LO in Daily Life LO7463

Dave Birren, MB-5, 608-267-2442 (BIRRED@dnr.state.wi.us)
Thu, 16 May 1996 09:09 CST

Replying to Peter Pflaum in LO in Daily Life LO7441

Peter refers to five steps (summarized):

1. examine one's own views (abstracting somewhat from the self)
2. seek out alternative views (understand before being understood)
3. look for supporting evidence for viewpoints
4. look for the big picture
5. look for meaning

These appear to be parts of a process for integrating oneself into a
situation. I do something similar, in the form of a couple of questions.
I offer them in case anyone would find another format useful.

-- What does this situation call for? (This relates to Peter's points 2
and 3 - it's a sort of situational diagnosis that I usually do from "gut"
level.)

-- What do I want? (point 1)

-- How can I meet my needs while contributing to the situation? (points 4
and 5).

I find these questions, especially the first one, very helpful when
dealing with organizational culture issues. The response I get from
managers often gives me a good idea of how invested they are in the
dysfunctions of the current system.

Dave

-- 

David E. Birren Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources birred@dnr.state.wi.us Phone 608-267-2442 Fax 608-267-3579

* ** *** There is no excuse for being uncivilized. ( D.H.Birren) *** ** *

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>