Hi Dianne
I like the article that you have written, especially the family part.
What you describe about organisations sounds a bit too much like family
stuff to me. When we look at organisations we see that the importance of the
hierarchy is sometimes more important then the place. The hierarchy is not
formed by seniority but by the amount of responsibility that the person
carries in the organisation. Therefore we often see difficulties when a
young person is placed on a position with high responsibility. The problem
is that the employees don't accept that, but they need to be helped to do
so. Give and take between manager and employees sounds a bit like a
parent-child position, I don't think that dynamic belongs to organisations.
Everyone in the organisation is an adult who takes on a role or position
that is already there, pretty much like in a constellation! If this
child-parent behaviour happens it is often the result from a failing
leadership one level up. In organisations it is very important to know who
belongs and who not (anymore) I have seen big problems occur from the fact
that someone was given a place while he should have been fired (because of
misbehaviour) or when his place was not available anymore through fusion
(merging?). In families this dynamic doesn't occur very often. I have also
worked with a person who was already one year on a position that was new in
the organisation. But this position had not yet been really confirmed by all
the higher levels. Once she realised this, she was more able to keep her
energy and wait for this natural process to happen. She recognised the
situation and was relieved that it had nothing to do with her but with the
new position.
I also wonder about the right to belong equally. Firing the employee saves
the company and is quite ok in organisations. The survival of the group
prevails over the survival of the person. An organisation is usually far
more than the sum of its components. Organisations can be 400 years old and
its surviving can be more important than the wellbeing of their employees.
But if there is a unrightfully firing then everybody in the organisation
becomes nervous because this could now happen to everyone. Therefore it
disturbs the effectiveness of all unconsciously.
One of the major differences between families and organisations is that you
can leave an organisation and its fate behind, but you can never leave your
family.
And I also wonder about guilt in organisations. If you belong to a system
that has made guilt then you have to carry the consequences or leave. You
cannot place the guilt of the organisation on one person in that
organisation. At least I have never seen this. Organisations become guilty
by accidents that are not dealt with well, by fraud, by deliberate
misguiding customers, by taking from countries without paying for it
properly, like many mines, or slavery. Things like that. I don't think you
can work in an organisation with guilt and not be affected by it.
Personal guilt (like stealing from the organisation) usually should lead to
leaving the organisation.
Interesting stuff, organisations and other systems!
Have a nice weekend
Margreet Mossel
www.opstellingen.com <http://www.opstellingen.com/>
_____
Van: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Namens DIANE YANKELEVITZ
Verzonden: vrijdag 9 februari 2007 5:44
Aan: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: [ConstellationTalk] article
Hi everyone, I have been asked to write an article for Natural Life News
which is circulated throughout Montana. I'd like to hear your feedback to
improve it.
Diane Yankelevitz
www.WisdomHealing.com
Systemic Constellations for Family and Business
Our families give us life and define our lives. Most families are
dysfunctional to some extent owing to traumatic events in their own lives or
the lives of their ancestors (including parents). These traumas include
wars, injustices, crimes, abandonment, adoption, premature death, missing
persons, death during military service, famine, emigration to another
country, lost fortune, severe or chronic illness, physical or mental
disability, suicide, abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth, And all of our
families have been affected by at least one of these.
In my own family, all four of my grandparents were born in Eastern Europe
and came to this country as children in the late 1800's. Two of my
great-grandfathers were killed in ethnic conflict. My father's mother was 4
years old when her father was killed and she and her mother emigrated to the
US. Her mother's heart was broken and she must have withdrawn because my
grandmother was very closed. She never hugged her grandchildren, so I can
only imagine what my father's upbringing was like. I do know that he, too,
closed his heart when his mother almost died, once from a severe car
accident, and later from lockjaw. When asked about his childhood, those are
the only two stories he would ever tell. I also know that the family was
very poor and moved so frequently in search of work, that my father attended
at least 14 different schools and never made friends. He did the best he
could, but the result was that I was trained to stuff my emotions and was
very angry. I have since learned better, but it took a lot of trauma and
help. Just understanding what my grandmother went through showed me a
different way to appreciate my father. In fact, it wasn't until after a
Constellation that I was told that two of my grandfathers had been killed,
and my grandmother had a sister who died of tuberculosis at age 24.
During a Constellation you get to see the origin of your experience in a
different light and are able to accept what is, and find peace. After this
shift, you become more able to change your life and your relationships with
family, partners, children, and co-workers.
Principles that are required to allow healthy relationships to flourish are:
(1) Everybody in the system belongs equally (including children who died at
birth, or an uncle who became insane); (2) Each person has his rightful
place in the system (including a parent's first love, or a deceased or
divorced first spouse); (3) Whoever enters the system first has precedence
over those who come later; (4) Those who come later take from those who came
earlier, whatever the price; (5) The order of precedence between systems
needs to be followed (a new family system takes precedence over the families
of origin; a second marriage assumes precedence over the first); (6) Parents
give, children take; (7) In a relationship between parents, the giving and
taking needs to be balanced.
Business Constellations are similar to Family Constellations in that they
are guided by similar principles: (1) Everybody in the system belongs
equally; (2) Each person has his rightful place in the system; (3) Those who
came later respect those who have seniority; (4) Managers give, employees
receive; (5) In a relationship between managers, the giving and taking needs
to be balanced; (6) Guilt and merit belong with whoever earned them.
But a business is not a family. The emphasis instead is on performance,
role-playing, and competition. There is a hierarchy, which has to be
acknowledged, and there are two of them -- one based on seniority and one
based on position -- that sometimes conflict with one another. People who
have worked for major corporations know that the organizational chart and
the reality of the way things work are often not exactly the same, because
of personal relationships.
Everyone in the business has a job to do to further the goals of the
company, from the CEO to the janitor. If someone is not doing his part, or
is not treating others respectfully, this will affect all the other members
of the company in both visible and subtle ways.
When people get fired or laid off, when there are company mergers or major
conflicts, the company system becomes unbalanced. When people who have
founded or contributed to the company in other major ways are not honored,
the business system becomes unbalanced. If customers are not buying, if
product development is stuck, if the way forward is not obvious, a
constellation can help point out the problems, and solutions.
In a business constellation, the hidden dynamics are brought to light so the
person doing the constellation -- usually a business owner or CEO -- can
then have the information needed to improve the function of their business
organization. It can work for one-person, or multi-division organizations.
The Systemic Constellation approach originated in Europe in the 1990s and is
rapidly gaining recognition and acceptance in the U.S. In a Constellation
circle, one person presents an urgent personal issue, and, guided by a
facilitator, representatives are chosen for the people involved from the
group, and through their perceptions a resolution is found. Constellation
circles take place in an atmosphere that is safe, confidential, and
supportive. Everything that comes to light is held in the strictest
confidence.
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