Leading Societal Transformation in Leadership and Governance

Four u.lab-S teams take on big questions about leadership and governance in Switzerland, the Philippines, Spain and Germany

In June, the Presencing Institute concluded its first annual delivery of u.lab-S: Societal Transformation, a global initiative in which 300 teams from 35 countries are simultaneously tackling social challenges using collective systems mapping and design processes.

This week, we feature four teams working under the acupuncture point of Governance and Democracy, creating spaces to lift up a diverse range of voices and transforming leadership through collaboration, trust, and inclusivity.

Collaboratio Helvetica

Switzerland

Collaboratio helvetica is a Switzerland-based initiative which looks to create spaces for dialogue, experimentation and collaboration in order to co-create a more sustainable Switzerland. This initiative enables committed people and organisations to soften established positions and to conduct dialogues more effectively. United by the common mission to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this team explores and cultivates the internal, organisational and systemic conditions for collaboration. Collaboratio helvetica is simultaneously a platform, a community, an organisation, a laboratory and a movement.

An emerging impact is the Catalyst Lab: the first future lab for Switzerland. The Catalyst Lab is designed for individuals and teams committed to shifting their ecosystems using Social Innovation Labs. The carefully selected catalysts receive experience-oriented training, up-to-date knowledge of the prerequisites for transformation and methodological competence to successfully promote change in their ecosystems.

The Rizal Academy for Innovation and Leadership (TRAIL)

Philippines

This five-person team from the Rizal Academy for Innovation and Leadership (TRAIL) aims to connect with and shift the mental mode which society has about differently-abled people. TRAIL is an educational initiative which offers training and support to change makers, collectively aiming to co-create a better Philippines. Through the u.lab-S process, this team formulated the following goal: to provide a space for inclusive learning that will allow marginalised people, particularly the differently-abled, to have equal opportunity to learn, be trained, and therefore be capable, knowledgeable, and fit for employment. Some outcomes so far include:

• The enrollment of a group of business professionals who provided internship opportunities for differently-abled people;
• Participation at the Thriving in the Age of Disruption learning event in May 2019. Here, the voiceless where able to use sign language to speak from their hand and heart and take part in the conversations on the challenges they face.

Entornos de confianza (Trust Environments)

Spain

A core group of 5 people have been meeting on a regular basis for seven months around the topic of relationships and trust. More than 12 people are involved on a larger scale. The three theories which are being utilized are:

• Theory U
• Goethe’s theory of color
• Inspired by the two theories above: the theory of 7 emotions

Trust Environments uses a diagnostic process that assesses trust on 3 levels: on the personal level, on the group and work teams level, and at an organisational and environmental level. Over the next month, Trust Environments will hold 3 open meetings, each involving more than 100 people. These people come from diverse work fields such as from the social field, the realm of education, corporate, business, and academia.

Leadership Festival 2019

Germany

The Leadership Festival 2019 (LSF) just completed their 3-day Program in Berlin and Rothenklempenow, Germany. The gathering included a participant span of 3 generations (from the age of 14 to 60+), bridging radical commitment & playfulness, leadership skills & capacities. LSF was created by a global collective of people with a wide range of backgrounds. They made a promise to each other to help co-manifest and co-shape the new paradigm(s) of leadership, which are emerging both globally and locally.

U.lab-S helped define a key question for them, namely: “What leadership do we need in these times?” They decided to work as an inter-generational group (over 30% of participants are under the age of 20), connecting perspectives of city and land, social field and actual soil, for a collective inquiry that explores blind spots of leadership in our times.

We invite you to join us in this capacity-building program through the Societal Transformation Lab. Together, we’re designing and building a global eco-system for profound societal and civilizational transformation. Consider joining u.lab 1x, a massive open online course (MOOC) that runs from September to December 2019 and takes participants on a journey from sensing and connecting to deeper sources of knowing to generate powerful prototype ideas.

Read more about the innovation lab here and consider joining us for u.lab 2x, which will run from February to May of 2020.