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Naud van der Ven
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Good
intentions and illusions
What
happens when one person thinks for another?
The intention of this workshop (primarily
for managers) is to trace illusions which may play us
tricks. Illusions are cunning things, certainly when
they are inspired by good intentions and are being
supported by hierarchical power. The French
philosopher Levinas thinks it’s impossible in these
matters to be your own critical instance, that’s to
say, for the greater part not. According to him an
external force is required to call to a halt the
raging rationality, be it only for a short moment. For
Levinas another person can act as such. When we pour
out our well-intended, rationally accounted for ideas
and schemes on others, suddenly the grief may show
itself of such another person who is supposed to walk
in our schemes. When this confrontation makes us
question ‘What am I doing?’ or ‘Am I right to think
such or so?’ we may be close to discovering an
illusion.
- Check for
yourself: where have you been in the position you
had to think (also) for other people, to plan for
them, to formulate policy? (e.g. as a manager, as
a consultant, as a coach)
- Have you been
confronted, in that situation, with – possibly
unarticulated – resistance or grief or distress of
others (e.g. co-workers, customers) who were
supposed to follow your plans?
- Did you ask yourself,
be it for a split second: ‘what am I doing?’ or
‘why should it be done this way?’ or ‘am I going
too far?’.
- Did that feel as
shame for your own ideas, however thought
through and well-intended they were?
- Did that
confrontation enable you to put some of your
ideas to discussion and to allow new ideas?
- Try to put into
words the feeling of shame, which is the key to
the illusion.
- Exchange
in conversation about the situation, the shame,
the possible illusion. Can you determine whether
it truly is an illusion?
Time: one-and-a-half
to three hours
Number
of participants: three to seven
Costs:
€ 150,- per person
Literature (forthcoming): Naud
van der Ven, The Shame of Reason in
Organizational Change - A Levinasian Perspective. Dordrecht:
Springer, 2010.
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