A Q&A description of
Perspegrity Consulting Services

 

^ Summary

Perspegrity Solutions is a consulting service based on new methods for embedding the core values and ethics of an organization into the communication tools that the organization uses. Perspegrity (pronounced Per-SPE-gri-ty) focuses on online collaboration and communication, with the conviction that certain minor modifications to the software that many people use on a regular basis can support communication with important characteristics such as integrity, mutual regard, clarity, self-reflection, and multiple-perspectives.  For organizations that value such ethics-oriented capabilities and habits, the regular support offered by these tools will supplement the agreements, trainings, etc. that a group uses to align decisions  and actions with mission and core values. 

^ Why focus on communication and collaboration capacities?

Ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and conflict are often the result of inadequate communication and collaboration.  This leads to participants working from inaccurate or incomplete information.  Faulty information in turn leads to misunderstandings and poor decision-making.  Modern society is producing more and more information, and more and more opportunities for people to connect with each other.  But is the average quality of technology-enhanced connection, communication, and collaboration increasing in parallel with increasing quantity?  All indications are that it is not. To the contrary, quality seems to be degrading.  We believe that technology can be designed to support increased quality as well as quantity of connection. As users or designers of technological solutions, we can choose to support quality as well as quantity in online collaborations.

The basic principles of clear, effective, and ethical communication and collaboration apply in every domain of life and society.  Consider these hypothetical contexts: when information does not flow adequately from workers to leadership in an organization and unsafe products are produced; when members of ethnic, religious, or political groups fail to grasp each other's world-views and conflicts can flare up; when family members stand their ground in an argument without listening to each other and family relationships deteriorate. These examples from diverse contexts can be used to illustrate that most communication break-downs share common elements, involving common skills and habit patterns. 

^ What are these skills and habits, and what contexts are they used in?

The common capabilities, skills and habit patterns of high quality communication and collaboration include the following:

Note that this analysis of what it means to have high quality communication and collaboration shows that there can be a deep compatibility between the material goals of productivity, effectiveness, growth, and sustainability, and the ethical goals of mutual understanding, mutual regard, and raising consciousness or awareness.   Supporting these skills and habits can empower people's capacities  to work productively, maintain satisfying relationships, and contribute to the wellbeing of others and the health of the planet. 

Our mission is to support this important set of capacities, skills and habits in individuals and groups.  But doing so requires a pragmatic  appreciation of why these skills are not used more widely.  People's natural desires to cooperate effectively will manifest most vigorously when the environment is in alignment with these positive desires, and often groups need tools to rise above the inertia of deep seated ineffective social patterns.  For groups that use online tools to communicate and collaborate, these tools can provide a sustained and systemic basis for implementing new practices.  Of course, for these tools and practices to have an impact they must be accompanied by the buy-in that comes from commitment and care on the part of leadership and a sincere willingness on the part of participants. 

What is gained by systematically supporting capacities that lead to more integrity and deeper mutual understanding?  We can answer  this question from a number of perspectives.  Briefly:

^ What does the Perspegrity consulting firm do, and for whom?

Perspegrity Consulting provides a number of services that help organizations meet goals and align action with values by supporting clarity, flexibility, and integrity in online communication and collaboration.  We work primarily with values-oriented organizations  that already use the internet for internal or external collaboration.  Our services help organizations  "walking their talk" and/or create and sustain positive change.  We also partner with organizational development firms to provide value-added tools that anchor the mission, values, facilitation, and team building efforts of OD workshops in the client's organizational culture. Finally, we help educational institutions create quality discussion and collaboration in distance education and e-learning contexts.

We do not advocate a specific set of values or skills. We work with organizational leadership to analyze core values, mission, organizational challenges, and resource dynamics, to identify a workable set of goals that can be addressed with our  approach to online collaborative tools.  We help organizations re-purpose currently used software or find off-the-shelf software, and we help software designers modify or build software in alignment with our approach.  We help set up online environments, provide facilitation skills for online processes, and provide training for online facilitation and knowledge engineering. 

Because every organization has unique needs our aim is not to produce and market a single "software solution."  Rather, we sell services that make use of a new approach to using and designing software. The firm combines the "hard" products of software customization and design with the "soft" services of organizational development, mission and meeting facilitation, and training.  Eventually we will spin off a [nonprofit] institute that promotes and disseminates our design approach through conferences, trainings, research, publications, etc. 

We expect that many early adopters of our approach will be related to organizational development (OD) and strategic planning.  Many OD firms facilitate short-term or intermittent trainings and meetings around organizational vision and values, team building, or communication skills.  OD firms face persistent challenges in creating a sustainable impact following such limited interventions. To address this, the software regularly used by members can be modified to support the targeted values and skills.  We partner with OD firms to provide value-added service to their existing offerings.

As mentioned above, in addition to OD applications, this approach is applicable to many other contexts including: conflict resolution, mediation, knowledge-building, communication skills, inter-organizational relations, and diplomacy.  Our design approach is also applicable to educational contexts at all grade levels where the goal is to improve the communication and collaboration skills mentioned above an the associated thinking skills and social skills.

^ What is "Perspegrity?"

"Perspegrity" comes from combining Perspective and Integrity.  In the early stages of developing this work I was trying to flesh out all of the values and capabilities that I saw as important to high quality and ethical communication and collaboration.  I identified a couple dozen of them, and found that they could be organized into two groups: "perspective" and "integrity." 

Perspective. Considering multiple perspectives is a key capacity in high quality collaboration in complex situations.  I have identified three types of perspective taking, which I call "stepping back, "stepping in," and "stepping out." 

In part supporting perspective taking is about strengthening the habit of reacting to the unknown or the novel with curiosity rather than judgment or aversion.  A related skill is the ability to think flexibly in the midst of uncertainty, ambiguity, change, and pardon resist falling into black and white thinking in complex or charged situations (this is called "dialectical thinking"). 

Integrity. Integrity involves such things as transparency, responsibility, and accountability, which are essential to have a full account of ethical collaboration.  My definition of integrity is based on congruence.  Integrity involves developing:

Perspective-taking capabilities are divergent in nature.  They open us up to new possibilities and release the grip of firmly held beliefs--suspending judgment to allow creativity, awareness, and empathy.  The capacities of integrity are more convergent and oriented toward making judgments and taking actions--focusing in on what is real and right.  In real life situations the convergent and divergent modalities are not at odds with each other so much as complement each other when balanced.  These capacities can be supported, practiced, and improved. 

All of the capacities and habits we mention require both cognitive (or intellectual) skill and flexibility and also emotional (or social) intelligence.  Our approach is about mind and heart moving together.  (Also, see the description of the Perspegrity Logo.)

^ Do people and organizations really need help acting according to their values?

We assume that most people or organizations sincerely intend to act according to their values.  But many things can get in the way of acting in alignment with one's highest principles, misunderstandings,  hard feelings and grudges, premature judgments and assumptions, confusion, fear, and desire.  Also, our own needs and the needs of our group can take precedence over other individuals or other groups.  Situations can get complex and time is often short.  But when we look back, we see that life is filled with opportunities to be in more alignment with our values. 

The context or environment one is in can have a big impact.  If we are surrounded by people, practices, or artifacts that support awareness [mindfulness] and integrity, then we will take more opportunities to step back and reflect on what we are doing, and make more choices aligned with our values.  And if others are doing the same thing, it makes it easier for everyone. 

People know that they have both cognitive and ethical limitations and foibles, and groups and societies compensate for them by creating structures and tools such as speed limit signs, written laws, reminders on cigarette packages, and Roberts Rules of Order .  Acting with mutual regard and integrity involves capabilities that can be systematically encouraged and strengthened .   The idea that online communication tools might be structured to help people act in accordance with their values follows naturally from the use of other cultural tools.

Just as using tools that support efficiency does not guarantee complete efficiency, or force every act to be focused purely on efficiency, using tools that support ethical values in communication and collaboration does not imply that all of the communication or collaboration will be ethical (whatever that would mean) or focus exclusively on ethical themes. These tools would simply support communication and collaboration that is a bit more biased toward things like self-reflection and mutual understanding, or make it easier for people to communicate using such skills and habits.  It may not help every individual, but averaged over  a large group the overall quality of communication and collaboration could ratchet up noticeably over time.

^ How can software help people use and develop these capacities, and align with shared values?

Everyone knows that when one communicates online instead of face to face, some important things are lost, like tone of voice and facial expression.  Despite these problems, there are some advantages to working online. The well known advantages of collaborating online include: time and distance become less constricting, the number of people who can come together around a common interest increases exponentially, theoretically anyone can publish their ideas to everyone, and interactions can be recorded for future reference.  These advantages are now being heavily exploited by things like productivity tools, peer to peer approaches,  and social networking sites.  They are shifting the power dynamics to more distributed, flexible, democratic modes. 

These opportunities create new problems, such as information overload and the potential that mass movement may be just as likely to lead to herd mentality, increased polarization, and least-common-denominator  effects.  The internet links more and more people, sharing more and more information.  But the overall quality of this information and communication seems to be degrading.  So the well-known and exploited advantages of online technology as it is now designed may or may not lead to social improvement or psychological wellbeing.  To increase things like trust and mutual regard I believe that there needs to be a more explicit incorporation of ethically-relevant values and habits into online tools. 

In addition to the benefits of online activities mentioned above , there is also a less acknowledged but important potential benefit.  With digital communications we can sculpt or structure the communication medium itself to support certain values.  Software like web sites, discussion forums, voting tools, and Wiki knowledge bases can be set up to provide prompts and reminders and procedures that embed an organization's values into its collaboration tools. 

Our approach is not about forcing people to do anything, but rather it is about providing support and opportunities for inherent skills to come to the fore and for people to be in alignment with shared values.  If a group, organization, or community works ethics-supporting software into their daily practices, tailors how it is used to fit their needs, and keeps up a dialog among themselves to tweak and improve the process, then both the software and the group dynamics can offer an ongoing gentle pull toward higher quality and greater consciousness .  New behaviors can be practiced, new skills can be built that will transfer outside the online work into the all areas of activity (see the section below with Examples).  And as these capacities develop in an organization, the software can be periodically modified to support even higher levels of quality, creating a continuous "learning organization."

^ It sounds idealistic for most organizations--who is this for?

It requires some effort and willingness to be reflective and to change old habits, so this is not for every person or organization.  But if the leadership or members of a group or organization have a desire, or even a sincere curiosity, then there are many things that they can do to create systemic-level support.  Even very small changes and a little bit of collective effort can multiply, leading to new skills, deeper trust, more valid knowledge, and more powerful decisions. 

The effort to build these new systems into an organization's infrastructure may be significant, especially at the start.  Early adopters will be those organizations that have strong value-orientations.  It should be noted that it is not our goal to introduce technological fixes to groups that donor already use or need technology.  Rather, our target audience is organizations or other groups that already use online technology to collaborate internally and/or externally.

^ What are some concrete examples of software features?

Software can support (or "scaffold") the skills and behaviors mentioned above using simple methods that use either  spatial/visual or procedural methods.  Spatial/visual features include reminders or prompts,  templates or reusable web-page layouts, text boxes or check-boxes in which to find or enter specific types of information.  Procedural (or work-flow) support involves the sequencing of  the next web page or screen that the user sees.  Below are brief examples of the types of support and structuring that can be embedded into communication software via special/visual or procedural features.

The recommended approach is  not about mandating or enforcing communication habits, it is about creating cultures of productive and healthy communication habits.  For example, tools can support cultures of self-reflection, self-critique, authenticity, transparency, perspective-taking,  reality-checking, respect for different world views, or follow-through on commitments. (Note the "or" here--again, no group is expected to commit to all, or even most, of these values and features.  Working with groups is a process of identifying key values and exploring how some of then can be embedded in their online tools.)

For more detailed descriptions, see the web page on Example Features or the article On collaborative technologies supporting cognitive skills for mutual regard.

^ What is new or novel or promising about the approach?

Most software is designed to support values such as efficiency, productivity, access, and connectivity.  There is very little in the way of software that directly or explicitly supports ethically-relevant skills and communication habits related to values such as mutual understanding, integrity, perspective taking, and self-reflection.  We will compare our focus to two common types of software tools: decision support tools and social networking tools.  Decision support tools help leaders and knowledge workers find, organize, analyze, critique, and synthesize information.  They help groups of people build knowledge and make decisions based on knowledge.  Wikis and survey or voting software can be used for decision support.  Social networking tools, and several other genres including blogs, help people make connections, find those with similar interests, express their opinions, and hear other's opinions.  Both decision support and social networking have some overlap with ethics-supporting tools, but neither of them directly supports ethical modes of interaction or the skills of ethical communication mentioned above. 

These existing tools indirectly support self-reflection, multiple perspectives, and mutual understanding by exposing people to diverse ideas and providing opportunities to critique or evaluate them, and also by transparently exposing information that may make it more difficult to act irresponsibly.  But their use can also lead to insular, monological, and opportunistic (in the negative sense) results.  What we would like to add to the mix are software features or tools that counteract these negative possibilities by supporting self-reflection, mutual understanding, integrity, etc., especially in complex situations involving potential disagreement, debate, or conflict (which arise to some degree in all work and social contexts).  In these situations there are natural psychological tendencies to shut out challenging views, choices, and people.  Systematic support in the form of tools and shared intentions is important to responding  productively to such situations. 

Of course, all of these types of software and tools overlap in features and functionality.  Our goal is not to create entirely new types of software applications or internet services, but to foster approaches to the design of software tools, including decision support and social networking software, that supports ethical modes of interaction and consciousness.

^ Is there a market for it? Are people interested in this type of approach?

More and more people are using software for communication, collaboration, and decision support, so the opportunities and the need to create ethically-supportive software are certainly increasing.  And even though many trends might suggest that society as a whole may be more interested in the materialistic worlds of profit, power, and pleasure, there are also indications that some people and groups are increasingly interested in new ways of relating to each other, new ways of doing business, new ways of doing politics and international relations--ways that are more ethical, moral, sustainable, and conscious.  With the advent of globalization and the internet, there is more need than ever to support collaboration and understanding across different world-views and assumptions.

At this point we are looking for early adopters and risk takers--organizations who are strongly value oriented and want to be known for innovation and leadership in smart ethical business practices and co-creative work methods.  Also this type of software could be highly valuable to organizations whose core mission is to build relationships, resolve conflicts, support mutual understanding,  or increase consciousness.  There will be a learning curve for both the technology designers and for participants in any group using it.  Designers will progressively learn more about what set of features and tools best meets the needs for various contexts and needs--for example whether the goals are more for decision support, community building, knowledge creating, etc.  Software features may also differ for groups with low vs. high initial trust level, low vs. high commitment to the process, low vs. high comfort with technology, low vs. high skill in reflective thinking, etc.  In adopting this type of software there will also be certain risks and tradeoffs that have to be evaluated and balanced, for example the danger of  creating too much dialog and discussion, or too much transparency.  In each context the benefits and risks have to inform the design and use.  Early adopters will be willing to take these risks because of the substantial potential gains.

^ How does it help the bottom line?

We are in the information age, and the age of networking.  According to current theories of leadership and business, strength and competitive advantage come primarily from two sources: knowledge and relationships of trust.  "Knowledge capital" and "social capital" are increasingly important factors for success.  It is easy to see how trust is built when we support mutual understanding, integrity, and so forth.  It turns out that the quality of knowledge building is also closely tied to ethical considerations.  Supporting multiple perspectives, free and open dialog, reflection on biases, authenticity, and so forth, contributes to higher quality knowledge.  The higher the quality of knowledge that people have to work with the more free and informed their choices can be.  decision-making becomes more precise and legitimate.

Thus, ethical considerations like mutual regard, integrity, reflection, transparency, etc. can be tied directly to a company's bottom line through concepts like social capital, trust, reputation , and employee and customer satisfaction.  Mutual understanding and trust with one's peers, customers, users, leadership, suppliers, and even competitors is becoming ever more important for the profitability, efficiency, quality, and satisfaction of everyone involved. 

^ What are the application contexts?

Below we list a number of application areas for our approach.  Though diverse, they all share the basic needs for high quality communication, collaboration, and decision-making.  Ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and conflict are so often the result of inadequate communication and collaboration.  This leads to participants working from inaccurate or incomplete information about others and about the world.  Faulty information in turn leads to misunderstandings and poor decision-making.  Tools that support higher quality communication, collaboration, and decision-making are thus applicable in many contexts.

^ Is this the right time for this project?

At this moment in history many trends are converging to make this project possible.  Of course, online software is being used increasingly for communication and collaboration, so the market or user base is expanding and the overall comfort with online software tools is increasing.  Also, after a long period where ethics was a practically taboo subject in business, academia, and politics, the pendulum is swinging back and concepts like mutual regard, integrity, and morality are coming back into the dominant discourses. 

Also, importantly, there have been many advances in psychology, brain theory, and sociology that offer important theories that can inform the design of social software and offer evidence for the need for supporting the types of ethical skills and habits that I have mentioned.  Those in marketing, sales, political spin doctoring, and the entertainment industry have long used emerging theories of mind, brain, group dynamics, and emotion/motivation to manipulate people.  It is high time that this same research was used to put more knowledge,  wisdom, connection, and self-empowerment in the hands of the public and contribute to the public good.

^ What inspired this? What is your vision for people?

I have always been inspired by the simple but deep shifts that people make when they break through to connect with others in difficult situations.  Our cultural, political, and even personal worlds can seem so full of disconnection, mistrust, criticism, and people misunderstanding each other.  The world is also full of many hopeful moments of connection and understanding. 

People get disconnected when they have different world views, value systems, or agendas, and they see each other as distant objects, not as full human beings that they are in relationship with.  But sometimes something rather magical happens.  A person hears something or has a moment of realization  and they open up to a larger picture, a new understanding of the other person or group.  Like putting yourself in the shoes of someone in another culture or political persuasion and getting an "aha!" insight about where they might be coming from; or hearing something from your spouse that evaporates an argument into a peaceful understanding.  These moments are too rare.  My personal  mission is to create more of these moments in the world.  My background is in software, and my problem solving style is systemic (or meta-systemic)  so what I have to offer is ideas for software that works at a systemic level to support these moments. 

This shift I am talking about usually comes through dialoging a person is exposed to the unsettling field of a different world view, value system, or culture.  There is the opportunity for a shift from a defensive to a curious and open stance.  A moment of empathic release and understanding.

These moments are just the beginning, and they may need to be created often in a collaborative project.  From this opening of mind and heart one moves into more dialog, tries to integrate the diverse perspectives, and get things done.  The hard work of problem solving and decision-making are still needed, and we must be ever watchful of tendencies to disregard  the skills of critical discernment and judgment in favor of feel-good agreements or shallow senses of connection.   But even though moments of opening to deeper understanding are a small part of an overall collaboration, they create the bedrock and tone for the rest of what we do.

Coherence of thought, the alignment of understanding and intention, is an extremely powerful force.  Conversely, when individuals in a group are pulled in incompatible or random directions and lack shared understanding of a situation there is little progress and much frustration.  Some alignment and progress can be made even for individuals or groups with many differences, if the common ground in world-views and goals can be identified and focused upon.  Achieving such alignment is not peasant requires the skills and communication habits discussed in this text.  I believe that transforming our world into one that promises more hope for peace, sustainability, and prosperity for generations to come will require substantial shifts in the consciousness and skill that people bring to communication and collaborations that allow more moments of mutual understanding, regard, and recognition.  Our communication tools can be designed so as to support the development of such consciousness and skill.

^ Tell me about the author (A Bio)

Tom Murray has been consulting, researching, publishing, and leading workshops in the areas including Online Communities, Cognitive Tools, Adaptive Educational Software, and Knowledge Engineering since 1985. Much of this work was done at the University of Massachusetts and Hampshire College, where he also taught graduate and undergraduate courses as an adjunct or visiting faculty member.  Dr. Murray has degrees in educational technology (EdD, MEd), computer science (MS), and physics (BS), has directed a number of projects in both industry and university research contexts, and is on the editorial review boards of two international journals (Integral Review, and the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education).   (See Vitae at www.tommurray.us.)

Recent interests branch into areas of applied philosophy, related to "epistemic indeterminacy," and online cognitive tools supporting metacognition and ethics-oriented reflective dialog.   He is fascinated by manifestations of collective intelligence in his own life, including experiences with Bohm Dialog and consensus-based decision-making.   He occasionally leads workshops in conflict resolution and conscious communication skills.

Murray currently lives in Western Massachusetts and works as an independent consultant.  He has tried his hand at parenting, from which his son and two step daughters seem to be happy young adult survivors.  For more information, including his dabblings in Contact Improvisation, Action Theater, Tai Chi, Authentic Movement, and Ultimate Frisbee, see www.tommurray.us.