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What's It All About
OUR WORLD TODAY
Our world has shifted from a stable, orderly state to a rapid fire, chaotic, change driven world that is unpredictable and turbulent. Change is the most consistent aspect of our lives in this modern world of global networking and responding. What our lives are like today may not be what they are like tomorrow. We are in constant transition. We are working more, longer and harder than ever before. Karoshi or death from overwork has become a sign of our times.
HOW WE MANAGE
People are finding it difficult to adapt to this constant, rapid change state and to live fully in the present and face the future confidently. Most people are looking at 3-5 or more career changes in their lives. Families and organizations shift and change structure and focus multiple times. Communities, neighborhoods and society are increasingly unstable and discontinuous.
MULTIPLE SYSTEMS AND PERMANENT WHITE WATER
All of these changes take place against the backdrop of multiple system changes. The result is all of the people operating within and amongst these multiple macro and micro systems are coping with continual stream of changes that make doing their part in the system anything but "life as usual". There are new pressures to meet; new costs to control; new methods and technologies to learn; new people to get used to; new cultures to understand; new policies to implement. Not only are people expected to perform well in this constant state of flux they are also expected to continually innovate; to continually improve their operation within the system; to upgrade their skill sets; to work more efficiently and effectively with new people and new ideas and new demands.
Turbulence and instability are woven into the fabric of every system – they are not events that happen to it from the outside. The problems that arise from a culture of rapid change feel different and place different demands on the resources of those who live within such rapid change systems. The feeling and demands placed upon those in systems in constant flux has been described as permanent white water by some.
THE PROBLEMS THAT ARISE FROM PERMANENT WHITE WATER CONDITIONS
(Partially adapted from Peter Vaili, Learning As a Way of Being.)
They are full of surprises. Things happen that are not expected. Problems occur that are not suppose to. These problems are not in your plans. And your plans were suppose to take care of all the problems. Surprises – negative and positive- just happen and even with the best of intentions you are not able to predict their possibility. And they happen all the time.
These are novel problems. Not only were you not able to anticipate the problem you are not even able to imagine these problems. Things like this have not happened before and you didn't’t even have a clue that they might. You did not miss the telltale signs. They just were not there. It seems that the nature of these systems of constant flux is to generate novelty.
These problems feel messy and ill structured. Everything seems to involve everything. You go to fix one point and ramifications occur all over the place. There is no simple cause and effect. No simple problem and solution.
These problems are extremely costly. Because of all of the above, solving these problems takes a lot of resources – time, energy, money, supplies, people. These problems feed on themselves and keep unfolding multiple ramifications. What presents on the surface is only the very beginning of rampant shifts and changes throughout the systems and neighboring systems. Taking care of these problems diverts resources away from other pressing issues and is acutely felt as a sense of never being able to get ahead.
These problems generate the building of complex anticipatory mechanisms to prevent their recurrence. To prevent anything like them happening again you attempt to anticipate similar events and design a new system that will ensure that nothing like this happens again. This increases red tape and bureaucratic complexities. The structure required to try and stop these kinds of problems would eventually paralyze the system. It is the nature of constant change systems to generate surprising, novel and messy problems – indefinitely.
THE FEELING OF PERMANENT WHITE WATER PROBLEMS
Today’s rapid evolution of technology, information and innovation can leave people and organizations with a sense that long term plans and expectations are not adequate. The best they can do is ride along on the whirlwind of their intense daily and weekly demands and expectations.
Overactivity, overwork, rush, pressure, deadlines, too many demands and commitments and being too busy has destroyed the effectiveness of our work. The frantic overactivity of our violent drive to push our selves, our bodies, our minds beyond their limits has created an assault upon ourselves that corrodes away our spirit, our vitality and our performance. Overexertion equals under-performance. Never stopping means that we get hit with thousands of "space-outs and micro-sleeps" and our efficiency can decrease by up to 500%.
" Hurry sickness" is another of our modern illnesses. Symptoms of hurry sickness include multi-tasking, a constant feeling of time urgency, and a feeling of always being behind and never having enough time to get everything done. Those who have "hurry sickness" feel constantly on the edge, jumpy, rushed, pressured, worried, competitive, angry, defensive, controlling, cynical, hostile, caught up in tomorrow and compulsively driven. To keep pace and to capture the illusion of "getting ahead" we are pushed to do more and more in an environment of constant flux and change.
Failing to adapt to this speed of change people go on living as if they still lived in a time where things progressed at a steady state and in an orderly fashion leading eventually to mastery, permanence and stability. In failing to abandon this outdated modality, we grieve the unfulfilled promises and expectations of finding some path, career, and organization that would reward us with security, fulfillment and completion. We see our ability to keep up as outpacing our reserves and resources and our options as dwindling.
OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Living in permanent change conditions means that you are permanently out of your comfort zone and experiencing any number of the following:
- High levels of confusion and turbulence
- Lack of continuity and direction
- Absence of a sense of progress
- No sense of cumulative achievement
- Lack of coherence
- Lack of meaning
- Lack of control
- A clash of logic and priorities
- A feeling of broken promises
- Continual disappointment
- An agonizing sense of illusion
Throughout the global network, our experience has turned to one of uncertainty, tentativeness and concern. To survive and thrive we have to shift from wanting and longing a definite steady state world where we can finally come to rest on our hard earned crowing achievements to being able to keep ourselves happy, vital and fulfilled in a constant change state. How can we learn to thrive in such a state as permanent white water?
How Can We Handle It?
LIFE LONG LEARNING AS A PATH TO LIVING SUCCESSFULLY WITH CONSTANT CHANGE
A certain kind of consciousness and certain skills are required to successfully navigate permanent white water – the state of constant change. Because we are always in new situations and dealing with new experiences we have to be continually learning "as we go".
We have to consciously employ our natural drive to learn. Learning is the process through which we continually recreate ourselves. We are able to do things that we have never done before- even do things no one has ever done before. We are able to recreate our perceptions of the world and how we interact with the world. We are able to continuously generate our capacity to create. Learning, in this sense, is one of our basic drives and is fundamental to who we are as human beings.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING
Institutional learning is the type of learning we are all most familiar with. It is the kind of learning that goes on in our schools and universities. It is the kind of learning that has been extended into adult learning programs, job training and corporations learning situations. It is the kind of learning that occurs when a body of information is to be imparted to someone else.
Learning is more than just taking in information and spitting it back out at the appropriate time and place. There are characteristics of institutional learning that we have grown used to that may actually be detrimental to the kind of learning that is required to navigate states of constant change.
THE SYSTEM OF INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING
Institutional learning is a complex system for indoctrination and control. Institutional learning is a system for passing down the consensual agreements that define the prevailing paradigm of a given field. The members of the field are willing to defend these agreements at considerable costs.
Institutional learning is compromised of articulations of established viewpoints and preconceptions of what are acceptable practices within a group. A paradigm organizes the data in fundamental ways, defines the terms, concepts and interrelationships in specific agreed upon ways. It defines what are the acceptable elements and what are not. And what are the acceptable methods, evidence, questions, problems, solutions, observations, logic, and inferences and what are not. It is the job of the learner to "get" these.
The function of institutional learning is to pass on to others the characteristics of the prevailing paradigm of a particular community. And it is the learners' job to demonstrate that they know all of the reigning consensual agreements of the particular prevailing paradigm so that they can become an accepted member of that community.
PERMANENT WHITE WATER AND INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING
Institutional learning is not adequate to address the kind of problems generated by a state of constant flux and change because in a state of constant flux and change:
- Consensual agreements change too quickly.
- The subject matter changes too quickly.
- Learners’ experiences change too quickly.
- The learners themselves change too quickly.
- The pool of learners changes too quickly.
- The problems change too quickly.
- The solutions change too quickly.
- The stability of the prevailing paradigm is too unstable.
- The results of institutional learning are not immediately relevant to the life demands of the learners.
- There is too much information.
- There is too much extraneous information.
- The information is too peripheral and meaningless to the task at hand.
- The information can not be taken in quickly enough.
- The information changes too quickly.
- Those on the job are experiencing problems that those in the professor role have not encountered. Who then ends up the expert?
- What was relevant yesterday is no longer relevant today.
- What skills worked yesterday are not important today.
- The prevailing paradigm has already begun to shift.
To be useful for dealing with constant change the definition of learning has to change from the acquisition of information, skills and consensual agreements to the kind of consciousness and skills of living and working, thinking and feeling which enable someone to navigate this state of constant change and flux.
- How is it that as learning organisms we can continuously keep ourselves in an empowered learning state?
- How is it that as learning organisms we can continuously restore meaning to our experiences, a sense of direction and control to our lives and a feeling of having what it takes to be the master of our destiny?
- How is it as learning organisms we can continuously recreate ourselves and how we perceive and participate in the world?
In order to survive, a human being has to continuously be learning. What are the characteristics of a naturally empowered, continuously evolving learning being? What are the characteristics of a system of learning that does not de-motivate naturally empowered, continuously evolving learning beings?
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A NATURALLY EMPOWERED CONTINUALLY EVOLVING LEARNER AND LEARNING SYSTEM
Peter Vaili, in his book Learning as a Way of Being, has delineated the characteristics of "learning as a way of being" that seem to be especially important in successfully navigating permanent white water conditions.
Self-direction – you do not have access to other success models and templates to use. You are pushed into coming up with your own structures, questions, solutions and relevant material. Nothing is predefined for you. You have to set the framework and the entire process anew. You are creating the process and the content as you go.
Creative – novel problems demand novel approaches and solutions. You are not sure what is relevant or what needs to be done. You don’t even know what it should look like. What worked before probably will not work this time. You are exploring and discovering and you don’t know where you are going. You have to be inventive and there is no control over when, where, how, what, why and who will be important.
Expressive – you have to be prepared to learn as you are in the process of expressing. There is no learn it first and then apply it. It is learn as you go.
Feeling – learning is more than just ideas and skills. It is personal and meaningful and occurs at the level of your feelings. Confusion, incompetence and lack of progress all generate deep feelings. These feelings are part of learning and build the meaning of what you are learning.
On-line – learning occurs anywhere, anytime in all places and all phases of life. All environments are learning environments.
Continual – we are learners for life. It is our natural state to be continually learning. Even as we gain some mastery, novel problems keep bringing us back to being beginners.
Reflexive – as learners we have to learn about learning. We become more conscious and aware of our own development and evolution of learning.
BECOMING A NATURALLY EMPOWERED, CONTINUALLY EVOLVING LEARNER AND SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATING PERMANENT WHITE WATER CONDITIONS
By adopting these states of consciousness and characteristics this way of being enables the learner to stay empowered and naturally evolving. In the absence of these characteristics, learning can become a self-defeating process. As we re-claim our natural way of being we can more successfully face the demands of constant change and flux.
Your goal as a learner is to constantly experience the characteristics and state of consciousness of "learning as a way of being". These are the markers of a naturally empowered, continually evolving learner. From this consciousness and with these skills you can see the way to set up environments and vehicles of learning that support the evolution of thinking and learning and the discovery of the subtleties. You will then be better prepared and equipped to successfully navigate these turbulent times.
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© Copyright 1997 - 2008 by Mary Ann Copson and Evenstar. All rights reserved.
About the Author:
Mary Ann Copson is the founder of the Evenstar Mood & Energy Wellness Center for Women. With Master's Degrees in Human Development and Psychology and Counseling, Mary Ann is a Certified Licensed Nutritionist; Certified Holistic Health Practitioner; Brain Chemistry Profile Clinician; and a Health, Wellness and Lifestyle Coach. Reconnect to your physical, emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual natural rhythms at
http://evenstaronline.com
