Lecture 9: Bion Tavistock Perspective 3 The leader as container

Psychodynamic approach 2 (Continued)

Awareness and Effectiveness

So awareness of the defensive dynamics in the group can assist addressing the anxiety of members and reducing a significant barrier to group effectiveness that is often out of awareness

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Defence mechanisms - Projection

The individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by falsely attributing to another his or her own unacceptable feelings, impulses or thoughts. A part of the self is unconsciously projected into the environment

You are so !@#$**!! angry today!

E.g. blaming others can be denied responsibility

If the lecturer were not so hopeless, I would have passed

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Defence mechanisms - Introjection

The individual falsely attributing to him or her self unacceptable feelings or thoughts.

If anything goes wrong, I have caused it

A part of the self is unconsciously introjected from the environment (swallowed whole)

I should have handled that better I ought to be courteous and respectful of others at all times

E.g. Taking responsibility which rightly belongs to others

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Maria Theresa Hooke

Psychoanalyst Grateful acknowledgment for permission to use
material from her 2010 Lecture at the Catholic University

The internal attitude of the analyst at work

From Freuds free floating attention to Bions reverie

What is the analytic attitude?

Being receptive, listening to the verbal and non-verbal communications of the client or follower and being open to the followers projections. Containing and transforming the client or follower's projective identification (more later) Being empathic, in tune with the client or follower but also a step removed, able to observe with a spirit of inquiry Being able to reflect on what the client or follower communicates and to consider the effect it has 6 John Batros & Bryan Kidd 1/05/2011 on us

Freuds free floating attention

(Transferred from analysts to leaders)

A calm quiet suspended attention The contrary of concentration Keeping an open and receptive mind free from prejudices and judgement Having space in ones mind to receive what the follower brings Tune in with the followers unconscious

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Freud and Bion: Beyond memory and desire

Being open to the unknown Being able to bear not knowing, doubts and uncertainties Let go of theories

Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul

Carl Jung (Tyson, 1998, p 1)

Let go of memory and desire

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Projective Identification Introduction

Projective Identification (PI) is an interactive process involving exchanges between one person, the Projector, and another, the Container [Tyson, WWG] A mechanism by which one person can come to experience and possibly influence the experience of another [Willshire, BBLM] As in projection, the individual deals with emotional conflict or internal or external stressors by falsely attributing to another his or her own unacceptable feelings, impulses or thoughts. Unlike simple projection, ...the individual remains aware of his or her own affects or impulses but misattributes them as justifiable reactions to the other person. Not infrequently, the individual induces the very feelings in others that were first mistakenly believed to be there, making it difficult to clarify who did what to whom first. [Tyson, BB Defences]
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Projective identification

What we cant tolerate in ourselves we expel into another person. The other person becomes then identified with it. In the organisational situation, into the leader The leader is then perceived as the repudiated aspect of the follower Getting rid of what is unbearable in ourselves and making someone else feel bad The transmission of mental pain

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Projective identification as communication

We transmit mental pain also to let the other know how we feel First pre-verbal mode of communication between the baby and the mother Not only a defence to get rid of the unwanted experiences but also a way to let the other know what it is like being us If the communication is contained and understood by the mother or by the leader and given back in a more tolerable form, it can be thought about. Metabolising ( Willshire, BBLM) A base for reflecting, mentalising
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Mother & baby

2. Evacuates and communicates (Projective Identification)

1. Upset, uncomfortabl e anxious fearful

BABY

MOTHER
3. Feels anxious, fearful Contains & remains calm Metabolises feelings 4.Evacuates and communicates calm feelings rocks and soothes (Projective Identification)
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5. Introjects calmness, feels safe, sleeps (Introjective Identification) 12

Splitting

(Willshire, BBLM)

A mental mechanism whereby anxious and frightening experiences are separated from comforting, soothing, calming ones E.g. Experience is split into good and bad feelings

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Splitting & Projective Identification [PI]

(Willshire BBLM)

Go hand in hand The disowned part of experience is evacuated through PI Leaders who are able to keep their people in mind, are responsive to their PIs and hold them, can facilitate a metabolizing process so that followers can modify their mental states and be more productive Leaders, by functioning as a container, manage more effectively
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Bion is interested in how thinking develops

How do we learn to think ? We are talking about emotional thinking, knowing oneself, understanding ourselves and others, being truthful, being reflective For Bion we learn to think in our relationship with another person who is able to receive, think about, give meaning and process primitive anxieties and dread (fear of dying, of disintegrating, of falling apart, of violent emotions etc.) For Bion we learn to think (or not) in our early relationship with our mothers
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The mother reverie similar to Freud's free floating attention

The mother contains the primitive anxieties and terrors of the baby, reflects about them in a loving way (reverie) and processes/ digests them on behalf of the baby For Bion this is the origin of thinking What was indigestible like big lumps of food is now being processed and homogenised by the mother and given back to the baby in a tolerable form Mothers reverie is similar to Freuds free floating attention, a state of openness to receive , of emotional alertness, of intuition, of holding thoughts and anxieties It promotes psychic reality and mentalisation A similar process goes on in interpersonal and group dynamics 16 John Batros & Bryan Kidd 1/05/2011

Containment

The container is an internal concept, it is not Winnicotts holding environment It is the mind of the mother, the mind of the leader. It is an internal space Containing is receiving and processing the followers projective identification both as evacuation and as communication The container/leader is active, is constantly receiving and processing

Cf the Tavistock Consultants role in the Study Group

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Containment as part of the leadership attitude

The container-leader represents the receptive mind capable of reverie and able to contain what is projected into it The aim of the leaders receptive mind is through reverie- to TRANSFORM what has been projected into something that the projector can take back in his own mind

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The mind of the leader at work

The emotional demands imposed by the work Projective identification works both ways, risk of projecting leaders (our) unwanted aspects on to the follower Keeping ourselves in check: listening to the follower, consultation with colleagues The leader as a real person

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Leading and Following by Containment

Containment is a different state of mind from control or manipulation [Model 1]

Mutual metabolizing and transforming of PIs

If both leader and follower[s] can contain the PIs of the other and give them back in a modified way, increased satisfaction and productivity are enabled.

Ba groups can become WG

i.e.
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Teams!
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Tavistock Tips for Team Leaders & Followers

Be a learner/inquirer vs command and control Become aware of team processes as they occur and teach your people to do so Make it OK for underlying anxieties to be expressed Name stuck group behaviour Bring thoughts and feelings into the service of the teams primary task Facilitate others bringing themselves to their roles Bring your self to your role Manage time, territory, task, authority and role boundaries Employ the ART model Take up your own authority and learn to authorise others 21 Clarify the team operating philosophy 1/05/2011 John Batros & Bryan Kidd

The Leader as Container

Embrace not knowing and uncertainty Use your own feelings as data about followers experience Metabolise and transform them into constructive forms which can be projectively introjected by followers Thereby enable thoughts to find thinkers so that psychologically present people can apply their psychic energy to the primary task

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In conclusion

To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go into theirs and it is necessary to follow in order to lead Hazlitt

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References

Hooke, Maria Theresa (2010) The internal attitude of the analyst at work, Lecture at the Catholic University, East Melbourne (ppt presentation published with permission, BBLM) Ogden, T.H. (1982) The Concept of Projective Identification (SMO) Tyson, Trevor (2006) Projective Identification (BBLM) Willshire, Lyn (1999) Glossary in Progress, BB Learning Materials

24 WWG,

p34-35

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