This section is not intended as a testimonial, since the GR framework believes that each person has to use their own personal authority to obtain as well as access their learning. Our purpose here is to give those interested a flavour of some possibilities that a GRC offers. These reflections are drawn from our conversations with members about their experiences after their attending Group Relation India’s GRCs and programmes.
INSIGHTS ABOUT SELF
“As a result of the experience in GRCs, I realized how the unconscious pops up: how much stuff we accumulate in the unconscious and how it impacts our behaviour. Until now, I have believed that the root cause of my anger was the other person. I have now learnt to reflect and not dismiss what I don't understand or wish to reject. This reflection may take some time, but I continue to develop insights about myself in the process”
“In a GRC one learns to see that there can be meaning in something that does not make immediate sense , if one doesn’t dismiss it as not relevant”
INSIGHTS ABOUT CONTEXT, THE UNCONSCIOUS AND ITS IMPACT ON SELF & SYSTEM
“Many other behavioral interventions such as T-groups or team building programmes for instance focus on individual and interpersonal dynamics. The GRC is a space where one works with the unconscious at the level of the group, the system and the institution. Therefore, what in other spaces may be 'written off' as interpersonal and attributed to individual traits or competencies (as a person being outgoing vs. shy, or participative vs. non participative), can be interpreted in a GRC and understood as dynamics of privilege or disprivilege linked to caste.”
“On a personal/familial level the conference experience was significant in deepening my understanding of gender issues, and more specifically of my gender bias as it has manifested in my relationships with my wife and adolescent children. I have become aware of not having granted my wife the support she deserved, and of having discriminated between my son and daughters.”
INSIGHTS ABOUT LEADERSHIP, TASK, ROLE & THE SYSTEM
“Participating in the 2013 GRC gave me self confidence - made me bold. One of the ideas that were really critical to my learning was about the 'hierarchy in the mind.' I realized that inferiority was to a large measure created by me in my mind, I felt others could always do better than me. Now I understand that each one has a different role to play, including 'the management in the conference.' That has made me much more reality oriented”
“The idea of influencing a system is powerful in a GRC. I got to understand more about what baggage I needed to leave behind: the baggage of some of my habits, in order that I may take up my role in the new system with an understanding of its requirements. I was aware of the danger of simply importing [unconscious] baggage from the old into the new. The idea that there are multiple approaches to influencing a system also came through very powerfully. I feel that were it not for the opportunity to understand and work on these issues, this transition may not have been successful.”