Orientation

We do not meet the world from nowhere.

We enter situations as particular people — shaped by history, temperament, values, experience, assumptions and expectations. We meet others who arrive in the same condition.

Those encounters take place inside wider systems: organisations, cultures, structures and institutions that quietly influence what becomes possible.

Orientation is the practice of becoming more aware of these layers, how they shape us, and where meaningful agency remains.

Three perspectives on the same living field: the person entering the situation, the field between us, and the wider system around us.

The field shapes which parts of us become salient — and orientation returns some freedom in how we take part in what follows.

Three perspectives

Me → Between us → Around us

Personal OrientationThe person entering the situationWho am I, what do I bring, and how does that shape what I notice, interpret and do?Read →Relational OrientationThe field between usWhat are we eliciting from one another — and what becomes more or less possible between us?Read →Organisational OrientationThe wider system around usWhat is the wider system eliciting, amplifying or suppressing — and which conditions can meaningfully be influenced?Read →

One field

Three perspectives, continuously shaping one another

These are not separate worlds, or three isolated models. The person shapes the relationship. The relationship shapes the person. The organisation shapes both.

And through everyday participation — what is said, tolerated, rewarded, repeated or left alone — people and relationships continuously reinforce, alter or challenge the organisation in return.

MePersonal Orientation — the person entering the situation.
Between usRelational Orientation — the field between us.
Around usOrganisational Orientation — the wider system around us.

Three perspectives on one living field. The wider conditions shape what happens between people, and what happens between people shapes the wider conditions in return. Influence travels both ways; no perspective comes first.

A CURRENT reading

The field becomes wider. The movement remains the same.

Staycreate enough space to notice what is happening.
Senseunderstand what matters and what may be shaping it.
Shapeidentify where meaningful agency remains, and participate deliberately.

Back to CURRENT

We are shaped by the circumstances we enter.

Through participation, we also help shape what they become.

CURRENT — the thinking behind this →Inside the Search →