IT'S PERSONAL
“Me too. If all women who have been sexually assaulted or harassed spoke up, we might have a better idea of how big and damaging this problem is.”
Charlyne Yi
Me too. This is personal. It is the heart of what we are doing. The nParadigm approach is based on balance as an optimal state of being. It is also an optimal state of performance that leverages the full potential of the group. To achieve and maintain this balance, existing imbalance must be corrected. In the western model of leadership and organization this is, put simply, a feminine or right brain orientation toward creative and intuitive wholeness. This is the model that we have outlined at nParadigm.
Based on recent scientific findings, data analytics, and 360 degree research, we know that we are lacking the full participation of employees. In particular, we are lacking the participation and inclusion of women—over half of the population. The absence of women and a feminine way of leading and being that they represent is handicapping us all. We are lacking the transformational power of collaboration and creation. It is our belief that to not only include but empower women and a feminine way of being, in both women and men, will be a profound paradigm shift—a shift that we are modelling. It is not too much to say that this new model will revolutionize human enterprise, creating sustainable patterns of relationship that will transform our world.
At nParadigm, we cover the required standards for the prevention, recognition, and treatment of sexual harassment and assault—but we do it in a different way. Unlike traditional programs that maintain an us versus them dynamic, reinforcing and antagonizing difference, we establish points of commonality and unity. By fostering empathy and shared understanding, nParadigm thus transcends external motivation (which is statistically contextual and temporary) to create internal motivation. Put simply, we facilitate cultural shifts that make sexual assault and harassment unimaginable and untenable because the core values of empathy and understanding will not support them—because they support everyone.
CREATING SAFE ENVIRONMENTS
Through nParadigm labs we begin by creating a safe circle or container. Based on research that people feel better and work better when they feel safe, we apply a model of cultural therapy to corporate culture. This allows us to treat the root cause—a cause that not only marginalizes and dehumanizes individuals but negates group potential. On all levels, safe environments are in the benefit of all. This is a cultural shift that effects the whole but it begins with each individual. It is built from the bottom up.
INDIVIDUAL AGENCY ACCOUNTABILITY
The nParadigm model is based on personal and group accountability. Through labs we model and enact ways of being and seeing. Giving examples and statistics, we invite participants to share their stories, humanizing the narratives. In this way, multiple perspectives are brought in to give wider angle views, ending with 360 degree or circle sessions where we give feedback, acknowledgement, and support.
"Intimidation, harassment and violence have no place in a democracy." Mo Ibrahim
Bringing in techniques from Truth, Reconciliation and Mindfulness practices, we guide individual and group exercises that are embodied and engaged. In stead of avoiding the core wounds and the emotions they trigger, we facilitate deep and true healing by creating safe spaces and processes to deep dive into the underlying wounding and patterns of belief. Overcoming self-limiting beliefs and self-imposed limitations is often the biggest obstacle standing between you and the realization of your full potential.
POTENTIAL
Men and women offer different perspectives, values, and orientations. Based on data analytics and visual presentation, we begin by establishing an appreciation for this difference within the human history, while acknowledging the lack of herstory or the contribution of women through time.
Two halves make a whole. We need diversity. A key part of this diversity, is in our bodies and brains. Bottom line is, we need to use both sides of our brain as both individuals and groups not only to survive but to thrive. A corporation or business needs to leverage the diverse offerings and perspectives of all of its people, including the dual perspectives of what is symbolically masculine and feminine.
At a core level this negation of women and feminine values is about a willingness to share power beyond ourselves. By expanding what we identify with and seeing beyond perceived difference, we can change this story. Working with the fundamental concept of the politics of identification or group thinking, nParadigm shifts from exclusion to inclusion, from you and me to we. We foster group identification to increase group strength in the interest of all.
“It is we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men.”
Susan B. Anthony
This is more than training, this is teaching. In this teaching, the “other” is our greatest teacher. And when we learn from them or internalize their message, they are no longer separate but a part of us. By bridging different perspectives, we learn from each other—and we not only become whole, we become healthy and strong. This strength translates into both internal and external dividends, paying off in ways that last. This appreciation of the value of difference starts from within.
"Happy people build their inner world; unhappy people blame their outer world." Harv Eker
At nParadigm we address and change external limitation by changing internal limitation. Always we begin within ourselves and work outward from the individual to the group. In doing this we meet in the center and create sustainable change based on changed patterns. Through this process we also recognize that the group needs the individual just as the individual needs the group.
The shift is in the inner perspective that identifies with the group, dissolving the separation that gender inequity is based on. This is inner shift can be felt, putting the group at ease, and allowing people to work with difference as an advantage not a disadvantage. It translates to changed behavior that lasts.
“We need to understand that there is no formula for how women should lead their lives. that is why we must respect the choices that each woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential.” Hillary Rodham Clinton
GENDER AND THE BRAIN
“Masculine and feminine aspects exist in all beings."
David Deida
We are a chain. We are only as strong as our weakest link. A house divided cannot stand. Statistics prove this and we know this. Yet we have been programmed by unconscious factors to build walls instead of bridges. We need to build bridges. Part of the bridging is between the hemispheres of the brain and our biology.
While men and women are recognized as different, men and women are also different within their own gender. It is a reframing of the Masculine and Feminine. The reframe is based on this difference. Some men are more feminine, some women more masculine. This difference transcends biochemistry. It is biological and psychological.
Looking at gender models through a scientific and archetypal lens, nParadigm employs a concept of the inner and outer masculine and feminine to create a culture that recognizes how the feminine aspect of both women and men is marginalized—and how the masculine aspect is also distorted or marginalized. By communicating from perspectives of commonality and difference, within and without, nParadigm dissolves the old oppositional paradigm of the battle of the sexes, as both genders relate to the masculine and feminine.
HEART AND MIND
“Emotion is the chief source of all becoming conscious. There can be no transformating of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion."
Carl Jung
Drawing from archetypal patterns of the masculine and feminine from Hermetic teaching to Carl Jung, nParadigm examines how the masculine and feminine are expressed symbolically and culturally. Looking to nature, we see the positive and negative states expressed in all electro-magnetic systems—like ourselves. By reviewing a short visual history of gender, we create momentum to move into a modern understanding of equality that truly celebrates difference because it understands and appreciates its benefit.
Two halves make a whole. A brain, a walnut, a species has two halves. We need both halves to become whole. This is a personal and professional truth. The good news is that while masculine and feminine roles have some biological basis, they are not fixed. They are social constructs—as is our appreciation for them.
Bridging the gender gap, connects both sides and allows us to realize and actualize our whole potential. Women’s equality took its first step backward in 2017, according to global metrics. In order for us to progress, this trend must be reversed—for all of us. Reflected in the hemispheres of the brain and the symbolism of the masculine and feminine, we need the creative and analytic, the linear and nonlinear, the visual and verbal thinkers to help us navigate our future. We need courage and compassion.
Vulnerability is about showing up Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It's tough to do that when we're terrified about what people might see or think. The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you're enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect." Brene Brown
Repatterning is ongoing. Based on evidence-based models of repetition, patterns can be reset, but inner issues will continue to emerge, at times causing emergencies. To keep growing, unconscious patterns will continue to be refined and reformed. This is a process of liberation from the old, moving into the new.
We are becoming conscious. nParadigm labs are designed to expose unconscious and inherited pattern-based responses from the past (both biological and psychological), so that you are not reactive but proactive. From this place of increased freedom, you can see your motives more clearly, recognizing emergent solutions to previously unanswerable problems. When a complex is triggered, the individual learns to self-assess what are the limiting beliefs and the core wounds.
Change takes time, but with guidance and practice, the negative behaviors that limit team potential and productivity are removed, creating greater collaborative trust and capacity. In this process old behaviors and old systems will be transformed holistically.
"We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein
From move from margin to center or in a linear model bottum up. While we recognize that the greatest personal and professional progress is made by working with difference, at nParadigm, we also realize that there are point of tension and misunderstanding around difference.
Minority populations and women, in particular, experience cultural and institutional prejudice. They suffer and, critically, we all suffer from this loss. At nParadigm, we acknowledge and begin with this fundamental reality. To protect those who have been marginalized or wounded, we create a safe container or circle to hold our difference—and we bring these individuals into the center.
In this way, nParadigm is founded on a principle of service, asking what we can offer in service to each other and our world. Just as a new paradigm is a new way of seeing and being in the world, nParadigm addresses old maladaptive patterns of exclusion and inequity by creating new adaptive patterns of inclusion and equity. In particular, nParadigm seeks to bring equality to vulnerable or marginalized populations, with a particular interest in overcoming gender-based inequality and violence against women.
EQUAL
“If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."
J.K. Rowlings
NParadigm’s labs establish boundaries and repattern unity by creating circles. Working with the symbolism of color, shape, sound, and form to set unconscious conditions, we foster feelings of belonging. Within this environment, we reframe the margin and the center by making the stories of those who have been marginalized central. We listen and learn. We ask and share. We feel.
We are entering a new paradigm. We FEEL. THINK. ACT. This simple paradigm shift allows us to stay centered. We live consciously, in the now. We are not reactive but responsive. We are not regreting the past or fixating on the future. We claim our purpose, passion and potential in each moment.
In our circular model, we reinforce collaboration versus competition, between and within genders, races, classes, and orientations of sexuality, politics, and faith. This framework allows the inner and outer work to go forward together based on the recognition that we need to hear and see everyone. Through this 360 process we achieve not only our individual potential but our group potential. This reframe turns the minority perspective from a liability to an asset. It is the spoke of the wheel of progress, revolving and evolving us.
A DREAM
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Martin Luther King
NParadigm is about shifting from the old paradigm of competition and aggression to a new paradigm of collaboration and compassion. It is about working together and for one another not separately and against one another. A social benefit corporation, nParadigm seeks to add benefit to society by helping individuals to realize their potential in service to our greater, collective potential. In this way, nParadigm is founded on a principle of service, asking what we can offer in service to each other and our world.
Just as a new paradigm is a new way of seeing and being in the world, nParadigm addresses old maladaptive patterns of exclusion and inequity by creating new adaptive patterns of inclusion and equity. In particular, nParadigm seeks to bring equality to vulnerable or marginalized populations, with a particular interest in overcoming gender-based inequality and violence against women.
In the most fundamental way, nParadigm is about gender equality. From promoting traditional feminine values, like caring for children, the environment and social justice, to our focus on the holistic creativity of the “feminine” right hemisphere of the brain, nParadigm values both genders. Through our rebalancing of gender, we hope to restore the value of women and the feminine within ourselves, our lives and the world. We believe that feminine values and leadership are critical to human sustainability.
Because of its mission to support the masculine and feminine equally, nParadigm’s methodology and course offerings center around gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women. Yet we also offer programs that target nature as an expression of Mother Nature, recognizing that being in nature is fundamental to human health and wholeness. Using data and analytics as well as human experience we create labs that overcome nature deficit disorder by returning people to their natural roots.
