Theory U

Theory U is a change management method and the title of a book by Otto Scharmer. During his doctoral studies at Witten/Herdecke University, Scharmer studied a similar method in classes taught by Friedrich (Fritz) Glasl, and he also interviewed Glasl. Scharmer then took the basic principles of this method and extended it into a theory of learning and management, which he calls Theory U. The principles of Theory U are suggested to help political leaders, civil servants, and managers break through past unproductive patterns of behavior that prevent them from empathizing with their clients' perspectives and often lock them into ineffective patterns of decision making.

The author of the theory U concept expresses it as a process or journey, which is also described as Presencing, as indicated in the diagram (for which there are numerous variants).

At the core of the "U" theory is presencing: sensing + presence. According to The Learning Exchange, Presencing is a journey with five movements:

We move down one side of the U (connecting us to the world that is outside of our institutional bubble) to the bottom of the U (connecting us to the world that emerges from within) and up the other side of the U (bringing forth the new into the world).

On that journey, at the bottom of the U, lies an inner gate that requires us to drop everything that isn't essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego and self) and letting-come (our highest future possibility: our Self) establishes a subtle connection to a deeper source of knowing. The essence of presencing is that these two selves-our current self and our best future Self-meet at the bottom of the U and begin to listen and resonate with each other.
Once a group crosses this threshold, nothing remains the same. Individual members and the group as a whole begin to operate with a heightened level of energy and sense of future possibility. Often they then begin to function as an intentional vehicle for an emerging future.

The core elements are shown below.

"Moving down the left side of the U is about opening up and dealing with the resistance of thought, emotion, and will; moving up the right side is about intentionally reintegrating the intelligence of the head, the heart, and the hand in the context of practical applications".

According to Scharmer, a value created by journeying through the "U" is to develop seven essential leadership capacities:

U-procedure and theory U are related change management methods to improve unproductive patterns of behaviour. The U-procedure (or process) was developed by Friedrich (Fritz) Glasl and Dirk Lemson of the NPI (Netherlands Pedagogical Institute) in 1968 and presented systematically since the 1980s. It has been used in organisation development and social development since that time. Following Glasl's special interest in conflict issues, the method has also been explicitly developed to handle the consciousness and process issues associated with relational dynamics and conflict resolution.

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