How do we use the map?
The Map and the processes we use with it are based on a constructive world view restoring dignity to each other as meaningful beings, build bridges and recognise and act on our shared humanity.
Our Work is having an impact in many areas.
Impact in Leadership
African Leadership Foundation
The Map of Meaning® is contributing to the vision of the Africa Leadership Transformation Foundation (ALT) through it's incorporation in Leadership Training. Together with Map of Meaning International, ALT has brought the Map to over 500 African leaders.
ALT’s mission is to create 1 million leaders in 10 African countries by 2050. “Our vision is transforming leadership as the key to an Africa that works for everyone,”
“We see the Map as integral to our vision. Discovery of meaning brings clarity of leadership. The Map transforms the way leaders approach existing challenges and opportunities.”
Daniel Kamanga
ALT Executive Director
Impact in Community
Meaningful Aging
In collaboration with Meaningful Ageing Australia, Lani Morris, has written two workbooks to assist older people to better understand where meaning comes and goes as they age. The handbook, based on the Map of Meaning® also supports carers to become more skilled in their support of older people.
The ‘complaints’ of old age are often those of an abrupt (loss of partner) or slow (loss of hearing) loss of meaning. Understanding the dimensions of meaning helps older individuals and those who care for them create more specific responses that keep the individual need for meaning in life a top priority as we age.
Impact in Evaluation
The Map of Meaning® has been adapted to provide a more holistic and systemic perspective on demonstrating and assessing the Social Impact of programs.
Dr. Gianni Zappalà and colleagues use Meaningful Evaluation (ME), at the University of Technology Sydney to complement existing evaluation frameworks and demonstrate the social impact of:
- The Primary Ethics program in NSW: the extent to which volunteer ethics teachers experience their participation in the program as meaningful
- The SOUL (Social Outcomes through University Leadership) program at UTS: the extent to which UTS students participating in Service Learning experienced their participation as meaningful
- The NSW Government Carer Investment Program (CIP): examined how carer’s lives were changed by engaging with the CIP projects,
ME shows the importance of subjective experience in learning, enables the identification and assessment of the sustainability of outcomes, captures the inner process of change and also captures any unintended consequences from participation in a program. As a result adjustments to programs can be quickly made at an in depth, rather than superficial, level.
Impact in Higher Education
The Map of Meaning® is being used in the support of young people as they leave school and find their way into the world of work.
Anna Shaw used the dimensions of the Map to highlight areas for growth, understanding and decision-making as students developed their sense of responsibility moving out of the school environment.
Celine McKeown developed a groundbreaking program custom designed to support students create meaningful futures. The program teaches students how to use the Map of Meaning® to guide meaningful choices and actions – including real world interactive projects.
Marjo Lips-Wiersma uses the Map of Meaning to help Master’s students to connect their vision for a more sustainable world (they each choose a Sustainable Development Goal they want to contribute to) to planning the steps to get there, keeping the journey meaningful and identifying the support needed along the way.
The Map makes intuitive sense to young people, restores their dignity and grounds their, often ambitious, plans into the realities of here and now while keeping their vision alive.
Impact in Team Work
The Map of Meaning® is used with teams in a Dutch Ministry to help them find direction in changing times.
Lilian Kolker has designed specific team interventions to highlight the importance of understanding and working with what is meaningful in specific contexts.
These ways of working enabled management and their teams to define their purpose and strategy to increase their impact and goals, but also the team's cohesion and well-being.
Impact on Organisations
International Development
For over a decade Kerry McGovern of K McGovern & Associates in Australia, has Incorporated the Map of Meaning® into international development through public financial management, asset management and public sector governance.
“The Map is an indispensable tool to keep us whole. It will save us from burnout; it will save us from cynicism. It’s totally non-judgemental. It's like a key that unlocks all that is important to us as human beings. As a consultant working in developed and developing countries this framework gives me a simple way to profoundly engage with people across cultures.”
Kerry McGovern
Starting Entrepreneurs
Self Care
Carlos Saba of The Happy Startup School, uses the Map in the early stages of start-ups.
The Map helps entrepreneurs to embed self-care in the hectic period of beginning a business
Impact in Applied Research
Midwifery
The Map of Meaning® is being used in several applied research projects. For instance, a team led by Dr Tago Mharapara and Professor Marjo Lips-Wiersma has investigated how midwives experience meaningful and meaningless work.
Identifying the processes shaping midwives’ experiences of meaningful and meaningless work and the outcomes of those processes.
Impact in Social Work
Women
The Map of Meaning® is being used in social work with young women to help them make sense of their situation and lives. Ursula Trexler uses the Map of Meaning® with young women living in a protective environment.
They gain insight into who they are and what is important to them. This increases their inner strength to move into the outside world.