Integral U-Process

Introducing Integral-U

Integral-U is an innovative and practical tool for inquiry, decision-making, and action planning in team, organizational and community change initiatives.

Integral-U fuses Ken Wilber's Integral framework with Otto Scharmer's U-Process, a methodology developed at MIT for addressing highly complex challenges.Through learning and reflection, discernment and mindful action, Integral-U participants activate inherent creative capacities to bring their highest aspirations and deepest wisdom into their collaborative efforts to promote positive change.

 

 

Otto Scharmer's U-Process methodology (also known as presencing) is aptly described as a "social technology for collectively leading profound change." It is emerging as one of the more promising practices for engaging groups in learning, dialogue, deliberation, planning, decision-making, action and evaluation. Perhaps its most significant contribution is the way it supports participants to approach each of these very practical activities with open heart, open mind, and open will, tapping into a source of creativity that far surpasses the rational work-a-day mind.  U-Process has captured the attention of leaders and practitioners around the world, including Canada, Europe, the United States, Britain, Australia and Africa. 

The Integral Framework offers maps, models and practices that address the full spectrum of human experience and potential. Integral means "comprehensive, inclusive, balanced ... not leaving anything out." With a more adequate map of life's realities, the Integral Framework adds depth and complexity to the  U-Process methodology. An integral approach reminds us to take into account all of the dynamics that influence any organizational and community change. The Integral thinking and practice framework adds depth, clarity of purpose, and direction to collective generative change processes - in groups of all sizes and types.The Integral Framework also reminds us to pay attention to human development, and its influence on the design and implementation of our change initiative.

Merging these two complementary tools, the Integral-U Process provides guidance and clarity to groups and communities seeking to create positive change. Participants are better able to understand, manage and respond to highly complex challenges, and to comprehend all of the dynamics that influence any change initiative.

Benefits of Integral-U:

  • Enhances leadership capacity in individuals, in organizations, in sectors, and in communities
  • Breaks through silos in thinking and strategy
  • Expands practical tools and methods
  • Learning is transferable to diverse settings and issues
  • Demonstrates linkages and patterns among organizational/community issues & potentials
  • Builds capacity for meaningful and influential collaboration