Effekten af psykosyntese træning i forhold til lederes selvaktualiseringsproces

The three studies reported in this article demonstrate that psychosynthesis training contributes to leaders’ self-actualization process and increases their managerial effectiveness.

John W. Cullen, Ph, D. Translation Kenneth Sørensen

Since the theme of this newsletter is service, I would like to share an element of service that I feel is essential to psychosynthesis. I am thinking of the service that psychosynthesis contributes in raising the consciousness and increasing effectiveness in the world of the people we work with. How effective is that service? I am sure there are many anecdotal stories about the effectiveness of psychosynthesis (I have hundreds of them). But do we have any solid evidence for it?

The following describes the research that the International Association for Managerial and Organizational Psychosynthesis (IAMOP) has conducted to assess the effectiveness of psychosynthesis training primarily among managers.

Introduction

Why is it that some people seem to live more flourishing lives than others? In my view, a flourishing life involves:

• Sense of life purpose
• Authentic personal relationships
• Meaningful activities
• A harmonious life with oneself and others
• Clear thinking
• Identification with higher human values
• Flexibility with a sense of rhythm

Individuals functioning at these levels appear to have moved beyond the ego-oriented needs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to identify with the self-actualization level. (1.)

It is a fundamental premise of psychosynthesis that self-actualization is a natural process that involves the unfolding of latent potentials. (2.) And I believe that it is part of the work of psychosynthesis to support the development of these latent potentials.

At the self-actualization level, individuals begin to consciously cooperate with this unfolding and devote their energy to actualizing it. It is believed in the business world where my work is located that the most effective leader is the self-actualized leader. Psychosynthesis provides practical methods that enable individuals to initiate their own self-actualization process. As part of our services, it is not only our job to offer psychosynthesis training but also to provide evidence of its effectiveness through the use of research. This is the research that IAMOP has conducted to help assess the effectiveness of psychosynthesis.

Definition of self-actualization

The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) is a well-validated and reliable instrument for assessing self-actualization. (3) The following is a brief summary of the POI categories that define self-actualization.

Time Competence
Time competence is about the degree to which we live in the present. A self-actualized person does not live in the regrets and annoyances of the past, nor in the future. Self-actualizers see life as a continuum and are focused on their present life. At the same time, they see life as a pattern. They see how their life has unfolded and how it is developing towards meaningful goals. They understand how their present situation moves towards the future, and how they can create a more perfect future based on their actions now.

Internally Directed
The second POI category is the most significant signifier of self-actualizers: internally directed, independent, and self-supporting behavior as opposed to externally directed, dependent behavior. Self-actualizers have less need for approval from their surroundings. This does not mean that they are not concerned with other people, but it does mean that their choices arise from their own conscious center.

Self-actualizers are connected to their will center. They are preoccupied with following their own inner vision. They have less need for achievement, because they have satisfied this need on the pyramid. They are not as focused on results. They have their own definition of what is good for them. Every experience of success or failure is seen as an opportunity to learn and grow. Self-actualizers are very centered individuals in the sense that they are aware of who they are and the choices they make in the world.

Self-actualizing values
​​The third category is values. There are a number of values ​​that self-actualizers find central and that “non-actualizers” reject. The score you get via POI represents the degree of agreement you have with self-actualizers. These values ​​are reflected in the categories in this section (internally directed, present-focused, etc.).

Existentialist
The category that is most difficult to achieve is flexibility. Non-self-actualizers tend to be more tied to a particular value system, and have great difficulty seeing other points of view. They tend not to be very accepting of people who believe differently than themselves. Self-actualizers are not opinionated, but they are not locked into a rigid and dogmatic worldview or behavior. They are more free and open, therefore they can respond much more creatively to situations as they arise. Since they can embrace many points of view, they are better able to appreciate and work with other people’s values.

Emotional reactivity
This category is about emotions and is about introspection. Self-actualizers are sensitive and aware of their own needs and feelings; they are introspective. They have asked themselves: “What are my real needs here and now? What are my goals? How do I really feel about this?” Emotions are for self-actualizers a source of information that deepens their understanding of the world and strengthens their effectiveness. Non-self-actualizers tend to be insensitive to their own needs and feelings. They therefore miss out on a wealth of information about themselves and others.

Spontaneity
Self-actualizers tend to be more open and authentic in their behavior when expressing their feelings, while non-self-actualizers tend to hide their feelings and not express them for fear of losing recognition. This type of spontaneity is not emotional, impulsive, and reactive behavior. It is not the 60s generation “Me” attitude where you just do what suits you. It is behavior that supports and is an expression of the whole person’s inner self. It advances career goals and does the job better than it was done before.
At the same time, self-actualizers do not eliminate routines and procedures that are tried and true, but supplement them with a wide range of additional options.

Self-Esteem
This category is the highest for business leaders. Self-actualizers have high self-esteem. They value themselves and their achievements. They are aware of their strengths and appreciate them. Non-self-actualizers do not have high self-esteem. They tend to devalue their own worth and not accept their own strengths. They tend to project their own self-esteem onto others and see strengths in them that they reject in themselves. As a result, they are often unable to live up to their full potential. Instead, they settle for less than their potential actually allows them to be.

Self-Acceptance
This is the most difficult characteristic for leaders to actualize. Most leaders are already at the performance level and have been very successful. At the same time, they tend to feel that they have to be perfect. In a way, they need to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Non-self-actualizers tend to be afraid of making mistakes, and therefore tend to inhibit their risk-taking.
Self-actualizers are concerned with improving things, but they do not define themselves as a weak person even though they have a weakness. “I have a weakness, but I am not a weak person.”

Human Nature
Self-actualizers tend to see people as essentially good and to notice and affirm the positive qualities in themselves and others. Non-self-actualizers are more likely to see the basic nature of humans as essentially evil or negative: “people are usually lazy. They don’t like to work. They are born sinners,” and so on.

Synergy
The key to this characteristic is the ability to create synthesis out of opposites. It is to see the positive side in both, eliminate the negative and create a new whole based on the synthesis of the positive aspects. Self-actualizers are able to create synthesis and integration out of opposing points of view. They tend not to put people in a box. Self-actualizing leaders try to bring out the best in their employees. They are able to accept people as people regardless of their faults and shortcomings.

Aggression
Self-actualizers feel free enough to express their anger and do not need to suppress it. Non-self-actualizers deny their feelings of anger or express themselves in a hostile manner. Self-actualizers are able to express their anger in a constructive way, which means they first make a conscious choice to express their feeling and do not just let it out freely.

When the expression of anger is an act of will, there are many ways to express it. Self-actualizers share their anger, so it is effective communication that creates new understanding or opens new possibilities for problem solving and constructive action.

Capacity for intimate contact
Non-self-actualizers tend to avoid intimate contact. Since they usually do not feel good enough deep down, they do not want close contact because others might discover how unworthy of love they feel. They hide behind their roles and stereotypical behavior and others experience them as distant, difficult to talk to and awkward to work with.

Self-actualizers tend to develop warm, authentic relationships. They go beyond roles to relate to people in a warm and caring way: “As a self-actualizing person, I can have close, meaningful, and authentic relationships. I feel loved and can love others without demanding that they love me back.”

Forskning i effekten af psykosyntese træning

Virker psykosyntese træning på ledere? Kan psykosyntese metoderne bibringe en selvaktualiseringsproces blandt ledere og øge deres effektivitet? De følgende studier giver delvist bevis på at ovenstående spørgsmål kan besvares bekræftende.

Træningsprogrammet er beskrevet i IAMOP Monograph 4-6, ”The self-Actualizing Manager: An Introduction to Managerial Psychosynthesis,” by John Cullen and Douglas Russell (Thousand Oaks, 1990)

1. Den personlige orienterings opgørelse (The Personal Orientation Inventory) (POI) studie

For at vurdere effektiviteten af psykosyntesen til at styrke selv-aktualiseringsprocessen blev et studie udformet der anvendte en workshop med navnet Den Selv-Aktualiserende Leder Workshop (SAL). Testen (POI) blev uddelt til 56 MBA studenter der blev inddelt i seks klasser. Efter gennemførelsen af workshoppen blev testen omdelt igen.

En gentaget måleanalyse (A repeated measures analysis of variance statistical technique ?) blev anvendt for at analysere resultatet. Alle måleindikationerne på POI viste signifikante forandringer mellem før og efter testene. Tabel 1-1 opgør disse resultater.

Tabel 1-1. Effekten af psykosyntese træning i forhold til lederes selvaktualiseringsproces målt via POI.

* Gennemsnits score før og efter workshoppen

Konklusion

Dette studie indikerer at et grundlæggende psykosyntese træningsprogram for ledere kan styrke selv-aktualiseringsprocessen i lederne. Fremtidige studier vil involvere andre målestokke for selv-aktualisering og effekten af psykosyntese lederskabstræning og den ledelsesmæssige effektivitet.