Following is a brief discussion of some transcontextual capacities.

Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is an approach to understanding complexity that provides strategies for creating, modifying, and tuning processes. It is a way of seeing how parts fit together into wholes that are parts of larger wholes. Systems thinking is useful in understanding equipment, work teams, processes, organizations, industries, and global processes.

Self Management

Individuals and organizations that can strategically apply themselves to chosen tasks gain competitive advantage. The foundations of self management are self understanding and self discipline. Each us is our own lifelong masterpiece. The most important product of a company is the design of the processes that comprise the company.

Resource Management

Resources are the fuel that everything runs on. Time, equipment, money, materials, talent, and information are all limited. Individuals and organizations need to know how apply limited resources efficiently toward established goals.

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Strategic Information Management

Everyone is an information manager. Each of us is an information agriculturist that sows, harvests, and processes information. Every product, every outcome, every activity, from the creation of the first ceramic pot to the latest political activity, has been based on three resources; mass, energy, and information. The second half of the 20th Century has seen a dramatic increase in the significance of information. Computers and communication technology are the chain saws of the information age but are only used effectively when based on an understanding of information processes.

Interpersonal Skills

None of us works alone and to work effectively together we learn to both understand and to be understood. The work environment consists of an endless series of interpersonal negotiations that at best result in each person winning. Effective individuals and organizations learn to utilize, not simply tolerate, diversity.

Shared Vision, Shared Purpose

A shared vision creates a constancy of purpose that helps individuals begin their work with the intended end in mind. If a vision is to be truly shared it must incorporate the multiple verities of its people. None of us holds the complete truth. Synergism occurs when multiple truths are brought together and applied toward a higher purpose.

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Collaborative Learning

In a community of learners, teachers are sources of expertise and facilitation, but all participants are learning resources. Everyone’s perspective is valid and valuable. Each participant has a different world
view and speaks a slightly different language. Often students can explain things in a way that the instructor can not.

Shifting Paradigms: Mental Models

Developing the capacity to see in new ways is the foundation of education. Learning to shift mental models frees the intellect and the imagination to envision new futures. The idea of the role that paradigms play in understanding is itself a paradigm. Revolutions are changes of world view.

Sources:

These ideas are drawn from many sources including Thomas Kuhn, Edwards Deming, Peter Senge, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, James Moffett, Paul Hawkins, Peter Drucker, Gregory Bateson, Stephen Covey, Jerry Mander, Jeremy Campbell, William Blake, and the U.S. Department of Labor SCANS report.

They are tested and grounded in our personal experience working, teaching, and serving our client organizations.

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