Continuing the thread of LO14106 by Mike Johnson . . .
Appreciated your real life example, Mike.
We are beginning a hoped for transformation from a center for educating .
. . to a learning center at our university. The president has given us
the space to try to figure out how to begin the flow. Reflection and
reading has brought me to the writings of Maslow, The Farther Reaches of
Human Nature, and Michael McMaster, The Intelligence Advantage:
Organizing for Complexity.
In the chapter on Theory Z, Maslow writes of two kinds of self-actualizing
people, "those who were clearly healthy, but with little or no experiences
or transcendence, and those in whom transcendent experiencing was
important and even central." He continues, in this chapter, to
differentiate between these two types of people. Mike McMaster has
synthesized many of the qualities of transcenders in his chapter on
leadership. His message, "Transformation does not occur from the top
down, or the bottom up. It is from the inside out," expresses what is
felt, but had been unexpressed.
McMaster continues, "To the extent that transformation requires leadership
(which is to a very large extent) it is a function of 'inside' out . . . .
what is thought, felt, imagined and desired within ourselves must be
expressed into the social world of the corporation through our speaking
and actions. It then becomes an act of leadership, regardless of the level
from which it is expressed. Because the corporation is a complex
intelligent system, that expression will emerge from an ever-increasing
number of places in ever-expanding areas of the corporation."
Many of the faculty have gone through an "inside out" process, personally,
although sharing of these experiences has not been widespread.
It seems that a possible pathway may be to suggest that those faculty who
would be interested in beginning the change process form connections and
share ideas on ways to make these changes in their classes. Discussions
among faculty should provide ideas of how to proceed, bringing to light
strategies that seem to work best to promote learning. Student/faculty
discussions could be held at the same time, as many of us believe that
students know what strategies help them understand and be able to transfer
what they learn and many would be willing to share their thoughts.
We would be appreciative of suggestions to help guide us in this change
process. Messages from people on this list have been thought-provoking
and helpful.
June
jmain@junix.ju.edu
> One thing to note is that when an individual has experienced a higher
> level of comfort, attained personally, they tend to gravitate back to it
> -- while those who had that comfort "given to them" , i.e. an excess of
> reward, tend to only become dissatisfied with themselves and their
> "benefactor".
>
> Case in point-- many "bottom up" reveloutions come from a large group
> having had some sort of security that was granted them, taken away... The
> French reveolution may have had some roots in the upper echelons, but the
> force of the people was motivated by hunger. In this case hunger can come
> back into the context as (a little metaphorical)... If I am hungry, but I
> know how to cook - I will cook and feed myself; if I am fed everyday by
> someone else, and never learned to cook I am in a state of duress when I
> am hungry. This metaphore, from my daily interaction with my toddler, but
> can represent ANY kind of hunger.
>
> If my state on the hierarchy is one in which I know how to ammeliorate - I
> will do so with little duress. If I customarily have that situation
> amerliorated by an outside force, and that force is not present... I rage.
>
> Michael Johnson <mjohnson@deltabtg.com>
--jmain@junix.ju.edu (June Main)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>