Culture Jolt #27 - Propagate relaxed synchronicity, not uniformity

Welcome to our Conscious Innovator® process!

Are you ready for a new, insight-provoking “Jolt” … something designed to “rearrange your molecules” as it elicits your unique, innovative potential in life and work?

Jolts wake us up. They spur new self-awareness, new capabilities and values, and new actions. Paradoxically, we don’t learn from each Jolt – rather, each Jolt “learns us”! That is, a Jolt sits in the background of our consciousness and then prompts new insights and energy over time. 

Jolt #27: Propogate relaxed synchronicity, not uniformity

Imagine you showed up at a conference passionate about its theme, but found there was no agenda, no schedule, and no specified speakers... What would you think? A serious lack of planning? A potential waste of time?

Now suppose the conference was that way on purpose! … An open space for exploring whatever people wanted to discover. A conference of focused yet relaxed synchronicity. A master class in self-organizing systems.

Harrison Owen created this kind of Open Space conferencing in the 1980s, based on an insight that the most meaningful conversations at well-planned conferences often occurred during coffee breaks. He thought, “What if the whole conference was like one huge coffee break?”

Over the past 35 years, thousands of facilitators have led over 300,000 sessions in more than 150 countries using this self-organizing process, with amazing levels of engagement, problem-solving, and sustainable results. Collectively, they’ve challenged much of the orthodoxy about how to unite and engage people to innovate solutions from simple to complex. 

In Open Space cultures, people embody a unity of purpose and connection – yet those same people also possess a wide array of personal values, attitudes, family cultures, and ways of life. That unity with diversity is the precise formulation that Mary Parker Follet, the "Mother of Modern Management," emphasized in the 1920s while provocatively declaring:

“Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed. The most important thing to remember about unity is -- that there is no such thing.  There is only unifying."

Unity (“unifying”) embraces diversity; uniformity minimizes it. Unity is organic; uniformity is engineered. Unity trusts in people; uniformity strives to mold them. Unity promotes bold-think; uniformity fosters group-think.

Relaxed synchronicity is essential to a vibrant, inspiring culture for innovation. Synchronicity because there is what Thich Nhat Hanh calls our immutable “interbeing” with each other and all creation – so what seems to be coincidental is actually a deep connection. Relaxed because the bond of oneness is heartfelt-interdependence, not compliance.

Establishing a “Way of Innovation” was key to unlocking synchronicity at a large tech services company that handles outsourced R&D for corporate clients. This “Way” was a framework that unified the multiplicity of understandings, priorities, measures, and methodologies for innovation throughout the organization.

For the Head of their Innovation Center, it was a living document that expressed trust in people’s ability to self-organize for provocative knowledge sharing, ideating, and collaborating – in service to the needs of multiple stakeholder priorities. 

Relaxed synchronicity empowers the organic flow of innovative energy to complete the unfinished business of the past, create growth in the present, and plant the seeds for the future.

-=-=-=- Now it's your turn -=-=-=-

Being a Conscious Innovator® has a 3 phase cyclical process: become aware, capable, and versatile. Try on this Jolt in your life and work, then take self-reflective time to engage in the process:

-=-=-=- An invitation to join our process and share your insights -=-=-=-

If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to join our process and share your own experiences, while learning from the experiences of others! We appreciate what one person said about the Jolt process itself:

Innovation is a world by itself. It can change lives and help people become more positive. Doing a Jolt is already something! A new habit that promotes innovation and reflection.

It’s totally FREE to participate. To sign up and join us, go to this link and follow the easy directions: https://innovate.vci.global/p/the-conscious-innovator. 

Even if you haven’t participated up to this point, it’s never too late to start the process! It’s like a concise gym workout that provides an insightful “pause that refreshes” and evokes your unique, innovative potential in life and work.