ADIG: a deeper dive into the generative process
Short video presentation of ADIG (Generative Interdependence Agreements) to the u-lab community
Before u-lab 2x
Before u-lab 2x the expectation of this team was to develop a model to bring, in a positive and efficient way, the concept of ADIG: Generative Interdependence Agreements to the territory (meaning to the enterprises and the social environment). Their objective was to define a comprehensive framework, with processes and tools to design an ADIG format to be used by all who want to have an impact on the 17 goals (UN Sustainable Development Goals). In addition, Manuela and Paolo wanted the ADIGs to become everyone’s heritage, so once defined, they would register them under a Creative Commons BY-SA International License.
The Theory U process in the 2nd u-lab (2x)
The team used u-lab 2x to work on the ADIG instrument.
They launched a programme with the participation of enterprises. Paolo and Manuela asked some companies who had attended 1x if they were interested and some of them chose to be part of 2x. They started with companies in Italy.
The u-lab 2x project launched on 10th February 2021 with an open session on Zoom counting about 80 participants.
Manuela says “What we did was to be quite faithful to the 2x curriculum itself, we were in touch with what the Presencing Institute was offering so we were really following the process together, there were the live sessions and this kind of shared journey which allowed us to really design the process in a certain way.”
The outcome of a u-lab 2x prototyping initiative depends on the group and their level of commitment and this means the results aren’t certain. Manuela explains “I really had to let go of this attachment to the result, this attachment to very committed participation and when you start letting go of those things not only do you really enjoy what emerges, but you also see the little seeds that are there. If you are not really able to let go of those things, you don’t see the little seeds.”
Kick-off u-lab 2x 2021 harvesting — visual by Alessandra Zaffiro
Paolo talks about the next steps: “It was a huge journey and we really applied all the principles and all the processes of Theory U in the u-lab 2x."
We created a core team of 7 people who had prior experience of managing a big group (in Theory U) and we followed this U process and we also learned how to hold a space.
At times during their planning they had to modify. Paolo realised that addressing the format and content of the ADIG was only one aspect of the work. The actual process of getting to the agreement was really the big issue. It was therefore crucial to create the conditions for the partners to become more aware of their own values, allow them to establish a coherence between saying and doing, and to make their purpose explicit instead of taking it for granted. “Even in the choice of resources to deploy, there is often a tendency to “measure up” to the other’s contribution rather than cultivating a “gift” attitude” Manuala notes. To overcome this, some of the methodologies of dialogue used included: the 4 Levels of Listening, Journaling, and the Iceberg Model.
Manuela talks about the process:
What emerged is that at a certain moment the ADIG was something abstract, an instrument, a framework, something rational. When we started entering and feeling the ADIG we really started understanding it was an agreement, and an agreement is a relationship.
"So we often say in Theory U “the future is there”. From the name Accordi Di Interdipendenza Generativi we already knew it was an agreement, that it was based on interdependence but we only [truly] discovered it after one year, and [after interacting with] I don’t know how many changemakers.”
Three case examples illustrating details of Generative Interdependence Agreements
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