboration
sessions actually help you attain your goals, look no further than Jean Russell.”
~ David de Werdt and Neil LaChapelle, Founders, Sceneverse

Who else is on your accelerator team of getting shift done?

Everything I do involves the network of people drawn to the concept of thrivability. I love the Social
Era! To pull together the work on this project so far, I am really grateful for: Pritha RaySircar, Todd
Hoskins, Kathryn Bottrell, Herman Wagter, Christina Jordan, Bonnie Koenig, Cassie Robinson,
Christelle Van Ham, Christopher Douglas, Nathaniel James, Christine Egger, Gil Friend, Jerry
Michalski, and Art Brock. I can’t begin to list all of the people and conversations that got me here,
but those are the most recent or significant contributors to this work. Explicitly, advisors who have
signed on to help include: Nilofer Merchant, Kevin Doyle Jones, and Kevin Clark. Credits and
gratitude listed here: http://agency.thrivable.net/credits-and-gratitude/

And finally, what is the nature of this "transition" of which you speak?

20th Century models (business, citizen sector, and government) are not working. The breakdown in
the economy makes most of us feel how real that is. How do we make bridges to the new era? The
Agency at Thrivable is here to catalyze bridge-building. We need to make a transition. We can help
each other do that.

The transition is where we use what works from the past, discard what doesn’t work, and build
toward what will work better.

--

Thanks to Jean for taking the time to share about her new venture. Best of luck!!

To find out more details about The Agency program, check out the FAQ and follow updates on
twitter at @thrivable.

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Jean Russell, Catalyst at Agency.Thrivable.Net

Jean Russell is a facilitator and social ecosystem designer. As your

guide to a thrivable world, Jean takes entrepreneurs, social
innovators, and business builders on tours of network culture. She
navigates clients through the crucial questions of creating and
nurturing teams and networks to develop healthy, productive
collaborations.

Jean's dedication to shifting our collective awareness from

sustainability (where we seek to eliminate social, financial, and
environmental harm) to thrivability (where we contribute meaningfully to
a deep cultivation of natural, financial and social systems) provides a
rallying point for those interested in systemic change.
Demonstrating collaboration, she curated, “Thrivability: A Collaborative Sketch” in 2010 with 65
inspiring people. She currently writes passionately about “Breakthroughs for a World that Works.”

With 15 years experience in writing and editing, together with the study of cultural theory and NLP,
her coaching and facilitation approach focuses on the flow of communication and interpersonal
dynamics. Jean leads strategy retreats and social benefit conferences, collaborating with
colleagues in fields ranging from social media/networks to philanthropy, currencies,
green/sustainable design, community development, and human rights.

Jean Russell co-founded Thrivable Inc and Inspired Legacies. A blogger, speaker, facilitator and
mom, Jean blogs at thrivable.net and agency.thrivable.net, and tweets as @thrivable and
@nurturegirl.

This bio is crowdsourced.