Developing Reflexive Capacity for Blind Spots 

Anja Overdiek, Alyona Yuzefovich, and Joep Kuijper

The phenomenon and concept of blind spots have been addressed in systemic literature (Scharmer, 2007; Inayatullah et al., 2022) over the years but haven’t been further developed in systemic design yet. However, in an entangled world, it is increasingly important for students of systemic design (research) to realise and extend their “bias blind spot” (Pronin, Lin, & Ross, 2002). With our workshop, we explore the phenomenon of blind spots in the personal accounts of an action design researcher from the Netherlands and a social entrepreneur from Russia (working from a systemic design approach). We also offer and test a prototype of a “blind spot exploration tool” (developed in earlier workshops on the topic) that can be used in educational settings. This tool allows systemic designers to explore the mechanisms and consequences of their own blind spots. 

KEYWORDS: blind spot, reflexive capacity, systems thinking, transformative learning