Presencing – Allocating the Blind Spot of Leadership -
Theory U

(based on the work of Otto Scharmer)

Theory U addresses an area of leadership of which most people are not aware.

The usual pattern with which we approach complex tasks in leadership is by applying analytical tools which seem to help us predicting the future from the past: downloading, followed by reacting, followed by performing. This pattern might produce short term gains - it might also induce systemic reactions that we have not anticipated. One of the best examples was the fall of the Berlin wall on October 9, 1989. The already rotton GDR government had tried to stabilize the system by introducing a new law that would enable citizens to travel to the West - a privilege only few people had enjoyed before. It was the GDR government's intend to channel their citizen's dissatisfaction with the system. We all know that the strategy did not work out - the system collapsed on that very day. Although this kind of counter-reaction regularly happens in business, we usually try to apply the Ostrich technique - cover our heads in the sand and just hope everything works well. This is supported by mechanistically tools of project management that suggest that if we just apply the right resources, we will get from A to B.

The U-Process: Source: Otto Scharmer, 2005

New patterns of looking at our systems have emerged during the last 10-20 years. One of the significant innovations was the introduction of the Dialogue principle by David Bohm (described by Peter Senge in his "Fifth Discipline Fieldbook" and by Joseph Jaworski, in his book: "Synchronicity - the Inner Path of Leadership"). The principle of Dialogue is based on the suspension of our assumptions, which can help team members to learn from each other. Dialogue can lead to redesigning of processes, followed by prototyping, i.e. generating new processes that reply to a common mental map of the team.

Otto Scharmer has described two more levels of understanding systems, which are based on suspension but go deeper. He calls the next level "sensing from the field", which can be translated to "learning from the future." Here we can apply some modern techniques of scenario analysis, leading to establishment of a common vision of how the future could be. Based on that image, a team can then start to prototype, i.e. developing a process that builds on this vision. Most likely, this stage can be combined with techniques of Appreciative Inquiry, where in the "Dream Phase" members of organizations co-create their future. The deepest level - the U-turn - is just emerging, and we can expect more practical applications to come in the future. It is about "presencing", i.e. listening to and learning from the future by letting go all our assumptions, preconceived models, answers, and even questions we have in mind when we approach the future, as Otto Scharmer calls it "allowing inner knowledge to emerge". "When we suspend and redirect our attention, perception starts to arise from within the living process of the whole. When we are presencing, it moves further, to arise from the highest future possibility that connects self and whole.

The real challenge in understanding presencing lies not in its abstractness but in the subtlety of the experience." (Senge, et al., 2004: Presence, p. 89)

Presencing is described in the book “Presence”, an exploration into human ratio and the future of learning organizations, by Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers.

Otto Scharmer is publishing a more comprehensive and practical presentation of the Presencing Process and its principles and practices in a forthcoming book titled "Theory U: Leading from the Emerging Future. Presencing Profound Change in Business, Society and the Self" (working title). An excerpt of this book will soon be available at http://www.ottoscharmer.com/.