BMA eBook - Manual / Resource - Page 65
Intervention and Leadership
achieve an agreed to outcome, which usually is different to that of other groups.
When you understand and can observe these differences being played out in
groups it is more possible to intervene in ways that focuses the attention of the
diverse groups and has the potential to mobilise learning. 4
A diagnostic mindset will assist in this domain; will enable important questions
to be asked and better informed interventions to be built. There are a wide
range of ‘political’ questions that can be considered (see Figure 3 for examples)
but they tend to fall into four categories that respectively identify:
•
The players (factions) their interests and values and what their respective
definitions of success are;
•
Values over which there is most difference and, therefore, around which
agreement and change will be most problematic;
•
Levels of readiness to engage and to mobilise and influence people across
the system , as well as within their own constituency ; and
•
The capacity and willingness to learn, change and adapt, including to
tolerate some degree of loss in the service of making progress.
In learning environments the political dimensions described rarely manifest as
fully or as stridently as in organisational settings, partly because the stakes are
different, even not as high. It is, however, possible to observe as a surrogate or
metaphor, the way in which groups disagree over purpose, methods used,
including the type of pedagogy and what ideas or information is most useful.
4
For more detailed discussion on diagnosing the political landscape see Chapter 6 , pages 80-100 in
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