Creating Change Starts with ‘Getting Out of One’s Bubble’
Book giveaway!!
20 complimentary copies available.
Leave a comment on this guest post by Dr. C. Otto Scharmer to become eligible to win one of TWENTY complimentary copies of Essentials of Theory U.
(Deadline: 3/24/2018)
*International winners will receive electronic versions.
To initiate change, leaders require collective insight outside of their own reality. Co-sensing is a practice for collecting that insight.
The essence of co-sensing is getting out of one’s own bubble:
- Virtual bubbles: social media echo chambers;
- Institutional bubbles: organizational echo chambers; and
- Affinity bubbles: the kind of people we like to hang out with.
Five principles for successful co-sensing
#1. Build a Committed Core Team.
The core team must reflect the diversity of the key stakeholder groups, to bring the talents and competencies needed, and to make the project their #1 priority.
A checklist to get the core team focused during a kickoff event:
- What—what you want to create
- Why—why it matters
- How—the process that will get you there
- Who—the roles and responsibilities of all key players involved
- When and where–the road map forward
#2. Take Learning Journeys to the Places of Most Potential.
A deep-dive journey is designed for participants to access a deeper level of emerging reality to the change they want to make by observing hands-on practices. It incorporates a combination of shadowing, participation, and dialogue.
#3. Observe, Observe, Observe: Suspend Your Voice of Judgment and Connect with Your Sense of Wonder.
Only in the suspension of judgment can we open ourselves to a sense of wonder.
Being amazed is about noticing the world beyond how we view it.
#4. Practice Deep Listening and Dialogue.
When connecting to other people and contexts, open all three “channels” of listening: Listen from what surprises you, from the whole, and from what you sense wants to emerge.
#5. Collective Sense-Making.
Whatever process you use to make sense of the learning journey, pay disciplined attention to all you observe. Paying disciplined attention means that you are intentionally holding back all inclinations to mix in your own interpretations or solutions.
How might leaders generate and gather collective insight?
Bio
Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He chairs the MIT IDEAS program for cross-sector innovation that helps leaders from business, government, civil society to innovate at the level of the whole system.
His just-published Essentials of Theory U serves as a pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.
OMGosh! I can’t wait to read it! I’ve been waiting until its release! So exciting to dive in!. Also, I plan to recommend to our agile team book club this week at Ford. We work with understanding and developing wholistic systems and Dr. Scharmer’s ideas permeate that approach as we look at the now, the near and the future! Thank you so much for the ideas!
Thanks for the excellent message on listening! As a leader in management, I have found that the most important times to generate/gain insight has been to listen to others first. Sometimes asking people who rarely talk can provide a different insight to issues and gives them a voice in the conversation. I also like to paraphrase key points as I illustrate that our team is stronger when we ALL contribute instead of everyone simply waiting for me (leader) to talk.
#3 is huge. It’s incredible how much is revealed and unfolds naturally when we suspend judgement and just watch.
Very true and powerful! Will be definitely adding this book onto the future read list!! Looking forward!
Sounds like something I should read 🙂 I tend to be too focused on what we ‘know’ and tend to be closed to new things. Kinda hard to grow like that, though so I’m seeing the need to be more open to new ideas and things.
To start, I think leaders need to do two things.
1. Make sense of the current situation. Gather the hard data (facts and the numbers) and the soft data (what people are feeling about the current situation). Leaders do this by observing, asking questions, and listening. I agree, it’s important to get the views of all stakeholders. This step requires openness to the data and strong analytical skills.
2. Identify what’s possible. Leaders use their creativity and imagination to identify and describe their vision (what possible). This step can be done alone or with others. This step requires creativity and the ability to frame the future so people can see the benefits to them.
A Committed Core Team – sounds like a dream come true! Identifying what’s possible is important so the whole team buys into the vision and our future!
Definitely need to read! Easy to get stuck in one’s bubble…especially when life is super busy and it seems easy to keep plugging along instead of looking at a different perspective! Can’t wait to read.
A key success factor for my team the last five years was hiring a manager on my team that was almost completely opposite of my personality and method of interacting with people. Allowing and encouraging dissent and respecting methods other than my own has proved a very productive strategy.
Thanks Rob. Respect to you!
I appreciate this perspective more than words can describe. Far too often, we hire for like minded and like personalities. We create a ‘norm’ that can ostracize a person that does not conform to the likes of the majority. As a coach, I cannot help but be disheartened by the missed opportunities for a productive cognitive struggle or cognitive shift as a result of having the support of someone that approaches life differently. Thank you!
I love the comments about listening : Listen from what surprises you, from the whole, and from what you sense wants to emerge. And hearing the admonition to get out of your bubbles, especially the organizational and affinity bubbles is a great reminder. I’m trying to encourage my teachers to get out to visit other organizations. I probably need to model that for them, too!
Being amazed reminds me of bring you child to work day. Children see things with wonder and ask so many questions! It made me see my work differently!
Terrific article. I especially love #3: “Observe, Observe, Observe: Suspend Your Voice of Judgment and Connect with Your Sense of Wonder.”
Show up to be present or don’t show up at all.
This article is on point for me this month. I have been working to break out of my bubble in management and leadership responsibilities. Needing to “access a deeper level of emerging reality” rang true to me. Thank you for posting!
Theory U is so helpful! I have employed a process like this in a current project. It has worked well. Eager to read “Essentials.”
We all need a “sense of wonder”. It truly will help us be creative, innovative! Great information!
Yet another great post. Thanks Dan! I especially appreciated the insight on listening in three directions. I’ll try applying those to a group session soon.
Thank you for inspiring us with co-sensing and deep listening as we strive to dig deeper in to the process of ‘getting out of our own bubble’.
Always lead with “why” followed by what and how-we all listen better when we start with why
I am working on this principle in my personal life as well, ” Whatever process you use to make sense of the learning journey, pay disciplined attention to all you observe. Paying disciplined attention means that you are intentionally holding back all inclinations to mix in your own interpretations or solutions.” Trying to incorporate in ALL areas of life, not just the work arena. Thank you for all your teachings!
“Deep-dive” has always made sense, gives permission to take action. “Listen from the whole” – crucial, and where I plan to upskill. Thanks as always, Dan. Thanks Dr Scharmer. Terrific ideas to take to teams I work for.
Inspired by wholistic listening, perhaps something we easily forget to do.
As I have traveled in my career to the opportunity to lead others, I constantly remind myself of when I stood in their place and the thought process of what I wanted to share and show my leaders. I do not feel connected unless I walk among their paths to gather insight of their ideas and needs. I always welcome new insight from all venu
So much great insight! Holding back judgement and inclinations will be a challenge. It’s a good thing I like challenges.
Great article! I always believe in getting out of one’s bubble and reading this book will help me. The difficulty is really getting out of your bubble. I believe most of us can be out on the fringes of our bubble and rationally think we are way out of our bubble. But in reality are not. It helps to either have a spotter that can give honest feedback or take with journey with someone else who doesn’t typically exist in the same bubble as we do. Thanks again for this article and provoking our thoughts in new directions!
I appreciate all of these principles and see them as vital to creating change. I would also add a commitment to discomfort. When stepping outside of our bubble we are signing up for a journey of discomfort. All too often, when that discomfit reaches a certain degree, we quickly jump back into that comfortable bubble and take up residence once again. When we do that all of the progress comes to a screeching stop and a field of opportunities is missed.
Change is hard.
Discomfort =Growth
I love the focus on observing and being in the moment-the opportunity to explore the possibilities without judgement can lead to amazing results!
Getting out of one’s bubble moves a leader past an inflated ego and his or her delusion of already knowing the full extent of a current state. The humility to acknowledge that leaders can learn through a variety of inputs from a number of staff levels or circumstances is the basis for the six sigma “gemba walk” developed as part of the Toyota Production System. It’s also an essential aspect of the “discovery” step in the “meeting canoe” described in the book “Let’s stop meeting like this” that Dan highlighted a short time ago. A culture of openness, discovery learning, and wonder can lead to much better informed and effective decisions — in both our business and our private lives. Thank you for your keen and powerful insights!
There is a big difference in creating change vs forcing change. I agree with having a solid core team, exploring potential, being curious vs judgmental, and being open to the input of others (putting your bias in the back seat).
It’s easier to get others to want to come with you once they begin to think that where you can be tomorrow is better than where you are today. Getting them to take that leap to want to disturb the comfort of today can be quite the challenge. Think about all the changes you make in life when you want to make the change. People upgrade phones/computers, paint their house a different color, etc. all the time with basically zero “change management”.
If we look at change as the move from point A (today’s situation) to point B (a better future situation) then as we look at creating change, then everything in this article is great; if we look into “forced” change (the times when changes are sprung on people who didn’t know anything was coming) The above items are good, but you need more. Although it appears that the main topic is change that we are creating and not forcing.
My daily prayer with the Lord is to give of myself as a living sacrifice as i am blessed with another day that i wake up, to partner with Him in His will. Getting out of my bubble: is getting over and out of myself, my will. Co-sensing is listening to Holy Spirit giving me the discernment-insight while I am active listening to another person or situation. Taking the discernment and insight given to me, looking to add value and encourage someone personally or their purpose or cause.
Great Points
If the level of commitment is not there the rest of these things will become difficult. If the employee is only there to cash the check they will not care enough…
Sounds really interesting — would love to get one of the books!
I think respect is key. In both leadership and ethics classes I have facilitated, I use an exercise asking participants to define leadership (or ethics, depending on the class) in one word. My version of the answer (for both leadership and ethics) . . . but not the only answer . . . is respect. Employees and peers have to know that their opinions and input matter and will be listened to by everyone so that deeper insight and/or solutions can be obtained. There also has to be a trust that what is said will not be ridiculed by others. Trust is another important element. Great article.
“#3. Observe, Observe, Observe: Suspend Your Voice of Judgment and Connect with Your Sense of Wonder.”
As leaders, we are good at making quick decisions that keep the organization or group moving toward the mission. However, sometimes this gift to carry out the vision slides into assessing without listening to what’s really happening, just basing our thoughts on past events. Thus we judge a team member’s motivations or a circumstance without sufficient information. We must walk slowly (at least in our minds and hearts) through the crowd of team members, family, circumstances seeking to understand…listening “from what surprises you, from the whole, and from what you sense wants to emerge.” Otherwise team members become dismayed, strangers feel the judgement and people don’t want to interact because they’ve been assessed unfairly.
I see these types of hiccups made everyday by people who do not follow these simple suggestions. Really interested in reading the new book!
As a leader and often an agent of change, creating stakeholder groups to gain insight and learn from “outside your circle” has been key. However, even more important has been an approach to truly listen and learn; and to view the situation from other perspectives. Steve Covey’s seek first to understand and not to reply is one principle to keep in mind through the process. Even in implementation of changes, feedback is critical to adjust the course and build the momentum for change.
I think most leaders are not aware they are in a bubble! They believe their perceptions are true reality…and go on thinking that unless confronted with a major issue!
We need more honesty among staff to leaders, and the way to get there is getting out of the bubble!
I am especially interested in this today because i am a member of a societal institution that must make changes or close its doors. Breaking out of the traditional molds and mindset is so difficult. I will share this with key members – the hopeful movers and shakers. I pray we can move past the grasp of “we’ve never done it this way before” attitude. Thank you!
While watching & listening, I don’t forget to ask Why for added insight outside of my bubble.
I can’t wait to read further and to learn more. When we stop listening, we stop learning. But when we stop wondering, we stop living to the full.
#4 & #5 are so important, yet so often the missing pieces; challenging myself to read this daily to make a part of what I bring to the group. Yet, still at a disadvantage of knowing how to lead others to do likewise.
As a manager, I appreciate the value of a committed core team. I am working with my subordinate managers to solidify our team and make us more cohesive. Thanks for the insights.
Generate greater collective incite by embracing change outside of what we know & comfort. Would enjoy reading your book.
This sounds like a very interesting book and would really help with personal development. Love the concept of getting out of your bubble. So true that we all silo ourselves at times!
“Only in the suspension of judgment can we open ourselves to a sense of wonder.” love it… Judgement closes the door on opportunity.
Sounds to be an interesting choice of understanding some of the thinking outside of the box/bubble.
I work with a potential based approach and learning from the future with my clients to explore what is emerging and trying to show itself. Reinventing organizations from hierarchies to self managing teams is a process of exploration and discovery. It requires commitment, practice, and support.
As always, excellent post. As I went through the check list one stood out above the rest for me when building a committed team. Of course you need the what and who, I think WHY is the biggest driver when creating a committed group willing to follow you into the hard stuff. If the why is strong enough for each member and the team as a whole, they WILL make it happen.
I am starting my first job as a manager on Monday! I’m going from managing NOBODY to managing 16 people, all of whom are my current co-workers. I’ve been reading this blog over the past few weeks to help grow my knowledge. Any information/resources you can point me to would be greatly appreciated!
I am specifically interested in leading from the emerging future. Thank you for this wonderful post.
Terrific Article! Very timely topic for me as we are doing change work right now. Thank you!
What an interesting approach and one that has me intrigued- we often times think outside the box, but I think that box is often times still within the comforts of our bubbles. We are embarking on building a more innovative and digital centric culture and I think this book may be just the right list of ingredients to help us shape this strategy. We need to focus on all three bubbles and figure out how this will work as a culture that is more comfortable outside of the bubbles we find ourselves in.
Dan,
For me is giving everyone a voice and listening with the intent I will or can help them with their desires. granted we only control what we have control over.
Today for example we polled our group on Security updates and methods of reception preferred so everyone has a voice, accumulate the data and make a group decision.
I’ve watched so many colleagues struggle to advance in their career because they are stuck in their bubble.
I love this! so relevant – just spent three days doing business planning with a team and this is the perfect follow up piece.
Today was definitely the first day I have heard of the term “co-sensing”. Great concept and I enjoyed reading about it.
How might leaders generate and gather collective insight?
I think this all depends on the type of group that you are trying to generate or gather it with. If the group already has an amazing trust and connection internally, then it would be easier. Understand how they all work and then just observe, ask questions if needed, and watch as the team comes together and works as a single unit, with everyone having the same end goal and process in mind more or less.
When there is a need to try and generate collective insight, I think this is a harder thing to achieve. It would require taking the time to get each member of the team on the same page and collectively putting their trust and dedication into each other. If there are issues amongst the members, they would need to be resolved, one way or another. It would take time, but I think any team can at some point gain collective insight if they stick with each other and continue to improve together as a team. Something that I would consider doing is putting a group together or like-minded and seasoned individuals. This way if it is a group of newer individuals, they can get the guidance they need, but overall improve and progress as a single unit amongst themselves. They would not be guided by one main person while others are just there to follow commands. Same can be done with the more seasoned individuals I’d imagine as well.
Great topics and discussions. As always, thank you for taking the time to post. Have a great day.
Reaffirms why I went into the profession. We need to have willingness to be Change Agent.
Looking forward to reading the book and using the ideas with my doctoral students in the Educational Leadership program.
Being agile and open will be the key skills we need going forward. The ability to listen deeply skills (#4) is definitely the key to suspending judgement #3. Lynn (a voice from the Land down-under)
I have a meeting with my manager at work tomorrow, and I can’t wait to share this with her tomorrow. Have a good week!
This is an interesting write up. I am particularly interested in getting out of the bubbles
It is always great to see new work from Otto Scharmer. Glad to know this is out there. Adding it to my must read list.
Oh WOW!! can’t wait to start reading and learn to ‘burst the bubble’ – super excited!!!!
I’ve been working my way outside my bubble for about 7yrs. So freeing and challenging!! Would love to read further and continue moving towards life!
Leading a group with the objective of stretching each member? These thinking tools equip us to be the “mind-set chiropractor”.
The activities hurt for a day, but The pain of new ways of thinking will create a difference, in mindset, attitude, approach.
I’m in a new organization that could SO use some “out of the bubble” thinking. We need change!!! Look forward to reading the book!
Excellent food for thought, Dan. In general, it seems that we’re in control of our bubbles and can act to pierce them, but what if we’re not. I work for a government agency and it seems that in addition to an institutional bubble of our own creation, there’s one that’s created by the public and leaders outside of the direct chain of command but who control the purse strings.
Love the graphic and quote above – this is certainly a timely and inspirational post, looking forward to reading the book!
I love the statement, “Paying disciplined attention means that you are intentionally holding back all inclinations to mix in your own interpretations or solutions.”
We hear the term “objective observation” all the time, and challenge each other to be “objective” and I love how this gives more meaning to that phrase. I look forward to reading more!
I miss one bubble we all have to enter to be honest with ourselves: TIME.
Has anyone any idea where this bubble can be joined?
There may not be complimentary books left; in either case, though, I love the idea of the three listening channels, especially, the sense wanting to emerge.
I just participated in another webinar/conversation with Otto Scharmer and Theory U. I love the “getting out of one’s own bubble” and “paying disciplined attention to all you observe — holding back all inclinations to mix in your own interpretations and solutions.” Kinda goes along with being aware of our unconscious bias and self-centeredness.
Numbers 3 and 4 are where I find myself struggling sometimes. Observe without judgement. Then, dig deep by asking questions. Seems so simple, yet so easy to forget.
We need to give space to emergence. I love sepcially number 4: “Listen from what surprises you, from the whole, and from what you sense wants to emerge”