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Existential Humanistic Leadership (EHL) as a Dialogical Process: Equality of the Non-equality in Organizations

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Abstract

The paper is a novel extension of the Dialogical Self Theory (DST) to organizational psychology. In organizations there are rich conflicts and ambiguous situations in which joint meaning making is indispensable for future trajectories of the follower, the leader and the organization itself. This negotiation process is influenced by power imbalances within the organization, mostly between leader and follower. In their multiple emerging fields and their interrelatedness these agents have to find a way of neutralizing the tension of highly ambiguous situations in order to account for the discovery of commonly adaptive, future trajectories. I introduce the concept of the Existential-Humanistic Leadership style (EHL) that through the emergence of existential I-positions and sign-manifolds neutralizes previous power imbalances. The Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA) of Tatsuya Sato is used for elaboration of the ongoing dialogical processes. The TEA-modelling shows that an existential-humanistic leader tries to unite opposite trajectories within one dynamically adaptive system through phenomenological/democratic attunement towards the follower and through the assessment of follower’s needs for development. These two conditions of EHL make it more likely that a leader externalizes existential I-positions which create local sign-worlds where leader and follower meet as human beings in absence of prior role asymmetry. Central concepts of existential psychology, DST and cultural semiosis are combined in a microgenetic and phenomenological research design. Based on the partnership model of Valsiner, Bibace, & LaPushin, a co-constructive interview guide has been created, in which a scenario-completion task is established and worked through with the participant. The Trajectory Equifinality Model of a football trainer is used for generalization of the generic structure of an existential-humanistic leader-system being a crucial condition for leading in and through curvilinearity.

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Notes

  1. sign manifold relies on the German philosophical term of Mannigfaltigkeit elaborated by Simmel (1910) who refers to Kant and his work in regard to the world as representation(s). For Simmel, the totality of being is not to be known fully, but it can be approached by synthesizing the fragments of reality through an idea. Moreover, Simmel explains this complex synthesized parts-whole relationship by referring to a historian who builds upon old traditions a total character which is then further influencing in its totality the schematic representation of the original source. This whole-making is for the philosopher a concrete action by a concrete agent. Nonetheless the whole-making is always local for Simmel when he refers to the volatility of human synthesis e.g. in arts depending on themes, devices and styles. When these change in and through time, the whole-making changes, too. The mechanism is the following: the ideal right of every of these syntheses for building an own world, realizes itself through the incompleteness of the historical structure it finds itself in and through which the synthesis becomes vivid. (Simmel 1910, p. 2) However, synthesis is a product by an active agent creating order out of chaotic (or volatile) sensations. The synthesis of representation is only the first step in Simmel’s elaboration, these representation flow then into the “unity of the manifold”, a second synthesis process, because they combine to a Gegenstand, sentence, series of thoughts or a worldview (Simmel 1910). Simmel concludes that for the synthesis principle of a structured world we must rely on the notion of unity of the manifold. EHL is supposed to be such a unity of the manifold in the leadership context.

  2. The interviewed leader is male. That’s why the male form is used throughout the next. When making systemic generalization on leadership, the generic form “the leader” is going to be used.

  3. Pseudonym for the interviewed trainer.

  4. One might see extreme parallels to Jewish or other Holocaust survivors who got rescued by Germans (soldats) when having been able to establish a personal relationship beforehand such as Lili Bermant or Gene Klein. This joint attunement seems to deconstruct power imbalances on a generic level. The authors’ personal experience when working with Holocaust survivors in a French Resistance museum confirms that.

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Acknowledgements

I want to thank Jaan Valsiner for being an EH-leader and facilitating my personal Copernican revolution in psychology. Moreover, I want to thank Holger Zeigan for having brought me to the ideas of the major existentialists at a noticeably young age and my twin sister for inspiring discussions about the material in the paper.

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  1. University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Enno Freiherr von Fircks

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 1 Interview guide for EHL interrogation
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Appendix 2 Translated Transcript

  • Interviewer: I would like you to present yourself briefly, where you are coming from, what you have experienced with leading people and how these experiences made you the leader you are today. You have gained your experience in football, multiple ones not only as a trainer but also as an active player or later as a video-analyst. I do think these are interesting things about which we can talk today.

  • Leader: Thank you for interviewing me. Well, I am 21 years old, studying sports and exercise in Cologne. I am coming from the football area which brought me equally to my studies in Cologne where I have also found myself continuing to be connected towards football (Anschluss finden) or to stay in my sport. I had to interrupt my active career because of a heavy injury and afterwards I had to quit completely. Yet, football has always been shaping me (Fußball war immer eine tragende Figur) in my development together with my search for other passions (Leidenschaften) and my other competencies. I do think this influenced me leading others be it as trainer, as player or in my last internship in a youth club. They changed the way how I interact with people in the long run (literally prägen).

  • I: The injury you just mentioned is very interesting; how does the injury help you for better understanding your players. Does it affect the way you treat people?

  • L: I do think that my experience made me understand how fragile and how energetic dreams can be and how much energy, imagination and wishes players actually have and how these get regulated from coincidental events that are out of your control. These injuries impact the players. It is clear that this is something that you as a trainer, as a parent or as a friend must manage. Players need to be guided through these crises

  • I: If a player concretely approaches you because he is injured, how do you deal with him? What is important for you?

  • L: I do think one must show the player that you take him seriously without frighten him. A lot of players take injuries too seriously or take these too lightly. And then I do have to realize how close is the person to the realm of things even if I can not determine that. But I can have an idea: I have to feel into him and see how I can help him guiding his feelings in the right direction (in die richtige Bahn lenken).

  • I: In which concrete actions do you show that? After the training? Do you talk to him? Is he close to the pitch and observes the others playing? How do you approach him?

  • L: I as a trainer have two possibilities: I can establish a forced conversation by setting face-to-face to the player maybe in one room. This must also be applied and has its methodology because it makes the whole situation special, it does leave an exclamation mark at the end. But I do work more with these short and trivial conversations: These can be short and small onsets (Einsetzer, literally).

  • I: How can I imagine these onsets?

  • L: The player is close to the football pitch and you do tell him: “The boys are not playing well, today.” And then you show him his utility even when he feels useless. There are players who really feel badly because they observe the others playing well, and they do get the impression that they are not missed by the team. And here you have to suggest: “You actually miss.” I do have to assess what does the player need and grant him that (more in the sense of giving).

  • I: If I got it right, you do show the player that the fragility is only temporary and that he is nonetheless a part of the team and there might be a phase in the future where the fragility is to be overcome.

  • L: You must always show (with emphasis) that he belongs even if he might be distanced from the team due to an injury, so that he won’t be able to replay: But you have to hold him close to the team because he is benefiting from that as well as the team.

  • I: Does he develop further even if he is injured the whole season.

  • L: (needs a few more seconds): You can try by giving him exercises. I cannot say this always works out. I can try by letting him propose or lead an exercise by integrating him to the training preparation. I can take him with me inside the dressing room. He will notice the emotional address and the tactics. You do have to switch to the brain coaching. But of course, I can also look what might be doable in the physical area. I also went with my crutches in a gym. You have to see here who is standing in front of you. Some players might need a break if they are injured. This is extremely individual.

  • I: I do want to understand how you are dealing with that positivity. What does happen when the player recovers. There may also be some conflicts. Is he able to perform as good as before the injury? Is he going to get injured again?

  • L: Then, we do talk about stopping (literally, bremsen) or pushing. A lot of players are still fragile because it has been a long time for them. You do have to know who this player is. It is always helpful when you do find a compromise. I can tell a player like him: “You play in the second team today because there you get your playing practice.” Often, players find it easier there because there is less pression, because they do feel they might have more time or the whole game is much more slowly. Thus, I have to find opportunities for the player in which he can regain trust without running into the wall ahead.

  • I: This is extremely important because you do have different voices in your head: How do you deal with these voices: How do you decide that one voices dominated the other?

  • L: Thinking…Thinking…

  • I: Or is it more a matter of feeling.

  • L: It is more a matter of feeling. You do know these guys. And in these injured situations they are similar to what they are when not being injured. An emotional player is also more likely to be emotional in an injured situation. It is overlapping. Thereby, you can balance how the player is dealing with the situation. Of course, you do have to know if the player was injured before, maybe one year ago. Do I have to let my player play against the team where he got injured the last time? Or might be the next match to be more adequate for a comeback? He might have a negative feedback in his mind.

  • I: Exciting. I do think of how I can come closer to that…

  • L: One thought: In my time as a trainer I have learnt that with exception towards tactics, it is not important what you do think or what your attitude towards something is. It is always the personal reality of the player. What does he think? What does he feel? You do have to understand him and direct him towards the most adequate direction for him as a player and for the team.

  • I: You do have to feel completely in that player and blend out or bracket all of the other things?

  • L: While never loosing your credibility. In front of the team you need a stringent behavior (better presentation).

  • I: You are then talking about the system, thus the team: You must sell a decision. Are there some conflicts, too?

  • L: You have 11 players who can play. And as a trainer you do know that one of them is always unhappy. You do have to decide whether you put a team together on the basis of performance or moral. You do have to know if you and your principles can tolerate that or if you are that performance-focused guy. And then, players can guide themselves with these principles. But, I do always need to know in the end that the boys are cleaned up and do not break apart (wegknicken) so that they are motivated every weekend. How do I manage to stimulate performance while in the meantime leading them towards working for their own development and help them coming closer to the team, again?

  • I: Interesting. I do think that other branches like the enterprises could benefit from that: I am responsible for the performance but equally I am responsible of how the team is doing and what happens with the general moral. If these two voices clash, is there a possibility that they can be united or co-exist?

  • L: I do think that this is only possible when they are engaged/occupied. You do have to take care that every player is occupied. Times, when player do not receive any input, are times where the player can only get upset that he is not playing. But if you accomplish that with every training the players have the impression that they are learning and learning and then develop themselves, then you accomplish that they replace these thoughts even if you cannot get rid of these all the time. He can blend it out when he gets the feeling that every day there is something new.

  • I: You would say by establishing the mutual trust: “We can develop yourself so that you realize your potential”, so that he might accept temporary deceptions for his own development process and for the team: I think this is something what makes us human: We experience pain and deception but these are just part of a bigger process

  • L: What I do find important is that you cannot feed everyone when you are in your weekend-play. You won’t be able to talk to everyone how you do have intended: But the training afterwards is the most crucial one: You go there knowing, therefore you must watch closely in their faces, who is upset and rankled interiorly by that (literally wurmen). With these players you have to engage in a dialogue not in the heat of the moment (Eifer des Gefechts) but in the training afterwards during the warm-up. You do tell the player: I see you here and there in your development and that is why you have not played. But I also see here and there your progress. If you are working more on that, you may play. You do have to clarify with him where he does stand (wo steht er) and where he could stand.

  • I: This was an interesting first part. And a positive one. And I do think it came to an end here. I want to thank you for sharing these ideas with me.

  • L: Thank for your interest.

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von Fircks, E.F. Existential Humanistic Leadership (EHL) as a Dialogical Process: Equality of the Non-equality in Organizations. Integr. psych. behav. 54, 719–741 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09560-1

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