Understanding How Our World Works
ABOUT THIS PATHWAY
We often try to solve a problem without understanding it fully. This is like performing surgery on someone’s leg without understanding how their heart works. We don’t need our knee surgeon to talk to us about our heart, but we sure do hope she knows the fundamentals before performing surgery. Understanding the challenges we’re trying to tackle, and understanding better the world around us, is similarly integral to our change-making efforts.
To make change in our society, we need to understand the fundamentals of how decision making happens, in our teams, through our social identities, and in our systems of power. Specialists in a given field often know a lot about their specific sector, but may lack the understanding they need of other sectors. This can cause their change projects to fail. This pathway begins to explore some of the fundamentals of understanding how our world works so that we are better prepared to reshape it.
GOAL
Understand how the world works so that we can transform it.
SWITCH PATHWAYS
We move through change each day – it is a constant in our lives. These are the building blocks of sustainability for living in this moment and throughout the long road ahead.
There can be a deep sense of urgency for change that drives us to action before we have fully aligned our purpose and outcomes. This can lead to disruptions, unnecessary conflict and ultimately failure of our plans. Here are valuable guides for aligning intention and action to save energy, resources and time.
Work for diversity, equity and inclusion achieves lasting impact when we orient our energy towards structural change and integrate structural change tools into our programs and operations. This pathway provides support for analyzing structures and transforming them for justice.
Breaking the status quo and opening up new possibilities for equity and freedom in our work requires innovative experiments. Teams must ensure that all members have the ability to act on the vision and goals they are co-creating.
Our minds cannot move toward racial justice, equity or transformation if our bodies are not prepared for change. This pathway offers those preparations that we have found most beneficial to adult learning.
Explore the interviews, frameworks, templates and articles created and published by Up With Community.
GROW COMMUNITY
Giving thanks: We share these resources in gratitude to all of our teachers and with appreciation for the value they have brought us. The field guide is a living resource that we are consistently adding to. We receive no payment or kickbacks for sharing. Access and use of these resources should be done at one’s own discretion. If you see a resource you like, we encourage you to reach out to the author.
Have a resource to add? We are always looking to expand the resources we can share. If you have a tool/resource/link you would like to share with UWC and its partners, please email us: research@upwithcommunity.org.
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If it’s time to transform your team so they can transform the world, let’s connect.