Becoming Aware
The ability to lead and change in the face of uncertainty starts with Awareness.
The patterned system: Bringing awareness to how business as usual is no longer a fit for a sustainable future.
Humans love to create patterns of behavior, and systems that reinforce these patterns of behavior, because they give the illusions of certainty and predictability. Yet, we enter a time of great uncertainty, and tectonic shifts in the world, with a planet that is rapidly dying, and an economic system that continues to deplete it. Leading into the future starts first by building a deep awareness of what these patterned systems are, what their fundamental failings are, and where they do not account for a new, urgent and emerging reality.
Pattern/System Analysis. This is a retrospective deep dive into the patterns and systems that, in the past, served a reality where we assumed that there were unlimited resources to feed our economic growth. With a birds-eye view of what it takes to make your product or service happen, the goal of the analysis is to pinpoint the parts of your value chain and user experience that are out of date with the new, emerging reality (climate change disruption, economic disparity, etc.). It enables you to define what patterns to address to be more nimble with any new future vision, and where focused efforts might be needed for transformative change.
Roles and contributions: Bringing awareness to how individuals sustain practices that are no longer a good fit for the future.
Humans tend to see ourselves as outside of systems, when in fact we are the systems. Each of our roles and contributions enable the old, entrenched patterned system to keep its equilibrium. An awareness of how our individual roles and contributions keep a patterned system alive is critically important to any desire to want to change it.
Roles and Contributions Awareness. Once a patterned system is made visible, the goal of this work is to help individuals understand their specific roles and contributions in the patterned system that has been made visible, and to understand their relationship to the whole. It is an education process in which individuals realize that their individual actions are the system, and that as a result, they have the power to change the patterned system now visible into something more viable and beautiful for the future.
Consequences and opportunities: Bringing awareness to the real cost of doing business as usual.
Accustomed to operating in silos and departments, we rarely understand the totality of the consequences of the patterned system within which we operate, intended or otherwise, or the opportunities or leverage points where the patterned system can be changed.
Consequences Analysis. During this retrospective deep-dive, the goal is to understand the total costs of producing and enabling the current patterned system—to the planet, and to humanity. It is a look beyond the balance sheet, to understand the total “cost” of operating. This awareness helps to build momentum and desire for change for something better, and new.
Opportunity Finding. Likewise, by understanding all the consequences of the patterned system, it becomes fodder for any future visions, or areas of opportunity for systems change, because unintended consequences have been made visible.