Trapped by family role or prophecy

Organizations are breeding grounds for folks to re-enact or perpetuate their own family dynamics. This is most often an unconscious process – it just happens.

Families are systems, just like organizations. Simplified - there are people or a person at the helm – most often mom and dad (in the workplace known as the boss, manager, or leader); there are siblings (in the workplace known as colleagues and teams). AND there is a way of behaving in the family system, for better or for worse, learned behavior without much opportunity to experience and see things differently. Sometimes there’s a multi-generational force at play that unconsciously rules us. Beliefs so deep, we may not even be aware of them.

For example, I worked with a director who struggled to steer clear of a belief internalized and a dynamic he and his father have to this day. It impacted his relationship with his staff until he acknowledged the loop he was in. I’ll share more about that next week.

There are ways to counter this family role or prophecy trap. Two weeks from today, I’ll post four questions to get wrap yourself around and contemplate. We’ll see where they take you.