The concept of "integral productivity" brings together two key concepts:
Part I: Integral Metatheory
Integral Metatheory (Wikipedia) is a way of looking at the world that brings together different perspectives, disciplines, and knowledge systems into one big, interconnected map. It helps us understand complex problems by using multiple viewpoints instead of just one. It is often associated with thinkers like Ken Wilber and includes ideas from philosophy, psychology, science, and spirituality.
At its core, Integral Metatheory organizes knowledge into a few key ideas:
- Perspectives: Everyone sees the world differently, and all perspectives have some truth.
- Levels of Development: People, organizations, and societies grow in stages, like children growing up.
- Multiple Dimensions: Reality includes different aspects like thoughts, emotions, relationships, and systems.
- Integration: The best understanding comes from combining different viewpoints instead of choosing just one.
An integral metatheory perspective is by its very nature, highly generative. As a result, many people who engage in this topic can easily get caught in a kind of analysis paralysis while trying to think through all of these viewpoints as the increased set of factors takes more time, attention, patience, and capital to understand a topic.
Part II: Productivity
Productivity is its own tricky word; there are many definitions (Wikipedia). For now, let's focus on two of the more popular usages of the term:
- Economic productivity (Wikipedia), i.e. the efficiency with which you can produce goods
- Personal productivity (Wikiedpia), e.g. task management and time management
In each definition, the same question arises: how well can we leverage our limited resources—time, money, attention, supply—to the best effect?
Synthesis of Integral Metatheory and Productivity
To understand how these two major concepts come together, it's helpful to look at a specific concept from Integral Metatheory, the AQAL framework.
One of the key concepts of Integral Metatheory is the AQAL (All Quadrants All Levels) framework.
Most notably, this is often represented as a four-quadrant grid with interior-exterior as the X axis and individual-collective as the Y axis (as shown at the top-right of the image above).
| Quadrant Position | Quadrant Intersection | Quadrant Name |
| Upper Left (UL) | Interior-Individual | Intentional-Subjective |
| Upper Right (UR) | Exterior-Individual | Behavioral-Objective |
| Lower Left (LL) | Interior-Collective | Cultural-Intersubjective |
| Lower Right (LR) | Exterior-Collective | Social-Interobjective |
Most definitions of productivity historically seem to look at it from an Exterior definition. From a Euro-centric perspective, the starting point of the evolution of productivity is most commonly seen as the Industrial Revolution, where factory output was brought to scale (the Lower Right). With increased focus on management thinking and time management followed by the Information Age and knowledge work taking the spotlight, the world saw increased emphasis to the Lower Left quadrant.
What's most critically missing in most concepts of Productivity is the Interior perspective. Where is the refining of intention? Emotional processing and development? Learning and expanding one's knowledge? Enhancing our mind-body connection and sensemaking? New meaning-making?
Thus integral productivity is a form of productivity that values the individual and collective along with the interior and exterior. By bringing these aspects together, we can better produce goods and value for a greater spectrum of needs and peoples.