THE FOUR CORNERS GAME© 1975 William R. Idol

With Thanks to Len & NTL TTP 1970

Action&

Achievement

Feeling&

RelationshipThe Four Corners Game

William R. Idol

Thinking&

Knowledge

Explore Your “Natural Depths”&

Personal “Orchestra of Selves”

Intuition&

Revelation

This is a game of self-exploration. It has three purposes:1. To introduce the concepts of Psychosynthesis’ “orchestra of selves” and The Natural Depths Profile;2. To help you explore your personal “orchestras” and Natural Depths;3. To make visible how diverse “psychological preferences” are from one person to another.

Imagine this page is a room and you’re standing in the middle. There are signs in each corner of the room. As your host I introduce myself and say…

“Here are four realms of being human that make life worthwhile. While we each do all of these to some degree, our individual prefer -ences – our Natural Depths – for using these different realms is unique. For each set I’ll pose a different question, and, in this imagi -nary world, the four signs display the only known answers to my question. Your role is to answer each question as best you can by choosing where to position yourself in the room.

“Think of which you’re most drawn to, which you seek out because you enjoy doing what’s involved. Some of us are clearly drawn to one while others of us prefer more of a balance among them. Of course there are no right or wrong answers. Balance may mean we can play a number of roles fairly easily, but, as in the case of “the jack of all trades,” we may not develop genius on any.

“Now place yourself where you feel is right for you. Once there, write a few notes about why you put yourself in that place, and then we’ll move on the next set…”

So now it’s time to play… Take your time and enjoy your learning. If you are able to do this with others, it’s fun and enlightening to share your reasons with each other as you go….

Which of these are most natural to you?

Which do you most enjoy?

Which do you spend your free time doing?

EvaluatingResults

ImaginingPossibilities

You believe in involving others in developing the systems and processes that will turn “big ideas” into results. This is because you know this involvement is crucial to success…

You believe the “big ideas” come out of intuitive creativity and can be hard to explain. That they’ll be initially ridiculed and rejected by “hard-headed” colleagues is expected...

You believe knowing what’s going on and ensuring others do as well is basic to improvement. Sometimes your input makes others feel good – and sometimes not so good...

You believe producing the desired outcomes consistently is what matters most. This means you focus on details and manage activities with a loyalty-inspiring light touch...

DevelopingCapabilities

ImplementingActions

Which of these would best complement you?

Which might be least like you?

Which can contribute what you’d rather avoid?

MachiavelliEinstein

Joan had the presence and charisma to inspire French males to follow her to exceptional military victories – and they thanked her later by burning her at the stake…

“Uncle Albert” was a dreamer who came up with some of the “big ideas” of all time. He succeeded by being in a field where his mathematical persuasiveness was honored…

Machiavelli was a brilliant and amoral consultant. “The end justified the means” and he showed his royal clients “the means” to manipulate others to get what they wanted …

Genghis was a genius at gaining, consolidating and applying power to achieve ends he valued. While he got much done, he also eliminated most of his opposition…

Joanof Arc

GenghisKhan

Which “playing field” brings out your best?

Which do you most enjoy playing on?

Which enables your greatest contributions?

LogicIntuition

Emotion is distrusted and repressed in many cultures, but how we “feel” determines how we do. This field makes honestly expressing emotions safe and valued…

Intuition is the least understood of these fields. Here we’re encouraged to trust our “gut feel” and go with it – even if our output makes little logical sense to begin with…

Most western cultures act as if this field is the only one that matters. If we can articulate a rationally powerful case for what we want, our wishes will usually be granted…

“Don’t just stand there – do something!” is the slogan we hear on this field. Sometimes that just what’s needed. At others “shoot first” creates some of our worst disasters…

Emotion Action

Which do you want to be known for?

Which would you be proudest to be called?

Which do you want on your epitaph?

Intelligent &Well-Informed

Creative &Far-Out

Caring, empathetic, insightful – these qualities are aspired to by you who choose this epitaph. Your desire is to be known for your humanity and helpfulness to others …

Unconventional, odd, even “weird” can be positive accolades to you who would lie here – providing you’re recognized for your originality, vision and imagination as well…

This plot is reserved for you who value being regarded as knowledgeable, erudite and accurate. Usually helpful, your manner can occasionally be felt as condescending…

“You can count on me” is valued praise to you who would have this epitaph. You regularly “go the extra mile” to “get the job done,” often at some cost to yourselves...

Involved &Supportive

Dedicated &Hard-Working

Think about your work...

Which seems most central to success?

Which do you most often focus on?

Product (What?)

Purpose (Why?)

For you the morale and feelings of friends and colleagues is most important. If the “Who” aren’t positively engaged, you focus mainly on getting their buy-in and support…

For you Purpose is most central. If you can’t understand “Why” you’re doing something, you have trouble putting in your best efforts and making your full contribution…

You can’t help but focus on “the bottom line” whether that be product quality or financial profit. You see the other three corners as means to achieving this primary result…

You are irresistibly drawn to the “How” of the work process. You’ll usually see “a better way” and want to improve the process to make it perform more efficiently...

People (Who?)

Process (How?)

QUANTERNITY DESIGN for THE FOUR CORNERS EXERCISEGoal: Help people recognize, reflect on and share their differences in a fun, positive way.

1. Create 4-5 sets of signs using "Quaternity Design" (See below). Each set has four signs with the choices in each set being equally positive or negative.

2. Introduce the exercise with humor and a lot of personal openness and self-acceptance.

3. Explain each set of choices, manage the flow (5-10 minutes of discussion) and comment at the end of each to bring out relevant issues.

4. If desired, this exercise can be used to form partnerships based on diversity. If so prepare group for choosing partners at begin-ning (and along the way) and have them begin partnership by reviewing their choices with each other.

5. Find ways to continually emphasize suspending judgment and being open to differences as functionally essential to teams.

Remember to help people see complementariness instead of opposition – the point of this exercise is to break through the cultural con-ditioning of right/wrong and good/bad as applied to personal characteristics . . .

Design Process:

1. Choose two polarized axes (like N-S & E-W of a compass) to highlight issues in the situation.

2. Create four quadrants from the two axes. For example:

EMOTIONAL – RATIONAL & SPIRITUAL – PHYSICAL

MASCULINE – FEMININE & NEUTER – ANDROGONOUS

HARD – SOFT & DARK – LIGHT

3. Make 4-5 sets of signs with words that present each option/corner EQUALLY positively or negatively; if you don’t, you’re impos-ing your “right way” instead of helping others find theirs.

4. Have enormous fun as you lead the process…