Our moments of grace and profound insight are 'states' that hold the promise of growth into a wiser self, by they don't mean we have arrived to wisdom. That is the work of years, not moments.
I have heard wisdom as developing a comfort with not knowing and a willingness to take responsibility for our emotions and a willingness to face the shadow of our own feelings of inadequacy (when it arises). We feel insecure.
The emotional highs mask this sense of inadequacy much like the false reality of deadlines, systems and details we construct to feel more secure. When we transmute our discomforting sense of feeling insecure to becoming comfortable with being unsecure we discover the riches that the journey of growth and development has to offer.
What we think as an empty void is overflowing with wonder and awe.
So true, Paul! We often use the ‘facilitator’s thrill’ as numbing for our fears and fodder for our egos. And letting that go is hard work, as it invovles facing all those shadows within us. Love your hope-giving message- “the empty void overflowing with wonder and awe” and the invitation to embrace the discomfort of not knowing. Thank you for your wisdom!
Reading the post and your reflections here in the comments section made me think about the ”use of self” and how our effective use of self (especially when helping others) is connected to our own development stages and learning states.
Alis & Paul, have you found something at the intersection of ”use of self”, ”vertical development stages” and ”learning states”?
”Use of self is the conscious use of one's whole being in the intentional execution of one's role for effectiveness in whatever the current situation is presenting.”
I first discovered this in the OD field, then also in team coaching and facilitation - 2 references from the OD Practitioner journal:
This is fabulous, Bulent, thank you for the enlightening reads! It’s fascinating how we use different terminology for the same concept! I had not been familiar with the term “use of self”, but instead I use the terms “self as instrument” or “embodiment” to refer to the same thing. This also reminds me of a quote from Bill O’Brien via Otto Sharmer - “The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.”
I think from that lens all of VD is concerned with how our Self as concept and then our ‘use of Self’ can evolve. I have not seen anything written to explicitly link “use of self” from the OD space to vertical development, but that connection is in my view implicit to everything we do in this field. The whole relevance of studying adults evolving meaning-making frames is the hope that said evolution will translate into more effective- wiser- action in the world. We do have lots of research supporting that assertion. Perhaps the study closest to your question is a classic one from Rooke and Torbert showing that later stage CEOs were more effective in leading org transformations than their earlier stage counterparts: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254304296_Organizational_Transformation_as_a_Function_of_CEOs'_Developmental_Stage1
So we might infer their use of self to lead that transformation was superior.
Your question about use of self and “states” is even more intriguing- I would say- consistent with the view in my article here, that accesing a powerful state will not automatially improve our use of self. I’d love to see some research emerge to support or contradict this. Thank you for bringing in this intriguing angle!
This resonates on so many levels and made me think of:
- the highs of feeling excited at a launch event or conference then back to business as usual without any shift in mindset. You’re so right - after a peak event, several points of integration need to be put in place.
- Personal development programs and religious groups that have stages to attain, operating intensively and requiring participants to actively recruit. Having been family to one of these folk, the disconnect between the program and home life is stark and has led to relationship breakdown when the non-participating partner is perceived as being stagnant.
- Leadership programs that are phased through the year and include projects that stretch end to end. Works so much better as people have somewhere to take their learning
- facilitators who are fantastic but may as well be actors for all the resemblance to the environment we’re transitioning back to.
There is so much work in transition and sustaining new skills. I remember ANZ Bank having coaches in the early 2000s to support the Breakout culture change program and heard reports of it being very successful. Would be interested in first-hand accounts:
I have heard wisdom as developing a comfort with not knowing and a willingness to take responsibility for our emotions and a willingness to face the shadow of our own feelings of inadequacy (when it arises). We feel insecure.
The emotional highs mask this sense of inadequacy much like the false reality of deadlines, systems and details we construct to feel more secure. When we transmute our discomforting sense of feeling insecure to becoming comfortable with being unsecure we discover the riches that the journey of growth and development has to offer.
What we think as an empty void is overflowing with wonder and awe.
So true, Paul! We often use the ‘facilitator’s thrill’ as numbing for our fears and fodder for our egos. And letting that go is hard work, as it invovles facing all those shadows within us. Love your hope-giving message- “the empty void overflowing with wonder and awe” and the invitation to embrace the discomfort of not knowing. Thank you for your wisdom!
Reading the post and your reflections here in the comments section made me think about the ”use of self” and how our effective use of self (especially when helping others) is connected to our own development stages and learning states.
Alis & Paul, have you found something at the intersection of ”use of self”, ”vertical development stages” and ”learning states”?
Much appreciated 🙏
Before I share a view on this, could you please share a bit more about what you mean by "use of self", Bülent?
”Use of self is the conscious use of one's whole being in the intentional execution of one's role for effectiveness in whatever the current situation is presenting.”
I first discovered this in the OD field, then also in team coaching and facilitation - 2 references from the OD Practitioner journal:
”Managing Use of Self for Masterful Professional Practice” - link: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkNsW-MibpITh4sjACda8xFMfAqSNA?e=T85ZNs
”Providing Deeper Understanding of the Concept of Use of Self in OD Practice” - link: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkNsW-MibpITh4sfTpWxT7t10Tm82w?e=yUMslb
Hope it helps!
This is fabulous, Bulent, thank you for the enlightening reads! It’s fascinating how we use different terminology for the same concept! I had not been familiar with the term “use of self”, but instead I use the terms “self as instrument” or “embodiment” to refer to the same thing. This also reminds me of a quote from Bill O’Brien via Otto Sharmer - “The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.”
I think from that lens all of VD is concerned with how our Self as concept and then our ‘use of Self’ can evolve. I have not seen anything written to explicitly link “use of self” from the OD space to vertical development, but that connection is in my view implicit to everything we do in this field. The whole relevance of studying adults evolving meaning-making frames is the hope that said evolution will translate into more effective- wiser- action in the world. We do have lots of research supporting that assertion. Perhaps the study closest to your question is a classic one from Rooke and Torbert showing that later stage CEOs were more effective in leading org transformations than their earlier stage counterparts: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254304296_Organizational_Transformation_as_a_Function_of_CEOs'_Developmental_Stage1
So we might infer their use of self to lead that transformation was superior.
Your question about use of self and “states” is even more intriguing- I would say- consistent with the view in my article here, that accesing a powerful state will not automatially improve our use of self. I’d love to see some research emerge to support or contradict this. Thank you for bringing in this intriguing angle!
And thank you so much for this new "rabbit holes" to study further 🙏
This resonates on so many levels and made me think of:
- the highs of feeling excited at a launch event or conference then back to business as usual without any shift in mindset. You’re so right - after a peak event, several points of integration need to be put in place.
- Personal development programs and religious groups that have stages to attain, operating intensively and requiring participants to actively recruit. Having been family to one of these folk, the disconnect between the program and home life is stark and has led to relationship breakdown when the non-participating partner is perceived as being stagnant.
- Leadership programs that are phased through the year and include projects that stretch end to end. Works so much better as people have somewhere to take their learning
- facilitators who are fantastic but may as well be actors for all the resemblance to the environment we’re transitioning back to.
There is so much work in transition and sustaining new skills. I remember ANZ Bank having coaches in the early 2000s to support the Breakout culture change program and heard reports of it being very successful. Would be interested in first-hand accounts:
https://www.anz.com/australia/support/library/mr/breakoutstory020207.pdf