Act in an Instant

What is at the heart of a product or service? Some, or many, might say, great design. The art of a beautiful product or service can be stunning. The smooth fit in the palm of the hand or the way something slides into the pocket. All of the world around us is by design in some way or the other. Design thinking is used across a myriad of sectors and spectrums of society. In many ways, when we apply design thinking to our lives or to our reality, we can use it to shift small to large scale problems and create effective solutions to change our world for the better. And yet, over the Ecosystem Leadership Program (ELP) experience, we were reminded that our own process of using design thinking in Theory U for social systems change, is still a work in progress. Together, we have been evolving what is needed to be Ecosystem Leaders (earlier post on Ecosystem Leadership).

Ronnie shared with us how in his journey into exploring Theory U and what Otto Scharmer, Julie Arts and Katie Stubley might call, Vertical Prototyping for Ecosystem Leadership, became his new way of being. He said, in the practice of it, “time became beautiful again.” The feeling was that “time became a dance” rather than seeing “time as a race.” So, what happened for Ronnie that shifted his perception of time? And, did it decrease his output?

During the third module of the ecosystem leadership program, we explored what lives at the core of Ronnie’s experience. We moved from a horizontal view on prototyping which shows up as being more linear — movement forward or along one line. The gesture that goes with it is someone pushing, pushing, pushing forward. It looks like someone pushing against the odds, pushing for output etc. The vertical aspect of ecosystem prototyping is more about tapping into our deepest sources of inspiration.

Moving down the iceberg, we begin to put prototyping in a social context. Scharmer shared with us, using design thinking, in and of itself, does not actually give us what we are looking for in a social change process. It does not include the evolving story of who we are and the dimension of consciousness or source from which we are operating. We mapped this on nature as metaphor (as we do with using the word ecosystem). What we see are often the seedlings of the prototypes — these are above the water line and easy to see the outputs etc. The parts we don’t necessarily see are the seeds, soil, and as mentioned, source.

The thing about vertical prototyping is that it really could be called a three dimensional prototyping. It is not just the downward motion of seeds, structure, soil and source to produce the seedlings. It also requires sun, seasons, stewards and a collective seeing. Stubley describes these aspects slightly differently than the way Scharmer shared them in the ELP module. However, at the end of the ELP, Scharmer was also restructuring his initial drawing with similar data points. Here’s what I’ve gathered (from them and my experience, so far).

As mentioned, it can take years for the prototype to evolve to a point in which it’s ready to lift off. It may be the exact right idea at the wrong time. It might be the right time with a few missing pieces (rough soil — not enough of a network etc). It could also be that the prototype takes off and it’s right for the moment but then no longer needed after a while. Vertical prototyping is “not just about what you are doing — it’s about how you’re holding” (Stubley). Scharmer also reminds us that this process is “never ending. It’s not like I did this yesterday and now the rest is execution. It’s something I practice if not every moment, every day.”

It’s still necessary to know the ‘horizontal’ aspect of prototyping or design thinking. Having a fullness of knowledge is what allows us to act in an instant. The gesture required is almost the shape of a victory pose with a loose bend in the elbows. It’s not only about going downwards — it is a lifted, rooted continued forward movement.

It may appear to someone who hasn’t been involved that something is happening quickly. Anyone who runs an event knows it’s not just about the running of the event itself, it can take months or even years of preparation. When we move from co-creating (horizontal prototyping) to co-evolving, things can happen quite quickly but often they are evolving in their own time and at the rhythm of the ecosystem it is living within.

This version of prototyping is not about just adding on to the horizontal or linear movement forward. If one is moving something forward, these layers exist already. There are always underlying reasons, agendas or goals. The question is are those underlying ways of being or structures in service of the whole (the ecosystem) or are they in service of something else (ego)? These outcomes or outputs may seem disconnected (like eating a broccoli floret) but the truth is they are much more than they appear (the soil, structure, roots, leaves and stem of the broccoli plant). When all the parts are operating in concert, one can act in an instant. When all the pieces are not in place, flow is halted, stunted, low quality or un-sustainable.

More than something to be written about, a phenomenon to be examined, described and taught to others, this type of vertical prototyping and co-evolution is what we need in the world now. We are facing unprecedented climate crisis (did you hear about the koalas??). Our clothing, our way of being on the planet itself, is causing the demise of our own earth home.

We no longer need to do less bad. We need to be doing good — which may mean a rethink of the whole system itself, not just an upgrade on some of the parts. In order to face the crises of our time, we need a deeper level of consciousness and a movement from ego to eco to be brought to all our actions. Over the last few years, I have come across numerous design thinking initiatives which assume we can design our way out of the problems we are facing. The truth is, without these elements of verticality, we will continue creating and producing the same results.

This coming year, 2020, an exploratory year for the Foundation I work within, we are attempting to host a sustainable fashion festival, a moment in time that may act as a container for movement forward. People have reminded me that we are not going to be about ‘boiling the ocean.’ I would venture to say, the oceans are already boiling and what we need now is the ability to address that very phenomena on a collective level. We need to link the priorities of all our work. As Gloria Steinem says, “we are linked, not ranked.” I would say this sentiment applies to us on an identity level and on a level of what is our work in the world. The hope is that we might see a blend of place based, regenerative actions across sectors which bring about positive impacts — reinventions or returns to old ways of knowing (banning single use plastic, bringing back a version of the milk bottle). In fashion, this may mean, shifting funding models, job creation and education— functions of society that may see themselves as separate but are, in fact, inextricably linked.

Scharmer closed our nine month journey together by reminding us: what we are about is civilizational renewal. It’s not something we started, or something we will complete in our lifetime but we have a key role to play in the deepening and holding of its evolution. As it pertains to my work, it means making more visible the unconscious connections and, when the season is right, in the holding and the deepening, to act, in an instant.

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