Some people are a nonzł mystery to us. Communication with them is not smooth, we do not understand their behaviour and reactions. We meet such people at social gatherings, but also at work and, as a manager, you can surely recall more than one such human puzzle. Didn't you feel like solving it? If you don't understand your employee, it is obvious that this will affect the communication, atmosphere and efficiency of the organisation. But how do you understand him or her? What if you are also the one who poses an equally complicated puzzle for him?
Transactional analysis in team, organisation management
With help comes Transactional Analysis and the concept of states of the Self. AT creator Eric Berne observed our behaviour and saw that we can behave in 6 equal ways.
- When we use our Normative Parent Self state we have access to our resources to structure our work, our time. On the one hand, we reach for planning, structuring, but we do it based on our principles and values.
- The Caring Family helps to build relationships and protect them.
- The Free Child helps us to create and meet our needs.
- The Rebellious Child is the part we need to express our opposition to unwise rules, or lack thereof.
- The Adapted Child helps us to work together, to do the tedious tasks needed to achieve our goals.
- The adult is factual, calm and efficient.
Subsequent psychologists developing Berne's concepts emphasised that there are no better or worse states of the Self and that they must be understood as elements that form a whole describing our behaviour. Conversely, we can use each of the states of the Self in a constructive or destructive way.
How does AT protect against psychological games and improve complementary communication?
Transactional Analysis provides tools to help managers identify and understand different states of Self both in themselves and among człons of the team. Awareness of these states enables better relationships, more effective communication and effective conflict resolution.
This is because the most important aspect is to be aware of what state I am in and what state the person interacting with me is in. Using a particular state of Self, depending on what I am doing: whether I am talking to someone about the rules and following them, whether I am asking how someone is feeling or whether I am happy because I have gained a new customer, directly affects how we talk.
A good manager is able to recognise through which states of Self he/she is most often contacting an employee and which states of Self the other party is using. In order to decide which state of Self someone is speaking to us from, we should have a minimum of adequate 3 out of 5 indicators: words, tone, facial expression, hand gestures, whole body posture.
Examples of indicators corresponding to the different states of the Self can be found in the table below:
Source: Training material from the School of Transactional Analysis Group Meeting.
We can change our states of Self in communication. Sometimes we will adjust accordingly, e.g. a worried employee comes in and says:
- Employee: "I feel so helpless already, I really don't know what else we can do to make a plan for the end of Q2.." (he talks about his emotions, assuming that the tone and facial expressions will match, then he is communicating from Child Free)
- Chief Executive: "I understand it's difficult for you because your bonus depends on it, and you really want to go on this trip of yours." (giving understanding, enters into relationship and gives support, so communicates with the Caring Parent)
- "What do you need to see the plan through to completion?" (continues the conversation, checking the needs of the worker and so estimates the reality from the Adult)
It is worth remembering that there are no better or worse, or more or less expected states of Self. With someone who predominantly builds relationships only through the Caring Parent, we will miss the other aspects represented by the other states of Self when communicating with them. In building communication, we try to use all states of Self. It is important to maintain fluidity, as this allows us to access all our resources.
Summary
Functional fluency is the concept of using states of Self that she, Dr Susannah Temple, has built. Mindfulness, being in the 'here and now', allows us to recognise the states of Self, flexibly change them and adapt them to situations and people. In moments when we are in functional fluidity, we can use all the states of the Self in the right doses and, consequently, use all the psychological resources we have.
An effective manager is able to seamlessly transition and use all six states of Self depending on the situation. He or she can also see which states his or her employee is in and responds accordingly by modelling effective OK-OK cooperation. This helps to make better decisions and build interpersonal relationships, which has a positive impact on the entire organisation.
You can find out what happens when a manager inappropriately uses his or her Self states in another blog article - by clicking on the link below: IAM states - can they be misused?
Source:
- Berne E. (1987). What people play. The psychology of interpersonal relations, Warsaw: PWN.Dejean, H., Frugier, C. (2022).
- 50 exercises in transactional analysis. Poznan: Meeting Group Publishing.
- Training materials from the School of Transactional Analysis Group Meeting project.
- Training materials Practice Group Transactional Analysis Meeting.
- Stewart I., Joines V., Transactional Analysis Today. A new introduction, transl. K. Balcerkiewicz et al, Dom Wydawniczy Rebis, Poznań 2018.
- Temple, S. (1999). Functional fluency for educational transactional analysts. Transactional Analysis Journal. 29,164-174.
- Temple, S. (2004) Update on the Functional Fluency Model in Education. TAJ, Vol. 34, No. 3
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