Using SD to enhance communication of Vision

Hi folks, this is my first but far from last post here. Just joined. Intensive SD student and thinker.

Thought you might be interested in this mention of SD in response to this post in Vision Cafe Group.

Someone said

I think that the most challenging part of getting my vision out is getting others to understand my vision the way i do and to bend my vision in ways that everyone can understand what i want to do. the worst part about communication in the world is that no one can understand eachother. what happens when you dont understand something? well, its simple,  you argue. people get scared when they have to listen to something that they dont understand or wont take the time to understand.


And I said

I so resonate with what you say. Communicating for understanding is such a challenge and so important to peace in the world. “Bending” one's vision to help people understand it, that is a great metaphor.

What I have found most useful is to study how people think and believe, and then pick my words, medium, and style of communication tailored to my listener(s) or audience. Talking to one or a few people is of course far easier than a big group, or posting to everyone.

There are many many many ways to study how people think and believe. Many of them are called “typologies” such as Jungian typology, which has many “children,” one of the current ones being Meyers-Briggs Personality Theory/Test.

There is also the Enneagram, which in my opinion is just about the best system for understanding people and tailoring your communication to reach them or “land” in their understanding. There are dozens of good books about the Enneagram.

The very very best way of understanding (and communicating to) people I have found so far is called Spiral Dynamics. The best source is the book by that name, by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan. It's in Amazon and our book database here. A quick summary of the system is in Ken Wilber's A Brief History of Everything, also from amazon and in our database here.  The Spiral Dynamics book is not cheap, even used on Amazon, but can change your whole life, your whole way of relating to people and understanding yourself as well. It is very powerful and could really help you spread your vision to others, I believe.

Spiral Dynamics explains why people argue and get scared when they have to listen to something they don't or won't understand, and explains ways around that problem.

There are many other approaches to handling your challenge, but you might want to explore these. I seek to be helpful to you, that's my only purpose in this post.

Here's to our Visions !!!!!

Aloha, Rev. O.M. Bastet

Re: Using SD to enhance communication of Vision

Hey Om!

I saw this when you first posted it and I've been meaning to respond.  I guess I was waiting to see what others might say, but no one else seems to be jumping aboard.  Apparently, this pod isn't very active at the moment.

I tailor the way I communicate depending on who I am communicating with.  I do consider such things as Spiral Dynamics and also typologies, but not in a direct way.  The knowledge is there and plays out mostly in a subconscious way.  I don't usually actively think about what type or meme someone is.

I haven't studied the Enneagram much, but I have studied Jungian typology very deeply moreso than I have with SD.  Hanging out on various Jungian typology forums has taught me how to shift the way I'm communicating.  A large percentage of discussions on Jungian typology forums are simply about how people discuss… meta-communication to an extreme level.  I'm an INFP and INFPs particularly love meta-communication.  When I visit an INTP board, its an entirely different world.  Before visiting an INTP board, I didn't realize how significant personality could be.

I've been on some integral forums where I thought people could use some insight from personality theory.  The majority of the arguments on the now closed Lightmind seemed to me to be nothing other than differences in personality styles.  I've wondered for some time why personality theory doesn't get discussed much amongst integralists.

Re: Using SD to enhance communication of Vision

The discussion of typologies is a bit off-topic re SD and communication, so I have started a new thread in reply to Marmalade's post just above, called SD and Personality-Soul Typologies. Bop on over there and check it out !!

Blessings, OM Bastet