collision of worldviews

You’re Just Too Stupid To Know …

Kathy Jourdain Leave a comment

Well, that Heineken commercial – the Worlds Apart #OpenYourWorld video – is certainly garnering attention – positive, excited, provocative, and outrage. I have to admit, the outrage part caught me by surprise. And seeing a headline that says it is worse than the Pepsi commercial, but “you’re just too stupid to know” does not feel like an invitation that welcomes me into an exploration of why that might be.

Heineken commercial photo

I saw the Heineken video about a week ago (have not seen the Pepsi one) and it resonated for me in relation to the work we are doing with Worldview Intelligence. The biggest challenge people seem to have is about how to have conversations with people who have very different worldviews, perspectives, or opinions than they have. The kinds of conversations that usually shut down before they even begin. The kinds of situations that have torn families and friendships apart.

I see now that there are people pointing out that some of the people in the video are more at risk than others – a point which seems valid to me. Some of the scenarios were much milder and some much riskier – climate change believer and denier paired up versus a transgender woman and a man disgusted by the very idea. Some think it perpetuates the very situations and scenarios it is highlighting.

What I wondered after seeing the video was: how? How did they do it? What was the invitation that was made to the people who participated? How was the scenario of the exchange set up? How did they create “safe enough” conditions for participation? They clearly went to a fair bit of work in the preparation since they had videos of each person created prior to their meeting.

If I already don’t like the video, I’m more likely to click on the stories that tell me it is dangerous, idiotic or harmful. It will confirm my perspective – confirmation bias. If I like the video, telling me “I’m too stupid to know …” makes me feel judged and does not make me interested in reading the post – which maybe I should be reading in order to expand my worldview.

For me, watching the video made me more curious about how to create environments where people who see and experience the world very differently can meet each other in exploratory spaces – something greatly needed and desired right now by many we encounter in our work. How to do it well in increasingly challenging situations – well, that is the question and the exploration at the center of much of the work of Worldview Intelligence.

Theory, Practice and Application of Worldview Intelligence in 2017

Kathy Jourdain Leave a comment

What is Worldview Intelligence? Where did it come from? Where is it being used?

We are asked these questions regularly and here is a bit of what we have been telling people about our work.

Theory, Philosophy and Practice Behind Worldview Intelligence

Leo Apostel (1925-95) was a Belgium philosopher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) who was concerned about the increasing fragmentation in the world and specifically within the various scientific disciplines. He wanted to find a way toward integration, which led to the creation of the Worldviews group where scholars in various disciplines came together to research and develop a philosophical framework to accomplish this. This group of scholars eventually developed the Apostel framework comprised of six dimensions that serve to deconstruct and consider how people come to see the world the way they do. While the Leo Apostel Centre was established in 1995, when Apostel died the passion for this work diminished.

Twenty-five years later, Jerry Nagel, PhD came across this framework while researching worldviews for his dissertation. He and his partner Kathy Jourdain, MBA began bringing the idea of worldview into their consulting and training programs, discovering there was an appetite for the exploration. Since 2011 they have been in the ongoing discovery and development of practical application of the framework – Worldview Intelligence – that provides an elegant structure for understanding and to build strengths from differences, individually, organizationally, community and system wide.

Application

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Jerry and Kathy have brought Worldview Intelligence to a wide variety of applications in Canada, the US, Australia and Europe. The framework offers the opportunity for exploration in many different contexts and is well received in each. Explorations are tailored to need, purpose and the audience.

Clients and Communities

Clients and community funders approach Jerry and Kathy to bring Worldview Intelligence to a variety of specific circumstances that require new or renewed understanding of different perspectives, finding ways of working across silos, supporting innovative initiatives with a worldview approach to shift culture and create sustainable systems and to enter into challenging situations and conversations with new shared language and approaches. The Worldview Intelligence framework becomes a tailored approach to exploring individual, professional, organizational, community and social system worldviews, identifying where and why clashes occur to find ways forward on issues that matter.

University, Community College, High School Students

Kathy and Jerry teach international under graduate and post graduate students each year at the IGR Business School at the University of Rennes in France. An introduction to Worldview Intelligence, using hosting practices, expands their thinking about leadership, their role and their thinking about what their future might entail. They are often surprised to discover more points of connection across countries (as many as 18 countries represented in a room) and more points of difference within countries.

The Worldview approach has also been used to help high school and community college students think about future employment and then discuss their ideas about the workplace with employers who are faced with increasing competition for workers and must create workplaces conducive to new styles of working.

Keynotes

Keynotes focus on giving people a glimpse into their own worldview, where it came from and how it influences communication and relationship, usually without us being aware of it. Keynotes can be offered in time frames from 20-60 minutes.

Filling in the Gaps with Blinders On: Discovering an Expanded View

 We interpret images and words in less time than it takes to blink and we fill in the gaps in stories with no awareness that we are doing it, yet it influences our interpretation of an event, a conversation and even another person or group. Our worldview contributes to blinders through which we filter in and filter out information. There are ways to discover an expanded view, story or perspective that can change the nature of the conversations we are in, especially when it comes to issues that matter to us.

How Your Worldview Influences What you See and Do

 Your worldview influences how you act, engage in conversations and make the choices you make. Cultural and learned worldviews affect the way you see, hear and speak. So, what is a worldview and how did you get yours? How does understanding brain and behavioural science help us make different choices about our actions and our interactions? How can we avoid collisions of worldviews and come together in ways that build understanding and respect and allow each of us to hold onto aspects of ourselves that are most important to us while expanding our worldview to engage in conversations about issues that matter?

Introductory Sessions

Welcome to “My Worldview” – An Introduction to Worldviews, Where They Come From and Why They Matter

This two hour introduction uses a number of experiential exercises to quickly introduce participants to aspects of their worldview and help them gain an understanding of where worldviews come from and how they shape what we see, do and experience. Participants are engaged in conversation and thoughtful reflection throughout the two hour exploration.

Building Strength from Difference: An Introduction to the Power of Worldview Intelligence to Transform Conversations from Challenging to Productive

This one day deep dive introduction to the power and possibility of Worldview Intelligence outlines what a worldview is, where it comes from, how it influences communication and relationship and offers participants a four step process to productive dialogue on stuck issues. The Worldview Intelligence framework is value neutral, helps to make hidden patterns and dynamics visible and provides a new way to organize your thoughts so you can change the actions and approach you might take in polarized or otherwise challenging situations.

Why Asking Someone to Change How They Work May Not Be as Simple as You Think

Kathy Jourdain 3 Comments

It happens all the time in work environments. The organization wants or needs to change – the way it works, delivers service, makes its products, is organized. Often this point is missed: change is not just about the mechanics of what is to be changed, it is about the people. People make up and deliver our systems and processes. Most people say they don’t mind change, but they don’t like being changed. Even when it “makes sense”. Because “makes sense” depends on your perspective.

Anais Nin - We don't see things as they are

When we are looking for efficiencies at work, we are often asking someone – or several someones – to change the way they work. To take on new responsibilities or to give up part of your role. It seems to make sense in the grand scheme of things. It is integral to the change working. If we are leading the change or innovation, when we meet resistance we often don’t understand why. What we are asking often seems like a simple request.

conversation-one-on-oneThe challenge we meet is that many of us identify with our role. It forms part of our identity. We think we are simply asking people to change the way they work when we might actually be challenging the way they see themselves. We might be challenging their very sense of identity. And when we feel our identity is being challenged or threatened, psychological research tells us that we respond as if our very life is being threatened. Instead of being open to change, we dig in our heels and overtly or covertly resist being changed. We become more attached to our role or our identity.

Worldview Intelligence offers personal explorations that help us understand our own worldview, where it comes from, what influences it, what values and beliefs are fundamental to who we are. It illuminates typical responses, ingrained human patterns, of how we respond to challenges, how we filter information in and out, how our sense of identity shapes our responses, how we become entrenched in our point of view when we feel compelled to defend it. When we can bring curiosity to the exploration we become aware of what is important and why and then we can become conscious of the choices we are making. The very exploration opens up the possibility for each of us to expand our own worldview and be more open to possibility.

For those of us who are responsible for leading change or asking our people to change, understanding that simple requests might have deeper implications allows us to think about how we approach another person or whole department, their role, their work and what is needed to bring about the changes that we need or want rather than becoming frustrated or combative which only serves to make us less effective in our leadership.

Worldview Intelligence Offers an Elegant Structure to Support Powerful Dialogue

Kathy Jourdain 1 Comment

 “Those who say they are ‘dialogued out’ are actually tired of no real discourse.” Daniel Yankelovich

How do we have the conversations needed now in a way that honours differences while transforming them into progress on issues that are of fundamental importance in today’s world?

“I’m Right and You’re An Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse” is the riveting title of a book written by James Hoggan with many contributors. As I have been reading it, the contribution our work with Worldview Intelligence is making is becoming increasingly evident. Worldview Intelligence changes the nature of conversations and public discourse, even – or especially – when the stakes are high and views on issues have become polarized, and we are ready to do more of this work.

In Chapter 1: Like Ships in the Night, contributor Daniel Yankelovich talks about the differences between debate, dialogue and advocacy. He says advocacy is a dominant mode of communication in public discourse right now. It is about trying to sell something or persuade someone that your point of view, position or solution is the correct one, maybe even the only one. This can become an imposition of worldviews where the only one that really “counts” is the advocate’s.

An imposition of a worldview is an act of violence. At a minimum it dismisses or overrides another’s experiences and ideas and shuts down the space and opportunity for many contributions. In the worst case it forces another to live under the rules or worldview of the imposer.

The differences between debate and dialogue are illustrated in the following table. I particularly appreciate the statement that those who say they are ‘dialogued out’ are actually tired of no real discourse. Everyone is talking or even yelling and screaming at each other, but nobody is listening. In particular, it is often people who are part of a dominant worldview who are unable or unwilling to imagine there could exist a very different perspective or that someone else’s experience could be fundamentally different than their own. AND that the differing worldview has value and contributions to offer.

Debate

Dialogue
Assumes we have the right answer Assumes we all have a piece of the puzzle and can craft a solution together
Is combative Collaborative
Defends assumptions Reveals assumptions
Criticizes the views of others Re-examines all positions, including our own
About seeing weakness in other’s positions or views About searching for strength and value in others’ concerns
Advocates own views, dismisses views and experiences of others Willingness to listen, pay attention and suspend judgment
Wants others to come to their way of seeing things Looks for common ground, meets in that place

**Adapted from “Like Ships in the Night”, Chapter 1 with Daniel Yankelovich in I’m Right and You’re An Idiot

On the world stage, we are experiencing a time when differences are being stoked and amplified. It is becoming harder to find the points of connection to learn and imagine something fresh, new and constructive. Especially for deeply entrenched issues like climate change, racism, sexism, sexual orientation discrimination and deeply divided politics. Good dialogue is not only hard to find, it is becoming increasingly an imperative.

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International Exchange Students from over 15 countries at IGR University in Rennes in deep Worldview Explorations making fascinating discoveries

Debate is combative. It assumes we have the right answer and in arguing for it we become required to defend our position and our assumptions – even assumptions we may not have been aware we were holding. It is about seeing the weaknesses in other people’s perspectives and criticizing their views, which often becomes criticizing the person.

We come to dialogue from a very different internal posture than how we come to debate. We assume we all have a piece of the puzzle. It becomes important to bring curiosity, set aside judgment and really listen to what another person is trying to express, even beyond the words, to listen from a place of open heart and open spirit. It allows that all experiences and perspectives have validity – our own and others. It searches for the strength and value in all the perspectives, looking for the common ground or points of connection that create the opportunity to advance issues of collective concern. Inviting all the voices creates the possibility for generative space and new solutions.

Yankelovich says dialogue is not an arcane, esoteric or intellectual exercise but is practical and accessible and it is needed when values and frameworks are not shared. The challenge is that there are very few frameworks out there that can offer this exploration of differing perspectives that do not assume a position that one idea or one approach is better or more valid than another.

Worldview Intelligence changes all of that and we have seen it happen time and time again. The framework for exploration is value neutral. It makes no assumptions about the other person or group but takes them as they are. It provides a language and structure to understand where someone else is coming from. It is not built on a fancy, complicated system but rather is an elegantly simple way of entering the exploration. It is not a system that helps people do what they already do but better. It changes the way we enter the conversation, which changes the conversation.

It invites each individual or group to reflect on their own worldview, how it was shaped, how they have come to see and experience the world or a particular issue the way they do. Then it offers the opportunity to share what people are discovering or articulating, sometimes for the first time, in a way that honours each reflection and expands the collective worldview experience in the discussion.

The Worldview Intelligence framework is a structured approach to exploring individual and collective assumptions, beliefs and value systems and it is effective in many different kinds of explorations. The explorations generate new insights, innovative thinking, different conversations and new connections. A deeper understanding of worldview and how worldviews are developed leads to understanding them. Individuals and groups then have a language and a way of growing skill to work with different and multiple worldviews. this is essential to creating a fundamentally different environment for some of our most needed and challenging conversations. It is a 21st Century leadership skill and it could disarm the toxic state of public discourse.

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.

 

worldview awareness day panoramic

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

Tracey Jones-Grant 2 cropped

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.

When Your Worldview is Insufficient to Explain Your Experience

Kathy Jourdain 3 Comments
Eben Alexander

Eben Alexander, M.D.

Eben Alexander is a neurosurgeon who had a near death experience (NDE) in 2008. I am reading his book, “Proof of Heaven” because of my own spiritual journey that I continue to write extensively about at Embracing the Stranger in Me: A Journey to Openheartedness. However, in reading Alexander’s book, it is his use of the word “worldview” that has my attention. It literally leapt off the page when I came across the first reference because I am immersed in the work of Worldview Intelligence these days and I am curious to see what he means by it. The word worldview is showing up in many different contexts these days without any explanation of what people mean when they use it. As I read on, I realize he is describing many aspects of worldview as Jerry Nagel and I know, experience and teach it.

 

Our worldviews are socially and locally constructed. They influence how we interact with the world around us, including and especially other people. Worldviews operate 80% in our unawareness. As individuals, not only do we hold personal worldviews, but we may also have a distinct professional worldview.

Our worldviews are filters for what gets into our conscious awareness and what doesn’t, for what we believe, what we accept and what we dismiss. They influence our relationships, our communication and our decision-making. Eben Alexander, as a physician, surgeon and scientist, believed that consciousness was part of brain function, end of story. In his interactions with patients who tried to describe their near death experiences or their experiences of intuitive knowing or messages from the world of spirit, he was sympathetic and supportive to the patient but he dismissed the stories with physical explanations – they were confused because of brain trauma, because of medication. There was a neuroscientific hypothesis to explain away every story.

That is, until he had his own near death experience caused by an inexplicable set of circumstances where there were no precedents, in a coma for 7 days with no higher brain function from which he never should have walked away, let alone walk away fully recovered although forever changed. Now he was ready to explore alternative explanations as his belief systems and his worldviews expanded beyond what he previously knew to be true.

Proof of HeavenWhat he accepted as ‘fact’ before was changing. He writes, “The more I read ‘scientific’ explanations of what NDEs are, the more I was shocked by their transparent flimsiness. And yet I also knew with chagrin that they were exactly the ones that the ‘old’ me would have pointed to vaguely if someone had asked me to ‘explain’ what an NDE is. But people who weren’t doctors couldn’t be expected to know this.”

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” –Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

Because of his scientific background, Alexander thought he knew what was real and true and he dismissed information pointing to different explanations. He writes, “Never, before my coma, had I realized just how deceptive a word can be. The way I had been taught to think about it, both in medical school and in the school of common sense called life, is that something is either real (a car accident, a football game, a sandwich on the table in front of you) or it’s not.” P. 129

He shares that he had been aware of the new scientific research from the fields of quantum mechanics and quantum physics and refused to even review the data because the notion of consciousness emanating from something other than the human brain was beyond his comprehension. It did not fit with his medical worldview.

After his coma, he reviewed his own medical records, he wrote about his experience while he was in the coma and he faced the ‘medical impossibility’ of the situation. His medical and scientific worldviews were inadequate to explaining his experience.

“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.” – Albert Einstein (1879-2955)

When our worldviews, when our identity is threatened, it is like our very life is being threatened and we respond accordingly. It can take a dramatic life experience to cause us to grow and to shift our perspectives, to begin to understand ourselves and our experiences in new ways, to be open to alternatives.

Now, Alexander’s work is in sharing his story, inviting others to entertain the idea of expanding their own worldview. It is in the intersection of a multiplicity of worldviews that new ideas emerge, that innovation thrives and that the very essence of who we are as human beings is invited to show up in the fullness of our humanity. Whether you believe Alexander’s story or not is not the point. In his story, it is in the intersection of science, medicine and spirituality that he is inviting a deeper exploration. In your story, it might be different. In your workplace, your community, your social system, what intersection of worldviews, even competing worldviews, might expand your sense of what is real and what is not? What is possible and what is not?

Be Afraid. But Not For the Reasons You Might Think

Kathy Jourdain 6 Comments

Be afraid. Be very afraid. But not for the reasons you might think. We are living in precipitous times. We are in danger of losing our humanity through fear. Fear of what and who we do not know.

I am writing this in the Charles de Gaulle airport as I wait for my flight home to Canada. My partner, Jerry Nagel, and I have been visiting Paris and Rennes in France. Teaching international students at IGR is what brought us here – this year and in the past – for Jerry many years, for me more recently.

Last year we came to France about two months after the Charlie Hebdo attack. We did not see a discernible difference in the city. A year later, four months after the co-ordinated attacks on public places in Paris, we are seeing differences. There are fewer people in the cafés, fewer people walking the streets and more taxis than we could count at every taxi stand we passed. Last year we often had to wait if we were looking for a cab. And, while we were here, the attack in Brussels at the airport and the Metro.

We know some tourists are staying home. We had friends who wanted to come on this trip with us but decided to stay home after the November attacks, understandably, because of a prior experience of being stuck in Mexico after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York back in 2001 when air travel to/from the US was stopped for an unknown and indefinite time. We cannot imagine how much more terrifying it would have been for them to have been here with us in this time. And we know they are not the only ones who are staying home.

Les Deux Magots - a favourite eating and people watching place.

Les Deux Magots – a favourite eating and people watching place – not far from the hotel we normally stay at.

We know Parisians are staying home too. A city known for its outdoor culture, its fabulous cafés and its walkability, we have seen fewer Parisians strolling in the streets. The cafés we love to go to are either easy to get in – like Les Deux Magots where we have often had to hover to find a seat in the past – or closed, like Café Conti, a long standing local business.

paris - eiffel tower

Eiffel Tower and surrounding Paris neighbourhoods. A very walkable city.

People are staying home – whether in Paris or from abroad – because they are afraid. Afraid of terrorism. Afraid of immigrants and refugees. Afraid of Muslims. Afraid of vague threats that have no substance and lots of rhetoric behind them. Afraid of what they do not know.

This is in direct contrast to the students we were working with in Rennes who came from a dozen or more different countries, among them China, Korea, Vietnam, Ecuador, Congo, Germany, the US, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Columbia and more. The International MBA students have been together since September. The International Exchange students only since January. Jerry and I teach Participatory Leadership practices and Worldview Intelligence. We invite them to meet each other in ways they have not yet done so.

The Worldview exploration offers them a way to see and articulate their own worldview and then to be in conversation with others, to be curious about their worldview. For the students, one of the biggest insights was that across countries and cultures, there were many points of connection. And within countries and cultures there can be vast differences; so much so that you cannot ascribe one worldview to an entire country or culture.

International MBA and Exchange students at IGR University in Rennes, France - exploring worldviews and what gives them strength in a World Cafe.

International MBA and Exchange students at IGR University in Rennes, France – exploring worldviews and what gives them strength in a World Cafe.

We brought all the students together in a planned World Café the morning after the Brussels bombing. We asked them, when they look around at all that is happening in the world, what gives them strength? Then we asked them, if they could change one thing in the world, what would it be? And then, given the conversations they’ve been in, given what they have been experiencing and what they know about the world, how do they want to live their lives?

The harvest was inspiring. These students between 20 and 30 years old, want to live a life where they meet their neighbours – near and far, where they learn the stories of other people, where they take care with the assumptions they make about individuals, groups or cultures they do not know, where they continue to travel to expand their worldviews, and make connections in many ways, to better the world and better their own lives.

With the real and perceived threats we are faced with in the world right now, the most dangerous thing we can do is hunker down in fear, isolate ourselves or our thinking in our home bases and imagine all kinds of frightening stories about people we do not know, people who are different than us.

We may be in danger of forgetting our humanity. We forget that people fleeing war torn countries are human beings afraid for their lives and their families, with nowhere to go and no homes for their children to live in right now. They don’t want to be on the move. They have no choice. And they have been dying by the thousands in their attempts to flee that which is untenable. Are there terrorists among them? Maybe. But not likely. Will we condemn whole groups of people to living in no-man’s lands of refugee camps because there may be a terrorist among them? We already know segregating people does not work. The story of the US Japanese internment camps in the second world war is just one example.

And Muslims? We forget about the Crusades and so many other wars and acts of terror carried out in the name of Christian religion. Were/are all Christians the same? No. Why would we brand millions of people based on the actions of a few? Because of unfounded fear.

Think about this for a moment. When we say Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, American, French, German, Indian, African, Australian, Brazilian, Asian, Columbian, Mexican, Canadian (insert some other country/nationality here), what immediately comes to mind? Whatever it is, it is a small slice of the worldview of that country, that religion, that culture. We work with labels because this is what we know but the information labels give us is extremely limited.

The shortest distance between two people is a story. Worldview Intelligence provides a structured approach to surfacing and sharing stories, to expanding our understanding that we are multi-dimensional beings, cultures, countries and religions. We need these explorations now more than ever.

Do not hunker down right now. Do not isolate yourself. Do not be swept away by unsubstantiated rhetoric designed to make you even more fearful. Be wary of your assumptions, especially the ones that take you to fear. Do not brand one country, culture, religion or group with a single news story, a single glimpse into a world you might not know. Be prepared to ask, investigate, explore – even if you are doing it from the relative safety of your own home. For sure, keep your friends and family close and, if you are up to it, travel to as many places as you can to understand it is our diversity that keeps us strong and shows us our humanity. It is only in remembering our humanity and the humanity of others, that we will become safer in the world.

Dan Christmas – A Leader Making A Difference

Kathy Jourdain Leave a comment
Dan Christmas 2

Dan Christmas

Dan Christmas grew up in the Mi’kmaw community of Membertou in Cape Breton, NS against the backdrop of relocation of the community, the Donald Marshall, Jr. wrongful conviction for murder and a community impacted by undercurrents of racism and hostility of the larger community that surrounded them. Growing up, the message he got, both consciously and unconsciously, was “to be careful. People around here don’t like us.” When a young Marshall, Jr. was arrested and convicted for a crime he did not commit, this reinforced the views Dan had been raised with.

One of the most rewarding aspects of sitting down with Dan for a conversation was his willingness to be open and vulnerable about his own personal worldview explorations and expansions. He is a quiet spoken, gracious and humble man with an engaging, sincere smile, passionate about the work he does and committed not just to Membertou but to the province of Nova Scotia as well. We were visiting about the worldview shifts and expansions that enabled Membertou to turn around a desperate financial situation in the mid-nineties to become a diversified success story over a couple of decades, success built on core values of the community.

Dan is the oldest of six siblings. At the age of 20, he became the Band Manager in Membertou, a significant responsibility – and learning opportunity – at a young age. He was going to University at the time and his youngest brother was just six years old.

As a young leader in this role, he had to work with leadership in the larger community of Sydney and Cape Breton, leadership that had often exhibited racial bias in decisions, actions and dealings with the Membertou community. Dan’s own worldview, of course, was influenced by his growing up years and reinforced at every turn in the road. His worldview, a Mi’kmaw worldview, came into regular collision with the more prevalent, dominant worldview in the larger community.

As part of a culture that is not the dominant culture, it is a necessary requirement of survival to understand the nature of the dominant culture and to learn to work within it. This same necessity does not usually flow in the other direction because the dominant culture is blinded by its worldview, often believing that everyone sees and experiences the world the way they do. Needing to navigate other worldviews is an everyday lived experience for people in minority cultures.

In 1981, Dan moved to Halifax with his wife who was attending the Art College there at the time. He joined the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and was assigned the Donald Marshall, Jr. file, helping with strategy development. This was part of preparing him for work in political situations requiring policy development experience and versed him well in Aboriginal and Treaty Rights. One of the outcomes of the Donald Marshall, Jr. Inquiry was the Mi’kmaq – Nova Scotia – Canada Tripartite Forum, formed in 1992 as a partnership between the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq, the Province of Nova Scotia and the Government of Canada, to strengthen relationships and resolve issues of mutual concern affecting Mi’kmaw communities. Dan chaired the Justice Sub-Committee and was responsible for implementing the Marshall recommendations.

The travel he was doing was a strain on his family and in 1996, a year after Bernd Christmas arrived as CEO, Membertou asked Dan if he would work again for his community. He leapt at the opportunity and became part of the leadership team that revitalized and renewed Membertou with a long term vision of a future that was different than the cash strapped past of the Band and the community, a future based firmly in the core values of the community.

When I heard Dan speak at an Engage NS event this summer, I heard the words of Worldview Intelligence in what he shared and I wanted to learn more. Our conversation started by my offering a bit about worldview, what it is and what we have been discovering as we bring it to situations requiring people to interact across differences, inviting the exploration of a multiplicity of worldviews in conversation spaces often dramatically different from the typical exchanges of this nature.

In the thoughtful space typical of worldview conversations, Dan reflected on his recent journey with the Ivany Report and with One Nova Scotia where he experienced a collision of worldviews. It is often in the collision of worldviews that we become more aware of our own, given that 80% of our worldview operates unconsciously. It is also where worldview expansions and shifts can happen.

Dan described himself as an ambassador to the “outside” and as a senior leader in a variety of capacities. For forty years, in addition to his work, he has served as a volunteer in many organizations. He offered, “I always learn something, but these kinds of settings are artificial in a way.” Artificial due, in part, to typical meeting agendas, the usual configuration of meeting rooms and the pressure of time to get stuff done.

He thinks he was asked to be part of the Ivany report because of his role in Membertou, being part of the leadership that took a small, non-viable community to an economic force that is a unique beast: it is bit of a social enterprise, a bit of a co-op and is run like a corporation. It required entrepreneurial thinking – the same thinking required across the province right now to effect an attitudinal shift that will have Nova Scotia thriving more fully as a whole.

His work with the Ivany Report invited him to step out of his world and into other worlds in new ways – worlds that literally have existed side-by-side. He said, “I thought I knew Nova Scotia. It was a huge jolt, a huge awakening.” Dan had viewed the rest of Nova Scotia, the world even, the way he views the community of Membertou, but he discovered that the rest of the world is not necessarily like Membertou.

There are real issues to be addressed in Nova Scotia right now; especially in the more rural communities where industry is low, traditional sources of employment dramatically decreased and where youth out-migration is a significant issue. In visiting one such rural community in the province – a community that has become a shell of its former self like many in this province – the young people have left, there are no new businesses, and farms and schools are being closed – the spectre of differing worldview perspectives was brought home to him. The Ivany Report team was testing out the idea of immigration as one means to revitalize communities. A resident of this particular community stood up and said, “Immigration will never work here. We are not that kind of people.”

Dan was stunned as it dawned on him that this community would rather die than welcome newcomers to be part of a possible renewal. It was also a surprise to have this comment made in front of him as his culture and background as a Mi’kmaw would have made him an “outsider” in this community but his presence in that capacity seemed to go unnoticed.

One shift in Dan’s worldview was the comprehension that the barriers in Nova Scotia were not necessarily business related but attitude related. “We looked into the well and saw the enemy; and it was us.”

Like Membertou needed to expand its worldview and understand the community could not be exclusionary if it wanted to grow and thrive, Dan sees that Nova Scotia needs to do the same thing. Nova Scotia needs to have an enhanced worldview if it wants to capture new opportunities. We have to work in a global economy. Can our institutions work globally? Can government? If Nova Scotia wants to be more successful, we need to be more inclusive, diverse and welcoming.

As Dan travels the province, his willingness to speak about his own experiences, personally and that of Membertou, and worldview shifts creates the opportunity for others to enter spaces of reflection and to become curious about their own worldview, possibly to open up the horizons for Nova Scotia and Nova Scotians to embark on a future informed by our history but different than our past.

 

 

The Rapid Evolution and Growth of Worldview Intelligence

Kathy Jourdain 4 Comments

We have been saying, to anyone who will listen, that the work of Worldview Intelligence is rapidly evolving. If you look at what’s been emerging and developing since our first Worldview Intelligence program in Halifax in August of 2013, there is a lot of evidence to support that claim and we will share a few of those stories and examples here.

But first, as we are asked by clients and other interested individuals, what is different or unique about Worldview Intelligence and as we continue to be curious about the quality of conversations people enter into and the revelations which emerge, the most unique contribution Worldview Intelligence brings is the framework of the Six Dimensions of Worldview Intelligence which we came to through Jerry‘s research for his PhD dissertation. This framework, based on the Apostel Framework, enables people to take a step back from whatever the situation is they are involved in, ask different questions and literally get a different view – which then enables them to respond and to strategize differently – whether we are talking personally, professionally or organizationally. And it changes the quality and depth of the conversation – every time.

So, what have we been up to?

We produced a short introductory video on Worldview (thanks and gratitude to Claire Fraser for her excellent work).

There have been exciting developments in practical application in our client work. Over the last few months, Jerry and I have been able to bring Worldview Intelligence to a variety of different client engagements where we have tailored the exploration to very specific client outcomes. Some examples follow.

In the spring, I used Worldview Intelligence with a local client, a sport recreation facility in Nova Scotia, to give them a framework for communicating with each other in new ways.

In July 2015, Jerry and I used it to help the grants department at US based Foundation to collectively explore its organizational worldview, specifically in understanding the interrelationship with the worldview(s) of its various grantee populations.

Working with a professional association in Nova Scotia in September 2015, we created a tailored leadership program for association members in the province where they used Worldview Intelligence to understand their leadership role and opportunity within their profession, the environments they work in and in the larger healthcare sector they are part of. The insights they gained will enable them to approach their working relationships in new ways whether directly in their work environments or with other healthcare providers.

Then Jerry did a day long session with entrepreneurs in South Dakota offering Worldview Intelligence as a way for them to think about themselves, their work and the contexts they find themselves in.

In early October 2015, we worked with a leadership team from a US based healthcare organization. The organization has 30,000 employees in their region and they have been growing quickly, partly through mergers. In their worldview exploration we looked first personally for each person to understand their own worldview and to connect in new ways within the team. Then we used Organizational Worldview Intelligence to think about their work internally and their interaction with other teams. Finally we used the Social Systems Worldview Intelligence exploration to look at their relationships in the various communities they are located in, discovering points of commonality and points of difference or uniqueness to each community that both influences their work and informs impact and enabling a new conversation between the different community sites.

Worldview Intelligence has three categories of exploration: personal, to understand how, as an individual, we each see the world and what has influenced this. A variant of the Personal Worldview Intelligence exploration is a professional exploration – who am I in my professional role? Organizational, for collective understanding of an organization’s worldview and how that impacts how the organization operates and how employees interact internally and externally. This often illuminates gaps or other dynamics that impact organizational performance. Social Systems Worldview Intelligence exploration which is proving useful in understanding the community context that an organization works within, how to engage stakeholders in more meaningful ways and as a way to do an environmental scan and to enter into strategic planning or change management processes.

We have worked with Worldview Intelligence in a variety of cultural settings including in Nova Scotia, in the US and in Europe (with the European Commission in Brussels and with University Exchange/International students and at a university in France). We are headed to Australia in November 2015 to work with a client and to offer a three day open enrolment program there.  No matter where we go, the audiences we work with engage in the exploration with receptivity and thoughtfulness, developing a plan of application suited to the environments they find themselves in.

We are developing assessment tools to track the impact of participating in a Worldview Intelligence Program in both the short and longer term. We have developed a solid keynote on Worldview Intelligence and we continue to improve the images and frameworks we are working with. We are writing a book building off of Jerry’s dissertation, adding in hands-on practical application examples we have been privileged to be part of over the last 15 months and hopefully writing in a style that will make it an easily digestible business book. We’ll let you know when it’s available.

An example of a graphic we've updated since we started this work.

An example of a graphic we’ve updated since we started this work.

And, as I said at the outset of this post, we are more than willing to talk to anyone who will listen. Contact us if you want to know more or you want to be an early innovator and adopter with us on this journey.

Amygdala Hijacks and Triggers

Kathy Jourdain 5 Comments

Not too long ago I was in a planning meeting in Fargo, ND with my partner Jerry Nagel and two of our colleagues from Folkways. After the meeting I was headed to the airport to catch the first of my three flights to take me home to Halifax, NS. While still in the meeting I get a text and glancing at my phone, I read, “Your flight is now departing….”

Instantaneously, my heart rate accelerated into a whole new speed zone and my body started to shake as shock washed over me. I was in an immediate amygdala hijack. Then the hypothalamus began to kick in and my rational brain slowly woke up. The whole text message read, “Your flight is now departing at (a new time).” Even with a continued racing heart, I realized that the airline does not send text messages to you as your flight is about to depart. Typically from Fargo I am on an 11:00 am or a 1:00 pm flight. This day it was a 1:00 pm flight but the text came in around 11:00. In that moment of confusion, I thought I must have gotten my departure time mixed up – even though that is something I typically check, double check and triple check. And my brain panicked wondering how such a thing could have happened and what it was going to mean to my whole travel day – and none of this was conscious thought – it happened in a nano-second.

amygdala hijackAs messages are routed through the brain, the amygdala does an immediate threat assessment and, if a threat is perceived, blocks the routing to the slower thinking brain to ensure an immediate response: what is often referred to as the fight/flight/freeze response. While invaluable during the time we lived in caves and threats meant life and death, this response no longer serves most of us most of the time. Yet, we still experience it and we experience it often.

Not only is it sparked by the kind of situation described above, it is also sparked when you are triggered by a person, situation or event. Something happens, someone does something and you are triggered into a response where the rational brain is not functioning because your body has been flooded with cortisol (nicknamed the stress hormone) and a host of other chemical and hormonal changes that are not helpful or healthy in the long run (as in your immune system and anti-aging hormones drop dramatically). If you haven’t learned how to press the pause button, you may do or say something you will regret later.

Favourite argumentWe all have patterns of being triggered. There’s that favourite person who, when they show up, call or email, your body is already in full flight, fight or freeze response. Before you even know the content of the message or the reason for the call. When you default to your triggered response, you perpetuate the situation and you can make it worse because a cycle of response that feeds on itself is initiated.

And these triggers can become engrained patterns of response if they are not countered, creating deep neural pathways that evoke unconscious reactions time over time.

Becoming aware of what your triggers are, what your typical reactions are and how you usually respond gives you information and choice. The faster you can calm yourself down the faster cortisol decreases and your anti-aging and immune system hormones increase. You can develop a trigger response plan that you can activate at times when you notice you are triggered. You can create this by reflecting on what triggers you and what happens to you when you are triggered.

You can do it right now. Recall a situation or a person who triggers you. What happened during the situation you are recalling? How did you react when it happened? What bodily sensations did you experience? What thoughts were rolling through your mind? Was your “ittty-bitty-shitty committee” activated – you know, that internal voice trying to be helpful but really giving you a hard time? What emotions or feelings are you aware of? Your emotions are an important guidance system and contain a lot of useful information.

Understanding what your emotional response is telling you can be very helpful to understanding your experiences. This is where the six dimensions of Worldview Intelligence can be of service. Sometimes a trigger response is evoked because your value system is challenged, you vehemently disagree with the practices a person or organization is using or you feel like your own knowledge is invalidated, by way of examples. When you understand the underlying source of why you have been triggered you can get more quickly to options and choices for reacting or responding – including no response.

When you are triggered, what do you typically do? Withdraw? Lash out? Change the subject? How do your own actions impact your communication and/or your relationship? Is this what you want to happen or what you want to perpetuate? If not, how can you use your reflection of times you have been triggered to imagine different responses or different approaches?

The more often you reflect on and imagine alternative approaches the greater your potential to be intentional about your responses. The more you can envision what you want to achieve with the relationship and the communication the greater the likelihood of bringing Worldview Intelligence to situations that have triggered you in the past or when you have pressed the pause button on that amygdala hijack.