We avoid dealing with issues by splitting and projection. Melanie Klein, a student of Freud, identified our ability to manage the anxiety of reality by disowning our crises. As an infant, we could not face the terror of a mother not being available to us or worse still, being angry with us. To deal with this anxiety we created a fantasy of two mothers; a happy friendly one and an angry one who withheld her love.
In so doing we also learnt to split-off our unwanted characteristics. As part of this fantasy we created two ‘selves’, a lovable nice self and a terrifying, ugly and unpleasant self. Positive aspects such as our skills, wisdom and power can be just as terrifying as our darkness. We learnt to disown these too. In so doing we define a ‘halo’ containing all of our powerful aspects and a shadow containing the negative parts of our hidden self.
To complete the splitting and projection process we also learnt to project split-off qualities onto others so that we could criticise and try to manage these qualities in someone else rather than in ourselves.
We have done this ever since.
The sense of safety we get from splitting and projection is compelling. It is much easier to shake our head at the person driving selfishly in thick traffic than it is to drive with generosity and kindness. But living in a fantasy world prevents us from developing skills we need for the real world. Maintaining this judgement prevents us from seeing our own destructive behaviours. If we are to live effectively we eventually have to emerge from this cocoon of safety.
Reparation
A big step towards maturity began when we accepted the fact that our mother was one person who was sometimes absent and sometimes angry. We learnt to appreciate our mom as someone not dedicated solely to meeting our needs. We learnt that a single person could have different behaviours and emotions without this being life-threatening to us. This return is called “reparation”.
Reparation allowed us to see ourselves as a single person who could experience different emotions. We learnt that it was possible to hold ambivalent thoughts and feelings together. This developed in us a sense of our strength and wisdom. We learnt to accept ownership of the parts of us that we have split off.
The splitting and projection and reparation cycle facilitates our learning and growth for the rest of our lives. We use splitting and projection, with criticism to manage the anxiety of any new perspective. Idealising or vilifying in others what we find frightening in ourselves allows us to come to terms with difficult truths. But we remain stuck in our development until we are able to take back those parts we have disowned.
When the cycle works well we reflect, repent and gather ourselves for reparation. Then we drop the fantasy, take ownership of what we have split off and embrace the pain of our reality. We learn more effective ways of being in the world. Through this process we learn to discriminate, to love and to trust.
Splitting and projection also happens in teams
Learning as a team is an indicator of success. J Richard Hackman lists the capacity to learn as a team as one of the three final indicators of a successful team. In teams the individuals all work with their own unconscious process. These unconscious processes come together in unpredictable ways. Wilfred Bion clearly showed that with any group, there was an actual group engaged in the set agenda. However there was also another group engaged, unconsciously, in a fantasy agenda. Splitting and projection also happens in teams with added complexity.
The unconscious process in teams
The role of central figures
Under duress, members of a group split-off what they don’t like about themselves. They discard negatives such as weaknesses and irritating habits (their shadow) as well as positives such as strengths, wisdom and experience (their halo).
Then something extra happens. When team members disown particular conflicts, everyone in the team unconsciously selects the same central figures on whom to project particular split off attributes.
The selected figures collude, with lesser or greater enthusiasm, in taking up these attributes. The selected people find themselves cast in specific roles. In this way the team gets the selected players to act out the crisis. Two key roles are created in this way.
The person onto whom the group projects their halos becomes a hero, or rather super-hero. They can do no wrong. They can come to meetings late and unprepared. They can say whatever they like about a topic or person. The rest of the team consider this behaviour cute, strong and inspiring.
The person onto whom the team projects their shadow becomes the scapegoat. The villain! The dirty dog! They dare not come late or unprepared. When they voice their opinion, if they summon enough courage to be heard, they may be berated for it. The team roll their eyes, our prime demonstration of contempt.
The scapegoat may be ostracised or even ejected from the team.
The team then attempt to manage their anxiety by controlling the players. The behaviours of the selected players express and act out the experience and emotions of each of the members in the group.
If you want to read more about this topic down the Ebook on change from the StrategyWorks homepage.
The featured image, the illustration of the superhero comes from the pen of Stan from Russia who posts as SaintYak on Deviant art. Thanks Stan. Interestingly, his ID photo at the time of writing was the ‘Joker’ from batman, the illustration I like to use for the Scapegoat. 
