workforce strategy

When We See It, It’s Obvious; Until Then, It’s a Hidden Dynamic

Kathy Jourdain Leave a comment

When we see it, it’s obvious. Until then, it’s a hidden dynamic. Worldview Intelligence provides many different opportunities to reveal the obvious, making it possible to strategize relationships and communications in ways that move issues of common interest forward, often in new and previously un-thought-of ways.

Each of the Worldview Intelligence explorations – personal, professional, team, organizational, cultural, social systems – provides a window into seeing more of what exists, illuminating patterns, assumptions, belief and value systems in reflective, curious and generative ways. The best way to understand this is through stories. Here we share an example from a health care client we are working with in the United States. It operates in three States with 30,000 employees and is bringing innovation to many areas of its work. One such area is in bringing a team based approach to patient care in their clinics.

In the last year, there have been six clinics in a pilot project led by a team within the organization that is providing the clinics with resources, including evidence based research, leadership development and team cohesion assessments. We were invited to bring Worldview Intelligence to build connections within and across the teams as they were brought altogether for the first time. The impact was revealing and fascinating for all involved.

Shifting the Trust/Risk Dynamics

The co-ordinating team was curious to see if and how we could build enough trust within two days for the teams to become vulnerable enough to share with each other openly and honestly. At the end of Day 1, they weren’t sure they had the answer to that question but by break time the next morning it was clear that the teams were openly sharing successes and challenges and making requests of the co-ordinating team. There was also a demonstrable shift in how members of teams sought each other out to explore new questions at the break and during lunch.

Personal Exploration

How did this happen? The first day focused on the personal worldview exploration including strategies for hosting yourself when your worldview is challenged. While on the surface it didn’t look like much had shifted at the end of the day, it laid a solid foundation for the next day’s exploration related to the social systems of each of the six clinic teams and the co-ordinating team. The personal experience provides an opportunity for people to embody the Worldview Intelligence framework as they gain insight into why they see and experience the world the way they do. The reflection and curiosity that was brought to the personal exploration carried through to subsequent explorations, opening the space for expanded observations, understanding and insights.

Social Systems Mapping

The teams were asked to map their social system and then come back and share what they discovered with the whole group. Social systems mapping is not new, but looking at the mapped systems through the Worldview Intelligence framework is. It has mappers asking different questions to reveal the hidden dynamics and to strategize how to work within and across the system.

Example of a Social System Map
Example of a Social System Map
Example of a Social System Map

Examples of Social Systems Maps

As the team shared their discoveries, not only were they honest and open, there were surprising collective revelations as the entire group began to see the worldview experiences of each clinic and of the whole. By the time all the presentations were complete, the atmosphere in the room had shifted from a collection of teams to a sense of belonging to something bigger and the conversations and relationships had shifted as people sought each other out to learn more.

Worldview Revelations

What were some of the revelations? In short: the impact of the community as a social system on each clinic, unintended consequences and a question about the role of the co-ordinating team.

Impact of Community on Each Clinic

First of all, each clinic is located in a different community or social system. That social system impacts who comes to the clinic, the unique challenges each clinic must address and it influences how the clinic interacts with its community. Different clinics held assumptions about their environment and how it differed from the other clinics and not all those assumptions held true. A clinic located in a larger center assumed they experienced more diversity than clinics in smaller centers. When they said this in their presentation, the members of another clinic team all smiled or chuckled so we knew something was up. When that team did their presentation they talked about the large newcomer population in their area and how that brought 56 different languages into their work, presenting different challenges depending on access to translation services, understanding of cultural traditions and more. Other influences of the communities on the various clinics included availability of staff to fill positions and outreach.

Unintended Consequences

One of the clinics, located in a larger center, had an ongoing relationship with two other clinics in that area. They had spent over seven years working on building consistency across the three clinics so patients would have a similar experience no matter where they went. Only one clinic is in the pilot project and they shared that this was putting their relationships with the other two clinics at risk because they were now changing their approach to patient care and the other clinics did not have the same context.

Role and Relevance of the Co-ordinating Team

Another revelation of note is that for each of the clinics, as they mapped their system, the co-ordinating team was either not on the map or only there in a peripheral way, whereas for the co-ordinating team the clinics were a significant part of their map. This awareness has the members of the co-ordinating team questioning why this is so and becoming curious about their relevance and role and what they might need to shift to support the clinic teams differently.

Consistent and Responsive Systems and Processes

The exploration pointed to the need for an approach, systems and processes that provide consistency across the clinics while allowing for responsiveness to each of the communities and social systems the clinics are located within. It provided key learnings for the current pilot and for what needs to be taken into account when the next round of clinics is brought on for Phase 2.

It all seems completely obvious as it is revealed but it stays hidden until a process, framework and structure is offered to illuminate the patterns and dynamics in a healthy, constructive way that builds relationships and connections for stronger outcomes. Worldview Intelligence is that approach.

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.

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.

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.

Inattentional Blindness and Worldview

Kathy Jourdain 2 Comments

One afternoon recently, in Amsterdam with my partner Jerry Nagel for his dissertation defence on Worldview and his doctorate graduation from Tilburg University, we visited an outdoor café to enjoy the day and the atmosphere. Across the street was a square with buskers and a lot of pedestrian traffic. Noticeable was this group of women, out on some afternoon excursion, clearly together identified by their red wigs. Intrigued, I snapped a couple of pictures of them.

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When I downloaded the pictures to my computer I was stunned to see that even more prevalent than the red wigs, was the red Burger King sign behind the crowd – something I wasn’t aware of as I took the photos. To my dismay, the pictures looked like an unintended advertisement (thank goodness for photo editing).

IMG_1588

There is a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness. Inattentional blindness happens regularly. It happens when something has our attention to such a degree we do not even see something else that may be equally prominent, and sometimes more, in the same space – like this now famous experiment with the basketball players. Take a peek, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Inattentional blindness is also an influence on and a result of your worldview. The way you see the world impacts what you do see, as was described in this post on Worldview Practice and Action – Taking Whole. Some things get through your lenses, other things are filtered out – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Have you ever found yourself in an argument with someone because they claim they saw or experienced something different than you did? Have you found yourself in a position of having to recant your position because “evidence” (pictures, documents, other) shows you remembered inaccurately? Or maybe you were the one who remembered more accurately and got to gloat? On that one occasion anyway.

These pictures of the women in red wigs and the Burger King sign are a good reminder that when you expand your lens, even slightly, you may see more than you did on first glance. Or, if you refocus your attention you may see more of the picture. Or, if you really take a look around with fresh eyes you may see things you routinely pass by without ever giving thought or attention to.

For the most part, inattentional blindness is not a bad thing. It is habitual. It helps you navigate the world around you. It is when someone or something challenges you or your worldview that it is helpful to remember there may be more to the picture. Rather than taking up a defensive or persuasive position, it becomes a good time to invite Worldview Intelligence practices like curiosity, to listen to another person, to hear how they see the world and be willing to expand how you see the world to include more of a picture, to be more expansive and generous, rather than reductive – Worldview Intelligence practices that work equally well at work and at home. It doesn’t mean you have to change your own beliefs, values or worldview but when you can accept or acknowledge there may be other ways of seeing or experiencing the same situation, you create the space and opportunity to meet another human being in the fullness of your common humanity. When you meet in this space, it is possible to transform differences into progress.

How Open is Your Organization to a Multiplicity of Worldviews?

Kathy Jourdain 11 Comments

face front-side view

When you look at this image, what do you see? Do you see someone looking straight at you or do you see a profile — or perhaps something else even?

Take a good look. Can you eventually see there is another perspective, another view? Once it comes into your awareness, it is possible to hold both views at the same time or to alternate back and forth between both views.

Young_Lady_Old_Woman_IllusionWhat about this second image? Do you see the old woman or the young woman? They are both there. If you are only seeing one, let your vision soften and the other may come into view.

You may say these pictures are only optical illusions and bear no relevance to anything other than a bit of fun. From our Worldview work, we would say, these pictures visually represent a dynamic that often comes up in conversation, dialog or debate at work, at home and in other settings. Sources of tension and even conflict arise when an individual or a collective (group, organization, community) sees things in a certain way and are convinced that it is THE way to see the world, the issue or the challenge. So convinced there is only one true view that other perspectives are not welcomed, invited or entertained as possible. Coming from an entrenched point of view, the debate often becomes polarized and personalized by dismissing another person or their point of view, becoming defensive about our own point of view or becoming attached to things needing to be a certain way.

Much of the origin of these dynamics are hidden or unnamed. We think we can make our point by using facts, imagining that facts are immutable – and yet, the fact is there is a young woman in that picture – and, there is an old woman. If you only see one of the facts, you may do everything in your power to try to make someone else see it too. Instead of bringing curiosity to the possibility that there might be two possibly opposing “facts” that are both true, we become entrenched in our point of view. Sometimes we become identified with our point of view – another way that the argument becomes personalized.

A worldview exploration helps ascertain what the source of conflict or tension might be by an exploration of components of worldview – something in how we see or interpret current reality, historical patterns or stories that influence current reality, the way we imagine or interact with the future, all reveal something about the worldview of individuals and organizations that might help us find common ground or points of connectedness to move forward on what matters. Understanding value systems and core commitments, illuminating the practices and methods by which we bring our worldview to life individually and collectively and understanding what informs our knowledge or how we know what we know, again individually or collectively, can also provide entry points to common understanding on issues that matter to us.

What are ways that you invite other points of view, or worldviews, into your conversations? How does your organization deal with alternative and even opposing worldviews when they appear? Do you even know if there are alternative worldviews? If there are voices that remain silent when dominant worldviews are expressed, you might not even be aware there are different perspectives. How do you know if there is a dominant worldview? If there are no alternatives offered to the perspectives that are already in play, that perspective may be a dominant worldview. That might be okay and it might not, especially if it is being expressed unconsciously in the organization. Your workforce could become more progressive, more creative and more engaged when there is room to voice and work with a multiplicity of worldviews at any given time and especially on the issues and questions that are most important to the evolution, sustainability and ongoing livelihood of your organization.