decisionmaker.com wrote:
> I'd like to suggest that all behavior is ultimately the result of our
> beliefs. If the beliefs are changed, the behavior changes. I've developed
> a process (the Decision Maker(R) Process) that enables people to find and
> quickly eliminate the beliefs underlying any dysfunctional behaviors.
> When the beliefs are gone, the behavior is also. Beliefs can be
> eliminated in less than an hour. I've not only done this with over 1,000
> individuals in private sessions, I've also worked with about 10,000
> employees in over 30 companies to change employee behavior and corporate
> cultures.
>
> Morty Lefkoe
Beliefs are like children. You don't know whether they have changed for
the better until the last work is done. I do not object to short term
seminars. They have their place in short term goals, but like the
"Talking Stick" we have several different models already available to us.
Senge uses the metaphor "mental models" for beliefs. F.M. Alexander used
the term "end gaining" to represent models that were not appropriate for
the experience of the task in the moment. Moshe Feldenkrais used the term
"self image" and tied it to physical habits rooted in the nervous system
that could only be changed through physically changing the wiring. And
there are as many others as there are acronyms.
My point is this. If someone has prepared your work for you and their
habits are simple artifacts then you will change them simply. If on the
other hand they have to do with something much deeper, you will not. It
is a truism that Teachers who come in for Master Classes or Seminars can
get people to do what they want by virtue of the situation. Serious
study, like the problem discussed about the failure of teams is not,
however short term. Knowing when John Dewey's "readiness point" is
reached and deep change is possible, is the trick. There is a lot of push
to "drop your beliefs" when you are working for GM, Tenneco or TRW and
they have paid for the workshop and you are doing it on company pay time.
Knowing when to use the short term "kick" of Master Classes and Seminars,
to overcome inertia to eleminate beloved "artifact" beliefs(the end
result of a long teaching process) is one of the tools of good leadership.
What I object to, however, is the marketing of simple solutions to
problems that can only be resolved through good planning, long range
instruction, hard practice, company discipline and the hard edge of the
probability of failure in performance.
If you wish to see that edge, it is in Anthony Hopkins performance in the
film about Picasso. The business enterprise of Picasso as a product that
had to be marketed and quality maintained, played havoc with the middle
class family ethic as well as the women in his life. As we move more into
the free-lance "intellectual capital" world, we are going to be faced more
and more with the issues of personal beliefs that are very dear and deep
in the society. In fact moving out of some of them will be labeled
sociopathic by the society. Picasso was a bull, a minotaur, but he was
straight forward about it. As we enter into this world of flexibility and
temporary projects, we will see what kind of people we are. Picasso may
turn out to have been one of the most humane souls on the planet in
comparison to what the future holds. Complexity disappears when you know
how to do it, but there is an order to learning that "how" without
destroying everything else in your life. Mental Models, Beliefs, End
Gains, Self Image, are all pillars that hold up other things. It takes
time to learn how to keep your balance as you give up your inappropriate
models for the job. That balance is something that modern economics and
most companies today are inept at doing.
I visited the http://decisionmaker.com web site and enjoyed reading of
Morty Lefkoe's successes. They seemed to be indicative of a lot of the
short-term work that is available and that works as long as the context is
controlled. I would be interested in that study on the long term effects
of his changing the beliefs of those people incarcerated that he worked
with. This is a tremendous problem in society and if he came up with a
doorway or even a window into the minds of the million or so people that
we have just thrown away, that would be a tremendous contribution. My
only qualm has to do with the love of the "newest" and "latest" widget
process which keeps us reinventing the wheel while ignoring the
development of traditional learning skills.
Ray Evans Harrell, artistic director
The Magic Circle Chamber Opera of New York
mcore@idt.net
--Ray Evans Harrell <mcore@IDT.NET>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>