“WORKING WITH RESISTANCE”: A GESTALT WORKSHOP ... - TAU

“WORKING WITH RESISTANCE”: A GESTALT WORKSHOP FOCUSING ON THE INDIVIDUALLEVEL OF SYSTEM AND ON CONFLICT IN TWO-PERSON SYSTEMS (DYADS)-KNOWLEDGEMANAGEMENT UNIT by Chantelle WyleyThis intensively practical workshop was attended by the TAU senior managers and the TechnicalAdvisors, in March, in Pretoria, as part of the TAU’s ongoing investment into process consultingskills. The workshop tackled resistance and conflict from a Gestalt perspective, 1 including, also,the Thomas and Kilmann conflict model 2 .The Gestalt approach uses a model based on the process of human experience (see diagram),to observe how human beings develop preferential modes of engagement with the world.Some linger at /emphasize particular stages of the experience cycle. If these preferencesbecome habitual or overdeveloped, resistances to movement around the Cycle occurs, and“stuckness 3 ” manifests.Conflict almost always involves repetitive thinking, behaviour and emotional engagement,locking individuals into stuckness with themselves and others. The workshop invitedparticipants to explore their own resistance/contact preferences, and to think aboutexperiences with others that could be differently considered using an understanding of others’resistance styles. One of the “ah-ha” experienced by the group was that confluence/agreementwas also a style of resistance!1 See Mary Ann Rainey and Claire Stratford “Reframing resistance to change: a Gestalt perspective” In Bestpatterns: Erfolgsmuster für zukunfstfähiges Management, edited by Gustav Bergman( Neuwied: HermannLuchterhand Verlag, 2001), pp. 327-336.2 See Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph Kilmann, Interpersonal conflict-handling behavior as reflections of Jungianpersonality dimensions Psychological reports 37, 3 (1975), pp. 971-980; see alsohttp://www.kilmann.com/conflict.html3 Self explanatory: being stuck, inability to move to next stage of the experience cycle

This workshop and its approach have relevance for the TAU advisors, managers and staff whodeal with the complex multi-stakeholder terrain of the public sector, with its political underandovertones. Technical assistance and consulting support in this environment may easilybecome conflictual (including within the consultant!) without reference to a guiding framearound which to understand human engagement.The Gestalt model helps individuals to manage their own assumptions and engagement styleswith awareness, clarity, and with strategic intent, in the interests of client learning and impact.Participants’ feedback on their learning included:“I learned that my own resistance and actions can contribute to the development of conflictsituations. Resistance and conflict could be used to move things, to achieve change, if managedskillfully. My questions and prodding others can plant the seeds for their learning as well”“Resistance is to be valued, even when it is delivered in a threatening way. I am part ofresistance in a dyad 4 ”“I bring a dynamic into a system. I’m not neutral and therefore how I show up can either be anegative or positive influence; therefore awareness of self is important”.“I learned that the conflict I have in a dyad can be representative of the conflict of the systemand that if I approach with awareness I can do the work of the system and make positiveimpact”.“I learned about being in constant pursuit of wholeness, be it for myself or for my client; andmy role is to heighten awareness not to solve client’s problems”“I am very happy with how I have learned to deal with sticky situations within organisations /systems and leant more about personal level stuff”“The changes I will initiate are: being more aware of my resistances before others; increasingmy awareness of my intentionality; and put myself more in service of the team”The workshop was facilitated by Mary Ann Rainey (Chicago, USA) and Chantelle Wyley (CapeTown), faculty members on the Gestalt International Organization and Systems DevelopmentProgram (IOSD) see www.gestaltosd.org4 2 party system