Self-organizing work groups can be difficult to see. So how do I know when I’m part of one? How do we know if our group is self-organizing? This is the second of a series of posts that document the nine indicators of self-organization that emerged from my reseach study of self-organizing work groups of business employees and high school teachers. As a consultant/researcher, I’ve also seen the indicators in these groups within or across healthcare, university, legal, and government organizations.
Indicator #2: Seeing Myself in Another and Another in Myself
I am self-organizing when I:
- See myself in another and another in myself. Demonstrated, for example, by:
- Pointing out each other’s strengths
- Complementing each other
- Using each others’ language
- Empathizing with others, expressing that you had the same experience or feel the same way
As a group, we’re self-organizing when we:
- See ourselves in others and others in ourselves. Demonstrated, for example, by:
- Group members are certain that there are no hidden agendas in the group
- Role switching (people temporarily taking on and thinking from the perspective of each other’s roles) first within the group and then with some others outside the group
- Role sharing (people moving back and forth between roles) first within the group and then with some others outside the group
stay connected