Authority and responsibility viewed through the integral quadrantsAuthority and responsibility...We want authority but we don’t want the responsibility that comes with it. We want authorship (power), but we don’t want to be held to account. We want to be in charge but we don’t want to be in charge of how we respond. Positive deviants (individuals and companies) work over a life time on their authority (authorship) as part of a personal development plan, while simultaneously becoming mindful of where they fall into victim and blame based behaviours that surface as not taking responsibility.The following are my initial thoughts on authority and responsibility viewed through the quadrants.
Authority and Responsibility in the Upper LeftSelf authority. We have authorship over our inner world, our values, beliefs, worldviews. There is no end point to self authority development. It is a journey that lasts until we die, and then some. We often do not see how our beliefs and values define us until they shift from the subjective view to the objective view. For example, until we have faced how we respond when we are humiliated, until we know our instinctive, knee jerk reaction, we have no self authority over this reaction. Developing emotional intelligence is one aspect of developing self authority.Responsibility. Taking responsibility in the upper left includes owning that if I was present, I have some level of responsibility for what ever has happened that has affected me to the point my energy/equilibrium has shifted from neutral, be that in the immediate relative world, or the more etheric metaphysical world. I wrote an article following 9/11 on this subject. What did I, Christine, across the other side of the world, have to do with 9/11? What part did I play, and how was I responsible? If anger and revenge live inside me, if intolerance and fear are part of my response to other people or cultures, then I had a part to play, be it minor. The response I get inside of me, of grief, anger, blame; allows me to look inside myself at the part of me that is the same as the perpetrators. This is where healing begins. Responsibility is the opposite of blame. Therefore, if I am in a blame based conversation, at any level, I am not taking responsibility. It is as simple as that, and as hard to live by. Authority and Responsibility in the Upper RightAuthority in the upper right is about how I behave in the world. Does my interior reflect my exterior? Do I have value alignment? Any part of me that is lost in translation from the interior to the exterior is a loss of authority. Do I live by authority OVER others/things? This often indicates a lack of congruence between the inner and the outer, and a deep seated fear of being discovered for the fraud that I am because the inner and the outer do not match. Or is my authority generated from the alignment of my inner and outer world? Authority in the upper right is linked with confidence and self esteem, without the arrogance of righteousness.Taking responsibility as a way of behaving is the leader who knows that part of their role of leadership is to own the responsibility that comes with leadership. They do not seek to blame the people, or the system, or the circumstance. They might talk about them objectively, however, there is no blame. This happened, this is the outcome. The opposite of responsibility is the victim. As soon as there is any blame, we immediately become victims. Many people live the life of a victim as a full time job. Most of the time they are completely unaware of this. One of the advantages of having a strong coach/mentor relationship is that your coach will allow you to see your victim as objective. Our victim lives by words such as...its their fault...the companies fault, the shareholders, the global economic crisis, the government...or...through entitlement...I deserve. I have worked hard, and I deserve. Let me be clear to distinguish between the ‘what happened’ and the energetics of the victim. Horrible things happen to innocent people. This is true. At this point, we have a choice. Do we spend the rest of our time as the victim or as someone who says...damm..I just spent 27 years in prison, but heck, look at all the wonderful things I have, and no, I will not blame the prison guards, or spend the rest of my days in resentment/vengeance. I am going to make the rest of my life something extraordinary, just by the choice of how I respond to what life has dealt me. The key here is that we have choice. We always have choice. Even if that choice is how we respond to the limited choice of how we behave in the face of horror. This is the place that responsibility and authority merge. Authority and Responsibility in the Lower LeftAuthority is culture/relationship is how we show up with others. Do we partner or rule? Do we spend more time listening or talking? Are we motivated from service to others, or service to self? Authority of the ‘we’ is what happens when a group of people take authority. Do they choose the path of group mind and collusion, peer pressure and going along with the crowd, or do they choose to continually reference the other three quadrants as a group and as individuals to be sure they have not got stuck in agreements that happened through the shadow of group think? Authority of a group has the ability to move mountains for good, or mountains for bad. Because the possibility of collusion is so fraught, having an independent coach/mentor is critical to maintain the objectivity.Responsibility in culture and relationships recognises that we are limited and expanded by the culture and tribes we live in. If I am born and raised as a fundamentalist anything...vegetarian, athlete, religious person, politician....etc...then my culture/relationships inform everything I do...EVERYTHING, unless I go outside of this particular culture and seek other views. This occurs often with people who have spent many years working for the same organisation. They have become institutionalized, whether they like it or not. Slowly slowly, day by day, minute by minute. They cannot help it. How then can we blame people for this. The truth is we all have a lens that we see the world through. We are all fish, not seeing the very water we swim in. Working with an integral coach will help you see the water. Seeing the water is the only way to get out of the water by conscious choice. Authority and Responsibility in the Lower RightAuthority in the lower right quadrant as an individual means that I have authority over the systems and structures in my life. I pay my taxes, honour the law of the land I am in (or take an active roll in changing them, like Rosa Parks did by not getting off the bus.) I have structures and systems that support me, and I have authority over them, and not them over me. I am not ruled by the clock, my email, my iphone, my exercise program, my money. Collectively, authority in the lower right is how our tribe or community, or nation takes authorship of the structures and systems. As a tribe, is it OK to accept that killing people as punishment is part of law? What authority do we have over our laws? Or is our authorship diluted by despair, or sloth?Responsibility in the lower right means that I do take responsibility for the systems and structures in my life. If I do not like the tax law, rather than complain, I campaign. Or move to another country, or give up work. As a collective, responsibility in the lower right is how the team/tribe/community/nation/world responds to the structures and systems in place. How does your tribe take responsibility for the structures and systems that influence you? In summary, authority, whether individual or collective, is about the alignment of the interior with the exterior. Responsibility is how we respond to what happens on the interior or the exterior. Authority and responsibility live as partners, not in isolation. I would love to hear your views on authority and responsibility. What have I missed, where do I need to see the water? What are the other possible relationships and dynamics between authority and responsibility? To return from authority and responsibility to leadership development
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