3D System Sculpting

At a recent quarterly meeting with the whole euforia team we did a 3D system sculpting exercise from the Presencing Institute. Doing this exercise had two main purposes. On the one hand I had just recently participated in the Presencing Foundation Program in Berlin and wanted to bring back some insights from the training to the team. On the other hand, the 3D sculpting exercise has been a great way to create a shared understanding of the current reality of euforia in a playful yet insightful way. We split the team up into three different groups, using the treasures of our shelves and cupboards at the euforia office to sculpt three different and yet similar structures representing euforia in its creative beauty. Following the method and the analysis of the current reality of euforia that is described below we entered a generative discussion of how we want to see euforia evolve in the future. In short, this has been an effective, inclusive and playful way to talk about current reality and future strategy with the whole team.

What is this method?

3D Sculpting of an individual or collective ‘system’ when combined with inquiry from four specific vantage points allows for a 360 degree view of current reality and its underlying (emerging future) potential. An assortment of items, that contain basically anything from playdough, cotton, pipe cleaners, figurines to any kind of small objects is provided to the group. Using any selection of the available material, a model or sculpture that represents the current system is co-created. After completing the sculpture that depicts the current reality of the system that wants to be transformed, the group moves around the sculpture stopping at each side reflecting on the characteristics of the present system.

• East: Feeling, Relationships

• South: Truth, Practicality

• West: Perspective

• North: Vision & Purpose

After completing the analysis from four directions, you can adjust and change the model so that it better represents the future that you want to create. This then allows to identify the key strategic leverage points in changing the current system.

Why use this method?

To create an externalized view of current reality and gain insight, from multiple perspectives, into some of the systemic underlying causes and shaping factors. To sense and surface the inherent possibilities pushing through current reality, and to begin to activate them.

Underpinning concepts

Symbols: When depicting the 3-dimensional model of current reality and future possibility, an assortment of materials and objects to represent in symbolic form the forces at play, arranged according to one’s sense of their relationship and proportion, spatial proximity or distance, showing concrete elements as well as intangible essences or dimensions. Anything can be made to represent anything.

Archetypes: An Archetype represents a universal aspect of the human psyche or stream of consciousness rooted in the larger field. When we step into these streams of perceptions, we experience the world through different lenses almost like different facets on a prism. Gazing on the scenarios of our lives and work through these facets, new wisdom and perspective begin to appear.

-Severin von Hünerbein

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the unleash project: this is what happened at the first weekend!

The first weekend of the 2017/18 cycle of the unleash project has successfully happened! Over 30 people explored together attitudes, skills and knowledge to unleash potential for wellbeing and impact at the personal level. Different experts shared their knowledge in four workshops:

Presence and Self-Connection - your body as a compass (Johanna Risse)
Johanna showed us how to sort out the different feelings we have and to embrace them no matter if they're good or bad. She tought us how to connect with our body through listening, breating, moving and making sounds. We explored how our body reacts when different thoughts and emotions come up and how we can embody them but also shake them off and let go. We played with different kinds of music and movements and practiced to be fully present and to use our body as an inner compass.

Personal vision – Exploring drawing as a tool (Simon Kiener and Marietta Scheurmann)
Simon started with a personal story: a person with two faces of life, one of them looks silent on the desk and the other is like a wolf in the mountain, who lives far from a village, alone, dangerous but very curious about the village. The story showed a simple black and white picture, but it helped us to imagine colorfully about the two faces of the same person. It, therefore, shows us that painting is a great way to grow our imagination. It is only us who can color by ourselves our own story, in our own color. We drew your personal story and then shared with a partner. The task was to tell our partner (and vice-versa) what we saw in his or her picture. Only one picture (some time with some cycles and square) but they can speak 10' or even more about what they saw magically. Finally, some of the participants confessed that they believe they are able to draw (what they hadn't thought before).

In the second part, we split our life into three steps: Our birth, We in the present moment, we as 80 years old. We reflected about questions such as "What is your "hero genie" story?" "What are you doing now?" "Who are the people accompanying you on your 80 birthday party?" All of the life path makes us realize deeply about what the important thing of our life if and that we may not pay attention to reflect on the different perspectives of our life path.

Overcoming: Befriending your inner critic (Greta Rossi)
Most of us have experienced this sensation of a voice at the back of our awareness that tells us that we are not qualified enough for that job, that we do not deserve the love of our partner, that we are not beautiful enough, smart enough, courageous enough. Sometimes we can control these thoughts, but other times they seem to overwhelm us and dictate our reactions. That voice is the voice of our inner critic; we all have one – it is part of the human experience. With Greta we explored this inner critic:

• When did it first appear
• Are we aware of it?
• What is our relationship with it and how do we deal when it appears?

We reflected deeply on our self-limiting beliefs and habitual thoughts to maintain a healthy relationship with their inner critic, an essential element to wellbeing. For the practice experience, we were in the safe space with another participant to share our own inner critic in a humoros way which allows for transformative and healing experiences to take place.

Actualizing - Tools for self-management and effectiveness (Urs Scheffer and Jan Mezger)
With Urs and Jan we collectively explored tools to achieve our visions and goals. Firstly and most importantly, they showed the example of several famous entrepreneurs and companies, like Steve Jobs. They shared how the attitude of the individual is what makes the biggest difference when it comes to just having great ideas vs. bringing them into life. Among those were "Keep it sexy and simple", "Just do it" and "Think broader".

Urs and Jan suggested to start reflecting on "What kind of attitude would help me for my current vision/objective to move into doing?" After a break-out reflection session, we shared the attitudes we discovered we need in order to move from vision to doing:

• Don't stay in your head - get down to your desk and visualize and plan how your idea will actually look in real life!
• Don't keep it to yourself - get out there and start talking about the idea, and you might get some allies and get into collective prototyping!
• Quick prototyping and feedback – don't make it complicated. Think how to try out your idea or vision in a simple step, get feedback and then adapt.

After focusing on the attitudes, we collectively shared practical tools to start bringing our ideas and visions into life, among others objective journals,  to-do boards, action formulation, motivation boosters and snoozer tools.

Action Learning and Reverse Coaching Session
We finished the weekend with a reverse coaching session where participants prepared in pairs how to apply the learnings in their «real life».

We want to say thank you to our amazing host team, to all the facilitators and especially the participants who co-shaped this weekend with us.

The next weekends will take place:
> in Bern from November 3-4 (Team Level)
> in Romandie from February 2-3 (Institutional Level)
> in Romandie from April 6-7 (Societal Level)

Participation is also possible if you couldn’t make it to the first weekend! Interested? Get more infos here.

The marketplace is officially launched!

We are excited to announce the official kick-off of the marketplace (working title), the main outcome of our reinventing journey we have gone through the last year*! After many hours of brainstorming, preparing, testing and programming we can present you the first prototype of the platform (with some projects already online!).

Why?

The aim of the marketplace is to create a place where all the potential within the people, partners and projects of the euforia community can become emancipated, where the community members can support each other, and where we seek to let euforia's value and philosophy influence the "outside world". The aim of the marketplace is also to create a system that gives people the possibility to organise a different way of work life with purpose at the center.

What?

The marketplace is an online and offline platform where changemakers, organizations and companies can meet and create sustainable and socially-responsible projects. The platform offers the following services:

Online:

• Individuals and organizations can upload their concrete projects (or project ideas) and find resources (people, money, expertise) to realize them.
• Changemakers who are looking for engagement opportunities (paid and/or on a voluntary basis) can find projects they're interested in and apply to become part of them.
• Experienced individuals can sign-up as experts and gift their time (on an in-kind donation basis) as consultants to projects with their expertise.

Offline:
Two different kinds of Share & Grow Nights give the opportunity to individuals and organizations to take the Marketplace into the "real world":

• Share & Grow BEING: These meetings are about just being and being supported by the community, to talk about who we are, what we need and how we feel.
• Share & Grow DOING: The aim of these meetings is to come together, pitch ideas, connect in project groups and prototype together.

The Share & Grow Nights will regularly take place in different cities in Switzerland. The dates will be published on our event page and on Facebook.

The marketplace is the next level of the unleash project and (r)evolution lab. It combines the offline learning platforms and trainings with concrete follow-up opportunities and unleashes the huge potential of the euforia community and network. The only requirement is that the projects meet our values.

Ready, steady, go!

The marketplace was officially launched on September 14 in Bern. You can see here the video of the kick-off session.

The first projects have now been uploaded and the applications come in continuously. Are you already part of it? Visit the marketplace here and check out the offers, or upload your project idea!

(*read more about the journey here).

18 new Radical Collaboration® trainers in the euforia community and new trainings coming up soon!

We are happy to have a bunch of freshly certified Radical Collaboration®  trainers in our community and to offer the first trainings in and around Switzerland. Together with our Chief Euphoric Officer Chantal, who became a trainer one year ago, we are now 19 trainers – the only ones in Switzerland!

Jim Tamm, the creator of the Radical Collaboration® methodology, and the psychologist and Radical Collaboration® trainer Malou Laureys facilitated the seven-day Trainer Certification course for 18 euforians in Geneva. The course was a deep-dive into the topic with a lot of space for reflections and discussions. The two trainers gave a great example on how radically collaborating creates an atmosphere where people complement each other and can flexibly come up with new solutions. Jim and Malou were happy to have the chance to train Radical Collaboration® trainers in a new country and to open up opportunities for a new group of young participants.

The aim of euforians to become certified trainers is to create more training opportunities for people within and from outside of the community. From now on Radical Collaboration® trainings will be offered regularly. Check out the next trainings:

March 24th to 26th
(only 2 spots left!)

March 31st to April 2nd
(12 spots available)

More trainings will come up in May and in Summer. You will find more information soon in our calendar. If you would like to book a training for your organization, get in touch with us!

What contains the three-day Radical Collaboration® training?
The three-day, highly interactive Radical Collaboration training is designed to teach people five very practical and immediately useful skills essential to building collaborative relationships between individuals and within teams and organizations. It is appropriate for anyone whose circumstances have the potential for disharmony, misunderstandings and conflict, and who would like to improve their effectiveness. It is also particularly helpful for individuals responsible for creating more collaborative environments within a team or organization. It provides participants with step by step tools how to initiate, lead and reach closure in negotiations and how to build successful long-term relationships.

The Connection Between Vulnerability, Well-Being and Social Change

Tissione is an international facilitator and Co-Founder of Alive Peace. He focuses on exploring topics of personal transformation, well-being and human flourishing to contribute towards a culture of peace and social change. He is part of the host team of the unleash project and organizes the workshops of the first cycle.

Last weekend, I gave a workshop in Switzerland entitled ‘Vulnerability and Well-Being’ to 30 participants of the unleash project. We touched upon a number of points which I want to talk about here.

Well-being and vulnerability are not two words you would so obviously put together. Personal well-being is generally associated with taking care of ourselves, perhaps developing a meditation practice or eating healthier food.

But being vulnerable with others, showing what we really feel, our shame, our ugly sides, our fears, our frustrations and our sadness, is rarely considered as an integral part of our well-being.

CULTURE OF INVULNERABILITY

1. Schooling
Many parts of our society are distorted towards being centred around the mind, from schools, to our workplaces, to politics. For example, in schools the emphasis is mainly on mental learning, analysis, evaluation and the ability to retain large amounts of information.

However, by comparison, we focus less on nourishing our bodies and not at all on our emotional needs and longings.

Also schools rarely offer safe spaces to be vulnerable or authentic. The fears of getting a question wrong in class or the desire to be seen as cool and not unpopular by others can make it feel too risky to be vulnerable.

2. Keyboard Warriors
Whilst the internet serves us in many ways, when it comes to vulnerability, the presence of so-called ‘keyboard warriors’ readily able to criticise or devalue any creative expressions online, creates huge barriers of fear in many people who become too afraid to share parts of themselves.

Being creative is vulnerable. How many potential creations have not been shared through the fear of negative judgements of others?

3. Busy Bees
Who really has time to listen to your shit these days?

When we are too busy lost in our daily routines, we can end up losing the opportunities of human connection and contact with those around us.

SO HOW DOES IT WORK?

There are 2 key parts of creating a culture of vulnerability.

1. Learning to Feel
A culture which labels vulnerability as a weakness is actually labelling feeling as a weakness.

The core to vulnerability is first learning to feel what we are experiencing. Before we share with others what we are feeling, it helps to be honest with ourselves. Often we are not even aware of what we are actually feeling.

Through feeling, we also are increasing our self-awareness. So the journey of vulnerability includes a deeper sensitivity of ourselves, allowing us to move away from suppressing and hiding what we feel towards living more authentically.

2. Trust
Vulnerability isn’t just about showing ourselves to others, but also about trust. We need to feel safe if we are to be vulnerable, and so it is important to cultivate the art of creating spaces for vulnerability.

It’s not just about being vulnerable with others, but also about allowing others to be vulnerable. A forgotten skill in today’s world.

To create such spaces requires skill and practice, but is a powerful act. Often we engage in conversation without fully listening, perhaps distracted, or thinking of how to reply and what advice to give.

Sometimes people don’t need a response or advice, they just need a space to share. So the question to ask ourselves is how trustworthy are we and are we creating the spaces for others to be vulnerable in our lives?

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE VULNERABLE?

1. Connection
Connection is crucial for our health and well-being and without vulnerability there can be no real depth in our relationships with others. Vulnerability is the birthplace of connection and intimacy.

Our societies are starving of this, and therefore vulnerability offers us a valuable gateway to tackle issues such as isolation, depression and addiction.

“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection” — Johann Harri

2. Healing
Vulnerability heals. When a safe loving space is created, we are able to be open about our pains, shame, fears and allow them into the light.

Showing the parts of ourselves which we consider unacceptable and unworthy of love to someone who shows us otherwise can offer profound inner shifts. We can therefore help to dissolved the unresolved and suppressed pain and shame of others.
3. Seeing the beauty in others

Vulnerability can also be about daring to express the beauty which we see in others.

How often do we see the potential, talents and gifts of those around us, but do not share it with them?

A genuine and heart-felt acknowledgement of the beauty which we see in others can empower and help others to flourish. In a world full of criticism, it can be a huge impact to empower someone and to show them the beauty that they do not see.

CULTURE OF WELL-BEING

Transitioning from a culture of disconnection and isolation to a culture of well-being must include vulnerability.

It is our access point to deeper relationships as well as greater creativity, joy and fulfilment.

So much of the well-being and personal growth industries focus around the individual, separate from everyone else, where we focus primarily on our relationship with ourselves.

But in a world of interconnection, your well-being is my well-being too, and helping others is also helping ourselves.

Any process which allows us to see the humanity in others is a radical shift from a paradigm of separation and disconnection to one of connection. A shift from seeing others as fundamentally different to realising we are all at the core much the same.

It is radical to dare to be vulnerable and to help others be vulnerable too.

www.tissione.com

(r)evolution lab and The Unleash Project — New ways of empowering youth, young leaders and organizations

We believe that the world needs more people who come together to design bold solutions to address the challenges of this increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. We also believe that our current education system is outdated and does not provide us with the kind of skills and attitude required to assume leadership and create innovative solutions. We think it is high time to mainstream new ways of learning, working and innovating that are adapted to the challenges our economy, society and environment face in the 21st century.

(r)evolution lab and The Unleash Project tackle these challenges: two open source, transformative and experience­ driven education programmes provide a platform for young people, executives and organizations to collaborate across generations and sectors. (r)evolution lab empowers participants to acquire professional skills in order to lead an imp!act event where youths discover their potential to turn ideas and passions into real life projects. The Unleash Project, on the other hand, focuses on equipping young people to shape their own meaningful careers together with executives, companies and partner organizations.

Not sure which programme is the right one for you? — Let us explain them in a nutshell:

(r)evolution lab – organize your own imp!act event

(r)evolution lab is a training program for (un)reasonably motivated young pioneers. In this experiential learning journey you will learn, share and above all experiment a wide range of skills and knowledge highly valued in any professional context: team and project management, facilitation, leadership, training design and wellbeing strategies. Equipped with these tools and skills, you can lead your own imp!act event from building your team to facilitating the event, empowering youth in their city to embrace their changemaker potential.

>>> To join the (r)evolution lab, it is highly recommended that you have participated in an imp!act event and are willing to share this experience by co-organizing your own imp!act – including the organization, team management, recruitment of participants, funding and facilitation of the event.

The Unleash Project – from career to vocation

The Unleash Project is a transformative education program that empowers youth, executives and organizations to embrace the emerging era of digitalization, knowledge, innovation and purpose. It provides future and present decision­makers with the experience, tools and mindset it takes to move from careers to vocation: where they live their values, do what they are passionate about and use their key strengths to address needs they truly care about in the world.

You learn through experience how to co-­create trustful, open and empowering work environments and foster the emergence of purpose and innovation at your workplace. You will benefit from peer support and learning groups, coaching and inspiration by your peers, executives and leading experts in the area of the future of work

>>> To join The Unleash Project, you either have completed (r)evolution lab, the former “euforia training programme eTP” or already have experiences in Project Management and/or Facilitation and are ready to shape your own meaningful career.

Both projects start in November 2016. Applications are open now:
(r)evolution lab
The Unleash Project

Resolving conflicts through Radical Collaboration

Radical Collaboration@work

Getting your project up to speed can be stressful. You have assembled a new team, you are working on your service or product, you are improvising left right and center and future planning and real-time communication can collide. When things go wrong, emotions can run high and a previously calm interaction can turn into a slippery slope in seconds. Soon enough you are butting heads with your team and spending more energy on conflict resolution than moving forward on solutions. Knowing that people will lapse into habitual behavior and reactions when conflict arises can help you to pull a stop before things get worse.  Some people blow up, other people turn silent, others get confused or suddenly cannot remember what was said or what they had agreed to. Remembering that all of this is human and pushing the pause button before things get worse can help to identify what the conflict is about. 

Setting a time frame in which to resolve conflict isn’t only helpful, it also alleviates the fear of things remaining unsolved.  To figure out how to move forward there usually are two components that need to be considered– like a missed deadline, a product that doesn’t function well or an idea that clashes with someone’s values. In addition there are the needs that aren’t met in the interaction. As a result of what happened you and the other party doesn’t feel heard or misunderstood or is scared to look unprofessional or feels disrespected which triggers stress and feelings that can be hard to process.  Finding out what the unmet need is, is half the rent. If the other person needs to be heard – give them the opportunity to be heard, if they are scared of embarrassment, help them figure out what would help them to show up in the way they want.  From there it will be much more productive to move into solution finding and come up with something that either resolves the problem or ends up something even better.

The principles and techniques described above are taught as part of a Radical Collaboration Training developed by Jim Tamm in Florida (http://www.radicalcollaboration.com). Our team member Chantal has been certified as a Radical Collaboration Trainer and took three days in the spring to train the team. We are now practicing the application at work and are – hick-ups and all – getting to know each others conflict styles better. 

euforia / HERJI

Check out HERE our first collaboration with a promising young illustrator: Robin a.k.a. HERJI (participant at imp!act 2014).

Be inspired and share this beautiful illustration series!