Oasis School of Human Relations - The Development Process

The Development Process

The development process can be distinguished from change and growth with which it is often compared.

Change: indicates that something will be different, but may occur in any direction.
Growth: indicates that something will get bigger.
Development: indicates movement of a significant, qualitative aspect.

For example, a human being progresses, not only in a linear direction, but also goes through a number of life stages (infancy, adolescence etc.). Throughout that process major developmental shifts occur that are based upon the relative success of previous stages. These changes amount to a transformation of the past.

Development is linked to the relationship between each of three polarities and their relationship to one another. A balance is never found except for a moment, so there is always tension and healthy conflict between the various needs of the different polarities.

The 3 polarities

Ideas Box

Ideas/ Ideals vs. Reality

The first polarity is that between things as we would wish them to be and the reality with which we have to work. Finding a relationship between imagination and creativity and the hard facts of the world is a matter of constant reassessment. A good idea ahead of its time may be left for others to exploit later. Failing to act in the light of the needs of the situation for fear of failing has stopped many an initiative from succeeding when it had every chance. Reality testing is often unpleasant, for our ideas and dreams are not always received with the degree of compassion and interest we would wish. In this way many potentially good ideas can be squashed. Just as over-encouragement to an ill-thought out plan can serve no one in the end. The loss of a good idea because the holder wasn't willing to work to bring others along and build a shared sense of endeavour ensures many potentially valuable efforts fail to evolve as they might.

Development is not then a forgone conclusion leading confidently to an ultimately valuable direction. Much development has struggle and set backs. Regression is part of development and is often a necessary phase of reforming and reassessing. For development to become a conscious and willed aspect of one's life it is useful to have some place, or relationship that enables us to take stock and make assessments of progress and failure too.

How to find a loyal friend and critic is an important aspect of the development process. Someone who can see the potential in a poorly (as yet) formulated idea and can help bring it alive and someone who can clearly, but firmly, point out the unrealistic aspirations behind an idea that has no hope of success can contribute enormously to our wholeness.
Past - Future orientation

All development takes place through time. We live in the present moment caught between the past and the future. Our own culture looks back to the past and sees development largely as a matter of unfolding from a point of origin to a destination in the future, as though the future were a passive element in the equation. But the future is an active agent in all our lives. The trends and ideas at work in our lives all herald a future; all generate an influence that modifies the past, which casts a new light upon what took place in the past. Only at great and unmistakable moments are we often reminded of this aspect of the interaction between past and future. The fall of the Berlin wall and all that it stands for is a moment that enables us to rewrite the history of an era. But it is often only when such a moment has taken place that we can confidently see the trends and the movements that were at work leading towards that end - nevertheless they were there.

We can see the past as a prison-house of memories or a treasure store of resources awaiting a new opportunity to release them. For most of us, our past isn't something we have explored with a positive view of seeking the talents and abilities that have found expression there, the resourceful needs with which we may have managed a difficult situation; the courage with which we met a challenge or the dedication that we offered to sticking at a task that required completing - in these kinds of ways and through the use of biography work we can release potential from the past to aid us in our work in the future and begin to experience the present as a moment of dynamic expectation.
Outer and Inner

All of us have to make choices between action and contemplation. We cannot live exclusively inside ourselves, nor only out in the world. Action has to be balanced with reflection and reflection needs to be tested with new experience and challenge. Understanding something of one's temperament and needs can make the tension between the demands of the inner and outer aspects of our efforts nourish our overall development. Too much attention to the demands of the world and we may lose ourselves. Too much time spent understanding who and where we are may leave us unfit for action. A world that prizes accomplishment, however, as much as ours does, stands in danger of underestimating the value of inner work or of giving it sufficient time to really contribute to the development process.

The purpose of development

The individual carries within themselves the impulse to realise their own potential, to contribute to the development of those around them and to make a contribution to the life and quality of the groups to which they become attached.

The elements of development

All processes of change or crisis have within them the potential for development.
The work of identifying how the present lives out of the past is an essential step.
Only with a realistic reckoning of the contributions of all involved, can the conditions for development begin to flourish.
Development arises out of the creative tension between the potential of the individual, group or organisation and its attempt to adapt to the circumstances in which it finds itself.
Circumstances may be encouraging and benign, or challenging and hostile.
Within the concept of development is the need to recognise decline, decay, dying and death itself.

It follows that development is possible in all situations and that the potential for change requires those involved to engage with themselves, those around them and their circumstances. Also, that to work in this way is essentially an educational activity. It raises questions of values, purpose, identity and commitment.

Meaning and events

How we understand what is happening strongly influences what we decide to do. If we are using the wrong ideas, or have inadequate concepts, then the actions which flow from them will not resolve our dilemma, or further our development. However, having the right answer isn't any use, if we can't get people to make use of it, or if we are so crippled by doubt that we don't implement the actions that are required.

Many of us hold ideas of change that are related to some (or perhaps all) of those outlined below. We often hold contradictory views of change within the space of the same conversation, depending upon which aspect of change is uppermost in our minds.

Type of Change	Description
Incremental Change	Changes are linear and accumulate in sequence.
Disruptive Change	Change is an interruption to a predictable order or routine.
'One-Off' Change	Change is an interruption as a means of re-organisation, from one state to another.
Momentary Change	There is a stable state to which we shall one day return
Imposed Change	External agents impose their ill-considered and unworkable ideas upon what is an already perfect system.
Interruptive Change	Changes are deviations from an ordered and coherent system which is never allowed to operate because of such interruptions.
Revolutionary Change	The political realities in the situation have changed and another group are now imposing their will upon what will take place. It is all out of our hands.
Random Change	No one knows much of anything about what is happening, so there is really no need to do any more than muddle on as before.
Programmed Change	This is only a 'blip' on the graph of progress that underlies everything that goes on.

These kinds of views of change whilst useful for many experiences or events breaks down under turbulent and structural change that tears up the existing framework without replacing it with a new one immediately. Such change is akin to living through a revolution and revolutions throughout history have usually cost lives. Whilst the context of change is revolutionary individuals are still living their own lives with their own rhythms of change and development, their own experiences of life to accommodate to and they are still making the journey from one stage or phase of their life to into another. Such transitions can make the challenge of external change even more difficult to work with. It can of course help too. Thinking about issues of transition, development and transformation are useful as ways of locating oneself in the personal picture, at the same time not forgetting the organisational one.

Transition

Transitions have elements of predictability, phases of activity and thresholds that identify various stages along the route, whether it be the transition into a new position at work, a divorce, or into parenthood. The possibility of learning and integration are also important features of transitions, providing we understand that they have predictable and understandable phases from which lessons can be extracted.

Development

Development is a process of qualitative change and isn't necessarily gradual, or incremental. It is not necessarily related to travelling through a predictable transition. It can be experienced as a jump from one state of being to another. It is characterised by thresholds or frontiers and a strong conviction of a shift that is irrevocable. It is, however, linked to individual biography, or "life-script" and is a living out of themes or issues at work in individual lives. The same features apply to organisational transformation.

Development then, is not random or unpredictable, however revolutionary it appears to the subjects who are living through such a change. E.g. becoming a parent is a developmental staff - for most of us - just as taking on new responsibilities can be organisationally.

Transformation

Transformation is a 'qualitative shift of being' manifested in external and internal ways. It is a break with the past. It is the unpredicted shift to an altogether new level of operating. It is a move to a higher order of functioning that incorporates and integrates previous functions and will be manifested in changes in organisation, structure, function and process and whilst identifiable through these differences and modifications, it is actually contained in none of them. It is beyond singular manifestation and is only apparent as a result of appearing in all of them. (Whilst conversion experiences are obvious examples of a transformative change - not always for the good - there are other changes that take place at momentous points in a person's life that amount to a transformation. Perhaps the one most common and most turbulent is the crisis of mid-life (which often comes earlier in our present day period of accelerated change).

Working with change

All of us have to 'work with change' for or against, well or badly; through denial or even through a false acceptance. Many of us are quite happy to work with changes we work for and desire to bring about. We are altogether less enamoured when the change is imposed and brought from outside. Working with change is not something that admits of a single solution: it requires effort and time - both, as we a have already noted, in short supply. It helps, however, to identify the number of events through which our lives are travelling and to distinguish them as externally imposed or internally inspired.

A simple table helps.

	EXTERNAL	INTERNAL
Changes
Transitions
Developmental Phase
Transformation

Whilst some events will be easy to assign others would be capable of various interpretations. For example the end of a relationship for one person may be a relief (with costs nevertheless) for another it may be the heartbreaking end to a lifetime of commitment. Such personal meaning needs to be acknowledged and recognised. Events need to be placed where 'you' feel they are best placed. So, for some people changes in the structure of their work will amount to a transformation that is generated from the outside whilst for others it will be no more than a change. For someone else, the importance of the transition from one role (practitioner to manager) will have greater weight than the changes to the structure within which they are working. For someone else none of the changes taking place within the workplace will matter as much as managing a frail parent through the final stages of life. But all of us have a combination of external and internal experience that we area having to manage simultaneously.

Detecting Change

The first signal is often one of unease; a suggestion that all is not well, something has gone wrong, or isn't working. Sometimes we know where the failure lies, but then it is usually someone else who should take action. Change and the responsibility for change lies outside of us and we are free to blame or criticise. Only when we bring the change within our grasp, inside our own boundaries, can we move out of antagonism towards it, or righteous indignation about it. Only when we begin to ask; 'What else could there be?' or 'I'd like to see...' do we begin to form a productive relationship with what is happening. Only by forming a relationship toward what is happening can we begin to exert a useful influence. It is by developing a fascination, or a loving interest that things begin to 'speak' back to us. Sometimes, when working with change questions, the questions themselves come in search of us. Repeated reminders of a situation that demands attention appear time and time again, and we know, sooner or later, we will have to put the time aside to respond. Some such changes stack up, just waiting for a glimpse of daylight to appear before us. They then fly out of the shadows and demand that we put off dealing with them no longer.

There are those changes, too, we barely want to look upon, because they bring us face to face with our 'shadow'. We are confronted with the darker side of our selves and have to face up to not being all we would wish to believe is best about ourselves. The more complex mixture of our motives becomes revealed and we have to face the pain of self-knowledge, acknowledge the hurt or the pain that we have, in part, inflicted. It is unpleasant and painful to have, at last, to acknowledge all that we have tried to put to one side or deny, but it pursues us until we recognise and work with it, or it helps destroy us.

Our freedom is related to the degree of intimacy we have developed with our own shadow. Sometimes it is the people coming towards us that bring with them the challenges and the questions we next need to meet. Then we may have to look beyond the immediate needs of the situation, or what is being expressed and ask, 'What are they seeking?' 'What more do they require of us?' It may be straightforward and appropriate. It may not be within our power to offer, but always we will come to understand more about where we are, if we enquire into how it is that they have come to find us and what they are in search of.

'The situation is hopeless but not serious.' Hungarian proverb.

The challenge of change is to remain effective, efficient and adaptable.

Establishing realistic targets means having modest, achievable goals.

Change, Development, Transformation: Paradigm Shifts

‘Do not confine your children to your own learning for they were born in another time.’ Hebrew proverb

Transformation incorporates development and includes change. Development is an extension or unfolding of potential. Change is movement from one state to another.

Change may be predictable or involuntary. It may be a relief or a disappointment. It may bring about positive benefits or regression. It doesn't have to go anywhere or lead to any result. It may therefore be experienced as an interruption and a discontinuity to an ordered way of living. Development has coherence, pattern. It is an organic unfolding, a bringing forth of what is latent. There is progression into a higher order of operating or experiencing. There may be pain and difficulty attached to the transition but the result of the change is toward higher functioning.

Transformation results in a qualitative shift in state, function and processes involved. A new order of operating comes into play. A new mode of functioning appears. The previous way of operating is not simply replaced but superseded and transcended. The old functions are not necessarily abandoned but others are introduced that exceed previous limitations. Processes are integrated into a higher order of functioning.

Paradigm of understanding

Paradigm comes from the Greek word meaning "pattern". A paradigm of understanding is a given framework of thought, a way of explaining certain aspects of reality, e.g. the Theory of Gravity. A paradigm shift means that a distinctly new or different way of thinking becomes established. The Newtonian paradigm to explain the laws of the universe held for over 200 years. The hope amongst scientists was that the Newtonian paradigm would explain more and more of the phenomena under investigation until we had a complete description of the "Clockwork universe". However all paradigms have their limits (limits which are built into the very premises upon which they are established). As you approach the limits of a paradigm you begin to discover more and more bits of information that don't quite fit. You then have a dilemma; you either bend the data to fit the framework and maintain the theory's validity or you find ways to discount it altogether, e.g. "this was an exceptional experiment so it doesn't count." But the new information keeps piling up, the anomalies increase and the contradictions become more obvious. In the end there is so much new information that cannot find a place in the old paradigm that a crisis ensues. This is essentially a crisis of belief.

At this stage someone usually comes along and proposes what seems like a "wacky" or heretical explanation. Some outlandish insight is put forward to explain the contradictions. This includes a new principle or a new perspective. The new paradigm or theory is more inclusive and comprehensive than previous explanations and therefore represents progress in development. A new paradigm is a hierarchic improvement. Often the old understanding is not abandoned altogether, it is simply maintained at the place and for the activities for which it has value.

Newtonian physics, for example, is still useful and valid for explaining some phenomena but not all. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity superseded the Newtonian paradigm. The theory of relativity provided an alternative explanation that could incorporate a great many of the anomalies that didn't fit in with the Newtonian view.

In simple terms Einstein provided a convincing explanation to show that Newton's work which established causal chains of cause and effect, essentially a mechanical view of the Universe, did not apply to vast bodies such as galaxies nor infinitely small particles such as electrons. Within its range of applicability the Newtonian paradigm works. It simply did not anticipate being superseded because phenomena outside its range would one day be discovered. The revolution that this brought about to our thinking is only just beginning to enter into Communications and Counselling. "It takes fifty years," one scientist said, "before a scientific discovery penetrates the public."

A new paradigm reveals a principle that was always present but simply not apparent. It includes the previous explanation as a partial rather than the whole truth. The introduction of a new larger perspective brings about new questions to explore as well as predicting solutions to problems with more accuracy. In short it is a better explanation of what we know as well as a spur and a stimulus to find out more about what we don't know. Surprisingly, given its value and its release of potential, a new paradigm does not take hold easily or immediately, and this is largely because you can't take on a new paradigm without admitting the old one is inadequate and letting it go. You can't do it piecemeal; it has to be taken on board whole. New paradigms are generally greeted with resistance and even hostility; Copernicus, Galileo, Pasteur, Mesmer, were all subject to attack for proposing their new ideas. New ideas are seen as bizarre or "wacky", and because they are new and undeveloped they are easy to attack.

Cyril Burt was a leading exponent of a paradigm for explaining IQ. His work was cited for decades and his reputation unassailable until someone discovered that he had systematically and consistently falsified the evidence simply in order to maintain his theory. His life's work is now largely discredited. Hundreds of scientists were influenced by Burt's work and found the expose hard to accept.

New paradigms gain ascendance as new thinkers enter the field uncluttered by previous assumptions. When they reach a critical mass the shift occurs and the field as a whole embraces the new view of things. But it too, in turn, becomes another orthodoxy waiting to be undermined. Part of the problem of paradigm shifts is that they are very much more erratic and irregular than most descriptions usually manage to convey. Most descriptions make them appear as though they are a slow and inevitable process rather than a bitterly contested, eruptive, transformative leap. One way to sense a paradigm shift is when the solution offered to the problem is a demand for more of the same. More horses and more men didn't actually put Humpty Dumpty together again.