Adaptive Problem Archetypes in Filipino Culture

Table 1: Agriculture Adaptive Problem Archetypes

Type	English	Filipino	Case
1	disowning problem	Paglaglag ng kapatid	Nabaha at nasira ang tanim ng magsasaka sa Mindanao. Hindi ko na problema yan
2	conflicting values and behavior	Naghiwalay na puso at kamay	Inipit yung cash advance pambili ng abono
3	unspeakables/elephant in the room	Anino na ayaw pagusapan	Agri supplier ng munisipyo si Mayor
4	work avoidance	Iniiwasan ng arinola	malnutrition sa mga GIDA at Indigenous Communities
5	conflicting commitments	Pinagsabong na magkapatid	Department or Agriculture-Department of Environmentpseudo conflict
6	penny smart, pound foolish	Tinubigan na gatas ng bata	Nag publish ng Ingles na Farmer's manual dahil mahal magpa translate
7	myths/widely held beliefs, cultural blind spots	Malawakang maling paniniwala	Katutubo na komunidad na walang pakialam sa kalusugan

References: Heifetz (200_)

Table 2: Health Sector Adaptive Challenges Archetypes

Type	English	Filipino	Case
1	disowning problem	Paglaglag ng kapatid	Namatay sa district hospital, di ko na problema yan
2	conflicting values and behavior	Naghiwalay na puso at kamay	Inipit yung cash advance ng ambulansya
3	unspeakables/elephant in the room	Anino na ayaw pagusapan	Botika ni Dok sa tapat ng ospital
4	work avoidance	Iniiwasan ng arinola	Maternal care in GIDA island brgys
5	conflicting commitments	Pinagsabong na magkapatid	DOH-PHIC pseudo conflict
6	penny smart, pound foolish	Tinubigan na gatas ng bata	Oversubsidizing hospital
7	myths/widely held beliefs, cultural blind spots	Malawakang maling paniniwala	IP walang pakialam sa kalusugan

References: Heifetz (200_)Archetypes

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

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

Generative Governance: Typology of Governance Frames based on Theory U

by Elmer S. Soriano

How does one develop tools to guide Mayors through the different "structures of attention" all the way to generative governance, going beyond project management? The image above is an example of a Mayor's dashboard that was adopted in 600 municipalities. Using this one-page Mayor's Dashboard as reference, regular coaching/advising sessions were delivered to the Mayor, tracking the evolution of the ecosystem by color-coding the cells red, yellow, and green.

This dashboard serves as a decision-support tool that synthesized three types of knowledge; a) political; b) local; c) scientific/modeller's knowledge into a one-page interface. (Clark et al, 2010 click here)

First, let's dissect a Mayor's executive/governance interventions based on Scharmer's Structures of Attention. The video cases emphasize a particular Structure of Attention, but may reflect multiple structures of attention.  

Table 1: Mayor's Intervention based on Mindset and Structure of Attention (adapted from Scharmer)

Structure of Attention	Mindset of Mayor	Role of Mayor	Case
Governance 1 Downloading habits of thought	downloading projects based on what I think you need	determining priority projects and allocating funds based on Mayor's personal worldview	White elephant projects
Governance 2 Factual, object-focused	evidence-based downloading of projects with limited dialogue or consultation; Technical Assistance (TA)	analyzing data and then aligning priority projects and allocating funds	Bulacan Social Research (click here)
Governance 3 Empathic Listening	reflecting upon how rules can be changed to make the ecosystem work better for you	dialogues with stakeholders to gain deeper understanding of complex interdependencies and counterproductive rules	Kauswagan (click here for video)
Governance 4 Generative Listening	creating spaces and cultivating conversations so that many stakeholders co-own and co-create solutions	creates spaces for dialogue and co-creation; creates social labs, leadership labs, and/or governance labs	Naga People Empowerment (click here for video)

Table 2: Structures of Attention by Scharmer

Sources:

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

http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/08/05/heapol.czr054.full.pdf+html

http://neldax.yolasite.com/resources/01-%20Introduction%20to%20MLGP.pdf

https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/getFile.aspx?Id=600

Dimensions of Co-ownership in Bridging Leadership

Co-ownership is a core concept in Bridging Leadership. But what do we mean by co-ownership?

Here are a few definitions to help us better understand co-ownership in the context of leadership:

Co-owner: A co-owner is an individual or group that shares ownership in an asset with another individual or group. The co-owner of an asset owns a percentage, though the amount may vary according to the ownership agreement.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/co-owner.asp

Empathy:the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for thishttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy
Kapwa, meaning 'togetherness', is the core construct of Filipino Psychology. Kapwa has two categories, Ibang Tao (other people) and Hindi Ibang Tao (not other people)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_psychology#Core_value_or_Kapwa_.28shared_inner_self.29
In order to analyze the different dimensions of co-ownership within a case or phenomenon, the leader or analyst may dissect the psycho-social phenomena using these lenses:
1. Ladder of co-ownership - just as there is a progression among couples from the first look> to the first date> to marriage> parenthood; there is also a Ladder of Co-ownership. Are there stakeholders in different stages of commitment?  What are these stages? The Ladder of Engagement is a similar concept.
2. Depth/lalim of commitment to what is co-owned - the level to which the co-owners are bound to the commitment of co-ownership. How deep is the commitment to the commitment? Conversely, an analyst may ask "at what level will these stakeholders back out of their commitment?" Depth of commitment may be indicated through terms like "walang paki", "napipilitan", "ok lang" to "feel na feel", to "die-hard". Watch this video to see a deep commitment across multiple generations of leaders (click here). A personal narrative may reveal the depth of commitment. (click here)
3. Scope/sakop of co-ownership - the extension of the co-ownership mindset to more areas of adaptive work (from poverty to agriculture to peace-building) This video describes co-ownership that spans across sectors and agenda.(click here) 
4. Psycho-social unit of co-ownership/agency - There are often individual and collective units of ownership. Analyze the multiple sets of individuals and organizations that co-own in the system.  
5. Techniques used to induce co-ownership - What techniques or engagement mechanisms were deployed in order to cultivate co-ownership. This video shows how dialogue is a basic technique that can be deployed even in cultivating co-ownership within the family.
The following illustrative cases may be used to teach the dimensions of co-ownership.
Kauswagan Galing Pook Case (click here)Co-ownership in the family (click here)Culture-oriented Co-ownership (click here) 

Image Source:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BLfjIbgCUAAz8A6.jpg

Awakening Leadership among Jaded Civil Servants

by Elmer S Soriano

My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. 

Mindsets play strange tricks on us. 

We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see. - Muhammad Yunus 

How does one teach leadership to a young civil servant in an office that has been accustomed to mediocrity for over a decade, where low performance is the norm? What if for years, her municipal office has allowed crimes to go unpunished, or epidemics unaddressed, or malnourished children to go uncared for?

Harvard's Prof.Marshall Ganz teaches a course called Public Narrative: Conflict, Continuity, and Change which tackles this issue from the public narrative perspective. This blog entry attempts to explore the intersection between institutional mandates and leadership narratives.

De jure and de facto policies were discussed previously in this blog. A civil servant may find herself in a low-performing office or team that has performed poorly for over a decade. She may even find herself promoted to a leadership position in an office wherein she herself was guilty of promoting lousy behaviors as a younger employee.

In Figure 1 above, the declared ideal (de jure) policy is represented by the red box. An office or bureau may have performed at a mediocre level, making mediocre performance the implemented or operationalized (de facto) policy. In the yellow box, most of the office personnel benefit from and reinforce low performance, and a change agent within the office would find resistance from her officemates if a significant increase in performance targets is proposed.

A leader should not refer to her peers or the de facto policy, or else she will be misled into thinking that modest incremental change is good leadership, whereas she will just be reinforcing low targets and mistaking that for leadership.

A leader has to look within into his deeper values and expand her leadership to pursue the declared ideals. Of course, she will need to practice Adaptive Leadership within her office to induce change at a pace that her office can handle.

Redemption and Restorative Justice in Periods of Institutional Transition

by Elmer S Soriano

“Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty 

out of the stuff that makes us weep.” 

― Clive Barker

There was massive looting in the period immediately after Typhoon Haiyan ravaged Tacloban City, leaving over 6,000 people dead. Because families lost their household supply of food, water, and medicine supplies, fathers took along their able-bodies children to acquire supplies from groceries and malls, racing with each other households to get some infant formula, bread, clothes. An aquaintance in Tacloban who was looking for infant formula during that period saw a kid with several bags of powdered milk, and asked   friend who also participated in this mentioned that others also took home flatscreen TVs and other items that were not of survival value. 

How should a community or society deal with periods of individual and collective guilt? How can one apologize and make amends and move on?  

In South Africa, they created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to institutionalize redemption.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was a court-like restorative justice[1] body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid in the 1990s.[2] Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

How might one navigate through the period of institutional transition?

First, recognize that most stakeholders are honoring certain values they hold dear: family survival and security, protection from threats, medium to long-term liveability of the communities, integrity, rule of law. Stakeholders just express these values and deploy themselves in different ways.

Second, temporary or permanent changes in the rules will make stakeholders appear guilty in the eyes of others, regardless of where they stood, because the line (between correct and incorrect behavior) was moved.

The concept of Restorative Justice helps one navigate through the process of redemption.

Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community. This contrasts to more punitive approaches where the main aim is to punish the offender, or satisfy abstract legal principles. 

Victims take an active role in the process. Meanwhile, offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, "to repair the harm they've done – by apologizing, returning stolen money, or community service".[1] In addition, the restorative justice approach aims to help the offender to avoid future offences.
The approach is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual or community, rather than the State.[2]Restorative justice that fosters dialogue between victim and offender has shown the highest rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability.[3]

         Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_justice

Image credits:

http://stephenking1sts.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Shawshank-Redemption-Escape-in-the-rain.jpg

Teaching Leadership through Emotional Truths

by Elmer S. Soriano

We recently ran a workshop where we taught university faculty how to teach leadership to social workers. Coming from different disciplines (nursing, public administration, economics, etc) and different universities, we had to design a learning experience that tapped into the collective wisdom that was assembled in our classroom. This training was supposed to prepare them to teach 1,600 social workers across 1,000+ municipalities how to lead.

We started off the workshop asking them why they thought the Bridging Leadership framework was a better course than their current offerings of MBA, or MPA, or any of their regular graduate courses. They said their other courses weren't designed to "touch the heart", or awaken a "sense of purpose", or "transform lives" in ways that their other courses did not deliver.

We introduced the CYNEFIN Framework to help them wrap their heads around how Bridging Leadership addresses complex systems in ways that traditional MBA and MPA tools don't do as effectively.

Here are a few insights from that workshop:

1. Leadership training includes exposing the learners not just to leadership paradigms and frameworks, but also to "emotional truths".

Leadership is requires the practice of diagnosing problems, especially problems that are unnamed, taboo, or in a culture's blind spot. Students of leadership benefit from acquiring the ability to recognize and ripen emotional truths in their own lives, and use these emotional truths as lenses in diagnosing adaptive challenges. This video from Adichie describes emotional truths and other concepts on cultural blindspots.

2. Introduce the concept of VUCCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic, Complex, Ambiguous) Systems.

Leaders nowadays have to be highly functional in VUCCA systems, in this age where climate change and super-typhoons are the new normal. Traditional teachers are accustomed to have neat lesson plans, and quiet, orderly classrooms, which poor environments to teach leadership in the context of messy systems. This video describes how education is being disrupted by new ways of learning complex systems.

3. Use Case in Point to simulate the hot seat of leadership.

I think of the Case-in-Point (CIP) method as a rather abstract methodology, and I was surprised when one of the social workers told me that she observed that a number of faculty members resisted or did not understand the logic of CIP. She said that it was possibly because social workers often found themselves in the hot seat, being asked questions to which they did not have all the right answers. She said that faculty members, on the other hand, usually taught the "correct answers" and were less accustomed to being asked questions that reframed their mindsets.

In retrospect, the experiences at this workshop validate the role of the need for Leadership Teaching and Learning Lab. Adapting from MIT's Teaching and Learning Lab, the function could be:

The mission of the Leadership Teaching and Learning Lab is to jointly partner with leadership educators to create an educational environment where learners are academically challenged, actively engaged, and personally supported.

Our Lab Associates will do this by:

-sharing research-based strategies for lesson, subject, and program design and development.
-educating others about student-centered pedagogies.
-collaborating and consulting with other leadership educators to brainstorm opportunities and solutions for their teaching context.
-collecting data through the evaluation of educational innovations and assessment of student outcomes to provide constructive, practical, and informative feedback to educators.
-continually seeking additional areas where we may be of service to the Institute's continually evolving educational needs and interests.