How can each individual be connected to the team vision?(Visioning process (3))

In the last two articles, I have talked about the visioning process. The following is a summary of what we have done so far.

Visioning process (halfway through)
(1)Start with subjective truth
(2)Focus on the gap between the natural flow of consciousness and the partiality of consciousness
(3)Develop “quests” and use one’ s intuition

In this article, I will discuss the last point in this visioning process.

The above processes (1) through (3) are individual processes, but the last point is the process of co-creation by a team based on the vision or intuition that is the basis of the vision that was conceived by the individuals.

People don’t expect to have perfect visions

How would you feel if the leader of your team told you the following?

I have a wonderful vision. This vision is to improve the lives of many people in the world. The realization of this vision will not only help many people in the world, but will also be very rewarding for everyone involved.

There are 14 processes involved in realizing this vision. The number of functions required to complete these processes is 9, which means that 9 teams need to work together. For each process, 50 to 100 business procedures are defined, and by executing them, the vision can be realized.

What do you think? Do you want to join this team and work together to realize this vision?

Perhaps you feel that it’s great that the team leader can plan so well, but you don’t really understand the significance of your involvement, and it doesn’t excite you.

When we are in a leadership position, we sometimes get caught up in the belief that the leader should be the one to set the vision, and we think that we have to think of everything by ourselves and set the vision as perfect as possible.

However, people don’t expect to have perfect visions.

If we are at the stage of envisioning a vision, I think many people would like to be able to participate in the process of creating it together, rather than being given a vision that someone else came up with.

Even in cases where we already have a vision, many people may want that vision to have depth and breadth so that they have room to overlap it with what they want to do, be, and their subjective truth.

Vision is not something to give or be given, but something to co-create

The visioning process that I have described so far, from (1) to (3), was a process that was carried out by individuals. The vision that we have intuited does not automatically become the vision of the team.

The final process is for each person on the team to co-create a vision for the team based on their own intuition and the seeds of their vision captured in the conceptualization process (1) through (3).

By co-creating a vision as a team, we can derive a shared vision for the team that may not be the same as each person’s original intuition or seed of vision, but that each person can feel connected to their own subjective truth.

Again, co-creating a vision is the same whether we are building a vision or reinterpreting an existing vision.

When a vision already exists, it means that each person is reinterpreting an existing vision based on their own intuition and the seeds of the vision. If the team’s vision has depth and breadth, and if there is room for each person to reinterpret the team’s vision, and if there is a place where each person can share his or her interpretation, then the team is co-creating the vision.

This is because in both cases, it is common to bring the seeds of intuition and visions connected to each person’s subjective truth and to overlay them.

Co-creating visions through dialogue and mashups

In order to co-create a vision, it is important to use both dialogue and mashup.

Dialogue is a process to promote mutual understanding through self-disclosure and active listening, and to share not only verbal but also non-verbal information about each person’s aspirations and personal experiences. It is a way to realize the state of “Everyone is different and everyone is okay.”

Mashup is a word originally used in the music industry, meaning to create by merging and integrating different things into one. In co-creating a vision, it also refers to a skillful discussion to fuse and integrate the different thoughts of each person into one. It is a way to achieve the state of “We’re all in this together and everyone is okay.”

While promoting mutual understanding through dialogue and acknowledging differences as differences, we create a common vision that we all want to achieve through mash-up. If we already have a vision, we can discuss how we can interpret the vision in a way that is connected to each person’s subjective truth, while promoting mutual understanding through dialogue.

Dialogue and mashups are not a one-way process; they go back and forth many times. While finding common ground through mashups, we deepen our mutual understanding of the differences between people through dialogue to understand how those differences come from their experiences and values. As mutual understanding progresses, what was initially perceived as a difference may actually lead to the discovery that there may be something in common, and the process of mashup returns.

While based on this kind of dialogue and mashup, there is actually another element called “ make decisions or hold decisions”. This is the element of deciding or holding back on how one will relate to the content of the mashup. This element allows us to achieve the state of “ We are all in this together, and I (each of us) am also good” without discarding the connection to the subjective truth of each individual.

Depending on the content of the decision, it may be that the person will not participate in the realization of the vision at that point in time. It is a sad feeling when a person who is going to be a team member leaves, but from the perspective of valuing the subjective truth of that person, am I the only one who would want to respect the individual and the team who makes such a decision?

I have talked about the use of dialogue and mashups, and I would like to use my own example to give you a more concrete picture. An example of this is the ISHIKI(Consciousness) Management project, which has explored what I am writing about in my articles. It is no exaggeration to say that this project was (and still is!) a series of dialogues and mashups from beginning to end.

In terms of dialogue, we deepened our mutual understanding by talking about various things, such as each person’s upbringing, family environment, what they were passionate about in university ( this was already shared with us since we were in a tennis club together), and the story of our struggles after entering the workplace.

At the same time, when we output what we have explored, we have skillful and controversial discussions. There have been times when discussions have become so heated that we have stayed up late into the night, and there have been times when we have exchanged about 100 rounds of chat in one day.

Through these repeated dialogues and mashups, we were able to share the worldview we were aiming for through the ISHIKI(Consciousness) Management project, and we were able to crystallize the output to realize that worldview.

And, fortunately, the three initial members were able to complete the project without leaving until the end. In other words, we were able to continue to feel the connection with each individual’s subjective truth and to make the decision to continue participating in this project.

So far, we have talked about “co-creation of vision,” which is the final stage of the visioning process. The following is a summary of what we have covered so far.

Visioning process
(1)Start with subjective truth
(2)Focus on the gap between the natural flow of consciousness and the partiality of consciousness
(3)Develop “quests” and use one’ s intuition
(4)Co-creating visions through dialogue and mashups

Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)

・In your past experience, if there was a team process where dialogue and brush-up were well used, what was it?

・How did participating in such a team process make you feel on a daily basis?

Bunshiro Ochiai