Michael Bayer wrote:
>My thoughts (that is, this afternoon, anyway) suggest that there are two
>fundamental 'flows' (analogous to air and blood) I'd want to check. I
>think I'd look for the flow of Trust from heart to heart within the
>organization, and I'd look for the flow of Knowledge from brain to brain.
>And somehow, it seems like both need to be present and the flow of one
>influences the flow of the other. For instance, I don't think you can
>have a high flow of Trust without a high flow of Knowledge.
I would say that there is also a third fundamental check to make: the
check for a mutual intentions flow among the members; Have they given up
or not?
If you look at a little child, say 2-5 years old, you will find very
little knowledge in its head, but if the child is raised in a caring
loving environment it will own a lot of trust. It has no knowledge of the
fact that the people around it (always) will take care of things. Those
adults are the ones who are scared that something might happen to their
beloved one (because of all they have been through themselves) and will
protect it for the dangers of the Big World. Adults with knowledge are the
gatekeepers for trustfull children. Once the child starts to learn and
understand situations, it is on its way out of paradise, It starts going
through the gate, and on its way it will lose more and more trust. It is
IMHO not very different in today's organizations. The more managers know,
the lesser they trust, because of all the disasters that MIGHT happen.
Protectful as they are, they want to avoid that they will suffer again and
that their "children" will suffer with them. So they wrap them in
contracts, bonuses, rules and procedures. A bookshelf with procedures is
in its essence nothing else than a bookshelf "lack of Trust". I think
knowledge relates to trust like warr relates to peace.
Many years ago I worked as a volunteer in a warzone. One day I came into a
hospital with many children suffering all kinds of injuries. Unlike the
children, sorrow was seen in most of the adults eyes, including mine. But
many children had still a glance of "light' in their eyes. In one of the
corners laid a little boy. He had lost a leg. This boy had something
special, he was always interested in what went one in the room, and it
felt good to be near him. This was shared by other helpers, although they
themselves had given up on him.
The next days when I visited the hospital he was allways laying in such a
way that he could look into the room and watched what was going on. When
we spoke to eachother there was always this trustfool look. One morning,
about a week later I came in and saw that he had turned his face towards
the wall. Three days later the boy died. Trust had become knowledge.
This afternoon I am in a poetic mood:
Awake my softness again,
give me back the eyes of a child,
so I will see what IS
And put trust in it
and wont hate the light
Greetings
Winfried Deijmann
--Winfried M. Deijmann - Deijmann & Partners - Zutphen - The Netherlands Artists, Consultants and Facilitators for Organizational Learning, Leadership and Action Learning Events Het Zwanevlot 37, NL 7206 CB Zutphen, The Netherlands <Winfried@universal.nl> Phone: +31-(0)575-522076 mobile: +31-(0)54 94 71 27 Homepage: http://www.come.to/dialoog
"An educated mind is useless without a focussed will and dangerous without a loving heart" (unknown source)
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