Book description
A group is working on a business challenge. The group members are under pressure. They have a lot to accomplish and a limited amount of time. After first attempting to develop an overview of their common task, they try to make a plan to ensure an efficient group process. The planning is proving difficult. We’ve all been there. We are in a working group or at a meeting, discussing a topic or a challenge, and all the while, as a separate track running underneath our conversation, there is a subtext that no one explicitly addresses. This is an example of ‘the elephant in the room.’ Most of us notice the elephant, it gets in the way, and it’s difficult to deal with until someone points at it and says, ‘There it is, let’s take a look at it and reduce its impact.’
With an engaging use of examples and questions, the book addresses how we can best deal with the elephant and thus promote job satisfaction, creativity, and productivity. In the context of action, what we notice often recedes into the background and gradually slips out of focus until we eventually reconnect with our need to reflect and recreate a space for it. This book addresses the challenge of focusing on, holding on to, and acting on what we notice ‘in the middle of it all.’ Maintaining a simultaneous focus on task and process – what we do and what we notice – is what I define as ‘double awareness.’ Double awareness is not only a core capacity but also a core challenge.
The aim of the book is to promote understanding and awareness of this core challenge and to inspire both reflection and action in anyone wishing to improve their capacity for double awareness. How can we define and understand the practice of mindful avoidance? And can we, as members of groups and organizations, begin to practice mindful action by engaging in and acting on what we notice, in real time?
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- About the author
- Introduction
- Reader’s guide
- Testimonials
-
THEME 1 DOUBLE AWARENESS
- 1 What is double awareness?
- 2 Being mindful of what is above and below the surface
- 3 Difficult feelings, negative capability and defences
-
THEME 2 MINDFUL AVOIDANCE
- 4 The practice – and consequences – of mindful avoidance
- 5 Emotions as disturbance and loss of control
- 6 Not-knowing as a competence
-
THEME 3 MINDFUL ACTION
- 7 Truth
- 8 Transparency
- 9 Trust
-
THEME 4 FROM AVOIDANCE TO COMMITMENT
- 10 Identifying and avoiding mindful avoidance
- 11 Mobilizing the three Ts
- 12 Consequences for leadership and organizational development
- Final reflections
- Index
Product information
- Title: The Elephant in the Room
- Author(s):
- Release date: March 2023
- Publisher(s): Productivity Press
- ISBN: 9781000849233
You might also like
audiobook
Difficult Conversations
You have to talk with a colleague about a fraught situation, but you're worried that they'll …
book
Talk to the Elephant: Design Learning for Behavior Change
What do you do when your learners know what to do but still arent doing it? …
book
The (Delicate) Art of Bureaucracy
Mark Schwartz, author of leadership classics A Seat at the Table and The Art of Business …
book
Ruthlessly Caring
A startlingly insightful exploration of contemporary leadership In Ruthlessly Caring: And other paradoxical mindsets leaders need …