Hindsight | Foresight | Insight

Applying Integral Foresight

// January 5th, 2011 // No Comments » // Foresight, Opinion

Late last year I remembered that I was a member of the Shaping Tomorrow Ning group – the largest collection of futures orientated thinkers and actors in the world – and was responsible for the Integral Foresight group… very little activity I’m afraid to report.  So, in a very unsuccessful effort to prompt some discussion I wrote the following post.  Thought that since most of my posts on this site are automated, a little original content wouldn’t go astray;)

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I was prompted by Richard Slaughter to remember that I have some responsibility for this group, being the one to start it… I’m sure many of you would have if I hadn’t;)  That said, I note the lack of discussion and thought I’d throw a hat in the ring and see if anyone bites…

Reporting from the front lines…. Any recent stories about Integral Futures?

* Explicit
* Implicit
* Sore lack of
* Natural emergence of
* Personal journeys…

For myself, I was visiting with Saniel Bonder, founder of Waking Down in Mutuality (and teacher at the Integral Spiritual Experience series), last month when he read out a great quote that emergently clarified where I am at with ‘Integral Futures,’ or more precisely Ken Wilber’s brand of integral theory. It is by Robert Godwin PhD, in his book “One Cosmos Under God:”

His [Ken Wilber's] work is a tremendous influence on my earlier intellectual development, and to a large extent one leaves his imposing corpus asking the question, “What’s left to say?” In order to have any thoughts of my own, I had to make him sort of an “unfluence,” even though no human who deserves the name should be unfamiliar with his work.   [emphasis added]

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Holacracy, Literacies and Organisational Transformation

// July 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Opinion

Over the last couple of years I’ve had several people point me towards a new “breakthrough” “amazing” “truly integral” “third tier” approach to organisational design and management: Holacracy.  The implication was you need to learn this; the nice side was that people aligned my interests with ‘breakthrough,’ ‘amazing,’ ‘truly integral’ and ‘third tier.’

Frankly, in the world of organisations and getting things done collectively, I’ll settle for anything ‘first tier’ that actually works!  For those not familiar with ‘first tier’ whatever, don’t worry, the references in this piece stop here (or start here if you’re curious – but be warned it’s a deep rabbit hole;).  I’m also quite wary of new ‘management methods’ as they populate like rabbits, and tend to be as useful as the proverbial lucky rabbits foot.

Holacracy is, as the name suggests, an organisational governance method that attempts to embody Holarchy.   Hol what?  Well, holoarchy is an extension of the philosophical observation of holons, a term coined by Arthur Koestler, and popularised most recently by Ken Wilber and his version of Integral Theory, the AQAL model.  A Holon is anything that is both a part and a whole at the same time.  A whole/part – a brief history of holons is here.  The organisational approach is that there are natural (read ‘healthy’) collections of holons (the part aspect) that form functional wholes (teams, organisations etc).  Just so we’re clear, Holacracy isn’t the first effort at this… just the most recent, and the one most often passing across my desk lately.   It is also a misapplication, technically speaking, of how Ken Wilber would regard a holon… another messy little rabbit hole if ever I journeyed one;)

The other week I had a discussion with the executive staff and executive director of a community organisation in the USA.  The community has thousands of loosely associated members worldwide, a 15+ year formation history, and real viability challenges in terms of ‘getting things done.’  Well, that’s not  quite right, they’ve survived this long right?  But from their point of view, they’re looking to take the next steps towards greater coherency in collective actions.  Something most organisations can relate to…

In presenting an opportunity for a (pro-bono) strategic foresight project to them, the method of Holacracy again reared its’ head.   Apparently it’s the flavour of the month, something everyone is aligned to and looking to implement as their next big step.

Well, in line with that, I’d like to offer some reflections as someone who has engaged in organisational establishment and transformation professionally for the past 10+ years.  Let’s call them some not-so-subtle cautionary considerations.  Not-so-subtle largely because I’m in a hurry, but also because I want the warnings to stand out clearly for them: they’ll risk being called half formed, biased and non-appreciative… but if they are, at least we’re talking about them.

So, what are my warnings?  Well, let’s start with a fly-by critique.  Holacracy could easily be described (negatively) as: (more…)

Integral Life Interviews with Saniel and Linda

// April 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Audio

The Conveyor Belt One of the great advantages of 21st century spiritual experimentation is that we now have an enormous body of psychological and sociological data at our disposal, as well as a highly refined perception of the universe around us—all of which offers a much clearer view of the role spirituality plays in our lives. Two of the most useful concepts to help us understand the full spectrum of spiritual realities are the notions of stages of human growth (as revealed by such developmental pioneers as Jean Gebser, James Fowler, Carol Gilligan, Jean Piaget, Abraham Maslow, etc., describing human growth as evolving through archaic, magic, mythic, rational, pluralistic, and integral stages) and states of consciousness (descriptions of gross, subtle, causal, and nondual experiences that are found cross-culturally, in almost every major tradition.)

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WDM Community – Other Sites

// March 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Websites

Integral Heart – This is the personal website of Terry Patten is an Integral coach, teacher, trainer, consultant, and writer. Terry is the partner of senior Waking Down teacher Deborah Boyar. The “Integral Heart” embodies a disposition that pays attention to the core of all things—the center that also connects with—and integrates—all dimensions of reality.

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