Outsider witnessing involves noticing what you pick up in the stories of others and how this reflects your values as much as the story-teller themselves. Outsider witnessing has been used in therapeutic contexts, such as narrative therapy by “Enabling a person who is coming to therapy to invite friends or family members into their sessions as witnesses” as “it is much more likely that steps that a person makes in the therapy room can be translated into action in their daily lives” (Carey & Russell, 2003).
Applying the concept to professional contexts can assist to identify values within teams to frame how the future of work could look in optimising productivity and delegate appropriate roles to the appropriate people in alignment with these values.
Through externalising conversations and outsider witnessing, two guests, Ellenie (Elle) Petrou and Tom Bambrick shared their values through the stories they decided to tell about their experiences at work.
“Narrative and story become the way we imagine alternatives and create possibilities, and actualise these options.”
Harlene Anderson, 2007
As Elle (Senior Manager, Strategic Projects at University of Wollongong) explained the complexities of her work, including advising on recommendations for decision-making, she explained that “I need to really listen, I need to understand why they [other people in the organisation] believe it’s the right decision, and understand what is their goal?” Elle also explained that her role entails “helping people see situations using other views… to understand impact” which shows that Elle values fairness and equality of different opinions and people which she agreed when reflecting on her own values, “I’m the first person to put my hand up and question things.” Using outsider witnessing, these attributes about Elle resonated with me as it reflects my consistent effort of offering different perspectives when I’m working on a project or within a team at work.
When reflecting on her club of life, Elle identified that her “parents would definitely agree that I would step in if there was a crisis at home or an injustice.” The reason I resonated with this part of Elle’s storytelling is that my own club of life would agree that I am the first person to step in if there was something going on at home to resolve, no matter how big or small, but like Elle, not in an aggressive way, just to listen first and then offer differing perspectives which shows I value fairness.
“In maintaining our connection with our values we probably have all experienced the power of sharing those values with like-minded people. Outsider witnesses help to meet these two purposes – acknowledging our identity claims as valid, and sharing stories about what is important to us in life. In this way the people we work with come to experience themselves and their preferred identity claims as part of a community of acknowledgement..”
Hugh Fox, quoted in Maggie Carey & Shona Russell Outsider Witness: Some Answers to Commonly Answered Questions
When Tom (Global Academic Quality and Performance Specialist at UOW Global Enterprises) reflected on his own critical incident at work he described that “there was this decision-making paralysis like: Well who’s responsibility is this, because it doesn’t fit neatly into anybody else’s role”. He recounted that he likes to put his hand up in these situations to challenge himself and fill the “gaps in the system”. I resonated with Tom’s recollection of this story as similarly to Tom, I have been in situations at work where there was no clear outline on whose role it was to complete certain tasks and I put my hand up for the challenge and to fill the gap.
When Tom was reflecting on Elle’s story as an outsider witness, he stated, “I really liked when Elle spoke about calling on trusted individuals. I think for me that is something, when I’m faced with a problem that seems to threaten the organisation… that is my first thing that I do”. Tom also stated that what resonated with him about Elle’s story is that “the more that you can open up those doors, to getting more opinions in, the better the decision-making process, and the better the outcome”. These two key attributes Tom identified about Elle’s story are important as not only does it reflect Elle’s values at work, but it also identifies what Tom values and this is the key to outsider witnessing as a practice.
When Elle reflected on listening to Tom’s values, she identified that there were “commonalities around building relationships”. She also identified that Tom also “talks to people who challenge his ideas which resonates with me as well” and he was “talking about gaps in processes” which she plays a huge role in filling with her own projects at work.
Through being an outsider witness in Elle & Tom’s stories, three key values stood out to me that I also resonate within professional and broader, more personal settings.
- Multiple perspectives to achieve fairness
- Building relationships through trust
- Taking initiative to improving processes by proactively filling gaps
Overall, outsider witnessing principles help you notice people who openly validate you (which are referred to as communities of acknowledgement). Through listening to stories beyond the ear and using practices such as outsider witnessing, we reveal our true values both professionally and personally which contribute to the people we are now and will be in the future.
“We tell the story of who we were because we are making sense of how we are travelling towards the future”
Kate Bowles, 2022.
References:
Bowles, K., (2022). ‘Week 4 workshop’ BCM313 The Future of Work.
Anderson, H., (2007). Collaborative therapy: Relationships and conversations that make a difference.
chats with chels 