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Meer Potentieel uit je Meeting of Organisatie

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 15:48:04 GMT

Meer resultaat met creatiever plannen wat je uit je bijeenkomst wilt halen.

Ik was laatst voor het eerst in lange tijd weer eens bij een echte bijeenkomst ergens in het land. Goeie sprekers, belangwekkende thema, inspirerende omgeving en artiesten, en toch veel kansen gemist. Teveel herhalen we wat we gewend zijn. Te weinig vragen we ons af, hoe zouden we er veel meer uit kunnen halen?

Soms denk ik wel eens, we beseffen te weinig dat we een zaal van vaak hoogopgeleide en of zeer betrokken mensen hebben. Benut de kracht uit de zaal! Breng leven tussen deelnemers onderling. Ook zij wisselen dan meer informatie uit en het gevoel van we zitten er samen in groeit.

Nu we weer samen aan de slag gaan is dus meer potentieel halen uit je bijeenkomst of organisatie essentieel. Onderzoek zegt dat vooral online-werkers vaak geen energie meer hebben om innovatief voorwaarts te denken, als die energie al niet vermoord was door een overdaad aan protocollen. Denk niet dat één (leuke) samenkomst meteen alles goed maakt, maar een goede bijeenkomst kan heel veel verschil maken.

Hier zijn een aantal tips om het meeste uit je bijeenkomst te halen. Daaronder volgen een aantal tips om diezelfde ideeën naar je organisatie te vertalen.

Beginnen met goede Icebreaker of juist een ritueel?

Hier wat principes om de beste varianten in te zetten:

Wel eens in alle pauzes net geen lekkere gesprekken gehad, omdat je niet wist, wie jij nou net te spreken had? Goede ijsbrekers laten velen met velen kennismaken en bieden hun inspiratie om een aantal daarvan later nog eens aan te spreken. Al is het alleen al, om te zorgen dan anderen bij de koffie aansluiting vinden met mensen met wie ze chemie en of qua onderwerpen wat met elkaar hebben. Ook met extra's op bijv. naambordjes kan je veel bereiken.
Wel eens geërgerd over 'leuke spelletjes', die niks met de inhoud van de bijeenkomst te maken hadden? Goede ijsbrekers zetten de principes van de bijeenkomst neer. Wil je geconcentreerde deelnemers, open harten of juist doeners wakker maken? Zorg dat de oefeningen juist de gewenste aspecten levend en helder maken voor iedereen. Breng ze (ongedwongen!) in de staat die past bij de inhoud.
Wel eens gedacht over de trainer, "Tja, je bedoeling snap ik, maar nergens komen wij tot leven."? Als je 10 tot 45 minuten hebt om iets neer te zetten, maar de deelnemers zijn verplicht aanwezig, dan mag je geen wonderen verwachten. Bespreek mogelijk weerstand van te voren. Hoed U voor die academische communicatie trainer, die een cursus Theatersport heeft gedaan, maar modellen nog steeds beter begrijpt dan mensen. Zorg dat de begeleider in sfeer en toon de mensen meekrijgt.
Wel eens gedacht, "Alweer 'leuk doen', terwijl we echte zaken te bespreken hebben?" De sfeer moet bij het onderwerp passen. Je kan ook ritueel beginnen. Juist de grote vragen op de voorgrond plaatsen op zo'n manier dat ze bij iedereen van binnen al worden aangekeken.

Hoe gebruik je de potentie uit de zaal?

Tja, wie zich richt op grote namen op een podium vergeet te vaak de potentie in de zaal. De belangrijkste inspirators zijn vaak bevlogen collega's die zich in onze positie kunnen verplaatsen en kleine maar belangrijke zetjes kunnen geven.

Wel eens meegemaakt dat grote namen vertellen wat je al wist, en je buurvrouw iets veel boeienders zegt? Grote namen snappen jouw problemen vaak minder goed, dan je buurvrouw die zich in jou kan verplaatsen. Benut daarom de wijsheid uit de zaal, middels Open Space of Unconference sessies. Kleinere werksessies helpen ook weer, dat de mensen de meest bij hun passende mensen treffen.
Wel eens geërgerd aan 'bevlogen' sprekers, die niet verhullen dat jij straks slechte boodschappen/producten aan de man moet proberen te krijgen? Organisaties denken soms dat een vurige preek of leuke optredens zwaktes en oneigenlijke intenties kunnen verhullen. Besteed liever meer aandacht aan betekenis, zorgen van deelnemers en integriteit van de organisatie.
Wel eens meegemaakt dat er voor (jouw) echte vragen geen tijd was? Subsessies kan je rond aanbod organiseren. Dat kan ook rond vragen van deelnemers, en hen deze zelf laten clusteren. Door onder meer dialoog-sessies kunnen meer mensen zelf echt bijdragen rond wat voor hen belangrijk is.

Hoe vergroot je innovatiekracht en creativiteit?

Wel eens vragen en stellingen meegemaakt waar je op slag moe van werd? Tja, interactie in de zaal middels voorgelegde stellingen en vragen is vaak verborgen controle. Organisaties proberen regelmatig te sturen op gewenste uitkomsten. Denk niet dat de zaal dat niet doorheeft. Faciliteer het proces vanuit wat er leeft en besproken wil worden.
Wel eens gedacht, mooie plannen, maar met wie doen we dit eigenlijk samen? Of leuke mensen, maar wat gaan we doen? Ik heb veel start-up meetings meegemaakt. Deze zijn lastig. Of organisatoren leggen veel te lang hun plan uit, alsof het al klaar is. Of ze dringen te snel aan op samenwerken, zonder dat mensen echt zijn ingestapt of zelf iets mogen veranderen aan het plan. Of ze maken het te gezellig en deelnemers vragen zich af, waar gaat het nu eigenlijk om? Werk dus aan een goede balans tussen inhoud en ontwikkelen van chemie tussen deelnemers onderling. Neem daar tijd voor.
Wel eens gedacht, ik hoor alleen dingen die ik eerder heb gehoord? Echt nieuwe ideeën zijn moeilijk. En nieuw en origineel betekent niet vanzelfsprekend beter. Toch moeten we door een barrière heen. Einstein zei al: "Je kan geen problemen oplossen met dezelfde vorm van denken als die het probleem veroorzaakten." Besteed daarom in de aanloop van bijeenkomsten meer tijd aan welke vragen je stelt, en hoe je nieuwe perspectieven binnenbrengt.
Wel eens inspiratie gehaald buiten de box? Doorgaand op de opmerking van Einstein. We kennen allemaal de vakbijeenkomst waar vakexperts in vakjargon hun positie verdedigen. We lezen in de krant dat milieu onderhandelingen vooral tegen weerstand aanlopen die oude denkbeelden en belangen beschermen. Te veel praten we vanuit vaststaande denkramen. Daarom dat vaak de leken, nieuw in een gebied, of ideeën uit andere gebieden juist voor doorbraken zorgen. Zij brengen echt iets nieuws in. Zit je vast? Haal er ook eens leken en buitenstaanders bij. Denk bijv. biomimicry.
Wel eens gedacht, wat zit iedereen hier toch vast aan stokpaardjes? Maak het speelser. Dit is echt mijn terrein. Speelse mensen zijn flexibeler, denken leniger, passen zich sneller aan, staan meer open voor samenwerking, geven meer vertrouwen. Ook kunst, acts, locaties kunnen veel doen, om mensen uit hun vaste patronen te halen.

Hoe creëer je vernieuwende beweging in je organisatie?

Wat zijn de simpele lessen van de voorgaande inzichten die je in je organisatie kan implementeren? Hoe krijg of houd je leven in de organisatie?

Hoe ontvang je nieuwe medewerkers (als gaten in de organisatie vullers of als nieuw talent)? En hoe houd je de sfeer erin? Er zijn veel verschillende ideeën over blijdschap in werk. Wat we wel zeker weten, is dat burnouts, stress en vervanging van personeel heel veel geld kosten. En dat spelen dat je 'soort van familie bent' zolang je braaf meedoet, totdat ontslag-rondes elk teamgevoel verpesten, op lange termijn funest zijn. Sfeer ontstaat door lijfelijke ontmoetingen, gemeenschappelijk doel en betekenis waarin mensen geloven, kansen op vrienden maken, ervaren dat je bijdrage telt, gevoel van veiligheid en enige speelse momenten. Een dag niet gelachen is..
Hoe krijg je meer potentie uit je medewerkers? Wat voor de zaal in bijeenkomsten geldt, geldt ook voor personeel. Als hun inbreng oor krijgt en meetelt, wordt meedenken ook zinniger en leuker voor ze. Managers die wat vaker even informeel checken en opmerkingen meenemen en er op terugkomen creëren meer stroming in organisaties. Maar ook bijeenkomsten waarin medewerkers kunnen meedenken over organisatie-vraagstukken en uitdagingen kunnen verschil maken. Zeker als mensen weinig lijfelijk aanwezig zijn, wordt het essentieel om de momenten waarop dit dan gebeurt ook echt betekenisvol te maken. Ruim ook tijd in voor bonden tussendoor. Mensen geven vaak toch het meest om andere mensen die ze kennen.
Hoe vergroot je innovatiekracht en creativiteit? 1. Werken met mensen is wezenlijk anders dan werken met machines. Protocollen zijn daarom essentieel voor piloten, maar leraren gaan er kapot aan. Geef daarom zeker mensen die mensgericht werken, meer vertrouwen, spreek ze meer aan op waarden en vermijd alsmaar nieuwe regeltjes die samen berg op schouders worden. Ook hebben beroepen waarin hoger niveau van denken belangrijk is, meer denk ruimte nodig. Ik zie vaak wandelen in park of bos als deel van mijn werk. Ideeën kun je niet organiseren. Je creëert er ruimte voor.
Hoe vergroot je innovatiekracht en creativiteit? 2. Met de toename van bullshit jobs neemt ook motivatie af. Je werkt voor je inkomen. Maar zin in je werk, of zinnig werk, nee. Organisaties hangen soms teveel aan succesvolle producten en diensten die eigenlijk overbodig zijn. Sommige organisaties lijken hele ecosystemen gebaseerd op fabeltjes. Tja, geen wonder dat niemand meedenkt of ideeën heeft. Dan moet je gaan praten over betekenis hervinden en of nieuwe doelen stellen, die positieve emoties oproepen. En als dat niet kan creëer dan tenminste zijtaken, commissies die wel wezenlijke dingen doen. Want betekenis is uiteindelijk wezenlijker dan geluk. Het is zelfs een voorwaarde voor geluk.
Hoe vergroot je innovatiekracht en creativiteit? 3. Er is een levensgroot verschil tussen een spel spelen met elkaar en spelen met elkaar. In teveel organisaties lopen mensen met maskers op een spel van serieusheid met elkaar te spelen. Want zolang ik serieus werk, is mijn bestaansrecht in de organisatie gegarandeerd. Bedenk eens dat mensen die hun eigen beroep of aanwezigheid overbodig maken, eigenlijk degenen zouden moeten zijn die je houdt. Ik zelf werd erg creatief door luiheid. Altijd dacht ik, kan dit ook met minder moeite en in minder tijd? Of soms nog beter, is dit echt wel nodig? Nee, overboord dan. Ik ga liever spelen. Daarvan krijg ik energie. En is dat serieus? Jazeker. Door spelen leren we sneller, we komen meer tot leven, hebben meer ideeën en, essentieel voor moderne organisaties, passen onszelf sneller aan naar nieuwe omstandigheden. Meer speelruimte voor echt spelen maken dus.

Kortom we zijn mensen. Wat ons tot leven brengt, wat ons zin geeft en fijne (nieuwe) ervaringen geeft moet liefst aanwezig zijn in alles wat we doen.

Ik ervaar dat leven in verbinding met de wereld om mij heen, en de vrijheid voelen om daar mijn beste steentjes aan bij te dragen mij tot leven brengt. Ik straal voor groepen. Waar straal jij? En wanneer straalt je bijeenkomst of organisatie?

Veel succes!

En als je er hulp bij zoekt? Ja, dan kan je me altijd berichten, bellen en inhuren. :)

Hier nog meer ideeën om creatiever te worden.

Maslov for a Living World

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 16:47:17 GMT

Maslov for a Living World

Introducing the whole system's Flourish Needs Cycle.

Floris Koot

Mar 21 · 9 min read

We need to get over our human self-centered outlook. The Maslow pyramid is actually a circle, not a climb to optimal self-gratification. What good does self-actualization do, when there’s no healthy community to be part of? How can there be a healthy community without a thriving world? What fun is it to have much esteem while living in a poisonous wasteland?

Questions you might wonder about for yourself, on what level do you work? Can you relate your work or its meaning to the whole living system? What are you contributing towards to? How does that fit in a flourishing world? If not, what might be needed or help to make it so?

This is the model as I proposed it in my first article on the matter. There was already a circle hidden within it, but I kept the pyramid to keep the connection with Maslow intact. New insights also led to the current article you’re reading now.

For a wider understanding, we will travel around the cycle and look at each step on several levels. We’ll connect each level to an aspect of the rise of human civilization. We’ll see what roles are needed for each level to function as support to help the whole system thriving. In this, we all have a role to play. And we’ll see that each level can also be harmful when one gets fixated on it. We’ll see that each level functions also to support the wider scope of the bigger whole. So to thrive, it is imperative we open eyes for the whole cycle we are all part of and see how we can help.

1. Thriving Eco-System

This level is the hunter-gatherer phase in human history. At the root of life is a healthy nature, a living world. Physiological needs can’t exist in a vacuum, let alone on a dead planet. Romantic dreams of living in and off the forest are hardly possible anymore. We destroyed too much. People seeking to reforest wastelands, ecologists, permaculture enthusiasts, and many others do essential work on this level. They need all the help they can get.

Since this level doesn’t necessarily include humans, our human-centered mindset too often seems to forget how fundamental this is. Children often care for nature and animals. Often at the end of their education, they have forgotten about that and want to have a career. The way education breaks the wish to relate to nature is one of its biggest sins. This must change.

2. Physiological Needs

This level is the early agricultural phase of history. These levels are all about our basic needs to just being able to live. Over time many jobs were added to the farmers like housebuilders, doctors, cleaners, anyone making sure your life can continue with a body that functions. Focus on this level makes it often hard to see the bigger picture. Think of doctors giving you pills to help you heal, but who don’t even mention your diet or bad habits that caused the disease.

This level gets currently more and more threatened. Air pollution, water pollution, processed foods, plastics in sea food, collapsing energy grids. Nothing is secure any more. All the while that this level makes all others possible and helps sustain them. And meanwhile the threat to our eco-system only makes it harder to maintain this level in healthy order.

3. Safety

This is the phase of the early empires. It is about control, protection, and often still a lot of fear of what’s outside the borders. The military and justice system help give us safety, when in balance with the whole system. Lack of it creates chaos, and an overload of enforced control leads to dictatorships. Those in a state of stress or fear often restrict freedom for anyone they feel like a threat. People clinging to it often think all the rest depends on them. Holding a gun is an easy thought. A wider view may help see how safety is brought much closer when all other levels are thriving too.

Just to compare, the USA has with 4% of the global population 22% of all prisoners. The Netherlands closed 19 prisons in 2013 for lack of criminals. Which country is safer? Harsher justice doesn’t diminish crime. Yet people demand such out of anxiety, fear or even to protect their own income in the protection business. And this goes for all levels. We have to ask, are we helping towards a real solution or protecting our own jobs and interests? Sadly our economical system puts too often pressure on the latter, or rewards it even, making many solutions difficult.

4. Love and Belonging

This is the phase of starting to protect what we hold dear in ideals. Think banners that stand for families and for ideals. And think of new ideas in science and religion; ideas that one can belong to. In such a world family is the home of love and belonging. Education should help to become healthy capable adults on this level. Great teachers do help with that. Sadly economic thinkers tend to diminish the value of this level. Thus we also overlook that nursing isn’t just a task of physiological caretaking, it’s also to create a warm loving environment that helps heal the spirit as well. Too much focus on this level can be seen in adult men who never leave home. When healthy this is a platform to help the world from, whatever your job, on whatever level.

5. Esteem

When the other levels are taken care of we can invest in pride and status. We don’t take roles to survive but to be someone, to be seen. In human history, this is the phase of nationalism. We embrace stories about national pride. We can live the fantasy that being seen matters. Ambition to achieve something creates a great many accomplishments from which many benefit. This is when they are connected to a vision for the bigger picture. Too much focus on the status itself and we enter the realm of unscrupulous salesmen, petty managers, TikTok enthusiasts, and politicians putting more energy in protecting their position than serving the people.

6. Aesthetics, Music & Art

This is the early 20th century when the entertainment industry first became big business through the advance of radio and cinema technology. We both underestimate and overemphasize this level. Too often we don’t see how arts add meaning, color, beauty to life. How poor life is when it’s devoid of art, beauty, or music? Yet, currently, the huge focus on profits has turned arts into entertainment and too often meaning into distraction. Great art and beauty help us with images and sounds to connect our own life with the bigger whole. It is the purpose of art to create feelings of true connection, which can guide all of us forward.

7. Self Actualization

With Maslov, this is the summit. With our modern perspective, we can see something else. It exemplifies the rise of the age of self-centered individualism and consumerism. We have to ask, what is self-actualization for? It is to become whole, to be able to shine our most true gifts. When we get stuck in self-centered growth, just for ourselves it has little meaning. Our gifts are not for ourselves, they have a role to play in the bigger whole. At whatever level we end up working, working from a connection in service of the whole system will add depth and impact and actually feel much more like true self-actualization. Those who work at this level, should not help people reach this level, but grow beyond it.

Anyone working on any level can be a self actualized professional. Many may not even realize they are, as they don’t get the credits. And those that think self actualization is better than the levels before should think again. All levels are essential and one doesn’t need to be self actualized to do a world of good. Or one may not even realize it. Most nurses get dominantly practical training, while many managers feel good for following that servant leadership course. Yet most nurses are truly serving others, while there are ‘servant’ leaders who think their service to the companies interests merits gigantic incomes. Such people should look more honestly at their role in the larger context.

8. Community Actualization

This Native American Blackfoot model inspired me to include it in this model. Indigenous wisdom on the essence of community and the shape of society as a consistent whole is something many modern people forgot or lost. It adds the understanding that the continuity of society also depends on a healthy context. When I investigated it, it seems even Maslov knew about their ideas on this.

This level comes from non-Western consciousness. From the Indian saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, and the South African Ubuntu, ‘I am because we are’, we learn we cannot be someone, on our own. We exist within a context. In the West we see many people longing to be part of a healthy community, let alone an escape from the mental poverty of dystopian individualism. Most indigenous tribes put an effort in actualizing together in service to each other. Often they face hard obstacles like poverty, racism, suppression, and disease. Yet, they also mostly show inner strength and joie de vivre in the face of adversity that our society lacks. And their fights to protect nature, like the famous Standing Rock protests, currently make them the frontline of the voice of community actualization in the face of global systems understanding. Because even communities need to have a purpose.

A danger of being too fixated on this level is either the tribal leader thinking in us vs them or someone hindered by his own anger over historical injustices. Nelson Mandela’s rise from prison to president, and the end of Apartheid, was made possible through his inclusion of the ‘other’ side into the solutions he offered. Because in the end, we’re all humans seeking life, meaning, and fulfilling existence. That doesn’t mean all is great now in South Africa. Sadly it is very hard to stay committed to the whole cycle over personal interests or power.

9. Service to a Living World.

This is the level we need many more people in, in our modern world. The current technology and networks have not only made this level possible, but they also show how dire the need is becoming to help the whole system to heal. The American belief in competition “If we all take care of ourselves competing with all others, we all will offer the best we’ve got for a better world.” has been a false myth. It led to the infinite growth on a finite planet model, making profits more important than a healthy planet. Just the insane facts that 8 billion earthlings may daily throw away one or more pieces of plastic, 200 species go extinct every day and we have dead zones in the oceans should worry everyone. A wrong focus on this level is worldwide corporate strategies. These will never serve everyone, whatever the branding tells you.

To achieve this level in a healthy way, one must have achieved self-actualization and be part of a supportive community. It is a difficult place to be, where one has to be able to see and serve the bigger picture, regardless of political, racial, or economical interests. Whole systems healers are committed to the world as a whole. They help people understand how everything is interconnected and codependent. They wake people up. They seek support for those doing the actual repairing, the forest planters, permaculture, etc. And with that, we’re full circle.

Here I think about people like Jane Goodall, Greta Thunberg, Daniel Christian Wahl, Margaret Wheatley, Charles Eisenstein, Vandana Shiva, the Grandmothers (a group of indigenous women speakers). Many women. The people at this level struggle often to be heard. They seem to serve no interests, mostly bring warnings, and their message isn’t popular. They request a large systems change. But this shift lies at the root of the whole model. Life isn’t possible on a dead planet. We’re all crew on spaceship earth and we better start repairing.

NOTE: Several commenters on LinkedIn and Facebook point to the fact that Maslow never intended a pyramid, and also had a larger perspective about what he personally understood under self actualization. I chose to leave that nuance out, in order to focus the prevalent understanding of his pyramid and (mis)use by many coaches and self help guru’s.

If you want to continue reading about this kind of thinking then I found this article on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Max Neef’s model of human development a nice addition, after some people pointed to it. Especially helpful is how Max-Neef further classifies Satisfiers(at the bottom of the article) https://medium.com/@hwabtnoname/maslow-s-hierarchy-of-needs-vs-the-max-neef-model-of-human-scale-development-9ebebeabb215

Global Shift In Education

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 15:42:45 GMT

Firstly, education is about survival within the world and social context . The next level is that the education helps you to contribute to life and your social context. The next level is to help both flourish. Here’s how and why.

Quite recently a question went viral. Ask not in school: “what do you want to become?” It’s better to ask: “What problem do you want to solve?” And then help the students develop to become part of the solution they see. Here’s some ideas for education that helps to do just that. Full force!

In Short:

Students should learn to help solve global issues, not just how fill job gaps of destructive corporations that created the problems.
Students should learn to develop inner leadership, and explore their greatest talents, not just score against the same norm as everyone.
Students should learn for and about life as a whole (like regret of the dying), develop critical & systems thinking and community skills.
Students should develop wisdom through dialogue, not just the capability to echo requested facts in tests.
Students should play and mess around with their own big questions and not put under pressure to please a f#*ed up system, that currently destroys our eco-systems.

When we admit the our global society needs to shift, or we long for it, then education is a cornerstone towards the new. Education that trains people to be blind about the consequences of their actions is downright dangerous, or just work hard for a boss, without seeing what you actually do. Climate change and ecological collapse are happening! Yet hope for change is low when untold millions have no real clue, what their actions lead to, and lack the curiosity to develop it. It did work within the old context and order of the world. Needs and context however have changed so much, that we need to alter our course fast. The survival of our species is at stake, wars may be prevented, scarcity avoided, madness and maniacism* overcome. It needs to step away from simple professional preparation to fulfill a job within a company. To do so education needs to level up. That should include being able the challenge the current destructive system, that includes systemic racism and unregulated planetary destruction. Because we seem unable to do it ourselves. Can we help them to challenge us, as our ‘safe’ bubbles* are falling apart, through fires, floods, economic collapse & pandemics. (*the safe bubbles probably most people reading this experienced, but the majority of the world never had.)

Firstly education is about survival within the world and social context . The next level is that the education helps you to contribute to life and your social context. The next level is to help both flourish. Here’s how and why

“Earth is a spaceship and we are all crew.”

The danger of only contextual education.

The Capitalistic convictions believe that we need to compete to improve. But real improvement starts when we start working together from the conviction ‘We are all society together.’ Working hard for your company and being a crew member of earth may or may not be the same thing. You have to know. Education should train us to be able to make the distinction and if necessary act upon it. Laws should protect actions against unethical practices within companies. Higher, much higher than organizational interests should rank the health and future of us all.

Old Education trained people to work within the bigger context of jobs, contracts and orders. People were mostly trained on only one level. How to work with methods, approaches and a professional attitude that operated within your own professional zone of choice? They often are hardly aware of how they are part of a huge ecosystem, and if their role within it is that of help or disease. Many jobs are like cancer cells helping a cancer to grow without restraint.

‘Wir haben er nicht gewusst." said many Germans after World War II when asked about the death camps that killed millions. We more or less seem to say ‘We don’t want to know.’ or perhaps ‘I am but one. And I have my own life to lead as well. So I can’t make a difference, sorry.’ Should we train people to speak and act like this? Or should we train them to feel they do have options and powers? And have a different attitude? Critical thinking and social courage are becoming more and more essential.

How education could level up.

How to raise education from level one to level two and ultimately to level three? Firstly young people need to be trained to think more critically towards media, and way more aware about the bigger eco-systems they are part of. And the need to be trained to be more physical, to feel more alive, conscious and intuitive. It is our senses that must be awakened as fully as possible. For when they are truly awake, they make a jump. They go from personal mode to social mode.

Education should train openness, awareness and understanding. And how these interact. Many of us feel hurt and pain, when we see huge trees chopped down, animals die, people executed, suffer disease or hunger. This pain is normal and healthy. We should not be trained to ignore or overcome it. We should be trained to allow the hurt, for we are truly hurt, and learn how act upon it. This is where Buddhist compassion meets Western education, mixed with social activism, mixed with the global awareness of our connectedness ‘We are all society, and the world, together.’

The 2020 protests against systemic racism show how hurt needs to be exposed before it can be addressed. Thus we need hurt to surface, and be listened to, instead of ‘manning children up’ which leads too many suicides even. And believe me, those that ‘step out’ are the sensitive souls we need to embrace. These people are not weak. They tell, what the closed of ears of the corporate machine doesn’t want to hear, for it might hinder production.

Secondly the deepest root possible to education might be looking at the regrets of the dying . ‘Nobody says I wished I would’ve worked harder.’ They long to have lived truer to themselves, having had deeper connections . Thus that is what education should help prepare for: a life without regrets. Having been twice on intensive care, I can attest to living fully; choosing your own path and seeking deep connections is so beautiful. Close to death I felt very calm and just wished my friends would have been there. No regrets at all. What a wealth. And to get there I followed a very unconventional path in (self) education after my teens, breaking down barriers the traditional education had left on me. And it gave me the bravery to challenge the way it currently is.

The New Educational Tree

How should this new approach of education work?

Any education should educate on all three next levels, apart and in relationship to each other. And they should do so not only through traditional means of transferring knowledge. They should also use the other five approaches of learning that encompass the whole human experience. We are human. We are part of a huge eco-system. We should feel, experience, learn to contribute to that system and help it to flourish. Here a very individual approach, or learning journey and very personal gifts developed actually will let people in their differences flourish more, enrich society with diversity and make many more people feel special in what they can do and offer to the world.

Level I: Physical aliveness and consciousness. (Heart)

Being alive in your body and soul is essential for people who care, who want to contribute fully and who can feel the pain when their society or organization is sick. To thrive in complexity and chaos you’ll need a develop intuition too. This level of education should include dancing, sports, physical theatre and also shamanic body training, to develop intuition and deeper senses. We need to be able to read undercurrents in groups, conversations and be able to respond adequately to them. We need inner balance and strength to not being misused. We need to be in touch with love, to make choices that help the world around us to flourish. We need experiences that help students find their own answers about their own place in the world, not the scripted ‘right answer’.

Level II: Instrumental and professional capability and contribution. (Hands)

Next to all normal professional learnings, we need new skills. Information will almost be freely available, so knowing how to find information is more important than knowing all the facts. New professional skills should include being able to adapt to changes in an increasingly complex world. To deal with this we propose tools like Deep Democracy to Hackaton. From Personal Professional Tools to Collaboration Skills and Ongoing Innovation to Critical Thinking Possibilities to challenge frozen or damaging structures in your work field, and have ways to radically change or innovate your job or profession to new needs and demands.

This aspect also needs to include practical daily awareness of the professional context. Many artists learn to paint, but somehow dealing with galleries and art dealers is often forgotten. Lawyers & doctors and many others should also know to set up a practice, and how the daily affairs of those can be managed most effective and humane. All professions need to be aware and educated about mannerism, culture and context in which they are executed.

Level III: Holistic oversight, deep system insight, global understanding. (Head)

This is about the holistic overview and systems thinking. This is about scientific understanding of the whole
system we are part of called Earth (including natural processes, society, history, eco sphere, etc) and this is about spiritual essences that give meaning to the human experience, that touch upon deeper values and principles that permeate everything. Any school, country may have different visions about these values and principles, still we see this is where religions and native tribal understanding meet and thus contribute to and conflate with each other. They need to understand what their professional work contributes to, how if fits in the bigger system. Here’s a link to a TEDx talk I did on this.

The Five Essential Approaches for Learning in a complex world.

There is something big at stake. Wildlife on our planet is dying like crazy. Forest and clean water are reduced every day. The state of our planet needs people who are more aware of their role in the bigger picture. We need people better at listening to their deeper selves and more willing to live their individual path and the contribution to our world that rises from this. They need to be able to answer questions like: How to act responsible within a complexity? How to thrive within chaos? Here we find that essential approaches in many traditions in the world offer corner stones to what education should encompass to help people grow towards these new realities we can’t fully predict yet.

To grow on each of these levels and to be able to see how they interact we need five aspects at play in each of the levels. New Shift Education should be designed to have these five elements at play within each of the levels.

1. Play: Natures way to educate mammals in a fully integrated and immersed way.

Playing is what nature developed as the fastest, most integral, biological sound way to learn. The ability to play should not in any way be hampered by educational systems. Play is serious as hell. And way deeper, offering faster more progress than any other form of learning. The only problem, problem for control freaked systems that is, is that you can’t measure progress because too many things are being learned at the same time on many levels. Isn’t that the kind of learning you really want? Play unleashes the body and helps it to sense way better than only information can. It helps to smell, feel, cope, endure, express, move, in order to become healthy, free, adaptive in many ways. Link to much more on the power of Play .

2. Wisdom: The capability to reason from the essence of what it is truly about.

Most schools stop with knowledge and a reasonable amount of insight. We think each of the three levels above needs to go from obtaining knowledge, to getting insight and experience and then seeking wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to connect important questions with inner sensitivity, former experiences, a multifold of perspectives and options and then choosing a win/win/win proposition, for yourself, the clients or people in need and the whole world.

We should learn people to be critically aware how their society operates. To learn them what role they play, are expected to play. We should teach them they do have a choice, as much as the whole society has a choice. It’s all a huge dance and we, the living, are all invited. Learn our children to dance with the world as it is, not to dance to the tunes of those that have interests in what children become and no interest in who they really are. How difficult can that be? In fact the health of our whole world may depend on it.

3. Art: Become fully human in your expression and what is essential.

Art is the deepest possible expression of our connections and state of being. It is the expression of our nature and being. It is the key to our imagination and the field of potentiality. It helps everyone of us to get a clearer sight of what we essentially contribute, how our personal gift works and how it influences others. Art, like play, helps to develop both brain sides better and faster. Art helps to be more nuanced and more observant. Art helps to develop the small motor skills and the grand gesture. Art helps to understand how we all are very different and the value in that. Art can even help to develop engineering skills and the patience needed for hard work. And perhaps most of all, art helps to become imaginative, to dream and fantasize. For if we can and dare to dream beyond our personal horizon, it also becomes more easy to be in touch with the whole world and see what is happening there, and how that relates to our personal life. Thus art is not only art, but also conscious manipulation or expression of reality in any form.

4. Nature: What we are part of and the essence of what keeps us alive.

We are part of nature and should not only understand our part in it, but also feel it. Many people who really observed nature in a deep attentive way, whether they’d be scientists, bush men, guides or bird spotters, found deep insights and meaning through their connection with nature. Taking time for stillness, observation, being in and interacting with nature are key elements of a personal development that is integrated in our whole world, not only your local society (city). We are natural beings and our whole biology is build for interaction with nature. Mental diseases, loneliness, stress, disconnectedness all might stem from our lack of contact with nature. One key lesson Capitalism got wrong and nature right is:

5. Collective: We are all one society.

It’s important to emphasize that for every human it is essential to understand that we are part of something bigger than family, city, nation or race. We are part of a bigger whole which influences us in many ways and on which each of us will leave it’s mark. And it’s our responsibility that each student considers what kind of mark that they would like that to be.

The collective means more than team, it means the whole school, tribe, or even local community. It is within the collective that our special role becomes visible, can be trained or play tested. We can also use the community or organizations around the school for action learning. Get students, of whatever age do some real work for real people. It not only enhances their skills, it also improves self worth and motivation towards further learnings. And they get a real sense what they are doing it for, and what they need to become professional at it. Consider cooperative and democratic education, where everyone learns and runs the school together. Isn’t it the most trust you can ever give a child, to make it co- responsible for its own whole school?

NOTE: You may have noticed there is no mention of new technologies whatsoever, yet to us, this is fully integrated into the needs, tools, and methods that are the adequate responses to he dominant environment. Yet we also need to develop the stance that the current environment can’t be taken for granted. The world is changing too fast and if conflicts within nature and societies are not resolved huge new problems will endanger untold lives. We must prepare our children for this if we are honest.

How the five elements unfold all of being human in work, life and community.

Many essential topics and learnings arise from fruitful combinations of these essential aspects.

For instance: between Nature and Play lies Body. Physical Consciousness, from basic health rules, to deep intuition is essential to create a culture of aliveness and raise humans who cannot be taken for a ride, yet will seek to contribute to the larger whole in their own way. I think such an outcome will much more, than most businesses who fear independent workers, lead to astonishing economical flourishing. Why? Because the more we are all involved and engaged at our best, the more profit the whole must receive. This goes from personal health (less burn outs, diseases, depressions, etc) to personal purpose (employees seeking to make their company and their work meaningful) And about those (companies) that resist this idea: are they the companies we truly need around in their current form?

Integral understanding as the outcome of art and wisdom, may mean that through art we can learn to express the ambiguity or the multi facetted face of reality. Many great artists are still relevant because they have been able to phrase deep human essentials in one image, poem or other work of art. To try to do the same is not only an education in art, it is about learning to deal with complex realities and being able a express deeper sense or meaning about it. This is both important when one wants to become fully human, and it may also be essential in large organizations to be clearly understood, like with the power of a cartoon, that reveals the hidden problem. Another example would be (technical) innovation. This gains much strength from the combination between art and nature. Many engineers daily wonder how solutions from nature can be reproduced in technical ways.

And should this article be the basis for a new method with clear new goals? Hell no. Since contexts, cultures differ, children differ in many different ways. I think we need to find the special gift in each of them, and find the way in shines strongest in their context and/or in the world. No reason to prepare everyone for a job, as some people are such cornerstones as ‘crazies’, artists, volunteers. No need to push everyone being at the same level all the time, as this amazingly good and essential article shows. Many aspects can be learned from indigenous voices and from our own longings for a life of meaning and fulfillment.

Whatever you take out of this proposal and these views: “Help start building for a future we don’t know yet.” (to paraphrase sir Ken Robinson) Good luck and let me know what can be added to this idea. Or want to experience how this can work in practice, as within Knowmads and my trainings I work with this. :)

For More

Link to TEDx talk and the text I used there.

Overview of my recent educational innovation: https://medium.com/the-gentle-revolution/you-are-a-movement-8d119ecb7b76#.c63pa557y

Lessons on Learning from Nature

Learning is a very natural thing. Sadly many educations aren’t helping learning. They make it more unnatural it seems…

medium.com

And this blogpost by Christopher Chase describes very clear, how we got this damaged current system, and with what reasons your children are being socialized, rather than educated.

This one explores the power of art even more. But just search each item on Google and you’ll find many ways to enrich students through it in education.

And if you want to support this new paradigm, then check here how you can help.

Footnote:

*) Maniacism ; The blind result oriented kind of capitalism, that one dimensionally seeks money and for this eats natural resources, depletes forests and seas and turns the world into a wasteland of industrial garbage or plastic soup.

10 Ways to Have a Magical Life

Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:48:38 GMT

What would life be, without a sense of wonder, without some fun we can't just say what made it so?