A summary of the ‘Triangles’ – What’s the Bedrock of Your World?

Revealing my age, I used to love coming home from school to watch episodes of the ‘Flintstones’.

Forever hopeless at recalling lyrics to songs, for some reason…”From the town of Bedrock” stuck in my mind as the standout words from the theme song!

Perhaps subliminal forces were at play therefore, behind my response to a question from a participant at a recent training workshop.  

“Pete, how would you sum up the differences between the red and blue triangles?”

It was an excellent question to which I gave them three words.  Bedrock – Blame – Responsibility.

Blame is the bedrock of the Red Triangle paradigm.  

It’s blame which is the catalyst for the thinking and subsequent behaviours we fall into when we react to the inevitable problems of life.  

Someone mucks up. We blame them.  “Typical!”

We muck up… and fall into victim like behaviours.  “It wasn’t my fault”... ultimately a reaction to a fear of being blamed.

Someone else mucks up. We rescue them.  “I’ll just do it!” “I can’t challenge them…they might get upset”…also a response to concerns about the scent of blame.

It doesn’t matter what the nature of an organisations work is, the impact of the veil of blame is always negative.  

I’ve heard anecdotes from teams for whom creativity is the life force of their output, effectively speak of the impact blame has on squashing levels of creative input and therefore reducing the quality of their work.

I’ve listened to those in workplaces where nurturing and educating others is the core of their efforts, describe how the world of blame stunts their effectiveness.

Stories from leaders and their colleagues working in industries where analytical thinking is central to their service and decision making, tell of the detrimental consequences blame has on the calibre of their output.

How good is it, therefore, that responsibility, as the bedrock of the Blue Triangle paradigm has an equally profound, yet positive impact on people in their workplaces and beyond! 

Someone mucks up.  Yep, it might bother us, but we assume positive intent, take responsibility and challenge them to be better – to learn.

We muck up, yet know others won’t be tearing shreds off us, so we take responsibility and look at how we can be accountable and make the situation better.

Someone else mucks up and we support them to take responsibility to get it right.

When this happens, creative thinking is enabled; engaging in the nurturing and education of others is enhanced and the capacity for accurate, analytical thinking is sharpened.  

The bedrock of blame is often the default foundation we stand upon when confronted with the daily difficulties of life.  That doesn’t make us bad people. It’s reality.  

It’s far from helpful however, and the power of the Triangles Framework is that it provides us with an alternative foundation we can choose to step upon.

Living in the town of Bedrock – the Flintstones had a yabba dabba doo time.  I’m not sure I’d equate the Blue Triangle with that outcome!  

I do know, however, from personal experience, and from those I engage with, an understanding of the blue triangle paradigm provides a bedrock which enables a  deeply edifying way to live out our working and personal lives.

To learn more about Ethical Leaders or to book an appointment with Pete, email: pete@ethicalleaders.com.au or call 0419583077, and click here to connect with Pete on LinkedIn now.