Victor Mari C. Baguilat Jr.

LEADING FROM THE EMERGING FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Co-creating with the Universe

Several days ago, I got a message from the Creative Director of Miss Universe Philippines (MUP). He asked me about the
situation of the weavers in this Covid scenario and how his organization can help provide livelihood to the weaving
communities. I told him that our community sells handwoven fabrics, so he asked if I can produce enough indigenous
fabrics to be used as accents for 10,000 to 1 million masks.

Several minutes prior to that interaction, the lawyer of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach called me asking me to submit a
proposal to the latter for a collaborative project on garments that women can wear in the “new normal”.

The Universe, literally and figuratively, wants to work with me. I think the first step for me is to fully understand what the
challenge is and what is expected of me. Scharmer stressed the importance of not rushing the first step of clarifying the
intention and core questions of this challenge because, as one leader of the consulting company IDEO explained, “the
quality of the creative design process is a function of the quality of the problem statement that defines [the] starting
point.”1

Upon reflecting on the core question of this challenge and my intention, what emerged is the question: What is the
adaptive challenge to ensure the success of this initiative? 2 The adaptive challenge is to be able to develop a collective sense
of responsibility for all stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the hand weaving industry and the improvement of the
socio-economic welfare of the weavers in a Covid situation. In line with this, my individual adaptive challenge is to know
what attitudes, behaviors or habits and what specific actions do I have to take to contribute to the transformation of my
organization and of the eco system. My intention is to rise above these organizational and individual adaptive challenges.

Now that the adaptive challenges are clear, the next question is what is my leadership development plan to take on these
challenges? According to Bill O’Brien, as cited by Scharmer: “[t]he success of an intervention depends on the interior
condition of the intervener.”3 Hence, in the interest of having a successful intervention, I want to start with that interior
condition that is the inner place or source from which I operate that is also known as my blindspot. Moreover, I want to
start with my inner condition because the source from which I operate in determines the quality of listening and attention
that I bring to a situation and how I shift those qualities to change the course of action moment to moment 4 ensures the
effectiveness of my leadership to address the adaptive challenges.

My leadership development plan is therefore heavily influenced by Theory U’s presencing as the innovation method that
will enable my organization and other stakeholders to co-sense and co-create the future. Why is it important for me to co-
sense and co-create with other stakeholders? According to Scharmer, “[w]e collectively create results that nobody wants
(that is, the destruction of nature, of society, and of our humanity). The challenge here is to counteract massive leadership
failure across institutions and sectors. Instead of pandering to super-egos, we need to strengthen leaders’ capacity to co-
sense and co-shape the future on the level of the whole eco-system.” 5

Moreover, he said that “[p]rofound innovation requires us to suspend downloading patterns in order to activate generative
social fields”6. What does this mean? It means that I have to let go of the past and let come the future that wants to
emerge. In other words, learning from the past is necessary but it is not sufficient because the disruptive challenge of
coping with the Covid situation and the Miss Universe PH’s demand of fabrics for 10,000 to 1 million masks require that my
organization and I should go further and slow down and sense the bigger driving forces of change.

1
Scharmer, C. Otto, The Essentials of Theory U: Core Principles and Applications. Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2018, p. 81 (SCHARMER)
2
Heifetz, R.A & Laurie, Donald. “The Work of Leadership”. Harvard Business Review, December 2001, p. 133. (HEIFETZ)
3
SCHARMER, p. 7
4
Ibid.
5
Ib, p.139
6
Ib.
In my Human Capital Management (HCM) class, I was inspired to build an action plan on how to be a human centric
manager, which I fondly call WACE, short for Weaving A Cycle of Excellence. My leadership development plan for this class
will complement my WACE by going further to activate generative social fields and by diving deeper into my source. My
leadership development plan to deepen WACE is divided into five parts, representing the five movement of the U process.

Part 1: Co-initiating: uncovering shared intention— building a first container

Scharmer suggests that the starting point of the U process is the building of a container for a core group that is going
through the process together. 7 “Building a good container means to build a good holding space for a generative social
process.”8 Why is this important? Scharmer explains that in changing a stakeholder relationship from dysfunctional to
helpful, one cannot just order people to do it. I have to intervene further upstream in the process of social reality creation. I
have to change the making of that relationship from one mode to another— i.e., from reactive to co-creative. 9

Further, Scharmer adds that the elements of a good holding space are intention, attention and the subtle qualities of deep
listening.

Here are a few core practices that Scharmer suggests for the co-initiation stage of the work that reflect the elements of a
good holding space, which I curated to be part of my leadership development plan:

1. Set the intention at the start of the day. I meditate before I sleep but I do not do it upon waking up. I first check my
Facebook updates, which sometimes make me feel upset. Meditating is important because it will allow me to let go of the
noise and everything that is not essential, if I check my smart phone first, then I am adding more noise in my head
preventing me from connecting with the purpose and intention that I want to be in service of.

2. Pay attention on how I interact with others and what other people want me to do. Simply, put it, observe non-
judgementally. I think that observing is a crucial component of what Heifetz termed as “disciplined attention”, which is one
of the six principles for leading adaptive work, wherein a leader has to identify the distractions when they occur so that
people will regain forcus.10 The capacity to identify distractions requires being able to observe without judgment.

3. Activate my generative listening. Scharmer suggests that I switch by abundant appreciation for and loving interest in
the other person within myself. I can begin by creating a welcoming place for that other person in my heart.

These three practices should be able to help me clarify my intention to serve the evolution of the whole, trust my heart’s
intelligence when connecting with people, be open to other ways of framing the problem or opportunity, and connect to
potential partners through their highest future sense of purpose, and not just their institutional role or responsibility. 11

Aside from listening to my intention, and the intention of the other stakeholders (Miss Universe PH, Pia Wurtbach’s team,
the weavers, etc.) it is important for me to take stock of my leadership capital. The reason for which is that “[a] Bridging
Leader must enter the stage of co-ownership and other stakeholders only if one feels confident about one’s passion for the
work and ‘chance of success’. So, after knowing the intention of others and my leadership capital, I should reflect about my
confidence and my chance of success, because if they are both slim, then it is best for me to back off and stay with the
status quo until I feel ready to face the greater task of working with others transforming an unwanted complex social
reality.12

Part 2: Co-sensing—seeing reality from the edges of the system

7
Ib, p. 78
8
Ib.
9
Ib., p. 13
10
HEIFETZ, p. 136
11
SCHARMER, p. 78
12
Ownership. Asian Institute of Management
The essence of co-sensing is getting out of one’s own bubble, it is about immersing myself in new contexts that matter to
the situation and that are unfamiliar to me. I think that co-sensing is related, if not similar, to Heifetz’s “getting on the
balcony” principle, which suggests that a business leader should be able to view patterns as if they were on a balcony,
because if he is in his own bubble, he will be swept up in the field of action. 13 Scharmer adds a good explanation to this. He
explain that if I go to the balcony, the data of the “field” will speak to me, and this will only happen if I am not stuck and too
busy in my bubble expressing opinions and proposing solutions.

Therefore, I should practice the following:

1. Spend four minutes in the evening reviewing how I engaged in both empathic listening (open mind and open heart)
and generative listening (open mind, heart and will). I have identified people whom I can practice this with and to whom I
can share my experiences too.

2. Choose key stakeholders and conduct a stakeholder dialogue interview where I put myself in their shoes and look at
my own job from their points of view. This is in conjunction with Heifetz’ principle of “protecting the voices of leadership
from below”14, which is important because as a leader I can rely on leaders on the ground for questions that may indicate an
impending adaptive challenge because they can point out internal contradictions of the enterprise, provoke rethinking of
certain policies or strategies; hence, as a rule of thumb I must resist the urge to silence someone who has a dissenting
opinion or a different perspective, which I do a lot.

Within the organization, we have this dialogue with our partner weavers once a year, but I think this has to be more
frequent; I have to be in the balcony more often, engaging the people at the edges of the system and asking these
questions: what is my most important objective, and how can I help the weavers realize it? What do they really need me
for? What criteria will I use to assess whether my contribution to their work has been successful?

Part 3: Co-presencing—connecting to my highest future potential

After deeply immersing myself in the contexts of most potential, the next movement focuses on connecting to my deeper
source of knowing—the sources of creativity and Self. According to Scharmer, “presencing is the blending of sensing and
presence, which means to operate from the source of one’s highest future possibility in the now.” 15

The core practices for presencing that I integrated into my leadership plan are:
1. Morning practice
I will rise early and go to a place of silence that works for me, and allow my inner knowing to emerge. I love meditating, so
that will be the ritual that I will use to connect me to my source.

In this sacred space of silence I will remember what brought me to the place in life where I am right now. Who is my Self?
What is my Work? What am I here for? Thereafter, I will make a commitment to what I want to be in the service of that day
and I will feel appreciation for the opportunity to live the life I have right now and ask for help so that I do not lose my way
and get side-tracked.

2. Guided journaling
The Presencing Institute offers a toolkit in applying Theory U; so, for my presencing practice I want to use Guided journaling,
which is part of their toolkit. Guided Journaling is a process of self-reflection that moves through the Uprocess. This process
will help me identify concrete action steps. I have already downloaded the 16-step journaling practice for stepping into the
field of the future, I just have to go through them when I get to the presencing stage, probably in the 3 rd week of this
learning journey that I am curating for myself.

Part 4: Co-creating—bringing the new into reality

“The aim of co-creating is to build landing strips for the future through prototypes that allow us to explore the future by
doing. The prototypes based on the feedback they generate.” 16
13
HEIFETZ, p. 132
14
Ibid.
15
SCHARMER, p. 98
16
Ib, p. 114
Scharmer also offers practices in co-creating, one of which is to listen to the Universe. I am fond of this practice because I
am dealing with a Miss Universe and the Miss Universe Philippines organization. Scharmer prescribes that I take three
minutes at the end of each day to write down the suggestions the world, the universe rather, has made to me for that day,
without judging them as good or bad. After which, I should write down one or two questions that follow from those
suggestions that relate to current challenges that I have in my organization or in the community.

The next step is to take five or ten minutes to write down the answers to the questions I put on paper the night before and
if there is a stream of ideas that comes through, then I will go with the flow. The last step is to complete the journaling by
exploring the possible next steps, wherein I will ask myself: What would it take to further investigate, test or prototype my
ideas?

So far, the creative director of Miss Universe and Pia Wurtzbach’s lawyer ran several ideas with me. I can use Scharmer’s
suggestion in selecting ideas for prototyping. He suggests asking seven “R” questions to select and evolve an idea for
prototyping: Is it relevant, revolutionary, rapid, rough, right, relationally effective and replicable? It is important for me to
prototype immediately because I have to keep my Social Enterprise afloat in the midst of this Covid situation.

The success story of Jasper Que and Abdulwahab Husin, which is a good case of prototyping inspires me to explore the
“future by doing” in collaboration with the communities and other stakeholders.

Part 5: Co-shaping—evolving the larger eco-system

According to Scharmer, “the movement of co-shaping focuses on scaling the new while growing and evolving innovation
eco-systems” for collective impact17. The aim of this movement is to “relink the parts and whole by making the system
sense and see itself”18.

In all honesty, I still do not know how co-shaping works, all that I know is that I have to widen the focus from prototyping to
evolving the ecosystem as a whole. This could possibly mean that if my prototype is successful, I should tap other weaving
communities to meet the demand of the MUP. I guess, I really cannot go more specific because such is the nature of leading
from the emerging future, there is so much uncertainty, I just have to let go and let come.

It may take me two years to achieve exactly what I envisioned, or it may take longer for my WACE plan to show results. I
may fail in addressing the adaptive challenges of my organization and of the ecosystem. But, I may succeed. It is not certain
for now. All that I know is that “social equity takes time”, and that I have to maintain the commitment of stakeholders while
sustaining my work in creating spaces for reflection, renewal and learning. 19

The Universe got my back, so I have nothing to fear.

17
Ib.
18
Ib.
19
CO-CREATION. Asian Institute of Management