Critical Self Reflection

Critical Self Reflection

The process of critical reflection of assumptions empowers one and many to view influencing details that determines the ability to find consensus and harmony in any situation. Harmony does not mean the absence of conflict, merely the creative use of it to resolve issues that inhibit cooperative and collaborative relationships in professional and personal environments.

The article presents perspectives of human patterns and the avenues available to establish collective understandings of beliefs, intentions, values and feelings to facilitate a ‘common’ reality that is workable for everyone. Critical reflection of assumptions is used to enter into a discourse to assess alternative beliefs, predicated on universal principles. CRA is used in Transformational Theory, Assimilative Learning, Objective Reframing, and Subjective Reframing for adult learning.

Transformational Theory

Transformational Theory (Mezirow, 1991,1995, 1996), which uses reflection, maintains human learning is promoted in communication through assessing intentions, values, moral issues, and feelings which requiring the use of critical reflection of assumptions. Transformational Theory holds that CRA is not a panacea or provides some transcendent experience to resolve conflict. Rather, it presents the process as a ‘best practice’ compared to other options that have been used in the workplace.

Assimilative Learning

Assimilative Learning, as used by psychoanalysts, pertains to adjustment or accommodation to a difficult situation by accepting it as conforming to one’s desire. This process moves one to act according to regulative principles, a way of thinking or behaving deemed more functional or acceptable. This seems to characterize the way adults learn to adapt to change, using tacit judgment to move forward to constructive results.

Objective Reframing

Objective Reframing examines established definitions, theories, and practices to better understand the paradigms influencing decision-making. Using critical reflection of a premise and defining a problem can lead to transformative redefinition and ‘problem posing.’ The objective of this process, in the all its facets, is to improve performance.

Subjective Reframing

Subjective Reframing examines psychological or cultural assumptions to reveal conceptual and psychological limitations.

In all of the above situations, critical reflection of assumptions is used in discursive groups to assess and manage flow of communication relative to outcomes desired within those same discursive groups that are commonly found within the workplace environment. The task for a manager is to creatively translate the use of critical reflection of assumptions and discourse to effectively facilitate conflict resolution in the workplace.

Questions:

What are the tools available for creating an atmosphere where critical reflection of assumptions can be used effectively? How can one facilitate the use of such tools in environments where human communications are predicated on form, fit and function of critical path assessments?

Potential Answers:

Human resource development programs using a combination of psychoanalytic assessment tools and facilitation training for employees are one possibility. Cultural diversity and sensitivity training for managers is another, as they can then affect communication in their respective departments. Team building or collaborative alliance training outside of the company’s environment is yet another possibility that offers professional development through reliance on others as well as self.

Critical path assessment, defining the basic fundamentals of production, can be introduced through various scenarios involving critical reflection of assumptions. One such opportunity would involve discovering the logic path used to streamline production processes, eliminating wasted resources and labor costs as a functional goal. Another would use interpersonal skills development to better affect communicating goals and objectives to a diverse population within the workforce.

Personal ethics statement: I will to do good for all, desiring to serve humanity in the highest and best use of my mind/body/spirit complex, in the facilitation of a new world order of harmony among people and planet through the development of a state-of-the-art model community and website that promotes this endeavor.

Common Fears

Every question has an answer. Are you asking the right ones?
A point of perspection dances in the balance of the seer’s vision.

What do you think is the most common fear in business today? Fear of failure? Fear of success? Fear of dissolution? Fear of the market? Fear of regulations? Fear of whistle blowers? According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, 19 million people have specific phobias, such as crossing bridges or tunnels; 15 million have a social phobia, e.g., public speaking; and 2 million have agoraphobia, when sufferers avoid places where they previously had a panic attack. Those who have one phobia likely have others too. (Forbes-Allison Van Dusen, 12.14.06, 12:01 AM ET)

Now these are common personal fears, but what about how those translate into the business environment? It is this writer's opinion that the most common fear is 'losing control.' Years of project management and organizational observations edify this perception and it shows up most commonly as micro-management or the feeling that you have to 'do it all.' The lack of trust in the leadership/management team diminishes their ability to perform.

Oftentimes the opportunity to develop a strong management team never appears because of the 'energy' of the leader/owner/CEO. How are you 'controlling' those around you? Do you carry unspoken and unfulfilled expectations of your cohorts? What are they? The answers to the latter questions are the first things that need to be put on the table. The expectations and questions that evolve from the discussion will literally set you free inside and reflect in your business effectiveness.

That may be uncomfortable at first because you've never done it before, never allowed yourself to be vulnerable in sharing for fear that you might hurt someone's feelings maybe, or the 'professional' environment doesn't warrant personal expression. Or you think you might have expectations that are too high for your employees or staff. If you never voice them, how can you expect any kind of commitment to them? Can you match them with your own expectations of your personal performance? Oh my.... you might fail. You might make mistakes. Great! That is how we grow.

What is interesting is the anxiety-driven decision-making process is obviously not the best practice for management, let alone for the survival of the company. The mental constructs for the organizational development often don't see the need for making sense common - jobarchy - the job/project is the boss and everyone wins. Too often hidden agendas rule the scene. The 'anxious' feeling is often misinterpreted and mismanaged in the 'flow' of optimal experience.

Quite serendipitously engaged, this same feeling often is the same as the 'creative spirit' showing up in consciousness; a 'quickening' of the internal system present in all people. It actually shows up in the body's sensations first. Those who 'manage' it move forward. Those who ignore it soon lose whatever control they once thought they had. Now, there is a choice when this feeling shows up. Anxiety results in being afraid, angry, ignorant and immobile in the process of making sense common and providing good leadership decisions. Anxiety is about the future.

The paradox is that same feeling opens the door to change, of doing things more congruent with flow only the experience is lacking validation because of past choices. The challenge to change appears and invites participation in the present. It is the result of acknowledging the feeling and interpreting it differently. Is the perception of control that important when it stifles the possibilities for growth and escalation of revenue?

Lao Tzu once said that depression is a result of living in the past, anxiety is the result of living in the future and peace, the result of living in the present. What does that mean and how does it apply to the business environment? People naturally want to do the right thing right when supported in the workplace, whatever the function. Happy people get more done in less time with less supervision and often reduce costs with value engineering choices that better use resources, both human and material. As a leader, you have to be present and vulnerable.

The paradox of being vulnerable is that it allows the inner strengths of your team to emerge. Your business SWOTT has just taken and evo-leap with the new skill set capacity for application you've invited to the party. Let's look briefly at what others have said about this process. Peter Senge states, "Learning disabilities are tragic in children, but they are fatal in organizations. Because of them, few corporations live even half as long as a person - most die before they reach the age of forty."

The anxiety model keeps you from execution, the most critical part of leadership. Larry Bossidy writes, "Many people regard execution as detail work that's beneath the dignity of a business leader. That's wrong. To the contrary, it's a leader's most important job." NOW is the most important time you can engage as a leader. The desire for control takes you out of the present moment because it does two things that divides your attention. First, you think of past failures and undesirable results.

Next, you move into some future view of mixed-messages that craft an equally dismal result if certain things don't happen. How is that effective management? You've got the team, right? So let them go and do what you've hired them to do, just make sure they've got the resources to execute your plans. Your strategic planning needs to have the buy-in from all your team, your organization cannot perform well when the plan is nebulous or without specific action items assigned to each component of the plan.

Years of facilitating projects, from community events to multi-million dollar product lines, public events and construction projects have demonstrated that clear codes of ethics, mission statements, goals with objectives, issue resolution action procedures and work breakdown structures with a schedule make for smoothing out the bumps in the road to success. Let go of your fears and ask for help from your team.

 For entrepreneurs this process is a little different because you need the help of outside resources. The critical needs are addressed in your business plan, a flexible document that is your roadmap to success. If you don't have one, it's hard to manage the details and the desire for control is exacerbated because all the details are in your head or loosely detailed in notes or charts around your workspace.

Take the time to craft a plan, put your business on the path it deserves so that you can solicit help to achieve your dream. If you need help, that's where people like me come in to take your full color dream and help you turn it into a black and white system for execution. If you do have a plan, share it. You'd be surprised how the natural law of attraction can draw the people you need to execute it.

There are a growing number of organizations with helpful people that can provide classes and workshops, office space and networking opportunities that can energize your passion and purpose in achieving your dream, too. Check out The Vault in Colorado for a great model.