Positive Transformation in Europe via Theory U

A small group of advanced Presencing + Theory U practitioners holds the intention to contribute to Positive Transformation in Europe via Theory U. In this article, they share their journey of thinking together, being together, deepening their connections and professional exchange as they generate collective action toward positive transformation in Europe.

At the Presencing Institute Global Forum in Berlin in December 2019, a small group of Theory U practitioners felt inspired by meeting so many advanced practitioners of Theory U from across Europe, sharing our projects and practices. We were eager to continue this thread and see what we could learn and develop together with other practitioners to enhance positive transformation in Europe via Theory U.

Despite the environmental, social and spiritual divides in Europe, we were noticing more awareness-based practices in governments, organisations and NGOs. New ideas, ways of working, behaviours and relationships were being utilised (For example, cohesion, innovation, more collective intelligence, systemic co-sensing, etc.). Both visibility and momentum seemed to be building. What insights, collaborations, and learnings would emerge if we continued to connect the dots?

Intention

• What would happen if we were to gather together from across Europe?
• What would we learn from each other?
• What synergies exist?
• What might emerge?

We held the intention that such a network could generate collective action and contribute to positive transformation in Europe via Theory U.
The experiment was to gather a small number of practitioners of Theory U from different countries in Europe (one to two per country) to:

• Sense what is happening across sectors and countries: in social and environmental movements, in government, business and social enterprise as well as for leaders in these organizations
• Share our experiences and our successes and learn from them
  Help each other further apply Theory U in our contexts
• Explore how Presencing + Theory U could contribute even more to positive transformation in Europe.

Organisers: Edouard, Wolfgang, Annette and Patrick

Process
In the first 18 months, the group met bi-monthly, engaging in Theory U practices within each session and also across 12 sessions to expand our connections, grow the social field, share our experience, and deepen the grounded purpose of individuals and the group. The U process gave us structure and practices — and helped us trust that something would emerge to turn our intention into significant action.

We began with an open mind to share practices and co-sense what is happening in different sectors and countries and to get to know each other. Through collective sensing, centering and “connecting to source,” it was clear that it would require slow progress to grow collective awareness.

After a strong shared experience, we met again in two months to see what spontaneous reaction and needs would emerge… and to keep the heart beating. We experimented with different ways to increase the quality of our relationships by asking important questions such as “Where am I called to serve?” “What matters to you?” And, by creating space for a deeper process through silence and presencing. In the early meetings, the focus was more on the inner dimension. “How do I connect to myself, to my own soul, with authenticity? How can I share on a deeper level in my day-to-day life and in my field?”

Ideas came forth for collective learning, sharing practice, learning from our individual work, and co-constructing in a space broader than just one country because this is about Europe.

Our collective practices include:

• Resonance — connecting to source: being present from different angles and attuning to “where I feel inner resonance” during the playing of the didgeridoo by one of our members;
• Embodied presencing — Social Presencing Theatre: paying attention to our posture, our presence and “inner smile;”
• Attention to the sense of safe space and the container we are creating together;
• Mindful practice to be open to limitless possibilities — letting go of or suspending our judgements (or our inner voice of judgement, fear and cynicism) so we could open space to co-create possibilities;
• Dialogue and deep listening led to insights into opening consciousness growing a bit in Europe like a sailing ship — going through a storm; testing the individual and collective limits; learning and growing.

These practices deepened our connection with each other and strengthened our alignment to our shared intention. We started with 14 people and a strong core emerged. As “advanced practitioners” we were surprised by the spontaneous ways that we practiced the U — organically discerning what was needed at each step. It required us to trust other members as they proposed and led a practice. At one point, just before the bottom of the U, we practiced “letting go” of our preconceptions — and one small voice said “I don’t think this group is going to end.” She was right!

Through our practice, we began to describe aspects of a new form taking shape, based on the needs that arose in our co-sensing. We wanted to exchange, learn and contribute to further the depth of Theory U in our own practices and dialogue to nurture our own approaches to change. How to relate to something bigger than just our own country — it’s about Europe! How to engage in a process of systemic transformation that connects the dots?

Holding our intention and letting go of preconceived notions at the bottom of the U, a period of quiet reflection and presencing over the Summer months led to crystallisation of a new format that would open up to more practitioners of Theory U in Europe. Our refined intention was to create an engaged, inclusive environment; share concrete experiences of implementing the U; hold generative discussion, and share what people have experienced to expand our learning and connections.

Presenters of the Business Sector Case

Prototype: Sharing a case from the business sector

In December 2021, we prototyped of a new meeting format for our group. Annette Monnoury who is part of our core team proposed to present a case with her colleagues Elisabeth Martini and Pierre Paris from Dialogue en Intelligence Collective, a French consultancy. They shared their experience on an organisational transformation project at the Aéroport Paris-Orly where the culture of this business shifted to engaged collaboration with confidence, improved results, and effectiveness. We heard about this 14-month project, which started when the company was confronted with the complex challenge to smoothly transform the cultural aspect of its organisation: how people interact with each other and new ways of working, due to a dramatic physical extension of the airport.

We saw how the team laid the groundwork with Theory U + Presencing tools that deepened listening, increased authentic communication and began to build a new system and culture. The result was an effective, collaborative organisation where people dared to work toward common goals, found the courage to ask for help, and naturally moved toward generative solution-finding to overcome challenges.

Here are the steps of the U process successfully applied in this project:

• Co-initiating — building the intention & core team;
• Co-sensing — slowing down to listen via workshops and appreciative inquiry with the Executive Committee and different lines of management;
  Redirecting — letting go of old habits, harvesting: about 100 bottom-up proposals in 8 thematic areas and resulting in the system becoming aware of itself;
• Co-inspiring — letting come the new — collective vision emerged in a large workshop;
• Crystallising — embodying change — bottom-up decision-making process to turn the bottom-up proposals into a roadmap of key transformative projects;
• Implementation — co-evolving — new cultural mindset, new CEO onboard, about 100 internal facilitators trained to support a 2-year transformation and re-organisation

Our prototype meeting format was successful, with 40 practitioners attending from 14 countries. In small-group discussion we explored how the process and tools of Theory U transformed culture, work routines, and infrastructure in this complex, multi-site organisation and illustrated how each of us could apply what we learned in our own organisations or practices. A recording of the session can be found here.

Next Steps
As we move up the right-hand side of the U, we are deepening our professional sharing and expanding our group. With our overarching intention to generate collective action and contribute to Positive Transformation in Europe via Theory U, we will continue to evolve as a group and in our U practice. We don’t know how collective action will emerge. Will we continue to find ways to collaborate in small groups on joint projects in Europe? Will we hold case clinics to support each other on our pan-European projects? Will we seek out projects in catalyst points in Europe where transformation could bridge the social, environmental and spiritual divides? We don’t know the answer yet. And, we do know that we have a strong capacity at our core to practice the U as a group and to trust that we will continue to evolve toward our larger intention.

Invitation

We invite you, fellow Europeans, to join us once each quarter for a case in a particular sector or thematic area such as:

• Business (cultural and inner transformation);
• Government (breaking through bureaucracy, advancing innovation, empowering agents of change at all levels, empowerment in local government/administration);
• NGO and social enterprise (creating change at the grass-roots level and inspiring collective action that creates new solutions);
  Sustainability (projects that have a systemic change effect across Europe, sustainable development goals, systemic change in one area such as biodiversity);
• Overall systems change (i.e. empowering women in one country, integrating and welcoming refugees).

How can Presencing + Theory U help transform governments, third sector NGOs and international institutions in Europe to increase their effectiveness, engagement, collaboration? How does one project connect with, and positively impact, the larger system?

Please join us for our next quarterly session on 9 March 2022 to learn from a case in the third sector: The Rural Women’s Association, located in the German speaking minority region in Belgium.

You will learn about how using Theory U aided this group’s transformation from a traditional to a modern approach and increased the social impact of their voluntary civic engagement.

Register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theoryuineurope/622390

We invite you to join us in our journey to create a hub of Theory U practitioners in Europe (consultants and practitioners in business, government, NGOs, etc.) as we learn and support each other — thinking together, being together — and working toward positive transformation in Europe via Theory U + Presencing.