Learning: Toward Posterity

Grandpa, Softball, and Posterity

People knew Grandpa Chet from Brown Lumber where he worked for 40 years in downtown, Midland, Michigan. At lunch breaks, Chet would walk around the area stores and stop in and visit people. At restaurants around town, he would take the coffee pot and walk up to tables of people he did not know and ask to top off their coffee mug while wishing them a good day. (And yes, in the 70’s one could take such an initiative and it was welcomed by the waitstaff who knew him well.)

One time Chet was umping at the softball park like he had done for so many decades. During this particular game, he was behind home plate where he liked being the best. It was an even game going into the bottom of the last inning when a line drive was hit to center field. Chet wasn’t able to see whether the center fielder had caught the ball fair and square or whether he had trapped it. The other umpires also missed the call. Instead of determining the play on his gut instinct, Chet stopped the game and walked out to center field. He stood before the center fielder and greeted the player by name. Then he asked the ball player whether he had caught the ball. The center fielder answered, “No, Chet, I didn’t catch it.” Chet said, “Thank you” to the player and walked back to home plate and called the runner safe at first. The dugout mumbled against their center fielder. “Why did you tell him you didn’t catch the ball?” one player demanded of the center fielder when the game was over. “Because that was Chet Yoder talking to me, and no one ever lies to Chet Yoder,” was all the center fielder replied. 

Dad, Groceries, and Posterity

To say my ball-loving grandpa influenced me with a spirit of joy and generosity is an understatement that cannot be measured. The memories and examples such as the ball story shared by the center fielder at Chet’s funeral are part of his legacy that impacts his grandchildren and now great grandchildren. Posterity is in play as this story has been used in character studies in a middle school, told around dinner tables, used in this blog, and shared recently from a church pulpit. Our family knows the character of our late Grandpa Chet and saw generosity continued by his son, my dad, Dennis, who passed away this last July. Just recently, our family awkwardly continued a blessing practice that my dad had annually shared with his grocery store community throughout the holidays. My dad’s adventure was to approach strangers in the grocery store a few times a year guided by some direction in his gut and attempt to make new relationships like his dad had before him. If the person received his interest he would then ask if he could pay for their groceries. He hoped to make their day a little brighter with unexpected extra cash to instead spend or save on something or someone else.

Why did my mom and I spend an afternoon in a grocery store digging down deep for courage to approach strangers and introduce them to my dad’s way of thinking; engaging in the desired, respectful dance of whether or not it would feel joyful to them to have their groceries purchased by a stranger? We showed up, where clerks and managers remembered my dad and did not realize he had died - only because my dad would have assuredly been there doing the same if he were yet with us this year. As a family, we wanted to keep his holiday practice alive this year because of what it meant to him. Three of his great grandchildren were in tow at the grocery store and witnessed the joy, some tears, laughter, and hugs shared between my mom and these new relationships. We want not only generosity to be part of my dad’s legacy, but joy shared and for such to become a family truth to the furthest generation (posterity).

A Process Consultant’s Posture toward Posterity

How does a story about baseball and grocery stores fit into a process consultant’s posture? I am glad you asked! Process consulting considers Learning Toward Posterity (the final core competency of process consulting) from the beginning of all relationships with clients. Let me explain. 

When we work with clients, we enter the relationship with all our senses wide open to assess and ask for assistance in understanding their organizational values. These values or lack thereof will show up as cultural commitments. We question why such and such is important. We ask them to tell us more. What have they learned that is important for them to continue as an organization even into the future among people they do not yet know? WHO becomes very vital in understanding how important cultural definers will continue in the future when the champion of such is no longer at the helm. WHO has played what role in figuring out what matters? HOW will the organization know when they are successful in creating posterity with their cultural value indicators present? HOW can their learning for the future be focused on the welfare of generations yet unborn? Succession, legacy, and posterity are part and parcel of a process consultant’s learning responsibilities alongside their client - in order that the ‘best of’ values and practices of the organization continue into the future. 

What does Learning Toward Posterity as a process consultant’s competency look like when engaged with an organization? Begin with the end in mind. Realize that whether or not the WHO? WHEN? and HOW? of building posterity in a client’s organization is initially visible or known by your client - be assured that we all have transforming influence. We all have power of influence which impacts others. And so, we and our clients are passing on both legacy and posterity either by intention or non-intention. A meaningful quote to me from Brennan Manning states, “In every encounter we either give life or we drain it; there is no neutral exchange.” 

Instead, as process consultants we partner with organizations to help them identify/clarify their desired posterity goal(s). We do so by offering to walk beside them in determining WHO? HOW? and WHEN? what actions need to be taken to assure their desired influence will occur - even to the furthest generation that follows. And as process consultants, we bring authentic, deep, caring for their individual and organizational success. 

But how do we assist our clients to ensure and build for enduring values to remain, influence, and launch into the future? Some ideas from Dr. Mark L. Vincent, founder of Design Group International, author, and thought-content curator in the field of process consulting, include: 

• Intentional residual and or equity relationships
• Online knowledge repositories – curated and searchable
• Group email/messaging
• Peer based review
• Collegial gatherings with informal/formal to share knowledge, especially through case studies
• Society for Process Consulting credentialed training such as PC 201 Core Competencies with a winter cohort registering now
• Onboarding activities specific to a Community of Practice

Examples of Posterity Struggles and Opportunities in Private Schools

I have witnessed organizations struggle through these pandemic years to build posterity because of some identity log jams. One group that has been hard hit in Covid has been school leaders as noted in my work with several heads of private independent schools and their boards. The private school identity struggle has been magnified due to the political pressures that blow this way and that. Subsequently, board members, informal influencers, donors, and sponsoring bodies vie for the authority to determine identity. Who gets to ultimately decide how each school’s core values will be embodied both now and into the future for those who are yet to be students? By nature, a private school is formed around a distinct set of beliefs. But in today’s polarized society how does a board and senior administrator build for posterity when each marketed phrase, course description, or faculty member’s vita is open to criticism based on an assumption the content means this or that? And so, some schools have widened their nets to seemingly offend less and others have dug in with freedom extended to not choose their Kool-Aid if one so wishes. 

Some schools are negatively using their current transforming influencing through the absence of knowing what core values they agree on in order to build a lasting culture for posterity. I have witnessed schools re-organize bylaws to change owners so their posterity imprint can be different than the founders envisioned. Accreditations change, job description expectations are altered when posterity markers are no longer valued the same as previously. But I do see hope. I see, also, schools where the welcome is wide but the unapologetic nature of who they are and what culture they espouse remains constant. These schools are building leaders who are aligned with strong supportive communities that will see those schools' values live into the future generations while remaining on mission. Two schools I have worked with are actively reinforcing identity at a board level, strengthening the onboarding training of volunteer board members, and whose school administrator is extending invitations to their faculty to begin each staff meeting with examples of how mission, vision, and values look in their culture on their campus. The alongside help that a process consultant can provide a private, independent school is vital in helping leaders to determine their best WHO, HOW and WHEN for building posterity. Posterity will be built only in strengthening the communication of and living out of a school’s core values that will affect the most students and families to the greatest degree for the longest time. 

Learning Toward Posterity

Families have teapots, family bibles, and grandma’s jewelry. We also hold stories dear of what we aspire to be like, as in my family’s re-telling of Grandpa Chet’s umpiring, and that of my dad, Dennis, and his holiday give-away practice. There is a profound reason for telling my grandchildren the stories that we treasure and the core values we desire to live out each day. As process consultants, we must also Learn Toward Posterity alongside our clients for the best of their leadership goals and their organization’s future. We work with clients who are willing to do the demanding work of moving from good to an even more vibrant future. Their work depends in part on us showing up as learners armed first with authentic caring, and an open mind and heart to grasp their cultural indicators. We are committed to test our understanding of those who fill the WHO seats while asking the challenging questions. We take the role of learner to assist our clients to do all it takes to build for their posterity. Process consultants Learn Toward Posterity so that our client’s best outcomes today will be even surpassed in their future tomorrows while holding to their same unique cultural values that define their transforming influence in our world. 

If you would like a conversation about shared learning and posterity, I invite you to contact me at dawnyg@designgroupintl.com or call me at 1.877.771.3330 x11.

Walking alongside,

Dawn Graber
Design Group International
Senior Consultant

Process Consulting competencies identified and implemented through
the Society for Process Consulting.