Theory U - An Introduction
Adam Howard, Renewable Energy Student and Human Ecologist; Carbon Neutral University Network, lead event organiser
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21-min video of Adam's keynote presentation at the 'Changing Systems: Not Just Lightbulbs' workshop in May 2017.
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7-min interview with the event organiser Adam Howard, explaining the reasons for the 'Changing Systems' workshop.
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Talk summary:
To change a lightbulb, we use existing skills. To change a system - such as a university, a community, a health system, or even a belief system - a new set of skills are needed:
This is what is proposed in something called 'Theory U', developed by Otto Scharmer in his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 2009).
Central to these new skills, says Scharmer, is a different kind of listening. He suggests we can and should cultivate listening to “the emerging future”. This means suspending our existing models, and habitual ways of reacting. It is, of course, easier said than done. Some kind of process is needed which brings us – as groups, as teams, as whole organisations – to a state of deeper listening to one another. Where this happens, we move into a place where the system becomes “aware of itself” – of how it recreates old patterns and problems, and how it can change to embrace “learning from the future” rather than the past.
Theory U presents a model, and a method, for the kind of journey we can take collectively into this kind of learning. Travelling down the left-hand side of the U, we deepen our listening… what is the future calling for? It then offers guidance on how we can build on emerging insights, through rapid experimentation and prototyping – the right-hand side of the U.
This approach has been used, for example, to address challenges with the health care system in the state of Bavaria in south-eastern Germany, a story told in Otto Scharmer's book. When the different players in the system - including patients with chronic conditions - sat down and listened openly to each other, they discovered something remarkable. They were all frustrated with the system - and all wanted something different, something which addressed deeper needs. What emerged from this process were a number of experimental initiatives centred round a different kind of doctor-patient relationship. Some of the successful ones have led to significant changes in the way health care is delivered in the state.
For those of us concerned with developing zero carbon pathways, the focus on 'the emerging future' is especially relevant. Up to now, the talking, planning and vision statements – whether local, national or global – have not led to change at the scale, or the pace, that’s called for by the climate science. It would appear we need to do things differently.
Here is a fuller introduction to Theory U from the Presencing Institute. This web-page on the Principles and Glossary of Presencing gives more background to this approach.
As well as Otto Scharmer’s book mentioned above, another valuable reference book is Presence: Exploring profound change in people, organizations and society, by Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers, (Nicholas Brealey, London, 2005).
To change a lightbulb, we use existing skills. To change a system - such as a university, a community, a health system, or even a belief system - a new set of skills are needed:
- skills which are less well understood, and form a “blind spot” in the field of leadership
- skills which all of us – whatever our position – could develop further.
This is what is proposed in something called 'Theory U', developed by Otto Scharmer in his book Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges (Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 2009).
Central to these new skills, says Scharmer, is a different kind of listening. He suggests we can and should cultivate listening to “the emerging future”. This means suspending our existing models, and habitual ways of reacting. It is, of course, easier said than done. Some kind of process is needed which brings us – as groups, as teams, as whole organisations – to a state of deeper listening to one another. Where this happens, we move into a place where the system becomes “aware of itself” – of how it recreates old patterns and problems, and how it can change to embrace “learning from the future” rather than the past.
Theory U presents a model, and a method, for the kind of journey we can take collectively into this kind of learning. Travelling down the left-hand side of the U, we deepen our listening… what is the future calling for? It then offers guidance on how we can build on emerging insights, through rapid experimentation and prototyping – the right-hand side of the U.
This approach has been used, for example, to address challenges with the health care system in the state of Bavaria in south-eastern Germany, a story told in Otto Scharmer's book. When the different players in the system - including patients with chronic conditions - sat down and listened openly to each other, they discovered something remarkable. They were all frustrated with the system - and all wanted something different, something which addressed deeper needs. What emerged from this process were a number of experimental initiatives centred round a different kind of doctor-patient relationship. Some of the successful ones have led to significant changes in the way health care is delivered in the state.
For those of us concerned with developing zero carbon pathways, the focus on 'the emerging future' is especially relevant. Up to now, the talking, planning and vision statements – whether local, national or global – have not led to change at the scale, or the pace, that’s called for by the climate science. It would appear we need to do things differently.
Here is a fuller introduction to Theory U from the Presencing Institute. This web-page on the Principles and Glossary of Presencing gives more background to this approach.
As well as Otto Scharmer’s book mentioned above, another valuable reference book is Presence: Exploring profound change in people, organizations and society, by Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers, (Nicholas Brealey, London, 2005).