BMA eBook - Manual / Resource - Page 61
Intervention and Leadership
or hinder progress being made, to see the part you are playing and diagnose
systemic elements and patterns. Observation is aided if you know more about
what you are looking for and why this maybe important, given the adaptive
issue in front of the group.
Developing a diagnostic mindset assists in
answering one simple observational question: “what is going on here and is it
productive?”; in what ways do the behaviours I observe reflect defaults in this
system and in what ways are they productive?” and in what ways are these
patterns a reflection (a symptom) of the very problem we are trying to
orchestrate change on?”.
Diagnostic questions focus on three dimensions (human, political and
leadership) each of which is discussed below.
3.1 Human Dimension
Groups are complex human systems within which there will be conflicting
views of the purpose, as well as the methods required to achieve it. There will
be unresolved concerns, competing needs and interests and sub groups that
align over a shared position or value. Depending on the nature of the work and
the perceived stakes involved, individuals will have an ambivalent relationship
with the group – sometimes supporting its progress and other times holding it
back. This ambivalence is an expression of the interactional forces that arise in
groups of all kinds; each of us simultaneously values our autonomy and
individuality but we also value belonging, being recognised and being (and
being seen as) competent. Observing the way in which these forces play out in
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