“THE WAY TO RESULTS”

NO OTHER WAY
The Source of Hope for Organizations of the Future
(Part 2 of 5)
By The Arbinger Institute

Typically, business executives have little time for such talk of the “heart.” “These ideas are
fine for home and personal life,” some might say, “but at work, results carry the day.”

This statement is true – results do carry the day. Certainly in any organization of mind, any
employee who persisted in thinking otherwise would ultimately have to be dismissed – for
the refusal by one employee to achieve the right results inevitably harms others throughout
the organization. The failure to focus on results is an act of selfishness.

But the assertion that matters of the heart are not relevant to organizations because “results
carry the day” misses the point. Every matter is a matter of the heart. In every moment, each
person in an organization is either being open, cooperative and helpful in interacting with
others, or, in contrast, being to some degree defensive, resistant and self-protective. And this
difference always has implications for results. When people see those they work with in a
blaming and self-absorbed way they can’t help but focus less on producing results than on
intimidating, impressing, and/or sabotaging those people, even in subtle ways. Because they
see others as either insignificant or as threatening, they can never genuinely join with them in
the pursuit of a common objective. Lip-service is within their capacity, but not actual service.

When people see those they work with as genuine people, on the other hand, they feel free
both to help and to be helped in their work. Because they are not preoccupied with defending
and protecting themselves, they are able to devote their full energies to achieving results.
Their work is characterised by support, encouragement, self-imposed accountability, high
performance, and service toward others.

So leaders are right when they focus on results. But they are wrong when they think that
they can do so while ignoring matters of the heart. The heart is not just relevant – it is
inescapable- and it always carries critical implications for the capacity to achieve results.

Two States of Heart

Every moment offers the choice of two ways ….

Because matters of the heart are at the core of organizational effectiveness, an analysis of
this variable is essential to organizational improvement. One person who has brought rigor
and precision, and thus respectability, to this effort is C. Terry Warner, the founder of
Arbinger.

Warner identifies two states of heart or two “ways of being” in the world. One is the state in
which I see other people primarily as things, as objects that either help or hinder me in
obtaining what I want, or that seem to me irrelevant. I see myself as real – with hopes,
dreams, fears and wants – but fail to see the same humanity in others and view them instead
as mere objects for my use. In this way of being I tend to be insecure, defensive and resistant
toward others.

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The other way of being is the state in which I fully recognise others to be just as real as I am.
I acknowledge their personhood; I embrace the reality that they have their own hopes, dreams,
fears, wants and needs. Others are real to me as I am to myself: their humanity beckons me,
and I feel desirous – even obliged – to honor the call. In this way of being I tend to be self-
forgetful and to respond securely and openly to others.

To illustrate the difference between these two ways of being, picture me hard at work in my
office. Suddenly I am interrupted by the members of a work team who want my advice on
some aspect of their project. I am busy, and they seem urgent. Now, how might I see these
team members in this situation? What meaning do they have for me? Do I see them as
problem employees who have disturbed and disrupted me in my important work? Or do I see
them instead as employees with a problem who can use my help? Do I see them as disturbers
of my peace or as in need of my aid?

To see them the first way is to see them as objects who are making things difficult for me.
To see them the second way is to see them empathetically, in terms of their own needs
instead of just my own. Far from being obstacles, they are simply what they are – people
who seem to need my help.

Notice that my view even of myself depends on which way I see them. To see them as
irritating obstacles to my peace and concentration is to view myself as the-manager-who-is-
so-important-and-so-busy-that-he-shouldn’t-have-to-be-troubled. While to see them
empathetically, in terms of their own needs instead of just my own is to see myself as their
caregiver – as someone who can and ought to help (if not this minute, then soon). Thus, my
view of the world – of others and of myself – depends on which way I am being.

It is common to switch back and forth between these two ways of being. Yet these are
fundamental categories, for in any given moment I am either one or the other. I am either
alive to other people’s reality or I am not, and everything else – including my thinking, my
values, my principles, my behaviour – will depend on this pivotal issue.

If my heart is wrong, everything else will also be wrong.

Article contributed by The Arbinger Institute. [Arbinger is the world's pioneer and leader in
the area of "self-deception". Members of Arbinger around the world work to apply the
sweeping implications of self-deception and its solution to all aspects of organizational,
community, and family life.]Email: india@arbinger.com, singapore@arbinger.com Website:
www.arbinger.com

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