As professionals start to return to the office, after a prolonged period of working from home, there is a new curiosity about the meaning we ascribe to our work and how this fits into our revised frame of the world. Some interesting patterns are emerging and we consider what they mean for sustained personal growth.
A Gestalt approach is very useful as Organisation Development consultants. Our role is to be awareness agents of what is transpiring around us. The Gestalt orientation focusses on informing our clients on how to improve and take action for better results in their human interactions. Being in ‘awareness,’ requires invoking the senses – hearing, seeing, smelling and feeling. These stimuli provide us with data and energy to lead to action and learning.
‘The Gestalt cycle of experience summarises the process by which people, individually or collectively, become aware of what is going on at any moment, and how they mobilise energy to take some action that allows them to deal constructively, by possibilities suggested by the new awareness. This process is sometimes referred to as that of finding out what is needed and going about getting it’
Edwin C Nevis, ‘Organisational Consulting, A Gestalt Approach’
The pattern of caution. People are re-entering the workplace with trepidation, as if it is the first day of school. Not much has changed physically in the buildings, however, the way we approach and collaborate with other humans has shifted. Some people are wholeheartedly embracing and others are clinical in their approach. We also have everything in between and significant polarisations too. Let’s be sensitive to individual preferences and walk together.
The pattern of human connection. The visceral energy of connection, is a beautiful sight. This missing piece from our lives in the pandemic, binds and propels us as humans in purpose work and relationships. Reconnect with abandon and notice your energy and how it buoys your work, delivery and growth mindset. Something magical is happening in this realm.
The pattern of inflexibility. People have become stuck in their pandemic ways and very focussed on themselves and not our collective. Not surprising, it’s been a solitary time. Unlearn certain pandemic rituals and learn new ways of working as we navigate a hybrid work world. Inclusivity, regardless of physical presence, has new meaning and elevated challenge.
A great teacher, colleague and friend once explained behavioural patterns to me in simple terms.
‘When you notice something for the first time, take note. When you see something for the second time repeated, pay attention. When you see the same thing for a third time, it’s a pattern.’
Mary Ann Rainey (Chicago, USA).
We need to make meaning of the behavioural patterns we see and mobilise the required responses.
What are you noticing in the workplace and how are you attending to the emergence?
