Doc Martin's Musings

For this, we need to look at the development of the human being. The levels of consciousness of the human being are going to get mirrored in the way weorganize.The decision making is usually going to be done in the context of a group of some type. Both in the educational institution, as well as any other social grouping the student may encounter.In some ways, we need to imagine what does the basic sustainable human being look like, what is the meaning system that puts this person in the best place for accessing their potential for fulfillment.

From Survival to Self Worth to (Being) Self

Being is about arriving at a place where a person has the best understanding of how to actualize their own personal fulfillment. Developmentally, this not an easy place to get to. However, there are basic components that must be in place before we can even think about this. A totally evolved planetary consciousness would have all the people in the world with the potential of getting access to their own being. But we are still talking about baby steps, in an educational setting this can likely be accelerated.

The cornerstones of this journey are Survival, Self Worth and Being (Self). One cannot hope to progress as a human being if one cannot get basic needs met. But one cannot progress if they do not feel that I am worthy of something better. It is these two items (survival and self worth) that must be part of the foundation values-based decision making.

Creation of a comprehensive educational deployment requires that we build up the self worth of the individual. They must feel that they are worthy of the respect of being provided. This is easier said than done. Self worth is often expressed culturally. Therefore, their needs to be a common framework for establishing self worth but it should take into account the issues in a given culture.
Awareness is also important. If I know what is going on around me, I can make informed decisions. If I know how friends and peers feel, I will likely not feel alone.

Leadership and Accountability (Mutual)

Awareness is important for the person. But awareness is also about being explicit. When things are no longer hidden, when they are explicit, it is harder for those in power to ignore the needs of the many. Being explicit about the needs and desire of the populace is an important way for leaders to be held accountable. Their actions are measured against the wishes of the people and culture. Leadership without accountability creates a misuse of power. This brings values-based decision making to the forefront. The global consciousness needs to create a leadership environment that focuses on leadership and not on management. There are plenty of people that that are good at deployment. However, creating an effective, and yet collaborative leadership environment is needed and imperative. Telling others in the world what to do will not work, but creating the environment where the vision can be accomplished is imperative. Leadership and decision making go hand in hand.
This awareness also creates a framework of systemic ethics. When intervening to create a new consciousness, the development of this system needs to provide for the needs of the whole. Awareness is essential to this.

From Clan to Global-State

Throughout history, man has had a tendency to create relationships in order to get more and more complicated things done. One started with the family or the clan (or in more modern terms a team or group). Man had to learn how to best organize this to accomplish goals such as killing a mastodon. As these tribes grew, and people became more specialized, cities and towns developed. Each time these occurred, it took time for the man to adapt and work these relationships. These groups would also get a sense of self. A sense of ownership of and for the group. You progressed to the city-state and then to the nation-state. The sense of self at the level of the nation-state is what we call patriotism. It is good for creating a sense of group-self but it can create differences with other such groups. Andconflict and war can arise from this. Using a values approach as students move into the world is imperative.

Big Picture

Seeing the Big Picture is about seeing the world as collections elements with interrelated parts. It is essentially seeing groups of things and the relationships between them. The more technical term is systems thinking but it comes in many forms. In a quaint way, it is the specialization of generalization. Complexity and Chaos are just a few of the ideas that come under aegis of systems thinking. Much of western education focuses on specialization, systems thinking does not want to discard that but also wants to integrate some of the Renaissance notions of seeing the connections and patterns among different things such as science and art. It is about stepping back from the incredible volume that we process every day and distilling it down to its essence. Minessence is about mining the essence of complex ideas. This is what systems thinking is about. It is essential for understanding and harnessing the power of the organization and the environment in which it operates.

Personal Focus

There is really no such thing as an organizational value. It is really the manifestation of personal values in a larger context. Personal focus is about getting the individual to understand the role that values plays in their day-to-day life. As we understand our values, we get insights into out own behavior. It is only when we get this insight into our own behavior that we can effectively interact with others, and can begin to understand their behavior. The more I understand about being what I desire and can offer the more effective I can be as a team player. The team is the holograph of the organization in that it is where values are first applied in a social context. It is where personal focus must get applied in a group context.Values are about understanding relationships the more that we make our own values explicit, the more success we can have with our relationships. Organizations are really nothing more than a complex system of relationships.

Meaningful Environment