Fractal Learning

by Elmer S Soriano

A fractal is a mathematical set that exhibits a repeating pattern displayed at every scale.^[1] It is also known as expanding symmetry or evolving symmetry. If the replication is exactly the same at every scale, it is called a self-similar pattern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal

I tried a highly fractal learning curriculum recently, where the patterns kept repeating at larger scales. Here's what I did:

I meet with four learners who were a subset of a bigger cohort of 50 learners in a leadership course. These learners were supposed to learn to be coaches, so I embedded a mini-coaching training within the broader 2-day course.

Day 1
Session 1 1030-12nn - I meet with the coaches and have Coaching Conversation Package A, where we discussed: 1) Life Purpose; 2) Preferred Future for 2017, and 3) get on the Balcony to discuss what and how we learned in 1 and 2. I give them instructions to similarly have Coaching Conversation Package A with a selected coachee over lunch. Since I am coaching them, let's refer to myself as Coach Level 1, and them as Coach Level 2.

Session 2 12nn-130 - Over lunch, the Coach Level 2 have Coaching Conversation Package A with a selected coachee. 

Session 3  1 130pm-230pm - After lunch, I meet with them again do get on the balcony and discuss what and how they learned as Coach Level 2. I show them a short video on Efren Penaflorida on multi-level leadership coaching and show them that we had 3 generations of learners since 1030am.

Day 2
Session 4  1030-12 nn - I show the same team another video by Joy Mateo of how narratives can engage people in repeating stories of empowerment. I instruct Coach Level 2s to organize a lunch conversation, where their coachees (Level 3) conduct Coaching Conversation Package A with a practice coachee.

Session 5 12-nn-1:30  Coach Level 3 conducts Coaching Conversation Package A, while Coach Level 2 is a process observer.

Session 6 - 1:30-230pm We get on the Balcony and analyze our learning methodology over the past 2 days. I point out features of Case-in-point that we did in multiple scales. I challenge them to coach their Level 2 coaches to similarly coach a Parent Leader.      

Leadership, Presencing, and That Thing Called Tadhana

by Elmer S Soriano

"Tadhana" is an old Filipino word that means fate or nature. Recently, the 2014 romatic comedy movie That Thing Called Tadhana made the term fresh and popular again. These days, tadhana connotes recognition of an emerging future and the need to move past old feelings, memories, and prisons (as Scharmer would call them) and operate from an openness to one's highest positive tadhana.

Which makes "tadhana" resemble "presencing". According to Scharmer, presencing means:

"liberating one’s perception from the “prison” of the past and then letting it operate from the field of the future. This means that you literally shift the place from which your perception operates to another vantage point. In practical terms, presencing means that you link yourself in a very real way with your “highest future possibility” and that you let it come into the present. Presencing is always relevant when past-driven reality no longer brings you forward, and when you have the feeling that you have to begin again on a completely new footing in order to progress...I use the presencing approach to facilitate profound innovation and change processes both within companies and across societal systems."

http://www.ottoscharmer.com/sites/default/files/2002_ScharmerInterview_us.pdf

Now it might seem a stretch to liken a theory of social evolution with a romantic comedy theme, but then again, the intention is to popularize the understanding of leadership theories by looking for similar terms in the vernacular. In the movie, the girl struggles to liberate herself from her attachment to her past boyfriend. The boy journeys with her and challenges her to open herself up to the emerging future, instead of clinging to the past.

In societies burdened by class structures, marginalization of the poor, leaders need to similarly invite others to open themselves to get past their history and perhaps even identities anchored on poverty.

The video below shows how a social worker Jo Mateo uses stories to invite poor farmers to work toward a more liberating tadhana narrative. Through her story, she articulates how structural barriers and social exclusion are realities which will perpetuate poverty (choosing karit scenario), and how responding/pursuing a positive tadhana (choosing panulat) allows poor farmers to liberate themselves from poverty, first through their dreams, and then through their daily actions choosing (presencing) to respond to the call of their preferred tadhana.

Image credits: https://presencing.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Screen%20Shot%202013-11-04%20at%203.37.04%20PM.png?itok=38580jfY

Dramaturgy: Improv, Emergence and Leadership as Experience Design

by Elmer S Soriano

All the world's a stage, 

And all the men and women merely players; 

They have their exits and their entrances, 

And one man in his time plays many parts. 

                        -William Shakespeare

Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama (Wikipedia)... and this concept has been used by Goffman, Ganz and Pine in the context of leadership.

Basically, the idea is that humans can see themselves as part of an unfolding real-world drama, and a leader can influence this unfolding story by providing alternative interpretations. Robert Kennedy did this masterfully in his April 1968 speech where he proposed an alternative perspective on the MLK assassination. Adichie talks about the Danger of a Single Story and why leaders need to intervene by providing multiple interpretations of the world's emerging stories. Campbell alludes to leadership as the process of inviting others to participate in their own Heroes Journey.   

Teaching Cases/Videos:

Actions are Illegal, Never People: Jose Antonio Vargas 

Our Return on Investment: Sabsy Ongkiko

Jo Mateo Public Narrative

Sources and Image Credits:

http://www.lovelydenver.com/components/com_biz/models/images/upload/2145683706_Improv-Comedy-Club-denver.jpg 

https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-Updated-Joseph-Pine/dp/1422161978

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramaturgy

Dynamics of Ownership based on Scharmer and Heifetz

by Elmer S Soriano

A young female physician friend shared recently how she had not yet started the program for drug-users in her town, despite the fact that rehabilitating 800,000 drug users is an urgent and large scale problem in the Philippines these days. She said she had not yet been trained to address this problem. A hidden perspective is that a young female physician faces personal security risks when she interacts with drug users in a small rural town. 

The Bridging Leadership framework (by AIM and Zuellig Family Foundation) propose "ownership" as a core principle in Bridging Leadership. Heifetz and Scharmer both describe the "ownership" mindsets of leaders but from slightly different perspectives. 

Heifetz could describe the doctor's mindset as a form of "work avoidance" because the thought of doing the adaptive work on local drug-users could feel too "distressing", or "too hot" for this female physician. She may be conscious or only subconsciously aware of this distress or disequilibrium that she faces. She therefore conveniently declares that she has not yet been trained as a polite way of dis-owning the problem. (See Figure 1). 

Scharmer would describe the situation as the doctor operating from "me-world" and "it-world", resorting to polite talk or talking tough as opposed to owning the issue at Level 3 and Level 4. (See Table 1 and Figure 2).

This is part of the Adaptive Leadership-Bridging Leadership Dictionary initiative.  

Fig.1: Adaptive  Learning

Table 1: Phrases as Reflections of Structures of Attention/Ownership

Structure of Attention	Thinking  (Individual)	Phrases (Individual)	Phrases (Group)	Phrases (Institutions)
Level 1 - Operating from the old me-world	Downloading habits of thought	That's not my job description. That could be my job but I don't have the required inputs (training, budget, etc) so I can't do it.	I'm already doing my job and fulfilling my role.	That isn't on our plan for this year. Let's include that in next year's plan and budget. (Or some other organizational excuse.)
Level 2 - Operating from the current it-world	Factual Object focused	What are the performance gaps? Of the gaps, which are assigned to me?	That's not my job. I've done my part.	Let's refer the client to the assigned service provider (whether or not the providers are adequate.)
Level 3 - Operating from the current you-world	Empathic Listening	How can I care for the client-partner as myself?	How can we help the client-partner as if we were the client?	How can we change our rules so that we thrive and create shared value with our client-partner?
Level 4 - Operating from the highest future possibility that is wanting to emerge	Generative Listening	What is emerging? What patterns are being formed? What is called of us?	How can we do things differently? What rules are getting in the way of our preferred future? How can we modify the rules that don't work?	How can we create a space so that we have ongoing adaptation/ transformation?

Sources:

https://www.presencing.com/sites/default/files/page-files/Theory_U_Exec_Summary.pdf

Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading (2002) by Martin Linsky , Ronald A. Heifetz

http://irregularleadership.com/wp-irregdir/uploads/2015/04/Screen-Shot-2015-04-10-at-12.38.59-AM-1024x591.png

http://www.adaptiveleadership.civika.com/home/resources/al-bl--dictionary
www.bridgingleadership.aim.edu
www.zuelligfoundation.org 

Walang Paki, Absencing, and Cognitive Distancing from the Poor

by Elmer S Soriano

A few years back, I had a friend from Sydney visiting me in Manila. We were in the car stopped at an intersection when a street child knocked at window. She was jolted by the sight of a human just inches away from her, looking her in the eye, begging for help. 

I, however, had been desensitized by years of exposure to street children. The common practice is to knock twice from the inside of the window to dismiss them, or to simply look away.

How can a society become desensitized to the plight of the poor?  

"Walang paki'' is short for "walang pakialam", which translates to "no accountability, responsibility, or care".

These terms roughly correspond to Scharmer's "absencing" (see video) which he explains as:

"The cycle of absencing unfolds through blinding and denial rather than seeing; entrenching and desensing rather than sensing; holding-on instead of letting go. By doing these things, we create an illusionary map of reality that results in killing the new instead of birthing and co-creating it.

 Lott (2002) explores the same concepts from the class and race perspectives and describe  "cognitive and behavioral distancing from the poor" as

"...a dominant response is that of distancing, that is, separation,exclusion, devaluation, discounting, and designation as “other,” and that this response can be identified in both institutional and interpersonal contexts. In social psycho-logical terms, distancing and denigrating responses operationally define discrimination."

Filipino Psychology	Scharmer	Lott
bulag, nagbubulagan	blinding
manhid, walang paki	desesnsing
nagmamatigas, nagpupumilit	holding on
mata pobre; hampas lupa; nilalait		Symbols of ridicule
Tinuturing na basahan		"nonpersons"; not worthy of recognition;
Walang pinag-aralan		Stereotyping; symbols of ridicule"

The Filipino terms here are drawn from a more critical or judgemental voice, where there is a premise or moral expectation of the "other" should see or empathize. Lott, however, 

From the designer's perspective, the Deep Dive evolved into Human-Centered Design as antidote to absencing. The Empathy Field Guide organizes the feelings that one may encouter as one walks in someone else's shoes.  

From the social development perspetive, leaders should be able to name the class stereotypes and social psychology blinders that inject cognitive distancing from the poor. Issues and biases that accompany race, class, gender, etc. have to be named in order for these stereotypes to be less blinding. 

Sources:
Lott, Bernice, Cognitive and behavioral distancing from the poor.
American Psychologist, Vol 57(2), Feb 2002, 100-110.http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.2.100
Scharmer, Otto, http://www.ottoscharmer.com/sites/default/files/2011_BMZ_Forum_Scharmer.pdf

Image credit:http://exploringyourmind.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/partners-in-a-play.jpg

Grounding Leadership Curriculla in Culture

by Elmer S. Soriano

 

Many leadership programs are based on western leadership concepts and books. Authors like Heifetz, Scharmer, and Greenleaf are among the more popular western leadership authors and their concepts have made their way into mainstream MBA and masters in public administration curricula.

The problem is that many of these concepts from the top authors are too post-modern for many learners to comprehend.

It is up to leadership course designers to adapt leadership concepts to culturally-compatible instructional designs that take advantage of the existing wisdom already within a culture or organization.

Below are Levels of Instructional Adaptation for Leadership adapted from Caldwell.
 
Level 1 - Limited

• lecturing concepts straight out of a textbook authored in a different cultural context
• minimal translation to mother-tongue
• teaching and measuring leadership solely from foreign author's framework

Level 2 - Minimal

• Teaching in the mother-tongue of the learners
• understanding learner's felt needs, life questions and specific history
• discovering their worldview presuppositions
• transliterating foreign concepts to rough equivalents in mother-tongue

Level 3 - Mid-level

• understanding how their formal and informal educational systems work
• anchoring lessons and concepts in real-world Leadership Lab projects
• learning how they react to and interpret different kinds of information
• discovering their methods of perceiving, interpreting, and evaluating issues

Level 4 - Maximal

• telling stories in culturally appropriate ways
• communicating leadership concepts in culturally appropriate ways
• dialoging with local oral and written organizational or sacred texts

 Source: Adapted from Larry W. Caldwell (20__)

Image Credits:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c-KZDQJrtLc/VzBoqdGxrpI/AAAAAAAADKs/_xKsl3OM9p4qu7VCbyxLcpz3arB6vKeEgCKgB/s1600/igorot-leader.jpg

Emerging Philippine Public Leadership Development Ecosystem

I've been observing and directly involved in the various leadership programs in the Philippines and I'm assembling overview of the different friends that I'm seeing.

Galing Pook Foundation - started out as a recognition program local governments 20 years ago. Has started organizing fora and a governance innovation lab in the pastfew years

Zuellig Family Foundation - Implemented the Health Leadership and Governance Program with theDepartment of Health in 600+ municipalities.

Ateneo PhD in Leadership - The most leadership-centricPhD program in the Philippines. Other PhD in Education Leadership programs are designed for school administrators.

DSWD Leadership for Convergence Program - Training 1,600 social workers in Bridging Leadership oriented towards lifting families out of poverty.

The Silent Majority and Duterte Supporters - attempting to morph into citizen engagement groups.

Comparing Bridging Leadership with Traditional Masteral Curriculla

by Elmer S. Soriano

We asked some 25 university professors who taught Bridging Leadership (BL) to compare the BL framework and methodologies with their current graduate schools offerings. I asked them something like this: "Why we don't we teach leadership to young professionals by putting them through your your regular MBA, MPH, or MPA instead of through this Bridging Leadership course?"

A number of them were initially taken aback by the question. I think many of the professors thought of leadership training as Executive Education, that was somewhat academically more lightweight and less textbookish that their regular masteral course.

Here's a comparison of design elements that differentiate BL from the more traditional masteral classes. I threw in an additional column comparing the typical NGO training format.

Curriculum Design Element	Traditional Courses (MPA, MBA, MPH)	NGO Training	Bridging Leadership
Target Learners	Masteral students	Community members, development professionals	Current or aspiring leaders
Logic of Training	technical skills for employment after graduation	skills for livelihood and political "empowerment"	equipping individuals to induce institutional change during the course
Presumed Problem System	simple, complicated	complex	complex
Language Used	science, management	popular education	stories, systems thinking

Overall, the Some said BL unlocked passion and purpose among their learners in ways that their regular masteral classes did not.

  The Life Map Canvas is an alternative way of describing these elements, and we'll tackle that in a different blog. 

Image credits: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2013/nelson-mandela-on-education-as-a-weapon/

Human-Centered Leadership Development

What if leadership development were human-centered rather than project output-centered? What if we trained individuals primarily to become mindful, mature, adaptive leaders first, and then measure program outcomes as a yardstick of their increasing depth in leadership judgment?

If we did that, we'd could take the following approaches:

1. Start with the life purpose of each learner. We would start by having a conversation on the learner's life journey and sense of purpose. Each individual is assumed to have a calling or vocation (or a series of vocations) in her lifetime and bringing out leadership means helping the learner connect to this deeper source of meanings in her life.

2. Understand life stage and life roles. Individuals are in a certain stage in family life, whether they are unattached, just married, caring for toddler, etc which shape their concerns as a person.  They also have additional roles and affiliations (ex.father, sister, church leader, civic leader)  and their leadership senses may be heightened when those aspects of their lives are woven into the leadership development conversations.

3. Identify adaptive challenges in their sectors that disturb them, and then help them deploy themselves as adaptive leaders. If they are engaged in working on social problems that disturb them, they will find themselves drawn to problem-solving in that space. 

Interiority, Faith, and Leadership

by Elmer S Soriano

Leadership in chaotic situations is not easy. In the midst of change or chaos, a leader has to be able to orient herself, connecting to a source of coherence and continuity from which to act from.

Different authors have referred to this as Source, True North, interiority, inner self, or spirituality. Regardless of what it is called, there is a recognition that leaders need to build up their capacity to understand themselves so that they too, can help others understand themselves and the complex work in the world that we all need to do.

On the other hand, there are hundreds of new leadership books published every year. How can one learn leadership without having to read up all the new concepts that describe this complexity. From Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to 21 Laws of Leadership to the Fifth Discipline, it is easy to gain textbook knowledge about leadership, but it requires deeper learning to prepare one for the emotional turmoil and ambiguity that accompanies the practice of leadership.

The Case in Point method pioneered by Heifetz allows learners to participate in a case group, which is a fractal that demonstrates the experience of leadership by creating such a leadership environment within the classroom. Scharmer in the video above, creates learning designs that allow learners to understand the psychology of leadership by first experiencing it.

The challenge is not just to help learners understand themselves. Leadership development has to take learners on a journey so that learners are able to: 1) diagnose themselves; 2) diagnose others, and; 3) guide others on a journey toward self understanding and understanding of the adaptive challenges that they face.