Team History
Every system forms patterns so as to be capable of decision-making. It cannot decide everything anew each time. Therefore, like in psychodynamics, an engagement with the history of the team is very helpful in discovering and understanding which patterns, utilised in the present, underlie all decisions. A team also learns, from the first moments of its existence. from its achievements and disappointments, successes and failures, squabbles and reconciliations, power and impotence, observations and counter-observations, from being included and being ignored, from joining and excluding.
The experiences from these processes are communicated onwards. They are documented in files and books, celebrated during appropriate occasions and, therefore, are visible in the descriptions of the team by means of its environment (“Those from the third floor have always been like that!”). Understanding the history of a team, experiencing and describing it, is important for counsellors, in order to assess why interaction and decision-making patterns also remain stable where there is dysfunctionality.