The empowerment dynamic
Encyclopedia
The Empowerment Dynamic stands as an alternative to The Drama Triangle
. The drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis
(TA) first described by Stephen Karpman in 1968. The drama triangle is used in psychology and psychotherapy to describe the insidious way in which victims, persecutors, and rescuers get caught in a cycle that is hard to escape. For many years, the key to escaping this triangle was thought to be awareness plus willpower. However, there was no clear alternative to the drama triangle. In 2005, David Emerald (aka Womeldorff)
published a short book called The Power of TED* to provide a new model that offers an antidote to and escape from Karpman's drama triangle. TED* involves three key roles that correspond to the roles found in the drama triangle. In the drama triangle, the major role is known as the Victim. The Victim is someone who sees life as happening to them and who feels powerless to change their circumstances. Victims place the blame for their status on a Persecutor, who can be a person or a situation. Being powerless, the Victim seeks a Rescuer to solve the problem for them. This dynamic is cyclical and repeats as one problem replaces another, creating a roller-coaster effect of tension and relief in a person's life. These roles are intrinsic to the idea of Victimhood or, as David Emerald describes it, the Victim Orientation.
The empowerment dynamic (TED*) is goal or outcome oriented and replaces the Drama Triangle roles as follows. In the TED* framework, the Victim shifts into the role of Creator. The Persecutor takes on the role of Challenger, and the Rescuer assumes the new role of Coach. A Creator is someone who stops to think about what they want - what their long-term goal or vision is. Creators are outcome-oriented as opposed to problem-oriented. Problems will always occur, but instead of acting as a Persecutor, the problem now takes on the form of Challenger. A Challenger is a person or situation that forces you to clarify your goal. Challengers encourage us to get clearer about what it is we do want, then focus our efforts towards moving closer to that goal. Emerald calls this Dynamic Tension. Dynamic Tension is the difference between current reality and the envisioned goal or outcome. By taking what Emerald calls Baby Steps a Creator gets closer to and clearer about the goals or outcomes they are trying to create in their lives.
The final role of the TED* triangle is that of Coach. Instead of Rescuing someone, a Coach asks questions that are intended to help the individual to make informed choices. A Rescuer, by definition solves a Victim's problems, which keeps the Victim powerless and dependent upon the aid of others. This is a form of mind-game that can be found in Transactional Analysis
. This is a self-perpetuating cycle designed to keep the Victim down and powerless. The key differentiation between a Rescuer and a Coach is that the Coach sees the individual as capable of making choices and of solving their own problems. A Coach asks questions that enable the individual to see the possibilities for positive action, to focus on what they do want instead of what they don't want. Coaches see victims as Creators in their own right and meet them as equals. This process interrupts the drama cycle and puts the former victim in the powerful position of Creator where they make informed choices and focus on outcomes instead of problems.
Sharon Stanley, Ph.D., is a scholar-practitioner in the field of somatic psychotherapy
who describes Victimhood as a "neurological image that is held in the brain as a biological substrate". Dr. Stanley advocates the use of the TED* framework to help individuals connect what they feel in their bodies to what they believe in their minds to replace old memories of victimhood with new beliefs in their individual potential.
The Empowerment Dynamic (*TED) - was developed by David Womeldorff, a former Executive Trainer for BankOne and a current faculty member of the Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business where he incorporates TED* into their MBA curriculum. He is also the co-founder of The Bainbridge Leadership Center, keynote speaker, and author writing under the pen name of David Emerald. TED* was first published in 2006 as a paperback self-help book in a fable format under the title The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) - The Key to Creating an Extraordinary Life.
Karpman drama triangle
The drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis first described by Stephen Karpman, in his 1968 article Fairy Tales and Script Drama Analysis...
. The drama triangle is a psychological and social model of human interaction in transactional analysis
Transactional analysis
Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...
(TA) first described by Stephen Karpman in 1968. The drama triangle is used in psychology and psychotherapy to describe the insidious way in which victims, persecutors, and rescuers get caught in a cycle that is hard to escape. For many years, the key to escaping this triangle was thought to be awareness plus willpower. However, there was no clear alternative to the drama triangle. In 2005, David Emerald (aka Womeldorff)
David Emerald Womeldorff
David Emerald Womeldorff is an author, consultant, master facilitator, executive coach and speaker. He is known for creating the self-development principle referred to as TED*...
published a short book called The Power of TED* to provide a new model that offers an antidote to and escape from Karpman's drama triangle. TED* involves three key roles that correspond to the roles found in the drama triangle. In the drama triangle, the major role is known as the Victim. The Victim is someone who sees life as happening to them and who feels powerless to change their circumstances. Victims place the blame for their status on a Persecutor, who can be a person or a situation. Being powerless, the Victim seeks a Rescuer to solve the problem for them. This dynamic is cyclical and repeats as one problem replaces another, creating a roller-coaster effect of tension and relief in a person's life. These roles are intrinsic to the idea of Victimhood or, as David Emerald describes it, the Victim Orientation.
The empowerment dynamic (TED*) is goal or outcome oriented and replaces the Drama Triangle roles as follows. In the TED* framework, the Victim shifts into the role of Creator. The Persecutor takes on the role of Challenger, and the Rescuer assumes the new role of Coach. A Creator is someone who stops to think about what they want - what their long-term goal or vision is. Creators are outcome-oriented as opposed to problem-oriented. Problems will always occur, but instead of acting as a Persecutor, the problem now takes on the form of Challenger. A Challenger is a person or situation that forces you to clarify your goal. Challengers encourage us to get clearer about what it is we do want, then focus our efforts towards moving closer to that goal. Emerald calls this Dynamic Tension. Dynamic Tension is the difference between current reality and the envisioned goal or outcome. By taking what Emerald calls Baby Steps a Creator gets closer to and clearer about the goals or outcomes they are trying to create in their lives.
The final role of the TED* triangle is that of Coach. Instead of Rescuing someone, a Coach asks questions that are intended to help the individual to make informed choices. A Rescuer, by definition solves a Victim's problems, which keeps the Victim powerless and dependent upon the aid of others. This is a form of mind-game that can be found in Transactional Analysis
Transactional analysis
Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is described as integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches...
. This is a self-perpetuating cycle designed to keep the Victim down and powerless. The key differentiation between a Rescuer and a Coach is that the Coach sees the individual as capable of making choices and of solving their own problems. A Coach asks questions that enable the individual to see the possibilities for positive action, to focus on what they do want instead of what they don't want. Coaches see victims as Creators in their own right and meet them as equals. This process interrupts the drama cycle and puts the former victim in the powerful position of Creator where they make informed choices and focus on outcomes instead of problems.
Sharon Stanley, Ph.D., is a scholar-practitioner in the field of somatic psychotherapy
Somatic Psychology
Somatic psychology is an interdisciplinary field involving the study of the body, somatic experience, and the embodied self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to body. The word somatic comes from the ancient Greek somat . The word psychology comes from the ancient Greek psyche and logia...
who describes Victimhood as a "neurological image that is held in the brain as a biological substrate". Dr. Stanley advocates the use of the TED* framework to help individuals connect what they feel in their bodies to what they believe in their minds to replace old memories of victimhood with new beliefs in their individual potential.
The Empowerment Dynamic (*TED) - was developed by David Womeldorff, a former Executive Trainer for BankOne and a current faculty member of the Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business where he incorporates TED* into their MBA curriculum. He is also the co-founder of The Bainbridge Leadership Center, keynote speaker, and author writing under the pen name of David Emerald. TED* was first published in 2006 as a paperback self-help book in a fable format under the title The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) - The Key to Creating an Extraordinary Life.
Other Uses
The TED* framework has been used by several city and county governments in the US to help stop the drama in the workplace as well as in the educational and private sectors. In 2009, the TED* framework was approved by a state prison warden and used (citation coming soon) by an inmate to teach other prisoners how to shift their focus from a problem/drama based lifestyle to a choice-based life.Further reading
- Emerald, D. (2010) The Power of TED* (*The Empowerment Dynamic) Revised & Updated. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0977144119
- Johnson, B. PhilospohersNotes. http://www.philosophersnotes.com/notes/all/the-power-of-ted
- Karpman, S. (1968). Fairy tales and script drama analysis. Transactional Analysis Bulletin, 7(26), 39-43.