I would like to share with you a tool that has become an
essential part of my way of working. I use it when I want to create a project
or start a business, gather people around a vision or plan and also evaluate a
conference or workshop. I use it for my personal health and balance to see
where I need more focus or when I write, such as writing this article. This
tool is founded in ancient traditions but adapted to our world of today. It actually
provides me with a structure that feels very natural.
The Medicine Wheel Tool© (MW) from the Genuine Contact© program provides leaders with a multi-dimensional and multi-functional framework that could be used for many purposes and in many situations. It could be used as a roadmap. It could also be used as a ground that can give you a deeper understanding and more perspectives of your work. You can use the tool to create a picture that shows the wholeness of the organization and to get everyone on to the same song-sheet. Still, it is so simple to use that you might mistake its value. Sometimes we think that the more complex a tool is, the more valuable. The truth is that the value lies in the simplicity and the adaptability to complex situations. Not one organization is similar, not one person is similar either. All are unique and need tools that suit them. The business world has a way of thinking that since one way of working is successful in one organization, it could be moved and create success in others too. Benchmarking and best practices are only useful as inspiration, knowing that if you bring them into your organization without any changes, they will create different results. LEAN has become a really popular framework, that when it is taken out of its Eastern cultural setting, might give surprising results to many organizations that have a different value foundation than Toyota.
The Medicine Wheel Tool© (MW) from the Genuine Contact© program provides leaders with a multi-dimensional and multi-functional framework that could be used for many purposes and in many situations. It could be used as a roadmap. It could also be used as a ground that can give you a deeper understanding and more perspectives of your work. You can use the tool to create a picture that shows the wholeness of the organization and to get everyone on to the same song-sheet. Still, it is so simple to use that you might mistake its value. Sometimes we think that the more complex a tool is, the more valuable. The truth is that the value lies in the simplicity and the adaptability to complex situations. Not one organization is similar, not one person is similar either. All are unique and need tools that suit them. The business world has a way of thinking that since one way of working is successful in one organization, it could be moved and create success in others too. Benchmarking and best practices are only useful as inspiration, knowing that if you bring them into your organization without any changes, they will create different results. LEAN has become a really popular framework, that when it is taken out of its Eastern cultural setting, might give surprising results to many organizations that have a different value foundation than Toyota.
The Medicine Wheel Tool© has a history that comes from
ancient traditions among aboriginal people. Antropologist Angeles Arrien gave
some of the foundation for the way we use it as a tool for development. In the
book ”The Four Fold Way” she explained the four quadrants of the wheel in a way
that connected them to the four parts of the human being, mind, spirit,
emotions and body. This was translated to the language of organizations,
leadership, vision, community and management. When an organization or a person
works with the MW these four quadrant make it possible to see and acknowledge
the wholeness.
The Medicine Wheel Tool© has a certain order for our work,
taking first things first and starting with purpose, which allows us to focus
on why we are there. My experience is that when organizations want to change,
they start with management, re-organizing, shifting the outlook, changing
people in different positions or hiring a new CEO or consultant to downsize. When
they have done all this work, they find that their people is lost in the grief
cycle and they are not doing any better than before. When you start with
management issues, you will soon end up in discussions about purpose and might
have to re-organize once again.
In the MW we bring in leadership after purpose. Who will
lead the work for this purpose and what kind of leadership is needed? Are the
leaders in the organization hired for the qualities that are needed because of
the purpose? I see many schools hiring headmasters for their management and
economic kompetencies so I assume that the purpose of schools is to be an low
cost administrative unit. They have certainly mixed the role of leadership with
the role of management. The leadership decides which mountain to climb and the
managers decide what is the best way to do it. I think many schools are
wandering around in the dark forest without any sight of their mountain.
Vision is the next step in the Medicine Wheel Tool© and sometimes
organizations think it should be out of reach! Vision is not something above
the clouds but something you can see. The vision is the inspiring picture of
the future that you can reach within a certain timeframe, more closely
connected to goals than to illusions. We all need the inspiration of a
beautiful future to do our very best to get there.
Community is about who works together for the purpose and
how do we work together. Who do we need to fulfil our vision? Who are the
stakeholders? Community can be of great importance for the staff, especially if
they have lost sight of their purpose and vision and don´t know what they are
there to achieve. Sometimes they know about purpose but don´t see any vision so
to be able to navigate in this darkness, community and good relationships with
each other is what make them go to work every day. I think it is a waste of
resources when people are not invited to use their whole wisdom and knowledge
in a better way. It seems that organizations, at least those in their late bureaucracy
phase don´t want to take the inconvenience to
have someone rocking the boat.
The last quadrant of the Medicine Wheel Tool© is management,
because when we know about why we are there, who will lead us, where are we
going and who will come together to work for this, then we also know how to
organize everything in a suitable way. Management should be a support for
people to work for the purpose. As Peter Drucker says; most of what we call
management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.
Now you have been taken on one journey with the Medicine
Wheel Tool©, and only one! There are many more available, such as strategy
building, organizational diagnosis, evaluation or personal development. Right
now we are using it for sustainable growth of local ideas and initiatives. I
hope to see you soon on one of these journeys.
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