Time to Reflect
December 17, 2022
Part II: Where did the idea of Generative Communication come from, anyway?
February 20, 2023
Part I : Where did the idea of
The Early Days
For me, as close as I can figure, the idea of Generative Communication came from a slow-growing seed in the recesses of my mind, likely embedded in my DNA. Let’s call it “a propensity for challenging the status quo.” My dad would have said, with a hint of frustration, “You just can’t take ‘no’ for an answer!”
As a kid, I also grabbed onto the claim that we humans only use one-tenth of our brains, which fueled my belief that—if we tried harder and put our heads together—we could solve impossible problems. Sprinkle in some natural curiosity and a bit of tenacity, and the budding elements of a Generative Communication concept were on their way.
The ideas germinated in my rural life growing up in western Iowa where I drew lessons from watching my dad and other farmers adapt to weather events and market prices, neither of which they could control. I observed farmers’ reliance on family members, and occasionally on their neighbors, to work together to get things done—sometimes for survival.
My ideas of what GC could be were fed by intense decision-making conversations that took place when I discovered I was pregnant at 16. These sorts of conversations continued while raising our four brilliant children with the now-60-year love of my life.
Imagine the chaos, love, disagreements, good times, crises, bad moods, thrilling moments, laughter, sadness and all that arises in a family of six living under one roof: endless opportunities to engage in complex human interactions just to keep on keeping on.
Experiences serving on the local school board, church committees, and a local activist group further informed my ideas of what it means to generate positive outcomes (or not) from interactions among people. And throughout my young adulthood, I was steadily working away at my formal education from GED through Ph.D., which helped to satiate my curiosity, develop cognitive skills, and build my understanding of the world around me.
Academic Study
Once I entered graduate school and the kids were becoming self-sufficient and heading toward their own young adult lives, my academic focus was clear: human communication studies and psychology. Here I found an array of theories and began to develop a deeper understanding of exactly what human communication entails. While my term “Generative Communication” would not materialize until many years later, the foundational ideas began to take shape.
For example, the study of General Semantics (different from the study of Semantics) began to form my understanding of how we humans come to know what we know (epistemology, the theory of knowledge with regard to its methods, validity, and scope). General Semantics involves investigating and evaluating what distinguishes justified belief from conjecture, projection, and opinion, concerning itself with the mind’s relationship with reality. It also includes the philosophy and science of ontology, a study of what we know ranging from the nature of being to the structures of knowledge in the mind that inform the structures of what we perceive around us.
Symbolic Interactionism is a sociological theory that focuses on how individuals interact. It argues that people’s actions are based on the meanings they assign to things, which can differ depending on the person and the context, both of which invariably change over time. It draws from the American philosophy of pragmatism and methods for interpreting social interaction. This perspective, coupled with the theories of Social Constructionism—based on the idea that people actively construct or make their own knowledge in communication with one another, and their reality is determined by their experiences and previous knowledge—is also central to the underlying tenets of Generative Communication.
Lastly, I mention Complexity Science, theories applied to human and social interaction. While this is a relatively new focus of study and there is no central body of theories that agree on its application, there are basic concepts that relate to an understanding of Generative Communication. Among them is the principle of uncertainty resulting from continual movement and change in our internal and external realities. Interdependencies among living and nonliving elements of a continually emerging existence remind us of our reliance on the quality of our relationships with others and our environments. Some theories rely on the model of Complex Adaptive Systems for understanding complex phenomena in social settings, while others focus on the Complex Responsive Processes of human interaction. While each model provides an understanding of complexity science related to social interaction, it is the latter that provides the greatest insights into the ideas and practice of Generative Communication.
Please note: Wiki links offer a quick overview.
Let me know if you want further references!
Work Practices and Action Research
I realize that others may find the theories I highlight to be esoteric and less interesting than I do, but they are a large part of how I came to the idea of Generative Communication. Among other things, they informed my approach to the 30-plus years I practiced organizational and leadership consulting. In many ways, my work was a laboratory for informal field research as well as more formalized action research studies.
So, what happened next? We’ll explore this more in PART TWO next month, where I’ll recount some examples of how I applied what I would eventually call “Generative Communication” to my work, and even to my life as I recovered from a serious injury.
6 Comments
I love reading about how you came to Generative Communication. It is interesting to see the evolution of theories and practices. We all truly stand on the shoulders of giants.
Thanks Andrea. Yes indeed. We humans (unlike other life forms) are what Korzybski called “timebinders.” We have the unique ability to pass on–and learn from–information and knowledge from one generation to the next. What a gift to be able to find giant shoulders to stand on!
Mary, this is so interesting and very well written. No time at present to link to all the theories, but just the life narrative and pictures warmed my heart. Wish I’d known you when we were little girls. Not taking no for an answer has served you well!
Thank you, Ellie. It’s not critical to understand the theories in order to practice Generative Communication. Though their authors gave me good shoulders to stand on.
Thanks, Mary.
Thank you for your interest! 🙂