Great People Decisions

[Adam Blatner]

Dear Ramu, You seem to be  a bright man, a visionary; however, the complexity of your vision should not be underestimated. See further comments below: 
Ramu Iyer <equilibrium.roi at gmail.com> wrote: I aspire to achieve the following goals" 
  Goal 1: I want to become a tactical resource for helping companies make "great people decisions."
   Goal 2: As a consultant, I want to achieve a nuanced understanding of a client's "pain points".
    AB: Here you work for multiple and often intrinsically opposed goals. Who are your clients? The overall success of the business?
    Have you considered that as many as 10% of workers lack an effective work ethic or any sense of obligation to do a good or thorough job? 
   ... or that perhaps is is necessary to fire up to 5% of people every year so as to convince the 15% who are "slackers" that their low work ethic won't be tolerated? 
       and more, that as many as 50% of workers in any system (including the managerial and executive levels) are marginally competent in their role?
    Or they are competent and perhaps even clever in 25% of the components of their work role, adequate in 50%, but incompetent in the last 25% of components---and more, don't know and resist finding out or admitting what those weak roles are!? 
    
  RI Goal 3: Serve as a resource for the unemployed and anxiously employed so that they can buid greater courage, solidarity and work for change.
   AB: here you shift your role from working for a business that might be wise not to invest time and energy in many of those you just describe...
  (In the same spirit that some are saying, let's spend more money on helping the gifted make use of their abilities in schools instead of spending 90% of that money on helping the slow learners or grossly retarded upgrade their skills a little).

     Therapy may be incompatible with good business practice. 
  Many so-called patients are also lacking in major work ethic skills and values and yet see themselves as victims.
 
        Http://www.psychotherapy.net/article/Breaking_Barriers is a great eye-opener for integrating consulting and therapeutic approaches. (I plan on using it to make progress towards goal 2)

 B. Ehrenreich, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (Metropolitan Books, 2005). (ISBN: 0-8050-7606-9)     [rationale for goal 3]

AB  Re this book: There are admittedly many inequities and exploitative practices in mainstream businesses.

RI:  Does there exist any research papers in the literature that describe how a "good" individual can become a "great" individual using psychodrama or other related approaches. I am looking for other literature besides Stephen Covey or Jim Collins work. In my view, achieving great people decisions has to be thoughtfully considered and exceptionally delivered.  

AB: which literature? In the psychodrama literature, you are welcome to research it ... www.pdbib.org   

  But in general, I know of no one doing the kind of research you ask about. 

Stephen R. Covey, The Eighth Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (New York: Free Press, 2004). 

Jim Collins. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't. 

RI Are there worker retraining programs that use psychodrama?
  AB: I'm not aware of any, perhaps others may respond.

    The main problem, again, is that you're mixing politics, therapy, and business, each of which may have different inherent goals. Perhaps you can imagine ways to creatively align these social institutions, economic institutions, but I'm not aware of any so far. So there's room for your intuition and wisdom. 

   Warmly, Adam
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