I now invite you to do a little exercise on the three elements of family support in organisations. But, if you just happened upon this post as you were browsing you will need to firstly read the previous post.
It is a simple, guesstimate type of exercise, and don’t worry, there is no right or wrong.
Also, no one else will see it, so you can be totally uncensored in your choices and responses.
I am sure that you have come across many agencies and organisations as you ploughed your way through the fields of life whether they have been sometimes fertile or sometimes a little rocky. Even if you are a relatively young adult you will probably have experienced school, some form of employment, club, group of friends, or other. Those of you who are older will probably have a wider range of organisations to choose from.
I invite you to get a blank page and draw a triangle. Put B in one corner, I in another, and C at the third. (Yes, you’ve guessed it – these letters denote ‘Boundedness’, ‘Inclusiveness’, and ‘Creativity’). Now pick a few of the organisations or agencies that have come into your head, and that you have had some experience of.
Get a biro and place a tick or ‘X’ where you think that they should be in the triangle if they are to fulfill what you think that their stated purpose was, or is. That is, what is probably contained in their mission statement, if they have one, or else what informally you understand, or have understood them to be.
For example, the local crèche should have a lot of inclusiveness so your tick should be well up in the apex where the I is. If you are or have been in a band, or music group, choir etc. or taken up painting, sculpture or art, such groups should probably be denoted with a tick near the C corner, because you will expect them to have a lot of creativity. If you have been to prison, or been a prison officer or Garda, or in the Army, firm boundaries are to be expected in such organisations so the tick should probably be in the B area.
Now get a red biro and place a tick, or ‘x’ where they actually are, i.e. how you experienced them as a service user, or joiner. Perhaps you found College, where you expected a lot of freedom to think for yourself etc. to be very bounded. Or the person in charge of the crèche was very strict on the babies, and it was far more bounded than you thought it would be. Or maybe you went to a school that had a bit of a reputation and was expecting it to be very bounded but to your surprise it scored a lot higher on creativity than you imagined.
Then on completion of the exercise, reflect on the differences between should and actual!