Everything is relational.
We are continually shaped by—and shaping—the relationships, environments, systems, stories, structures, and conditions we participate in.
Relational Design is the practice of becoming more aware of those conditions and intentionally participating in what we create within them.
We are always designing relationship.
Often without realizing it.
The way we communicate, respond to conflict, organize a room, structure a meeting, make decisions, distribute responsibility, set boundaries, invite participation, or repair rupture all influence what becomes possible between us.
Relational Design begins by making these conditions more visible.
Rather than immediately asking “How do we fix this?”, we become curious about:
What is actually happening here?
What relationships and conditions are shaping this experience?
What are we participating in—intentionally or unintentionally?
What matters most?
What might we create differently?
THE OPEN COMPASS PROCESS
Awareness creates choice.
A process that invites us to slow down, see more clearly, and respond in ways that align with our authentic selves, our values, who we want to be, and the relationships we want to cultivate.
Pause → Clarify → Align → Design → Practice
And then I’d give each ONE sentence:
Pause
Create enough space to notice what is actually happening.
Clarify
Explore the relationships, needs, values, patterns, tensions, and conditions present.
Align
Reconnect with what matters and who we want to be within the relationship or system.
Design
Co-create responses, structures, practices, or possibilities that reflect that alignment.
Practice
Bring what we’ve discovered into lived relationship—and remain curious about what emerges.
That’s an excellent explanation of what you’re doing without turning your process into a rigid five-step self-help formula.
Relational Design happens at every scale.
Relationships exist within relationships.
The relationship we have with ourselves influences how we relate to others. Partnerships exist within families and communities. Teams exist within organizations. Organizations exist within larger communities, environments, and systems.
Open Compass works across these relational scales.
A SIGNATURE OPEN COMPASS PROCESS
Relational Mapping
Relational Mapping is one way we practice Relational Design: slowing down enough to make the invisible visible and explore the relationships, patterns, influences, resources, tensions, and conditions shaping a larger system.