MyCleanSchool - www.mycleanschool.org
See also downloadable (MS Word version) Getting Started with My Clean School.
See also downloadable (MS Word version) Getting Started with My Clean School.
Here are some tips to
help you be involved with My
Clean (MC) and achieve satisfaction with your community. As you can
read on the website
www.mycleanindia.org, this initiative will change the way our
communities connect, takes care of the environment and creates people
who are confident and satisfied with life.
The key thrusts of
My Clean are to support and
promote what is good in our environment and then builds on that (ie.
looking at the good things). It does so by:
·
Acknowledging those making a contribution in the world (ie.
certificates, awards, prizes for those making a difference).
It is not about you.
·
Encouraging people to keep their environment clean (ie. as an
opportunity to enrol others.)
In other words, My Clean:
·
Does not primarily look for
problems to fix but looks for the good things as
seeds and builds on that (Appreciative
Inquiry); and
·
Aims to empower the individual and to create change in a sustainable way
(some might say, from the heart)
which comes about being in action.
My Clean School
creates students who can be described graphically as having one side of
their hand with scholastic skills and the other with a way of confident
being, so with both sodes of
the hand complete, feeling empowered.
As described in a separate document of
My Clean School, it is for
the students to feel proud of their education and the school that
supported the spirit of
My Clean. The spirit can be
incorporated in most activities of the school curriculum without adding
to the workload of teachers and distracting the students.
Why My Clean? |
Network creating opportunities for
activities,
sponsors and
acknowledgement |
My Clean
acknowledges
that cleanliness is just a
symptom of
society. A clean society is a prosperous one and so our motto
therefore, is “Prosperity
and Beauty through Community”.
My Clean
is a concept and network to help everyone to make a contribution
and feel satisfied by representing a:
•
Bannerhead to
support a range of community activities.
•
Network to:
§
Share ideas and
experiences and learn from each other.
§
Identify
worthwhile projects.
§
Acknowledge
people and organisations.
Under the
My Clean banner,
sponsors (ie. businesses and organisations) can:
•
Use that banner
to sponsor profile activities in the community.
•
Support and
sponsor broader opportunities for schools, groups and
individuals otherwise unavailable to them.
My Clean
creates:
·
Successful models
of action or outcomes to replicate.
·
Empowered and
satisfied people and groups.
·
Cooperative
communities and groups. |
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Acknowledging people and groups makes a difference and inspires
others into action in the spirit of
My Clean. |
Always look for
opportunities to acknowledge others. At schools begin by
acknowledging them
for making the time to listen to you given how busy and pressed
for time society is. And in school situations you can share that
you know how important education is, and for its staff how
important it is to demonstrate good (academic) outcomes to the
parents. Assure them that
My Clean is not a distraction, but a complement to their
academic studies and a way of thinking (such as
Appreciative Inquiry
as described in the My Clean School document).
You might
consider sharing that like them you too are busy and have a
family, a job and so many obligations, but you are there with an
opportunity for them with a lifelong reward. You could say you
woke up to the awareness that there are two sides to the hand of
living life fully - with one side as their scholastic education,
and the other being who they are in life as promoted by
My Clean: two sides
of the hand making a strong hand (and you could demonstrate that
visually perhaps creating a fist). Whatever you say, consider
talking about yourself as a fellow citizen with life experiences
that encourages you to speak with them and that you are thrilled
to experience them listening and responding.
At the conclusion
of any presentation, acknowledge them. |
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My Clean
as a forum to be seen to support those making a difference.
Sponsors providing awards. |
Businesses and
organisations are always keen to be seen as good community
citizens. My Clean
presents as a neutral forum to raise their stature and of
course, to promote the champions.
Encourage people
to identify potential sponsors and activities that could be
sponsored and supported with prizes and awards.
Sponsors help
expand the network and build community spirit. |
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My Clean is like a ‘journey’ which is about:
·
creating leaders,
·
practicing acknowledgement, and
·
supporting the good things of society.
Like a journey, it can be life changing for everyone, including
yourself. |
You could say
that My Clean is a
journey where we are
the passengers of a
‘train’ with ‘carriages’, ‘rails’ and a ‘destination’:
·
The ‘carriages’
on the train are groups, or our communities of people with a
leader (Facilitator) that you will discover during this journey.
Each carriage is independent and can engage an ‘engine’ and find
its own way to the My
Clean ‘destination’.
·
The train is
travelling on ‘rails’ which represent the
good or working parts
of our society. This feature is what
Appreciative Inquiry and
Progressive Inquiry focuses on.[1]
As passengers, we go about
acknowledging
people, organisations and communities that are contributing to
the good working features – ie. the ‘rails’.
·
The ‘destination’
of our journey is where the communities are connected and with
the passengers feeling satisfied with their life, career and
relationships. |
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Successful schools promote students who are globally minded with
leadership skills. |
Successful
schools are extending education beyond academic excellence into
promoting life skills. For example, the Indus International
School in Hyderabad, India declares the following as its
aims....
·
to accomplish
more than mere academic excellence
·
there is much
more beyond the horizon of just studying
·
to encourage,
among other attributes-a socially caring person
·
the education
being provided must infuse a sense of community
·
to nurture
globally minded citizens who are thinkers,
enquirers..............who care......
·
to give your
child the greatest gift of all-the ability to be a
leader..........
Many schools are already involved in working on environmental
issues.
What is missing sometimes are opportunities for students to see
possible solutions and opportunities beyond insurmountable
problems of impacted-pollution, disease, water shortages and
stress that they feel are beyond them.
My Clean creates
awareness that they can make a difference and be rewarded in the
process through building life skills. |
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A
model for taking responsibility and promoting empowerment. |
My Clean
is focussed on empowerment and uses the pathway of cleanliness
which is the single most common and urgent problem for our
beautiful planet Earth. It is also not just about cleanliness of
the environment, but also cleanliness of our mind and our
conduct in life as routes to empowerment.
Everyone can make
a contribution to My
Clean no matter how small and, by being in action, we
contribute to a Tipping
Point for our community – creating a permanent shift in
community spirit.
At every
opportunity we
acknowledge people who are making a difference and helping
our community reach its goal of a cleaner environment.
By our conduct we
are creating a model and source of inspiration for others also
to be in action.
By being in
action and by taking responsibility for our world,
we will feel satisfied and empowered. We will learn to step
through issues and precepts where we have previously been
stopped. Participation in
My Clean can therefore be life changing. |
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All can participate by being in action. |
My Clean
represents an opportunity for everyone to make a break with our
past habits and our ways of thinking. We might tell ourselves
that we are “too busy”, but in reality it might be that we once
had a bad experience or event that we subconsciously hold as a
reason for not being in action. So if we are stuck not being in
action with My Clean,
it is likely there are other areas in our lives where we are
also stuck or resigned. By being in action, we can break the
mould that we have created for ourselves and enjoy more
fulfilling lives. |
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Creating opportunities for action that
they want. |
In this highly
competitive world, it is a challenge to enrol the teachers, the
principals, and even the parents, never mind the students
themselves. So be in
their world, especially of the young people. Imagine how you
would feel as one of them listening to you. Practice your talk
and listen to yourself as a student might listen. This is a
competitive world and they are inundated with (about) problems
and what they should
do. They are numb to calls to action with “should” words. Offer
something interesting and relevant to their future.
So, for the
students, try to be sensitive to the fact that they want good
academic grades and be mindful of how under pressure they and
the teachers are. Create a possibility for them to feel
satisfied and make it clear that
My Clean is about
empowerment that comes through being in action and especially in
out-of-comfort initiatives including the practice of enrolment
of others. My Clean
presents many opportunities for practising life skills for the
students to be satisfied with their schooling.
My Clean
represents an opportunity to interact with the community and to
practice enrolment such as with the shop merchants to sign an
agreement to supply bins for their customers, or for the
community to take care of a designated street or whatever makes
a contribution to a cleaner place. Opportunities are everywhere
and often so very close. Being in action can bring a general
change in attitude and approach towards fellow students, the
teachers and one’s family.
My Clean in action
can help people see beyond themselves and be rewarded in the
process with lifelong valuable skills. |
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Encourage others to create a vision for their community |
The students can
be so inspired that they will ask the principal and the teacher
to conduct activities that
they identify
(especially through the process of
Progressive Inquiry.
They should feel that the topics are to be owned by them and
they might for example come from a previous essay competition or
some source that they identify[2].
You may wish to
create a forum to speak (or to write) about what they think of
society, their environment and their role in it. Even writing
about the future can stretch them into areas beyond simply
regurgitating what they have been taught or conditioned to
think. Initially they may be challenged, but the process of
looking at what is working can make them more creative and in
the end more employable and satisfied.
Give students the
freedom to communicate in
their way, without rules, be it by art, essays, by singing,
or practiced enrolment, but always by being in
action.
Whatever you do, encourage them to be in action doing
things that stretch them into initiatives especially if with a
little personal discomfort. We are promoting breakthroughs and
these don’t come without a little personal discomfort. |
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Ask questions |
This is about
enrolling (inspiring into action) people into the vision (of
Prosperity and Beauty
through Community) for your community be it a school, the
town, a society or whoever you a talking with.
We have found
that if you want to be effective, avoid making requests or push
and cajole people however meritorious you feel the cause is.
Signs that you are doing that are when words like,
shall, should, must,
and guilt words like your
responsibility etc) are used or
Asking questions
can be very effective, so for example if you see that your
icecream vendor doesn’t have a bin to dispose of your wrapper,
consider asking him if he cares to join the movement, eg the My
Clean School campaign. He will probably ask what it is about and
you could then respond with this is a campaign to make xxxx a
Prosperous and Beautiful
place (with an emphasis on cleanliness). Who can resist not to
say “yes” to you?
So having gotten an affirmation, the next thing will be that you
will get a how can I help? That then becomes your opening to
say, what about providing a bin? This is just one example of how
a question can inspire people into action by offering something
that they want.
By the way, when
you are being asked the inevitable question after a presentation
of “How can we join you?” one response you could offer is “How
can we join
you?”. You can
add that My Clean has
the experience, connections and talents to help them achieve
their goals. We are a resource to help them and we do that
without judgement of them. It may be helpful to condition them
that “No!” is just a word, without meaning.[3] |
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Being ‘yourself’ creates empathy and support. |
Humility and
passion enrols people. Yes it is hard to be humble in this world
of walking egos. It is hard to expose oneself especially to
one’s juniors. It is difficult to declare how one is evolving in
the process of promoting
My Clean. But your humanity, experiences (including your
disappointments and many setbacks that were overcome) and
insights will be inspiring. Few people are prepared to stand
vulnerable in front of an audience but those who do, will engage
them. Reflect on what you can share with them and your insights
gained.
It is hard to
accept that it is not
about you, but about them.
For the students, the teachers, the people in general to own
whatever they do. And by that...for you to be
just the wind beneath
their wings. For example, if you use the expression “I
need to convince them”
then you are not practising this and you are, sadly showing
signs of doing this for yourself and not so much in touch with
their needs. |
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People will remember how you made them feel more than what you
said. |
Your passion will
speak. Your humility will speak and the stories of your
breakthroughs and insights will inspire especially if in detail.
(Remco said his life began to transform since jumping on a plane
in 2007 not knowing a soul in India and saw students with
passion in their eyes wanting to be in action but not knowing
how. He woke up to feeling he was more than a chemical engineer
but a citizen of the Earth who could make a difference.) We are
clearing the path for empowered people not waiting for others to
be in action and by that, to wake up from a conditioned torpor.
The passion of
the Facilitator is a critical factor. The people involved with
My Clean are
passionate about the youth, the people and the environment. That
passion is contagious and so if they are not responding, then
first look at yourself.
Note that if the
Head of the school is keen and supportive it is likely the
teachers and students will also be more willing to get involved.
So try and get the Head on your side first. |
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Obtain agreement for action and create milestones. |
You have made a
presentation about My
Clean and they indicate support – what next? Once you have
that commitment for action (eg a date for a clean-up), make sure
you also create a timeframe to complete their commitment. In
other words, don’t create open-ended commitments as they could
lead to excuses for not having completed on time.
Encourages
small steps in
small areas which
when on transforming (ie. become cleaner) remains the property
of those promoting the change. They must own the change and that
will promote sustainable change and pride in those making the
change.
As group
activities take time to organise each student could make a list
of what an individual at school and at home could do such as
save water, electricity, and handle litter. This could become a
written oath.
Also create
longer term commitments and visions with commitments and again,
with milestones or agreed times. Use your discretion but always
create milestones and have the next step agreed to even
before the current
step is completed. The My
Clean School document has many examples of initiatives
including the Clean Up
the World day (or pick a cooler season date) or “Pick
Up A Tonne” etc., |
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An audience that appears not interested is often a mirror on
yourself (and not the subject) and becoming aware represents an
opportunity to improve your style. |
Have you
experienced any of these as excuses offered to you for not being
in action?
·
It’s someone
else’s business.
·
It’s below my
social status.
·
I feel
uncomfortable asking someone else (eg. to stop littering; to put
out a bin; to help clean; inspire a community group etc.)
·
I am too busy.
Well, these
excuses could be that they did not sense your passion (see
Your Passion).
My Clean
is a refreshing way of thinking for stepping through where we
felt uncomfortable or reluctant to act.
My Clean is a
journey for everyone.
My Clean provides
an opportunity for
everyone (including you) and if that is not clear, then
perhaps that may explain why you are not fully in action or
feeling not fully satisfied with your day-to-day life. Outcomes
and feelings about the My
Clean initiative can be a private
mirror on how you
deal with your life.
Being in action with My
Clean, we can take the past out of our future and place it
back where it belongs - in the past. |
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Setbacks are actually opportunities for valuable breakthroughs
and insights. |
Of course there
may be times when some people do not respond in a way that you
might hope after having put in a lot of time and you feel
disappointed. Ask yourself, could it be that
enrolment was missing
(ie. putting it coarsely, you haven’t created and shared a “what’s-in-it-for-them”
possibility)? Is it that you simply haven’t created an
opportunity that motivates
them into action
because they
actually want to? Look at what you offer – make a distinction:
is it simply just another call to action based on some moral
cause, or are you offering an
exciting opportunity
for them? So don’t stop with a yawn as we learn by reflecting
and that disappointing no response experience is an opportunity
to refine your approach and grow from the experience. |
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Commitments can overcome practices of the past.
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Inevitably people
will offer excuses why something has not happened by the time
they agreed to (“I am busy” is common). While many excuses seem
plausible and reasonable, invite them to take responsibility and
at the very least, invite them to advise the project leader
before the agreed
time if they anticipate not being able to comply within their
promised schedule. In that process of holding them accountable
for their promise, they will begin to understand how we often
create excuses and live our lives disempowered. |
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Being in action creates inspiration for others. |
You will
inevitably encounter the discussion about others and the
disappointment with the others. The fingers come out pointing to
the institutions, government, the administration or simply an
indifferent community. (Note when a finger is pointed, the
others point back to the owner. It is amazing what can happen by
being in action when all the others are pointing fingers).
My Clean is an
opportunity to be in action directly, to be model of inspiration
and by that, to be satisfied with our achievement. Action
contributes to community spirit. |
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Sharing experiences of having been
stuck and overcoming
it inspires and motivates. |
Being
uncomfortable and stuck is where there are personal growth
opportunities. Encourage those who are unable to be in action to
come forward and share their feelings with others present.
Perhaps you can share your own experiences of where you have
been stuck in life and with breakthroughs and insights as an
encouragement for others.
Again as a
generalisation, be human and share your frailties and by example
show how you overcame being stuck and especially where you now
see how being stuck in one area was often repeated in other
areas of life and career. Acknowledging being stuck is the first
step in being more effective in life.
My Clean
provides opportunities for breakthroughs. |
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My Clean takes every opportunity to promote leadership skills. |
As you might
gather, My Clean is
about creating the skills to be a leader. Not that everyone has
it in them to be a leader of a large group, but all can feel
more comfortable with themselves by engaging others – and that’s
an art. To be an effective leader, we must understand that what
we are doing is
not for ourselves.
As hard as it may be for you at first, find leaders to take on
the project.
They must feel it
is their project, not yours.
For example, when they ask the inevitable, “How
can we join you?” one possible response is a mirror:“How
can we join you; how
can we help you achieve your dreams and ambitions to contribute
to our environment
and community”.
Here is the
reward for you – to discover what real leadership is. It is
not about you but who
you are being. |
[1] Appreciative Inquiry and Progressive Inquiry are separately described in the My Clean School document.
[2] In 2009, My Clean India ran an essay competition called “What your (city/town/village) could look like in 2012 and what is necessary to make that happen?”
[3] It might be useful to pair up students and to practice receiving a firm, (shouted) “no!” to condition them that it is just a word and not a reason to stop their initiative based on a less than supportive response from any group or individual.