1999 Annual Meeting
Williamsburg, Virginia, USA
January 14, 1999
Think Tank
January 14, 1999
Think Tank
"Transforming the Experience of Work" is a 3-hour workshop engaging facilitators in helping clients to appropriate the meaning of work. This session focuses on research into the dynamics of transformation and methods for enabling it. This workshop is open to anyone interested in exploring how people move from insight into meaning towards incorporating that meaning.
BACKGROUND
The think tank on Technology of Meaning began in 1994 at the Denver IAF Conference where more than 100 participants listed various methods for disclosing the dimension of meaning. The thinktank continued at the Dallas and Tulsa Conferences with increasing interest. In Santa Clara, three thinktanks were held, each focusing on a different dimension of the topic.
The sessions to date have concentrated on developing methods for discerning the dimension of meaning at work. They have assumed the existence of meaning and attempted to find practical ways we, as facilitators, can assist others to discover the deeper dimension of their work. This session in 1999 builds on the past work and raises a question posed by those who have seen through to the depths.
THE QUESTION: "Meaning is not user-friendly"
"Seeing through" the mundane events of work to the realm of meaning is the beginning of a journey, not its conclusion. When one perceives the realm of meaning, one usually "sees" something quite different from what one expected. Meaning, as experienced, is not user-friendly.
What one "sees" may give an offensive, depressing, sometimes infuriating glimpse into the way life is at its depth. That is most often what we were trying to avoid.
When faced with insight into depths, one has a simple but stark choice: 1) to reject reality as a source of meaning, or 2) to embrace it as meaningful and undertake a lifelong journey of appropriation.
The question of this session is: "What methods can we as facilitators use to assist ourselves and others in choosing the second option?"
THE DYNAMICS: "The Midas Touch -- Transforming Trash into Treasure"
The encounter with meaning usually has five distinct stages, although each one is unique in its appearance: Intrusion, Offense, Decision, Death and Rebirth. Insight into the radical and ultimate dimension of work usually intrudes into "business as usual." It may come through a market slump, an ethics crisis, a labor dispute, a product liability suit, a hostile takeover, a downsizing exercise or any other of the major or minor crises that seem regularly to occur in the life of an organisation. The insight those crises convey is deeply offensive to our sense of rightness and propriety: "IT SHOULD NOT BE!" So we conceal, deny, threaten lawsuits, develop PR "spins," become cynical or otherwise attempt to cover up what has emerged in the hopes that it will go away. It doesn't, and we face a choice of saying "yes" or "no" to this organisation and situation.
Saying "yes" means affirming, "That's us." This involves literally dying to the corporate identity we have worked hard to achieve and promote, realizing that the vision is unreachable and it's all a sham. The rebirth comes with a decision to BE the ambiguous struggling half-baked, incompetent, insensitive, superficial, immoral organisation we are, and to affirm reality rather than illusion. It means accepting the organisation for what it is (and for what it is not) in a style of affirmation. It may just mean recognizing that the organisation already is accepted or it wouldn't be here. This recognition produces an unexpected sense of relief and delight. The defects have not gone away, but now they appear in a new light that discloses the wonder of it all.
"Dark Night of the Soul or Spotlight of Significance"
Affirming "That's us" means relinquishing certain aspirations and goals we hoped for, and giving them up usually comes hard. We encounter a certain level of despair over what might have been but never will be. Organisations, perceiving their built-in compromises and violations of individuals, are prone to develop in their corporate cultures a tendency to throw in the towel, to highlight weaknesses, and to cynically wallow in their predicament. Holding on to the stance of affirmation requires continually addressing this tendency and finding ways to rehearse the affirmative stance, even while recognizing and attempting to remedy the defects. This constant rehearsal of affirmation adds another dimension of delight to the corporate culture and becomes an aspect of its unique significance. Reform comes only after realistic affirmation of the organization: as long as you are convinced that it is a corrupt mess, no real change is possible.
"Long March of Despair or Endless Journey of Discovery"
Later it may be appropriate to make changes and to reform the organisation into a more service-centered, customer-oriented group that values people more than procedures. But that comes only after a realistic affirmation of the organisation as it is. As anyone who has tried it knows, reforming an organisation or situation is not a one-time thing. It is a long and continual process that thoroughly exhausts the energies of even the most enthusiastic proponents of change. It is a long march. And yet every step of the way is interesting. Boredom is not an issue. It's excess diversity that saps the strength and uses every bit of available creativity. The style of affirmation during this stage of operation is the dance of delight, a voyage of discovery.
THE APPROACH
This session is participative. Participants will discuss experiences in which people have chosen the meaning-option and analyze the dynamics that were involved. They will also experiment with several methods for spiritizing organisations that address the experience of Dark Night and Long March. It will be a highly interactive session.
THE PRODUCT
Products of this session include:
Ann and John Epps are founding members of the IAF. They work in Malaysia as senior facilitators and consultants in LENS International (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, a consulting company with clients in the Banking, Petroleum, Insurance and Manufacturing industries in Malaysia and Singapore. They initiated the Technology of Meaning thinktank in 1994 and have been guides for its progress.
LENS International (Malaysia) is the provider of the Technology of ParticipationTM services and training in Southeast Asia.