Course for changemakers about systems change (by yellow organization "Theory U")

[Loving Radiance]

Hey there, I got aware of this course through a yellow network here in Germany, and I thought that you folks would appreciate such course. This is already useful for people working in positions facilitating organizational, business and governmental change. This framework can be implemented right away in your work. It's also good for those of you looking to prepare your LP and expand your toolbox. It's useful for self-transformation too. (course material available starting on August 31, 2023)

 

Website:

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

 

Overview:

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[The course] a process for transformative change that blends systems thinking, consciousness and wisdom traditions, and civic action. It is a “learning by doing" program where you get familiar with Theory U tools, methods, and frameworks and start cultivating your ability to apply them to your life and work.

 

What you learn:

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1. Self-knowledge: The leadership capacity that matters most
2. Practices to cultivate deep listening, precise observation, and dialogue
3. Methods for creating innovations that generate wellbeing in society

 

Requirements:

• Theory U account (for exchange with fellow changemakers who also take this course)
• MITx Online account (course material is here)

 

Times:

• Estimated weekly work of 4-6h
• Material accessible August 31, 2023 - May 30, 2024
• Live sessions for 6 weeks, September 14, 2023 - October 26, 2023

 

Why create this course:

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In the past years, we have witnessed unprecedented disruption. Climate crisis and related natural disasters, rising unease about the impacts of AI, global protests against racial injustice, and social and political polarization shape our current landscape and point to a pressing need for societal renewal. To catalyze this renewal we need to learn not from the past, but from a future wanting to be born. How to activate our capacity to lean into the emerging future may well be the most important leadership challenge of our time. How do you cultivate curiosity, compassion and courage in the face of prejudice, anger and fear? How do you step into action for the well-being of all?

This program is an introduction to a method called Theory U, developed at MIT, for leading such change in business, government, and civil society contexts worldwide. [The course] will guide you in applying Theory U to an issue that matters to you, building your capacity to lead transformative change in the process. You will do so with fellow change-makers locally and around the world. Join us as we co-pioneer new approaches to today’s most important social and environmental challenges.

 

About the organization:

• It's about bringing the highest possibilities of the future into the present
• It's about aiming to change the internal place which a system acts from

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Theory U is an awareness-based method for changing systems. Theory U blends systems thinking, innovation, and leading change--from the viewpoint of an evolving human consciousness. Drawing on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tradition of action research and learning by doing, Theory U has evolved over two decades of experimentation and refinement by a global community of practitioners. At its core, Theory U comprises three main elements:

1. A framework for seeing the blind spot of leadership and systems change: the "interior condition" from which we operate;
2. A method for implementing awareness-based change: practical methods and tools for change makers. The focus is on building the collective capacity to shift the inner place from which we operate;
3. A new narrative for evolutionary societal change: updating our mental and institutional operating systems in all of society's sectors. What does it take to redesign societies in ways that address the pressing challenges of our time? What does it take to apply the power of mindfulness and awareness to the transformation of the collective system?

Theory U integrates these methods and lineages for effecting change:

• Action research and organizational learning in the tradition of Peter Senge, Ed Schein, Donald Schoen, Chris Argyris, and Kurt Lewin;
• Design Thinking in the tradition of Tim Brown and Dave Kelly;
• Mindfulness, cognition science and phenomenology in the tradition of Francisco Varela, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tanja Singer, Arthur Zajonc, and David Bohm;
• Civil society movements in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and millions of others who are mobilizing change in their local contexts. 

Theory U draws our attention to the invisible source dimension of the social field, to the quality of relationships that we have to each other, to the system, and to ourselves. "In order to operate in the complexity of this century we have to do some inner work." - Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT, Founding Chair of Presencing Institute. Author of Theory U: Leading from the Future As it Emerges.

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We live in a time of massive institutional failure, in which we collectively create results that (almost) nobody wants. The list is well known: Climate change. Hunger. Poverty. Terrorism. Violence. Destruction of communities, nature, life—the foundations of our social, economic, ecological, and spiritual well being. These times call for a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity to meet these challenges in a more conscious, intentional, and strategic way. The development of such a capacity would allow us to create a future of greater possibilities.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Loving Radiance