"AS IF" EXERCISE

Harlene Anderson: "AS IF" EXERCISE

In Learning and Consultation Activities

Harlene Anderson, Ph.D.

Houston Galveston Institute • Taos Institute

www.harlene.org • harleneanderson@earthlink.net

Aim of Exercise

The As If exercise provides participants an opportunity to experience:

participating in generative conversations;

creating space for the other person and listening to what the other wants to talk about;
accessing inner silent thoughts and putting them into spoken words; the multiple angles from which any information, event, or person can be experienced, described and explained;

the richness of different voices, and that a person may hold multiple, and often contradictory, thoughts simultaneously about any one situation or person;

talking about a person in their presence;
conversations that invite the other person into them;
that it is not necessary to strive for a product; rather
the shifts, transformations, and possibilities (i.e. in meanings, perspectives, actions) that emerge from the process are spontaneous and endless.

Format

The format combines several phases to create a process toward accomplishing this opportunity. The format includes presentation, As If listening, reflection, and discussion. The As If can be individually tailored to a particular participant group: the group's size, the group's agenda and the presenter's agenda. It may be used with any number of participants, from groups as small as two students or a six person staff to ones of conference size. The following is an example of one format.

Guidelines for the Presenter

Tell us the list of actors in this drama. For instance, who are the members of the system in conversation with each other, and with you, about the situation? (The facilitator records the presenter’s words.)

Tell us your hope, agenda, or goal. For instance, what do you hope will happen in the process of presenting your situation? Do you have a particular question that you would like us to address? Are you looking for fresh ideas? In other words, what are your expectations of us? The aim is not to have a content agenda but a general sense of the presenter’s beginning expectation. (The facilitator records the presenter's words.)

Tell us what you think we need to know to help you with the above. For instance, what do you think is important for us to know?

Guidelines for the As If Listeners

Select a member of the story; listen to the presentation from that member’s position.

Listen silently; hold questions, comments, and suggestions. Let the presenter tell us what they think we need to know.

Offer reflections (may include questions, comments, and suggestions) from your As If position after the presenter has finished.

Presenter’s Reflections

The presenter reflects on their experience of the process.

The facilitator may interview the presenter on their experience of the process.

General Discussion

The As If listeners reflect on their experiences of the process.

The facilitator reflects on their experience of the process.

If the facilitator and the participants keep the aim of the exercise in mind (e.g. to create a generative process) then they may improvise to meet their needs and will find that the As If exercise takes on a life of its own and becomes unique to each group and their situation.

With a small group the facilitator may give each listener an opportunity to offer their reflections in the As If voice.

With a large group where two or more people are listening from the same position, the facilitator may give each As If voice cluster an opportunity to share their reflections with each other. Each cluster may select one member to share their reflections in the As If voice.

The presenter rotates through each As If cluster and listens to their reflections. The presenter and the As If listeners are asked to not talk with each other.

The variations for As If in the therapy arena are endless. For instance, with families, one member may be asked to speak while the others listen and reflect from an As If position.

With a single client a therapist listen and reflect As If or a therapist may share their reflection of what they think a client has said while the client listens and reflects as an As If member of their story.

Comments

In my and participants’ experiences, the guidelines allow the presenter(s) to lead with what they deem important, to tell their story as they prefer, rather than to talk about what the listener believes is important. Language such as "What do you want us to know?" emphasizes this distinction. The "on hold" listening position allows participants to listen in a way that is different than if they were involved in the out loud talk (for instance, is they were busy asking questions, sharing ideas, or making suggestions). The "on hold" listening position provides participants an opportunity to experience the difference between listening to what they want to hear versus what the presenter wants them to hear. They may experience how premature knowing can close off the richness of the other's experience and access to it.

In listening "as if" they were a member of the system, one of the actors in the life, experience how it might be for a person being talked about to experience another's descriptions of them, for instance, attributions, intentions, and feelings. The "as if" listener can experience what is said and the manner in which it is said. For instance, what did he or she hear that would invite them into and open conversation versus what might erect a barrier to or close conversation? Both the presenter and the "as if" listeners are able to experience that any thing can be talked about, any question asked, and how the manner, the tone, the attitude in which it is presented influences how it is heard.

As the presenter and the participants hear each other's reflections they experience their own ideas shifting. They also experience that ideas are not given or exported to an other or imported or taken in by the other as fixed discrete pieces. Rather, each person interacts with what the other offers and the newness comes from the fluidity of interaction, the back and forthness. The newness is relational and is ongoing, continuing after the activity is completed.

I do not think you can train or teach someone this philosophical stance or posture. You can, however, provide a context for learning. Toward this aim, I have created various experiential activities that allow participants to encounter the openness, invitation, and respect of the other as well as the closedness, prejudice, and judgement of the other. They encounter feeling heard and understood as well as feeling unheard and misunderstood. They experience options as endless and newness as a product of interaction. They experience the richness of different voices, what is lost when only the expert's voice is heard, and what is lost when voices are moved toward consensus or synthesis.

References

Anderson, H. (2000) "Supervision" as a collaborative learning community. Supervision Bulletin. American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Anderson, H. (1997) Conversation, Language and Possibilities: A Postmodern Approach to Therapy. New York: Basic Books.

Anderson, H. 1991. Opening the door for change through continuing conversations. In T. Todd & M. Selekman (Eds.) Family Therapy Approaches with Adolescent Substance Abuse. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Anderson, H. & Burney, P. (1996. Collaborative inquiry: A postmodern approach to organizational consultation. Human Systems: The Journal of Systemic Consultation and Management.

St. George, S. 1996. Using "as if" process in family therapy supervision. The Family Journal:Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families. 4(4):357-365.

If you have questions or would like to talk with me, email: harleneanderson@earthlink.net