Archive 360º

We use 360° to describe a certain kind of transformation, a full transformation which occurs from the inside out. The method we use to help this transformation take place includes six elements, we call it the 360° method. Why are societal transformations so critical today? The last few hundred years have taken us through an age where the Constitution of the United States was proven to be an overwhelming success both domestically and on the world stage.

Yet, terrifying debt loads, moral corrosion, big business corruption, gluttonous entertainment, global threats and rampant pollutions eclipse our view of the past. Can you recognize the good that came from the industrial age––the age of the institution?

It takes effort to find the good in the face of its faults, but in doing so we’d notice the eradication of many diseases, the extension of the human life-span and the proliferation of conveniences allowing people to focus on helping others, to name a few. Knowledge has spread across the globe. The slave trade is looked on with abhorrence, as a thing of the past and millions have been free to pursue their dreams in an environment of equality and hope.

The affect of the last several hundred years can be looked upon as remarkable or with candid concern.

The 360° transformation addresses a core need manifest by the surface indicators of the industrial era, but more importantly it confronts the fear and the core fragmentation of our personal lives and communities. The need can be summed up as “the fear we have of the people we don’t know and the distance we too often feel from the people we should know better”.

This is not just a religious concern or a problem that can be fully addressed through academic journals. Nor is it a problem that can be solely addressed in the courtroom or in legislative assembly. These are the tools that have been put to good use. But the tools themselves carry the problem with them by association.

It is time to combine #1 the scrutiny and debate of written word in publications, #2 court rulings and legislation, #3 to combine the download of learning information in schools and #4 the reading and watching of it in the media and the doing of businesses together as one. Transformation involves seeing, learning, doing and becoming together as one transformative procedure. Not an industrial procedure of policy and control but a liberating procedure with self-determination at its core. In other words it is time to develop experiential procedures that enjoy the distant benefits of ratings, expertise and collaboration and the local benefits of in-person community support and relevance.

Change of this magnitude does not happen overnight, nor will it wholly replace the social functions above–we would not want it to. Historically, when a new form of this magnitude comes along it fulfills the gap between the two extremes of the past. This time it is preserving the benefits of the past industrial age while overcoming it’s negative by-products through good use of new forms of communication and time saving technologies. No one person can know how the events of time will play out, but we do know that change is coming and that transformation is in order. Why not stabilize this transformation so that the violence of the change is minimal?

Why is this so important on the world stage? As we  observe the world, we have many concerns; we don’t have the space in this article to get into the many ways we are concerned. It may be enough to say our view of everyone else in the world has come into closer focus than it has been in the past. This new focus while more accurate in recognizing legitimate problems is not always as accurate in its interpretation of those problems. It is so easy to point the finger of accusation and to be a critic.

Too often the conveniences and the needs of some seem to out weigh the rights and happiness of others. This is the tragedy of globalization and specialization. It is not time to stop globalization or specialization from happening, nor do we want to, but it is time to become less dependent upon it.

So how does 360° transformation fit into the picture? When people see a need locally or in a distant place they ought to be able to try to address it. This is referred to as social leadership, it is the true nature of statesmanship. This can seem like an overwhelming task for a person to accomplish. If not done with wisdom while maintaining local self-determination, the task can also encroach upon the independence of the local people, decreasing liberty and freedoms.

Social entrepreneurs from a distance, however well intentioned, do not have the benefit of owning the problem, or the awareness of a native insider regarding the full situation. Full ownership of the solution implies involvement in its development and implementation. Locally stabilizing a social transformation as it occurs through choice becomes critical. The Archive’s 6 Elements of 360° transformations help a social entrepreneur organize their services to stabilize change on the local level as it occurs.

Transformative procedures allow local autonomy while also allowing real-time relationship to take place between the social entrepreneurs and distant communities.  These 360° procedures also automate the service so that multiple communities can access services simultaneously. This keeps the sovereignty with the people who are living in the situation. Communities choose what transformations they will experience and keep complete control of customizing them as each rolls out and becomes a reality.

This may seem as foreign as some other inventions have felt when first introduced. This social shift is presented in this article with the hope that you will be able to better apply these tools to your situations as you come to know the Archive 360° studio and the STORI Foundation.