> From: jon <jon_jenkins_imaginal_training@pi.net>
>
> Dear Morty
>
> Two things interest me in your statement.
>
> In my model images (beliefs are not eliminated but changed. In your
> example, the belief is changed to "If I make a mistake I'll have an
> opportunity to learn and my organization will benefit and I will be
> rewarded." or something like that. For deeply held images that function
> effectively for the person holding them, change is quite difficult.
>
> It seems that the conditions required for such a dramatic change are such
> that when mistakes are made people don't get into trouble and their
> livelihood is not threatened. For a belief system to be functional it
> must reflect in some way the experience of the world. If in fact people
> are punished for making mistakes eliminating this belief is doing them a
> disservice.
I want to distinguish between individual beliefs (e.g., I don't matter,
life is difficult, relaitonships don't work, etc.) and beliefs in
organizations (e.g., mistakes get me into trouble in this company).
I would contend that all beliefs ultimately are interpretations of
experience. We live as if we see meaning in the world, but in fact all
meaning is an interpretation of what we really do see, and it's only in
our minds.
In oither words, you can observe your parents ignoring you and conclude:
I'm not important. It seems to you as if you areobserving I'm not
important, as if you could point to it and I would see the same thing. But
in fact all you see if your parents behavior, which could mean that you're
not important, that your parents think you're not important but they are
wrong, that you weren't important in that household but you might be in
another household, etc. There are a lot of possible interpretations or
meanings in your parents' behavior, but there is no one meaning that is
INHERENT in their behavior.
When you realize that a belief you hold is merely one interpetation of
earlier experiences, that you never saw it in the world, that the belief
(i.e., the meaning of the experience) has existed only in your mind -- the
belief will disappear permanently. This is obviously only an assertion,
but I've seen this happen thousands of times.
Now, in an organziation, beliefs are eliminated in much the same way. But
if you keep getting into trouble for making a mistake, you will realize
that your old belief might not be applicable to all comapnies, and might
not be applicable to this company under different management, etc., but it
is applicable here at the moment. Thus, in order to change employees'
behavior and get them to take chances,you not only have to change their
beliefs about getting into trouble, you have to create a culture that
rewards them rather than punishes them for such behavior. Hope this
clarifies what I said earlier and answers your question. > > Best
Morty Lefkoe
For information about the Decision Maker(R) Institute and
my book, Re-Create Your Life: Transforming Yourself and
Your World, visit http://decisionmaker.com
--"decisionmaker.com" <Morty@decisionmaker.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>