Authority, Power and Justice: Leadership for Change

Transcription

1 A Three-day Weekend Workshop in the Group Relations/ Tavistock Tradition sponsored by: The Boston Affiliate of the A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social System Authority, Power and Justice: Leadership for Change Boston College, Brighton Campus 2101 Commonwealth Avenue, Brighton, MA March 28-30, 2014 It always seems impossible until it is done. Nelson Mandela

2 Effective leadership requires an understanding of the dynamics of authority and power, and leadership for change requires insight into just processes. Authority, Power and Justice: Leadership for Change is a workshop in the Group Relations and Tavistock traditions that provides an opportunity to study our collective behavior as it occurs in real time while considering the complexities of authority, leadership, power and justice. For leaders, managers, activists, students, teachers and professionals who attempt to lead organizations and communities through change, the challenge is to understand the intricate dynamics of authority, power and justice in relation to our passions, values, beliefs and responsibilities. In pursuit of our goals, we often encounter dynamics that we do not fully comprehend or that do not make sense. As a result of these unspoken, misunderstood or hidden dynamics, groups can repeatedly stumble on otherwise simple decisions and make problems seem intractable. The ability to understand and then manage these dynamics is an indispensable aspect of effective leadership. Doing our work responsibly, with a deeper understanding of our inter connectedness and our accountability to others, requires that we acknowledge and attend to the impact of overt and covert social, political, and psychological processes on our thinking, our experiences, and our actions. Doing our work responsibly also requires that we acknowledge the times when we choose to take up or not take up our own authority and power, and the ways our individual action or inaction affect the relationships and contexts in which we belong. The purpose of this workshop is to provide opportunities for understanding rational and irrational group processes that assist and hinder our work within groups. To that end, the workshop is designed to be a temporary learning organization, or system, which comes to life when staff and participants join to co-create it. The primary task of this learning organization is to study the development and exercise of authority, leadership, power and justice, in the context of change, through the inter-personal and inter-group relations that develop within the workshop as an organization. Unlike traditional learning systems, there are no lectures, panels or power point presentations. Instead, the workshop is based on reflection-in-action; learning focuses on our experiences and interactions with each other in real time. All participants (staff and members) have the opportunity to study conscious and unconscious processes relating to authority, leadership, power, justice, and the dynamics of change as they are experienced and expressed here and now within the temporary learning system, and in the context of the larger social systems within which the workshop exists. The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein

3 What can I learn from this workshop? What is the difference between authority, power and leadership? When do I take up authority and exercise leadership? When do I use my power? How do the dynamics of authority, power and justice play out in organizations and groups with differing sizes, structures and tasks? How do I manage the tension between being an autonomous individual and being responsible to a group? How do I manage myself in a constantly changing environment? When am I a proponent for change and when do I resist it? What is the impact of individual characteristics such as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and age on roles, authority and boundaries? Other Learning Objectives Identify how leadership roles are authorized and how this authorization impacts the effectiveness of the group s work. Recognize the difference between the stated task of a group and the task it appears to be pursuing. Learn from my experiences of competition, affiliation, collaboration, conflict, delegation, coalition-building, and splitting of groups into factions to advance my leadership skills. Identify the underlying patterns of group interaction by forming groups, establishing governing structures and relating with other groups and with the organization as a whole. Apply workshop learning to situations in professional, family, and community life.

4 Workshop Events The workshop is organized as a series of events that provide opportunities to learn through the examination of experience in a variety of social contexts. The events will begin and end promptly at the times designated. Opening Plenary: This session introduces the workshop and provides an opportunity for members and staff to express their thoughts and feelings on crossing the boundary from the outside environment to the workshop. Small Study Group (System): The task of the small study group is to study its own dynamics and processes as they unfold in the here and now. The small study group consists of no more than 12 members with one or two staff consultants. Large Study Group (System): The entire membership assembles with the task of studying processes as they occur in the here and now in a group too large for each member to maintain face to face contact with every other member. A team of consultants will work with the large study group. Institutional Event: This event focuses explicitly on the workshop as an institution. Members will have the opportunity to form their own groups and determine their own tasks within this event. The primary task is to explore the relationship between groups within the workshop system and in relation to the theme of power and justice. Community Reflection: This event provides an opportunity for all workshop participants, members and staff, to gather to explore the state of the system in silence and in creative expression.. Morning Reflections, Dreams and Associations: All workshop participants, members and staff, gather to explore the ways that individuals dreams and associations during the workshop illuminate aspects of the system s dynamics. Role Analysis Group and Review and Application Group: The task of these groups is to provide members the opportunity to reflect on their experiences in workshop events, and to begin to apply the learning to life outside the workshop. Closing Plenary: This event is an opportunity to reflect, at the end of the workshop, on the experience of the workshop-as-a-whole, and in its different parts, in the context of ending and crossing the boundary from the workshop back to everyday life.

5 Staff The staff design and manage the workshop. During the workshop, the staff work as consultants who serve the primary task by offering working hypotheses and reflections based on their understanding of their experiences and the activities of the workshop. The staff will be as explicit as possible about their tasks and roles throughout the workshop. The ways in which they work are always open to examination. They are not observers of the process but are active participants in the life of the workshop. Director: Evangeline Sarda JD, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Boston College Law School. Co-creator, Group Relations International (GRI). Member, Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems (CSGSS). Associate, A. K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (AKRI). Treasurer, The Research and Education Collaborative with Al-Quds University (RECA). Cohort 16, Boston College Leadership for Change Program. Associate Director: Tracy Wallach PhD, LICSW, Organizational Development and Leadership Consultant, Brookline, MA. Lecturer, College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Past President and Member, CSGSS. Associate and former Board Member, AKRI. Director of Administration: Jeanine Baillie PsyD, Clinical Psychologist, Boston College University Counseling Services. Graduate, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP). Certificate of Specialization in Latino Mental Health. Supervisor of postdoctoral fellows. Administrator: Justin Brogden JD, Boston College Law School. BA, Oberlin College.

6 Consulting staff will be drawn from the list below. Additional consultants may be added. A list of authorized staff will be provided to workshop members. Zachary Gabriel Green PhD, Professor of Practice, Leadership Studies, University of San Diego. Executive Leadership Coach, the World Bank Group. Founding Circle, Group Relations International. Fellow, AKRI. Suma Jacobs MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Director of Autism Research, University of Minnesota. Adjunct Faculty, Mayo Clinic and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Associate, AKRI. Rose Miller M.S., Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach. Fellow of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Fellow and Member, AKRI. Faculty Member of the former Organization Program of the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York. Evangeline Sarda Tracy Wallach Phyll Zuberi MD, Medical Director, Freedom Care Program, Cedar Hills Hospital (for active duty soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan). Advanced Candidate, Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute. MA, Political Science. Course Instructor, Political Negotiation Using Insights from Psychoanalysis. Former Director, Psychiatric Consultation Liason Service, Provience St. Vincent Medical Centre. Present and Past Lecturer at UT Southwestern Medical Center-Dallas, University of Florida, OHSU, KU Medical Center, UMKC, and LSU.

7 Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just. Blaise Pascal Attendance This workshop is dynamic in nature, where intrapsychic, interpersonal and intergroup phenomena are available to be experienced and studied in the service of applying what is learned to everyday life. A diverse membership creates the possibility for rich learning. To that end, we welcome individuals who represent a cross section of the community who are interested in the study of leadership, authority, power and justice. The workshop is designed to be a single integrated educational experience. Individuals who know in advance that they are unable to attend all sessions are discouraged from applying. Anyone who must leave for any reason is requested to inform the administration. Special note: The workshop is an educational endeavor and does not provide psychotherapy or sensitivity training. Although the experiential learning available can be stimulating and enriching, it can be emotionally demanding as well. Thus, applicants who are ill or experiencing significant personal difficulties should forgo participating at this time. Workshop Time Friday, March 28, 10 AM to 6:30 PM Saturday, March 29, 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM Sunday, March 30, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM Registration begins at 9:30 AM on Friday, March 28. Meals and Lodging Light refreshments will be available at each break. A light continental breakfast will be available on Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 AM. Other meals are the responsibility of members. The workshop is nonresidential. Those who require assistance in securing overnight accommodations should contact Jeanine Baillie, Director of Administration, at 2014APJ@csgss.org.

8 Workshop Fees* The fee includes materials and light refreshments. $400 $250 $100 $100 $ 50 Basic Fee/General Public Public Interest Practitioner Fee Student Fee Boston College Staff Boston College Student Fee *Boston College students and staff are subsidized by a grant from the Boston College Institute for Liberal Arts. A limited number of partial scholarships and fee discounts are available based on need and on the overall enrollment of the workshop. Please contact Jeanine Baillie, Director of Administration (2014APJ@csgss.org) for more information. Total due: $ Please make check payable to Authority Workshop. Enrollment is limited. *********************************************** The drawings in this brochure are by artist and activist Rini Templeton. Her work can be found at riniart.org. The black and red square borders are adapted from publications from Just Associates at justassociates.org. Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

9 APPLICATION FORM Authority, Power and Justice: Leadership for Change Name: Title/Degree: Home mailing address: and phone numbers where I can be reached: Home Work Cell The information below is for determination of balance of individual demographics within groups only: Race/Ethnicity Sex Age Other ways that I self-identify: Name of close associates attending this Workshop, if any: Brief description of work role: Previous experience with Tavistock/ group relations conferences or other experiential learning: My personal and professional goals for this workshop: Other information I would like you to know: I have read the brochure and hereby apply for membership to this Workshop. I understand that through my application and signature, I authorize the sponsoring organizations to conduct the workshop in the manner described in the brochure. Signature: Date: Withdrawal Policy: Requests to withdraw must be submitted on or before March 21, 2014 to receive full refund. REGISTRATION: Send application and fee (check payable to Authority Workshop) by March 21, 2014 to: Dr. Jeanine Baillie University Counseling Services Boston College Gasson Hall Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA, If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact Dr. Jeanine Baillie at 2014APJ@csgss.org.