The Need for Openness
This interpersonal need can be best defined in spatial terms as Near/Far and it is closely aligned with the Azure Blue perspective on the Human Spectrum. In the case of Azure Blue, there is a focus on the compelling mission and guiding values being embraced by the group or team which one has joined and on the establishment of a caring, supportive environment in which it is safe to express concerns and suggest alternative perspectives on the operations of the group/team.. As the name Azure Blue implies a group member who embraces this dimension of the Human Spectrum wishes to look upward toward the sky to see beyond the current state. We look upward to become inspired and help other members of the group become inspired by the vision of a greater good—for their team, their organization and ultimately their society. We look upward so that we can better see our destination.
The primary concerns of the Azure Blue center of three issues. This is where the need for interpersonal openness comes to the fore. If we are going to move forward, then we must figure out how we are going to conduct ourselves—especially as related to members of the group/team who might differ in important ways from one another.
Here are their concerns: (1) In what ways and at what times are we going to explore the fundamental way in which we are operating and how do we go about changing our operations if they are not supporting safety and the honoring of diversity (to do this the group/team must determining the extent to which members of this group/team are going to be willing to talk about what is really happening and if we can trust what they say), (2) how do we determine if the actions being taken by members of the group/team align with what they say and what they espouse as their values and vision, (how, in other words, do we assess and openly discuss matters of honesty and integrity), (3) what is the appropriate balance between conversations that are task-based and those that concern personal and interpersonal issues which impact on group/team functioning, and (4) how do we appreciate, learn from and preserve those moments when our group/team seems to be functioning at its most effective level (with full participation by all members, a sense of joy in doing the work together, and a spirit of accomplishment that is energizing and renewing)? It is to this attitude of appreciation that we find the heart strings of the Azure Blue being most finely attuned.
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