Teresa Arpin

Our Nature of Being: Ontological distinctions that help us thrive in a complex and changing world

Connect & Engage

As human beings, we are “meaning makers.” This often occurs through habit and without conscious consideration—and can actually create obstacles to our success, happiness and even organizational effectiveness. Essentially, we inherit and construct mental models that may serve us well -- or may limit our possibilities…often without our realizing it! We will explore this phenomenon and the ways in which we can be active participants, moving habit and unconscious action to intention and conscious action.

Learn

Ontology is the study of being — including the way we make meaning. Meaning-making is in part "story-making." Language, mood, and our physical stance all influence our "story." This session will explore ontological distinctions and skills that allow you to be more aware of these influences and to be more consciously active in your own -- and your organization's -- "meaning-making." This becomes critically important because the mental models or stories that we hold as true work to either limit or expand our possibilities -- both as individuals and as organizations.

Reflect and Apply

You will become familiar with some of your default interpretations, and you will practice taking a more intentional approach. You will become more aware of the role your physical stance and language play in more intentional meaning-making. Follow up sessions will be available to extend practice and refine application, helping you to embody these practices. Over time, you can become more skilled at critically examining and determining the assumptions that inform both your personal and organizational mental models.

Save paper and effort where possible!

For your convenience, and to support our efforts in being "green", all handouts/files posted here have been notated with an A, B, C or D indicating the following:

(A) hardcopies needed at workshop
(B) electronic version on laptop is sufficient (for viewing during the workshop)
(C) required reading PRIOR to the workshop
(D) file not needed for workshop itself, but simply material of additional interest/reference

(B) Workshop Slides

(B) The Systems Thinker , Volume 21, Number 2, March 2010

(B) Resources

(B) Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela's Contribution to Media Ecology: Autopoiesis, The Santiago School of Cognition, and Inactive Cognitive Science, by Ronan Hallowell