Recharge your Batteries with the U Process

March 12th, 2010 by

I’ve been down and out lately, both mentally and physically.  In fact, I spent most of yesterday in bed sleeping.  While the sleep recharged my body, a comment left by Michael Bischoff, a Minneapolis based consultant, has helped recharge my “mental” batteries.

Bishoff’s comment read: 

I just came across your posts about the U Process. I’ve seen many summaries of Theory U. These are some of the best. Thank you for putting them out there!

It’s always nice when someone recognizes your work.  In this case, Bischoff was recognizing a 5-part series Joe Bartmann wrote describing the U Process, a theory of change the Rural Learning Center subscribes to.  Although Joe has moved on to the Sioux Falls Green Project, I felt proud that Bischoff was recognizing ReImagine Rural for offering quality advice. 

Bischoff’s comments also cause me to pause and reflect:  have I been practicing the U Process lately?  It forced me to go back, reread what Joe wrote about a year-and-a-half ago, and reflect on it.

 

Why should I care about the U Process?

In short, the U Process is a change theory that suggests the best way for problem solving is to:  (1) slow down and let go of your old thinking;  (2) deepen your understanding of the problems by listening and learning;  (3) let new ideas emerge from a quietness of your new understanding;  (4) and then jump into action with solutions.  

In some ways, it’s not a very radical theory to embrace; but practicing it is! 

As Joe describes in his opening post in the series, most of us in community development work define our problem and then jump into action.  We say we want to understand our problems more deeply, but in practice, we rush into solving them.  The result is that we end up investing more time and energy into the work of solving the problem than we might have had to if we would have spent more time trying to understand it.  What’s worse is that rushed to solutions often aren’t solutions at all-they do little to solve the real problem.

 

What this meant to me today

As I pause and reflect on my work lately, I realize that my engine has been so revved up by all the work I have to do that I’m not taking the time to deepen my understanding of the issues I’m working on.  In addition to creating shallow thinking, I believe this hectic, get ‘er done attitude is partly to blame for the low energy in my batteries.

If you feel like I have lately, I highly recommend you dig into U Process.  Check out Joe’s 4-part series (I’ve posted the links below) and find other resources describing it on the web.  Then spend some time really digging into the problems you face through this new lens, and let the new ideas emerge. 

I think you’ll find the solutions that emerge are more focused and more approriate — and I bet you’ll have a lot more energy as well.    

The U Process on ReImagine Rural

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Posted in Community Engagement, Rural | Comments ( 3 )

3 Responses to “Recharge your Batteries with the U Process”

  1. April Schave Says:
    March 12th, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    The U process- from your general description it sounds almost like the same stuff I’ve been talking about over on my blog and I didn’t even know I was following a model. I have met Joe as he has appeared at our Solid Waste and Planning meetings and a few of us from the Whittier Resident Association in Sioux Falls have met him at the Sioux Falls Beautiful meetings. I’ll have to give your links a look.

    April

  2. Mike Knutson Says:
    March 13th, 2010 at 5:28 am

    April,
    You will also want to check out Presencing Institutue and Otto Scharmer . What you see above is definitely the LITE version, but I hope it helps introduce the subject.

  3. Joe Bartmann Says:
    March 13th, 2010 at 8:43 am

    Hi April,

    I read your post, and it’s not just great advice for insomnia. You’re really hitting on some key practices that help me get in that presencing groove. I think you would really enjoy a book I read a while back by Eckart Tolle called “The Power of Now.” It’s a great compliment to Otto Scharmer’s Theory U stuff–focussing in on understanding and practicing the bottom of the U.

    Mike,

    Thanks for bringing those posts back to life. So glad you’re recharged. You need it. :-)

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