The Practitioner Model
Activate our senses for generative change
Greetings from Tehran,
During the week, I was working on the practitioner model. It is a hypothesis and needs lots of work.
What is The Practitioner Model?
In the last article - On Being a Practitioner - I mentioned that structured limitations result from social norms defined by social institutions. I also described that a practitioner has consistent interaction with the world and reproduces new narratives of current norms.
A practitioner asks generative questions, observes phenomena, and makes sense from interacting with phenomena. In such being, the Practitioner can understand current narratives and reproduce new narratives, which is a means of liberating from structured limitations.
There was also a couple of questions in that article. One was: "how can one person be the root for change? How can they develop eyes to spot change and development opportunities?"
In this article, I try to answer this question.
We usually have expertise in an area which is our profession. Using the expertise and producing a result is what is expected from us and what we typically expect from ourselves. But to question the status quo and reproduce the new narrative, we need different skill sets. Expertise is expected in a social norm but questioning the status quo is a person or group choice.
This means that the situation they [people] find themselves in is not the way they want it to be; they think something is going wrong or could be going better. If this condition is not met—if people think that things are fine just as they are—then they can carry on doing what they are doing.1
Practitioners contribute to the change process by inventing new ways and relating to the world around them. They activate basic senses like seeing and listening and using questioning and communicating to spot change opportunities. The Practitioner has an awareness of social structures and understands the position of self in such structures. They can actively reframe current narratives, including problems and obstacles, and transform them into opportunities for growth.
As you see in the above diagram, the Practitioner mindset is like a new ring around current expertise. It's like a filter for interacting with the world around (social context).
Being a Practitioner is highly relational. By relational, I don't mean being extrovert, but being in relation with the context they live in. In my mind, it means the person's senses are active, and meaning is socially constructed.
Two Dimensions of Practitioner
There are two dimensions for the Practitioner. One is practicing dimension, which is about the consistent practice of activating senses, and relational dimension, which is about being in relationship with groups around. The intersection of practicing and relationships can generate new narratives of the status quo.
These two dimensions insist that the person as an individual has their own space to practice for activating senses and at the same time is part of groups.
The Practitioner Model
Now we can see a Practitioner model and how a practitioner can contribute to the generative change and form new narratives.
1- Activating Senses
It is the practice layer for activating what Practitioners see and what they hear. These two senses are the core of understanding the world. With our eyes and ears, we know current reality. In a context, we use to see and hear the same things. We barely see or listen to what is beyond or what is needed. It seems that this is an internal situation. It is, and at the same time, we can not separate a person from the context.
Art can be a facilitator of activating our senses. Practicing an art or interacting with different art forms even as a visitor can awaken our senses. Art is the source of inner narrations. For example, by watching a painting, we can access a story painted by the painter. At the same time, the story is living and evolving inside of us.
It is the reason I suggest art as an activator of the senses. I'll write more about art as the facilitator of change.
2- Reframing
The Practitioner activates the senses to be able to reframe situations or problems. Questioning the status quo can produce a new narrative. It is a reframing of current reality. With reframing, we can find new opportunities in the current situation.
Reframing is the result of interaction with a group(s). It is the relational part of being a practitioner. The group is together because of a shared goal or shared problem. Practitioner tools in this layer are questioning (curiosity) and the language.
3- Social Context
The social context always limits the practitioner world. Reality is bounded by the social context the person is part of. By social context, I mean the professional group, organization, or geography the person is in. I will write about the importance of understanding social structure for Practitioners. When I live in Iran, I face different realities than those living in the US or Europe. The social structure of my country, policies, economic and social situations shape other realities for me than another person in another part of the world. Suppose I want to contribute to a change in another context. In that case, I need to understand and even live in it or have tools or methods to analyze and understand the context. Sociology and system thinking can help in such situations.
Conclusion
I think about the Practitioner model as a methodology for people who want to contribute to generative change. We have different change models. Many scholars and change practitioners designed and developed models. My question always was what a person needs to acquire to activate themself in a change process? There's something before the change models. It's the 'me' state. Otto Scharmer, a researcher in MIT's Sloan School of Management, describes the blank canvas situation2. When the painter is in front of the blank canvas, there are lots of opportunities. The painting is the result. The question is: "What happened to the painter in front of the blank canvas that she began the painting? What happened to her that she created a new narrative?"
Kahan, Adam. Facilitation Breakthrough p.16
Scharmer, Otto. In front of the blank canvas: Sensing from emerging future.
