Transition Culture

26 Mar 2007

The 10 First Steps for a Transition Town Initiative Become 12.

**The 10 First Steps for a Transition Town Initiative** have become what we refer people to when they ask how to do a Transition Town, but as they are applied and tested in different places, inevitably the need for certain additions and refinements emerge. Therefore, I would now like to redefine them as the **12** First Steps, and add a new one on the beginning and one on the end. Today I am going to introduce the new first one, which now goes at the beginning of the series.

**#1. Set Up a Steering Group and Design Its Demise from the Outset.**

Bill Mollison once said “I can’t save the world on my own, it’ll take at least three of us�, or words to that effect. In starting this initiative off you will need to gather some like minded souls to you in order to drive forward the first stage of the process. What is essential though, and its importance is becoming increasingly clear to me, is that from its first meeting, that group must design its own demise, set a defined lifespan.

So many groups get atrophied and stuck with people who cling to their roles in a way that stifles the progress of the project. In the longer term it is important that the project becomes driven by those who are out there actually doing things. I would suggest that you form your Steering Group and agree that once you have achieved the Awareness Raising stage, the Official Unleashing and started to form groups, once a minimum of four sub-groups are formed, your group disbands and the Steering Group becomes made up of one person from each of the groups. This requires a degree of humility, but is very important.

When you decide to trigger such an initiative, pull together a group of 4-8 people who you think would be good at driving this stage of the project forward. It helps if they are well connected, have experience of organising events, and that they respond with excitement to the TT concept. They are the people who will make the first stage happen, the pioneer plants who will prepare the soil for the next flush of plants. Designing their demise in from the outset allows the project to assume the identity of those who actually undertake to make the commitment to action in their lives.