Using Theory U in Higher Education in India
Bringing the “higher” into higher education by creating alignment with the larger whole
As the u.lab 2x 2021 journey completes, we had the opportunity to talk to Deepthy Raghavendra, Lakshmi Mohan, Pooja Joshi, Veni Nair, and Jim Saveland who are part of the 2x team “Octophoenix” — octopus and phoenix, a team that is using Theory U in higher education in India. With an inspiring level of openness and vulnerability the five core team members reflected on their journey with u.lab 1x: “It started as just a way of keeping ourselves motivated and has gone on to become almost like a driving force for our institution”. Listening to their words, I could recognize myself in this experience. I think a lot of us who are just stepping into the space of the Presencing Institute and who are first learning about Theory U, can feel a bit overwhelmed at times. At least this was the case for me. But as the Octophoenix team beautifully described in this interview: “it is ok, we will get through”.
Vision
At the core of this u.lab 2x (Accelerator for Systems Transformation) team project is a vision to enable vertical literacy to create future leaders.
The Octophoenix core team comprising members from India and the USA (Deepthy, Lakshmi, Veni, Jim, Pooja) have been exploring four central questions together:
- How can we, as an Educational Institution involved in shaping future leadership, pivot now to respond to the call of our times?
- How can we offer the resources we have to foster India’s entrepreneurial capacity & thereby the global competitive advantage?
- How can we change the measure of our success from “the number of students placed at X salary” to “them being co-creators of the Innovation Ecosystem”?
- How can we collectively shift our mindset from “What is in it for me” to “What can I contribute”; from I to We , from Self to the Whole?
The Backstory
Team Octophoenix moved into u.lab 2x with a project called “Leadership Lab”. This is a course offered at ITM Business School in Mumbai that uses Theory U to bring the alignment of body, mind and soul to students and staff members. The seeds of this course were sown in the early 2000s, but its form has evolved substantially over the past years. It started out as a workshop for a couple of Masters level programs, with more of a Business Management angle. In 2016, the lab got remodelled into a paper that students could write in return for credits. This happened by the efforts of Deepthy, who also added an integral yoga perspective to it. Through 2017 and 2019, with the support of other ITM team members, Leadership Lab was extended into a full credit course spread across three semesters. The idea that brought this lab into being and made it evolve and expand, was to bring a whole person perspective into leadership for students of Masters in International Business programs. While the Leadership Lab already focused on aligning body, mind and soul the Theory U framework was not originally part of the lab.
It was in 2020 that Deepthy, Jim and Pooja met via the coaching circles of u.lab 1x. The three felt a deep connection and they teamed up with Lakshmi (Director at ITM) and Veni (Deputy Director at ITM) to work on integrating Theory U into the Leadership Lab. Deepthy recalls that this gave a more universal language to what they had already been doing. With the existing Leadership Lab at ITM as a prototype for u.lab 2x, the team intended to co-create an innovation ecosystem. With this goal in mind, the team says they reimagine higher education “from the individualistic and fragmented viewpoint, to a holistic and systems perspective”. They want to guide participants through the U process by engaging in continuous dialogue. This process entails moving down one side of the U (connecting to the world that is outside of our institutional bubble) to the bottom of the U (connecting to the world that emerges from within) and up the other side of the U (bringing forth the new into the world). What this means in the teams specific context, is shown in the following image:
During the 2x journey the team was able to scale the lab to other Master Programs and to start offering a Facilitators Module to anyone who was interested — faculty, admin staff and students alike. The ripple effect of the 2x journey has brought to life six learning hubs at ITM focusing on Systems Improvement, Innovation and Pedagogy, Communities of Practice for Cultural Change, Industry Connect and Learning Circle.
The impact of the Leadership Lab and Facilitators Module was also felt by its participants who shared their reflections with the team. Here are some of their testimonials:
“During leadership lab sessions I realized that there is always more to anything then what it seems like. Every person has a different perception”. — Pravin Phulwaria
“We started to enjoy silence which we used to run away from earlier”. — Amit Sharma
“It opened the door to explore the deeper truth that is hidden inside layers of fear, expectation and pride”. — Chaitanya Vaidya
“Participation in u.lab is a life changing experience, specially with amazing and friendly facilitators” .— Vasantha Lakshmi
Stepping into u.lab 1x
During the interview with team Octophoenix, Veni recalls that “in the beginning Theory U was very vague”. But “in a span of a year, what was not concrete before, has become an integral part of our process.” The team has learned to observe from a systemic perspective and, in their coaching circle, have discussed deeply “how do things shift?” and “what is the leverage point that we can touch?”.
Pooja explains that she doesn’t “consider u.lab as a course, but rather as a conversation”, a conversation that raises their sense of awareness — within themselves and the context that they are living in. Moreover, “the language that we learned in u.lab 1x helped us in a larger way”, Deepthy reflects. While the ancient Indian tradition consists of many elements around the alignment of body, mind, and soul, Theory U puts this into a language that is more universal. “It’s been miraculous for us”, says Lakshmi with sparkles in her eyes.
Sailing through u.lab 2x
Deepthy recalls that during the u.lab 2x journey she has learned that whatever is new or challenging out there, “it’s OK” and “we will sail through it”. Pooja adds that an important part of this realization was learning to accept that “things have no linear fashion but take on their own path and come out even more beautifully”. Personally, I find these words very encouraging and they reflect well how the team is growing and expanding their thoughts and hearts throughout the journey of u.lab 1x and u.lab 2x. In fact, while talking to them I am feeling the warmth radiating from the space of open heart that they are creating. Somehow they manage to make me feel connected to them, even though we are located on different continents.
However, the team also faced some challenges developing their prototype during u.lab 2x. “We were scared”, Deepthy remembers. “How will we gather stakeholders with us? Will people remain with us?”. The team found that talking with other u.lab 2x teams helped them overcome this and other challenges. Pooja sees a strong value in this aspect of u.lab 2x, in which teams are in an incubator cohort with other teams from around the world, learning to apply these same tools and methods in a variety of cultural and innovation-sector contexts: “By exchanging with other teams we learned a lot”. Veni explains that “journeys of other teams have been similar to our own, they had similar struggles. This gave us a lot of confidence and courage to believe in ourselves”. One team advised Octophoenix to grow a lot of stakeholders so that it is fine if a few fall off. “Now this is good, we are growing” tells Pooja proudly.
With the next words, the facial expression of the team members changed. The team tells how India got hit terribly by a second Covid-19 wave, while they went through u.lab 2x. “We each lost someone close”. In this situation “u.lab became the silver lining of the dark cloud”.
Personal Journeys
The question ‘what has surprised you most about yourself?’ makes Pooja emotional. “You’re gonna make me cry” she answers. “You carry something inside you and you try different things — it is a process of refinement through life. I had different ideas, but I thought: when will the right time come for the idea and for the execution? And this is where I am sitting now- at a certain point it just happens. I have been through transformations, either through choice or through chance, in the end it comes down to Bill O’Brian’s quote ‘the success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.’ I can’t say it has surprised me, it has just humbled me”. Listening to Pooja’s words, I as the interviewer feel touched and truly happy that she has arrived at this moment in her life, the moment where all strings come together, creating the possibility for the long wished-for intervention.
A shift in interior condition is also what other team members experienced during the u.lab 1x and 2x journey. Deepthy recalls that “I used to run away from everything. I did not want to be in the spotlight — if I could hide, I would be fine”. But being in the PI space and going through the U “I learned to be comfortable”. What has guided her in this was finding her own community. A community of like minded people who are eager to transform our world into a better place. By observing team Octophoenix interact during the interview, I can sense that this specific group has found their own community in each other. It is beautiful to notice how they treat each other with such a high level of respect and yet open up their hearts to each other.
The Character of Transformation
Their own u.lab 2x team is not the only community that Octophoenix feels connected to. Their feeling of unity goes beyond their small group and extends towards the whole transformation movement brought forward by the community of changemakers through the Presencing Institute. Lakshmi expresses how amazed she is by this community : “PI has given a platform to bring in and grow ideas”. To her, an essential element is the kind of conversation that is being taught: “It can work wonders”. And it has worked wonders for the team. Deepthy explains that through this kind of conversations she realized “it is not about you, it is not about the institution, it is not about the nation — it goes beyond that”. This changed her whole perspective: “One individual alone doing the work will not work”. Jim agrees that transformation cannot be brought by a single person, institution or nation: “what has been dawning for me was the notion of the beloved community — the enlightenment of future happens in community”.
The u.lab 2x incubator cohort and other PI programmes offer exactly this: a space for a community that wants to create a better future, a space for a community to come together and to work on solutions for our current ecological and social challenges. Jim recognizes that this “union differentiates” and that he sees “this coming to realization”.
To strengthen their community of changemakers at the ITM Business school, Pooja has written a prayer for their workspace that summarizes the teams energy and spirit very well:
“May the highest collective intelligence of the universe guide our work
May we have the humility to offer ourselves to humanity and earth at large
May we have the strength to let go whatever doesn’t serve us well
May we have the grace to receive what needs to come forth
May we experience the sense of oneness our hearts are capable of
May we be true to the highest versions of our own selves
May we be embodiments of love, kindness , compassion & courage
May we dance in the togetherness of our space
May we revel in the boundless joy we create
May we be full and may we be empty on this journey
May we be loyal to the ultimate Source and the Unfolding”.
What’s Next?
To grow their own community Octophenix shout out: “All are welcome. For all those out there who are interested in joining us we are welcoming you with open arms and hearts”. Thus, if you are interested in joining the team on their quest to bring the propotyte “Leadership Lab” forward, please reach out to them.
A very big thank you Team Octophoenix for the interview & Rachel, Stefan, Emma and Priya for the interview, video & editing!
