Thanks for the question, At...isn't the distinction between "potential"
and "actualisation" similar to the distinction between tacit and explicit
knowledge? Much of my coaching is designed to facilitate the development
of action knowledge (citing Argyris and Schon for this terminology). It
seems to me that the learning organization process generates around this
activity (moving potential to actual).
Coaching facilitates bridging a gap that exists between the present and
the desired conditions. Much of the gap (which we're bridging) consists
of incapacity or incapability. As capacity or capability are developed,
the gap decreases. Power grows as incapacity shrinks.
I advocate the use of boundaries to describe the level of autonomy which a
person may exercise in an organization. Power is synonymous with autonomy
in my belief system (as I tell people who talk about freedom, it's not
freedom that they really are searching for...it's autonomy and the power
associated with being autonomous). As capacity (ability, capability)
increases, then, boundaries can extend, and autonomy increases.
The greatest limits to autonomy (both our own and the others around us)
probably lies within our own belief systems. This perhaps spells the
difference between those who would control and direct others (do they
restrict their own autonomy...their own power?); and between those who
would coach and develop in others the capacity to extend their
autonomy...power...and as a result find their own autonomy and power
increasing?
Creativity happens within the boundaries over which we exercise some
autonomy. It happens within our workflow (I liken the word "flow" in this
sense to the "flow" we experience when we're being creative) whether we
are working on machinery, writing a poem or developing an idea. We simply
cannot be creative inside the boundaries that we (or others) describe for
ourselves. This idea of thinking outside the box...or creating a new
object or idea that moves beyond the boundaries by which we were
restricted refers to this...it's like an explosion, or a "pop" as we break
through to the other side. Creativity resides at the edges of chaos...the
edges of our own boundaries...and disturbs the balance (the homeostasis)
we tend to cling to.
Too often, though, someone pushes the person back into the previous
borders of that boundary which contains them...or the individual is
frightened by the sense of expansion and retreats. Don't you see this
happen in the workplace...or in the school?
So...power and autonomy reside within boundaries set by myself or others
who exercise power over me. Creativity disturbs the edges of the boundary
and can increase my power and autonomy...unless someone takes this away
from me and restores me to my former state or I retreat into my former
condition.
regards,
Doc
"The future is uncertain . . . but this uncertainty is at the very heart of
human creativity." -Ilya Prigogine
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