ABSTRACT
Reflective practice in organizations usually starts with the best of intentions. There may be enthusiasm in the team and hopes in the consultant for a fruitful collaboration. However, the initiative, not unusually, runs into difficulty and the outcome is often less than satisfactory. The work group falters and fragments, attendance at meetings is sporadic and dwindles over time, and both the team and the facilitator end up frustrated and demoralized. This chapter argues that resistance to reflective practice is a powerful dynamic that needs to be recognized and addressed in its own right. The resistance emanates on the one hand from the threat of organizational rupture, and on the other, the threat of participation in an open group with colleagues. Resistance to the challenge of regularly attending a group, dealing with interpersonal tensions in the group, and the invitation to openness and sharing complex and difficult feelings, against a background of organizational dysfunction, undermine the potential for reflective practice. Using his concept of the ‘anti-group’, the author explores the group-related aspects of resistance to reflective practice and how this may be understood and worked with creatively.
