Support Systems: #8 of Eight Disciplines for Planned Change
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Joan Baez sang, “No man is an island, no man stands alone,” echoing John Donne’s “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” There is fundamental truth in these powerful quotes, yet our Western culture has deeply socialized us into believing in a tacit philosophy of individualism and its attendant value on independence—as if there were such a thing. A belief closer to reality is that there is little or nothing of any significance that a single person has or can accomplish alone! When I offer this idea during one of my programs, I often get a question like, “What about an individual competitor like Usain Bolt?” He certainly runs (and wins!) his races alone. But could he have accomplished what he has without the support of several coaches, training partners, a manager, and parents who travel with him? I don’t think so. I generally view myself as a Lone Ranger; however, I don’t need to think very hard to identify the hosts that have been important to success. So today we explore support systems in two related flavors.
Critical Mass Support Systems
A systemic planned change effort will succeed when the support for that change reaches critical mass among the members of that system. The success of your planned change efforts depends on our ability to develop empowering partnerships across a full range of differences using the infinite perspective of power. This is the very essence of the work of effective leaders and organization development practitioners. Of course, coaching leaders, bridging communications gaps, managing conflict, developing accountability, and facilitating groups are a part of the process of building a support system to critical mass!
Personal Support Systems
The doingness of “coaching leaders, bridging communications gaps, managing conflict, etc.” requires conscious use of self, systems thinking, sound and current data, and the five other disciplines that this series has been exploring. However, applying eight disciplines to all of the tasks of managing change can be daunting. Those who choose to take on this task must develop strong personal support systems. I know that I cannot be trusted to consistently use myself effectively, to seek sound and current data rather than trust my assumptions and interpretations. Likewise, under a bit of stress I all too easily engage in win/lose power dynamics when curiosity would serve me better. Accordingly, my personal support system recruited from among friends, clients and students alike has the job of reminding me that I can get off automatic and become effective again when such is needed. They often need to be persistent when I become defensive, and they do because I’ve asked them to. Our personal support system needs to have a balance of comrades who share my concerns, friends who will console me, challengers who will challenge me, and role models whom I can follow. With such a support system conscious use of self and the other disciplines move within me toward deeper competence.
Change in human systems is never created alone. Support systems are required. An initial support system might be one or two confidants. This small informal group might evolve into a larger group willing to take direct action and contribute to the critical mass that is crucial to success. We cannot manage systemic change—or ourselves—alone. Develop support systems to help you strategize and operationalize your change strategy and to support you in using yourself effectively.
Learn to Make a Difference in the World of People, Teams, and Organizations http://bit.ly/zFCNfv
Systems Orientation: #2 of Eight Disciplines for Planned Change
A fairly pervasive approach to change and problem-solving in human systems defines a goal, then sets out in as straight a tactical line as possible to get there. Such an approach tries to ignore or run-over any intervening or obstructing variables like the fact that achievement of the goal will cause problems in other parts of the system. And/or, that such an approach often provides an expedient solution that does not get at the root cause of the problem which will accordingly return sooner or later. A systems orientation to change management looks at human systems holistically. It understands that any change within a system will reverberate throughout the entire system and impact even seemingly unrelated parts of the system.
Using a systems orientation we…
a. Understand that systems are comprised of constellations of forces that must be aligned for efficient and successful change projects.
b. Widen our perspective from our immediate goal to one that considers the entire system.
c. Orchestrate several coordinated change actions simultaneously.
d. Develop feedback loops sufficient to staying in touch with the impacts of our change strategies and their specific actions.
Here are some other thoughts to help you think systemically:
The Nature of Human Systems
1. Everything is connected to everything else—beliefs, processes, thoughts, feelings, and actions.
2. For a system to be doing what it is doing everything in that system must be doing what they are doing; therefore, responsibility is always mutual.
3. The members of systems are diverse. Innovation is dependent on the effective use of diversity.
4. Change in human systems is constant regardless of our desire for stability.
5. The behavior of a system is driven by the collective behavior of its members. The behavior of the members of a system is driven by their individual belief systems that were created from their experiences in previous systems.
Some Characteristics of Human Systems
1. Goal achievement is the primary purpose of any system. Clarity is paramount for effectiveness.
2. Feedback loops (such as metrics) regulate the behavior of systems and keep the system on target toward its goals. Performance data, rewards, penalties, and permissions are examples of feedback.
3. The effectiveness of human systems over time is proportional to the quality of the relationships within those systems. Trust is a primary indicator of high quality relationships.
4. Any member of a system will consistently succeed (or fail) only with the support of the system.
5. The behavior of leaders (as collectively interpreted by followers) has a significant impact on the behavior (collaboration, competition, conformity, anarchy) that occurs within human systems
The Quality and Productivity of Human Systems
1. The quality and productivity of human systems are directly proportional to the quality of the alignment, engagement, and connectedness among the members of the system.
2. Systems that attempt to create alignment through (1) win/win collaborative, synergetic strategies perform better than those that attempt to create alignment via win/lose strategies such as suppression of differences (conformity) or (2) contention (power struggles, turf battles).
3. Patterns of preferential treatment can mitigate engagement of members and groups of members and, consequently, mitigate system quality and productivity.
4. For systemic problem solving determine the subsystem that contains both the problem and the solution. Look to a larger system definition when problems seem intractable.
5. A problematic human system will mitigate the effectiveness of related human, mechanical, or electronic systems. Failure to frequently attend to the quality of a human system is costly in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.
Learn to Make a Difference in the World of People, Teams, and Organizations http://bit.ly/zFCNfv
The Challenges of Practicing Organization Development
Many people who are interested in the art and science of organization development believe that it is easy based on what they have seen and heard OD practitioners do. Those of us who have built successful practices —internally or externally—know that its practice presents many challenges.
Challenge #1
We collaborate with organization leaders and their groups. Such an easy word to use, “collaborate.” Yet, it presents powerful challenges. In the positive sense that it means working with someone as a an equal. It’s that sense of equality that collaboration requires that get us into trouble.
Challenge #2
We create systemic change on behalf of root-cause problem-solving. This challenge is what makes organization development the most powerful strategy for managing change in human systems! It’s a challenge because we live in a larger society that values linear rationality when human systems rarely move in straight lines and operate rationally only occasionally.
Challenge #3
We are focused on improving productivity and employee satisfaction. The challenge here is to accomlish both. The effective OD practitioner understands that in the long run productivity and employee satisfaction are systemically correlates. Yet, many practitioners are challenged by their preference for one over the other.
Challenge #4
We strengthen the human processes through which work gets done. The list of challenges here is even longer! We (practitioners and our clients) want almost desperately to avoid any conflict that might lead to contention and hurt feelings (particularly our own).
What to do to handle all of these challenges? We offer the eight disciplines of planned change.
For more information on the challenges of OD, check out our upcoming webinar!
What Is OD?
This is the first in a series of blog posts on the subject of The Technology of Organization Development, The Most Powerful Technology for Managing Change in Organizations and Ourselves, and is the product of decades in the field. Just the title raises several questions: One, what is organization development? Two, what makes it “the most powerful technology for managing change in organizations and ourselves?” And, three, why “in organizations AND ourselves?”
There are many definitions of organization development (fondly known as OD by those who are familiar with it). Most, however, are too abstract or vague to be of much use in understanding just what an OD practitioner does. Too often OD is thought of as “soft” or “touchy-feely” which pejoratively seems to have something to do getting too emotional or sentimental. Or, it’s the latest jargon for team building, retreat facilitation, or training—all of which are a part of OD, none of which are OD. So here is our definition based on what has worked in our experience with 100+ clients and too many students to count.
Organization Development: Collaborating with organizational leaders and their groups to create systemic change and root-cause problem solving on behalf of improving productivity and employee satisfaction through strengthening the human processes through which they get their work done.
What we like about this definition is that it offers the essence of (1) what practitioners do, (2) the results they are after, and (3) how it works. These three items can also help us understand and explain several critical aspects of organization development, and we will explore them further in our next posts.
Human Systems
We live in a society that believes in individualism to the point where we seem blind to the fact that we exist and operate only within systems. No one “pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps.” The phrase itself—when you attempt to image it—makes that point very well. John Donne makes the same point with his, “No man is an island entire of itself.” We exist and operate only within systems. With that blindness comes the meagerness of our Western ability to manage systemic change. We want to end poverty and racism and war. We want to change the culture of our organizations. We want our kids to be safe from drug abuse and what we pay for health care to be lower. All of these things are systemic issues that can only be resolved systemically. What does that mean? How can we understand systems?
For a one page primary on human systems go to http://www.chumans.com/human-systems-resources/understanding-human-systems.html.
Let me know what you think! For real detail you’ll have to wait for the book I’m working on!
Michael