“An answer is always the part of the road that is behind you
. . . only questions point to the future - Jostein Gaarder
. . . only questions point to the future - Jostein Gaarder
The U-process is a map of a best practice that emerged from research that Otto Scharmer and Joseph Jaworski carried out in 150 companies who had continually managed to successfully reinvent themselves. This was the pattern that they discovered underlying all their processes. They further developed and explored it with Peter Senge and Betty-Sue Flowers, which resulted in the book "Presence".
Every profound change process, whether in an organisational or social setting, is the result of a journey that includes both tangible and intangible dimensions. Most learning and change processes fail to access and work with the underlying field of potential from which new possibilities emerge. The result is often disappointing outcomes and continuous struggle to sustain change efforts. |
From the book Presence, we learned that there are ways that help us connect the head with the heart and help us transform our perception of present reality and of our part in creating it. This is called the U-process. It involves a fundamentally different approach to co-creation. It enables us to pay attention to, and learn from, emerging realities or opportunities.
Our conditioned response to an issue or problem is to quickly solve it and download patterns from the past, often making things worse. The U-process helps us to see things from a different level. To observe the hidden patterns of habit and mind that keep producing limiting results. It enables teams of highly diverse individuals to operate as a single, collective intelligence. |
It allows participants to take what each knows and to share that knowing both tacitly and explicitly . Unlike traditional learning theories, which are grounded in reflections on past experiences, the U-Process enables participants to pay attention to, and learn from, emerging possibilities that are latent in the present. The U-Process comprises three primary phases:
Sensing –uncovering current reality by expanding and deepening awareness; Presencing―retreating and reflecting to enable individual “inner knowing” as a foundation for collective commitment; and Realizing –creating a new reality that generates breakthrough results through rapid cycles of action. |