The balance point between certainty and uncertainty,
stability and instability, complexity and simplicity is moving faster and more
often that it has ever done previously.
Coupled with the increasing incidence
of ‘Black Swans Events’, those improbable
and unexpected events that provide extreme impact and result in unprecedented
consequences, have created the conditions for us to re-examine the way we, as organizational
development consultants approach
business transformation and change.
Change Programs Don’t Work!
My thirty
years of corporate consulting experiences has led me to believe that organizations
and cultures don’t really change, not because they don’t want to, it’s because they
usually can’t! Too often I have seen CEO’s and OD consultants suggest that
there is something ‘wrong’ about their organizational culture, and then embark
on a costly, complex, culture change program, that attempts to ‘fix’ it! The result
is often a mixture of frustration, denial and blame, usually around the timing,
the change programs’ focus, structure or implementation, or ‘wrong’ consulting advice
or even the ‘wrong’ consultant!
Working with 'what is' and 'what could be'!
The first step is to work towards deciphering the current organisational
culture, through simple, accessible and focussed dialogue processes, rather
than complex, prescriptive, tools based processes that are consultant dependent.
This approach engages and involves the people, who work in the organisation, and
understand it in all of its manifestations and possibilities. By doing this we
have made a positive first step towards understanding, at a very deep level, ‘what is’ as well as ‘what could be’.
What you resist
persists!
We
can then assess what key factors drive the culture, and then, again through
simple and focussed dialogue processes, that involve the people, determine how
to stimulate and unleash more of the possibilities and positive energy and
reduce more of the negatives. Rather than focus on solving business issues and
problems, the real work gets done when determining what the real adaptive challenges
are and developing Innovative new ways of solving these problems.
Adapting and evolving
is not changing!
Nature has taught us that Disruption can be both destructive
and creative, and that, without it, nature’s eco-systems do not adapt, and
reach new thresholds. Once we understand
that an organisation is also an inherent eco-system, that also requires adaptation, then
we can create the ‘safe space’ to create Intentional Disruptions.
This stimulates the adaptive process and, if well led, can enable the organisation and its people to become passionate about solving its problems in
surprising, imaginative and innovative ways.
What can you do to be a more adaptive leader and ensure that business transformation initiatives that you are involved with, deliver what they promise?
