Posts Tagged ‘theory’

New Wine in Old Vessels?

July 23rd, 2009

During a conversation with Terry O’Keefe, founder of Web EG, he commented on how he perceived that large organizations (i.e. banks, auto manufacturers, etc.) are “coming apart at the seams” and we are struggling to “put them back together.”  It started me thinking about many of our long standing organizations in small rural towns.

Metaphorically speaking, many of our clubs and organizations have “come apart at the seams.”  We are struggling to recapture or restore their former vitality.

Are we attempting to revitalize and restore old structures/organizations that no longer work?  Can we or should we be attempting to “put them back together?”

My thoughts are it’s really not about organizations and structures.  It is about relationships and community connectedness. If we refocus our thinking and actions, perhaps our rural communities can become a model to move this great country of ours forward.

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U Process Part 5: Enacting Change

April 6th, 2009

Part of a series on the U Process. Read the others here.

A while back, I started a series of posts on a change model called the U Process, developed by C. Otto Scharmer. Before picking up where I left off, I want to give you a quick review.

Three Steps in the U Process

U Process is a lens to look at tough problems through-a different, deeper path from problem to true solution. Most rural communities are in the thick of some long, very tough problems, and the U can be a model for designing a better planning process. Mike has written about the ups and downs of planning for change in Miner County, South Dakota using a method like this.

At a basic level, U Process has three verses:

  1. Uncovering the current reality. This is the journey down the left side of the “U,” a practice in suspending our own subconscious judgment long enough to truly listen and observe the whole with new eyes and ears. It’s a deep dive into seeing the tangled mess and roots of our problems by inviting more people and perspectives into the question.
  2. Letting deeper solutions emerge. The bottom of the “U” is where shared purpose emerges as a better solution-if we allow ourselves to let go of seeking, and let answers bubble up. Uncovering this kind of solution is not about making a decision, but about surrendering to an inner knowing about what needs to be done and opening our hearts and will to that challenge.  It’s much like, as we immerse ourselves in the questions of the left side of the U, there are hundreds of fragmented pieces. But then, suddenly, all those pieces come together as one and we see that it is a beautiful vase. The pieces of the whole become one as we dig in.
  3. Enacting a new reality with transformational action. Once we’ve committed to being the change we want to create, we move up the right side of the “U” in a curious, determined manner. It’s this third segment that I’ll pick up on with this post.

Prototyping

When we find ourselves at the bottom of that U, where we’ve had an “Ah-ha!” about the problems we seem stuck in, there are two choices.

  1. The first choice is to accept it and live with it.
  2. The second, is to say, “I will be a host for this change!”

Nothing gets better until you change.  Otto Scharmer describes that ah-ha as something new that wants to be born through us. It really is that kind of feeling sometimes-we’ve all experienced it, I think.

So, assuming you choose to be the change, moving up the right side of the U is mostly about trial and error-failing fast and forward while we experiment with the future as it comes. “Do not put yourself in a box of your past failures,: explains Scharmer, “Reflect on your failure, and get up and keep going.”
This is about just doing it. Not worrying about getting things perfect or planning everything to death. Just find the courage to do something toward making that new reality that you can now see more clearly. Move it forward. Start now. Test it and gather feedback and adjust. Then test it again.

The Doers Know It

This part of the U Process is very familiar to rural communities, especially the “do-ers” in your community who seem to be in the middle of every project or effort. What’s different about the U is having the patience and discipline to travel that path down and through the bottom before tackling things head on. It’s the difference between surface level answers (that often become bigger problems later) and real solutions.

As you continue to practice this, and connect up with others who are interested in the same change, you build a powerful network and community. At some point, the things that seemed odd and unconventional before, suddenly become normal. People begin behaving in ways that serve the whole community. Things get better because the root of the problem is dug out over time. This is a sign that you’ve travelled the U.

Practicing the U is not really learning a process, it’s just recognizing how you’ve already journeyed through the U so often in your life, and applying that wisdom to solving tough problems. When you forget how.

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U Process Part 4: The Big ‘Ah-Ha!’

December 1st, 2008

This is the fourth post in a series on the U Process (read parts 1, 2 or 3)

So far, I’ve argued that it’s worth taking the time and effort to follow a different path from tough problem to solution. But why? What are we working toward? The answer, to that question and to the tough problem you’re trying to solve, is found at the “bottom of the U.”

The journey through the U begins as we dive into the problem on the left side. We’re here to observe, to learn, to see the whole picture. We Immerse ourselves in the muck and mire, working to see the tangled mess with more clarity.

After really digging into the system we’re trying to change, it’s important to step back and reflect. Get quiet and still, stop doing a bit. This is the bottom of that left side of the U, where we let go of trying to solve the problem, and let the solution come.

Letting Go

Let go…and let come. It’s surely worked for you many times, without you even thinking about it. You’re eyeball-deep in some work, trying to solve some issue. Then you take a break, maybe a little walk or grabbing a snack or throwing some clothes in the washing machine. You give your mind a rest, and suddenly–whammo! It all comes together and the answer you’ve been digging for smacks you in the face. “Ah ha! That’s it!”

You’ve just found the bottom of the U. The example I used happens (usually) by accident, but the theory of the U is based on finding that “Ah-ha” on purpose. That doesn’t mean it works on call, like a schedule or anything. It just means that if you can hone your skills at practicing ‘presence,’ you have a much better shot at finding a truly innovative and trans formative solution.

Presencing

So what is this ‘presencing’ stuff? It’s a word made by combining ‘present’ and ’sensing.’ As in being fully present in the moment, and opening up your senses to the future that is bubbling up right now. You see, there are two sources of learning: from past experiences, or from the future as it emerges. Presencing is about sitting in that space where the two (past and future) collide right now. It’s learning to see our own seeing (remember those mental model prisons?), and then see the whole of our situation, recognizing how everything is interconnected while we learn more and more. And finally, it’s listening from a place of quiet and openness to the stuff that wants to be born.

Presencing is not a journey of the mind, but one of opening your mind, heart and will to see the future solution that is emerging right now, and choose to be a vehicle for it.

I’ll share more thoughts on this Presencing idea in my next U process post, and then fill in the right side of the U: All About Action. In the mean time, please share your thoughts or questions with the Reimagine Rural community by clicking on “Comments” below.

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Introduction to U Process: a theory of change

October 8th, 2008

Part 1.

At the Rural Learning Center, we talk a lot about, and try our best to practice, a method of change called the ‘U Process.’ U Process is a theory first introduced to the masses a few years ago in a book co-authored by C. Otto Scharmer, Peter Senge, Joseph Jawarski and Betty Sue Flowers, called Presence.

Scharmer, a professor at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., recently released an in-depth manual on the U Process ideas called Theory U. He worked for ten years on the book.

U Process is a point of view, a lens to look at tough problems through. Scharmer also calls it a ‘social technology,’ a method to create results differently. I see it as a way of designing new solutions to old problems we haven’t cracked yet.

Most of us follow what I call the ‘normal path’ from problem to solution. We name the trouble we’re having, then we brainstorm about ways to solve it, and charge forward fast and furious. We choose ‘solutions’ that are the quickest, most efficient, and cheap. We figure so long as we plan carefully, throw some hard work at it and never give up, we’ll make our ideas be real solutions eventually.

The problem is, we still have most of the big problems in rural communities that we’ve been fighting for decades. We keep trying the same things in different ways, and get the same results: more decline of community. It becomes a vicious cycle.


The normal path has merely skimmed the surface of our problems, and we’ve overlooked the true sources of decline and despair. Have you ever tried to lift a rock that seemed to be mostly above the ground, and found that only a small part of the stone was visible? It can be very difficult to lift that mostly hidden rock from the soil. Most of our problems in communities are like that rock–we really have to dig down to get at the whole thing.

We have a very difficult time getting over our mental models of how the world looks and works, and so rely only on the past as our guide (only the tip of that buried rock). For those really tough problems-and most rural communities are having that kind right now-more of the same will not get us to where we want to be. Sometimes the past is the thing that stands in our way.

The U process suggests a different path, one that dives deep before shifting to action. It’s a path that invites breakthrough solutions to be born from a more instinctive source, instead of the old-idea-downloading we’re used to.

The U starts with a different, deeper kind of listening; a dive into the problem. We really dig in-observe, listen, gather data and info, see new perspectives, jump way into the muck and mire of it all. It’s about seeing more and more of the whole interconnected and messy picture of the system we’re trying to change. Call it ‘focused chaos.’

The second phase is about stepping back, letting go of our old habits and ways of seeing the world, and letting those solutions bubble up within us. We need to just get out of the way a bit, or our thinking and old habits keep those great ideas in a prison. Somewhere in this quiet stillness-if we can let ourselves get there-real world-shifting ideas can come. It’s the ‘different source’ I referred to above-where in the middle of the chaotic mess, a new ‘knowing’ emerges from somewhere deep within us. You can’t always think your way to the answer, sometimes you have to feel your way.

Now, with step three, comes the action side of the U: moving back up toward the real solution to our problem. The right side is all about doing-acting swiftly from that inner source of knowing. We throw things out there and test them on the fly. We make mistakes, fast. We learn to perfect our solution by doing. And eventually we change the system.

That’s a first glance at U process:

  1. Slow down and let go of old thinking,
  2. Let breakthrough ideas emerge, and then
  3. Jump into doing.

It’s mostly common sense-if we think about those ‘ah-ha!’ moments in our lives, we can begin to count the little (or big) U process paths we’ve already experienced. Sometimes the whole process takes just an instant, other tiems it goes on and on for months or years or generations.  I’ll lead you deeper into what I’ve learned about this theory in future posts, if you’re interested. If you can’t wait, just check out Otto Scharmer’s Presencing Institute for some free U process goodness.

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