TO HEAR IS TO SEE (personal visioning)

 An article to be published by SA Coaching News

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart”- Rumi

Coaches have an important role to play as we move into 2021. It’s a good time to try and make sense  of 2020 and where we stand now (and story can contribute to sense-making), to contemplate alternative possible futures and a preferred future (stories) and develop our individual story and images of the future: our vision.  The topic of a personal vision -  one that provides meaning and purpose, ensures that we know why we exist and therefore are not steered off course by every new wind that blows as we move forward, but instead are sure and resilient – seemed right for this edition of SA Coaching News.

But here’s the rub: we live at a time where existential psychiatrist Irvin Yalom’s four givens of life seem more present than ever: the scary aspects and developmental appeal of meaninglessness, freedom, death and alone-ness or isolation. Also, in these unprecedented times there seems to be little room for those who know a lot about a little, less room for those who know a little about a lot, and an increasing call for those who know lots about lots. Trouble is – even if we fit the last-mentioned category, then we don’t know a lot – far more than what we do know (or think we know)!  Sure, the amount of data we can access is growing, as is information - albeit to a lesser extent. Even less available is practical knowledge and real understanding. And wisdom is in short supply. We just don’t know the unknown, the future.

So how to proceed?

 

As a starting point we need to see that vision is vital

 

Alice asked: “Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a great deal on where you want to get to” said the cat.

“I don’t know where” said Alice.

Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” said the cat. (Carroll, L. 1977)        

 

Without a vision we are lost, lose direction and focus..

Leave blow pipes (pea - shooters), paper balls, sponges in a conference room, during a tea or lunch break. When the participants return, in the absence of any other instruction, it will not be too long before these objects are thrown around, or at other people - with increasing intensity and hilarity. No matter how senior the participants.

After a while, without saying a word, place a picture of a target on a wall and immediately attention and energy is directed at it - in the form of the pea shooters, the balls and sponges, of course!   As soon as a single, clear target is shown and seen, there is a firm, definite focus.

 

Try to put together a jigsaw puzzle without looking at the picture (the end result that you are trying to achieve). Difficult. We need to picture where we are going. Frankl draws on his Oswieciem (Auschwitz) concentration camp experiences during the 2nd world war to explain that people need meaning and a future to hang on to (especially when the going is tough): "Any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal”.  (Frankll, V. 1985)

Ex World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali put it this way (The second line of his couplet is seldom quoted and speaks of the veracity of vision):

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see”

 

Recognise that true vision for many follows hearing the ‘Divine’ (however you understand or experience this)

Studdert Kennedy was an army chaplain and poet who bucked the incompetent bureaucracy that resulted in so many First World War casualties and wasted lives.

He refused to give safe, cosy, sermons behind the lines, and heard a call and chose instead to spend his time with the soldiers, in horrific conditions in the trenches. Not preaching, but being with them, coming alongside in their time of need.  

He’d often hand out a Woodbine cigarette and became known to the soldiers as Woodbine Willy. Years later when he died, his simple funeral was attended by thousands and a single packet of Woodbines was placed on top of his coffin.  

Kennedy gave the precious gift of being present for the other person and listening with unconditional, positive regard in their time of confusion, fear, and existential loneliness. (Target, G. 1987)

Mother (Saint) Teresa heard a still, small voice within speak gently to her in a dream on a train ride, and her vision from that day forward was to serve the poorest of the poor. This led to her setting up the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.  As Rumi puts it, she heard from “the one who talks to the deep ear in your chest”.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be”.  (Rutte, M. 2006)  

Vision gives purpose. Without it we face ennui. If we think our work and our life has no meaning, feel jaded, nothing new and exciting ever happens, we are dissatisfied, unfulfilled, aimless, listless... If our lives are swamped by burdens, responsibilities, chores that are mundane and routine, and we stay in the in the drone zone… then the dis-ease we’re suffering from is the absence of purpose.

Establishing our deep inner reason for existing is the most important work any of us can do

How can we hear better in order to see more clearly?

• Things that you may wish to weigh up: In this age of electronic interactions, it seems that our attention-spans and retention-spans are reducing. Perhaps we can become more open to listening and hearing by spending more time in nature, more time in reflective mode. At such times listening blockages within are more likely to reveal themselves so that we can  bypass or remove them: they may be hurts, resentments, blind spots, self-defeating attitudes, limiting beliefs and unconscious biases.

• Avoid being too cerebral and analytical. Allow for and explore the possibility of heart-knowing. “Research in the new discipline of neuro-cardiology shows that we have a “heart brain” with a vast array of neurons that are processing sensory information on their own and communicating that information to our brain, nervous system and other organ systems. This means the heart is able to learn, remember, and make decisions independent of the brain”. (Tafler, A. 2019)  Physicist and philosopher David Bohm’s notion of a deep, invisible “implicate” order (which we will never fully comprehend and understand) and which lies below and beyond our observed “explicate” reality, makes sense to me. (Horgan, J. 2018)  We can learn from the vision quest rite of passage practice, associated rituals and “crying for a vision” ceremonies that is a part of Native American Indian culture – and learn to hear from a wider reality than that which is confined to our conscious awareness. 

• Be patient. Having a clear vision – purpose - calling is as much about being as it is about doing. If you haven't yet figured it out, don't become frenetic and anxious. There is no quick fix: “The supreme achievement of the self is to find an insight that connects together the events, dreams, and relationships that make up our existence". (Baillas, L. 1986) We are spoken to at different times in our lives, and in many different ways. (And if we hear we will see):

Consider if what you are doing right now is your purpose (calling) but you are not seeing it. Elle Luna explores the differences between a job ("something typically done from 9 to 5 for pay"), a career ("a system of advancements and promotions over time where rewards are used to optimize behavior"), and a calling ("something that we feel compelled to do regardless of fame or fortune") (Luna, E. 2015)                    

A man questions three workers at a building site. “What are you doing?”

The first answers, I’m laying bricks”

The second, “We’re building a wall”

The third, “We’re creating a wonderful cathedral to the glory of God”.

 

Some may wake up after a dream, suddenly aware of their life purpose, and of the legacy they would like to leave. Others undergo a life crisis or an experience (physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual) which confronts them with a need or cause that they were not previously aware of and triggers their now-uncovered purpose. Their own trauma, addiction, life-threatening illness, event or status-change (for example motherhood, redundancy, crippling accident) gives rise to a conviction to reach out, assist and support others who are in the same boat.

 

Yet others have their purpose gradually unfold over the course of their life as they mature.

Sometimes our giftedness or calling is pointed out by someone else: they see what we don't yet see.

            

And for some, when the time is right, an exercise to determine an embedded motivational pattern, conducted by someone competent in this area, may be worthwhile. Elements may include a recurring motivational thrust, preferred subject matter, abilities usually brought to bear, relating preferences, typical trigger circumstances, driving values. (Dr Martin Luther King’s familiar and inspiring speech, given nearly 50 years ago, “painted the picture of a new, more just and loving society scarcely imagined by the American people at that time” and enabled listeners to visualize these values. "Visions themselves are based on deep values”. (Zohar, D. and Marshall,I. 2004)

 

 

In 1972 Trina Paulus wrote and illustrated the parable Hope for the Flowers, which beautifully illustrates how values may lead us to discovering our purpose and meaning in life. Two caterpillars, Stripe and Yellow, in their striving for success, climb a kind of corporate “caterpillar pillar” to findthat there is nothing at the top. In the end, surrendering to the cocoon, they finally fly, and become what they were meant to be. (Paulus, T. 1972

 

 

Good luck as you reflect, listen, hear... and see... and move into 2021.

Bibliography 

Baillas, Leonard J. (1986) Myths, Gods, Heroes, and Saviors Twenty-Third Publications   

Carroll, Lewis (Rev. Charles Dodgson) (1977) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland MacMillan

Frankl, Viktor E. (1985) Man’s Search for Meaning Basic Books NY

Horgan, John (2018) David Bohm, Quantum Mechanics and Enlightenment Scientific American. Crosscheck https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/david-bohm-quantum-mechanics-and-enlightenment/

Luna, Ella (2015) The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion Workman Publishing Co. Inc.  NY 

Paulus, Trina (1972) Hope for the Flowers, A Newman Book, Paulist Press, NY

Rutte, Martin (2006) The Work of Humanity: project heaven on earth citing Patanjali (in Seeking the Sacred: leading a spiritual life in a secular world. (ed Mary Joseph) ECW Press, Toronto, Canada

Tafler, Afshan (2019) How Your Heart May Be Your Wisest Brain June 27, 2019

https://unyte.com/blogs/news/how-your-heart-may-be-your-wisest-brain

Target, George (1987) Words that have Moved the World Bishopsgate Press, London

Tillich, Paul (2000) The Courage to Be, Yale University Press, New Haven

Zohar, Danah & Marshall, Ian (2004) Spiritual Capital Bloomsbury

Illustrations

Flooded Communication Trench     In the Public Domain

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Trenches_and_fortifications_of_World_War_I#/media/File:Flooded_communication_trench_(4688581846).jpg

Martin Luther King   Tony Grogan

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

 - Bridging to a New Possibilist World

(This newsletter first appeared in SA Coaching News, Volume 2, Issue 10, October 2020)

“The truth is what ennobles” - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher

 

Many story techniques may be used by a coach to create a safe space, assist a client to obtain insight, raise their awareness, identify values and dynamics, consider alternative paths and their consequences, , come to a resolution, embark on a change journey, convey comfort and affirmation.

They include deep listening, journaling, time-lining, reframing, archetypal descriptions, metaphor-elicitation, dreamwork and active-imagination exercises.

In this article I introduce the use of image as a tool to stimulate the image-ination (A different reality).

The image may be a drawing done by a client to describe a situation, feelings, dilemma, fear. Or a photograph that prompts memories. Or a painting or illustration introduced by the coach to begin an exploration around a topic that has emerged. Sometimes the image is held in the mind, triggered by a visual story.

 

Imagination

Jan Taal from Amsterdam is a Clinical Psychologist, trained in Psychosynthesis (the intersection of spirituality and psychology). He has a love for the use of allegory as a natural means of healing, that brings inner freedom and upliftment. He founded the School for Imagery in the 1970s. I recall sitting with Jan several years ago in a café in Kloof Nek Road, Cape Town (one of South Africa’s oldest roads). In his quiet, gentle, unassuming way Jan provided new, exciting insights into the therapeutic qualities and imagination-provoking possibilities of images.

Since meeting with Jan, I have come to appreciate why imagination is such a core function of the psyche.

Powers of imagination when contemplating the always-unknown-future, may invoke anxiety and distress. And looking into the past may yield guilt, regret, resentment. These “new brain/ mind troubles”, are eloquently described and explained by British psychologist Paul Gilbert. (Gilbert, P. 2013) 

On the other hand, as cultural historian Richard Tarnas points out,  our relatively new human capacity to imagine is a wonderful and dynamic mental force that allows us to see hidden truth in myths and archetypal meaning, and make conscious our place in the universe, indeed - broaden our concept of reality. (Tarnas, R. 1991)

Imagination and reflection go hand in hand.

Consider letting go of a habit or addiction, desire, recurring thought, a past hurt and unforgiveness. Or worrying about an uncertain, threatening future and the rich conversation that may result from this story:

A man was running for his life to escape a hungry tiger. 

He came to the edge of a cliff, stepped over and held onto a vine. The tiger couldn’t reach him, but there was no way up again. 

Looking down he saw another tiger at the bottom waiting for him to let go and fall. 

A rat appeared and began gnawing at the vine. 

The man noticed a strawberry growing on the face of the cliff. 

He held the vine with one hand and with the other grabbed the strawberry and ate it. 

How sweet it tasted!

 

The tiger on top of the cliff represents our past, and the tiger waiting below the future.

 

Images

Thomas Moore says: “Images flow through the mind without limit ... like ants, which invisibly sustain the life that is almost always unconscious of their presence ...The images that form the raw material of our imagination are the most precious substance we have because from them we develop an attitude toward events and eventually a way of life”. (Moore, T. 2000)

Images can enlighten, heal, liberate, introduce possibilities, add a higher element to our lives.

Gali Salpeter, a Norway-based expressive arts therapist, designs metaphorical, projective cards for therapeutic purposes. I have used her image cards for many years. Gali says that “A successful therapeutic process offers more than a helping hand; it gives a sensitive ear, a comforting voice, an observing eye, an accepting heart and a guiding mind. Therapists provide the setting, the stage where they would listen to their clients telling their narratives. During the sessions therapists hold, contain, edit, feel, think with, intervene, zoom in and rise above the narratives, searching for old and new voices, underlining words, asking ‘what if’ or ‘how come’ and often merely accompanying the story teller quietly. It is within the therapeutic setting that new stories are born”. (Salpeter, G. 2010)

When clients plumb the depths, reach a state that pioneering psychologist William James called “torn-to-pieces-hood”, we may need something more: a counselling or coaching lever that allows the client to enter a different of engagement.  “In the case of illness and crisis, imagery and artistic expression can help enhance one’s quality of life, strengthen a sense of meaning, improve interpersonal communication and reduce feelings of anxiety, fatigue, stress, pain and depression”. (Lombard, C.A. 2020)

Here are two of the many images that I have found to be valuable.

 

The fog

A painting by Angelo Desantis, called Fog, city, boat and bird has evoked reflections from clients on the nature of the stormy seas that the boat is returning from, on the warm and sunny day that awaits once the fog has lifted, on the joy and freedom of the bird - no matter what may transpire. Some liken the coming and going of adversity to a poem by Carl Sandberg, called The Fog:

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

 

Often, clients reflect on loneliness and uncertainty. How they were surprised by an unexpected creeping in and taking over: of a loss, death, a set-back in a relationship. Nothing they foresaw nor were able to control. And this is a reminder of the coach’s own fallibility and susceptibility to the unknown too: “Un-knowing or not-knowing is a central phenomenon in experiential therapies. The Un-Known is an existential given. Un-knowing does not only help us to attune to our clients, there is also the fact that we simply don’t know”. (Vanhooren, S. 2016)

An aspect of spiritual maturity is the capacity to practice unknowing - with mindfulness, curiosity, contemplative wisdom, humour.

 

Jacob’s Ladder

 

Angels are a reality for the major religions … Zohar, Kabbala, Islam, Christianity, Hasidic, Tibetan … Many of the deities in the Tibetan world have almost the same characteristics as certain archangels in the Western world. (Cooper, D. 2006)

The Talmud teaches that everyone has their own guardian angel, Psalm 91:11 refers to “…….angels to protect you, to watch over you in everything you do”, and a core Jewish meditation is to invoke the presence of archangels Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and the Shekhina presence to guard, protect, provide strength, justice, insight, lovingkindness. When the Dalai Lama met Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, as described in ‘The Jew in the Lotus’, the Buddhist leader was enthralled by the Jewish perspective on angels. (Kamenetz, R. 1995) 

I love the image/ metaphor of the ladder seen by Jacob in his dream – connecting heaven and earth – with angels continually going up and down the ladder.

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it". (Genesis 28:12) 

When appropriate, this image may be welcomed by a client. A bridge provided by God to provide access, connection, comfort and love.

Clients have reported:

‘The painting shows that this situation of mine in not unique, but has been happening for centuries as the material and spirit/ energy worlds interact’,

‘I no longer feel that I am alone’,

‘Angels come in many different forms on the figurative stairway between earth and heaven: a stranger, the joy and love of a pet’,

‘I can be an angel to others who need help’.

'At an important level the ladder illustrates the bridge between my consciousness and the wider, collective, universal consciousness. I am part of something bigger than myself".

 

Imagination is a therapeutic resource

 

Two men share a hospital ward.

Paul is bedridden, dying. 

Steven is near the window. Every day he stands up, looks out, and relates to Paul what the world outside is like. He describes beautiful park gardens, birds, a bubbling brook. A mother comforting her child. People holding hands as they walk.

Unexpectedly, Steven dies. But his healing word-pictures have resulted in Paul’s recovery.

Paul asks if he may move to the window bed.

When he looks out of the window he looks directly at a blank, brick wall across the narrow road. 

 

 

 

“What if you slept

And what if

In your sleep

You dreamed

And what if

In your dream

You went to heaven

And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower

And what if

When you awoke

You had that flower in your hand

Ah, what then?”  (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

  

Illustrations

Desantis, Angelo (Berkeley, US) (2009) Fog, city, boat and bird  Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fog,_city,_boat_and_bird._(3867646653).jpg 

Grogan, Tony Two men in a hospital ward

Hoet, Gerard Jacob’s Ladder Illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible. Published by P. de Hondt in The Hague; image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figures_030_Jacobs_Ladder.jpg

 

 

References

Cooper, Rabbi David A. (2006) Invoking Angels Sounds True, Inc. Boulder, Colorado 2006 

Fynn (1974) Mister God This Is Anna Fountain/Collins 

Gilbert, Paul (2013) The Compassionate Mind Constable, London 

Kamenetz, Rodger (1995) The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India Harper Collins

Lombard, Catherine Ann (2020) The Art of Healing Therapy Today

Moore, Thomas (2000) Original Self Perennial (Harper Collins) NY. 

Salpeter, Gali (2011) The River Guidebook   http://www.storyandtherapy.com 

Tarnas, Richard (1991) Passion of the Western Mind Pimlico 

Vanhooren, Siebrecht (2016) The Un-Known and practicing un-knowing edX Course: Existential Well-being Counseling: A Person-centered Experiential Approach. Meaning and Spirituality Module (October 2016 to June 2017)  

Williams, Graham (2020) Putting Things Right Storytelling in Business Blog 

http://storytellinginbusiness.blogspot.com/2020/08/putting-things-right.html

 

IMMATURITY

 

https://imgur.com/r/tha_pit/nbeoiN5

We are at a time where people need to engage with each other, listen and share, build bridges and not walls. To instead favour and promote strident demands, unnecessary division, and worst of all, abuse of power to control others, are clear signs of immaturity: a state of being not-yet-fully-grown.

 

AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Areas of maturity include physical, technical/ task, ethical maturity, emotional maturity, social maturity, cognitive maturity, and 'spiritual' maturity. One may think here in terms of applied intelligences.

They are qualities that are important in today's world of work, in today’s evolving society and communities, and at home. They should be heeded.

SPIRITUAL MATURITY

At lunch with a friend this week I was asked to describe my take on religion versus spirituality – one sentence each!  In a nutshell, religion for me equates more and more to institutionalised interpretations and beliefs (dogma) that consider all others to be wrong or ill-informed, and which results in limited thinking and exclusivity. Spirituality is the recognition of and deep appreciation of the interconnectedness of all beings and nature (a transcendent, unified field), which provides a springboard for the evolution of our highest possibilities, primarily love.

More than an umbrella over social and emotional maturity, spiritual maturity admits to an element of unknowing, is an outcome of being that precedes doing, and realises that values not converted to character virtues remain empty talk. Spiritual maturity is demonstrated by metanoia (bigger picture, non-dualistic) thinking, and kenosis (self-emptying beyond merely being prosocial). 

Ken Wilbur points out that spiritual waking up without growing up can be disastrous and abrasive. Thus, cleaning up should precede showing up.

Wilbur also points out that pioneering psychologist Abraham Maslow topped his framework for self-actualisation with transpersonal needs, which include compassion.

“Have you ever wondered why religion has, on the one hand, everywhere been claimed to be the single greatest source of love, compassion, care, and morality in the world; and yet it is also, without doubt, the single largest source of hatred, murder, torture, and war that humans have ever known. How could the same basic human endeavor result in such diametrically opposed outcomes? How on earth could that even happen? Well, according to this more recent research, those at the lower stages of Growing Up almost always interpret their spirituality in power-driven, egocentric, and ethnocentric ways, thus actually predisposing them—causing them—to be hatred-driven and given to murder, torture, and warfare—and all, of course, in the name of the love of their God. Yet individuals at the higher stages of this Growing Up development almost always interpret their spirituality in open, loving, compassionate, and all-humans-included ways. The stunning breakthrough in the last century is that we finally discovered the major steps and stages that this overall Growing Up or development goes through. And thus, for the first time in history, we have some say as to whether a person’s spiritual reality will incline them toward hatred and war, or toward love and compassion”.   (Wilbur, K. 2018)

 

 EMOTIONAL MATURITY

Emotional Intelligence is being self-aware and managing our own emotions effectively.  (Goleman, D. 1995)

Emotional immaturity is when people are unable or reluctant to express their feelings, shy away from venturing beyond being shallow, work towards becoming other-oriented and being empathic, and instead remain self-serving. They cannot admit to being wrong or having made a mistake. have commitment issues. ...

Emotional immaturity makes people prone to work-a-holism (often to mask lack of self- esteem)

SOCIAL MATURITY

Social intelligence is the way we apply a rational, moderating brake to our evolutionary-wired and memory-driven primitive, impulsive being. As we mature, we become more socially adept, grow skills like listening, understanding, being prosocial, and building healthy relationships. Where the focus is on self and others do not matter, then the development of narcissistic tendencies is possible. A sociopathic component of personality makes us socially immature. Conversely the development of reliability, respect, trust, compassion and a giving rather than taking nature (especially in hard times) indicate social maturity.

 

TECHNICAL/ TASK MATURITY

People may or may not mature in technical and task (skill-fully applied knowledge) capabilities as time passes (Mastery). Without accompanying relationship mastery something remains seriously lacking however.   

COGNITIVE MATURITY

Thinking with a larger mind (metanoia) allows for engagement with paradox, ambiguity, uncertainty, unpredictability. Thinking non - dualistically in ‘and/both’ terms rather than ‘either/or’ terms often leads to better sense making, problem solving, decision making, and a predisposition to accept diversity. This includes thinking in terms of relationship-building being the best route to superior task performance.  

Cognitive maturity allows for open-mindedness, adaptability and agile response, usually goes hand in hand with sound self-esteem (which in turn admits to genuineness, authenticity and vulnerability). And mature thinking capacity spans the temporal range (future, past and present)

 

ETHICAL MATURITY

Oberlechner puts it succinctly: “Virtue ethics … emphasizes the character, motivation, and intention of the decision maker. The understanding of ethics in virtue ethics represents a comprehensive approach, not a specific approach, because it moves beyond the examination of single isolated issues or situations. It looks at ethics from an agent-based perspective, not an action-based perspective; it addresses characteristics of the decision maker’s personality rather than particular actions (as in the rules and guidelines for actions in deontological theories) or consequences of actions (as in consequentialist theories)”. (Oberlechner, T. 2007)

 

 PHYSICAL MATURITY

Suffice to say that embodiment and interoception are areas of study based on an interrelated mind- body concept. (The physiological, psychological and psychosocial interplays between the causes, reactions to and alleviation of stress and trauma are now widely accepted). Physical stirrings may trigger intuitive insights.

And King Artur’s Merlin talked not of ageing but of “youthening”!

The different maturities are not separate from each other. So for example, cognitive maturity might come into play when having to solve a problem, make a decision, make sense of something - but without the spiritual aspect of wisdom it will not be sufficient. Technical/ Task maturity and all the knowledge and experience in the world, if not linked with the relationship dynamics of emotional and social maturity, will not result in optimum workplace performance and employee growth. Ethical maturity is in some ways an outcome of an intersection of spiritual, cognitive and social maturity. And being mature in the midst of a heated argument, and pausing to identify feelings and reaction possibilities before responding (verbally or physically) may be driven by the intersection of a number of the maturities outlined above. 

Immaturity, per se, is not inherently negative and by definition is an opportunity for growth. But when combined with positional power, cognitive and psychological limitations, a ‘we-they’ mindset and narcissistic tendencies, it does become decidedly problematical. 

AT THE STATE LEVEL

Last night, while reading Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, a wonderful story about two sisters in occupied France during World War II, the book became very real as I was struck by the similarities between a belligerent military occupation and the nasty, bossy, immature management of our lockdown in South Africa. (Hannah, K. 2017) Coincidentally a commentary on recent action taken during lockdown by Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Front thugs underlined my sentiment:

“That the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) should have seized upon the Clicks hair advertisement to showcase their propensity for violence was only to be expected. Ditto Cyril Ramaphosa’s supine response … and likened the EFF’s incendiary actions to Kristallnacht, when Nazis attacked Jewish business throughout Germany in 1938”. (Kane-Berman, J. (2020)

(The EFF grew out of the ANC Youth movement, led by Malema, and are very likely to partner with the ANC in our next election).

Back to our ANC government.  The behaviour of any “interim” authority (such as an occupying force or Disaster Management Council) may be theoretically  ‘lawful’ - because of the absence of constraining laws, or because laws are enacted specifically to support actions decided upon, or where a deliberate bypass of the constitution is allowed because of a false, “manufactured situation” (and a trampling on the constitutional rights of the populace is orchestrated).

Some are beginning to believe that the scale, predictability, consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have been manufactured. Authoritarian, “scientific”, “logic” is looking increasingly thin. (Sweden’s success based on herd immunity and the absence of a lockdown is adding to this belief). The WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) hoax, the Bush/ Blair pretext to invade and make war on Iran was similarly devoid of logic and truth. The headline says it all: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (The Guardian. 2004)

Certainly, the harsh, unilateral, lock-down here has been enforced and continues without any humanitarian, compassionate, mature application. Regulations include the removal of many inalienable rights, curfews, a built-in bias towards certain population groups and service providers, irrelevant restrictions, encouragement of blatant corruption, unnecessary controls, abuses, and the use of this situation to opportunistically introduce further discriminatory, muzzling and unconstitutional legislation and political aims – is reprehensible. At a visit to a local police station this past weekend I was struck by the intimidating, needlessly rude and domineering demeanour of the duty officers who ‘served’ us.  

Whatever one’s views on the causes embraced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, his statement during a public speech in Berlin on the 29^th August this year bears serious consideration: “Governments love pandemics for the same reason they love war. It gives them the ability to impose controls on the population that the population would otherwise never accept, creating institutions and mechanisms for orchestrating and imposing obedience”. (Kennedy, R. 2020)

 

Far from demonstrating statesmanlike behaviour, the South African government has clearly flagged its collective and individual members’ immaturity during its handling of the coronavirus – cognitively, ethically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.

We need wisdom, compassion, ethical and bigger picture thinking to take root and put a brake on the imposition by government control and command behaviours  and the reduction of basic human rights, fueling of collective adversity and trauma. This trauma will result even if new laws and regulations are not initially understood and are meekly accepted. 

 

REFERENCES

Goleman, Daniel (1995) Emotional intelligence Bantam Books, NY

Goleman, Daniel (2006) Social Intelligence Hutchinson, London

Hannah, Kristin (2017) The Nightingale Pan Books

Kane-Berman, John (2020) Clicks: Losing all sense of proportion Daily Friend September 21, 2020

https://dailyfriend.co.za/2020/09/21/clicks-losing-all-sense-of-proportion/ 

Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. (2020) Speech at the Festival for Freedom and Peace, Germany Berlin August 29, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=1DfW8k6BRXA

Oberlechner, Thomas (1997) The Psychology of Ethics in the Finance and Investment Industry The Research Foundation of the CFA Institute 2007, citing Dobson, J. Ethics in Finance II Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 53, no. 1 (January/February):15–25. 1997

The Guardian (2004) There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq 7^th October, 2004

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/07/usa.iraq1

Wilbur, Ken (2018) Wake Up. Grow Up. The Leading Edge of the Unknown in the Human Being Amazon

http://integral-life-home.s3.amazonaws.com/Wilber-WakeUpGrowUp-TheEdgeOfTheUnknown.pdf

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How will you fit into a post Covid-19 “brave new world”?

work-from-home

 

A different new world?

 

Aldous Huxley’s science-fiction novel, Brave New World, is about a world of high tech and subtle, unconscious conditioning. It differs somewhat from the picture painted by George Orwell of a blatant command, policing and control society (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Yet their end results are not dissimilar. Do either of these two worlds face us?  German philosopher Martin Heidegger warned that the consequence of continuous, fast - paced science and technology development is that we begin to see ourselves and the world we inhabit in scientific and technological terms. We lose the high-touch that needs to balance high-tech. 

To what extent can we play a role in bringing about the new world of balanced high-tech and high-touch?  How do we prepare as individuals for whatever emerges?

 

Many speak as if the ‘new normal’ of high tech, work-from-home, social-distancing, short-term focus, an accent on agility, greater accountability and stricter control to overcome authoritarian boss’s ‘out-of-sight, less productive’ mind-set and employee’s ‘out-of-sight, forgotten’ mind-set, has arrived and is here to stay. We should be talking about 'the new ABnormal' and 'UNsocial distancing'.

 

A few believe that we need to shift away from the growth, wealth and competitive paradigms and values that drive so much of our economic, political, social and environmental values and behaviours. Instead, they see a shift towards a more sustainable, simpler, collaborative way of living. A way of living that encourages giving more than taking, compassion-power more than control-power, and the balancing of high-tech with high-touch.

 

Maybe what will transpire is a middle path – a hybrid of work-from-home and work-at- office, and an allowing for both high-tech and high-touch.

 

 

 

Why a 100% work-from-home scenario won’t work

 

Less than a year before he died German/Czech, Jewish author Franz Kafka wrote his last story. 

 

It was about a creature that lived in an underground maze of tunnels. Was completely isolated. Was locked down against imagined enemies, against the random, unseen, unpredictable, and the uncontrollable. 

A creature who struggled for self-sufficiency and survival – body, mind and soul. Was locked into certain habit patterns, had highly limiting beliefs, and was haunted by insecurity, anxiety and its own imagination (as we may be if we continue to suffer those “new brain-mind troubles” so well described by psychologist Paul Gilbert – regrets and resentment about the past, and anxieties about the future – because of our advanced ability to imagine, anticipate, recall, reflect …) (Gilbert, P. 2013)

The burrowing creature continually built and shored up underground defences in its battle against fear, uncertainty, ‘rational’ reasoning, self-doubt. Was caught between complacency and terror.  The unfinished short story ends with: "But all remained unchanged, the…."  (Kafka, F. 2017)

Surely an existential story for our times and our unsure future.

 

It may be true that the pandemic lockdown has given us the time to trigger personal growth, cultivate family relationships, avoid aspects of office work that are less-than-meaningful – from stressful commuting to navigating office politics. It has allowed us to raise by many notches our thinking and decision-making independence – when we are in a space that is free from the usual unconscious and conscious pressures, influences, expectations, opinions and norms of others. There is also little doubt that many employees subjected to lock-downs and a forced, and new-to-them, work-from-home situation have exhibited anxiety about the future, experienced being insecure or depressed, and have felt what is becoming known as Zoom fatigue caused by too many on-line meetings.There are early reports of a new form of burnout driven in large part by fear. As lockdowns extend and we move further along the Fourth Industrial Revolution path, so we will see what pioneering psychologist William James termed our "torn - to - pieces - hood" - with widespread, deep individual trauma translating into significant collective trauma.

 

We are social beings, so being forced to go remote is not natural. Coaching remotely has some benefits, but lacks what the dynamics of live one- on- one coaching bring to interactions (expressions, gestures, voice tone and pitch, natural silences, mirroring and matching for rapport, conveying empathy, and yes, appropriate touch).    

 

The absence of physical proximity and touch is a huge issue. “Humankind has continuously adapted and evolved as social beings who group together for protection and advancement reasons. Closeness and physical proximity is part of our “DNA”, beneficial to our physical immune systems, and our emotional, social and spiritual well-being”.

(Refer http://storytellinginbusiness.blogspot.com/2020/07/touch.html - a blog post that examines our human need for physical proximity and touch). 

 

 

 

An opinion about what we will see in future

 

I believe that the pendulum will swing back again and that over time (although how long is a question we cannot answer at this stage) - we will find that in leading edge organisations we will see:

 

• a combination of remote work-from-home and at-office activities (for those lucky enough to have work). A hybrid. Humans crave contact and a community working together in physical proximity is more likely to facilitate a sense of psychological safety, deeper sharing, an ability to bounce-off-each-other, innovate, create a sense of belonging, be motivational, and develop a new appreciation of the richness of diversity.

 

• an accent on utilising individual participation and contribution in a psychological safe ‘space’ (either remotely or in a shared office space) – and not a control and compliance approach. 

 

• short term, medium term and longer term foci. Multi-temporal. More will adopt a ‘fast- feedback – loop’ way of working: for example, using surveys or polls, followed by assessment and decision, followed by immediate action. We will make more use of reflection and scenario planning - a means of sense-making that develops thinking skills and future- readiness (even if the described possible futures don’t transpire). Resilience and agility is facilitated. Longer-term scenario thinking is a necessary accompaniment to shorter-term agile operating (while waiting for the next ‘black swan’ to arrive!)  Purpose and values (in many ways the glue that bonds employees, and a requirement for providing meaning and commitment) are also not short-term features. Being purpose and values-driven tempers frenetic activity and helps us to avoid too much short-term thinking. 

 

• high touch will (must) accompany high tech – as people empathically see each other through in a brave new world (and stop seeing through each other). This highlights our fundamental human need for the qualities of acceptance, understanding and compassion. And for counselling, coaching, communicating, relating and leading skills. Over and above technical skills. (Although in the short to medium term the focus of leaders is likely to be on task, productivity, control and high tech only - pushed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution merging big data, 5G, artificial intelligence, robotics ...)

 

 

 

So for the individual, in addition to staying abreast of new work-from-home technical skills; areas of inner work that can be addressed now include connecting to self, spanning a wider temporal range of thinking (past, present and future), boosting personal resilience and agility, concretizing personal purpose and values, becoming more centred, present and calm, developing compassion for self and others, re-aligning work, home and social activities, adopting self-directed learning and development, finding an alternative to “water cooler” exchanges of information and ideas …. If we spend more time (working, socialising, being at home) within a smaller geography, will this proximity to our neighbours herald greater community and interdependence?

 

 

The bigger picture? If sufficient work-from-home occurs, there will undoubtedly be impacts on certain sectors of the economy (slowdown of public transport usage and a shift in inter-modal connections, impact on vehicle refuelling points, a faster shift to a cashless society – that may also further disadvantage the most needy, less construction because of surplus office space – perhaps compensated for by more near-home building of community facilities, changed processes in respect of home deliveries and personal services, issues around data security and communications reliability as more work-from-home comes about  …) Business processes along the entire business change may need radical adjustment, as may dynamics such as customer connection, application of ethics, transfer of knowledge – and care for the whole person: exercise, meals, worship, entertainment – which will vary according to their housing situation (high, medium and low density). To what extent will organisations, as they compete for talent, contribute (financially and in other ways) to employees’ space and equipment needs under work-from-home conditions?   

 

 

 

Quo Vadis. Where to business leadership?

The following theories emerged in the last century to help us better understand leadership and provide a range of lenses to examine the study and practice of leadership.

• Great Man theories: mid-19th century

• Trait theories: 1930–1940s

• Behavioural theories: 1940s–1950s

• Contingency theories: 1960s onwards

• Transactional/transformational leadership: 1970s onwards

• Implicit leadership theories: 1970s onwards

• Charismatic leadership: 1980s

• Contemporary theories include authentic leadership, servant leadership, spiritual or ‘conscious’ leadership, dispersed or distributed leadership, adaptive leadership, agile and resilient leadership, mindful leadership from the inside-out, group leadership 

 

 

Over time we’ve seen shifts from command and control, to an accent on influence and persuasion, to increasing focus on sustainability and good corporate governance and ethics, engaging employees via purpose, meaning and values, and to belonging to a diverse ‘workforce’ 

To what extent will new practices, technologies and work locations reinforce any of these trends or cause a reversion to historical practices and styles?  and

To what extent will a task and productivity orientation and new rules (which include more control of less visible staff) override the relationship needs of staff? 

The jury is still out.

How will you begin to become more future-fit for an emerging new World?

 

 

 

Reference 

Global work-from-home day

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Global_work_from_home_day.jpg/640px-Global_work_from_home_day.jpg