passion, society, change, diversity, future, leadership, meeting point, relations, process, knowledge, learning, differences, awareness, integration, creativity, ideas, systems thinking, insights
“LärOlika” is a leader program that targets decision makers and influential people who are active in very different parts of society in Stockholm, Sweden.
The aim of the program is to provide each participant with broader networks, new insights and enhanced leadership skills. The program enables this through its focus on a diverse group of selected participants, a variety of different meeting environments, and a process that allows participants to share and learn.
PEOPLE, PLACES & PROCESS
The core of LärOlika can be summarized in three “P”s; people, places and process.
We bring together people from different backgrounds and cultures – all active in the same city. Hospital managers, football trainers, marketing directors, writers, politicians, IT managers, religious authorities, leaders from the finance sector, young activists and senior community leaders are among the participants.
Ages vary between 18 and 90+. Cultural and ethnic backgrounds differ. These people have very few opportunities to meet each other, since society is not structured to enable meetings across cultures/disciplines/generations. Thus, we provide a unique platform for them to meet, and the mix of people who meet makes this program completely unique.
All participants are asked to invest their time and contribute to the program through their active participation. However, there is no fee to participate in the program. This allows all participants to participate on equal stands, independent on ability to pay.
The preparatory work, to identify and invite such a mix of participants, is significant. At this stage this is a complicated task, but the hope is to develop a model that can be used elsewhere to find highly diverse sets of participants.
The place for each meeting is important. Each program consists of a set of six meetings in different locations across the city – in the center and in the suburbs, urban environments and nature, at corporate offices and in museums.
The idea behind this is that many people feel alien to certain parts of a city (and others are uncomfortable in another part), purely because one has never had a reason to go there. Then, a grim media picture or rumors create fear or unease. This program gives people reasons to go to various places in the city, and the places and organisations visited are also often part of the program. Venues/organisations visited include youth center, museum, adult education center, theatre rehearsal venue, law firm, office hotel.
The process through each program’s six meetings is being developed so that each meeting in different ways helps participants to learn, get inspired and/or challenged by other participants. The program content is 90% generated by the participants themselves, in different types of conversations and exercises. We provide the frames for the meetings, but we never predict the outcomes.
In society today there is a catastrophic shortage of connections – and understanding – between people that belong to different groups. This is very apparent in a city such as Stockholm. There are very few links or possibilities to meet between those who have recently immigrated and established Swedes, or between people in the cultural sector and the financial world, between young people and those in power, between house-owners and those living in apartment complexes. Etcetera.
This provides fertile soil for prejudice against those who are different. And many creative ideas never get a chance to emerge. We believe that meetings and conversations between people with different perspectives and backgrounds is essential for any kind of change – both at the personal level and in the community. We have therefore developed this unique leader program that is based on curiosity for what we are not so familiar with.
The Swedish Postcode Lottery has funded the project financially.
