Incest 0000i-xiv FM 1 - William L. White

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t h e i n c e st u o u s wo r k p lac e
Organizational dynamics can also influence our choice of and access
to mentors. In closed systems, most workers will list a mentor from inside
the organization (usually the high priest/priestess). The lack of
boundary permeability in such systems restricts access to outside professionals
who could become mentors.
Professional Supports (Work). This is probably the easiest circle for
most workers to complete. Workers seem to develop supportive alliances
even in those organizations that combine the highest level of aggregate
stress and the lowest level of built-in supports. Exceptions can be found
among workers who experience role underload or role deprivation, and
among those who have been victims of scapegoating.
Looking at the Whole Replenishment Network. Having spent several
decades studying high-stress work environments and the people who
work in them, I feel very strongly that a network of nurturing relationships
can serve as an antidote to many of the dire consequences of professional
distress. The replenishment network, represented by the
filled-in circles in figure 11-D, constitutes a protective shield.
The detachment from toxic relationships, the development of a nurturing
network of professional, social, and family relationships, and the
cultivation of self-nurturing activities serve as powerful antagonists to
professional distress.
11.9 Your Role-Boundary Management
A major portion of this book addressed how professional distress spills
into and corrupts the quality of our personal lives. While such spillover
is often given momentum by forces in our work organizations, it can also
reflect a worker’s inability to establish and enforce a boundary between
work life and personal life.
We have already discussed some recommendations related to boundary
management, such as the development of multiple and varied life
roles and the avoidance of a work-dominated social network. One of the
most important additional boundary-management strategies is the development
of decompression routines.
Decompression routines are rituals that signal to ourselves and others
that one part of our life is ending and another part is beginning. These
routines represent a “rite of passage” from our work life to our personal
life. Our rituals often unfold in three stages: (1) rituals performed during