Worldwork

Worldwork is the application of Process Oriented Psychology to group dynamics, conflict resolution and organizational development. It was developed by psychologist Arnold Mindell based on his observation that the experience and behavior of individuals, on the one hand, and of groups on the other, exhibit similar structure and dynamics. This enabled Mindell to generalize his methods for working with individual clients to working with collectives, taking into account certain significant differences between individuals and groups. Today, Worldwork presents a consistent overarching paradigm that explains the dynamics of social transformation, has developed universal categories for describing it and interventions for facilitating it.

Origins

The term “worldwork” was introduced by Arnold Mindell in his 1992 book, “The Leader as Martial Artist” as: …a method that helps small and large groups live, work and grow together in their environments…

It is based on the principle of “deep democracy”

…that special feeling of belief in the inherent importance of all parts of ourselves, and all viewpoints in the world around us…

Worldwork emerged from Mindell’s realization that “psychology” was too limiting a framework for understanding our experience of ourselves, one another, social problems and the world, and needed to be replaced by a more encompassing field-like concept that took into account the interactions among individuals, groups, and the environment in which they are situated (Mindell, 1992)

A crucial step in the transition from process work with individuals to worldwork was outlined in Mindell’s earlier book, “The Year 1: Global Process Work” (Mindell 1989). There, Mindell presented a theory of and methods for working with group process: the collective counterpart of process work with individuals.

Basic Ideas

While deep democracy forms its philosophical background, worldwork is based on the systemic process oriented field theory of group process. Group process is a generalization of process work concepts to groups.

Process work conceptualizes the individual as having a set of experiences with which he or she identifies – the “primary process”, as well as experiences which are marginalized, projected, or repressed – “secondary processes”. Secondary process experiences are marginalized because they challenge the individual’s identity. To embrace a secondary process experience requires going over an “edge” – the set of rules, fears, and uncertainties that on the one hand define, and on the other hand limit our sense of personal identity. Secondary processes do not stay marginal, but intrude on the individual’s identity in the form of physical symptoms, troublesome relationships, and disturbing collective or world events that ultimately transform the person’s identity, with unpleasant or even disastrous consequences. Process work sees these disturbances as meaningful information or messages that, when unfolded with curiosity and respect, can enhance and expand the person’s identity in unexpected ways.

A group has a primary process or identity – the mission or circumstances that bring it together, and to which most of its members consent. That identity can be challenged from within the group, by individual members who disagree with the group’s prevailing identity, and from without, by other individuals or groups who challenge the group’s integrity.

Internal and external disturbances are the secondary processes of the group. They manifest as dissent and conflict that, if unprocessed, may split the group or result in the exclusion of the disturbing individuals. As in the case of an individual, if the group can view the challenge to its identity as meaningful, the disturbance can be integrated to the benefit of the group, rather than leading to its destruction. A group’s primary and secondary processes form a “field” in which various dissenting viewpoints become polarized, sometimes leading to a tense and conflictual atmosphere. Individual members of the group become strongly identified with these viewpoints. Should the majority of the group members reject a dissenting viewpoint, the individuals who hold that viewpoint are also rejected.

The principle of deep democracy values all viewpoints in a group. This principle recognizes the importance of secondary processes of all sorts including, but not limited to dissent, hopeful dreams, and deepest beliefs. It is up to the facilitator of the group process to make space for these viewpoints to emerge and interact. The complexities of this facilitation process are the basic skills of worldwork. It is important to understand that the diverse viewpoints represented in a group are not necessarily bound to the individuals that hold them at a particular moment. Rather, they are “roles” that can be occupied by any individual in the group. Good facilitation enables individuals to experiment with switching roles, so as to be able to better understand one another’s viewpoints.

Facilitation

A facilitator of a group process is a person who consents to maintaining a neutral or "meta" position – to act as the "organ of awareness" of the group. Facilitation is a role that can be passed among group members, or that can be occupied by several individuals at the same time. In practice, group processes are conducted by identified facilitators; group members who act in a facilitative manner act as "participant-facilitators".

It is the facilitator's task to keep an overview of the dynamics of the group process and to report these back to the group. In this way, the facilitator helps the group to reflect on its own experience and behavior, and helps the group process to unfold and complete itself.

Worldwork facilitation requires an experiential and self-reflective training that focuses on the facilitator’s development and on learning to maintain a centered mind in the midst of conflict, volatility, unpredictable behavior, and emotionality. It also requires an understanding of how one’s own rank – power and privilege - influences facilitation by filtering perceptions, creating biases and assumptions, and limiting our awareness of how rank is reflected in subtle communication cues and ways of speaking.

Applications

The basic elements of worldwork – deep democracy and group process – find broad application in the areas of group facilitation, community development, conflict resolution and organizational development.

Besides the large "Worldwork Seminars" organized by the Global Process Institute and described below, individual practitioners conduct regional seminars that focus on specific issues. Such seminars have been held in various “hot spots” throughout the world, working on issues such as apartheid in South Africa, Israeli-Palestinian issues in the Middle East, the Northern Irish troubles, Turkish and Greek Cypriot tensions, and racial tensions in the United States. The goal of these seminars is to promote dialog among conflicting parties without imposing artificial rules that unconsciously bias communication and interactional styles to favor one or another side of the conflict.

Another area of application is the so-called “open forum” devised by Mindell to provide a venue for processing “hot” regional issues in a form that respects the emotional limits of the participants without marginalizing any of their viewpoints. Mindell published the theory and methodology of open forum in his book, “The Deep Democracy of Open Forums” (Mindell, 2002).

Finally, worldwork principles have found application in coaching, organizational development, leadership training, and government where they offer methods of understanding the significance of challenges to organizational integrity as potential avenues of growth, rather than as disturbances against which the organization must defend itself.

The Worldwork Seminars

In 1991, the Global Process Institute was formed to promote a series of training and research seminars known as the Worldwork Seminars. These have been held approximately every one or two years since 1991.

Typically these 6-10 day events have been attended by between 200-300 people from over 40 countries, all coming to learn more about facilitating conflict and creating community. Each worldwork seminar has a distinct flavor created by the location of the event and the participants who attend.

Past Worldwork Seminars include:

1991 – Waldport, Oregon; 1992 – Stoos, Switzerland; 1993 – Waldport, Oregon; 1994 – Stupava, Slovakia; 1996 – Seaside, Oregon; 1997 – Mumbai, India; 1999 – Washington, DC; 2002 – Eretria, Greece; 2004 – Newport, Oregon; 2006 – Sydney, Australia

In 2008, a Worldwork Seminar will be held in London, UK

Training in Worldwork

In addition to the biannual large worldwork seminars conducted by the Global Process Institute, the Process Work Institute of Portland, Oregon, has been authorized by the State of Oregon to deliver a Master of Arts degree in conflict facilitation and organizational development (MACF). Training in worldwork is also provided by many of the regional process work training institutes worldwide (see external links in the Process Oriented Psychology article).

ee also

*Deep Democracy
*Deep Democracy Institute
*Arnold Mindell
*Process Oriented Psychology

Books and Articles on Worldwork and Deep Democracy

Books

*Audergon, A. (2005). The War Hotel: Psychological Dynamics in Violent Conflict. London: Whurr.
*Mindell, A. (1989). The Year I: Global Process Work: Arkana.
*Mindell, A. (1992). The Leader as Martial Artist: An Introduction to Deep Democracy (1st ed.). San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
*Mindell, A. (1995). Sitting in The Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity (1st ed.). Portland, Or.: Lao Tse Press.
*Mindell, A. (2002). The Deep Democracy of Open Forums. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads.

Articles

*Audergon, A. (2004). Collective Trauma: The Nightmare of History. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 2(1), 16-31.
*Diamond, J. (2001) A Democracy Dialogue: Getting to the Essence of Freedom. The Journal of Process oriented Psychology, vol. 8/2:66. www.juliediamond.net/democracy_dialogue.pdf
*Diamond, J. (1994) Facilitation and Multi-leveled Interventions in Community Building. The Journal of Process-oriented Psychology, vol. 6/1:75. www.juliediamond.net/facilitations.PDF
*Mindell, Amy.(2007). Worldwork and the Politics of Dreaming, www.aamindell.net/download/research/ww-dreaming.pdf
*Morin, Pierre. (2006). Rank and Health: A Conceptual Discussion of Subjective Health and Psychological Perceptions of Social Status. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 4(1), 42-54.
*Schupbach, M. Worldwork: Transformation in Organizations, Communities, Business, and the Public Space, http://www.maxfxx.net/ov.pdf
*Schupbach, M. Europe, USA, and the Caribbean: Deep Democracy, Collaboration, and Strategy in a Global 500 Company http://www.maxfxx.net/g500.pdf
*Schupbach, M. Punks, Businesspeople, Police, Residents & Addicts and City Administration in an Open Forum in Zurich, Switzerland. Worldwork in Town Meetings: A Case Description. http://www.maxfxx.net/zurich.pdf
*Schupbach, M. Who is the Culprit? Organizational Development in a Prison. http://www.maxfxx.net/prison.pdf
*Schupbach, M. Worldwork - ein multidimensionales Change Management Modell. Organisationsentwicklung, 4/2007, 56-64.
*Siver, S. (2004). Shadows of Peace. Paper presented at the Russian Academy of Science Conference on Conflictology sponsored by NATO, April 2004, St Petersburg, Russia. http://www.globalprocessinstitute.org/Articles/Shadows%20of%20Peace.pdf

External links

* http://www.globaprocessinstitute.org
* http://www.processwork.org
* http://www.worldwork.org
* http://www.aamindell.net
* http://www.deepdemocracymovement.net/
* http://www.deepdemocracyinstitute.org/
* http://www.maxfxx.net
* http://worldwork2008.blogspot.com/