Joanne Sundet

Sundet, Joanne & Carlsen, Arne (2019)

Sweet dreams (are made of this): Cultivating relational agency through high-quality connections in the workplace

Creating psychologically healthy workplaces, , s. 251-269. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788113427.00021

How can people in organizations be relational agents for creating better workplaces? We explore this question based on data from an educational program where executives experimented with a range of strategies for fostering high-quality connections at work. Beyond immediate rewards of being able to create more quality and energy in their relations, we unexpectedly noted the emergence of a more foundational capacity in some of the executives. We understand this as the growth of relational agency; a reflexive and purposive capacity to initiate and carry out actions for improving relationships in the workplace. Based on a sample of seven cases we describe how such agency may be manifest in three ways: (1) being able to turn around situations; (2) lifting individual others; and (3) building collective capacity for positively influencing work relations more broadly. Relational agency has both collective and individual elements. It is anchored in a self-understanding that points back at a repertoire of previous experiences, points forward to a sense of what is desirable and possible and unfolds as a creative capacity in the contingencies of the moment.

Sundet, Joanne & Carlsen, Arne (2021)

Venturing mutuality. Growing relational agency in connection

[Conference Lecture]. Event

Sundet, Joanne & Carlsen, Arne (2019)

Daringly caring: The risky business of high-quality connecting at Work.

[Conference Lecture]. Event

Sundet, Joanne & Carlsen, Arne (2018)

Designing for high-quality connections: Learning from experiential interventions

[Conference Lecture]. Event