[Ailist] A story

[EwingChange at aol.com]

Mike:
This is actually a much deeper story than you might think. From my  knowledge 
of Jungian theory and my training in facilitation using  process-oriented 
psychology, my response to this would be:
 
* I would ask myself what roles are in the group and what  roles are just 
those of the particular personalities involved?
* The fact that the roles were replicated and played out by a  different 
group of people suggests to me that the roles were ones that  the whole group 
NEEDED  played out and so when they were shuffled,  people took on different roles.
* When I am facilitating group conflict, I often think  of a role as almost 
circulating above people's heads like a coat ready to  fall on the shoulders of 
someone willing to carry it. The roles are then adopted  ON BEHALF OF THE 
GROUP rather than because the individual person needs to adopt  it.
* The key, then, in resolving conflict is to get the person  carrying the 
role to say everything they can about that "stance" or "position".  (Let's say, 
it's the role of the rebel, objecting strongly to some point of  view.) Then I 
get each individual in the rest of the group to say what 1% of  this role, 
what smallest iota in this role they could recognize, empathize with,  
understand, even if they do not adopt it. By this fashion, we "spread the role"  and 
relieve the person currently adopting it of having to be "stuck" in it. This  
allows them to shift enough to see the points of view of others. We then move  
around the room to see how the roles/perspectives have shifted again and explore 
 another one in depth, each time allowing the whole group to explore which 1% 
 grain of truth they can hear in that person's point of view. 
 
Obviously the facilitation of this is quite specialized and  needs a very 
skilled facilitator trained in the method but your story did not  surprise me one 
bit. 
 
When groups take the time to really hear one another,  acknowledge the 1% 
grain of truth in opposite viewpoints, and get skilled at  recognizing their own 
processes, their effectiveness can really take off. It's  powerful and 
awe-inspiring.
 
Best regards
Esther

I  recently heard the following story - 

There was a conference attended  by thirty-six HR managers - and they were 
seated around six tables - at each  table there were people who easily fit into 
the following roles - 
a raving  idealist, a jokester, a pessimist, a deep listener, a big spender 
and a penny  pincher.  

For some reason the people at the tables got shuffled -  and now there was 
one table with all the idealists, one with the jokesters,  one with all the  
pessimists etc. 

And lo and behold - after abd  hour  - at each table someone had become: - 
easily and naturally -   

a raving idealist, a jokester, a pessimist, a deep listener, a  big spender 
and a penny pincher.  




I suspect there is  a lot of truth in that story - has anyone got another 
version of it - possibly  one with a more entrancing story  line?

Mike
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Esther Ewing
The Change Alliance
330 East 38th St. Suite  53K
New York, NY 10016, USA
Telephone: 212-661-6024
Building  Strength from Within