For the past year, Creating the Future has been developing a whole new curriculum, to provide deep immersion into the various practices that make up our Catalytic Thinking framework. The following is an update, an announcement, and most especially an invitation!
Background
Since 2009, the cornerstone of Creating the Future’s programs has been immersion education. Participants in that program spent several months reading, watching videos and engaging in personal conversations with instructors, culminating in 5 full days of in-person immersion into the Catalytic Thinking framework followed by an introduction into our community of fellows.
That immersion course was the first step for approximately 100 change agents to become more effective in every aspect of their lives. However, what became clear after 6 years of teaching in that immersion format is that our content had outgrown our ability to teach it the way we’d been doing.
And so, last spring, we began developing a whole new curriculum. Instead of 5 consecutive days, the new curriculum provides a trimester-long immersive experience, where participants slowly practice each aspect of the Catalytic Thinking framework, applying what they learn to their work and their lives in real time.
Instead of having to attend classes in a central location (requiring travel time and expense), the new curriculum is available online and in your own community, over a period of 10-12 weeks, allowing plenty of time to learn, practice, reflect, and then learn some more, practice some more, and reflect some more.
Class by class, we are currently in the process of developing that curriculum. We BETA tested the first class last fall with 21 participants in 5 cohorts (classes are still super small, to give folks time to practice the practice).
Throughout 2016 and 2017, we’ll be developing and rolling out the rest of the curriculum. We’ll share that development process online, as we do with all our work, so that anyone can watch the classes take shape. We’ll then do BETA tests of each class before rolling out the actual classes, both online and in YOUR community (click here to find out what it would take to bring these classes to your community!).
The New Curriculum
While we are doing that course development work, we wanted to give you a taste of what’s to come. As you’ll see from this article describing the Catalytic Thinking framework, the curriculum focuses on the key aspects of the framework, taking a deep dive and a ton of time to practice each of those practices!
101: Intro to Catalytic Thinking: Bringing out the best in PEOPLE (click here to see a full description – that first course is ready!!) Creating and holding space, to create conditions for people to be at their best
102: Catalytic Listening: Bringing out the best in PEOPLE and SITUATIONS (Part 1)
(click here to see a full description – that first course is ready!!)
Creating conditions for people to be at their best in specific situations, through the practice of listening for people’s potential (and knowing what to do with what we hear!).
103: Catalytic Decision-Making: Bringing out the best in SITUATIONS
Creating conditions for the best possible results to emerge in any situation, through the practice of creating a critical path of causality between today’s reality and the future you want to create.
201: Continuum of Potential: Bringing out the best in PEOPLE in specific SITUATIONS (Part 2)
Creating conditions for people to be at their best in specific situations, through the practice of meeting people where they are and creating the conditions for them to step into their potential.
202: Collective Enoughness: Bringing out the best in PEOPLE and SITUATIONS
Moving from strategy to action through the practice of identifying and building upon shared resources, because together we have everything we need; it is only on our own that we experience scarcity.
As we always do, we will keep you in the loop as we learn during the course development process. If you are interested in being notified when actual classes (non-BETA) are scheduled, please click here and let us know!