Grundkraft Process

Why a Grundkraft Process – and how does it unfold?

Collaboration culture rarely fails because of a lack of good intentions. It fails because of fields of tension that lie beneath the surface of our collaboration routines and absorb energy. The Grundkraft Process addresses these fields, making them tangible and usable – enabling collaboration in which opposites interact rather than block each other.

Which field of tension to focus on?
To apply the Grundkraft Process, a field of tension or development must first be identified and addressed – what are the polarities that currently concern, burden or challenge a team or organization? Answering this question may include interpersonal dynamics, interdisciplinary interfaces, silos, or areas of innovation.

Where do we want to go?
Once the field of tension has been identified, the next step is to clarify the intention: Why do we want to work on this particular field of tension in greater depth? What is the purpose of doing so? Where do we want the process to go?

What is the structure of our field of tension?
Next, we identify the polarities – opposing positions, called roles in the Grundkraft Process – that most strongly shape the field of tension. For example, a change process in an organization:  Some perceive it as long overdue and welcome it; others resist it and feel unrecognized in their professional identity.

Once the field of tension and its purpose are clear, the key roles are named – the ones that all stakeholders need to understand more deeply in order to gain new insights. Then the process can begin.

How does a Grundkraft Process unfold?
At its center lies the hacking of roles: participants step into roles that are central to the field of tension – deliberately not the ones with which they usually identify. This creates a shift in perspective. In these (unfamiliar) roles, participants develop as complete a picture as possible of what, in their view, someone in this role experiences within the given field of tension.

This step is a collective act: everyone present is involved in hacking a role. The groups then present their empathy offering to the plenary – their view of the experience and reality of the role they were hacking.

Afterwards, the collective intelligence is activated: all participants – especially those who actually hold the respective roles – add what still needs to be expressed in order to fully understand the experiential reality of that specific role. By doing so, the collective wisdom of the emotional and cognitive knowledge in the room comes to the surface – everything is expressed that would otherwise remain beneath it.

What is the outcome?
At the end of the Grundkraft Process, an atmospheric shift occurs, where everybody experiences a sense of belonging and understanding. Concrete insights emerge about the structure and dynamics of the field of tension – insights that previously were not part of the collective awareness. This coherence leads to the emergence of new pathways forward and concrete next steps to take. On the shared foundation of a Grundkraft Process, the organizational next steps forward stand on solid ground, with a high engagement of everyone involved.