Jim wrote,
> I lead a team of about 90 people... and inevitably, I find that many
> people with
> unresolved family of origin issues find authentic dialogue extremely
> difficult. It seems that dialogue requires a certain amount of courage,
> self-confidence, and trust. All of those attributes were missing in my
> life until I got some specific help with my family of origin issues.
>
> So, what does all that mean? If you have people in your organization with
> unresolved family of origin issues, can you not create a learning
> organization? How are others out there dealing with this issue?
Much of the field of group dynamics deals with just such cases--and it
doesn't just involve people who had abusive childhoods. Also helps to
explain why going into a group or team and teaching them the
forming-storming-norming processes we usually hear about simply doesn't
work in the long run. Most of us tend to repeat our earliest group/social
relationships--particularly our unconscious roles-- within new
environments, unless we have become very conscious of how these earliest
relationships (family) have played themselves out in our lives, and we've
worked through them. Most of us don't recognize, I think, the extent to
which "old baggage" like unhealthy family relationships impact our
present way of being.
The essence of the learning organization, or even more vital workplaces,
is human development, adult development. Cultivating an LO is possible
even with individuals who carry with them an abusive past, but only to the
extent that we are really interested in cultivating an environment that is
most conducive to growth and development. Part of that, of course, is to
provide opportunity for people to become more conscious of themselves, to
confront their assumptions, etc. Serious group dynamics work, rather than
the surface kind of team-building we generally see, can help, I think.
People interested in this whole area might look into areas of depth
psychology or the work of the Tavistock Institute, among others.
--Terri A Deems tadeems@aol.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>