Ventana
This methodology now lies at the heart of Ventana, the Academy's organizational consultancy program. With a team of leading practitioners in the field of organizational development, Ventana offers learning-centered consultancy and facilitation services to organizations that are committed to discovering innovative, sustainable solutions to the complex challenges of our times.
It is during times of transition that brief windows (or, in Spanish, ventanas) appear when new patterns can form within an organization. It is during these times that a particular organizational capacity is called for, and that is when organizations come to us. Often it seems impossible to move through the window. Often the sense of struggle and tension makes the challenge seem beyond the current capability of the organization. Yet it is precisely at these moments that a new vision of organizational culture can emerge.
There are two other associations for the name, Ventana. First, in a true learning community there is a relational equanimity present. Each person becomes a window through which every other person in the organization can both see and transform him or herself and have access to the wisdom, capacity and potential of the organization – from within and from without.
Second, on the other side of these windows of opportunity is wilderness – pristine, undeveloped, unknown space. The idea of wilderness is essential for an organization to thrive. Wilderness is, for us, a metaphor for unknown territory. The natural impulses living within us, as individuals and as an organization, propel us towards the mystery of what is not yet known. Ventana is the name given to the one of the great California wildernesses.
Our Approach
At Ventana, we believe that the success of any social organization, whether for-profit or non-profit, depends primarily on its capacity to learn, evolve and transform. Ventana’s core purpose is to build these essential capacities within organizations.
To achieve this, Ventana creates the conditions in which our clients can:
- Reflect on and learn from key aspects of the organization, from systemic forces to operational details
- Support and integrate the capacities of everyone present
- Cultivate a workplace environment full of vitality, curiosity, creativity, and personal leadership
These elements define Ventana’s core approach: to create and sustain a Culture of Reflection and Learning.
This approach lays the foundation for our clients to achieve their mission by ennobling their workplace culture: cultivating the capacity to ask the unasked questions, and meet each other with courage, clarity, and open-heartedness in an environment of sustainable community.
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