Term | DEFINITION |
African Happy Pants | Happy Pants are informal pants that are made from traditional materials and designed with fun features that represent the typical African everyday life with functional pockets and hooks for keys. This fashion trend is branded to boost a “cool integrated culture” amongst South Africans and shift the mindset towards A2B ideas. The Happy Pants is worn by old and young, at home and at office. It serves to bridge the gap between generations and formal/informal setting. See more on www.africanhappypants.co.za. |
Anti-Virusing | Anti-virusing is an analogy taken from the computer world. It describes a process of removing viruses from a computer. In the A2B context, anti-virusing describes the removal of negative thought patterns from a person’s mind. A2B anti-virusing happens over an extended period. Negative thought patterns develop when humans are exposed to deceit or entering self-deceit. The A2B process helps to replace the default negative thought patterns by creating wider awareness, stimulating creative ideas and solutions and positive paradigms. |
A2B Model | The A2B model is a pragmatic, socio-economic development system that radically combats disempowerment. The model was developed in Southern Africa by Vivienne Schultz, from 1992 to 2009. The A2B model can be successfully used in multiple sectors (e.g. corporate, development, government, educational & skills development and health sectors) and provides a common understanding, operational language, measuring tools and standard intervention criteria for use in all sectors engaged in human development. The A2B model addresses the internal and neurological roots of the disempowerment problem. In most cases adult poverty can be ascribed to disempowerment, rooted in volitional pathology, which is due to developmental and/or emotional deprivation or physical conditions. This can be treated successfully by employing the A2B model’s scaled volitional development process within a scientifically designed vocational or entrepreneurial eco-system that develops consciousness and conscience. The benefits of a closed eco-system are uninterrupted exposure to scaled and graded challenges outside of the comfort zone, relentless enthusiasm for human potential, creativity, tough love, trust, racial common ground, etc. The A2B model tackles individual growth through competent provocateur-client relationships, task, situational and people challenges. It further promotes a special type of win-win partnering and multi-sector integration approach as a solution to the existing CSI and AID fraternity frustrations. The intact A2B system guarantees volitional and occupational performance growth, which is correlated with socio-economic independence, responsibility and poverty alleviation. The model offers an occupational science based job assessment scale, a job-task matching formula and a pragmatic intervention approach to develop individuals from dependency to entrepreneurship (self- reliance) or further to social entrepreneurship. |
Affirmation | Affirmation as a technique stands opposed to the technique of praise and complimenting which has the danger of being perceived as condescending or cheap talk. Affirmation is the verification or declaration of strength, growth and ability. We believe it has stronger developmental traction ability. |
Ashoka Foundation | Ashoka was founded in 1980, by Bill Drayton and it strives to shape a global, entrepreneurial, competitive citizen sector that encourages individuals and societies to respond to social challenges in a quick and innovative way. Ashoka believes and advocates for all people in society to work towards and drive change, rather than waiting for government organisations to step up to the plate. Ashoka also recognises and supports exceptional change makers. Vivienne was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2008. For more information, see www.ashoka.org |
Beliefs | Values, attitudes, way of life, religious creed / faith or convictions. |
Bluff Empowerment Program | A bluff empowerment program is one that looks and sounds empowering, but is in fact bringing about dependency and maintaining disempowerment. It might lead to short term change, requires the expenditure of a lot of time, energy and finances, but in the end does not lead to sustainable change in participants or communities. |
Carrot-Stick Approach | The Carrot-stick approach is where the proverbial carrot is dangled in front of a person in order to motivate him into action. |
Change | To be transformed from being a dependent, reactive A-level participator to an independent, pro-active B-level participator. To change is moving from point A to B. |
Change Management | Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. |
Community Worker | A community worker in this context refers to any person who wants to positively relate to other humans who are stuck in their growth and development. A community worker might refer to, amongst others, a philanthropist, affirmative action employer, trainer, therapist, psychologist, leader in a community, pastor, doctor, social worker, etc. |
Conscience | Conscience is the inner sense of right and wrong as it pertains to a person’s conduct or motives which impel him towards a perceived right and prudent action. It is interrelated to consciousness and self-belief. The higher a person’s consciousness (awareness), the higher his self-belief and also conscience would be. |
Consciousness | Consciousness speaks of an awareness, alertness, knowing and responsiveness, and can be seen as a continuum of states from comatose to alert. The A2B model intervenes in constructive consciousness states and develops consciousness levels by means of scaled and graded experiences of situations, people, tasks and challenges. |
Consciously Competent | This individual knows what is required for them to reach success in a task and they have the skill to achieve this. Their skill does not come instinctively and automatically yet, and they need to apply their mind in order to reach success. |
Consciously Incompetent | This speaks of a person who is aware of their incompetence in a task. They know what success should look like, but they are equally aware that they do not have the skill or competence to achieve this success. |
Containment | Containment in this context refers to containing anxiety by a process of putting measures in place to minimize or prevent anxiety (and its potentially negative effects) to such a degree, that a client feels free to function at his optimum. |
Cool Culture | To adopt a new Cool Culture is to adopt a new way of life, a new ideology that is not dominated by factors such as gender, race or social standing etc. Cool Culture is one recognized by a new set of values and beliefs, within an eco-system built on racial integration and win-win partnerships. |
Crutches Or Crutching | A crutch in this context describes a cleverly designed support mechanism, designed for an exactly right-fit to the person. It is put in place by the A2B provocateur in order to ensure B-level performance that results in successful task completion, better productivity and better profit. With the crutch in place the client is set up for success (failure is prevented), which leads to improved self-esteem which will most likely result in better quality growing responses. A crutch can take the form of human, technological or structural assistance. |
CSI, CSI Officer | CSI is the abbreviation for Corporate Social Investment. Corporate Social Investment is a mechanism by which companies help their communities. Companies would set aside money, time or expertise for local non-profit organizations to use for solutions to significant social problems. A CSI officer is the person that manages the CSI portfolio in a business. |
Dependency | Dependency in the vocational context speaks of one person that is dependent on another person for any form of aid, assistance or supervision due to lower volition and lower occupational intelligence levels and lack of the ability to take responsibility for his own economic, social and emotional wellbeing. Dependent people are typically found in blue-collar jobs. They might also be found in more responsible positions, but their workload is typically carried by their colleagues. Dependency in the non-vocational context can be seen in examples of beggars, people consistently making poor decisions due to inability to predict consequences of actions and people who are not able to cope independently with the demands of the world they live in. |
Deprivation Pathology | Deprivation pathology is a type of volitional pathology that is characterised by dependency, disempowerment and all the behavioural manifestations as described in the A levels. Psychiatric and some physical pathology can also lead to volitional pathology. |
Development | The act or process of developing, growing or making progress. It also describes maturing from a vulnerable, incapable, dependent or infant state to an independent and capable state. Development can only be achieved by ongoing exposure to ‘just-right’ challenges to situations, people, tasks, materials and tools, within enabling environments that nurture dignity, fuel volition and minimizes fear/anxiety. |
Dignity | Dignity is a human state, ability to present one-self occupationally with pride and respectability. This is created through the opportunity to interact with the world in a meaningful way through living diverse and holistic occupational lives, not just for material gain (Fromm 1998). This describes a person who is able to stand tall in the knowledge that he is capable of performing well in the task at hand. It also speaks of a person who is able to boldly participate in a diverse spectrum of tasks and are confident in their ability to perform well. Dignity is living an ‘I can’ life, free of the shame of knowing that “I can’t measure up”. Dignity is usually achieved once a person reaches a higher occupational intelligence level. |
Disempowerment | Disempowerment describes a state of dependency and an inability to take responsibility for economic, social and emotional well-being. |
Domination | Domination is the imposed supremacy of one person over another through methods such as intimidation, pressure, bullying, fear, force, cruelty, coercion, harassment, discrimination, aggravation, stress or oppression. It elicits negative anxiety in the inferior party and results in diminishing self-belief and volition hindering his development to B-levels. |
Dominion | Dominion is the right and responsibility of the human species (as opposed to all other species) to have authority and positive influence over the earth, fauna and flora as well as over human failing and deterioration. The human species is designed to live in dominion and it is the highest act displayed by a person of dignity. Dominion is the opposite of domination as it is a responsible act that protects, nurtures and develops both people and the planet for greater good as opposed to domination that disempowers and destroys everything in greed and self-gratification. |
Dsm Iv | The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. |
Ecosystem | An A2B eco-system in this context describes an environment or milieu that is pre-designed to foster and drive change and empowerment. It is designed to encourage the essential dynamics which combat anti-developmental behaviour and enables the development of occupational intelligence. It is a safe environment where people can fail, learn, grow and be exposed to tough real–life situations in a measured way that stimulates development and does not to break people. |
Efficacy | Efficacy describes a person’s belief in his ability to achieve the desired result. Inefficacy in this book speaks of a belief of not being able to reach success. |
Empower | Empower in this context describes the influence of one person on another to develop a higher internal volition that measures higher on the A2B (dependency-self reliance) scale. It speaks of a person moving from A-levels towards B-level,s and therefore developing towards independence and being a pro-active contributor to his own economic, social and emotional well-being. |
Entrepreneurial | Entrepreneurial abilities, in this context, do NOT refer to the skills needed to run a business. Entrepreneurial in this context refers to the presence of a set of entrepreneurial abilities:
All humans could and should develop entrepreneurial abilities, but not all humans have the capacity to develop the skills of running their own business. |
Enthusing-Into-Action | This term describes the use of unique verbal and body language, action and skills which create a positive atmosphere which in turn results in lowering anxiety, heightening volition and igniting enthusiasm in other people. It’s a positive “cause & effect” method as opposed to reverting to the carrot-stick approach. |
Facilitative Question | A facilitative question is a carefully designed question that aims for more than just an answer. The aim of a facilitative question is to make the person think deeply about the subject matter, which allows him to gain new insight and to come to alternative conclusions. |
Feuerenstein’s Mediated Learning Model | Traditionally a teacher would present his learners with a stimulus (like a project or assignment) and then observe the response of his learners. Based on the response of the learner, the teacher would then plan and present the next response. In mediated learning, the mediator is less concerned with the end result of the response and more concerned with the thought processes and interaction of the learner with the stimulus provided. In mediated learning the mediator takes on the role of a warm human on equal level to the learner and who explores the problem with the learner rather than pretending to know the answers. The mediator interprets the significance of what the learner has accomplished and the feeling of accomplishment to the learner. According to this model the mediator also facilitates the learner to apply and transfer his new found learning to other areas of his life. |
Fragile Protégé | Fragile protégé describes a dependent, disempowered person who is voluntarily participating in an empowerment course of action. |
Flies | Our analogy for the typical contaminators that taint and ruin the human development process. |
Greatness Factor | A greatness factor in A2B language refers to a skill, talent or factor that leads to adding dignity, worth and greatness to a person. |
Heuristics | Experience-based patterns (logic) that the human brain defaults into for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a good enough solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense. |
“Have-Not's” | A “have-not” describes a dependent and disempowered person at the bottom of the economic pyramid. |
“Have's” | A “have” describes an empowered person who has the capacity to empower someone else. |
ICF Classification | The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, known more commonly as ICF. This classification system is used in the health and health-related domains. |
Inefficacy | See efficacy. |
Independent / Self-Sustainable | An independent or self-sustainable person is one who has the internal abilities to contribute to his own economic, social and emotional wellbeing |
Industry Norm / Industry Standard | An industry norm is the standard and quality that a manufactured product has to adhere to in order to be salable and have income generating potential. |
Initiative | Initiative describes the power or ability to independently generate enough internal motivation to take an introductory step or first action. Initiative is self-application and self-direction in new situations. It requires:
Initiative further speaks of the power or ability to start and follow through with a plan or task with maximum energy, enthusiasm, enterprise and determination. Initiative is a B-level characteristic. |
Intervention | Intervention in this context describes the actions and interactions between a provocateur and a client. In this relationship the provocateur facilitates the client on an empowerment journey from brokenness (disempowerment) to wholeness (empowerment). Intervention consists of:
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“Just-Right” Challenge | A “just- right” challenge is a task, situational or people-challenge that is pitched at the correct occupational intelligence level of the person being challenged. It is not too complex to cause an increase of anxiety and possible failure but not too easy to cause boredom. |
Khula | Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd is dedicated to the development and sustainability of small businesses in South Africa |
Neuro-Linguistic Programming NLP | Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a controversial approach to change, based on a model of inter-personal communication which is mainly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behavior and the subjective patterns of thought underlying them. It is a system of alternative therapy which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behavior. |
Locus Of Control | Locus of control describes a person’s perceived control of situations. A person with an internal locus of control will believe that his actions and choices have an influence on the outcomes in his life, whereas a person with an external locus of control believes that he has no control over what happens in his life. |
Maximiser | A person or tool that brings the best out of a person. |
Maximum Effort | Maximum effort describes the process of a person exerting maximum energy or giving his utmost best in a situation or a task. |
Milieu | Milieu describes a specific environment or setting, governed by specific rules and conditions. |
Mirroring | A technique used in A2B methodology to reflect the reality and truth of the person’s actions and non-actions related to his A2B OI level. The provocateur would reflect this behavior back to the client without any interpretation. Mirroring is more than the psychological reflection technique, as it inter-relates specifically to A2B OI levels. |
Mothers Milk Tasks | Every culture has particular tasks assigned to males and females which people within this culture grow up with. These tasks become second nature and are performed on a high B-level by the time the person reaches adulthood. For example selling and money handling skills are no- brainer tasks for the offspring of Portuguese cafe owners. So would Afrikaans males for instance would likewise be B-level competent in making a Braaivleis fire and African women in cooking marvelous Chakalaka. |
Multi-Dimensional Capacities | Multi-dimensional capacities have, involve or mark several dimensions or aspects. In this context it would be the capacity of a client to have high OI levels for a number of different tasks. |
Murphy’s Law | A supposed law of nature, expressed in various humorous popular sayings which imply that that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. |
Neuro Plasticity | Neuro-plasticity describes adaptive responses of the brain which allow the ability of the human brain to change as a result of experience. It describes the notion that the brain is “plastic” is and “malleable” even after childhood. The discovery of this feature of the brain is rather modern; the previous belief amongst scientists was that the brain does not change after the critical period of childhood development. The brain consists of nerve cells (or "neurons") and glial cells which are inter-connected and higher consciousness/awareness may happen through the change in the strength and amount of the connections, which happens through experiences. |
Occupation | Occupation in this context refers to any meaningful task or activity in which a human participates, including work. |
Occupational Being | Occupational science teaches that each human is defined, made up of and experiences meaning because of the activities they participate in. Yerxa et al. says, ...“we believe that humans are most true to their humanity when engaged in occupations”. The A2B model views humans as occupational beings. |
Occupational Intelligence (OI) Level | Occupational Intelligence levels describe the A2B levels as measured and plotted on the A2B scale by assessing the effect (manifestation, outcome) of a person’s action. It’s the scoring of the results of a person’s participation in a task. |
Occupational Participation | Occupational participation-levels reflect the quality and intensity of the volition (will to act) expended by the person. The ultimate aim of a provocateur is to increase a client’s Occupational Intelligence level, resulting in higher quality outcomes for the client’s actions. |
Originality | Originality is that aspect of created or invented products that makes it new or novel and distinguishes it from a replica. An original work is one that is not received from others or copied from the work of others. The higher a client’s consciousness, the higher his originality would be. Some synonyms are inventiveness, ingenuity, cleverness, creativity. |
Participant, Client | Participant or client in this context describes a person who is subject to facilitation/intervention from a transformative provocateur. |
Pathology | Pathology in this context speaks of a disease or illness with identifiable symptoms and related treatment. |
Pots | Analogy used by A2B, describing the elements needed for developing and empowering every human being to a place of sustainability and independence in adulthood. |
Power Partnerships | An A2B term describing a special type of internal or external relationship between “have’s” and “have-not’s” resulting in a win-win for both parties. |
Pro-Active And Adaptive Measures | These terms describe anticipatory, change-oriented and self-initiated behavior in the work place. Proactive behavior involves acting in advance of a future situation and describes taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a situation or waiting for something to happen. Adaptive behaviour is a type of behaviour that is used to adjust to another type of behaviour or situation. This is often characterised by a kind of behaviour that allows an individual to change a destructive or disruptive behaviour to something more constructive. These behaviours are most often social or personal behaviours. For example a person with a constant habit of talking and keeping everybody else out of work can re-focus their habit by taking on the telephone answering duties where their behaviour is constructive and not destructive. |
Product Norm | A product norm describes the industry standards by which an end product’s specifications and quality is measured. |
Prognosis, Prognostic Factor | A characteristic of a client, which can be used to estimate the recovery potential from a disease. A positive prognosis means that the factors that are present will help the client reach health or success easier and faster. A negative prognosis means that the factors that are present will hinder or even prevent the client from recovery or success. |
Provocateur | A provocateur in this context describes a person that is passionate to make change happen, who stirs stuck minds, contradicts negative belief systems and turns change-ideas into action. A provocateur walks and talks pragmatic change ideologies and is able to implement the whole A2B light bulb methodology with creative energy. A provocateur is steadfast, does not perpetuate dependency, but agitates the dependency state of humans. He strives to develop others through experiential learning that makes people think. He engages humans in an upbeat developmental way by giving them challenges to force them out of their comfort zone, and mirroring their occupational strengths and weaknesses back to them in a constructive way. |
Perpetrator | In this context it describes someone who is working against change and development. A perpetrator contributes to the anxiety and low self-belief in humans which work against empowerment and dignity. They are the opposite of a provocateur. In the A2B context, they are not only the bad guys, but they may also be good guys who lack patience and set employees up for failure. Perpetuators are often found to be A3-level participators with a fragile conscience and who typically bully and dominate colleagues on lower A-levels. |
Rehabilitation | Treatment or therapy that restores to a former capacity. |
Re-Parenting | It is a development process where a provocateur models parental qualities which disempowered adult clients lacked when going through normal development as a child, due to irresponsible, disempowered or absent parents. Re-parenting is a double intervention process. It is the breaking down of distorted self-beliefs, coping skills and warped behavioral patterns, re-engineering the brain with new belief systems, coping skills and behavioral patterns. This is done by lowering anxiety, building new perceived competence by exposure to diverse “just right”-challenges and restoring success and dignity in the client. |
Response-Ability | It is the ability to be accountable and answerable towards an obligation or liability. With responsibility goes authority to direct and take the necessary action to ensure success. In its simpler form it is the ABILITY to RESPOND appropriately to life’s demands that bring results and effectiveness. Responsibility requires a high level of consciousness, character and occupational intelligence (B-level). An A3 level participator can for instance only take partial responsibility for tasks in a supported manner, whereas lower A-level participants can take even less responsibility due to lack of awareness. |
Social Entrepreneur | Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as change agents for communities, offering innovative socio-economic transformation approaches and creating solutions to improve society. While a business entrepreneur might create entirely new industries and are primarily motivated by profit, a social entrepreneur balances people with profit. They are dominating or greedy, but they live in responsible dominion instead. They narrow the gap between rich and poor. They are like King Arthur’s knights of the round table as they fight to make things right in the world. Dees (2007) argued that social entrepreneurs are better positioned to innovate and focus on ground-level needs than the government institutions that are traditionally entrusted with addressing societal issues, as they are frequently plagued by bureaucratic structures, inefficiencies, politics and power. Bornstein (2004) notes that one way through which to improve the state of the world is to support the effectiveness of social entrepreneurs. |
Stimulation | Stimulation describes the process of exposing a client to “just right” tasks, people, tools, materials, situations and IT to activate his volition which will develop and empower him to a higher level. |
Stinking Thinking | Stinking thinking refers to those thoughts and thinking patterns that are negative, sabotaging and deceitful. |
Stuck, Stuckness, Un-Stucking | Stuck and stuckness describes a situation of being bound to cognitive patterns and habits that hold a person in the dependency pathology. Un-stucking describes the process of empowering a client cognitively, emotionally and volitionally. In other words, though new experiences that build new consciousness and conscience |
System Theory | Systems theory is an interdisciplinary theory about the nature of complex systems found in nature, society, and science. It provides a framework by which one can describe and/or investigate any group of objects that work together to produce some result. |
Task Consciousness | Task consciousness describes a person’s awareness of all the elements that make up a task, e.g. the steps, where to start and where to finish, the tools and materials needed, which problems to expect and how to solve them, and how long it will take. |
Tipping Point | A tipping point in the A2B context speaks of that point where there is enough weight to tip a situation in a specific direction. |
Transformative Provocateur | See Provoke |
Unconsciously Competent | This individual is so familiar with the task that they can reach success without having to think very hard. This saying holds true, “he can do it in his sleep”. |
Unconsciously Incompetent | This term describes someone who is totally incompetent in achieving success in a task, but they are unaware of their incompetence. Most often the person might not even be aware that such a task exists. |
Volition | Volition describes a person’s inner force, intrinsic motivation and willpower that impel all action and behavior and results in the creation of a tangible or intangible product of a particular value. It is manifested by constructive adults in the community on one of the 6 A2B occupational performance levels. It can manifest in a reactive, active or pro-active action for the greater good. |
Volitional Development | Volitional development describes the process by which a client’s internal willpower and intrinsic motivation for action is developed. Volitional development is a crucial component of childhood development which, if matured by the time of reaching adulthood, will enable an adult to reach maximum independent participation, higher levels of entrepreneurship and self- reliance and social entrepreneurship participation in their world. |
Volitionally Broken | Volitionally broken describes a person who is under-developed or hurt in his volition. He has very low or no willpower and intrinsic motivation to participate in actions that lead to independence. |
Width And Depth Challenges | This term describes various and diverse challenges in all their intricate detail and levels of difficulty. In the context used in chapter 3 this term speaks of exposing a child to as many different tasks as possible and continuously exposing them to more difficult levels of one specific task. An example of depth challenge is when a child might at first only be expected to help mix ingredients for baking and as he matures be expected to also be part of planning and buying of ingredients, or later even the creation of own recipes. |
Yerkes Dodson Law | The Yerkes-Dodson Law was developed by psychologists, Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908. It describes the empirical relationship between arousal and performance. It postulates that there is an optimal level of stress for peak performance and that too little or too much stress is counter-productive. |
ZPD- Approach | ZPD was developed by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. He describes the Zone of Proximal Development, or ZPD, as the distance between what a child can do with assistance and what he can accomplish without assistance. |
We use the A2B model that is a pragmatic, socio-economic developmental system that radically combats disempowerment. It addresses the internal and neurological roots of the disempowerment problem. In most cases adult poverty can be ascribed to disempowerment, rooted in volitional pathology, which is due to developmental and/or emotional deprivation or physical conditions.
A2B Fundamental Concepts and Terminology
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