First, appreciation for this effort and excellent work. Second, who is Self-led.org? Meaning who stepped up to lead the gathering and collation of the petition? Much appreciation.

And finally I’d like to ask IFS-I for much greater transparency. Like: who is on their Board of Directors? How are they informed? Who does IFS-I take to be its stakeholders? It’s clients (who does IFS-I serve)? What are the mission vision values of IFS-I & how are they developed? Where are the lists of priorities built from identified needs for the stakeholders and clients of IFS-I? Where is the needs assessment for IFS-I clients and stakeholders?

How does this most recent change with Level 1 training admissions align with the M/V/V? With its needs assessment and priorities of its clients and stakeholders? How are decisions made and on what topics and by whom? Once a new need has been identified for the organization, its stakeholders and its clients how does IFS-I develop a plan for input, impact, and implementation? What are the communication strategies to foster inclusion and excellence in decision making and implementation?

All of these questions and more I have that point to a structural and systems cause for why IFS-I finds themselves struggling with implementing change. These are common challenges for new organizations when they move from less structure to more; from one owner (Dick Schwartz) to a CEO run organization. If they don’t do the structure correctly you can end up with gaps that create mistrust and negative outcomes even with the best of intentions.

I have experience with working with organizations and help with start ups and board development in my past careers. It is critical to do it well so the items so well delineated by the petition can actually be taken in and made real. If there is no structure to do this then it’s really hard to make changes. I don’t expect therapists, even really brilliant Self-led ones to know how to run an organization; it’s just not their training. And there are really smart people doing good work in organizational development that IFS-I could really use to build trust, make critical decisions and create the shared community impact that they desire. Ok that’s it for now. Thanks for listening. 🙂