Sensing Journeys for Catalysts
What is it about
Sensing Journeys are an immersion into unfamiliar territories and offer a frame for exploring a specific place, organisation, challenge, or system through the lens of different stakeholders.
Sensing Journeys bring participants to places, people, and experiences that are most relevant for the respective question they are working on or to broaden their horizon in relation to related topics to be inspired from.
These Learning and Exploration Journeys allow participants to:
Move into unfamiliar environments
Immerse themselves in different contexts
Step into relevant experiences
Have a shared experience that creates shared understandings
See the world (ie. a specific topic) with fresh eyes to cultivate curiosity, compassion and courage
This exploration invites participants to open their senses and levels of perspectives. It's important to approach it with a wider ear, heart and mind. The 4 levels of listening of Theory U are a good framework for observing how we are listening to others and how we enter into conversation.
Please read further and get more insights here:
An explanation of what a Sensing Journey is here
How to go about it, read here
We suggest that you get familiar with the 4 levels of listening https://vimeo.com/199593914
What to do as an organiser of the Sensing Journey
Find a suitable location, place or organisation that can be intriguing and inspiring for you all
Find a good time for everyone - we advise at least a half-day for a first Sensing Journey with the Local Groups. Once you are doing it with your specific topic or SDG a full day is advised at least
Coordinate with the place host
Co-create a surprising and inspiring time together
Don’t hesitate to ask questions, invite other Catalysts, share your ideas for your Sensing Journey
Harvesting
If possible take pictures of the group and place
Harvest the insights, what you have learnt and new questions that arose for each participant as well as for the group. That can be words, drawings, poetry, etc.
Take either pictures or transcribe to a doc that can be shared with the wider group
Luea Ritter is part of the design and hosting team for collaboratio helvetica’s Catalyst Lab. This learning and design process has been created to support individuals and their teams with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Switzerland. Luea is also part of the Practitioner Circle and supports different long-term mandates. Luea thrives within complexity, and through a diverse medley of fields she has developed a high sensitivity for context-based social dynamics. She weaves societal and systemic change practices, trauma and healing work, leadership, collaboration and earth-based wisdom traditions to cultivate capacities in individuals and collectives. Besides her work for collaboratio helvetica she works internationally across sectors to guide multi-stakeholder design and transition processes that embrace the challenge and potential of our times and support social innovation. She co-founded Collective Transitions, an action-research organization dedicated to making the implicit valued, and building shared capacities for transformational shifts.