alt="image"/>Systemic and persistent symptoms of the problem
Source of the problem or trauma
Excluded people—victims and perpetrators
Secret or hidden agenda and benefit
Coping or compensatory behaviors
Even though the details of an old trauma are lost, its impact can linger. Identifying that troubled past is a step toward the solution. Because what the client knows firsthand is often sketchy, the facilitator develops a hypothesis and then sets up representatives to test it. How the representatives respond to the setup and the emotional weight of what is revealed gives feedback as to its validity. Every frame of the setup is viewed phenomenologically. A representative takes action and then its impact is assessed. Acknowledging someone who was forgotten or overlooked can have a restorative effect on others. A common workplace drama is the lingering impact of a layoff. The part of the workforce that stays can be affected by survivor’s guilt. Their morale and productivity suffer until the sacrifice of those laid off is seen and acknowledged. In difficult cases like this the solution may not be in the physical realm. It may come from the expanded intelligence of the knowing field, which has the capacity, when accessed, to reveal words and actions that mitigate the effects of the traumatic event. The saying “The answer is in the room” is true on many levels.
Organizational Breakdowns
Most people need to spend but a few years in the workforce to witness firsthand an organization’s numerous breakdowns and shortcomings. Even a high-performing organization will have gone through or be going through some of the typical breakdowns listed below. The difference between a healthy organization and one that is not is the willingness to confront the breakdown when it arises. Open and frank discussion over time sustains the progress toward resolving the issue.
Ethics and Integrity: The calamities that struck down companies like Enron or Worldcom were self-inflicted. There are systemic reasons why people who should know better do things that eventually catch up with them. The systemic factors that can either mitigate or enable a dysfunctional corporate culture are discussed in chapter 6 (“The Orders of Organizations”).
Commitment and Clarity: It does not matter if the purpose, mission, goals, roles, and processes are clear and viable when commitment is lacking. If commitment is present but clarity is absent then progress could be in the wrong direction. The unifying impact of a clear and compelling purpose is evident in a number of the constellations presented in chapter 10 (“Organizational Constellations”).
Resistance to Change: There is a tendency to give lip service to the need for change while expecting the latest change initiative to fade just like the other management fads that were halfheartedly implemented and then forgotten. The insights of a change consultant who faced this situation are outlined in the case study “Cultural Innovation” in chapter 10.
Letting Go of What Was: Resistance to change can arise in management as well as staff for reasons that might not be anticipated. The case study “Survivor’s Guilt” (see chapter 10) indicates that the stages of grief defined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross can also apply to a corporation going through drastic change.
Failure to Thrive: The group’s performance never reaches or exceeds the industry standard. The group might reorganize or change leaders, but the same questions about their ability, viability, and ROI still dog them. How one senior manager sought to inspire a sense of urgency without fostering panic is detailed in chapter 10 in the case study “International Ping Pong.”
Silos: The structural disconnection between groups or individuals in an organization is exasperated by the global nature of the business world. Blocks to the flow of information lead to duplications of effort and reinventing the wheel. The case study “Cross-Sector Change Management” in chapter 10 looks at ways to reduce those barriers in a geographically diverse workplace.
Them versus Us: The most fundamental of all projections is the perception of one group versus another. This is so hardwired in Western culture that if you take a group and divide it temporarily into two groups for an exercise, they will almost always compete, ignore, or discount each other. Management versus staff, the field versus headquarters, one department against another—all are prone to the “blame game” as shown in the case study “New Messages for a New Plan” in chapter 12 (“Management Constellations”).
Hostile Workplace: This is usually thought to be caused by a leader who abuses his or her power and bullies subordinates. However, a tone of gossip and general fault finding by staff members can also foster a fractured workplace and low morale. Systemic sources such as the victim/ perpetrator dynamic may be the hidden source of the dysfunction, as is revealed in the case study “The Hidden Sources of Conflict” in chapter 15 (“Professional Constellations”).
Other case studies are related to the following archetypes, which also contribute to organizational breakdowns and shortcomings:
Personality Conflicts: Personality conflicts lack a logical explanation so people pin the conflict on different styles even though those differences are trivial. The conflict actually represents a symptom, not a cause. When the systemic source of a conflict is surfaced and acknowledged, the possibility of reconciliation is enhanced.
Analysis Paralysis: The more educated and articulate the group, the more likely they are to trip themselves up by making things too complex. One way to avoid an endless mix of pros, cons, what-ifs, and tangential asides is described in the case study “Type-A Paralysis” in chapter 17 (“Just in Time Constellating”).
Disruptive Employees: They may get their work done, but they can be difficult to work with and even more difficult to manage. For various bureaucratic reasons, no HR actions can be or will be taken. How this type of breakdown was dealt with systemically is detailed in the case study “Things Are Not Always as They Seem” in chapter 17.
