This workshop is offered to the City of Bellevue, City of Renton and the Institute of Transformative Leadership at Georgetown University, May 2019.
This workshop led the participants to experience I-Culture and We-culture, both cultural patterns and internal modes of awareness. They are like the left and right hemispheres of brain. Their integration is critical for a thriving organization in today’s global culture. As a cultural pattern, I-Culture is primarily active in North America and Western Europe. It is centered around individual identity connected through shared values constructed by rationality and intellect. We-Culture is primarily active in Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. It is centered around felt-sense of belonging and group identity constructed by story, archetype and myth. With an awareness map derived from the lineage of Taoism, participants practice placing their awareness onto these two modes intentionally and surface implicit preferences and assumptions toward I-Culture and We-Culture. Through facilitated discussion, participants reflect the gifts and vulnerabilities of each mode of awareness and explore ways to integrate them.
Below are some feedback from our participants
Tantalizing depths of a new way of processing the world became visible, inviting and ‘exuberance-generating – Tom, member of Institute of Transformative Leadership network
I grew up in a farming community in the rural area of the South. I didn’t get to develop a sense of individual self until I arrived at the bigger city as a young man. This workshop helps me put words to describe my earlier experience as an integrated member of the farming community. It empowers me not feel ashamed about that experience. – Winston, deputy major at City of Bellevue
This workshop is a multi-dimensional learning through head, body and heart. It extended my perception of the work environment. Loved the somatic illustration of conflicts between the two cultural paradigm. – Leslie, member of Institute of Transformative Leadership network