U-Process

How do we generate the insights leading to radical innovation? // What are the conditions and capacities that are needed for real transformation? // What’s the social technology for collectively finding solutions for complex problems? // How can we go beyond battering new problems with old solutions?

Years of research at MIT into the process of real transformation has uncovered four levels of dealing with change:

1. Reacting (jumping into action)
2. Redesigning (of the context within which action is taken)
3. Reframing (of the thinking that designed the context)
4. Regenerating (of the identity which frames the thinking)

In these times of increasing turbulence, complexity and uncertainty, solutions originating from the first levels more and more often fall short of the mark. Increasingly, organizations are confronted with problems demanding real change, meaning: change in the essence of the organization. The solution can no longer originate from the level of ‘what we do’, or ‘how we do it’, but instead can come only from the level of ‘who we are’. This is the question at the core of the U-Process: ‘Who are we asked to be?’. Answering this question is not so much a matter of ‘(re-)inventing’ or determining, but instead one of listening. Therefore, the three phases in the U-Process are:

1. Observe, observe, observe (immersion in the context and the experience)
2. Retreat and reflect (letting go of the old and letting come of the new)
3. Act in an instant (acting immediately and adequately)

The key shift takes place at the ‘bottom of the U’. That’s where old assumptions and ideas are let go of, so that space is created for the new to emerge, something that is more adequate in relation to the changing context. In order to make that shift, three ‘enemies’ must be conquered:

1. The voice of judgment (about the problem and the solution)
2. The voice of cynicism (about what we can or cannot do)
3. The voice of fear (about what is being asked of us)

The U-Process is often used to generate real solutions to complex problems with diverse groups of stakeholders in a limited amount of time (hours, days, weeks). The social technology of the U-Process is also called ‘Presencing’; a combination of the words ‘presence’ and ‘sensing’.

Contact and more information

Realize! uses the integral model directly and indirectly in its Team development and Organization development. If you're interested in hearing more, or in a U-Process, contact us at info@realize.nl.