Reflections on Buddhist Contributions to Social Justice  [Main Post with PDF]
Personal Reflections on Building Capacity for Collaborative Inclusive Problem Solving [1 of 10] 
Becoming Social Architects: Together, I + U HALT Injustice [3 of 10]

Building Capacity for Collaborative, Inclusive Problem Solving

In discussing this paper and working with people of diverse communities to promote inclusion, I discovered that creating an inclusive space remains elusive, even for people who are committed to doing important work for social good. I offer a framework for building capacity for those committed to cultivating inclusive spaces.

Our well intentioned actions to help those less fortunate, when motivated by an unhealed state, may inadvertently shoot arrows at those we claim to defend from injustice. Though systemically oppressed people may develop the capacity to deflect these ‘second’ arrows and see them as unintended side effects of good intention; at some point, it is our responsibility as those who work for social justice to bring wholeness to our efforts. 

Jack joins a retreat planning committee and John proposes that the retreat be located at a beautiful country facility where the group can discuss matters of social injustice and oppression.  Jack notes that this facility is remote and expensive, and wonders aloud whether people of limited resources may have difficulty accessing the retreat.  John ignores this comment and reasserts his preference for the facility, as a long standing member of the community others do not express different opinions; it is decided that the retreat will be held at the expensive facility.  Jack feels sad that those people from his community who may benefit from the retreat likely will not be able to join; he recognizes that he has received an unintentional arrow from an unaware “helper.”  He sits patiently and when he no longer feels fear or hurt, he asks John, “Why have you shot this arrow?”  And John, who is unaware responds earnestly, “I did not shoot an arrow.”  As Jack sits patiently, John, whose identity as ‘good guy’ fighting against injustice, blinds him from seeing himself, becomes indignant and hears the statement of an alternative perspective as an accusation, John responds angrily, “I would never shoot an arrow. I am not an archer, I am a pacifist and I worked my whole life for social justice.”  Jack pauses, gently embracing the despair that touches his heart, as he encounters the same difficulty he faces daily this time expressed by the community who purports to ‘want to help’ and include people in his situation, and he says, “Yes, I understand that you are a champion of justice, that is why we are here together.”  Will Jack remain open to trusting John? Would you? What effort has John made to bring a capacity for inclusion to his lifetime of social justice work?  Until we can fully embrace the truth of our wholeness, we may have difficulty earning trust of those who have been chronically oppressed in order to work together to end injustice.

If we act in haste to challenge injustice, we bring our blindness, (we do not see ourselves in wholeness), deafness (we do not hear because we do not ask/listen) and arrogance (we ignore guidance from those we claim to help because we know better).  Let us learn to be social architects, and together, I + U HALT injustice.

Personal Reflection 

1. Engaging Change
2. Gaps of Culture
3. Gaps of Geo-Political-Socio-Economics (GPSE)     
4. Gaps of Systems
5. Gaps of Power Perspective
6. Mind the Gaps: Applied to Individual
7. Mind the Gaps: Applied to Institutional/Systems Issue
8. Mind the Gaps: Conclusion

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
Mind the Gaps Applied: Institutional/Systems [7 of 8]

Conclusion


In discussing this poster and working with people of diverse and vulnerable populations, I discovered that creating an inclusive space remains elusive, even for people who are committed to doing important work for social good. I offer a backbone for building capacity so that those who are committed to cultivating inclusive spaces might be able to realize their aspirations. 

Until we can fully embrace the truth of our wholeness, we may have difficulty gaining the trust of those who have been oppressed.  For if we hasten to challenge injustice, we bring our blindness, (we do not see ourselves in wholeness), deafness (we do not hear because we do not ask/listen) and arrogance (we ignore guidance from those we claim to help because we know better).  Masked by our good intentions, we may recommit the problems of the past as our actions contradict our stated intentions. Our actions, motivated by an unhealed state, are like shooting arrows at those we claims to defend.  

As a previously oppressed person, I may develop the capacity to deflect this arrow and realize that I am an unintended target. When no longer in fear and having healed any prior injury, I may ask the person who shot the arrow, “why have you shot this arrow?”  And the person, whose identity as ‘fighter against injustice’ is so strong that s/he cannot see that s/he could possibly shoot an arrow responds earnestly, “I did not shoot an arrow.”  The powerful force of cognitive dissonance blocks him/her from seeing an arrow, and s/he becomes indignant hearing the statement of an alternative perspective as an accusation, “I would never shoot an arrow.  I am not an archer, I am a pacifist.” … 

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
Mind the Gaps Conclusion [8 of 8]
Mind the Gaps Applied: Individuals [6 of 8]

III. Mind the Gaps: Applied

The following two scenarios reflect the application of how one might apply Mind the Gaps to promote inclusive action.  The first scenario shows an administrator using the Mind the Gaps framework to consider how to address a conflict at the school.  The second scenario demonstrates how a proposed government action was evaluated under the Mind the Gaps framework and illustrates the responsive action that sought to promote conscious, inclusive action for social change.


B. Institutional:  Emergency Preparedness

In December 2005, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) hosted a teleconference proposing that local governments throughout the United States adopt “Community Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergency” and expand the public health authority for an infectious disease outbreak, like avian flu.  During the Questions & Answers, I inquired how this proposed scheme to broaden authority would address the needs and protect the rights of people from diverse communities, such as those who didn’t speak English; there was a long pause, and someone attempted to respond but didn’t actually address the question. I wondered what an inclusive preparedness plan would look like?

Public Health Authority is the power that government has over the people to protect the public’s health.  The public entrusts discretionary power to the public health authority, and the proposal sought to broaden discretionary authority even further eliminating restrictions placed after historical episodes of misuse of authority over marginalized communities. I reflected on the response to my question about non-native English speakers and wondered who else might not be adequately included in a plan developed by people who aren’t thinking consciously about inclusion. Below are outlined some of the questions that I considered when thinking through how to make the CDC’s proposed course of action truly inclusive.

1. Gaps of Culture: Public Health

- What if the public health authority’s good intentions to protect the public good gets overrun by the politics of fear and discrimination in a time of panic and uncertainty?

- How does the public health authority intend to use their discretionary power?

- Is there concrete guidance on how to use discretionary power in difficult situations?

- What protections exist for the public, if we fail to meet our ethical aspiration to use our power well?

- What if the public does not trust the public health authority or it’s good intention? 

– what if the public health authority is not as good as it presumes to be and what has been done to ensure that the good intentions are realized?

Having done a critical legal history of public health’s treatment of vulnerable populations[1] during infectious disease outbreaks, I wondered whether the public health authority would be able to carry out its noble intention amidst the heavy political pressures that dominate, particularly in the initial stages of a public health disaster, when fear looms and science lags. I also wondered how those who do not trust the public health authority, or government in general, would be affected during a public health emergency and what the implications would be for the public’s overall health if some sub-groups did not follow the public health directives.  I also considered that getting funding and support for preventative efforts and for marginalized communities is nearly impossible, and I considered that if there were a collective interest, it might facilitate funding for inclusive policies.


2. Gaps of GPSE: Public Health

- How might people from different GPSE be affected during the critical stages? (awareness/prevention, screening, treatment, vaccination, quarantine)

- How will geography play a part in an epidemic? With regard to limiting access to treatment and spreading disease?

- How will political status influence the public health authority efforts?  What happens to non-English speakers, what happens to recent immigrants who are often scared to access public services in the US?  What happens to prisoners?  What happens to people who are not legal citizens?

- What social factors will influence the epidemic?  What happens to the elderly?  the elderly who are institutionalized in nursing homes?  What happens to a child whose only parent may become ill? 

- How might different economic status impact the public health authority plans?  How will the homeless be contacted?  How will the poor be impacted?  Will the need to eat and fear of job loss lead people who work rather than stay under quarantine?

Relying on my historical identification of marginalized communities and scenarios from the SARS outbreak in Toronto, I developed 5 scenarios and used them to identify who might be impacted but might not be considered in the planning events.

I identified the following groups seemed the most likely to be omitted from the traditional planning strategies: homeless, poor, persons with disabilities, persons who are institutionalized (prisons, nursing homes), children, elderly, illegal immigrants/immigrants (incl. language access).  These groups all have little political power and thus have minimal access to ensure that their interests are included in emergency preparedness endeavors and protected during times of crisis.[2]

In an infectious disease outbreak, the personnel of transportation become key players in a variety of circumstances so paying attention to the geography of a situation remains important. 
 

3. Gaps of Systems: Public Health

- Who is not adequately served by the current health care system?

- Will people who are illegal and fear deportation be afraid to come to the hospital during a pandemic?

- If the strategy is to use media to promote awareness and prevention, who will that miss?  How will people who don’t speak English learn of this?  people who cannot read?  people who cannot afford a tv/radio? people who are homeless?

- How do public systems, such as public transit, affect who may come into contact with an infectious disease and how does it inform the way that disease may spread?

I considered that the public health system relies on three critical systems – the public health authority/government, the health care system, and the media.  For people who have historically poor relationships with government, it is important to consider how they might respond/ignore the admonitions of government. 

The government and health care system systemically alienate certain members of our community, particularly illegal immigrants.  The fear that illegal immigrants have of government might prompt them to respond/ignore public health advisories in a way that would have significant implications to the overall health of the public.  Considering the manner and degree to which this community is alienated from the health care system, I wondered what would be necessary to promote compliance and trust in the public health directives. 

Most public health announcements are made through media channels, and I wondered what would happen to people who are not part of regular media.  Homeless people who don’t have a radio/TV, deaf people who don’t listen to the radio, illiterate people who can’t read a flyer, and announcements made in English would miss a number of community members who don’t speak English.


4. Gaps of Power Perspective: Public Health

- How does this proposed action reflect assumptions of my power and privilege?

- Where and how can I use my power most effectively?

I saw the greatest contribution I could make to support the “vulnerable populations” I identified was to speak to the group that I was a “part” of and to use the tool of my training, law and ethics, to suggest ways to guide this very broad discretionary power.  I developed an ethical argument to justify preventative policies that address the unique needs of vulnerable populations during a public health emergency.   To see what an effort for inclusion on this issue looks like, I made that paper into a poster, Vulnerable Populations During a Public Health Emergency[3], that was presented at the CDC’s Public Health Law Conference in June 2005.  When Hurricane Katrina hit three months later, the groups identified and the issues anticipated in the poster became a part of tragic history.  It is my hope that if we endeavor to use these steps rigorously and consistently, we can promote inclusion action for social change.

The opportunity here that I did not undertake due to my position (a student writing a paper rather than a policy maker) would be to invite the now identified constituents into the problem solving process to ensure that any subsequent actions, such as the proposed preventative policies, were not based upon the power perspective of the problem solver. 

In discussing this poster and working with people of diverse and vulnerable populations, I discovered that creating an inclusive space remains elusive, even for people who are committed to doing important work for social good. I offer a backbone for building capacity so that those who are committed to cultivating inclusive spaces might be able to realize their aspirations. 



[1] Ettinger,K. A Critical Legal History of Public Health’s Treatment of Vulnerable Populations during a Public Health Emergency.  (available from the author)
[2] This is not intended to indicate that this is the state of affairs at present.  Though reports indicate, overall emergency preparedness planning is not well developed.  As such, one wonders how much attention will be paid to the interests of marginalized communities in the time of a crisis and that was the purpose of this endeavor taking the focus that it did.
[3] Ettinger, KM. Vulnerable Populations During a Public Health Emergency, available at: www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/conferencecd2005/docs/kettinger.pdf

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
Mind the Gaps Applied: Institution/Systems  [7 of 8]
Gaps of Power Perspective  [5 of 8]

III. Mind the Gaps: Applied

The following two scenarios reflect the application of how one might apply Mind the Gaps to promote inclusive action.  The first scenario shows an administrator using the Mind the Gaps framework to consider how to address a conflict at the school.  The second scenario demonstrates how a proposed government action was evaluated under the Mind the Gaps framework and illustrates the responsive action that sought to promote conscious, inclusive action for social change.


A.  Individual
As the principal of the private school where a bullying incident occurred, Mrs. M considers how a response to the situation might be most inclusive. 


1. Gaps of Culture


Mrs. M questions how the approach to handling the situation would appear to someone who felt uncertain about the school’s commitment to the girls’ education.  She wonders whether the private school status might make a student or parent uncertain about whether the discipline was based on wealth or on culpability.

She decides to call all the families into meet with each other and the administrators. She considers that this approach fosters the kind of open communication that the school advocates.  She wonders whether the parents may feel a perception of partiality since she has a conflict in complete neutrality for economic reasons, and she decides to hire a neutral mediator who can facilitate the conversation.  She considers that a mediator has the ability to foster dialogue and understanding and the practice of mediation/facilitation is generally accepted across communities.  To be certain, she asks all sets of parents whether they are comfortable with having a mediator present to facilitate the dialogue. 

She doesn’t consider that the remaining parents may have concerns about the situation, nor does she consider that the other students not directly affected may have residual concerns arising from this event. 


2. Gaps of GPSE

Mrs. M does not recognize any geographic considerations in this case, but there are political concerns.  Mrs. M recognizes that the two sets of parents involved between the instigator and the victim have vastly different political outlooks, social status, and wealth.  The instigator’s parents are wealthy, prominent business people with a lengthy lineage of family who have graduated from the school; the victim’s parents work in the public health and government, and both parents are second generation immigrants of comfortable means but limited wealth.  She wonders how to create a more level playing field for the conversation, and decides that it will be the work of the mediator to balance these disparities.

She does not consider that the two sets of parents come from vastly different backgrounds may have different experiences of justice in their personal history, nor that they might have different understandings of the cause of the situation and diverse needs to have a sense of justice achieved.  She does not consider that other students may identify with qualities of the victim and in turn from empathic identification they may experience a sense of ongoing fear from this event.


3. Gaps of Systems

Mrs. M was aware that her approach to this situation was dependent upon trust in the school’s handling of difficult situations as well as in trust in the mediation process.  She recognized the potential mistrust of the school’s commitment to discipline arising from the need for funding as well as the mission to educate its students.  To promote a sense of confidence in the school’s commitment to neutrality, Mrs. M chose to use a mediator. 

To inspire confidence for the handling of this situation, Mrs. M decided to work with a coalition of teachers, parents, and students to identify and develop a way to handle a future incident with consistency and transparent, while retaining flexibility. 

Mrs. M did not consider whether the victim’s parents who have a health background are familiar with mediation and whether they would be comfortable with mediation.  Mrs. M does not check to see whether the mediator has experience with multi-cultural conflicts and does not consider what qualifications the mediator might need to have to establish legitimacy with the parents.


4. Gaps of Power Perspective

Mrs. M reflects on her power in this situation and sees that while she has authority at school, she does not have authority over the parents and in many ways, she is accountable to the parents.  She considers that by inviting a mediator to facilitate the conversation she will enable the removal of any power conflicts that she might hold in this situation.

Mrs. M did not consider that her position could be perceived differently between the two parents.  While the instigator’s parents who are wealthy patrons of the school feel comfortable expressing their perspective and needs, the victim’s parents who do not have a strong economic relationship with the school do not feel equally entitled to ensure that their perspective is understood and their concerns are met.  She also does not consider that the victim’s parents are concerned about their relationship with the school and ensuring that their daughter will not have a difficult time, whereas the instigator’s parents do not even consider that stating their thoughts would have any implication on their daughter’s educational experience at the school.   These are difference arising out of the parents different power positions and the perspective of their privileges.  Mrs. M is not aware of her own privileged perspective and thus, is not able to be sensitive to the ways that privilege informs actions.

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
Mind the Gaps Applied: Individual [6 of 8]
 Gaps of Systems  [4 of 8]

D. Gaps of Power Perspective

Assessing Gaps of Perspective, we consider how our power perspective informs the proposed action.  We often develop strategies for social change unconsciously informed by our power perspective, and we may not realize that others do not enjoy the same power, privilege, and position.  For example, if we choose to use a peaceful protest, we assume that others, whose rights may be the subject of the protest, will be comfortable demonstrating and exercising the right to peaceful protest in this manner.  But for some whose experience with the law reflects inconsistent or unequal justice, there may be less security in exercising one’s rights.   The exclusion of segments of interested parties reduces the inclusiveness of the action and may undermine the entire effort.  So, we must endeavor to consider how our experience of power, privilege, and position shape what we do, and we must reflect upon how we can use our power, privilege and position most effectively to share our power.

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
Gaps of Power Perspective  [5 of 8]
     Gaps of GPSE  [3 of 8] 

C. Gaps of Systems

Assessing Gaps of Systems asks that we consider the inclusiveness of the systems upon which our proposed action depends and that we reflect critically upon the limitations of those systems.  For example, if we propose to communicate a message – upon what systems does our message depend?  We must consider how we will reach people who do not speak our language, who cannot hear/read, and to what extent there may be communities who lack access media.  Alternatively, if we locate a free mediation service at the court-house, we must consider whom our legal system serves and fails to serve and whether our efforts to provide alternative methods for conflict resolution might be limited due to the legal system’s limitations.  Ultimately, this aspect of Gap review asks whether we aware of the limitations of our existing systems and how we may create more inclusive systems.

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
 Gaps of Systems  [4 of 8]
     Gaps of Culture  [2 of 8]

B. Gaps of Geo-Political-Socio-Economics (GPSE)

To assess the Gaps of GPSE, we consider how these contextual layers – geography, politics, and socio-economics that impact communities differently, might limit a proposed action.  The Gaps of GPSE are already well recognized as critical components of ongoing disparities.  For example, the GPSE factors constitute ‘social determinants of health;’ they reflect recognized barriers to accessing legal services and equitable remedies; and they associate with exposure to environmental hazards.  Thus, when we aspire to take conscious, inclusive action, we want to make sure that we reflect critically upon these components and assess whether our proposed action may unintentionally exclude groups based on GPSE attributes?

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
     Gaps of GPSE  [3 of 8]
Mind the Gaps: Engaging Change [1 of 8]

A. Gaps of Culture

To assess Gaps of Culture asks that we cultivate the awareness that we are a fish swimming in water.  We look to see the layers of assumptions that underpin the actions that we choose, the language that we use, the approach to problem solving we select, and the values that we promote.  We do not need to, per se, challenge these assumptions rather that we must be sufficiently aware of the assumptions so that we may begin to consider where and how diverging perspective may exist that may shift the way we understand the situation. 

While this inquiry may include the traditional concepts of ‘culture’ related to one’s customs, values, and beliefs in this context Gaps of Cultures demands that we examine the assumptions implicit within our professional disciplines, selected strategies, preferred methodologies, and presumed doctrines.  We are looking for barriers we don’t see based on our disciplinary assumptions and we seek to find different approaches to how we might address the situation.

Mind the Gaps [whole document ]
     Gaps of Culture  [2 of 8]

I. Engaging Change

“ ‘Mind the Gap’ a voice overhead calls out as the doors open for the Tube in London, that is precisely the same thing we aspire to in meditation, to mind the gap between where we are in this moment before we act to get where we are going.  If we can recognize that space, hold it open, then we have a chance to transform our actions from blind habit to conscious action.”[1] 

Identify gaps in our society and responding wisely to these situations is a critical component of creating a just, democratic, and civil society.  Meditation and mindfulness facilitate developing the capacity to recognize gaps within our daily life, to be present with gaps in order to gain clarity and understanding, and to respond to gaps with insight and wisdom for the betterment of ourselves, for our communities and for the world.

The paper explains a framework to promote conscious, inclusive social action, and demonstrates how this framework could be used at the individual and institutional level.  It culminates in describing the capacity we need to build to support inclusive problem solving, a necessary step to promoting inclusive, conscious social change.

II. Mind the Gaps: Conscious, Inclusive Action for Social Change

The “Mind the Gaps” framework is broadly applicable to a variety of issues.  This 4-step Gap Analysis enables one to “check” the inclusiveness of actions by individuals or organizations. When we encounter a gap in our action plan, the capacity for inclusive problem solving will allow participation of voices not historically engaged in the problem solving process.  To be inclusive we need to create a space that allows for diverse constituents to input understanding the problem and for diverse perspectives on the appropriateness of proposed strategies.  After we take a proposed action through the 4 steps, we may, ultimately, determine that our initial action is optimal, even if not fully inclusive, but we make that choice consciously, more aware of future opportunities for more inclusive solutions.

Mind the Gaps

1. Gaps of Culture
2. Gaps of GPSE (geo-political socio-economics)
3. Gaps of Systems
4. Gaps of Power Perspective

          
While the 4-steps of Mind the Gaps may seem familiar or intuitive, we have the opportunity to adopt using the 4-step framework consistently in our personal and professional activities to raise our awareness and Mind the Gaps in our daily life.



[1] Ingen Breen, a soto zen priest, who shared meditation practice guidance and this brilliant analogy. 

Originally posted on Planet Well blog and posted on NetSquared Mashup 2.0 Competition 2007

Live Well
What is the Idea?

Elders and the rapidly aging within the nation will receive the connection to resources and support that they need in a manner that enables them to Live Well independently within the community and supported by the community.

Live Well is a platform that will enable individuals and those who support them to meet their ongoing needs through a community network and that harnesses the potential of technology to integrate their support within the communities in which they live.


What will change in the world because this project happened?

As care delivery is increasing pushed out of acute care facilities, as people are able to live longer with the assistance of chronic care treatments, and as the population ages, there is a need to improve access to social services for social services professionals, family/caregivers, and the individuals who need external support to Live Well in the community.

We aspire to promote people's independence and ability to live in the least restrictive environment possible. When adequate resources don't exist, people require "placement" into places where their needs can be met. A huge gap exists in the availability of place as well for people who do not require such restrictive measures, yet still need assistance to meet their daily needs. At this juncture, our country lacks the infrastructure capacity to "care" for people "in facilities," which necessitates developing means to support people who require assistance to Live Well in the community.

Live Well will provide a technology platform to fill the capacity gap in a democratized way while supporting our deepest aspirations for promoting liberty to all and the pursuit of happiness throughout all stages of life.


What information will people interact with to make this change?

Live Well will create a virtual nexus for connecting social services with the public in a dynamic way and will enable actual meeting of needs for people who require assistance.

e.g. Mrs. Jane Hammond, an 87 year old widow, lives alone and is assisted by neighbors. A neighbor creates a Live Well profile for "Mrs. J" and the profile enables the neighbor to see what social services exist for Mrs. J's needs within her city. The profile also links into programs like "neighborhoods" on facebook. The neighbor is able to indicate on the profile that Mrs. J needs some cat food, that request pushes to the "neighborhoods" application and another person who lives within a few blocks but doesn't know Mrs. J is going to the pet store and picks up cat food for Mrs. J. As, well the neighbor indicates that Mrs. J needs a quart of milk. A young professional stops at the grocery store en route home and using his iPhone checks local grocery store needs from Live Well, his grandparents use it in Ohio and he isn't there so helps other folks out locally. Finding Mrs. J's request under "grocery needs in your area," he picks up an extra quart of milk and drops it by her house on the way home. Reimbursement can integrated with a credit/debit network established directly to the stores and integrated to interface with Medi-aid and Medi-care. Community service effort may be credited to the individuals through a "time bank" system and/or employer recognition for companies that encourage participation by their employees as "in kind" donations.

Live Well uses technology to facilitate meeting social support both through virtual connections and "live" connections. Live Well disrupts and innovates the way we live in and think about our "communities" by creating a platform that bridges the virtual community world and integrates it with our residential community, that bridges the communities of needs with the resources for benefits, and that brings people together across boundaries to care for our community wellness.

While this is local in the sense of meeting needs peculiar to the way of western development, transience, and independence, as more people become geographically mobile and the displacement of people from larger family structure trickles into the developing world as the unintended (untold) cost of industrialization and 'economic opportunity,' the development of this kind of platform will be universally applicable.

What else have you done in this cause area?

This is an area that is ripe to grow. There is a real need for harnessing technology to meet the needs of those already aged, most importantly for those entering into this group. I am involved in bioethics, mediation, elder care plan facilitation and elder ethics issues, and I am particularly focused on the needs and concerns of marginalized populations.

I worked under the leadership of an ex-IDEO health innovation startegist and product designer as part of the product development team at ePatients.com, a web 1.0 company that sought to create products and services for patients and their families in the acute and post-acute care setting. Following the implosion of that company (not due to the product/fundability), the product development team co-founded a venture to support patient adherence in the chronic care market through user-focused design of a web-based platform, but the market bust at that time made funding impossible although people "got" the value and concept, the profits margins weren't big enough and the SE world only in its nascent stages focused primarily on education.

At this juncture, I envision this application could be developed as a stand alone or integrated into a portfolio of another company.

What inspired you?

An awareness that we are only as strong as the weakest among us and that though in the West, we fear aging, it is simply another process in the beautiful mystery of life. If we continue to deny it and fail to make the resources available to make this time of life one of possibility, the only people we fail are ourselves. I also see the grave economic disparities between our life in the West and those in other countries, and the influence of outsourcing and industrialization means that we are exporting an economic system that breaks down the social structure of those countries. It is my hope that if we can learn from those communities how to care for people within our own community and potentially reduce the export of practices that result in the transaction costs of destroyed social networks and/or to use technology to innovate the way we address this problem that exists increasing also in China and other countries.


What do you need at this juncture?

- Funders for initial development through Pilot
- Developers to realize a beta version
- People committed to harnessing technology and resources to meet local community needs as the first step in promoting the global wellness







Live Well by
Planet Well is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

The elements behind the living well app, see previous detailed post.

Posted on Planet Well blog 07 Oct 2007

Posted in response to the call for Ideas by the Social Innovation Camp 2007... tagged onto a similar idea already there for personal development evaluation targeted for at-risk youth, selected for SI camp 2007 ...

Idea

The "Be" Factor, a unique formula combined with an innovative 360 Skill Portfolio to create the Be Well, Work Well application
- that revolutionizes the way students are evaluated by promoting development and assessment of skills needed for success in the 21st Century.
- that teaches and evaluates adaptability, capacity for change, leadership/ethics, and communication skills in a meaningful way
- that provides students, schools, training programs, and employers with a "skill portfolio"

Be Factor: One's ability to set personal goals, modify and modulate behavior to achieve those goals, demonstrate reflective capacity on meeting personal goals previously established, exercise the capacity to refine goals, and sustain a "learning" mindset for personal development.

Be Well, Work Well: One's ability to work well with others, know oneself - one's moral/ethical outlook, understand one's strengths and weaknesses, demonstrate the capacity for responsiveness to others, capacity to tolerate uncertainty and difference, provide and receive feedback from others, identify one's leadership strengths, demonstrate commitment to develop one's weaker areas, harness one's energy to accomplish a desired outcome (including process outcomes)

What Social Need does it address?

Schools evaluate knowledge, and on occassion, analytic/reasoning skills, but life skills - communication, capacity, leadership- are not cultivated. Yet these skills are the cornerstone of success in the "real world."

Developing mechanisms that both cultivate and demonstrate a person's capacity, adaptability, communication skills, and personal development are vital to transform the status quo and to lead our education paradigm into the future.

This effort specifically arises out of an interest to develop a tool to evaluate interdisciplinary professionals who require a common skill set - such as communication, leadership, ethics, conflict resolution. In the absence of adequate tools to measure these skills, unequal access to opportunities arises, allowing less "skilled" people to be selected based on degrees and academic achievement, while the most important skill sets for success are "soft" skills.



What's New About it?

- While 360 reviews and skill portfolios are not, separately, new, this application would integrate these two approaches to innovate the educational paradigm with the aim of transforming the educational metrics and promoting cultivation of the most essential life skills that go untaught and unevaluated.


The System Would Work Something Like....

- One does a baseline skill self assessment and sets personal goals appropriate to the training course/situation, then at a mid-point interval or after each session (if short program), the person re-assesses their skills (blind to initial score), assesses their progress, resets goals, and upon completion of the course/training, the participant re-assesses skills, progress, and goal achievement. Participant also provides peer and coach feedback and evaluation.

- In addition to setting personal goals with one's own (blinded) subsequent "self assessment" of those goals, the person would receive assessments from peers and coaches... in order to reduce "rigging" the system (where we all give each other high scores), specific feedback comments/ examples would be encouraged/necessary for outlying reports....

- each person's personal assessment would be internally calibrated to how they assess themselves relative to others. e.g. if they are overly high for others, but low for themselves (vice versa) or if they rate everyone on a higher evaluation that weight might be calibrated as "less" weighted in the other's final score. That calibration would be incorporated into their portfolio and Be Factor.

- with coaches also providing assessment the student's peer feedback can be assessed for its calibration with each other and the coaches

- the self/peer/coach feedback and calibrations, hopefully, enable surfacing and reducing the adverse impact of personal biases that might lead some people in a peer or supervisory role to unfairly "grade" a person whom they don't like and/or is different.

- collectively, these three sources of input, akin to the 360 review in corporate realm, provide the basis for a "skill portfolio" for each student. More than simply self assessment the external validation from peers/coaches makes the Be Well, Work Well a robust skill portfolio that a person can share for professional development and job situations.

- the Be Well portfolio could be uploaded to a "Work Well" public portfolio that one could post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Monster, other sites for job seekers

- ideally, it would be a core platform with open source developer tools so that other institutions/programs/NPOs could build their own portals from it and for a nominal fee, they could use the central components/metrics whose validity and value arise from its measurement across institutions and training programs.

- the application could/would provide a foundation for accreditation in disciplines that have not yet established credentialing mechanisms (mediation, interpersonal, leadership, ethics training, professionalism, conflict resolution, etc)


What Inspired You?

The opportunity to build leaders from the bottom up - create an application that can change the classroom paradigm and metrics to reflect something meaningful and enable people with non-traditionally measured, valuable skills the opportunity to advance! Most of all, to leverage technology to disrupt the status quo - create recognition/ valuing of invaluable life skills.

I realized that these vital life skills - self knowledge, communication, leadership, interpersonal, capacity for uncertainty/difference, and personal development - are not taught and the tools to evaluate them are wanting - most importantly, we need to cultivate this thirst for growth when people are young and to provide recognition and opportunities for people who have them in spades ... it's a habit that one can grow, so why not start early?!


What are you Looking For?

I am seeking to develop this technology as a component for an leadership program. I know there are a variety of other disciplines/areas that could benefit from it, though I don't envision a blockbuster tech endeavor. I am considering pulling this out of the grant application and developing this component as a separate, private technology project as I am skeptical that foundation funders would fund this kind of SE endeavor.

Thoughts on that are welcome. Developers who might be interested in scoping out and building the project. Funders who would support the initial costs until endeavor is launched and self funding.





Be Factor, Be Well, Work Well Credentialing Tool by
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