Learning Toward Wisdom

A colleague recently asked what wisdom means to me. At first, it was hard to pinpoint.

Here’s what I came up with. Wisdom is expansiveness, a demonstration of knowledge that provides a new perspective, a brave way of viewing a challenge, a freshness that would get others stuck. Wise people are perceptive, adaptable, and curiously seek root causes. They aren't satisfied with a quick fix, and seek personal, organizational, and systemic transformation. Wise people deeply embrace not knowing.

I walk alongside leaders and teams striving for wisdom as they work to transform their organization, often working to grow leadership capacity, effective teams and anti-oppressive spaces rooted in deep belonging.

Two clients recently engaged in eight-month learning engagements to identify their anti-oppression commitments. The leaders knew that they didn't want to get stuck in the tokenism trap, seeking to increase diversity without deep, authentic, personal, and collective commitments to inclusiveness, belonging and liberation. They knew that they didn't know what they didn't know. Their openness and willingness to go beyond linear thinking served them well. Their teams were philosophically committed but didn't know how to begin without doing more harm.

We collaboratively created experiences for their boards, leadership teams and staff to deeply understand the historical oppression in their sectors and unpack complex concepts that were often originally misunderstood. We learned together about traps and pitfalls and listened to those involved at all levels with marginalized identities. We were personally transformed in the process. 

Anti-oppression work can't be about personal development of the privileged; it's goal must be liberation, centering the most marginalized, not reinforcing the centrality of those with power and privilege.

I find that personal transformation toward liberation is often a result for those with privilege and power, as well. Their openness to the journey, not getting stuck in the trap of perfection, personal and joint commitment to justice and equity, listening instead of leading, embracing learning and not-knowing, and being brave and vulnerable to shed old ways of thinking and knowing.  

This is the path I see leaders following when they learn toward wisdom.

The triple loop learning framework further illuminates learning toward wisdom.

Diagram source: Tamarak Institute

As process consultants we engage pragmatically. We present an issue, develop initial ideas fleshing out the action and behavior change desired (Loop One); we unpack underlying issues, framing, and thinking about our thinking (Loop Two). This leads to deeper perceiving, discovering, considering systems effects, adapting and transforming (Loop Three).

For too long, we've experienced commodification of leadership, getting stuck in tools, resources and methodologies that promise a quick fix, a technical solution instead of an adaptive one, promising a shiny, empty, checklist of tasks to success. We were sold the false narrative that data leads to information, which leads to knowledge, and results in wisdom. 

Rather, by engaging in process consulting, the process itself changes the participants. It changes me, as the process consultant. It changes you. We engage in transformation together. Like little ripples from a leaf landing on a quiet pool, learning toward wisdom creates transformation, one step at a time. 

May you experience the learning journey toward wisdom,

Deanna Rolffs
Design Group International
Senior Consultant

Process Consulting competencies identified and implemented through
the Society for Process Consulting.