Givens (was: Already-thereness, Empowerment and Such)

[Chris Corrigan]

>
>  How can we open the space if we previously asked the sponsor to close
the
>  space, by "giving" the "givens"? How can we later facilitate
empowerment
>  if
>  we are helping the manager to disempower the people in the first
place?
>

Artur, I really appreciate you showing up and poking through all this
stuff.  On the idea of givens and empowerment, I'd like to posit a few
notions...

I think that there is no doubt that real givens come from outside the
"system."  I think the "givens" you are talking about are generated from
within the system for a variety of reasons.  Because they are generated
inside the system, usually by someone with authority, they are therefore
"imposed" on others, often without consent.  In working with clients to
identify givens I often push really hard on these ones because they
represent a story that is naturally confining both to the person setting
the givens and the organization which suffers under them.  In
traditional management and organizational development and leadership
literature, "empowerment" is taken to mean distributing responsibility
for these givens to one's subordinates. It is, as has been pointed out
nicely by Gil, a little disingenuous, to say the least

Byron Katie, who has developed an interesting methodology called The
Work (http://www.thework.org/doTheWork/index.html) provides us with a
nice framework for challenging givens.  There are several steps to this
process, but for our purposes the most interesting step is what she
calls "The Four Questions."  The Four Questions are used to test
assumptions, framed as statements.  They are:

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3. How do you react when you think that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?

The last one especially is a really nice one.  It links the story with
the identity of the person or organization and leads to all kinds of
illuminating possibilities as we think about who and what we could be
without the stories or givens we construct around ourselves.

So I think the process of working on "givens" is valuable for people and
organizations.  And it is especially valuable when it comes to poking
holes in the givens we assume to be generated outside of our sphere of
influence, when in reality they are generated within.

I think there are also real givens, something like the Law of Two Feet
or the Law of Gravity.  People move to where they can learn and
contribute just as sure as things fall at an acceleration rate of 9.9
m/s/s on Earth.

And this is where my original story about givens comes in, where I
talked about the woman who wants world peace but obviously has to settle
for something more manageable to begin with.

Ask the first question: "What do you really want to do?"  and then
answer the second question: "Why don't you take care of it?"  If the
second question is answered with "Okay" then everything is fine, and the
person can take off and do that which has heart and meaning for them.

But if the second question is answered in the negative, or begins with
"Because..." then one has to do some work.

"I can't make world peace because I don't have enough time."

Is that true?  Can you know absolutely know that it is true?  How do you
react when you think that thought?  Who would you be without that
thought?

And low and behold maybe it IS true.  And maybe you can absolutely know
that it's true.  And that's fine, because that is a REAL given.  Knowing
the real givens is important because then we know what it is we can do
and what is impossible to do, and I mean impossible, not just really,
really hard.

Without getting esoteric, one can WANT to fly, but if one advances
efforts to do so without admitting that gravity is a force to be
reckoned with, one won't get very far.  However, if one accepts that
gravity is real and can be absolutely known and that it is a true given,
then one can accommodate gravity in one's quest to fly.  "Okay then" one
would think, "I need to make something that accelerates me away from the
earth with more force than gravity can exert on me."  This is profoundly
more empowering thought than "Screw it, gravity is too strong.  I'll
never fly."  It is more empowering because it actually leads one to
flight.

So I think that givens are useful as long as they are well understood
and true.  And what empowerment is all about is including them and
transcending them and evolving to a higher form of being.

So I agree with you wholeheartedly, that helping a manager close space
by imposing givens is not work in the service of empowerment.  But I
think that the notion of givens is more subtle than that and actually
can be turned around to facilitate empowerment in oneself.

What do you think?

Chris

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