{"id":1135,"date":"2016-10-21T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T17:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2016-10-21T19:17:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T23:17:28","slug":"the-one-thing-of-connectedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=1135","title":{"rendered":"The “One Thing” of Connectedness"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2004, The One Thing\u2026 a Simple<\/em> Proposal<\/a> revealed the key to Joel Barker\u2019s success as a Paradigm-Shifting<\/em> Guru. Then, after sharing that secret, it ended with a simple, and clear charge:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAt a time when schools have neither the capacity, nor the societal support, to \u201cfix\u201d themselves, we have to develop and initiate processes that support capacity development as a practically simultaneous, inside-out, knowledge-development process.<\/p>\n

That requires\u00a0changing everyone\u2019s mental model of schooling\u00a0and, fortunately, we now can use the \u201csimple rules\u201d imposed by what we already know about how the human mind works as it processes information to solve problems that get in the way of making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u2022 First individuals must have a compelling reason to change the way they look at, and understand, the three interconnected processes of learning<\/em>, teaching<\/em> and schooling<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Then driven by the motivating power of understanding why new alternatives may be necessary, they need to have the means and support to work within that new paradigm.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Finally, they need processes to derive from their work experiences the necessary knowledge and culture to sustain that way of functioning for all<\/span> students.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Today, 12 years later, we offer below some of what we\u2019ve learned about that process…\u00a0and why some wrongly<\/span> think it is systemically<\/em> impossible<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE \u201cONE-THING\u201d OF CONNECTEDNESS<\/strong><\/span><\/center> <\/p>\n

“Everything-is-connected-to-everything-else<\/em>” seems to be the slowly-developing ah-ha<\/em> emerging from the minds of those trying to understand the era in which we’re living. \u00a0But that doesn’t help much to understand how to escape the webs of interconnectivity in which\u00a0we\u00a0find ourselves tangled. What’s missing so far is the question\u00a0that comes in response to the rest of the insight\u2026 “but connected to what?<\/em>” \u00a0For, as Joel Barker, the guru of paradigm-shifting, once pointed out, the answer to that can be found in\u00a0the mental map\u00a0or worldview that bounds and gives meaning to all the connecting relationships within it.<\/p>\n

What Barker did to help people understand the profound differences such a different map\u00a0or paradigm could make, was\u00a0to ask his “impossibility question:<\/u><\/em>”<\/p>\n

“What one thing<\/u> is impossibl<\/span>e to do today, which if it could be done, would fundamentally change your organization for the better?”<\/em><\/p>\n

For instance, what if I could call upon the ghosts of two old “paradigm-shifters,” Copernicus and Galileo, and ask them that same one question?<\/p>\n

“If anything were possible, was there any one thing you could have done when you were alive that could have convinced everyone that your way of understanding the nature of the solar system described the way things actually were?<\/u><\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would imagine that, with the benefit of hindsight, they would tell me that they would have liked to have been able to take people to the surface of the sun. There they would tell them to look up\u2026 and from that perspective see how the planets actually<\/span> moved.<\/p>\n

Now there would no longer be a conflict between what people could see with their own eyes and the new, hard-to-envision theories\u00a0from science about the actual nature of their world. From that time on, the “see-what-we-believe\/believe-what-we-see” vicious cycle would become a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle, as\u00a0understanding of possible actions would be developed by looking through the same lens of understanding.<\/p>\n

Moreover,\u00a0that perspective’s usefulness back on the ground would come from the fact that it offered\u00a0a common lens ground from personal experience<\/em> reinforced by scientific fact<\/em>. — one emerging from a common belief<\/em> about reality at its center. \u00a0It would define the boundary of its scope, and the nature of its connecting relationships.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

In education today we face the need for a similar lens-reinforced<\/em> paradigm shift. But while its significance can be as profound as Copernicus\u2019, we don\u2019t have 2-300 years to wait for it to evolve.<\/p>\n

So what if we were to ask ourselves the same Impossibility\u00a0<\/em>question about the Schooling<\/em> universe we navigate?<\/p>\n

“If anything were possible, what one thing might we do that could convince everyone that what we observe as a school district already is an indivisible system<\/u> within which all its parts have natural relationships<\/u> to a common “fact” (or scientific knowledge-based) center-point?”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What might convince everyone that what cognitive science is learning about the biological<\/em> functioning of the brain already provides the\u00a0core building\u00a0block\u00a0we don\u2019t get to vote on, …but whose acceptance makes it possible to understand relationships<\/em> that we currently can\u2019t see, and therefore use, as we try to make sense of what the work of schools\u2019 must<\/u> deal with each day?<\/p>\n

Our answer might be similar to that of my imagined ancient scientists: We would like everyone to be able to stand at the “center” of the educational system \u2013 a child’s brain<\/u> — and look out at the surrounding real world of experience that it interacts<\/em> with as the\u00a0mind’s<\/span> capacities develop through the process we call learning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

From that perspective they might \u201csee\u201d a natural<\/em> world operating according to “simple” natural principles<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the problem. We have the “science,” but don’t think<\/span> we have the personal systemic experience<\/em> that can give it meaning.<\/p>\n

As an example, from what cognitive biology\u00a0tells us about how that brain interactively supports the mind’s “learning”-from-experience,” we have sufficient “facts” that make it possible to describe the common learning capacities<\/u><\/em> that schools must develop in all<\/em> children.<\/p>\n

That’s what the\u00a0Common Core Standards<\/em>\u00a0are all about. But unfortunately, with that as theory<\/u>, its application in practice<\/span> has suffered from the\u00a0lack of \u00a0a “lens” with that\u00a0individual learning process model<\/em> as its center that would enable seeing and understanding<\/em>\u00a0it’s direct relationship to the daily actions of people and organizations as they respond to the always-present\u00a0nature<\/em> of that brain-driven individual learning process.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The Sabusense<\/em><\/a> site offers an opportunity to tap into that type of personal and organizational systemic experience.<\/em> Among other things, it includes the story of a major American school system<\/a> transforming itself from the inside out\u2026 as seen through a different lens<\/a> — one that has the biological nature of the individual learning process<\/em> as its center.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0For almost two decades, this 150,000 student school system had attracted the attention of committed foundations and reformers seeking a benchmark for whole district change. \u00a0These included the Annenberg, Stupski, Panasonic<\/em>, and <\/strong>Broad<\/strong><\/em> Foundations; the Harvard Business School<\/em> (which produced several case studies and a book); and it received national recognition such as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award<\/em>. \u00a0<\/strong>Each attempted to benchmark the \u201cWhat\u2019s\u201d and \u201cHow\u2019s of the system\u2019s work. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0In the meantime, this lens\u2019 different view offered a way to dig deeper to the \u201cWhy\u201d that gives meaning to the other two. \u00a0<\/strong>And it found the answer in the ways-of-thinking<\/em> they were developing about themselves as a connected system<\/u>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover, while conceived as a response to Barker\u2019s \u201cImpossibility <\/em>Question,\u201d this lens’ different \u201cOne Thing<\/em>\u201d perspective, soon led to understanding the nature\u00a0of \u201cPossibility <\/em>Answers.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>And eventually pointed to the “Probability Answers”\u00a0<\/em>necessary for sustained change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For over a decade and a half, its on-the-ground usefulness\u00a0has come from:<\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) \u00a0the fact that it is a lens ground from personal experience<\/em> reinforced by scientific fact<\/em>. It reduces the conflict between what people see with their own eyes in schools and the new, hard-to-envision ideas from science about the actual nature of that world. <\/strong><\/p>\n

From that time on, understanding of possible actions could be developed by looking through the same common lens of understanding. And<\/strong><\/p>\n

(2) it\u00a0directly addressed\u00a0Systems Thinking’<\/em>s major “blindspot.”\u00a0\u00a0Its most essential aspect \u00a0— the connecting relationships<\/u> among its parts and purposes that make it a \u201csystem\u201d —\u00a0can\u2019t be seen<\/u><\/em> and experienced.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Together this way-of-seeing<\/em> and thinking<\/em> offers a theory about practice<\/em> that can help raise questions whose answers can\u00a0empower society to sustain systemic improvement of the processes and products of its schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE!…<\/strong><\/p>\n

…Stay tuned to find out what happened when\u00a0Peter Senge discovered how\u00a0the “One-Thing” Connectedness of his seminal 5th Discipline<\/em> way-of-thinking was contributing to the learning disabilities currently plaguing the system’s thinking movement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2004, The One Thing\u2026 a Simple Proposal revealed the key to Joel Barker\u2019s success as a Paradigm-Shifting Guru. Then, after sharing that secret, it ended with a simple, and clear charge: \u201cAt a time when schools have neither the capacity, nor the societal support, to \u201cfix\u201d themselves, we have to develop and initiate processes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1157,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}