Commentary - Theory U as a Method for Collective Changemaking

As I drafted the first version of this OP, I was sitting in a sailing catamaran in the Bahamas where I worked for three weeks as the first mate for a charter service captained by a friend of mine. That journey provided a valuable break and contrast from a period of intense academic and professional work, giving me the separation to reflect on recent experiences and start this OP.  The Theory U design method calls for the designer to "retreat and reflect" before proceeding with a project, and this experience fit that process perfectly.  My personal life is stable with my wife’s business steadily improving and my two children doing as well as one can expect from teenage boys. I’ve had a first quarter of financial growth this year after a long period of being largely out of the working world, earning almost as much in three months as in all of last year. This is the early outcome of a business plan that I’m developing as a series of OPs.  As that business plan evolves, I look forward to a journey of successes and frustrations punctuated by moments of doubt and plenty of adventures.

My work as a student and scholar of ecosocial design continues to be a rich experience.  I am challenged intellectually to hold all of the models and theories in my mind and understand the relationships between them, while at the same time identifying those that I believe hold most promise and working towards specializing in them.  Learning how to communicate effectively to those outside of this field about my work and studies is an ongoing challenge, and yet is perhaps the central question for someone seeking to change attitudes and behaviors on a large scale.  Related to this, I continue to have doubts about how best to apply this knowledge professionally; identifying paying leverage points is elusive.  At the same time, meeting and expanding my social networks within the field of ecosocial design is an enriching experience.  The integrity, sophistication, and humor of people in this field, broadly defined, is refreshing and invigorating.   Plus, the food is always good at parties.  

After taking nearly half a year to complete and deliver my last OP, I will complete this one in six weeks.  While turning this OP in on June 1, 2018 puts me seven months behind my intended completion date of November 1, 2017 (see my timeline from my LCR), I recognize that my original timeline was entirely speculative.  Demonstrating an improvement in my OP design and creation abilities by completing this one quickly makes me feel I am back on track with my pathway. I am eager to dive into my OP5, a recap the last year and a half of learning, and then move on to my Capstone phase.

The field of ecosocial design requires a dual focus on what might be termed "sustainability" or "environmental studies" (encompassing an understanding of natural systems, environmental challenges, how these relate to human activity, and what are recognized best practices to address them) and systems design, itself a complex and multi-disciplinary field.  Interwoven with these is a process of self-awareness and personal development, it being implicitly impossible to effectively act outside of one's self if one cannot understand and act on internal processes first.  With a lifetime practice of meditation and related internal arts to build on, and a community of family, friends, and colleagues who are unafraid to give me honest feedback when I need it, I start with a solid foundation on which more explicit practices such as those contained in Theory U or the Gaia U Advisor/Coach/Mentor training that I participated in last Fall can build.  Thus, my first two years on this pathway have been rich with learning, yet often overwhelming in scope.  However, I have reached the point where I can see the patterns of information repeat themselves and the experience of discovering new ideas begins to be supplanted by the experience of having new ideas.  As this happens, I experience a narrowing of my focus towards what might be termed "Transition Design," (i.e. the process of getting from where we are to where we want to be).  In identifying intervention points along a spectrum from personal growth to team and organizational development, I find that a growing comfort with intervening in social structures has me improving my skillflexes around facilitation and teaching and identifying ways to work within organizations.  As I improve in these areas and develop the marketing methods to go with them, the alignment between creating a regenerative livelihood and fulfilling the requirements of Gaia University increases.

Buddy Guild:  Throughout 2018 I've maintained ongoing contact with my Buddy Guild via email and Skype.  We had Skype call on February 13th, which I missed but read the notes from, and another on March 21, which I was able to join.  During that call the conversation turned to rites of passage and I was able to share my notes about my vision fast with the School of Lost Borders from my LCR.

Advisor:  After my original Main Advisor, Nicole Vosper, resigned her position, an event that coincided with a flurry of changes at Gaia University, I was without a Main Advisor for a while.  Between January and March I had several email communications with Andrew Langford as my acting advisor, and then recently we settled on Jennifer English Morgan is my permanent Main Advisor.  In March and May I had two advising calls with Jennifer to establish our relationship and help me prepare this OP.

Peer Review:  In January,  Najima AlAsmar and I reviewed each other OPs.  I had not "met" Najima before so it was good to make a new acquaintance.  I find the work she is doing interesting and valuable.   

This has been an area of improvement for me, which I attribute to three practices: 

First, improved task and calendar tracking:  I have become a meticulous user of Google Calendar.  I enter all of my firm commitments immediately upon making them.  On Sundays I conduct a weekly preview of my to-do list and allocate these activities into open areas of my calendar, making sure to include my minimum self-care requirements as well, such as exercise and social activities.  On a daily basis I review my to-do list and schedule and make adjustments as needed.  In this way I am able to track all of my obligations and planned activities and forecast potential challenges.  I also have a large whiteboard in my office upon which I jot ideas and remembered tasks as they occur to me.  Once on this highly visible surface, they enter my To Do pathway, which includes prioritization and ultimately entry into the calendar.

Second, improved prioritization:  I've become a regular user of the Eisenhower or Decision Making Matrix for prioritizing tasks.  With some practice, this method becomes quick and easy to use.  In addition to prioritizing tasks, it also serves to free me from perceived obligations by identifying tasks that can be delegated (and thus prompting me to improve my delegation skills) or that needn't be done at all.  The idea that I can just discard an item on my to do list is quite liberating to both time and mind.  

Third, valuing my time:  With a clear idea of where I intend to spend my time (thanks to a prioritized To Do list), it becomes easier to place value on it.  With this reference, I'm better able to be discerning about how I meet requests for help.  Without discounting the importance of acts of service, I recognize a past pattern of overextending myself in these.  I am working to more explicitly combine the principles of the Eisenhower Matrix with a set of criteria regarding best use of my time (for myself and the greater good) as a discernment process for what help is really needed in a situation.  As a corollary, I am becoming better at recognizing when I need assistance and asking for it. 

Since the beginning of my current Action Learning Cycle in January of 2017, I have been steadily improving my project integration.  Initially, I created a separate set ofGaia U specific projects separate from my "real life," resulting in a crush of time and responsibilities.  Recognizing this as evidence of a lack of alignment in my life, I have devised to combine all of my work into a single body of ecosocial practice.  As I work to design and create a regenerative livelihood (partially outlined in my OP 3) my entire existence becomes and expression of the pursuit and dissemination of ecosocial values and practices.  Thus, my academic projects are my professional activities.  As an example, my entire employment for the first half of 2018 has involved either Permaculture design projects of the design and teaching of classes and workshops on Theory U and Regenerative Design.  

Reflecting on the comprehensive skillflex analysis that I did for my recent OP3, I find some very specific areas of growth related to the content of this OP.  Through the design, teaching, and facilitation of the Communities for Change program I have improved:

Under the heading of Organizational & Leadership Development

• Organizational development skillflexes by helping create a team to run this program
• Conscious leadership skills by being attentive to how I intervene in team growth and activities and how I foster growth in my fellow team members
• Dynamic Governance Literacy by adopting practices from Sociocracy into our team's decision making processes
• Trading and livelihood skills by soliciting and receiving a paid position as a Lead Facilitator in the C4C program
• Personal development in terms of mind, body, spirit integration by teaching and embodying the Open Mind, Open Heart, Open Will practices of Theory U

Under the heading of Communications

• My abilities as an educator
• Aptitude in cross-cultural communication by facilitating an ethnically and culturally diverse participant group
• Large and small group facilitation skills
• Public speaking comfort, by delivered weekly lectures on aspects of Theory U and Systems Thinking

Under the heading of Design

• The use of Theory U as a design methodology
• My understanding of Ecological Design improved as a function of Theory U, and also by integrating the work of Buckminster Fuller and Kate Raworth into my teaching of Theory U
• Ecological literacy, including systems thinking and systems design in general and Theory U in particular
• Teaching, particularly of Systems Thinking and Design

Under the heading of Systems Literacy

• Global Eco/socio/political awareness and actionism as I worked with the collective of facilitators and participants towards developing an eco-social group consciousness