One of these years I'm going to attend the NASAGA conference. Until I get there, I read Willam Wake's blog to catch a bit of the flavor.
Yesterday he wrote about Bernie DeKoven's session:
"Bernie described Csikszentmihalyi's flow model; with challenge and ability on two axes - too challenging, we're anxious; too simple, it's boring; right on the edge - we may get flow. Flow is characterized by a sense of timelessness, focus, stillness, vividness, oneness.
Bernie has another model to go with it: "we" is on one axis, "me" on another. With way too much "we" or too much "me", we have alienation. More "we" than "me" leads to problems like co-dependence and mob rule. More "me" than "we" leads to self-absorption. In the middle channel, we have "co-liberation". When both are together at high levels, this co-liberation is confluence."
Both models relate to the dynamics of self-organizing teams.
With regard to Flow, I'm also reading a book by Lawrence Gonzales,
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Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and WhyIn the book, Gonzales also discusses this need for a balance between engaging emotion (anticipation, focus; i.e. not overly anxious) and cognition (logical, intellectual interest; i.e., not boring) to trigger the survival instinct. I've seen a similar dynamic in high performng teams when they really click. Team members face challenges together that are neither too anxiety-producing (am I incompetent at this? will I make a fool of myself if I try it? will this damage my relationships/reputation with colleagues or threaten my ability to make a living?) nor too simplistic or boring. (do they think I don't know anything? where is the variety? where's the beef? ho-hum...).
The We/Me model refers directly to teams and teamwork. A self-organizing team collaborates. In DeKoven's terms it strikes a different balance, one between self-interest and mutual interest. The best teams find a way for the needs of the team and the work to work together with individual needs (not necessarily "wants"). As when a team stands firm on everyone attending a daily stand-up meeting but adjusts the timing of the meeting to accommodate a parent's need to deliver a child safely to school. I like his term, "co-liberation." It sounds like collaboration but includes so much more.
Thanks for the updates, Bill! I'm looking forward to more through the week.