Publish at September 01 2025 Updated September 10 2025
The distinction between past, present and future is an illusion, however tenacious it may be.
Albert Einstein
The expression "welcoming the emerging future" translates into French the English term presencing, coined by Otto Scharmer in the early 2000s. This concept occupies a central place in what he called Theory U, an approach now widely used in the fields of leadership, social innovation and collective facilitation practices.
To understand this concept and its trajectory is to follow the shift from a philosophical and spiritual intuition to an organizational methodology, and then to a societal and ecological practice. At the same time, it allows us to question the way in which the facilitator's posture has been transformed in resonance with this expansion movement.
The first milestone was reached in the book Presence: Human purpose and the field of the future (Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski & Flowers, 2004). The term "presencing" appears here to designate a singular capacity: to connect with a wider field of consciousness where the future can be perceived before it is realized.
This is not mere projection or extrapolation of trends, but a particular quality of attention that enables us to "sense and embody the highest future potentiality that seeks to emerge" (Scharmer, 2004).
Scharmer's claimed filiation is twofold. On the one hand, phenomenology inspires this approach: Husserl's suspension of prejudice, or Heidegger's "listening to the call of being", offer keys to understanding the attitude required to welcome what is not yet given. On the other hand, embodied cognitive science, notably with Francisco Varela, provides a scientific basis by showing that knowledge is always co-constructed by the lived experience of the body in relation to the world (Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1991).
At this stage, the focus is on individual experience. How can a leader or practitioner open up to an inner source of knowledge and put himself at the service of a latent future? At this level, the facilitator acts as a mirror, helping the individual to suspend judgments, reconnect with feelings and listen to the intimate resonance of a possible future.
The second stage corresponds to the publication of "Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges" (2007). Here, "welcoming the emerging future" becomes the pivot of a transformation methodology, represented by the U-shaped curve.
On the left-hand side of the U, Scharmer describes the steps required to open up:
At the bottom of the U is "presencing", the moment when the old is undone and the new can emerge. On the right-hand side, the future is crystallized and actualized through prototypes.
Presencing is no longer just an inner experience, but a collective skill. Scharmer clearly contrasts two logics:
This stage marks a shift from the individual to the organizational. It involves helping teams and institutions to overcome their blockages, abandon their obsolete responses and embrace new solutions together.
The facilitator then becomes the guardian of the U: he or she maintains a safe, trusting space where the group can descend into silence, move through uncertainty, and then let living answers come forth. The facilitator's posture is based on benevolent neutrality, extended listening and the ability to support a group through an often bewildering experience.
The third stage is marked by "Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies" (Scharmer & Kaufer, 2013). Here, Scharmer broadens the scope of the concept: welcoming the emerging future is no longer limited to individuals or organizations, but concerns global social systems.
He identifies three main fractures of our time:
In the face of these fractures, presencing is conceived as a practice of healing and regeneration. Scharmer states:
"The quality of results produced by any system depends on the quality of awareness from which the people in the system operate" (2007).
In other words, what counts is not just the content of decisions, but the inner place from which they are made.
With the launch of the u.lab at MIT and the development of the Presencing Institute, this concept has taken on a global dimension. Thousands of people participate simultaneously in learning and co-creation processes.
The facilitator becomes a weaver of ecosystems: he or she connects diverse players, keeps them focused on the common good and ensures that the enlarged collective can welcome a regenerative future. This posture implies an ethical and ecological awareness, capable of handling complexity and embodying planetary responsibility.
This evolution can be summed up as a gradual ascent in scale:
This trajectory can be read as a passage from I to we, then to all.
The facilitator's role is to help a person suspend judgments and perceive future potential. The posture requires listening, silent presence and empathy. Related practices include reflective interviewing, journaling, meditative walking and contemplative dialogue.
The facilitator oversees the process, maintains the space of trust and accepts uncertainty. His posture is based on benevolent neutrality and trust in the collective dynamic. Practices include dialogue circles, sensing journeys, collective prototyping and innovation workshops.
He links fragmented players, embodies an ethical commitment and focuses attention on the common good. His posture is that of a craftsman of social and ecological regeneration. Associated practices range from extended citizen forums to social innovation laboratories, via massive co-learning platforms like u.lab.
This trajectory is not without its weaknesses. Can we really embrace the future without projecting it through the filters of the present? How can we avoid reducing presencing to a managerial technique used to improve productivity without any ethical commitment?
Scharmer himself recognizes this vulnerability: if a collective's quality of awareness is low, what emerges will be a repetition of the past, disguised as something new.
What's more, openness to an emerging future requires time, attention and a certain psychological security - conditions rarely met by everyone. The democratization of this practice, its accessibility beyond privileged circles, remains a crucial issue.
For facilitators, "welcoming the emerging future" calls for a profound redefinition of their role. It's not about steering a group towards a preconceived solution, or producing a quick consensus. The role of the facilitator is to accompany a collective through the U, to support the opening of mind, heart and will, and to maintain a space where the future can manifest itself.
In concrete terms, this means :
Conclusion
Welcoming the emerging future" is one of Otto Scharmer's major contributions. His trajectory, from 2004 to the present day, shows a gradual broadening: from phenomenological intuition experienced individually, to organizational methodology, then to the planetary practice of ecological and social awareness.
For facilitators, this evolution opens up a demanding path: no longer simply organizing change, but enabling the emergence of a regenerative future. This calls for constant vigilance, clear ethics and an embodied presence.
In this sense, facilitation becomes a practice of active hope: a way of holding the threshold between past and future, so that the future can be welcomed as a living, shared promise.
References
Scharmer, O. C. (2007). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges. Cambridge, MA: Society for Organizational Learning (2nd ed. 2016, Berrett-Koehler).
Scharmer, O. C., & Kaufer, K. (2013). Leading from the emerging future: From ego-system to eco-system economies. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Scharmer, O. C., Senge, P., Jaworski, J., & Flowers, B. S. (2004). Presence: Human purpose and the field of the future. Cambridge, MA: Society for Organizational Learning.
Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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