Finding Challenge a Challenge

In a Consultation Group we ran recently, we had a member who experienced difficulty in challenging their line manager. Rather than being helped by the group to look at how he might manage his manager differently (as might be experienced in a traditional Action Learning session) he was gently given feedback on how he was being experienced in the group. His behaviour in the group provided an example in action of how he readily gave up his authority when approaching a situation in which he would either have to challenge or be challenged. His anxiety about challenge was overwhelming him and causing him to retreat into a passive state of perceived powerlessness.

The feedback from the group allowed him to draw some conclusions about how he might be behaving in a similar manner with his line manager.

By tackling his behaviour in the safety of the group, he became able to take up his own authority more when he was outside of the group and contain his own anxiety when in the presence of his line manager. The relationship with his manager improved and he felt more assertive and more appropriately powerful.