Ours is a critical time in the history of humanity. When we look at what’s happening around us through a systems lens we see the symptoms of the reality of radical change everywhere – it’s in our economic, monetary, energy, biosphere, climate, food and societal systems.
A crisis of perception
One of the primary underlying causes of the chaos in the world today can be traced back to Descartes who said: “I think, therefore I am”. In alignment with the ancient Greek’s perspective, Descartes saw the human being as composed of an eternal soul and a mortal body in conflict with each other. This split view of humans became dominant in western traditions and has led to the over-reliance on our conditioned left-brain linear conceptual processes of reasoning and rationality where values such as power and competition are the norm. Through this lens nature is viewed as a machine with resources to be extracted and exploited.
Organisations as machines
This mechanistic perspective is the dominant paradigm in most western organisations, where the formal structures, rules, tasks, roles, procedures and strategies are controlled to achieve maximum efficiency and effectiveness. These processes need to be continually maintained and adjusted to ensure the organisation runs like clockwork to maintain its competitive edge and achieve its goals.
Organisations as living systems
There is a new paradigm emerging which focuses on redesigning organisations that mirror the natural laws of nature and life’s adaptability, creativity and diversity.
The living entities of organisations are its communities of people interacting with one another in meaningful ways to meet the strategic objectives of the organisation.
The most effective way to enhance the organisation’s potential for flexibility, creativity and learning is to strengthen these networks of communities.
Generative Dialogue
Generative Dialogue is a potent form of conversational practice that actively builds and nourishes the inter-connected networks of communities through fostering developmental learning environments where continual questioning and innovation are prioritised. New norms around openness, sharing and connection can evolve and, in service of collective resilience and thriving, lift collaboration to an entirely new level.
In the psychologically robust holding space of dialogue, participants are invited to let go of habitual ways of thinking, speaking and listening, challenge existing worldviews and expand their thinking through shared meaning-making, discovery, and transformation.
By design, dialogue addresses the crisis of perception through actively supporting the integration of left and right brain capacities, enabling people to think, connect and act from whole self intelligence.
With an ecological lens in place, individuals, teams and organisations have a greater chance of meeting the myriad of wicked global problems with the skill, heart and wisdom that is needed for deep innovation - the sort of innovation that may potentiate evolutionary leaps on multiple levels.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak at the Coaching at Work free half-day conference entitled ‘ Creating ripples in the system’, to mark Climate Coaching Action day on the 6th March 2024.
In this talk I speak of the role that generative dialogue can play in supporting an urgently needed shift in how we view the natural world and our place in it.