Up to the mountain, down to the valley

A thought inspired by the new assignment to co-design a new training for #ChangeAgents or #ChangePractitioners that combines #systems, #gestaltand #psychosynthesis approaches that I wrote about here https://molini.eu/es/new-training-for-change-agents-in-complex-systems/

Taking a walk in the valley and enjoying the view from the top of a mountain are two different experiences. Each of us "change professionals" has a preference for one or the other, when we work.

To work from each of the positions we need a relevant framework that helps us to operate in the valley and to look at it from the above. The framework should be useful also for climbing and descending the slopes because ...

- where does the valley become mountain and the mountain valley?
- is the valley a place where two mountains meet?
- is the mountain the place where two valleys differentiate?
- what is the higher level ecosystem that includes both?
- what is the low level micorrhiza that connects it all?

These are not only philosophical questions but highly operational. From the top of the mountain you can keep an overall view of the valley and maybe get a sense of the whole, although always from a specific #PointOfView, but you cannot intervene the same way as when you are walking the valley, losing your distance, entangling yourself in relationships and the everyday worries of people and communities.

Along the 30+ years in this profession I have found very useful the distinction between #field and #system, and the slippery slopes between them.

A #FieldApproach has been most useful when I am entangled in the system I am working to influence. A #SystemsApproach has been most useful when I am making believe that I am intervening from a position outside of the system. And then the very messy slopes ...

Note the inconsistencies here. I am not trying to pontificate nor trying to develop a framework free of inconsistencies. There are people much more intelligent and brilliant than me who have done just that.

I am just sharing some thoughts that I hope you will want to explore with me. Please refrain from aggressively debunking these ideas. I am not enlightened so I can't detach my ideas from my self-esteem and self-confidence.

I took the photo in April 24th 2022, looking down from Alto de Guardia to the Losa Valley, in Las Merindades, Spain