Thread by @sbuehler

what I’m calling #thesystem is a serious risk to #wellness and #organizationaleffectiveness 🧵👇

Theory: in large human endeavors "the system" resists or rejects the dialogic learning; real relating

like having an inescapable gravity of "status quo" & "performing relationships" that dehumanizes

so "good people" & "good organizations" can "get infected by the system"

...

why? because of an institutional form of "peer pressure"

patterns of action & behavior that "norm" for the individual in the group, including tools for control

so ingroup-outgroup dynamics propel & reinforce these "emotive" patterns

control levers reinforce hierarchies

...

individuals learn that "staying in my lane" is the best way to avoid the control levers, moments of stress and dilemma in relationships

norms for "calm" and "professionalism" reinforce the institutional desire to maintain its own sense of direction & "purpose" - controlled

...

so what "dies" when "the system" takes over is the emergence of "new"

like a fearful brain enacting its body from trauma

"the system" pathologizes difference, cannot integrate "new"

b/c "the system" fears loss of control, loss of predictable knowing of the future

...

so in other words, "the system" is pathological control that dominates large human networks

akin to a dead-but-alive "zombie force" that dehumanizes all those who encounter it

and in worst cases can "turn people into zombies" with language like "we have to run a business"

...

it's important to note that the people afflicted, the "leaders of the system" for the most part are also "not to blame" either

this is an effect of large networks of human interaction, where structures of connection and norms of behavior become performative & prescribed

...

love your thoughts @DrAaronB @rascality others