The Levellers
Virginia Satir was a highly effective family therapist whose work can be directly related to behaviour in the workplace. By using a range of highly graphic descriptions of typical behaviour she was able to give people a way of recognising the cause of conflict. You will probably be able to draw comparisons between the following descriptions of what is generally referred to as Satir Categories and the behaviour of people in the workplace, and maybe even your own.
Blamer
When a person is blaming they are refusing to accept responsibility for their own performance. They are seeking to lay the cause of a situation in circumstances, or in other people, and in doing so they mentally and emotionally detach themselves from the issue at hand. To point the finger of blame is to disempower yourself of the means by which you could get involved and make a difference, i.e. if it’s not my fault then I don’t need to feel obliged to do anything about it. Blaming usually occurs when a person is insecure about themselves in some way, or has low self-esteem. Blaming is usually charged with anger which starts by being directed inwardly. Blaming directs anger outward to other people so that you don’t feel so bad – but there are still unresolved bad feelings which cause the blaming to continue.
Blaming serves only to create conflict, to disempower and to reduce the bad feeling created by being angry with yourself.
Distracter
When a person is distracting they are really saying ‘look at me’. It is a behaviour that attempts to draw other people’s attention because they have lacked it in the past. The feeling is of never having been fully recognised, loved or accepted by friends and/or family. There are many ways a person will distract, including humour, changing the subject, stopping listening, picking fluff off a jumper, making profound statements, throwing objects, tapping pencils etc. What makes this type of behaviour a distraction is that they are done inappropriately – when it causes other people to change their focus.
Distracting serves to create conflict, to attract attention and create feelings of being needed.
Computer
When a person is being a computer they are dissociating emotionally from what is happening. You will notice computer-like behaviour by the precision in the body language, and dialogue. There is a stillness to the body where movement is minimal. There is no lounging or shifting around, and conversation is highly practical and rational. The stillness allows emotional detachment. This person may find it difficult dealing with emotions due to their sterile upbringing. You might say they have a lack of emotional intelligence and feel awkward dealing with emotions of any kind.
Computer-like behaviour serves to keep the person emotionally detached which may cause others to judge them as a cold and unfeeling person.
Placater
To placate is to take the blame for whatever goes wrong, i.e. it must be my fault, yet again. It is the opposite of the blamer although the emotion attached to it is not so much anger as sadness. The cause is much the same as blamer, low self-esteem. A person who is placating is used to putting their foot in it, being the awkward one in a group, or convincing themselves they are never as good as other people. By accepting the blame they don’t feel the need to prove themselves as adequate in any way, i.e. I own up to being clumsy or incompetent. So they can carry on without having to achieve anything because if they tried to succeed at something they might fail and this would bring even worse feelings.
Placating serves to avoid the dissapointment of a future failure as this would be more hurtful than all the failures that have gone before.
Leveller
Being a leveller is being someone who can bring calm and order to situations where people are expressing the 4 behaviours described above. The leveller has emotional balance and can relate to all kinds of people. The leveller is able to take away the negative charge from conflict situations and is a facilitator of positive actions and feelings.
A leveller serves to keep the peace and harmonize the efforts of others through flexibility of communication and being able to relate to everyone in any situation.
Are there enough people in your organisation acting as levellers?
The next time you attend a meeting at work watch for these categories of behaviour. Where you have a dysfunctional workgroup or a meeting process which isn’t valued by attendees you are most certainly going to notice some of these behaviours. The problem is that when a person adopts either a blamer, distracter, computer or placater attitude they then defend it and it can be difficult to move them. This is where levellers are so vital to the health and well-being of organisations.
The skills of a leveller can be found with change agents and effective leaders, and in facilitators. The more levellers you have the more productive and healthy your organisation will be. Levellers know how people work, and how they react and respond to one another. They are able to bring a sense of order and balance where there is chaos and imbalance. As they observe people they strive to be catalysts of positive change and a force for good.
Some people have a natural levelling ability, others can learn the skills of the leveller. Once you become a leveller you never see the world in the same way again. All of a sudden problems which seemed impossible are resolved simply. People who were stubborn become dynamic and ineffective teams begin to harness their strengths and work towards common goals. Discussions become outcome focussed and work is only created when there is a valuable purpose behind it. When people are acting from a positive intention to do good, as opposed to just getting work done, then the quality of the output goes up. Levellers know how important it is to keep realigning their efforts with purposeful outcomes.
So, level with me ….. which of the Satir Categories do you display? Do you have enough levellers in your organisation?
For further information on the work of Virginia Satir read ‘New Peoplemaking’ or … ‘Family Therapy and Beyond’.
David Molden
