When it comes to G’s, how many is too many?

When we think of the number of governments deciding on the future of the world’s economy, I’ll vote more is better (i.e. G-20 is better than G-8 is better than G-1). When it comes to G-force, it is entirely situational. If you are on a rollercoaster at Six Flags, then more is better, but if you are on my plane that just took off from Guatemala City, more G’s was not so fun.

However, having just taken part in Mercy Corps’ Good Governance Gathering (G-3) in Guatemala, I think three was the ideal number. So what did we talk about at the three-day “G-3,” in a country with 33 volcanoes, three of which are active? (I read Dan Brown’s last conspiracy book on my flight, by the way.)

Led by our fearless facilitator, Alisa Oyler, a small mixed group of professionals (plus me) tackled the core issues about Mercy Corps’ history in good governance work (turns out it a lot more than even our group had expected!), and — more importantly for an innovative organization — we wrestled with the future of good governance programming.

The lava on Pacaya volcano was hot, but not as hot as the Good Governance Gathering! Photo: Mercy Corps

Governance has a wide swath of definitions, but centers around the process by which decisions are made in an organization or government. Good governance generally implies — among other things — a transparent, accountable and participatory process.

Ruth Allen, Mercy Corps’ good governance guru, went home with a plethora of notes to fine tune a framework which will be included in the forthcoming Good Governance Guidebook. If the Guidebook is anything like Ruth and her team’s last outing (the Guide to Community Mobilization Programming), then it will dramatically help with our organizational learning, centered around good governance programs.

More than anything, the G-3 gave us the opportunity for some team building among this community of practice within Mercy Corps, and a chance to demonstrate how seriously we take good governance by sending bigwigs like Bill Farrell and Jim White — who are both Mercy Corps Vice-Presidents — to participate. As much as I’m an advocate of online communication, nothing beats some face-to-face storytelling to really learn our trade.

(And, as for storytelling, you might want to stay tuned for an upcoming blog entry entitled “Bill and Jim’s Excellent Adventures,” about their uncanny knack to be at the location of history as it unfolds.)

Pop quiz: How many G’s were in this blog entry?