Heidi Hornlein

On the IEC 2016 the word TEAL was everywhere – and always in connection with organisations, so mainly with the lower quadrants, especially the lower right. I think, it is very important to discuss these aspects and work on them, but more often than not I have the impression that the upper quadrants, especially the upper left (and its expressions in the upper right) are overlooked, missing, marginalized. We want to CREATE something, we are busy DOING, but who are WE personally? Who are we to create structures – which infallibly will have the imprint of our own stage of self-understanding and self-knowledge and growth.

Where are we on the scale of the levels of development? Cognitive-intellectual, yes, we are there. But emotional and relational? Are we able to work in a Holacracy context without being hurt and frustrated because our feelings are not acknowledged and valued, because we cannot express ourselves except when it is about right hand quadrant, external arguments? When our intuition or feelings are swept away as not important – and it might be so in some cases – how can we deal with it?

I think there are several scenarios here.

• We try to keep the enthusiasm and ideology despite of the frustration – until we freak out and leave the boat
• We manage to submit ourselves to who seems to be “more right” and half-heartedly continue to collaborate – negating our own perception and needs. (the “normal” way of doing for most of us in the past)
• We have enough emotional intelligence to discern when our hurt feelings are merely caused by our own patterns and history or if there is something off in the system.
• We are grown up enough to set boundaries and to give constructive opposition to the procedures who are collectively admired as THE right ways of doing. (which might also be true, substantially, but their execution might be colored by individual personal needs and hidden agendas)

The list here might not be complete. I just wanted to point to the missing deep knowledge of our own psychological patterns and functioning which govern our ways of being and interacting – even in people who in many aspects are in “second tier”. Far too often we look towards external factors – and are blind to ourselves. Psychotherapy and spiritual practice are not at all a guarantee for a healthy relationship with ourselves – and therefore not a guarantee for good and healthy relationships with spouses, families or colleagues – let alone for the collaboration in organisations.

Do you hear your inner voices? All of them? How do you treat them? Do you ignore them, call them names, push them back? Or are you able to really love and embrace them although they are uncomfortable and often ruin your self-image and even your performance? Are you willing to be REALLY vulnerable AND STRONG and the same time, in whatever comes up? Or are you tendentially a victim of your own psychology, of what others do or don’t do.  Or do you push through what you think is right, ignoring the inner family altogether?

These are questions I would love to hear the teal-tribe ask themselves. And I would invite all of us to put sufficient focus on the upper left quadrant, exploring the unconscious patterns while engaging with ideas and practices for the lower right and left quadrants.

About the Author

I am native German, living in Italy for the past 30 years. I have an MA in communication science, was a professional singer, voice teacher, voice therapist before I was licensed in Gestalt Counseling and Transformative Coaching (Approach: ‘Feminine Power’ and related). I am also licensed as transformative leader. I am holding seminars and courses, live and online. My passion is 1:1 coaching for whatever difficulties people encounter in life, especially regarding relationships, but not only. If you are inspired to do so, please ask for a free discovery session by connecting with me on G+ or via our website. ThePowerOfRelationship.Com
more websites: TheWisdomFactory.De integralageing.com