Sociogram of tele relationships in a work groupTele was first identified by JL Moreno (1889 – 1974) as the flow of feeling from one person to another.
Tele has three qualities:
Degree of attraction: drawing people closer together or choosing not
to, and moving away from each other; or remaining neutral, where there
is no movement either towards or away
Two-way flow of feeling. Tele has both an outgoing flow and a retrojective flow received from the other.
Intensity of feeling on a continuum of weak to strong
Emanating from the limbic system, tele enables us to gain insight to,
appreciation of and feelings for the makeup of the other person. Tele
creates interpersonal chemistry. The experience of tele can be
described as hitting it off with another without ‘knowing’ them,
personality clashes, positive chemistry or negative vibes.
These emotional flows of feeling between people form the psycho-social
connections between people of attraction, repulsion and neutrality. The
resulting emotional networks can be mapped and made visible to group
members. By forming the emotional and psychological geography of a
community, these networks greatly influence what occurs in families, and
within and between groups, organisations and societies.
The concept of tele and the tools and practices of sociometry enables
us to explore the nature of relationships between people and entities:
teams, business units, organisations and customers, and make the
invisible, visible.
Positive and Negative tele
Where there is strong positive mutual tele between two people, there
is increased vitality and a capacity to create. If this relationship
develops over time, these two people become emotionally close, and will
be significant to one another whether they are geographically close in
life or not. Think of musicians Elton John and Bernie Turpin.
Where there is strong mutual negative tele in a relationship, the two
involved do not choose one another on specific criteria; they ‘reject’
one another. Simplistically, we can say, there is a personality clash,
or they don’t get on. Negative telic relationships can be represented by
space or distance between the people concerned. Frequently in work
groups, people with negative tele are expected to work alongside one
another. In other areas of life, there is more choice. There is no
value of judgement in positive or negative tele, or forces of attraction
and rejection.
How do we apply the principle of tele in organisations?
Positive mutual relationships are at the basis of good working
relationships, work and communication flows, people choose each other to
solve problems, to consult with one another, share information and
ideas or to collaborate.
Mutual tele is evident when two people move towards one another based
on particular criteria. Criteria are situational, and may be sociotelic. Sociotelic
criteria are skills, influence choices e.g. intellectual acumen,
working with conflict, mastery with facts and information, or the criteria may be psychotelic. Psychotelic
criteria are qualitative criteria influencing choices, e.g. being
trustworthy, approachability, openness, being a good listener.
Tele is a way of exploring the responses behind liking or disliking, and natural gut responses of one person to another.
People get to know one another by making connections, usually to do
with shared experience e.g. being adopted, immigrating from another
country, liking action movies, enjoying a good argument, being
passionate in doing a good job, or interest in the intricacies of
technology. There are a myriad of shared experience and interests, which
can become known, and create links between people.
Connections between people occur naturally, and at other times, these
connections need to be facilitated. When connections are not
facilitated, people create false ideas and assumptions about others.
They create untested conclusions about and expectations of others.
Group development occurs when positive connections are created
between people. The more mutual positive connections there are between
people, the more creativity, flexibility and shared approach to problem
solving occurs. People feel valued, involved and included and find it
easy to make their best contribution.
Where there are positive mutual connections, spontaneity occurs.
Spontaneity is the capacity to approach a familiar
situation in a new way, and approach new and unfamiliar situations
adequately, i.e good enough.
There are five facets of spontaneity:
Vitality
Adequacy
Originality
Flexibility
Creativity
Negative tele
When there are strong negative telic relationships, the work of the
group grinds to a halt, and one or more individuals become isolated
within the group, and the ‘work’ then becomes the rebuilding of positive
relationships. Sociometrists map relationships and investigate the maps
(sociograms) with those involved.
Sociogram of tele relationships in a work group
An example below: Let’s apply the concept to three
groups in a company; sales, production and corporate finance. Sales are
positive to Corporate Finance, Corporate Finance is positive to Sales
and has a neutral relationship with Production. Sales have a weak
positive relationship with Production however Production has a negative
relationship with Sales. As we discuss the diagram with those involved,
Sales let everyone know that they realise they sell more than Production
can produce as they are bonus driven. This reflection enables
Production to bring out the problems between themselves and customers
who expect products, and the group begins problem solving.
The relationship between Production and Finance was seen as neutral.
There was little interaction. Armed with financial results, people in
Production, Sales and Finance can look together at what is needed to
ensure customer satisfaction and company viability.
Mapping the telic relationships with group members
in both individual and group settings displays the informal network of
relationships between people and teams. These informal networks connect
people; they are the glue within groups. Mapping and exploring informal
networks assists people and groups to identify unproductive rifts
between people. New behaviours and new role relationships are relevant
to enable new solutions to old problems.