About Gibson Grace & Merrill
Gibson Grace & Merrill (GG&M) is a partnership formed to develop and offer products that assist individuals, couples and organizations in identifying, developing and achieving relationships that serve to maximize their potential. The basic platform for their work and the products produced is a model of Relationship developed by Dr. Tom Merrill and his wife Bobbie Sandoz Merrill. The Relationship Quotient below describes aspects of the model and the promise of the process offered and delivered by the Merrills.
The Relationship Quotient
Human relationships are the major variable in all outcomes. When reviewed and analyzed, the degree to which outcomes reflect success or failure ultimately can be seen as a function of those relationships in the process. And yet they are the least understood and controlled variable in the equation for success. Thus, if one expects, anticipates or desires successful outcomes, then relationships must be viewed as the basic building block. Couples, families, organizations, corporations, educational institutions and governmental bodies…where two or more humans are required to interact…succeed or fail as a function of their ability to interact successfully.
Dr. Thomas Merrill and Bobbie Merrill, MSW, bring an entirely new understanding of relationships to this equation. They offer an original model of relationships that when applied transforms human interaction from competitive to cooperative, from adversarial to assistive, from defensive to cooperative and communicative. They have observed that when the model has been applied in their work with individuals, couples, families, schools and organizations/corporations, transformation of those relationships is rapid and lasting.
The Promise of the Process
Through the process of identifying where their relationship currently stands and where they would like it to be, individuals will be able to transform their relationship from one of limited possibilities to one of unlimited possibilities.
The process promises a new understanding of how to be in a truly rewarding relationship rather than constantly struggling to get to it. It eliminates the feeling of "I'll put up with this in hopes of getting somewhere else." It allows the individual to see that a relationship is a function of choice rather than chronology or simply putting in the time; it is the result of inention and purpose, not accident.
Individuals and couples frequently enter into marital therapy or counseling and want to learn to do things differently in order to improve their relationship. Therapists, trained in methods of behavioral change readily enter the therapeutic relationship. And what the data shows us is that the chances of bringing about lasting changes through assisting couples in changing what they do is less than 50%.
The Merrill Relationship Model (MRM™) addresses this issue of failure in relationship therapy by expanding the therapeutic model so that behavioral change is not the focus of the intervention in faulty relationships. Rather, MRM expands the area of inquiry to deal with the fundamental way in which individuals hold the notion of relationship which includes their personal and cultural expectations, their understanding of relationships and their part in them.
It creates an environment in which partners and/or participants in any relationship are able to rather quickly determine whether it is one that is meeting their needs or in the more common vernacular, “working” for them. If it is not, the model provides a method by which such a relationship may be developed and most importantly, not only maintained but expanded with no limits on the possibilities.
In summary, the model allows individuals to identify those aspects of relationships which they personally feel are needed if they are to “have it all” and then gives them a clearly articulated, no-nonsense road map, a process, to achieve this goal.
This is the promise of the process. It allows marital and other primary relationships to shatter cultural and historical expectations that the initial “rush” found in the early stages of love-relationships can’t last. It not only can last, it can grow exponentially. It provides the promise that individuals can transform the most casual to the most significant relationships in their lives from “just good enough” to ones whose potential is maximized.
Go to SettleforMore.com to learn more about the model in the Merrill's new break-through book, Settle for More: You Can Have the Relationship You Always Wanted...Guaranteed!
