|
Voice Dialogue: From a User's Manual For the Human Being
at Work
by Susan Schwartz Senstad [This following first appeared
in Norwegian, as a chapter entitled, "Når du er på
jobben er du i livet: Voice Dialogue som utviklingsmetode"
in an anthology for business consultants, Kunnskap i arbeid --
status og fremtidsbilder, Hilde Doksrød (ed.), Tano Aschehoug,
Oslo, Norway, 1998. The article is reproduced with kind permission
of the author.]
Who is it who goes to work in the morning? The very same person
who rolled out of bed, stumbled to the bathroom mirror and, in
her mind, commented to the blotchy, puffy face she saw there:
"Oh, sweety, how tired you look! You've spread yourself
too thin, you know. Let's figure out what you can delegate of
that big project so you can focus on the parts of it you do best.
Then come home and spend tonight listening to music with your
honey. Okay?" Or, seeing that same wreck of a face with
that same glint of fear in its eyes – fear of failing at
work – she may have said to herself something more like
this: "God, you're getting old! Who'd want a hag like you?
And you're nowhere near done with what you promised you'd finish
by Friday. You're gonna blow it. Well, it's overtime for you
tonight, babe. Stay at that desk till you catch up or they're
gonna to find out just how incompetent you really are!"
Which of these internal dialogues best serves the organization
for which that woman works? Which is more likely to lead to good
performance, good collaborative work, good health? Personnel
can be taught the necessity of delegating, or holding employee
conferences, or organizing meetings and following up on decisions
made, etc. If, however, the 'voices' in a person's head treat
her as in that second dialogue, she'll know she should delegate,
etc., but she won't end up doing it. One thing is to know what
one ought to do. It's another to be a person able to do it. The
two inner dialogues above express complex relationships within
the individual. The psychological term for those inner voices
is 'part-objects introjects'; that is, they 'speak' for the values,
thoughts and models for relationship that we were exposed to
while growing up and which we now have adopted as part of our
own psychological make-up. In the Voice Dialogue model, these
'part-object introjects' are referred to as 'inner voices,' representing
'inner selves' or 'sub-personalities.' It is these which are
the focus of the Voice Dialogue model/method, hence it's name.
As it focuses on the inner workings of the mind, Voice Dialogue
does have much in common with the concerns addressed by psychological
therapies. Because many people assume that techniques of therapy
belong only to professionals for use on disturbed people, they
may wonder what role an apparently therapeutic tool has in the
work place. Isn't that an invasion of privacy, or a pathologizing
of daily life? Actually, the knowledge which the world of psychology
has amassed by studying people in trouble also provides the foundation
for what I like to call a "User's Manual for the Human Being"
– the basic operating instructions for how well-functioning
people can sort out what it means to be a person with a psyche
in a society. The good news is that such User's Manual basics
are relatively easily taught. The bad news is they all too rarely
are. Our schools teach us the basic workings of our bodies, our
cars, our arts and sciences. Where in our education, however,
are we taught the basic workings of the person? When do we study
how to handle our inner conflicts, to work through grief, confront
anger constructively or develop our social intelligence? Who
teaches us techniques for making the best use of our personality
quirks and strengths, or, of particular importance, how to treat
our own and other people's vulnerabilities with loving respect?
Ironically, it is most often those 'fortunate' enough to get
into a deep personal crisis and thus into therapy who receive
assistance thinking through these basics in any systematic way.
An employee's increased personal awareness turns out to be an
organization's best friend. Teaching well-functioning people
about themselves can help them tackle their tasks, their collegial
relationships and to take initiative to change a working environment
that isn't optimal. IF, that is, the focus is directed toward
how one's personal qualities affect performance as a worker.
Doing so is not to examine one's navel at the company's expense.
Nor is it to focus on the individual while neglecting the context
within which she exists. It is simply facing up to the fact that
the person who gets up in the morning and says something to herself
in the mirror will then go to work and, in one way or another,
act on what she heard herself say. That action will have a ripple
effect throughout the organization. Voice Dialogue is among the
very best methods for doing this job. It is relatively easy to
teach and yet the model has room for all the subtle nuances of
life's complexity. It also works well in conjunction with many
other approaches; consultants need not abandon their best loved
tools to add this one to their repertoire. Voice Dialogue was
developed by two American psychologists, Drs. Sidra and Hal Stone.
It is part of their theory of human functioning called "The
Psychology of Selves." What I'll do here is give an overview
of some of the core concepts in their Voice Dialogue model, and
then a bit about their method. Please remember as you read: -
Drs. Stone have so far written four books on the subject. Obviously,
what follows will just be a sketch. - Drs. Stone didn't invent
how we function as people, they only devised a (very elegant!)
model to describe it. Consequently, you'll recognize aspects
that resemble a variety of other descriptive models, such as
Gestalt, Jungian analysis, etc. - What is described reflects
'normal' development which presumes a healthy individual born
into an adequately functioning family and society, in times of
relative peace. - Finally, the model is descriptive of 'states
of being' which are made up of so much more than words. They
are constituted by emotions, fantasies, talents, dreams, etc.
Each of these has its own 'wave-length,' its own mood, its own
– to borrow a word from Eastern philosophies – 'energy.'
Were I speaking this article to you instead of writing it, my
own personal emanation, my body language, facial expressions,
voice modulations, etc., would 'embody' what I'm talking about.
I ask you to supply that part of the teaching as you read. Feel
if you can sense the 'energy' connected to the various states
of being described. Who Is Speaking When You Talk to Yourself
– The Voice Dialogue Model We begin at the beginning, with
vulnerability, the condition in which we are all born. No other
animal is so dependent on their caregivers for such a long time,
both physically and emotionally, as are we human beings. Thus,
among our many early childhood developmental tasks is the gradual
invention of strategies for becoming autonomous. We can say that
we are building 'defense mechanisms' or constructing 'armor'
or even, developing a 'personality': whatever we call it, we
must develop the personal power to protect our vulnerability.
And well we should. Those children who remain psychologically
undefended may end up in institutions of total care. To live
in the world means, in part, to acquire tools for gaining personal
mastery. Becoming Powerful And what sort of strategies do we
develop to gain mastery over our vulnerability? Inner Pleaser:
A child learns, for example, to perceive what the world wants
of her and then provide it. Mommy and Daddy are looking into
the cradle and suddenly their baby's face contorts: What was
that? A smile! A delicious rush of warmth streams from the parents
toward their child. Then comes that fateful day when, for the
first time, the baby contracts those same facial muscles in just
that way – only this time, on purpose. She will then have
performed one of her first empowering acts of mastery: she will
have made herself less vulnerable by controlling those around
her. She has pleased them, given them what they wanted, her smile,
so that they in turn will give her what she not only wants but
physiologically and emotionally needs, their loving contact.
This ability to intuit what people want and then provide it is
at the core of empathy, without which cruelty would reign. It
is not an exaggeration that without this capacity to adapt to
the environment, our entire species would die out. Inner Pusher:
As our little girl grows older, if her universe is not to be
limited to her parents' lap, she'll need enough drive and persistence
to explore the world. She'll need the drive to dare take not
just a first step, but, when that one leads to a bruising fall,
a second step, and then a third until, finally, she can walk.
No drive, no achievement. Not just for her: without the drive
toward achievement, there would be no such thing as society.
She'll also need an Inner Critic internalizing the criticism
she receives so that she can eventually warn herself that stoves
are too hot to touch, traffic too dangerous to run out into,
and other people too tender to punch. She'll need a conscience
to tell her when she's done wrong. In fact, being unable to admit
one is at fault may be a sign of psychopathology. Throughout
history, people with a deficient capacity for self-criticism
have been known to tyrannize society. An Inner Rational Mind
will help her analyze events and make sense of her world rescuing
her from superstition and chaos. Unless she has an Inner Warrior
to help her say 'no' and make it stick when someone tries to
hurt her, she will remain very much at the mercy of the world.
And so on. There are an infinite number of ways to gain mastery.
Some strategies, including those just named, are common to us
all. Others are specific to the times and culture in which we
grow up, it's perspective on religion, ethics, gender roles,
etc. Still others are unique to one particular individual, perhaps
even the result of inborn temperament, part of that person's
uniqueness, of what comprises a recognizable personality. Orchestrating
this cast of heavy-weights, however, must be an Inner Rulemaker,
helping us choose which of these strategies for gaining mastery
and protecting our vulnerability we ought to specialize in, what
face is most appropriate to present to the particular world into
which we were born. To put it another way, our Inner Rulemaker
tailors the contours of our personality so that we develop what,
in the Voice Dialogue vernacular are called, 'primary selves.'
These are the specific traits we end up emphasizing, while carefully
toning others down. We tend not to notice our 'primary selves'
because we just think that's who we are; as we grow up, and with
the help of our Rulemaker, we come to take our sense of identity
from these 'primary selves'. To maintain that inner picture of
ourselves, we have to deny any feelings, desires or actions which
contradict that self-image, those traits our 'primary selves'
reject. Those impulses we call our 'disowned selves.' When they
pop up, for example, one fine evening when we're out with the
staff and have had a little too much to drink, we say, "Oh,
I don't know what made me do that! I just wasn't myself. I'm
not like that!" Fortunately, human beings specialize in
different 'primary selves'. One person in the office ends up
taking charge of firing us up to exceed last year's results,
another takes on the role of making our environment cozy, someone
else is best suited to warning us when our department is headed
for trouble, yet another makes sure the accounts balance or thinks
up strategies to beat the competition at its own game, etc. We
need all of us to make a team, all our varying individual strengths
and ways of having power in the world. Each of us can, however,
get too specialized and overdo one or another of these 'primary
self' strategies for gaining mastery: A person who takes too
much of his self-image from having a strong Inner Pleaser may
end up exhausting himself by striving too hard to please others.
Living up to everyone else's expectations may alienate him from
his own deepest longings and talents – often a factor in
burn-out. If he has an over-developed Inner Pusher, he may drive
himself in goal-oriented workaholism, pursuing the kind of success
that kills. In that case, he'd better be prepared for complaints
from his co-workers that he's working them too hard and from
his family that he's abandoned them. And look out for heart disease.
If he gives too much weight to his Inner Critic, he may become
so acutely judgmental that nothing he or anyone else accomplishes
is ever good enough. To see how killing that can be for creativity,
just think of the way critical remarks can paralyze a brainstorming
session. There has even been found a correlation between extreme
self-critical perfectionism and a tendency toward suicide. If
he allows his Inner Rational Mind to do all the thinking, he
risks becoming a pedantic, predictable bore, without fantasy
or humor – with exhaustingly little capacity to relax, play
or utilize his intuition. He may rely so chronically on his Inner
Warrior that he sees enemies everywhere, fights first and asks
questions later, creating the very dangers he hoped to prevent.
At it's extreme, this is war. Yes, mastery is necessary, but
there is something called too much of a good thing. |<top
Being Vulnerable
Each of our specialized competencies is designed to distance
us from our vulnerability, but is vulnerability really only bad,
only something to be distanced from? Its bad reputation is certainly
not without grounds. Beneath our socialized armor lie aggressions,
greed, passions without conscience. Just visit a day care center
teeming with three-year olds if you want to see how brutal our
most primitive, unsocialized impulses are when unchecked. Beneath
the armor are also our emotional responses to old and new trauma,
our terrors, wounds, losses, shocks, failures, disappointments,
all our unexamined emotional baggage from childhood on up. If
you've ever met a person who is too vulnerable and too poorly
defended against these – that lady in the office who bursts
into tears if you so much as correct her spelling, who is afraid
of almost every kind of challenge – then you know how difficult
unbridled vulnerability can be, not just for the vulnerable person
herself but for those around her as well. No wonder so many prefer
to err in the direction of being too tough rather than too tender.
However: There's a high price to be paid for going too far in
girding our soft underbellies. It's common knowledge by now:
if we ignore our vulnerability the unintegrated pain does not
just go away. Rather, it wreaks havoc with the equilibrium we
like to think we have. Not only social alienation but also illness,
physical as well as mental, may result from locking away our
feelings behind carefully tended 'civilized' appearances. Something
even more sad may result if we base ourselves too exclusively
in the quest for mastery and power. If we are busy avoiding one
kind of vulnerability – that is, pain – the avoidance
acts as a kind of cork in the bottle, preventing us from pouring
out all the other types of vulnerability, the delicious kinds.
We need to take off our armor, or at least loosen it a bit, if
we want to play, or laugh. We can't be spontaneous if we're locked
into our mastery positions. If we aren't able to tolerate our
vulnerability, we can't think associatively, or dream, or be
poetic, or romantic, or creative. We certainly can't be erotic
if we're busy protecting ourselves, neglecting our own desires,
being critical, or competitive. We simply must be vulnerable
if we want to love. And nothing makes us feel how vulnerable
we are as does being loved. In fact, without access to our vulnerability,
we can't have any kind of intimacy at all, not even the social
kind that humanizes the workplace and improves job satisfaction.
It's in our vulnerability that our humanity lies. |<top
Knowing That You Know – The
Aware Ego
Too much mastery spells rigidity, too little brings chaos.
Too much vulnerability is dangerous, too little is tragic and
lonely. What we really need is the right amount of everything.
We need a place to stand within ourselves from where we can embrace
and develop our strategies for gaining mastery AND have access
to our vulnerability, utilize our primary selves AND be conscious
of the sides of us we tend to disown. We need to know how to
protect our boundaries consciously AND how to open them up on
purpose. We need a way to choose which sides of us to utilize
when, and with whom, and to what degree. In short, we need to
supersede our dualities to encompass the whole of our impressive
repertoire for being a human being. Both/and not either/or. That's
a tall order. It requires, and here is the central concept in
the Voice Dialogue model: an Aware Ego, a sort of CEO for the
psyche, a capacity to first get an overview and then consciously
orchestrate a response. We can draw it this way: Longing Grief
Tenderness Fear Playfulness Associative thinking Erotics Beach
Bum etc. Pleaser Pusher Critic Perfectionist Rational Mind Warrior
Patriarch Competitor etc. The fulcrum in this drawing is the
point of dynamic balance called the Aware Ego. If our sense of
self is grounded there, and if we have contact in both directions,
we can be an active witness to our own lives. We do not need
to take our self-image from a narrow selection of inner capabilities
while disowning all the other ones. Instead, the sense of 'I'
resides in the whole of us, our apparent strengths as well as
our so-called weaknesses, embracing those facets of ourselves
we feel safe with and the ones we might like to pretend we didn't
have. We may both know, and know that we're knowing. We may feel
and simultaneously know what it is we're feeling and how it relates
to the whole spectrum of all our other feelings. This witnessing
awareness is the capacity that makes all that possible. Of course,
let's not kid ourselves that we'll ever really achieve complete
awareness of our internal landscape. As Jung said, every apparent
peak of consciousness is actually just the foothill to another
mountain of unconsciousness yet to climb! Even if ultimately
limited, however, consciousness can make quite a difference.
Let's take an example: It's Monday morning and George shows up
at work – half an hour late: "Late! Again! I better
start right away on those department statistics I said I'd have
ready by Wednesday. But I don't want to do that job now. It's
so boring! I know -- I'll start by designing the cover for the
report, something colorful. What a lazy bum I am, always wanting
to play, never wanting to work. Why did I ever say I'd do this
stupid job anyway? Well, it'll make the team happy. And besides,
this way I'm the one with control over the budget." Most
of us can recognize these inner 'voices': Pusher: "Get to
work! Do that report!" Rebellious Child: "No! I don't
WANT to!" Creative Child: "I want to draw a pretty
cover!" Inner Critic: "Lazy bum!" Pleaser: "If
I do the dumb job, maybe the team will like me." Inner Competitor:
"If I do it, I'm in control. Information is power!"
George, it seems, has let his Inner Competitor, Inner Pusher
and Inner Pleaser define his job description, taking on too much
work that doesn't inspire him. As he doesn't confront that larger
issue, his Inner Rebellious Child takes over destructively, making
him late and sabotaging his work, all in an unsuccessful effort
to make room for his Inner Creative Child. Then, of course, his
Inner Critic attacks him for being lazy and irresponsible. All
this is going on beneath George's awareness and consequently
out of his control. It's as if two polar sets of impulses were
warring and George stands paralyzed between them. Can you recognize
the 'energy' in this way of being? This is an example of what
it looks like to be functioning without the benefit of the Aware
Ego. If nothing intervenes, Poor George will most likely have
a very stressful week. Not only will he do uninspired or even
sloppy work on those statistics, but he will also get little
use out of his ample creativity. Instead, he may be in a foul
mood, picking an argument with a colleague he's felt breathing
down his neck. Will he get that job done on time? Will he end
up calling in sick, or maybe actually becoming sick? George could
have really listened to each individual 'inner voice' that Monday
morning, letting them speak out, one at a time. He might then
have discovered not only that each one had something important
to say but also that this inner conflict actually started long
ago: His Pleaser might remember how his father, whom he admired,
beamed with pride every time George won a wrestling match but
showed no interest in his artwork. So George put aside his artistic
talents, even though he himself got great pleasure from using
them. His Inner Creative Child might have contact with the longing
that George had pushed far away from his memory, a longing both
for artistic creativity and for a more imaginative, intimate
and less performance-oriented kind of contact with his father.
His Pusher and Competitor might explain how their domination
of George's personality, even today, does result in impressive
achievements, but at the same time has served to keep him safely
distracted from these inner longings. The urge to create is so
strong, however, that his Rebellious Child is going to keep fighting
hard and angrily to make sure creativity isn't forgotten, whatever
the cost. George can now see why he takes on competitive jobs
that don't really satisfy him and then begins to sabotage his
own performance, and he can use this information to update his
choices. His more developed Aware Ego can now help him value
both his those 'primary selves' he's used to utilizing AND the
selves that lie impatiently latent, undeveloped. How will this
translate into action at work? George knows enough about his
own motivation to discuss a redefinition of his job description
with his boss. If he arranges to have more tasks delegated to
him in which his creativity is taken seriously (at last!), he
might find himself less resistant to also doing the more structured
assignments. Ironically, George might end up getting more of
the status he so desires because he can now employ an even broader
range of his talents. In the meantime, someone else on the team
might actually enjoy doing the statistical job George dislikes
and might even have felt resentful when George took on that important
assignment. Thus, not just George but also his whole department
might stand to gain from his increased insight into the internal
processes behind his behavior. Yes, developing consciousness
of one's inner feelings is very much what psychotherapy is designed
to do: that which is unconscious or subconscious is brought to
awareness so that it may be sorted out rather that just acted
out. Yet notice how 'normal' and familiar such a process is.
It isn't necessary to be sick in order to get even healthier.
|<top
Embracing It All
Thus, the goal of the Voice Dialogue model is to strengthen
the Aware Ego so that it can: Contain the tension of opposites.
Notice, I did not say to resolve the tension of the opposites.
Containment seeks to make room in the same heart for the contradictions
and complexities that are involved in being alive. When, with
an Aware Ego, we contain the tension of our internal contradictions,
we become free to take our self-image from the totality of our
inner cast of characters rather than from a select few. As a
result, our behavior grows less rigidly habitual. Paradoxically,
we also become more responsible; we can decide consciously what
to do about our various 'disowned' impulses since we can recognize
them before they jump out and make trouble. We may even find
we're having a lot more fun and accomplishing things we never
thought possible. It's exciting to discover that identity is
not a single, fixed point but rather a dynamic process of continual
development, a medley of unending potentialities. The Art of
Talking to One's Self: The Voice Dialogue Method Although one
can sort out these 'voices' on one's own, it is difficult to
shed light on one's own blind spots. Thus, the Voice Dialogue
method consists of one person interviewing the 'inner voices'
of another, helping the parts to express what's on their mind
and heart – speaking one at a time rather than interrupting
one another constantly, as they tend to do in the daily inner
life of the mind. The person being interviewed gets to experience
those inner energies as different states of being, each one with
its unique life memories, functions and opinions. She gets to
map her internal terrain and then, afterwards, her Aware Ego
gets to make better informed decisions. Part of the beauty of
the Voice Dialogue method is that the person doing the interviewing
learns at least as much as the person being interviewed. He learns
to listen actively – non-judgmentally, empathetically and
analytically, all at the same time. He trains at recognizing
shifts in mood and feeling, and in formulating working hypotheses
about how different aspects of an individual might affect her
life and work. In short, the method hones communications skills.
For more detailed information on the Voice Dialogue method, see
the reference list at the end of this article. How Consciousness
Improves the Work Place Here in Norway, many business and public
leaders and their co-workers have received training in Voice
Dialogue. Over the years, they have described its positive impact
on their work life in ways such as these: They've grown better
at distinguishing real and current dangers from personal, historical
fears. Thus, they become better at making decisions, even unpopular
ones. Both the extremes, that of indecisiveness and of rash decision-making,
seem to be moderated. They've grown better at recognizing and
then setting their limits. They are thus less likely to let themselves
be exploited or to put others in the position of unwittingly
exploiting them. They become more adept and creative at delegating.
They've grown better at expressing themselves more precisely
and listening more deeply. Their colleagues often confirm an
improvement in their skill as communicators. They identify more
easily when they or others are becoming defensive, and can more
easily sort out why. This awareness of underlying issues reduces
the incidence of conflict. When conflicts do arise, it helps
make their resolution less difficult. They've grown better at
organizing their workload, making it both more challenging and
more gratifying. As a result, their efficiency and productivity
increase. Absenteeism and burn-out are more easily prevented.
They've grown better at giving and receiving both negative and
positive feedback. As a result, they act more responsibly while
also feeling more inspired and inspiring to others. Their colleagues
tell them the environment they create around them feels safer.
They've developed insight into a wider variety of human traits
and thus work better with people they couldn't relate to earlier.
This seems to have a positive impact during employee conferences
and when working in teams. They've learned to see greater value
in contact with their inner life, finding in it enrichment for
their work as well as for their relationships. They experience
their problem-solving skills becoming more creative. They've
grown a little wackier, have more fun and feel more alive. Some
say they have always simply 'known' the dynamics Voice Dialogue
describes but haven't before had a way of putting them into a
structure they could experience directly and utilize practically.
Voice Dialogue training in the context of the job seems also
to have had a ripple effect into the private lives of many of
the participants. They seem to learn to deepen their personal
contact, both coming closer to others and letting others closer
to them. As a result (this work is full of wonderful paradoxes),
they also feel freer to allow themselves to take space, to enjoy
solitude more, doing more of what they might earlier have feared
was 'selfish' but which they now experience as just taking better
care of themselves. They seem to find that the better they do
both of these apparently opposite things – be closer and
yet more separate – the better they function as parents,
partners, co-workers and leaders. Safety and What Voice Dialogue
Training in a Work Context is NOT Using Voice Dialogue in a work
context is a teaching in communications. It is not offering therapy,
even if some of the results are therapeutic in nature and even
though the model/method works extremely well as a therapeutic
tool in the hands of professionals. The courses do require a
certain psychic balance and are not designed for people with
serious psychological problems. Safety features, however, are
built into the interview method. The Voice Dialogue technique
doesn't only teach people to honor and experience their vulnerability
but also requires them to learn how to put it aside and to protect
it. Consequently, the method functions to strengthen the ego
and carries little risk of destabilizing psychologically fragile
individuals. Sometimes, as a result of the experience with Voice
Dialogue, certain people discover that big personal changes are
called for. These changes aren't always easy, though not making
them is, in the long run, usually even harder. Some of these
people have discovered that they need and want to go even deeper
and have contacted a therapist. Remember: Whenever You Go To
Work, You Are Going To Your Life. As the old hierarchical style
of leadership yields in favor of flatter organizational structures,
the human factor becomes ever more important in making the workplace
work. Integrating the psychological component of life into the
workplace is an idea whose time has come. And, as a Wise One
once said: Life is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to
be experienced. |<top
Appendix 1: How to Learn More About
Voice Dialogue in Norway
Contact the Norwegian network of Voice Dialogue practitioners
and teachers: Voice Dialogue-gruppen Postboks 219 Skøyen
0212 Oslo Read these books which are available in Norway: Embracing
Our Selves : The Voice Dialogue Manual av Hal & Sidra Stone.
New World Library: San Raphael, California. 1989. Embracing Each
Other: Relationship as Teacher, Healer & Guide av Hal &
Sidra Stone. New World Library: San Raphael, California. 1989.
Din indre kritiker - Nådeløs fiende eller skapende
kraft? av Hal & Sidra Stone. Foreword by Susan Schwartz Senstad.
Aschehoug. 1994. Din indre patriark - Den skjulte kraften som
holder kvinner nede av Sidra Stone. Foreword by Susan Schwartz
Senstad. Aschehoug. 1998. Check out Voice Dialogue in cyberspace:
http://delos-inc.com/
The website of the founders of Voice Dialogue, Drs. Hal and Sidra
Stone, contains information and articles about the approach and
about Voice Dialogue throughout the world. Video and audio tapes
as well as books may also be ordered directly. Appendix 2: About
the author: Susan Schwartz Senstad is an American author and
licensed Family Therapist permanently based in Oslo, Norway since
1985. She holds an M.A. in Psychology and an MFA for Writers.
Her more than twenty years' experience include a long-term practice
providing psychotherapy and leading intensive groups in personal
development. She received her training in Voice Dialogue directly
from Drs. Sidra and Hal Stone and, in 1986, imported Voice Dialogue
to Norway. Since then, she has taught many Norwegians to teach
or use the method. She currently runs year-long Voice Dialogue
trainings for leaders, consultants, teachers and psychologists
and, in collaboration with Organizational Development Consultant
Erik Koritzinsky, Sen., tailors management trainings to the needs
of business and government. Her first novel, Music for the Third
Ear, is available through Doubleday/Anchor in the U.K. It will
also be available in Norway, Holland and Germany in translation,
and in the U.S. and Canada next January. The book was recently
nominated for two national awards. |<top
|
 |
The following articles are copyright of the authors. They
are available for downloading for study and individual reading.
Permission must be obtained from the authors if the material
or part of the material in these articles is used in teaching
or public presentation.
- Who’s Running Your Business?
Developing your Inner Business Team
- Voice Dialogue: From a User's
Manual For the Human Being at Work
- Being Vulnerable
- Knowing That You Know – The Aware
Ego
- Embracing It All
- How to Learn More About Voice Dialogue in
Norway
|
