The Family Policy Council has had the opportunity to work with different members of the Berkana community since 1999. To this day, Meg Wheatley’s words continue to be present in our work as a foundational piece and have helped us evolve into a powerful community of practice working on behalf of families in Washington State. Teresa Posakony, Tenneson Woolf and Bob Stilger and the work of Berkana have helped us find language to express what we already know. They have helped us learn how vital it is to carve out the time for deep reflection so that wisdom can emerge. At other times Berkana has brought new frameworks, concepts and analysis into our community which have helped us deepen our work. Always, Berkana has created a space where it has been safe for people to have conversations allowing us to learn from our past and chart our course for the future. Berkana has also helped us connect with like minded people across the country and throughout the world. We know we are part of an expanding network of people working tirelessly to create healthy and resilient communities.Laura PorterWashington State Family Policy Council
The Berkana Institute has helped us connect with a whole community of like-minded workers in different parts of the world who see many of the same possibilities we do to build healthy and resilient communities. We know there are others who are also working in communities to help people see and build on their strengths as they envision a better world for themselves and their families. Bob Stilger's way of being in the world – his deep curiosity and mischievous habit of challenging our thinking with a good question, has helped our work beyond measure. He showed us the basics and connected us to like-minded folk in different parts of the world, then stepped back to let the work unfold. A kind and generous soul. Thank you!Valmae Rose, Executive DirectorNational Disability Services, Queensland, Australia
Berkana Institute provides the framework and the tools to support our work In Illinois. As a result of our first Art of Hosting we are learning to listen deeply, think holistically and value the wisdom among us. We are committed to strengthening our communities and systems to nurture the healthy development of all Illinois’ children and families as they are the foundation and the future for our collective well being and prosperity.Lina CramerWisdom Exchange, Strengthening Families Illinois
We invited Bob Stilger from The Berkana Institute to help us examine our agency’s impact on the communities we serve. He did more than that. He helped us see that the real power of our work lies in connecting deeply with people as much as in connecting water lines, roads or services. Bob helped us remember how to listen to and learn from each other, accessing the knowledge we already have to create more healthy and resilient communities. From this initial work we’re exploring new roles as leaders of an organization committed to restoring relationships with tribal communities.
I had known of Bob’s work and reputation for some time, but only recently, in a moment of serendipity, found an opportunity to work with him. Throughout our retreat his open heart, thoughtful listening and skillful facilitation kept pushing us toward more discovery of what good community work might become in this place. We xplored new melody and harmony, experimented with chaos, and found our way toward resolution under his wise guidance. Along that path, we also had a lot of fun. Bob’s gentleness, humor and deft action as a facilitator kept the attention on the process and the people, rather than on him. When solutions were called for, his decades of experience with community groups helped us find them.Steve Woodall, former Director of Community PlanningThe Cherokee Nation
When we found our new partners with Berkana, what we discovered was so much more than “practitioners” who know about the latest fad in group dynamics. What we discovered in our new partners was a zest for living fully and abundantly, in sync with the greater possibilities this universe has to offer. They know their stuff. But they sustain their work not by valuing a practice, but by practicing their values. The well of wisdom upon which they draw is deep, because they have deliberately shifted into a new kind of partnership, rooted in what I can only describe as love.Patricia R. Case, General Assembly Program and Marketing DirectorChristian Church (Disciples of Christ)
It is has been an eye-opening experience to interact with Bob Stilger from The Berkana Institute over the years in his short trips to Southern Africa.
Bob has been around the work we do at the eThekwini Municipality’s INK Area-based Management and Urban Renewal Programme as a friend, a co-learner, a coach and consultant. Through his multifaceted roles and relationships, he has helped us to navigate our landscape and made us feel that is in fact okay to have questions and not have all the answers.
Our practice is deeply embedded in co-creating with communities be they not-for profit community organisations, local business, Councillors and other government departments. Bob has been precise in identifying the need for internal practices and rhythms which provide a foundation to take our work to the next level. He has made these suggestions without prescribing, but rather encouraging us to find our own answers.
We have been honoured by his sharing of the Berkana experiences through insightful presentations and the depth of Bob’s view as a community development worker. The community of Inanda Ntuzuma and Kwa Mashu is now richer through his thoughtful, dynamic and easy manner in which he made the development practice easily understood by both ordinary people and professionals.
As a programme, we salute his tireless and continuous efforts to enable community to collectively create and hold a vision. Through Bob’s commitment to learning we are now able to appreciate the thread that connects various community learning centres in South East Asia, America, Africa and elsewhere.
Bob’s work has been overwhelmingly positive in the lives of many people he has met, and I hope he never stops giving in to what he has called `the energy of yes’.Linda Mbonambi, Area Project ManagerINK Area, Durban, South Africa
We have aligned our local efforts with Berkana and a global network of vibrant partners to apply principles of democracy to cultivate hope, reconnect through our hearts and regain trust in the indelible human spirit. The Art of Hosting built relationships among local leaders that have deepened as they self-organize around common passions and commit to actions, leading to more sustainable Tampa Bay communities.Sharon Joy --Tampa Bay, Florida
Bob Stilger from The Berkana Institute was tasked to do something quite difficult: to defuse long-held tensions and perceptions, to supplant old habits and to establish new ways of seeing, thinking and doing for a diverse roomful of 200 know-it-all strangers. And he had to do it in the space of seven hours. As the organizers and reputation-holders for this particular event, we found ourselves anxious but hopeful as the day began, and astounded and energized by the time it was over. The secret to our success: The attendees, Bob, and two ten-foot sections of rope. You’ll have to ask Bob to explain how the rope helped to untie knots rather than create them. According to the Tao Te Ching “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: ‘we did it ourselves.’” That’s Bob’s approach in a nutshell.Jon FordSt. Luke's Health Initiatives, Phoenix, Arizona
