Habits of Mind and Elephants: ACIFA Presentation

At the ACIFA conference 2013 I attended a session about habits of mind how they can be elephants in the room.  Presenters Rika Snip and Lorraine Leishman from Lethbridge College presented a followup to their ACIFA presentation in 2012. In the presentstion last year the presenters asked what are we trying to talk about? What isn't being said that should be? What are the issues everyone is aware of but no one is talking about?<br>
Elephants in the room require a lot of attention and are often a painful game. Like all games, there is an ending. Often at the end of the game there is an eruption and fall out. It is important to address the elephants early to avoid the eruption. <br>

The presenters addressed three "controllers" that they called baby elephants as they could be hiding behind the big elephant in the room. The baby elephants are personal kinds of habits. These elephants are difficult to recognize and to address because they are roles and positions that disguise a person's true personality and affect workplace as well as personal relationships. By addressing the elephant or habit of mind, you can break through the person's habit and have a more authentic interaction.

The presenters outlined three habits of mind or roles: Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim. These are the three controllers in interactions between people. The victim habit is the hardest to break and the hardest to influence. A person who is in a victim habit role is resistant to solutions to problems and gives excuses for why she can't change. The rescuer tries to help the victim, and the persecutor perpetrates the victim's feelings of inadequacy. <br>

The presenters encouraged us to try to recognize these habits in the workplace and to try to avoid being part of the game. They iterated that these controllers are habits of mind, not people  and everyone may at some time be in the role of persecutor, victim, or rescuer. The handout depicted in the picture attached shows the habits of mind triangle with the actions and feelings involved.