Lessons in Self-Care:Learning from weakness, challenges & mistakes

Tim HarleRedcliffe College, 8 May 2012

“Enormous managerial energy… [has] been devoted to turnarounds, rescues, and massive ‘change’ programs, yet isn’t the real goal to avoid a crisis-sized transformation problem by creating a capacity for continuous renewal deep within the company?”

Hamel & Prahalad, Competing for the Future (1996)© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net

© Tim Harle 2012

One ViewChange and decayin all around I see:O thou who changest notabide with me.

HF Lyte (1793-1847)

As it was in the beginningIs now and shall be for ever. Gloria Patri, 6th century CE

© Tim Harle 2012

Another View

The one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Revelation 21.5

If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5.17

When you send forth your spirit, they are created,and you renew the face of the earth. Psalm 104.32

conversatio morum:

“a vow to change, to never remain still either in self-satisfied fulfilment or self-denying despair”

Dollard et al (2002: 201)

Self-care: learning from nature

• Cycles of growth and decay

• The importance of boundaries

• Disturbance is vital for health

• The need for security

• We need variety

© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net

© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net

The very idea of boundaries changes profoundly. Rather than being a self-protective wall, boundaries become the place of meeting and exchange. We usually think of these edges as the means to define separateness, defining what’s inside and what’s outside. But in living systems, boundaries are something quite different. They are… an important place of exchange and growth.

Meg Wheatley, Finding Our Way (2005)

© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net

© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net

The Need for a Secure Base

From Always Change a Winning Team by Peter Robertson. © Scriptum Schiedam 2005 www.timharle.net

People

Matter

Att

achm

ent

Stability ExploratoryExploration

Appreciating One Another’s Needs

© Tim Harle 2012 www.timharle.net