invite CHANGE

February 19, 2010

Are you in the box – or out of the box?

Executive Coaching, Life Coaching, Organizational Wholeness, Human Wholeness,  |  7 comments

While attending a CTI leadership program a couple of years ago, Laura Whitworth introduced our group to a book called “Leadership and Self-Deception”, by the Arbinger Institute. The book is written as a parable illustrating the cause and effect of organizational ineffectiveness. It provides insights and perspectives that lead to a happier and healthier way of being called “ individual and organizational wholeness.”

So what is it like being “in the box”?  I know how I feel when I am thinking and behaving “outside the box”. I feel the freedom to unleash my innate creativity, to bring forth all of who I am. There is nothing better than being in an environment that embraces the diversities of being outside the box.

But what happens when you are in a situation that doesn’t embrace your innate style?  You feel stuck, angry, and frustrated.  The actions and behaviors that follow keep you in what the Arbinger Institute refer to as being “in the box”.  When this happens boom, the dominoes begin to tumble resulting in individual and organizational ineffectiveness.

What are the stories you tell yourself when you are in the box?  Are they true, or are you in self-deception? One of the symptoms of self-deception is thinking the situation; person or external issues are causing the problem.  How many times have you felt frustrated by another person’s actions and treated them as objects, feeling that your opinion, concerns, or insights were more important than theirs? Ignoring them, rolling your eyes when they talk.  Or perhaps you sandbag an idea and present it outside of the team just so you get the credit… What happens when we experience these behaviors? Most people simply shut down, the trust within the workplace is breached, and uncertainty, discontentment and apathy set in.

I assert that one of the biggest challenges organizations face today is that its leaders and workforce function “in the box” and sadly don’t know it. In order to get “out of the box” it requires a mutual commitment from both leadership and employees to make a social change to human & organizational wholeness.    

The  opportunity in this new millennium is in leading and driving the social change movement. The first step on this journey is to uncover your own. The inviteCHANGE approach for individual & organizational wholeness is through Living Your Vision® and Leading Your Vision®.To find out more about Living Your Vision®go to http://www.invitechange.com/transform-your-life/living-your-vision.php.  Leading Your Vision® will be available as a public offering summer 2010.

There are some great Leadership & Self Deception training videos on YouTube to get more of the concepts go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwkzp9D1w2M&feature=related of trainings .

So are you in the box or out of the box?  Please join us in leading the social change movement for wholeness!