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Making Connections - Issue 14, January 2004
Making Connections - Issue 14
Please Note: My email address is p_klinck@hotmail.com
Some have other emails but this is the one that is most reliable.
Welcome to Making Connections #14. The purpose of this newsletter is to reflect on changes and the conditions for learning/working which we encounter and create on a daily basis for ourselves and with others. I hope that 2004 is one of health and happiness for all of us. I will be in Australia from January 29 till the end of April. I look forward to being there with you!
The Passing of Old Year -- Small Changes
The passing of an old year, like the arrival of each solstice, happens in a moment of time so fleeting that it cannot be measured precisely. And yet we feel that this is a ‘new beginnings’. We set goals, trust that with a new beginning we’ll make fewer mistakes, we hope that luck will be on our side. Szymborska (1), the 1996 Nobel laureate, writes
Every beginning, after all,
is nothing but a sequel,
and the book of events
is always open in the middle.
More small change - liminal spaces
Lord Dunsany, a gifted Irish playwright of the last century used ‘liminal spaces’ in many of his tales to describe the realms which lie beyond the world we know. We enter these realms when we are in between two states. For example, when we leave the outdoors to go inside we pass through a threshold. This place is fraught with dangerous and powerful forces of change. We may slip from reality to one of the ‘unknown realms’. To keep themselves safe, the ancients took special measures to secure their world, carving symbols on the door lintels, inserting sprigs of rowan and Brigid's crosses into the doors, sweeping and blessing their thresholds, and nailing horseshoes above the doors. Like them we have our superstitions. And we have cautionary tales to instruct us on what happens to the unprepared and unsuspecting. Rip Van Winkel slipped through such a space and slept for twenty years. The stories of Brigadoon and Shangri-la, where time freezes, are based on the fear that everyday reality can change in a split moment. And many of us have had such life-altering experiences.
What separates the known world from these realms? Very little. Each time we cross a bridge, open a door, find ourselves between sleeping and waking we may encounter it. Kerr draws our attention to the fact that liminal spaces are not only physical.
Every hero or heroine's journey begins with a call to adventure, one breathtaking, serendipitous, watershed moment in which she or he recognizes a liminal space, and steps across the threshold into another realm.
The philosopher Martin Heidegger described the threshold as a joining, a space between two worlds, a potent common or middle ground which holds, joins and separates two worlds, all at the same time.
The threshold calls into being the separation of the between, calls into being the gathering middle, in whose intimacy the preservation of things and the granting of world pervade one another.
Liminal moments are a challenging reminder of how minute changes come unbidden and irrevocably change our world.
Metaphors, images and analogies
Speaking of the brief, fleeting moments when perspectives change brings to mind the role of images, metaphors and allegories. Again, they may seem insignificant-just a literary form which captures our imagination and then, can be dismissed. However these changes in language are essential to our way of being in the world. They mark turning points of change in individuals and in organisations. These two struck are particularly captivating and were shared in conversation with Dr. Phil Minaar, a colleague. They come from a conference he had attended.
- "we will work together like the wings of a bird"
- "when you think ill of yourself you offend the ancestors"
Dimensions of Leadership
At the time of its inauguration, Edith Cowan University (Perth Western Australia) decided to work on a leadership model which could be used consistently across the organisation. They spent considerable time and thought creating a model which reflected the experiences of employees in the organisation and then tested it against leadership theories and models current at that time. Once the process finished, they were satisfied that connection between their experiences and discussions and theory was robust. There remained several other tasks to complete. Firstly, what was the best way to represent the complexity of leadership? There was general agreement that the old 2 X 2 graph would distort rather than enlighten. Secondly, how should the aspects of leadership be named? What words best represented each Dimension?
The form chosen was the Venn Diagram:
The Dimensions of Leadership is essentially an ecological model of how leaders are formed and how they inform their environment. The mutuality of this relationship can be explored. For example, the connection between how society understands the organisation, how the members of the organisation bring their personal histories to leadership is clear and can be discussed using this representation. Although a two dimensional diagram, the Venn diagram demonstrates the interrelatedness of the Self with the other Dimensions. It illustrates that how each participant understands herself or himself is influenced by society and by the organisation in which they work.
The Venn diagram helps to emphasise the nature of leadership. The dynamic of the relationship between the organisation and society is graphed. As well, in each Dimension, there is an overlap with the Self. Thus, the role of strategist is not only for the organisation but for the individual. The same is true of Public Voice. It refers not only to speaking skills for public settings but also to having a sense of voice, of presence at all times. All the activities of leadership are based on an appreciation of the Self, of identity and authenticity.
The names chosen for each Dimension reflect the desire to name the roles so that they reflected the shared experiences and discussions that lead to the model. The unexpected nature of some of the names has provoked insights and lively debates during the programs. Of the four names chosen, only ‘strategist’ is widely used in other models and organisational processes.
The Creator of Environments posed some interesting challenges to the first group of participants. As an individual, how do you create your personal environment within an organisation? Or some have asked this question in another way “how much of you do you leave at the door of the organisation?” The starting point was the physical layout of the work place. At that time, the office spaces were deadly gray and impersonal. Desks were often placed so that they formed a barrier to people entering the office. As participants explored this Dimension, office spaces began to change. Photos appeared, plants, colors, book holders – any number of small items which personalized the space. Desks were pushed back to the wall so that there was an openness and a welcome. The effect on moral and on communication was huge. The connections between work and private lives became more visible.
Focusing out from the individual’s work space was the next challenge. If changes in the physical workspace of individuals made such a difference, what was impact of the environment on working and learning conditions? It became clear as the collegial support groups worked together that each department had its own ethos. In some, questioning, experimenting, working openly was the norm. In others, there was a reign of silence. Errors were serious and threatening to security and learning. Fear was alive and thriving in those situations. As discussions were supported by research, it was clear that these conditions were central to work satisfaction, to professional learning and to collegial relationships. How could participants manage the silence? We worked again from individual to organisation to society. Strategies were designed to have impact on policy, on leadership training and selection and of course on the reflective work needed to acknowledge and develop a sense of personal responsibility to make the changes. Working and learning conditions remain at the forefront of discussions on organisational culture. On this web site you will find an article which appeared recently in The Age, Melbourne’s daily newspaper.
An ecological model of leadership distributes the leadership initiatives and the results across the organisation. It recognizes that the position of leaders make a significant difference, but like other factors, the influence of leaders can and must be shaped by all members of the organisation.
Needs, Fear and Identity
Talk of change necessarily leads us to needs which we have and to the fear when the needs are not acknowledged or met. Heron (2) talks about the mutuality and our fears and needs. We need to be loved and respected – and we need to build the capacity to love and to respect others.
As groups consider needs and fears, it has become apparent that some of the emotions are so strong that they are nameless. These strong emotions are about joy and anger and fear. And beyond words. They can be shared in images, in metaphors but are unnamed and nameless.
They are a shock to our sense of being in the world – to our identity. It is not surprising then if we consider mergers, firing, cutbacks in organisations and the trauma to individuals. Sometimes it is not just the ‘everyday’ fears which we live with, but our whole identity which is affected.
Indio
So many of you know about my love of animals and in particular my work with a young paint Quarter Horse called Indio. He has the mystical blue eye and ‘medicine hat’ (black across the forehead with two black ears) which are so prized by First Nations people in Canada. Your concern when he was diagnosed with a terminal syndrome made a huge difference to me. Fortunately, when I got home, the symptoms proved to be wrong. So Indio will continue to roam the range in winter and the mountains in the summer!
- 1) Szymborska, Wislawa 2001 Miracle Fair W. W. Norton & Company p. 31
- 2) Heron, John. The Facilitator’s Handbook, Kogan Page Ltd, pp. 33-35
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