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Given basic needs and a relatively "normal"
environment, social development should be fairly consistent across societies
and generations. Studies have shown that certain aspects of personality are
consistent in widely differing societies in broadly different ages of time.
The first view of the process of personal
growth comes from Len Leritz.
Developmental Levels of Groups
Five general development levels or stages occur
in people:
Enforcer
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The enforcer is defined by no
commitment to address and resolve issues with others, internally or
externally.
The enforcer may be thought of as a
person in the development state of from one to five years old.
In this stage, a person has simple
alternatives, yes / no, good / bad, on / off. |
Scorekeeper
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The scorekeeper is only committed to
addressing issues when they believe it is going to be to their advantage.
When problems arise, they make excuses and shift the blame.
The scorekeeper may be thought of as
being at the elementary school level.
The scorekeeper has a linear concept
of fairness, that is to say, the scorekeeper relates to cause and effect:
If
you do this… then this is supposed to be what happens. |
Peacemakers
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The peacemaker tends to follow the
rules and do what they think they are supposed to do.
They are willing to address issues
with others, provided they will not be embarrassed and no one disapproves or
gets angry with them.
They generally will not initiate
addressing issues and they try to make current problems fit into traditional
solutions.
The Peacemaker may be thought to be
at the Junior High stage.
This is the early stage of awareness
of relationships and self-image. |
Rebel Producer
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The rebel producer is strongly
committed to getting the job done, to getting results, in order to prove
what they can do.
In addressing issues, they come up
with quick, innovative solutions and defend their solutions.
They want to be left alone to do
things in their own way; they want others to follow them; and they avoid
addressing relationship issues because they are afraid of being too
vulnerable.
They are committed to short term
results, but it has to be on their terms.
They are not committed to building
sustaining organizations or developing people who will take over after they
are gone.
In short, the Rebel Producer is a
typical teenager.
In terms of relationships, they
relate to their peers, but have a predominantly "us / them" orientation. |
Adult Generative
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Adult Generative people have both the
willingness and ability to do what they need to do when they need to do it,
both on their own, when that is appropriate, and with others when needful.
They believe that they are capable of
doing what they need to do, and they trust themselves enough to work
collaboratively with others.
The have the ability to work with
others to accomplish what they need to do.
They can work with others to identify
core causes because they see through the complexity of systems.
They can work with others to stay
with issues until they get resolved without being blocked or stuck with
others.
The job gets done and individuals and
organizations / groups continue to develop. |
Traps and hooks
You may often notice that in discussion
groups when there are disagreements, that those who have achieved Adult
Generative development may quickly regress under stress. As stress
increases, objectivity reduces and the adult generative person becomes the "us
versus them" Rebel Producer. As degeneration continues, the Rebel
Producer becomes the Peacemaker, then the Scorekeeper, and finally reduced to
the "you did, you didn't", "that's right, you're wrong" infantile Enforcer.
Regression is not the only danger to a healthy
socialization. Consider this diagram:
This triangle represents an unhealthy
framework which retards development.
The victim has his or her persecutor.
The rescuer comes along and must "save" the
victim from the persecutor.
Often the tables are turned and the
persecutor becomes the victim.
As one person puts it, "I'm a recovering
Social Worker".
When we put ourselves in a position of being
a rescuer, we open ourselves to abuse.
It is a very unhealthy situation that makes
us vulnerable to manipulation.
This triangle also represents a detriment to
personal growth of the victim.
By "helping" the victim, we deprive the
"victim" of learning to cope with challenges.
This is not to say that there aren't real
issues of abuse where someone needs immediate attention. It does say
that we must not make this a pattern of life to either be a persecutor,
victim, or rescuer. The triangle is the most stable of structures and breaking
out of the framework of persecutor, victim, rescuer is a very difficult
choice.
Levels of Focus
The levels of focus are a foundation on which
to build:
Information
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Information is the what,
Facts, Data. |
Strategy
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Strategy is The How,
Methodology, Process, Objectives. |
Goals
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Goals are The Where; Focus,
Destination, Mission, Vision. |
Values
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Values are The Why,
Ideologies, Beliefs, Philosophy. |
Styles of Managing Conflict
There are four basic styles of managing
conflict:
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Avoidance
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Confrontation
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Adaptation
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Cooperation
Note that cooperation and consensus take time
and resources and are not appropriate when confronted with an emergency.
Trust
What you say and what you do must match.
There are three zones which we all experience:
To build trust, we must start with the safe zone.
Only when people feel safe can they be challenged into their
stretch zone.
Fear is useful for immediate action and there are situations
where fear is appropriate.
Fear is toxic when sustained.
Fear within a group will result in one of two things:
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To sustain the fear, you must keep upping the ante; that
is, you must induce progressively greater levels of fear or
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There must be a turn-over in the group.
There are three sure things in life: Death, taxes, and
revenge.
If we invoke a level of fear within people and break their
trust, they will seek revenge.
Sustain the fear and people will revolt if they can.
Trust must be attained to achieve a change in values.
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