From Hurt to Love LO20514

Kent Quisel (kent@de-sa.com)
Thu, 28 Jan 1999 18:46:04 -0500

Replying to LO20430 --

Comments by Winfried on sureness and wholeness in the realm of business
were very helpful. Three questions at the end would be good questions to
pose to a group or business team.

Here are my thoughts in response to these questions:

> I am looking for a few words, can you help me to find them?

I will put question 1 after 2 and 3 for ease of flow.

> 2.) Impared sureness due to wholism

This person/org spends energy making connections and picking up signals
from the environment. But goals and purpose are poorly developed or are
so fragile that they change with every change in the wind. Therefore a
satifsfying contribution is not made. This can be very frustrating if the
sense of wholeness creates a sense of external need without knowing how to
fill it.

In the terms of an old sociology model, this is "other-directed". If the
frustration is lacking, the will to contribute may be weak.

> 3.) Impared wholeness due to surenessism (or egocentrism (?))

This person/org has a strong sense of identity and purpose. Energy is
devoted to serving this purpose with skill and investments. However, the
fit of this purpose to the whole situation is poorly seen, perhaps out of
wishful thinking or lack of interest. Adaptation is poor. Dissappointing
acceptance, surprising feedback and declining relevence will hinder
fulfillment. This could be called "inner-directed". If frustration is
lacking, the predictability of task and purpose may be far more important
than performance.

> 1.) Impared wholeness and sureness (if "cognitive dissonance" doesn't do)

This is more difficult to visualize without some thought. This person/org
is childish or undeveloped. Neither a sense of identity or a sense of the
world has been developed. If the person/org is not young, the learning
environment as been very immersive so that a sense of real purpose in the
world has not been encouraged. This would occur in ritualized
organizations.

An image comes to mind of a kite, with a purpose to fly in the wind. The
string is an internal connection to "place". The wood sticks forming a
cross are the internal structure or identity-shape or technology that
fulfills the core process. The external connection is the variable wind.

With a focus on wholeness without sureness, the kite design is changed
radically whenever the wind speed changes. The design never has a central
focus and eventually breaks under all the patches and changes.

With a focus on sureness without wholeness, the kite will be designed for
a narrow range of wind speeds. The design works in special winds.To avoid
embarrasing performance, the kite may be flown in a protected area by
running with the string.

If both sureness and wholeness are lacking, a careless design is unable to
get off the ground or is destroyed by a strong gust. If a mature person
continues to do this, it would seem that the person is being told to do it
and does not really care.

In the joy of seeking,

Kent Quisel

-- 

"Kent Quisel" <kent@de-sa.com>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>