Talks/Interviews

Worldview Intelligence at the Geneva Model United Nations

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One of the joys of working with the Worldview Intelligence framework is discovering both the specificity and the elasticity of its use as it is applied to a wide variety of situations and circumstances. In November 2016, with Nancy Bragard and Rolf Schneideriet, we delivered the first full European Worldview Intelligence Program in Germany. Since then a lovely European Community of Practice has emerged. It was in Germany where we first met Stéphan Krajcik and where he became quite enthused with the possibilities for Worldview Intelligence.

Stephan KrajcikStéphan left the Worldview program and immediately contacted the Model UN in Geneva where he lives and in which his children participate. During the Model UN, participating students from many different countries are asked to represent another country as a member of the UN. Stéphan was pursing an idea he fleshed out during an open space exploration while in the Germany program. Having watched his children participate in the Model UN, he held a curiosity about how students from around the world prepare to take on their role, carrying in the views of a country they are assigned but do not know. He saw the Worldview Intelligence exploration as a way of preparing more personally and deeply to represent the views of that country.

Stéphan adapted the Worldview Intelligence materials to be used by the student participants and proposed to the Model UN that they add the materials to the students’ preparation. It turns out that the timeline for bringing new material to the Model UN was shorter than imagined, so there was not time to introduce a full blown Worldview Intelligence approach – that is next on the agenda. However, the framework was made available to students online and those that voluntarily chose to use it found it helpful.

Seeing students discover new ways of exploring different worldviews is an exciting application of the framework, as we also discovered when we brought students and employers together in Grand Rapids to think together about the future workplace, and we are looking forward to further evolution of this opportunity with the Model UN.

If you are interested in seeing Stéphan’s adaption, you can view it at the Model UN site.

Perfectly Broken and Ready to Heal – Robin Youngson

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“Every time I demonized those I wanted to influence, I met resistance.” This is the first point Robin Youngson shares in his TEDxTauranga talk: Perfectly Broken and Ready to Heal. “More people started to listen when I dropped judgment.”

Youngson is a physician and senior medical leader, whose journey to transform the patient experience of health care was sparked by a horrific accident his daughter was in that caused her to be in the hospital, immobilized, looking only at the ceiling, for three months. So little stimulation. So little compassion. So little humanizing of a patient.

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Meredith and Robin Youngson

It began a quest for him. A radical commitment. To humanize caring in the hospital system. He and his wife, Meredith created a company called Hearts in Health Care and they struggled to create change. His worldview of his work, of patient care or human care, has shifted and expanded in his journey. His work and quest is resonant with the foundational philosophies of our work with Worldview Intelligence.

He and Meredith learned that logic and evidence does not help. The facts will not likely change someone’s mind because people are vested in their own worldviews. Non persuasion was more effective. “I discovered my greatest power was vulnerability,” he says. “It was through vulnerability that we began to open hearts and minds.”

They also discovered that casting themselves as experts on compassion did not work. They were confronted by a group of nurses who said, “I imagine you are here to teach us about what we have only been doing for about 3o years.” That reminded them, “Every doctor and nurse already has a depth of compassion. Our job was to draw it out; to draw out the wisdom and compassion that already existed in the room.”

They moved from a business model to a generosity model, bringing greater alignment between their views and how they are showing up in the world, and have been humbled by the generosity of the world. As an example, his book Time to Care is being translated into many different languages by volunteers.

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Hearts in Health Care Lessons Along the Way – Powerful and resonant with much of the Worldview Intelligence work, philosophies and foundational premises

Finally he says, “We discovered that approaching the issues like a pathology only focused people on the problems where they blamed each other. So now we ask better questions, to help people share the very best stories of healing and connection.”

“All the strategies that didn’t work involve separation. All the ones that did work involve connection. The new world we were trying to build was already in the room.”

Youngson offers, “When we fight against what’s wrong we draw up the battle lines.Our protests, fights and campaigns are counterproductive because they serve only to separate us even more.”

Drawing the analogy between patient care and connection to health care, he says, “If I make a compassionate human connection to my patients it boosts their immune system, reduces their stress and pain. It is as powerful as medical treatment. As a doctor I am sometimes confronted by patients who are broken and have no hope. Compassion calls me to sit with them in their darkest hour. When I dare to hold the sacred space I see them crack open and begin to heal.”

“If we can take this gift of brokenness into our hearts we hear the call of compassion and suffer outselves to become more vulnerable, humble and generous. Everything we need is right here, within us.”

He ends with,  “Will you receive this gift? It is perfectly broken.” Well, will you?

 

 

Worldview Intelligence Expands Your Ability to Deal With the World – Alan Gaudet

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Alan Gaudet describes his experience with Worldview Intelligence. He notes that it is a resilient, rich framework that offers a depth of analysis that takes you places you wouldn’t get to on your own. It really makes you want to pull out the meaning and it is a validating experience. The framework offers better methods to understand difference. Something meaningful happens between you and someone else when you make connections not otherwise possible.

A “Light-Bulb” Moment – I Am Not My Audience

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Christine Johnson describes the “lightbulb” moment she had during the Worldview Intelligence program when she realized she is not her audience and so she needs to understand the worldviews of her audiences to strategize communication differently. “We see health one way. Other people see it differently. They are the people I need to better understand. Worldview Intelligence has given me strategies to expand my practice and engage other perspectives.”

Christine also talks about how refreshing it is to not need everyone “on the same page” telling identical stories because we benefit from the diversity of stories.

 

Worldview Intelligence is Essential for Anyone Working in Community

Kathy Jourdain 2 Comments

The framework of Worldview Intelligence is exciting to Jaime Smith, not just because of the academic rigour and research that supports it, but also because it provides a different way to think about your own worldview and to think about community engagement. She is reflecting on what it truly means to bring diverse perspectives into a room and how to frame those needed conversations in more meaningful ways. She offers that learning with curiosity and letting go of judgment, although simplistic, offers who new opportunities for listening and learning.

And, she received an unexpected gift – a revelation. Another consultant in the program, from another country, mapped out her social system and it mirrors Jaime’s own – a fabulous insight into her own networks and work.

 

Adaptability and Intuitiveness of the Worldview Intelligence Framework

Kathy Jourdain 2 Comments

There are two basic ways we offer Worldview Intelligence programs. One is through open enrolment programs that attract a wide variety of people coming from diverse places and situations and the co-learning is reach. The other is designing client specific programs to address questions or issues the client has identified. The Worldview Intelligence framework is not only academically rigorous as Jerry speaks about in another video, it is also highly adaptable and intuitive. There are any number of equally powerful worldview explorations that can be done through the same six dimensions: personal, organizational, professional, community and social systems are ones we’ve worked with so far.

People who have experienced Worldview Programs are also speaking about how intuitive the framework is – more than most they have come across or used in their work. It can be applied without always consciously thinking about all six dimensions and can be pulled out in full to examine issues that are stuck to find new ways to strategize relationship and communication to make progress on issues that matter. People, departments, organizations, sub-systems do not all have to think alike. In fact, it’s better if they don’t. The worldview exploration helps build bridges between different perspectives by making explicit what is often implicit and inviting in the creative thinking that comes with a diversity of perspectives.

Origins of the Worldview Intelligence Framework

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The Worldview Intelligence Framework is rooted in solid academic and philosophical research and rigour thanks to the work and insight of Belgian philosopher and logician Leo Apostel (1925-1995). In his day, Apostel felt the world was becoming increasingly fragmented, particularly in the sciences, and he wanted to create a way to encourage communication across disciplines. He invited many collaborators to meet regularly to develop a framework that would move from fragmentation to integration.

Jerry Nagel came across the work of Apostel while doing research for his PhD which is grounded in worldviews, the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter and social constructionist theory.

In this video, Jerry shares the background of the framework, the six dimensions and the success we have been having in practical application – a step Apostel did not get to before his death – and some of what we have been seeing in the various explorations.

 

Different Conversations Within Existing Structures is Possible with Worldview Intelligence

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Jaime Smith - cropped

Jaime Smith

“The worldview exploration – touches on who I am,” Jaime Smith told me in a recent conversation about her experience with Worldview Intelligence during and since her participation in a program in Halifax, Nova Scotia a year ago. “For me, it is a leadership development journey and it impacts my work in community.”

In the past couple of years, Jaime has stepped into a very different part of her life journey as she started her own consulting company. She is a planner and facilitator who worked as a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners with organizations like the New Brunswick Department of Environment, the Halifax Regional Municipality, the New Brunswick Rural District Planning Commission and most recently for the Pictou County Health Authority as a community health planner.

She founded Marram Consulting in 2013 to bring her skills, talent and leadership to a variety of groups, organizations and businesses, to help them navigate challenging spaces with innovation and discovery.  She has a passion for healthy communities and embraces a population health approach to community development. She is a person who can activate in community and can bring a leadership perspective from a 30,000 foot view. She told me, “Worldview has been a powerful and uplifting experience in bringing these two things together.”

“The worldview training gave me an opportunity to think more deeply about what I do – for the first time really.” Jaime is a young mother and a volunteer in addition to running her own business. She has a very busy schedule. “I didn’t have the time to think about things – like, how did I become the person I am today and how does that influence how I am in the world and what I do now?”

Worldview is a lens through which we each look out at the world, usually without an awareness of how that lens influences and shapes what we see and how we act. Reflecting on her experience, Jaime said, “The worldview framework you offer gives me a different way of thinking about my experiences, how my experiences inform how I see myself and what I reflect out into the world. The program was powerful.”

Jaime describes a very typical scenario of a small business owner. “I’ve gone through challenges with my work, trying to navigate my own path while working with what’s emerging but still wanting control of my destiny. My background and education is in urban planning, environmental studies and design.” Jaime acknowledges that urban planning is about working with policies and regulations and it is not straight forward or black and white. She became a practitioner in the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter which gave her a piece of the puzzle she was seeking and left her searching for more. That’s when she came across the Worldview Intelligence program.

“The six dimensions of worldview gave me an opportunity to look at myself and my work in a different way. It is a holistic approach that invites the different pieces of you to work together. My creative side can work with the side of me that is business and planning oriented and it doesn’t have to be either or. The framework provides a tangible process that is respectful of many different points of view. I was blown away – in a reflective way. It stuck with me. It is foundational and informs so many of the other pieces.”

In Jaime’s view and experience, the academic rigour behind the Worldview Intelligence framework is a key aspect of this work. The framework builds on the study and research of Leo Apostel, a Belgium philosopher, who brought together other philosophers and scientists three decades ago to create a mechanism to bring integration to what they saw as an increasingly fragmented world. Jaime identifies this research and background as essential to the success of Worldview Intelligence. “The world still works this way, still wants the background, the theory behind the patterns, practices and methods that grounds it and makes it both explainable and justifiable to clients in business, government and community.”

Jaime shared one of her stories about impact on her work with her clients. She described one particularly difficult engagement where there was a clear need to look at a variety of perspectives but participants were challenged in doing so. Her own knowledge of worldview and the value of having many different perspectives visible and shared enabled her to find ways to invite and bring all the perspectives together to find a different way into that discussion, without ever having to use the word or specific language of worldview.

She said, “Worldview offers something people can connect to more quickly than some other processes. It provides the leadership and space to have conversations differently while connecting with existing structures to do our best work together. It doesn’t amplify divides in a community. It provides a way to connect across differences.”

When I asked her why someone should take this program, she said, “Anyone who is working with community, with change, investigating their own leadership – this will strengthen and deepen their experience. Worldview can be married with other processes, like IAP2 or Art of Hosting and produce an even better experience.”

“If more of our community and business leaders and politicians would have an opportunity to look at their own views and deepen compassion, we could really make a difference for the people we work with and for. At the end of the day, organizations and society are made up of people. Worldview is a very humanistic and person centered approach. Community health and development tells us this is how we build more effective and resilient communities.”

Jaime is coming back for another round of Worldview Intelligence which now includes a social systems component – new since she took the program a year ago. She is excited to investigate the social systems piece. “It will help me develop new questions about creating meaningful impact.”

Jaime cares deeply about Nova Scotia and noted, “This province is in a time of great change. When stakes are high, we hold onto our views tighter. Worldview Intelligence offers a way to create the space to talk about what we value and to heal trust in communities.

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at the upcoming Worldview Intelligence Program in Halifax at the end of May. We would love to see you there.

Worldview Intelligence Causes You to Think Differently

Kathy Jourdain 3 Comments

Tracey Jones-Grant was one of the first people to experience the Worldview Intelligence program a couple of years ago in Halifax and it has changed her. “You don’t just walk away from it and go ‘done with that, what’s next?’ It seeps into your skin and blossoms as you learn how to verbalize it.” The impact grows even stronger with the passing of time and application of skills and concepts learned.

Of her experience in the program Tracey said, “You are in that first question, the next thing you know your perspective is changing and it happens in a gentle way. It causes you to think differently, which causes you to act differently.” It doesn’t necessarily happen dramatically overnight. You learn the skills and then you practice.

 

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From the first Worldview Intelligence program – Halifax, NS August 2014

Tracey is a long time diversity trainer and her experience with Worldview Intelligence has caused her to think differently about this work. She has worked for the Halifax Library, the Halifax Regional School Board and is now the Diversity Manager for the Municipal Government in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is bringing a new way of working, meeting and educating to her position thanks to her Worldview and also her Art of Hosting experience. She asks different questions that helps her see where people are at and helps them think about their worldview without needing to ask directly about it. Questions like where are you now? How does that define how you see and experience diversity and inclusion?

I first met Tracey through our mutual friend Carolann Wright-Parks, who is currently leading the Restorative Inquiry for the NS Home for Coloured Children, when Carolann was interested in bringing the Art of Hosting to African Nova Scotian facilitators. Tracey brings an inherent curiosity to her learning process and asks lots of questions in her quest to understand. You can see the wheels in her mind turning as she translates what she is learning into the practicalities of life and work.

In addition to asking lots of good questions, Tracey brought Africentric principles into our Art of Hosting work – principles she lives by. When we introduced the concept of Worldview Intelligence in that AoH training, it caught the attention of many of the participants, including Tracey. I asked her why she decided to attend the first Worldview Program a few months later. She said she was intrigued by the idea, even as she was hesitant. “Nobody asks you what your worldview is. It was an opportunity to see what that means. At the same time, you could be afraid of knowing your own worldview.”

Despite the initial hesitation, Tracey’s experience with the program was very positive and impactful. “I discovered the exploration allows for your own internal view. For me, this is aligned with africentricity. Knowing your own worldview allows you to center yourself. And when you know where you come from, the core of who you are, that prepares you for whatever else you will encounter, including worldviews very different from your own.”

When I asked, what is the lasting impact for her, she took a deep breath and became reflective for a moment. “It is not easy to say – there are no standard words. It’s something you feel. I have a greater belief in myself, more confidence in what I know and I don’t need external validation anymore.” She went on to say, “Anybody who knew me before and sees me now, sees the impact, sees the difference.”

The difference in her makes a difference in her work. She said the biggest difference is in simple things, but things that were not in her conscious awareness before. “I plan work in different ways now.”

Tracey noted that understanding worldviews, where they come from and how they influence communication and relationship means she tunes in differently to what is going on with the people around her. As a result of the program, she offered, “You develop stronger communication and facilitation skills. I have a greater sense of awareness of people, of communities I work for and in – and I’ve been working in community for a long time. I check in around where people are at in their own experience rather than assuming I know. I make suggestions differently now than in the past – in ways that have a greater likelihood of getting through the other person’s filters.”

In the long run, Tracey says that the practices of Worldview Intelligence improve client interactions, inter-office interactions and outcomes in the workplace. In her view, “Business needs to invest in opportunities for staff to understand where they are at. This will make them more open to understanding where others are at and to seeing new ways forward, even on issues that are challenging.”

Tracey also talked about the power of having a mentor to turn to, a support in the system

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Tracey Jones-Grant

to keep going so the initial rush of excitement post training doesn’t wither away. She has that in Carolann. It is one of the benefits of going through a training with others in your workplace or your networks of support.

She says, “This kind of investment is not a check mark on the training box. It is an essential business and life skill.” And more so now as we move into increasing fragmentation, isolation and diversity in our communities and at work.

The next Worldview Intelligence program is being offered in Halifax, NS May 30-June 1, 2016 and registration is open.