[[The Jetstream]] is the zone of clarity, alignment, and ease facilitated by a high quality plan of action that enables the group to channel energy effectively towards their [[The Jetstream#The Primary Objective|primary objective]]. We all want to travel in The Jetstream, but anyone who's worked in a group knows that it isn't the default mode. What's going on? What inevitably happens in any group, is that small errors creep into the plan, or reality reveals itself to be different from our assumptions in important ways. These breakdowns cause individuals to fall out of alignment with the group's objectives and slip into a zone governed by unconscious modes of human behavior. We call this this territory Fantasyland–a realm where progress stalls, confusion reigns, and the group's potential is left unrealized. In Fantasyland, individuals are no longer oriented towards the group's primary objective, but are instead pushed around by powerful unconscious forces. It's as if the group's energy is being siphoned off, dissipating into inefficient or unproductive channels. This is the essence of organizational entropy. ## Pulled Off Task Breakdowns can happen at any level of our structure. One very common breakdown is a conflict in priorities. Two individuals at the same level in an organization have tasks that compete for time or resources. Unable to resolve this conflict, one or both fall out of alignment with the plan of action. We'll call this state off task. ![[Fantasyland empty.jpg |600]] Another common issue is a breakdown of [[Authorization|authorization]]. For example, a manager may lose confidence that an individual on their team is capable of doing the job. Perhaps they take the work product and re-do it, perhaps they tear it apart publicly. Either implicitly or explicitly, they erode the authorization of the individual to own time, task, resources, and role. What happens? The individual falls off task. A less common example might be a breakdown between mission or values and task. In 2018 a group of engineers at Google who were working on a secrete ai project found out that the software they were building was intended to be used in [drone strikes](https://theintercept.com/2019/03/01/google-project-maven-contract/). These were engineers who signed up for Google's mission to organize the worlds information, with a core cultural value of "[don't be evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil#:~:text=The%20original%20motto%20was%20retained,retained%20in%20its%20last%20sentence.)." What happened? A wave of protests and resignations. Through the Group Flow lens, a bunch of people were pulled off task, out of The Jetstream and into Fantasyland. ## Shadow Dynamics When individuals fall out of alignment with the group's objectives, they come under the influence of unconscious, default modes of human behavior that we call [[Introduction to Shadow Dynamics|Shadow Dynamics]]. These dynamics serve as psychological defense mechanisms in the face of uncertainty or stress, but they come at the cost of being disconnected from reality. Shadow Dynamics provide fantasy solutions to unpleasant emotions that divert energy from the primary objective, leading to organizational entropy and ineffectiveness. There are five Shadow Dynamics: 1. **[[Dependency]]**: Individuals abdicate personal responsibility and autonomy, deferring to external authority figures for direction, protection, and decision-making. 2. **[[Fight or Flight]]**: A state of heightened vigilance in which everything is perceived as a threat, triggering aggressive responses to eliminate dangers or avoidant behavior to escape them. 3. **[[Pairing]]**: Individuals become preoccupied with intense combative or erotic energy between two group members. The rest of the group experiences this passion vicariously as they hang on the pair's every interaction. 4. **[[Oneness]]**: A preoccupation with maintaining harmony, unity, and avoiding conflict within the group, even when necessary to make decisions and get work done. Individuals may suppress their differences and engage in groupthink to preserve a fantasy sense of unity. 5. **[[Me-ness]]**: Individuals prioritize personal interests, desires, and ambitions over the collective needs and goals of the group. They may struggle to form genuine bonds with others that are necessary to transmit and receive authorization. ![[Fantasyland with shadow dynamics.jpg|600]] ## Shadow Goals When a group falls under the influence of Shadow Dynamics, they begin to operate as if their goal were something other than the primary objective. These shadow goals provide a sense of purpose and direction for those under their influence, but lead the group towards entropy and ineffectiveness by diverting energy away from the primary objective. The shadow goals for each Shadow Dynamic are: 1. **Dependency**: Obtain guidance and protection from an idealized leader or authority figure. 2. **Fight or Flight**: Ensure the survival of the group against perceived threats or dangers. 3. **Pairing**: Displace the group's anxieties and avoid the primary objective by investing hope in the pair's interaction to magically resolve the group's challenges. 4. **Oneness**: Merge into an undifferentiated, conflict-free state of harmony, unity, and shared consciousness. 5. **Me-ness**: Fulfill individual needs, desires, and ambitions. In each case, the group is operating based on a fantasy narrative that is disconnected from reality and the primary objective. This disconnect is what makes Fantasyland so insidious - it feels real and compelling to those under its influence, but it ultimately leads the group astray. ## Default Modes We can think of Shadow Dynamics as ever-present entropic currents within a group, waiting for opportunities to pull people's energy away from the primary objective. Each individual tends to have a default Shadow Dynamic, or default mode that they are most susceptible to when experiencing stress or disconnection from the group's goals. My own default mode is a form of Me-ness that manifests as procrastination and going down unproductive rabbit holes. For instance, if my objective is to write an introduction to Group Flow but the tasks are not clearly defined or there are no boundaries around my time, I may find myself researching new note-taking applications rather than writing. This provides an illusion of productivity while allowing me to unconsciously avoid the actual difficult work at hand. Certain situations and circumstances also have default Shadow Dynamics. Conflicts of prioritization commonly result in Dependency, where individuals turn towards a manager to "just tell me what to do." Alternatively, lack of clear priorities may lead to politics, a form of Me-ness, with individuals jockeying to promote their personal priorities at the expense of the group's interests. Breakdowns in the flow of authorization tend to prompt other predictable Shadow Dynamics. When individuals have their authorization undermined or boundaries violated, they often default to the Dependency dynamic, deferring to others they perceive as more empowered to make decisions. Breakdowns in authorization can also trigger Me-ness dynamics of defensiveness and looking out for one's own interests. In more extreme cases, Fight or Flight dynamics may emerge if the individual views the breakdown as an existential threat to their standing in the group. Lack of clear boundaries around who is responsible for what can spark power struggles animated by Me-ness. If responsibilities for tasks seem overly distributed with no clear boundaries around ownership, individuals may regress into Dependency, awaiting directions rather than proactively problem-solving. Often, individual default modes interact and become entangled with situational ones, adding additional layers of complexity. A person's default Me-ness tendencies may be exacerbated by ambiguities around roles and responsibilities. An individual's propensity towards Dependency is more likely to be triggered if their manager has an authoritarian style. The seeds of Fight or Flight can be sown by a particular set of environmental stressors combined with pre-existing insecurities. Maintaining the cohesive, aligned flow state of The Jetstream requires meticulous, ongoing attunement to dynamics within oneself and within the group as a whole. Navigating this landscape is perhaps the greatest challenge in realizing a group's full creative potential. We'll explore how to do it in the next few sections. ## Next Up [[The Map]]