The Evolutionary Path to Coalition Readiness.
(Oh sh*t! Not another system!)
Ya…we debated long and hard about what to call our various principles and the navigational ways and patterns that guide our work. There are many elements. It’s all dynamic, interconnected, adaptable and yet fundamental in order for coalition work to progress wisely — organically And by design.
But actually — it makes sense, intuitively and systemically. The patterns are recognizable when we peek under the hood and as the work gets underway.
Lots of messy human navigational support is unearthed here — vital human system stuff that is all too often overlooked.
The Unstitution Evolutionary Navigation System — ENS, is the guided process that enables collaborative coalitions to become ready and then move through various stages that follow general patterns we have observed and mapped over decades. It is the natural way that our Living Operating System is activated through coalition work and the multiple ways these evolve.
ENS has helpful building blocks that support mindful navigation. The process is developmental and iterative rather than programmatic and linear.
It allows for emergent co-creative design. It illuminates the way as new people join and others exit, guided by progress and emergent needs and opportunities.
While we have some core elements, the process incorporates the capabilities and methodologies needed by the particular coalition and its purpose, at any given point in its organic and designed evolution, through the diversity of talent, experience, methodologies and toolkits that people in our WorkNet bring to the work.
Our Evolutionary Navigation System (ENS) is adaptively designed to:
🔮 Identify the cultural and operational dysfunctions and shortcomings — monsters — of the current system/organizations and individuals
🔮 Identify the key change agents and levers within and connected to business, government and civil society that can affect regenerative progress and outcomes
🔮 Identify the chasms within and across sectors and divides where efforts typically get stuck or stall
🔮 Guide and support those who want and need to be involved (all individuals and groups) discerning and deploying methodologies that are well suited to the specific context.
The co-navigation journey includes these (overlapping) stages:
- Lost, disconnected, insular or isolated (operationally dysfunctional/not ready)
- Preliminary baseline awareness (the start of meaningful exploration)
- Showing up/being present (acknowledging monsters and fully engaging)
- Deeper, authentic acknowledgement (becoming self-aware, identifying needs, attending to grief, trauma and reconciliation work, critical targets and opportunities, scoping the work and forming guiding coalitions)
- Experiencing preliminary significant breakthroughs (trusting the process)
- Repeating (recursive) pattern of aha breakthroughs (systemically-proven, muscle-memory)
- Fully-systemic and (becoming) regenerative (impact and profit are redefined and regenerative outcomes are becoming realized with indicators/milestones (see previous)
Throughout the ENS process, we are:
🔮 Observing, tracking and assessing barriers and progress
🔮 Capturing and documenting learnings via storymaking and storytelling
🔮 Undertaking participatory action research that incorporates learnings and (trans)contextual insights and demonstrates impact
🔮 Identifying potential opportunities to amplify and scale out towards further positive impact through our Imagination Lab, Bridges and Active Learning modes.
Evolutionary navigation, made real through our collaborative commons communities, initiatives and coalitions is only part of the story. That story extends wider and deeper as ordinary people — all of us messy humans — who are the living, breathing, heart centres of our interconnected work, bring their own gifts and stories into the mix.
This is where we find joy and resilience. This is what we experience as interbecoming— living into life-affirming ways for people and planet.
We’d love for you to be part of us and for us to be part of you.
We can all be unstitutional!
Unstitution was birthed as a collective creative commons and nested ecosystem. We (co-)catalyze, convene and curate a wide range of context, place and theme-based initiatives where people from across sectors, disciplines, cultures, generations and walks-of-life work together on mission critical issues. From readiness through to regenerative progress — moving beyond polarization — is how we roll. The links embedded throughout our articles are a warm invitation to go a bit deeper, at any time. For more insights reflecting our ongoing journey, our suite of Unstitution articles are published on Medium. They portray a small sample of the ways we are adapting and contributing among ever-expanding commons-based communities and initiatives inspired and fuelled by citizens — perhaps better described as denizens — anywhere in the world — living into the principles and spirit that govern our collaborative work.
You can follow Unstitution and engage with us on LinkedIn
