Old-Time Control
We believe control means having everything go according to plan. This makes us more comfortable because we can just follow the plan and things will work out like we thought. This is delusional. Philip Streatfield describes the schizophrenia we feel as we try to sort things out. We're anxious when we feel out of control, so we try to get more in control. As we discover new patterns that give us the sense of being more in control, that increasing comfort
…seems to inhibit the search for new patterns by reducing the levels of anxiety to a point where there is insufficient energy to “move.”[1]
[1] Philip J. Streatfield, The Paradox of Control In Organizations, Routledge, 2001, 137.
Patterns, procedures, policies, and plans can make ...
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