Our Approach
Each client situation is unique.
Our goal is to allow you to see the field in which you operate clearly. Successful change often depends on an organization’s ability to see itself from a different perspective than it traditionally has, and to make its assumptions explicit. InSyte Partners helps organizations see with “fresh eyes” to sense the organization’s highest possible future and create a sense of readiness among the people you need on board to “act in an instant” toward your vision.
Our work always begins with focused time with the leadership team, to arrive at shared purpose and to “ready the soil.” In our most impactful engagements, we have functioned as trusted partners to leaders and combined large group dialogue work with coaching, leadership development and experiential learning.
See more in “what we do".
We listen carefully to each situation to design a process that fits the situation and will produce meaningful outcomes. We have expertise in numerous methods that tap into large group intelligence and open up critical conversations. We take into consideration your goals, your organization and leadership structure, the external environment, your timeframe and resources to customize an approach that will give you the results you are looking for.
The U-Process.
A framework for profound change, the “U-Process” was developed by Otto Scharmer and colleagues at MIT and the Society for Organizational Learning. It positions individuals within a system to act from their highest leadership potential to foster breakthrough thinking and action. As a process for co-creation, the U-process orients leaders toward realizing the future that “wants to happen.”
The process comprises three major stages: observing the current reality (sensing); retreating and reflecting to allow an inner knowledge to emerge (presencing); and acting swiftly in order to bring forth a new reality (realizing). The “U-process” integrates ancient contemplative practices to increase people’s awareness and their ability to be fully present and mindful in all that they do.
InSyte uses the U-process to map the change process for each client, customizing each engagement.
The methodologies we draw most heavily from include:
Future Search. A high-participation approach, Future Search brings the intelligence and energy of all parts of a system—typically 50 to 80 people—to pay attention to, and learn from, emerging realities or opportunities. Through a Future Search conference, groups of highly diverse individuals become capable of operating as a single, collective intelligence. Not surprisingly, this approach cuts down on resistance to change and aligns groups around critical goals and strategies. From experience, we know that this process unleashes the energy of those involved, allowing organizations to move to unified action quickly.
Generative Interviewing. More than a traditional information-gathering technique, a generative interview reveals deep structures and assumptions in organizations. It guides people to uncover the central question in their work life and link it to organizational purpose, opening up unprecedented leadership potential.
Immersion Experiences. These experiences enable busy leaders to deepen and internalize their learning about the possibilities facing their organization. They immerse people in contexts that matter—their customer’s experiences, different organizations that have faced similar questions, places that capture people’s imagination. When a group of colleagues immerse themselves around a focused theme, they create a shared, collaborative platform for action.
Appreciate Inquiry is a process for engaging people across the system in renewal, change and focused performance. The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't. A proven benefit of the approach is its reliance on the acknowledgement of contribution at the individual level, which leads to trust and organizational alignment. Appreciative Inquiry utilizes a 4-stage process focusing on:
- DISCOVER: The identification of organizational processes that work well.
- DREAM: The envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.
- DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that would work well.
- DELIVER (or CREATE):The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.
Open Space Technology is one way to enable all kinds of people, in any kind of organization, to create inspired meetings and events. In Open Space meetings, events and organizations, participants create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme of strategic importance, such as: What is the strategy, group, organization or community that all stakeholders can support and work together to create?
World Café World Café Conversations are an intentional way to create a living network of conversation around questions that matter. A Café Conversation is a creative process for leading collaborative dialogue, sharing knowledge and creating possibilities for action in groups of all sizes.
You can discover more about the methodologies we’ve invented and the hybrids we’ve created in the InSyte Innovations section.