On October 23, 2011, the ICA-Peru staff received 31 tribal leaders at our Azpitia Training Center for a 3-week residential Leadership Formation program.  They were 26 men and 5 women from the northern jungle of Peru who had traveled up to 3 days by boat and then 38 hours by bus to arrive very tired but with great expectations, for they represented 10 Tribal Federations who had never gathered together before.  Just days before their arrival, one of the Federations had created a national crisis by blocking the principal river as a negotiating tactic with the government and the oil company sponsoring our program, so we were not surprised to encounter aggressive negativity directed at our staff at the orientation session on the first evening. 

Our assignment was to take this very mixed group and create a working team – and also train them in the full use of their new laptop computers which were gifted to each participant by the Company.  We had designed a special curriculum with computer training by a young professional every morning and afternoon, along with an abbreviated form of our entire 3-week curriculum, with each of the 63 sessions shortened to allow time for the computer training twice each day.  We knew that our curriculum changed lives, so our staff just moved ahead hoping that it would work with this challenging group as well.  By the end of the first day the group was settling down to work, but there was still a lot of friction around their assigned housekeeping tasks such as clearing the tables after meals and cleaning the bathrooms, things that men “NEVER” do in Peru!

By the end of the first week our staff was no longer being tested and there was near 100% participation in the program.  As they moved into the second week they began to open up, their participation began to increase, and we began to notice small groups having intense conversations during the breaks and in the evenings.  Entering the third week there was open dialogue and planning going on as the animation of the group grew with the appreciation of the great opportunity which their zone represented.  By that time our staff had succeeded in changing their story from “We are a forgotten people and neglected by the government” to a more effective story of “We have complete freedom to create our own future with very little interference from the government” which represented a major shift from victim to self-activated leaders. 

Among other things, this new posture generated some outstanding new local business models for the participants and their tribal communities.

At the closing ceremony, the ICA staff received many accolades and the evaluations were strong.  There were even a number of apologies for the harshness of the opening session just three weeks before.  Some tears were shed as the bus pulled away on the return trip, with most of the group wanting to stay longer.  This is normal behavior for most groups, but was quite remarkable for this very macho group of tough leaders from a very reserved culture.

The 31 new leaders-facilitators next went to Lima for two days of business meetings with the oil company, which was another first for them. The night that the meetings closed, the General Manager called us to say that he was amazed at what we had accomplished in just 3 short weeks, as the people were prepared to articulate their interests, discuss business

themes in depth, and reach decisions without one moment of conflict. He then shared with us that we had had the leader of the most aggressive Federation with us in Azpitia and that he had changed his posture completely and was now acting as a responsible leader who represented the interest of his communities. We were shocked and startled that we had been working with such a powder keg in our midst, and once more affirmed that the ToP methods work!

The Company has such faith in the facilitators we trained that it plans for them to lead the quarterly meetings from now on, instead of a professional facilitator, but with some coaching from a member of our staff.  The Company also referred us to two neighboring companies and a contract is now in process to extend these methods to another large area of tribal communities.

Once again, we received confirmation that eliciting a compelling common vision and building a consensus with ToP methods can move any group out of conflict and into constructive action.



Ken Hamje is Executive Director of ICA-Peru