"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, if you listen carefully, you can hear her breathing." -Arundhati Roy

Mission

Our purpose is to cause creative communities of unstoppable purpose and joy in a world that works for everyone. We hold the space for you and your organization to be great.

In particular, if you want to boost workplace wellness, find a sustainable and low-cost way to care for staff under stress, and create a healthier organizational culture, we can help. Check out our Sustainable Resilience blog for up-to-date info on coping skills and resiliency issues, worldwide.

Usoni helps groups to identify their strengths and inspirations, share their stories, clarify their values, set a course toward a clear goal, and follow through. We promise a transformation of your group life and productivity on indicators such as:

• - More reported happiness
• - Skilled management of conflict
• - Zest for work
• - Appreciation of one another
• - Creative problem-solving
• - Increased scope in setting and achieving goals
• - Alignment of work activities with core principles and values
• - Teamwork

Usoni coaches have helped individual clients with a variety of personal goals. Some examples of clients' successes:

• - Increase success during trying times
• - Increase well-being and reduce anxiety and anger
• - Lose weight and increase vitality
• - Reconcile with difficult family members and create new patterns of relating
• - Plan a retirement that balances the dream with the practicalities
• - Increase confidence and successfully stand up to an intimidating person
• - Drop negative self-talk and successfully switch jobs
• - Radically reduce anxiety through improved body image and altered relationship to dieting
• - Learn to enlist support and accept help to accomplish a vision

Papers

Expanding on the Theory Behind Usoni's Practice
Concept development assistance (discussing your idea, researching, conducting interviews for, writing and editing) is another service Usoni offers. The papers below, by Atieno Fisher, serve as both examples of the quality and originality you can expect and also as expansions on some of the theory underlying Usoni's practice.

Using Simulations; Is it right for your client's objectives? This article is for anyone who wants to improve their training and consulting by using live simulations. It will not prepare you to expertly facilitate every type of simulation, but, through descriptions and case examples, it will give you a sense of the scope of what is possible and perhaps some ideas for small ways to take a fresh approach in situations where simulation could optimize learning. What is simulation and when is it an appropriate choice? What are the advantages and pitfalls? What are the types of simulations? Finally, how does one go about creating and using them?

Usonic Leadership - The usonic leader is the other-oriented or freedom-oriented leader of the future, in which self-organizing systems will replace the command-and-control model. Here, usonic leaders from various industries reflect on what holistic leadership looks like in contemporary business. In their comments can be found the behaviors involved in usonic leadership: to "potentiate" others, with recognition as well as stepwise and sensitively matched tasking and listening; to provide a narrative that gives employees a sense of meaning and purpose that resonates with their own values and wishes about the future; to remain consistently aligned with values that lie deeper than the bottom line. Ultimately, usonic leaders experience leadership as a commitment to love, caring, and service.

Dismantling Domination - This describes the unique theory of violence that undergirds Usoni's conflict transformation work.

Cognitive Therapy and Psychodrama - While no one at Usoni practices as a therapist, this paper is included here because it describes some of the psychological processes behind the effectiveness of action methods in general.

What does "Usoni" mean?

"Usoni" is a Swahili word that indicates the future or "[the days] to come." Swahili is the primary African language of Kenya and Tanzania.

The word may also remind you of "Usonia," an architectural movement in which homes are tailored to the specific needs of a family and designed for harmony with the environment. Frank Lloyd Wright began and named this style of architecture as part of his vision of organic and heliotropic social change "from the ground and towards the light."

As a consulting firm, Usoni is committed to providing the space for groups and individuals to thrive and expand into the future, and the world, they choose to create.

Usoni's experiential methodology works by taking the process beyond the cognitive realm of thinking and talking and into the realm of action and practicing, where the learning that takes place actually sticks.

We believe here at Usoni that possibility, abundance, fun and aliveness make life and work effortlessly productive and rewarding, and ultimately make a better future for everyone.

Usoni's Methodology

Simulation is a powerful key, reaching the mind through the body's lived experience. Click here to read about an example of how "acting as if" alters and masters behavior. The Usoni method works by concretizing the parts of an issue in terms that can be easily explored and ultimately transformed. It blends action and role-taking methods as well as conflict resolution theory from a variety of sources, including Sociometry and Psychodrama. It can also include Playback Theater, a specific form for dialogue and community building, described below.

What is the Usoni Method's relationship to Psychodrama?

Psychodrama is a method of working with personal and social issues in which group members enact various roles under the guidance of a trained director. The goal is to broaden the range of choices actually possible in life. Psychodrama is often used as a form of group psychotherapy.

Usoni's methodology, in contrast, is used by facilitators, trainers, coaches, and Organizational Development/Change consultants (not counselors or therapists) and is designed to meet specific practical and learning objectives for personal or workplace projects. As a Usoni client, you will not be participating in therapy. If the coaches feel that your goals would be better served through a course of therapy, they will refer you to a trained counselor.

To read more about classical Psychodrama, see Jacob L. Moreno's seminal work Who Shall Survive? Now out of print, the full scanned text can be read at http://www.asgpp.org/html/library.html

What is Sociometry?

Sociometry is the measurement of social relationships in groups, conducted with instruments such as action diagrams, paper diagrams and questionnaires about preference on various criteria. Sociometry helps groups understand and make conscious choices about their dynamics and patterns and is used to reduce conflict, tension, or blockages to productivity.

What is Playback Theater and how does Usoni use it?

Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. Playback Theatre was founded in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and the original Playback Theatre company, including Jo Salas and Judy Swallow. Since then, Playback Theatre has reached hundreds of settings and locations. Usoni can help your organization or extended family plan a Playback Theater session, either as a workshop or a performance.