Goal and direction:

[third part of the article on the PSICHE & SOMA project with TERENZI SRL - TGROUP]

The goal is a concept as abstract as it is poisonous, which can mislead rather than encourage because it is nothing more than the idea of "goal to be achieved", steeped in expectations built by the "mind ... that lies to us"!

However, if we consider the 'goal' as a spur to head in a certain direction, it will guide us, without idealizing and therefore devaluing the 'mountain top'. This is also because the 'summit' does not exist: if anything there is a continuous evolution, with a 'spiral' trend, which follows the 'dunes' of the complex and changing reality, unforeseen and setbacks, crossroads and dead ends.

In the process that leads to becoming aware of one's own means and the objectives of the community and of the group, it is important to focus on the “particular”: sometimes we carry out actions that seem to us of little relevance or perform tasks that we do not immediately conceive as decisive. Yet understanding how an infinity of drops make up an ocean, to stay on the subject of metaphor, is essential in order to successfully pursue large-scale group work.

So let's give a direct voice to Monica Crivelli, who accompanied us in the introduction, here with her text in paragraphs to help us understand step by step.

"Let's Learn from History"

When President Kennedy announced that the US would fly to the moon within ten years, the whole world laughed. Yet twelve years later the first man walked on the moon. A long period of meetings and discussions to plan space exploration began. No one had any idea how a walk on lunar soil could be managed, no one had ever crossed the atmosphere, there were no suitable suits, there were no suitable means of communication, no rocket was capable of such a long flight and much more ... This is why we speak of "flight", because the lunar program is the metaphor of an apparently distant or impossible "goal", but which, if experienced as a 'direction' that pushes us to evolve more and more, becomes a wonderful enriching adventure for the whole of humanity.

"A small step for man, a great flight for humanity"

July 1969, historic date for space exploration: the first man set his feet on the lunar soil. One step, one man. And how can a simple and single step represent such a high flight for the entire human race? To answer this question, it is essential to know how a simple analog clock works.

The Second Hand

We all know that an analog watch is made up of three hands: when the minute hand takes "a step", it means that the second hand has turned 60! And that when the hour hand moves one step, the steps taken by the second hand total 3,600. This is why "a small step for man is a big FLIGHT for humanity".

The word flight in fact refers to the famous 'Butterfly Effect', according to which every little action, carried out in order to reach what seems unattainable (like the Moon in the early 1900s), generates ever greater changes, which propagate and they amplify over time and allow you to get closer and closer to your destination.

How can we transfer the concept of the moon landing within a company context? How to make a "great flight"?

A great flight can only be seen when the entire "clock cycle" has ended, after having continued on its journey like the second hand, with its undeterred determination and constancy. Only once we have reached the moon can we observe the Earth, making us aware of the starting point from which we took off and the landing point we have reached.

Among the gifts left by Armstrong is a stick with a piece of cloth, belonging to humanity's first spacecraft (1903), demonstrating how capable we are when we channel our energies into a single common goal ...

“Goal” and “Direction”: Two Different Concepts

The goal is a concept as abstract as it is poisonous, which can mislead rather than encourage because it is nothing more than the idea of "goal to be achieved", steeped in expectations built by the "mind ... that lies to us"! However, if we consider the "goal" as a spur to head in a certain direction, it will guide us, without idealizing and therefore devaluing the "mountain top". This is also because the "summit" does not exist: if anything, there is a continuous evolution, with a "spiral" trend, which follows the "dunes" of the complex and changing reality, unforeseen and hitches, crossroads and dead ends.