Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago · 4 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Getting to see the big picture in business.

Getting to see the big picture in business.

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Image credit: Temperate Climate Permaculture

This post will introduce the reader to the visual, experiential Branching Out Patterns* tool, used to identify and assess business teams’ problems.


Introduction:  Tools represent options. 


As a company or professional, we utilize tools in order to evaluate and assess.

There are two aspects of what we are endeavoring to understand through evaluation and assessment; the technical/mechanical aspects of our business and the human dynamic aspects of our business.

If you invest in one and neglect the other, you have an incomplete picture and a distorted result of how your business is running.

The pendulum is swinging on the emotional factor of the human dynamics aspect of the work. Some steer clear from emotions and create what is referred to as professional boundaries. Others embrace the emotional side of who we are and incorporate it into all aspects of the work. Any swing from one side to another will miss out on much that each side has to offer; boundaries and incorporation.

When we create a structure that allows us to hold the different factors that influence the growth and success of the business, I think it’s referred to as a “win/win” situation.

People operate business, not machines or devices.  From the individual who comes in to work at the reception desk, on the production floor, in IT, marketing, finances, and so on, it’s people who are interacting with others and the environment. It makes sense to first get a view of how the people on your team are involved with the task at hand; how do they experience it, how do they feel about it.

This is where the boundaries come in. The focus of the Branching Out Patterns* tool, which is used to assess an identified problem, is not looking at the emotional issues related to the individual; it is seeing the emotions attached to the problem the team has identified. By incorporating the emotions in this structured manner, the team will gain an important perspective as to what is keeping the task at hand from moving ahead.


Background:


From philosophy to fMRIs humans have been trying to understand what role emotions play in our lives. The arts have been a source of expression and communication of our emotions. A myriad of strategies has been developed in order to help us keep our emotions in balance and a myriad of treatments exists to help us when our emotions get out of control.

In his work, Ali Anani has offered us the opportunity to “see a glimpse” of what happens when we experience an emotion. His work and his graphic showing "the growth of emotions in tree-like format", has inspired me to create the tool, Branching Out Patterns*; a tool to get a clearer picture of what the emotions, attached to the work of the team by its members, are communicating.

Dr. Anani states: "Our emotions are fractal and they change their trajectories depending on our starting emotion.”


Work Example:


I invited two fellow entrepreneurs to join me in seeing how Branching Out Patterns* is implemented, how it works and the outcome.

Facilitator:

Sara Jacobovici

Participants:

1. Entrepreneur / Participant 1

2. Entrepreneur / Participant 2

3. Sara Jacobovici / Participant 3

The Exercise:

1. I led the group in a discussion that focused on identifying and articulating a problem statement.

I used a white board to write down what was being discussed. At first the participants called out words that came freely to mind related to the group’s experiences. A list was created and discussed until the following problem statement was identified:

“The lack of exposure prevents the growth of the business.”

Each participant was given a white sheet of drawing paper and a box of colored markers.

2. I asked each participant to think of the first emotion that came to mind when hearing the problem statement being read aloud.

3. I asked each participant to use that emotion as the starting emotion of their branching out pattern by writing it out on the bottom center of the paper.

4. I then asked each participant to freely associate with that starting emotion and write an emotion that branches out from that one and so on to create the pattern of branching emotions.

Each pattern is unique to the individual created by the problem statement.

Participant 1

Empowerment

Breathe Energy

|
Angry
Out of control

em

Frustration

Blind

  

Anxiou

Participant 2:

Fookng accomphshed Power Empowerment

Positive feeling Focus

=

Kidtrvaton

     
 

Croataty On

Disappomtment

Sa

Frustration

Participant 3:

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5. After sharing the patterns, I wrote on the white board the common starting emotion of the participants. The common emotion may be an emotion shared by at least two members. In the very rare occasion that there are no common emotions, the group discusses the individual emotions and agrees to the one emotion that is most relevant.

The common emotion of our group was “frustration”.

6. I went up the patterns with the participants identifying common emotions at each branch and creating a group branching out pattern.

The following pattern emerged and could be seen by the participants as a reflection of the emotional state of our small group.


438f54f8.jpg


7. The next step is to pair words in the problem statement with the emotions in the group’s branching out pattern.

We saw the pattern divided into two parts; the first three emotions were paired off with the problem as stated and then, the emotions that branched off related to a discussion that focused on the history of the current problem and the factors which led up to the current situation.

Problem Statement: The lack of exposure prevents the growth of the business.

Part One:

Lack with Frustration;

Preventing growth with Disappointment;

Irritation was paired off with the business not getting the necessary exposure.

Part Two:

After discussing a time in the past when there was a lack of exposure and what may have led to this current lack, the emotions branching out in the pattern were seen as contributing to the participants’ abilities to move out of that problem area in the past.

Branching out of the emotion irritation were:

creativity, drive and energy;

followed by energy and motivation;

followed by positive feeling and focus;

and concluding with feeling accomplished, power and empowerment.

The participants were able to see the root of the problem statement and watch the process emerge; from problem to resolution.

The participants left with strategies that involved taking action and developing creative ways of getting the message of their business across.

Feedback included; seeing the connection between the emotions and the identified problem statement, not hearing anything the person didn’t already know but seeing it presented in a new and clearer way.


Conclusion:


In his blog about a new breed of consultant, Ron Goddard writes:

“It’s not science fiction, it’s fact!

Technology has facilitated shifts in our day-to-day lives we might have dismissed as just fanciful science fiction not so long ago. Attitudes, opportunities, and perspectives have been totally transformed. The global workforce must have flexibility, agility, and creativity to evolve and most importantly, thrive. The question is: who is going to prepare the next generation of business people for this constant state of change?” (Emphasis mine.)

I would add: And what tools will we have to assist in assessing and evaluating this constant change?


It is our human capacity to imagine that actually led to creating the new technology we are utilizing today. Why not continue to use our ability to imagine in creating solutions alongside our innovations?
Sara Jacobovici


*Branching Out Patterns © SJ/2016

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Comments

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #12

Part 2/2: This leads me to what #19, Harvey Lloyd captures when he writes: "The ability to carry in my hand technology that allows for total connectivity has allowed me to live virtually while losing my skills within the human experience." It's not so much technology that I am concerned about, it's the impact technology has on "re-wiring" who we are. We are sensory beings and if we are deprived of certain sensory experiences, the same people that imagined these new devices will no longer be able to see beyond their function.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #11

Part 1/2: #14 #17 #18 Gentlemen, Mohammed Sultan, your discussion is invaluable and I am excited to see it arise here. The depth of the comments; self-reflective, intelligent, informative and interpretative, and the questions that are raised, prove that it is emotion, especially fear, that distract from our ability to stay grounded in our human capacity. David, you who look out beyond the boundaries of earth, can not speak of limits and scope. Manjit proves that technologically based devices cannot replace humans when he says, "...explore flow with my learned capabilities to handle variety of information in a way that best represents my exploration. " Only a human (like Manjit) can think and express himself in this way. Another example comes from Mohammed Sultan when he differentiates between creative thinking which is binding to the moment and creative thinking that can also work in different boundaries. This can only come from a human source.

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #10

#16
Dear you do know what those limits and scopes are because that is the emotional response that Sara is talking about here, and thus when I am pursuing information in how I am able to receive it, whether it is relevant that I understand it now and to see what I can grasp immediately, without setting out acres of personal time trying to understand these things at a deeper level. That deeper level has one compass which is to know our own flow. If we become overwhelmed we know we have flown to high or engaged in too many areas at once, or if we are underwhelmed then we know we have room to explore more. Take this proponent for singularity who wrote their thoughts about it, relating positive thinking with singularity - of course that is the opinion of this individual but this opinion is well within both of our limits and scope - of course all dependent on what else is occupying our field of attention at the time we attend to this material : Singularity Defined and Refined by Singularity Utopia (2013 Blog) https://www.singularityweblog.com/singularity-defined-and-refined/ I don't want to flood others with information, but explore flow with my learned capabilities to handle variety of information in a way that best represents my exploration. Learning is as unique as our own individual DNA. You cannot become me, and I cannot become you- but the abundance we share is this opportunity to explore the way that makes most sense for us to explore. There is network intelligence (not network stupidity) which is to welcome what you can welcome so long as it leads to flow, liberation and freedom of your own mind and being.

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #9

#14
Dear , you are asking here about something unfathomable. There are people who have tried to put a perspective around the movement to what you describe as the brave new world in life and one of those is Kevin Kelly, because Kelly has the abstractive ability to begin to knit together the thinking that is dimensions above where most of us are and emerge from this rarefied atmosphere with something that we can put our minds around, or at least begin to establish what this map of the unknown may potentially look like. Here is Kevin Kelly talking about the Singularity as it applies to AI http://kk.org/thetechnium/the-singularity/ This is no different to knowing we cannot think like Einstein but we can follow his example of imagining following a beam of light. We will only go so far in our own learning journey but it is sufficient enough to awaken our individual lives to the uncertainty and new possibilities emerging ahead. One of the steps we can take our own awareness is then follow the leads that will make most sense to us because we each know our own limits of understanding and scope of imagination. I cannot say what this limit and scope is for David B. Grinberg - only you know that. An example of a step I can take in my own learning journey in this particular stream of consciousness is simply to listen to someone like Vernor Vinge - because ideas he originated have been level set for the understanding of the earnest learner with basic curiosity. Vernor Vinge - Foresight and the Singularity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tngUabHOea0

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #8

#12
Thank you debasish majumder for writing a comment that has left me with so much to think about. Much appreciated.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #7

#10
Well said Mohammed Sultan. Although I don't consider myself a cynic, I am afraid that unless ROEmotion can be translated into profit, most companies will not measure its value or worth.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #6

#8
Thanks for sharing your approach and philosophy @Max J. Carter.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #5

#5
I meant every word when I wrote that it was your work that inspired me Ali Anani. I can't thank you enough. Thank you as well for your comment. I am grateful to see that your are satisfied with the outcome as it is an extension of what you started.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #4

#4
Mohammed Sultan, personally, I am always so encouraged and flattered by your comments. Thank you. Your insights are always appreciated, as well as your writing style. The take away, for me, of this comment has to be, "When the employee motivation is treated as a strategy, people will work in harmony to achieve the balance between their internal actions and their external impact." Thanks again.

Sara Jacobovici

7 years ago #3

#2
Looking forward to listening and reading. Thank you so much for your links @CityVP Manjit and for your generous support.

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #2

Hi Sara, first you will like this video interview with Eric Trist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEMaSTOrqBA and then there is more here http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/encyclop/socio-tech.html The use of "Branching Out Patterns" is a great way of advancing this way of thinking and introducing to entrepreneurs and the business world.

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #1

Hi Sara, first you will like this video interview with Eric Trist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEMaSTOrqBA and then there is more here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEMaSTOrqBA The use of "Branching Out Patterns" is a great way of advancing this way of thinking and introducing to entrepreneurs and the business world.

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