MOVING TO A PROCESS/RELATIONSHIP CULTURE WITH TASK AS TERTIARY TO SUPPORT SELF ORGANIZING
Picture a triangle with the vertexes being 'Task', 'Relationship', and 'Process', and discern our culture with its heavy emphasis on Task. If we look at the Western concept of Production it blends Task with Process and pays little attention to Relationship. If we look at the Western concept of Community it blends Task with Relationship and pays little attention to Process.
The questions we began with were --
- How might we define those cultures who blend Process with Relationship with lesser emphasis on Task?
- How might we begin to make this shift?
- What changes might we project emerging from this change in emphasis?
The conversation included the following key points --
- Task, Process and Relationship need to be in balance to create a healthy Living System
- We might view Task as 'Will' or 'Work'; Process as 'Mind' or 'Learning'; and Relationship as 'Heart'
- Beneath or within the triangle it is important to discern a greater Purpose, dynamic change, & calling forth the meaning of the whole
- In addition to each Task having context, we discussed embodiment and a commitment to rigor and practice
- System dynamics are characterized by both continuance and discrete change
- In complex systems there are a myriad of critical Tasks and it is not satisfactory to focus all our attention on the top 'n'
- There is a dynamic tension and the importance of distinguishing between emotional and creative tension
- The bulk of our time was creating neurological pathways thru Communities of Practice and Learning with stories and rituals