Paths Intertwining: Scott Peck's Community Building and Team Spirit

By Cheryl Lossie

"Life more often than not, does not draw straight lines. The world is filled with graceful curves-from the elegant spiral in the heart of the nautilus shell to the twisting double helix of DNA that codes for the nautilus's growth."
--Pat Murphy in By Nature's Design, 1993

For several years I have been exploring M. Scott Peck's model of community building. It is a process I believe in. Yet I struggle with its applicability to the business world - fearing that most organizations simply are not ready for the authentic communication called for in Peck's process. It was these question marks that brought me to the Team Spirit Certification - seeking a model for building that spirit of community in the workplace.

I must admit, that in the early part of the Team Spirit workshop I felt saddened - feeling a fair amount of dissonance. It appeared to me that Team Spirit was just another set of exercises which I expected would perpetuate a false sense of connectedness. Yet as time went on, a beautiful harmony began to unfold for me.. .

On the first day, I was experiencing the two models as distant points on a continuum - one end more alive with the spirit of community than the other. But of course that would make sense, for we were in the early stage, pseudocommunity, as defined by Peck - the stage or pretense, covering up our difference, communication being polite, boring, sterile; or the phase described by Heermann as initiating - the first rite of passage, tentativeness, hoping to establish trust and relationship.

Into the second day, the points on my imaginary line began vibrating, moving in and out, toward and away from each other, toward and away from the center. At some point, I realized that the points I had been seeing on one line each existed on separate planes, and those planes were oscillating. I imagine that was because of the tension created in the visioning and claiming phases. These brought rise to what Peck calls chaos-the place where differences emerge. This image represented for me Peck's encouragement of the tolerance of ambiguity, the tension between holding on and letting go, the call to bridge differences with integrity and to relate with compassion and respect; and Heermann's acknowledgment of the importance of "understanding and embracing the tensions that are inherent in dissonant vibrations."

Through the activities such as the tinker tower, symbolizing service and celebration teams, we worked through Peck's stage of chaos and allowed for the necessary emptying of judgments and expectations; and moved through Heermann's phases of celebrating and letting go. Living in that dissonance, the tension between the planes, brought to life Nietzsche's words: "And I say unto you, one must still have chaos in one's life to be able to give birth to a dancing star."

On about the third day, at a moment in time when I could genuinely feel the spirit of community in the room, an interesting thing happened in my mind's eye - I saw the two planes, each containing a model of building community or team spirit, wrap, as if to create a double helix. Peter Senge, in his book, The Fifth Discipline, states, "that no one individual has the answers, but that answers are emerging from our collective efforts." In that helical image, clearly spun together and embodied, Peck's community building process and Heermann's Team Spirit model reflected to me Senge's sentiment-two fantastic processes, each containing answers to different, yet sometimes similar, questions. Each emerging from the inspiration, enthusiasm, and collective efforts of visionaries in the field.

Lines. Planes. Cylinder. Double helix. The question that arises for me is: What is in the space around which the double helix formed? I believe it is the unseen spirit that both models know to be the wellspring - the spirit in Team Spirit - the spirit we rely upon to lead us to community.

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. - Tao Te Ching

Of the helix and DNA, Deepak Chopra says:

"The same DNA existing in every cell expresses itself in different ways in order to fulfill the unique requirements of that particular cell… Only by expressing their unique talents can they maintain both their own integrity and the integrity of the whole body. The internal dialogue of every cell in the human body is, 'How can I help?'"

By allowing myself to move through the dissonance, I discovered that I can embrace both Peck's and Heermann's models in my personal walk and in my work. Both foster the spirit of authentic communication, engender celebration, and lead us into service. Each will find their point of service and stand as paths intertwining, mutually supportive and unique in their individual presentation. Indeed, "life more often than not, does not draw straight lines." It is the elegant spiral-that of service and reliance on the mystery known as spirit - that holds the code for our growth into team - into community.

Community Building Model *Process oriented Peck's work encourages people, in a fragmented world, to discover new and better ways of being together. Living, learning, and teaching the principles of community, we serve as a catalyst for individuals, groups, and organizations to: Communicate with authenticity, deal with difficult issues, welcome and affirm diversity, bridge differences with integrity, and relate with compassion and respect. This approach encourages tolerance of ambiguity, the experience of discovery and the tension between holding on and letting go. In our work to empower others we remember our reliance upon a spirit within and beyond ourselves. Stages of building community: 1. Pseudocommunity - The stage of pretense-covering up differences. Communication is filled with generalizations. It is polite, inauthentic, boring, sterile, and unproductive. 2. Chaos - The attempt to obliterate differences. Members try to convert, heal, or fix each other or argue for simplistic organizational norms. A win/lose type of process. 3. Emptiness - Hard work when members can empty themselves of everything that stands between them and community (prejudices, snap judgments, fixed expectations, the desire to convert, heal or fix, the urge to win, the fear of looking like a fool, the need to control. It is a time of risk and courage. 4. Community - Authentic communication. Comfort with silences. A spirit of peace pervades the room.

Team Spirit Model *Integrating task and process orientation Team Spirit facilitates the team's capacity to create wholeness out of separateness, nurturing high-performance. Team spirit works at the deepest level of team functioning, extending team and organization effectiveness fostering awareness, skill development, and values that promote spirited teams. Team spirit is based on the premise that every team's activities consist of six critical, interrelated phases, with the first five - initiating, visioning, claiming, celebrating, and letting go - ultimately leading to the sixth, service. In the Team Spirit workshop, and in periodic follow-ups, participants discover the significance of these phases and are guided to relate to each of them through a moving, experiential process. Phases of the Team spirit Spiral: Service is the core of the Spiral. 1. Initiating - First rite of passage a group experience when it comes together; tentativeness; the purpose is to work through the tentativeness, creating trust and relationship. 2. Visioning - What is the essence of our work together? Clarify purpose, values, beliefs. How can we best serve? 3. Claiming - Team takes ownership for the goals and roles. - Who's going to do what and by when? 4. Celebrating - When the service the team has provided is honored there is a sense of unbounded possibility and wonder; energizing. 5. Letting Go - Allowing ourselves to be honest and clear in our relationships; constructive feedback is safe and welcomed; stretching outside our walls.