Principles and Stories

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples advanced four principles for engaging in meaningful relationship building. They are: Recognition, Respect, Sharing and Responsibility. They are presented in that order. I believe that the order matters. A relationship progresses through these stages. The listing of the principles presents a narrative and the narration matters. It's an ongoing story that can be represented as a mandala. In the centre of the square are three principles that are often invoked in models in the design of effective organizations. They do not immediately tell a story, at least not from the point of view of the individual actor, yet they represent, like the RCAP principles, states that are desirable. However, in this mandala formation, one might think that "responsibility" is reached through a cycle of claiming "ownership" and giving an "account" or that responsibility is manifested through owning and accounting. What do you make of this arrangement?



For the complete RCAP report see
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ap/rrc-eng.asp

And so for day 537
02.06.2008