There's Nothing So Practical As A Good Theory

Have you come across Otto Scharmer's Theory U?

I revisited it this week. Thanks to a friend and colleague mentioning that she had signed up for a u-lab course.

Listening to her description of how she experienced one of the workshops, I was immediately struck by how 'fitting' this theory was, for me, right now.

Several aspects of the theory, and the personal learning which is encouraged by it, circle what I have been writing about in this Blog, and my journey over the past few years.

The online course is offered for free, to enable anyone from around the world to attend. Because this is important work, at this consequential time we live in.

So I was drawn to writing the Blog today on this topic, because I know many people are struggling to know 'what can I do?', 'how can I help?', 'what strengths, or experience, that I have in abundance - can I now use - to help?'

And also - I know that many people feel alone in their experience of the things going wrong in our world.

This beautiful offering by Otto Scharmer, The Presencing Institute and MIT, could be JUST what you're looking for!

Reader, I signed up.

I spent half of yesterday working my way through the orientation module - videos and transcripts. Reconnecting with the ideas of Theory-U.

(I first applied Theory U in my work over a decade ago....wow....where does the time go to. Sometimes a theory or piece of work can become fossilised in our memory, and it feels like 'been there done that' but this is so not the case with this work I realised. Instead, it provided a wonderful reminder, and lots of .....confluence.....is that the right word? ....Ideas coming together, flowing together, links being made. And ideas clicking with my lived experience.

E.g. connecting our work with our heart's intelligence

E.g. 'Who is My-Self?' and 'What is my work?')

Community is so important. Jon Alexander in his amazing book: 'Citizens' talks about the various communities we are part of. I found this really helpful when I read it; it opened up my mind and my awareness to the myriad of communities I was part of, but hadn't really validated for myself.

The obvious one is Communities of Place.

But there are also Communities of Profession, and Communities of Passion.

I now take great heart from recognising the communities of Profession and Passion that I am part of; the online peer groups, conversations with likeminded wonderful people across the world, the beautiful Book Group I am part of, the groups I lead, the online courses I take....

So if you're feeling on your own, please know that firstly - perhaps - you are already part of a community, you just hadn't framed it that way. And/or - you may like to consciously reach out and find a new community. Become part of a new community. There is so much choice out there. (Do write to me if you would like suggestions and ideas.)

And relating this back to Theory U.....

Theory U is all about being in community with others. Recognising the invisible relational, social field. And the power of that. For either good, or bad (I guess). And providing practical tools and know-how and the wherewithal to know - 'what to do'.

I was also heartened by this reminder from systems theory on 'bifurcation points'.....

Basically, where small differences in certain situations can make a big difference to whether a system moves one way or another.

'This idea of bifurcation points, has been articulated by the Nobel laureate, Ilya Prigozhin, in a very evocative way.?

He said, “when a system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to uplift the system to a higher order.”

I see myself being part of small islands of coherence, and you are too.

This chimes with the work of Joanna Macy, based on Buddhism, Living Systems and Deep Ecology. ('The Work That Reconnects' - where again, you can easily join wonderful communities and learn and act together.)

And also, the work of Margaret Wheatley. I mentioned her latest book recently (I really MUST get a hold of it) - 'Restoring Sanity: Practices to Awaken Generosity, Creativity, and Kindness in Ourselves and Our Organizations'. She coined the term 'Islands of Sanity'; this echoes the idea of Communities of Profession and Passion.

Finally, I would like to close out today by quoting this poem, which Margaret Wheatley gives near the beginning of her book:

Ours is not the task of fixing

the entire world all at once,

but of stretching out to mend

the part of the world that is within our reach.

Any small, calm thing that

one soul can do to help another soul,

to assist some portion of this poor suffering world,

will help immensely.

?

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

By the way, the title of today's Blog 'There's Nothing So Practical As A Good Theory' is a favourite quote of mine. I first heard it when training as a psychotherapist, one of my trainers mentioned it, and we often referred back to it.

So yes, Theory U, I think you're SO practical!

And I am so looking forward to this learning journey!

If you would like to find out more about this U-Lab course:

https://www.u-school.org/offerings/u-lab-1x-2023/pages/home

Please note, the course started in September, but all live teaching modules/workshops were recorded and are available. You can also still join with others to form coaching groups. Get in touch with me if you've got questions and you just need a little bit of a sounding board to get yourself going!

....'Til Next Time, Go Well

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