Would you have enough faith to hold space for doubt?
I was lucky enough to be in New York a couple of weeks ago and to see the musical Hadestown on Broadway. For anyone who saw it at the National Theatre in London pre-Covid, think that version – on steroids; it was a fantastic night.
The play is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice – a story of love, loss, and doubt, which has been retold countless times by artists and poets. In brief, Orpheus is a gifted musician who falls in love with the beautiful Eurydice. They get married. But on their wedding day, Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus is devastated and decides to go into the underworld to reclaim her. Orpheus uses his prodigious musical talents to charm the gods of the underworld into letting him lead Eurydice back to the world of the living. There’s a condition: Orpheus can’t look back at Eurydice until they arrive. He cannot check if she is behind him.
As they walk, Orpheus becomes plagued by doubt. He can’t resist looking back to see if Eurydice is there, following. He turns his head and – of course - sees Eurydice disappearing into the shadows. Just as the gods promised. Eurydice is lost to Orpheus forever. I have always loved this story – its romance – ‘would you look back?’ appeals to my sometimes-melodramatic leanings. And it has resonance for the research Ksenia and I are doing on doubt. The story puts doubt and faith in opposition. Faith is ultimate, it’s not a question of degree. The punishment for doubt is eternal loss.
My hunch is that we’re socialised into this thinking at work. Not for romantic reasons but because our tolerance for doubt is so low in the ‘always on,’ rapid execution cultures that we find ourselves caught up in. Colleagues who express doubts – about organisation strategies, plans, norms or decisions – can be seen as uncollegiate, or as nay-sayers or blockers. They lack faith. And yet, don’t we need doubt? Don’t we need to have at least 180-degree, perhaps 360-degree vision to lead, and work effectively, in modern organisations? Orpheus was challenged by the gods to look only forwards. I don’t think we can afford that. Singlemindedness or tunnel vision rarely result in good organisational outcomes.
Ksenia and I are interested in how – and where – doubt is held in organisations. Are leaders carrying it, on behalf of staff, perhaps risking infantilising them? Or is it suppressed – seen as an unhelpful social process, something that can only surface at the water-cooler? Perhaps even more suppressed now, in the hybrid world of not-much-water-cooler action? Or is it distributed, helpful, part of strategy and risk management?
More to come as we work through our research!
