Inner Team
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The inner team is a personality model created by German psychologist
Friedemann Schulz von Thun Friedemann Schulz von Thun (born August 6, 1944 in Soltau) is a German psychologist and expert in interpersonal communication and intrapersonal communication. Schulz von Thun worked as a professor of psychology at the University of Hamburg until h ...
. The plurality of the human inner life or facets of the personality (
Self In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes. The first-person perspective distinguishes selfhood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is (literally) same ...
) is presented using a
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
of a team and a team leader. This is supposed to support the self-clarification process and by doing so set the foundation for a clear and authentic external communication.


Motivation

In the first two volumes of his seminal work ''Miteinander reden'' (engl. Talking to each other), Schulz von Thun deals with the topic of functioning communication. In 1998, Thun published ''Miteinander reden 3'', which expands his theory of communication to the notion of the inner team. By introducing the model of the inner team, he wants to provide instructions for self-help. The inner team is a modification of the "parts party", a method from systemic
family therapy Family therapy (also referred to as family counseling, family systems therapy, marriage and family therapy, couple and family therapy) is a branch of psychotherapy focused on families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and ...
, which was developed by
Virginia Satir Virginia Satir (June 26, 1916 – September 10, 1988) was an American author, clinical social worker and psychotherapist, recognized for her approach to family therapy. Her pioneering work in the field of family reconstruction therapy honored h ...
in the 1970s. Additionally, his model draws upon the interacting parts of the personality within a human being that, amongst others, have been described by Margaret Paul and Erika J. Chopich.


The Inner Team Member

The inner team and its team members are a
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
. Each member of the inner team thus represents an inner part or aspect of the whole personality. It is neither a pluralistic subpersonality in the sense of
multiple personalities Multiplicity, also called plurality or polypsychism, is an online subculture of people identifying as having or using multiple personalities, or as having multiple people occupying one mind and body. Multiplicity communities mostly exist online ...
, nor is it to be confused with behaviors. Visible behavior is the result of an inner process. Each team member only wants the best for the team manager. Behavior can therefore only rarely be permanently and inevitably associated with one single team member. Team members differ in various ways: they are loud or quiet, are slow or fast to join the conversation, are dominant with external contacts or only show inwards where they appear as thoughts,
emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
s, impulses, moods or bodily signals. Between the team members, there are
group dynamics Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (''intra''group dynamics), or between social groups ( ''inter''group dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision ...
similar to the external life. In their entirety, they mirror the life experience of a human, including the opinion of parents, friends and life partners, or values of a society of which one feels part.


The Team Leader

The
team leader A team leader is a person who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a group of individuals (the team) for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results. Team leaders serves as the steering wheel for a group ...
is described by Schulz von Thun as the superordinate "I", the cohesive entity, which either passively follows the dialogue of its team members or actively interferes, but which always has the last word with externally effective decisions. Many aspects of actual team leadership can be transferred to the inner team leader.


The Inner Team Meeting

If a human being has to make a difficult decision, it more or less consciously has inner team meetings. In reality, mess, inconsistent statements (e.g. bad gut feeling vs. rational argument) and the dominance of the loud, fast, and popular team members often shape the not consciously controlled team meetings. Still, the team leader is successful at precipitating a satisfactory decision in many cases, thanks to their practice. For especially difficult or unfamiliar decisions, this does not have to be the case anymore. That is when Schulz von Thun recommends a team meeting. For this, to begin with, those team members who want to comment on the question have to be identified. Often, this works amazingly well, if one takes a little time to listen to what is going on inside oneself. Afterwards, each team member should have the right to bring forward their message without encountering criticism. A free discussion offers everyone the chance to really meet each other head-on. The team leader should pay great attention in order to be able to summarize the controversial questions and positions to it. Here, leadership qualities are especially important. The team leaders ought to remain neutral and should value all opinions. On the basis of this, one can think about a compromise, much like in real teams. Finally, the result can be summarized and the approval from all participants can be sought.


Further aspects of the Inner Team

The metaphor of the inner team can be utilized even more widely. In ''Miteinander reden 3'', Schulz von Thun also introduces the following concepts: * Inner conflict management * non-acceptance of team members and its consequences * Team building in inner and external contact * situation-dependent team composition


See also

*
Nonviolent Communication Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is an approach to enhanced communication, understanding, and connection based on the principles of nonviolence and humanistic psychology. It is not an attempt to end disagreements, but rather a way that aims to increa ...
* Ego-state therapy * Four-sides model (differences in external communication) * Autocommunication *
Dialogical self The dialogical self is a psychological concept which describes the mind's ability to imagine the different positions of wikt:participation, participants in an internal dialogue, in close connection with external dialogue. The "dialogical self" is ...
* Internal Family Systems Model *
Inside Out (2015 film) ''Inside Out'' is a 2015 American animated coming-of-age film directed by Pete Docter from a screenplay he co-wrote with Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voice ...


Literature

* Friedemann Schulz von Thun: ''Miteinander reden 3'' - Das '''innere Team' und situationsgerechte Kommunikation''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1998, . * Friedemann Schulz von Thun, Wibke Stegemann (Publisher): ''Das Innere Team in Aktion. Praktische Arbeit mit dem Modell''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2004, .


External links

* 'Vom "zerstrittenen Haufen" zum "Inneren Team"' - Interview with Professor Schulz von Thu


References

{{Reflist Personality theories Personality Communication theory Intrapersonal communication