As with most things, Dynamic Competence is easiest understood when it is viewed through three different perspectives. Tom asks that as you read through these perspectives, be aware of any confusion that arises, as that will indicate where you need to focus.  

Dynamic Competence from this perspective can be seen as the ability to effectively implement an existing program, minimizing waste and cost, and maximizing outputs. We are interested in how we can most effectively react to any issue that comes up. Most of this work makes sense to us, it fits into our preconceived view of the world; what we call, our maps. There are a wide range of tools and programs that can help us react to most problems and maximize our outputs, from improving manufacturing performance to being a better manager or employee. The problem arises when this perspective has hit its limits and the status quo no longer works. We feel upset and out of sorts for a variety of reasons and productivity starts to bottom out. We start to notice all the little things that seem to be disconnected; all the resources that feel like they are underutilized.  

In order for us to gain equilibrium after disruptions to the status quo and to move ourselves and our organizations to a new level of functionality, this Dynamic Competence perspective encourages us to explore how we individually understand the disruption. As we intentionally focus on  exploring some of our underlying assumptions about the situation, we become open to new tools that expand our understanding and bring a greater range of ideas to the table. These tools allow us to explore our preferences for how we think, how we approach life and work, and what makes our work successful. With the knowledge of how our perspectives are different from each other, we can work collaboratively to create new ways of solving existing problems. We can then focus our intention on the details and begin to craft incremental changes that help us quickly stabilize our situation and allow us to get back to, and often increase, production. 

Sometimes change hits us in such profound, rapid, and debilitating ways that the intentional solutions we developed are not enough. If management and staff are up to it, then engaging Dynamic Competence from an integral perspective may be the only solution. From this perspective, we work from our intentional understanding and begin to build awareness of what is actually happening. At both the individual and organizational level, we start to take a “meta” approach. We begin to think about the thinking that we are using. We begin to consciously explore the unconscious, internal hierarchies we have been working under. We may find that new ways of moving our bodies that connect our minds differently. The goal is to open up a little more to what we have been missing. As you can tell from the words we are using to describe this, it starts more as a personal journey by a group of people who are exploring completely new ways of being, and working, together. The tools here focus on exploring our human potential, finding consensus with what is arising, and building ways to implement, test, and refine the results.  

 What is fascinating is that when we work under this umbrella of Dynamic Competence, we have the opportunity to touch all of these perspectives at any time. It’s just practice that gives us consistent access to the appropriate perspectives and the phenomenal results that can arise from this work. 

Please let us know what you think about these perspectives. Do they make sense to you? Do they resonate with you? How have these manifest in your work in interesting and challenging ways?