In this inaugural episode, we introduce The Social Field podcast and unpack more on what a social performance practice entails. We learn more about the differing perspectives on the discipline and its functionality across sectors by hearing people’s origin stories for how they came to the work.

Content:

Check out Eva Pomeroy's article quoted in the introduction at the following link: https://medium.com/presencing-institute-blog/social-fields-shifting-the-quality-of-our-collective-being-6bfc8de3afac

Credits:

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

Chulumanco Mdingi, a community relations manager in the renewable energy sector, shares his extensive practical and theoretical knowledge of socio-economic development in the South African context. Chulumanco describes some of the poor practices he has been exposed to but also points to the structural challenges with operating in community contexts. Psychologist Nomfundo Mogapi shares her knowledge of how family and intergenerational trauma make this challenge significantly more difficult to manage without adopting heightened levels of awareness on the psychological architecture of communities.

Contact:

To learn more about the work Nomfundo does, contact the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership at https://cmwl.co.za/

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

If you want to maximise your impact in the work you do, psychologist Nomfundo Mogapi argues the most important thing you can do is invest in therapy. In this episode, we explore the importance of working on one’s own psychological wellbeing as a key requirement for operating successfully in the social performance field. Nomfundo Mogapi helps us understand the brain science behind why therapy and other psycho-social support is necessary for teams and leaders operating in wounded contexts. Nomsa Fulbrook-Bhembe from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) also shares her story of how this work shows up in her personal life.

Contacts

You can find out more about Nomfundo and the work she does at the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership at https://cmwl.co.za/

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

A social performance manager supporting renewable energy projects in the mining sector, Sindiswa Gaven speaks to us of her experiences of what makes certain social performance teams effective. She shares how working in a cross-functional ways builds confidence and creates more meaning in the work we do. She goes further to call for companies to better involve employees living in neighbouring host communities as well communities themselves in delivering improved social performance outcomes. We also hear more about Daniel Kim’s Core Theory of Success.

Content

To learn more about Daniel Kim's Core Theory of Success, you can follow this link: https://thesystemsthinker.com/what-is-your-organizations-core-theory-of-success/

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

This episode was inspired by a question asked by Olebogeng Koatlhai, a Social performance specialist supporting Major Capital Projects. She challenges our views on how mega projects and large organisations could be working together with civil society to progress the objective of a just transition. Alison McCallum also shares her views on the challenges of collaboration and the importance of operating with high levels of both advocacy and inquiry.

Content

To read more about the difference between inquiry and advocacy, see this article -https://thesystemsthinker.com/productive-conversations-using-advocacy-and-inquiry-effectively/

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

The season concludes with a reflection on how the discipline has evolved in the past 20 years or so from when the term ‘social performance’ was first coined. It explores the levers that have supported this evolution and explores how different organisations and sectors may be at a different point on the social performance maturity journey. It begins to imagine the seeds of the future and what these suggest for the discipline. We also meet Andy Booth, Head of Social Transitions at Anglo American to hear about his experience of how the discipline has changed. This is a part one of a two-part episode.

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

Episode six (part two) continues to explore ideas about the future of the discipline by shifting focus to the global and local trends and themes that we observe at the very forefront or frontier of the practice. These include radically rethinking the role of external stakeholders (including community stakeholders) as partners in the journey, supported by new forms of participatory process and agreement making.

Credits

Presented by: Lisa van Dongen and Alison McCallum

Co-producers: Mzamo Moloi and Lisa van Dongen

Sound design and engineering: Audiodacious

Special thanks to all contributors as well as Anglo American, the sponsor for season one.

The Social Field is a podcast that showcases stories about what it means to be a social performance practitioner. Designed for people from a range of sectors (mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, forestry, agriculture, protected areas management and more) this will be appeal both to those directly involved in the discipline and to those accountable for teams doing stakeholder engagement, socio-economic development in communities, and social risk and impact management.