Page 226 - Make Work Great

You . . . as the Defi ner

TABLE 9.1 Common Workplace Manifestations of the
Three Roles to Avoid

Rescuer Persecutor Victim
Cheerleading Blaming Just following orders

Fighting “the power” or Criticizing Defl ecting blame
planning a coup

Helping or tending to “the Shaming Being cynical
wounded”

Playing Mr./Ms. Fix-It Covertly “sniping” or Displaying
backstabbing hopelessness

focus back to the exchange of real, useful, complex information or
distinctions.
When one tactic to help you exit the role of rescuer, persecutor, or
victim fails, don’t hesitate to try another—and another and another
and another, until you fi nd a way out of whichever role has entrapped
you. Remember that the roles are not real. Speak out loud to yourself,
or write in your notebook, “I will not play this pre-scripted role!” As
a defi ner of culture, you must also be an experimenter, learning from
the results of your own actions and using what you learn to inform
your future attempts. Be vigilant in noticing, avoiding, and exiting
from the three roles of the drama triangle.
Why? Because these roles are to the crystalline network what a
virus is to a computer network. They start at one node and quickly
spread negative action patterns to neighboring nodes. The pre-
scripted, time-wasting, and useless patterns take over each node, one
at a time, and replace productive processing power with the ineffec-
tive burning of energy and calories. Just like a computer virus, if left
unchecked, the drama triangle virus ultimately bogs down the whole

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