The First Discipline Framework. 'Abstract to Concrete'

We check  the design, when we are confronted with problems. If problems have no recession, we need to go back to the design  and check our undestanding of the design.

Nature has a design, a deep structure, which we have to live with. We continue to pay a price for our ignorance of the basic design. Our designs are but improvisations of bits and bytes  of the basic design.

Imagine  billions of  people continuing with a flat earth worldview  and the reality we collectively create! 

While we have 'progressed' a lot we have  also 'regressed' in our connectedness with nature. Deep down we still hold on to the flat earth static models.  Better maps would  facilitate faster and sustained improvements, accelerate the process of co-creating a more desirable present and future by leveraging technology and markets which work in real time and help us to make more intelligent use of these levers with lesser damage.

We have  very sophisiticated tools for navigation over the planet and beyond ranging from the compass/ GPS to satellites and communication systems and mapped our immediate environs to greater and greater precision.  We have managed to connect machines to communicate with each other across the planet in real- time and for the first time we can see the world as one in real time. Though machines can communicate to each other the man and the machine interface and communication within the human slow down the common journey ahead.  A real time evolutionary model of wholeness is one the requirements to bridge the divides and disconnects

The First Discipline Framework is a map to attenuate variety, reduce the babble, among disciplines, to offer solutions to the problem of positioning, fixing direction and self-correction for the process of continual renewal and improvement at different levels - individual, institutions, communities and community. FD  is the study of the  self, the learner in us, and the process of lifelong learning, LLL, regardless of our different walks of life young or old, or young and old. Since 1990 we use the FD framework to hang our different hats as practitioners of various disciplines, ‘social programmers' - parents, pedagogues, priests, and politicians. It helps to connect the various disciplines and put them in perspective, see and show how everything, living, nonliving, internal and external- is ONE, a continuum,in process, evolving. The framework helps the observer, self, to connect with the observed SELF, position oneself, visualise the gap between potential and performance, fix the direction for the journey and make sure that one is on the path of continuous improvement. Metrics - measurement - of true progress becomes possible.

(We developed an action learning approach and used the tool and methodology in schools, for coaching, enhancing employability and productivity in corporate contexts, in developmental contexts of self-help and microfinance communities. The approach facilitates accelerated learning, sustained high performance and enhancing community. Details vary with the contexts. These notes accumulated over the process and  evolves as a  living document of the work. With going online from June 2008,  we have a much broader participation. Your queries and comments would further accelearate the process)

The map is divided into four quadrants and the observer is at the centre. The observer is the self - individual, a group, an organisation or the species.

NW  is a map of the ideal, the deep structure, the conceptual, pure potenital, design and the world of ideas .The order, hierarchy, increasing complexity and potential with each level, alignment and connectedness need be re'cognised to understand the performance issues in the external world mapped in the bottom right quadrant,SE.

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The four quadrants are like the four wheels of the car, a learning engine which continues to improve its performance as it goes forward

The eye at the centre represents self, the observer, the driver of the car

The wheels must be aligned for the car to move on

But there exists a conflict between quadrants NW and SE, ideal and the operational

Between internal self and the external social system, quadrants SW and NE

It is for us to create the alignment so that the car moves on

First step is to see the interconnections and see the whole as one system in process, evolving

What makes the human unique as a class of systems is the potential to improve. There is ‘no' gap between potential and performance up to the level of animals (see quadrant SW)

The gap begins after the level of animals. The gap can also be seen as the waste in the system, the unrealised potential, the root cause for problems. In terms of potential vs. performance the human is sub animal

Corresponding to the total potential/performance gap, there exists a gap in every one of us which forms the personal sphere for improvement which would lead to the question - what is my potential and my performance?

Quadrant NW represents the ideal, perfect, conceptual, pure potential, internal to the self and in perfect alignment at all levels starting from the maps to Meta systems (represented by the umbrella).  Quadrant SE represents the physical world, measurement, performance. Mirrors NW up to the level of animals. The knowledge gap is the major reason for the gap. There will always be a gap but it is feasible to narrow the gap and bring about sustained and continual improvements

Quadrant SW is internal to the self and NE represents the external social system. While learning is a pre-requisite to improvement, history and habits encourage conformity. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. Self could be the individual, team, organisational or community self. Complexity increases with levels

The map facilitates positioning, fixing the direction for the journey and measurement of progress.  It is possible to visualise the nature of the journey as an ongoing process of continual improvement and renewal. The first step is having a map for the journey. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Confucius. To take that first step we need to know where our position is and the direction in which to take that step, to be on course.

(The potential performance gap is illustrated by life expectancy vs. longevity of exceptional people. Life expectancy in developed countries is around 75 which is an indication of performance. Potential is reflected in the exceptions, people living beyond their 100. The gap or the waste in terms of unrealised potential is 25 years, though life expectancy is not the only aspect to be taken into account. There are exceptions who achieve much more than average people with shorter life spans and those who continue to be much more productive in their second careers than in their first.  We need to visualise human potential if we are to realise it. http://firstdiscipline.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/blue_ocean_people_bop. On a global scale the aggregate waste is astounding. The estimation has to be on multiple factors to illustrate the issue better. A corporate would attempt to look at the issue from many different perspectives, in terms of market potential vs. performance or the human potential vs. performance. The same could be attempted at different levels- individuals, institutions, communities, nations, global)

The visual above is a summing up. For a hard copy of the framework with the full complement of subsidiary maps please write to us

More:
http://firstdiscipline.gaia.com/blog/2008/6/ppp_designing_a_learning_engine