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
Empowerment: #7 of Eight Disciplines for Planned Change
Empowerment 
We all have the power needed to create and manage change within the systems (personal and organizational) of which we are members. However, many of us constrain our energy and power through antithetical belief systems. Often, we simply don’t believe that we have choices available to achieve the changes we desire. At times, our concept of what we want to change is too vague to be useful. Or, our energies are too dispersed to be effective. Regardless of the reason why not, what is needed is to empower ourselves. Unfortunately, others cannot do it for us–though they can support us in our self-empowerment.
Here is the definition we use for empowerment: Supporting self and others toward self-discovering their inherent ability to choose their behavior, emotions, thoughts, and beliefs on behalf of fully engaging themselves toward accomplishing their personal goals and those of their systems.
General Thoughts about Making Empowerment Work
1. Believe in your/their inherent excellence, our/their intrinsic worthiness.
2. Find a wider range of choices beyond “damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
3. Focus on the present rather than the past or the future.
4. Beware problem-solving. Empowerment “teaches someone to fish;” problem-solving “gives a fish.”
5. Offer suggestions only to ensure that all options are being explored.
6. Ask, “How would you find out?” when “I don’t know” statements occur.
7. Support the other person, not our own ideas, experiences, or egos.
Specific Steps to Support the Empowerment of Others
1. Clarify goals.
2. Identify what is in the way of accomplishing the goal.
3. Check that one is operating from sound and current data.
4. Identify beliefs and conflicting thoughts that may be preventing goal attainment.
5. Keep the focus on empowerment rather than the obstacles and other players.
6. Offer suggestions to choose from.
7. Identify the decisions that need to be made among the available choices.
8. Identify the support system needed.
9. Identify a path forward of concrete next steps of time and place.
10. Check to see if the person has confidence in the path forward.
11. Offer encouragement. You’re done!
Marianne Williamson’s poem speaks to the essence of empowerment.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Learn to Make a Difference in the World of People, Teams, and Organizations http://bit.ly/zFCNfv
The Disciplines of Managing Change in Human Systems
In recent blog posts we have looked at the stages of planned change, which can also be thought of in terms of critical interventions, and at the levels of organizations in which the skilled practitioner works. We also offered a general process of Organization Development that takes into account these stages and organizational levels. Now we will consider eight crucial disciplines, the mastery of which binds it all together.
Effectiveness with each of the prescribed stages of change across the levels of organization systems requires a degree of critical thinking that is generally beyond that found in the target organization and the general social milieu in which the organization exists.
Each of the eight disciplines directly supports the empowerability of human systems and the people that live and work within them. They also support the use of collaborative strategies and tactics aimed at open communication, consensual decision-making, cooperation, learning, and relationship building which together can make for powerful and productive human systems anywhere. Each is related to and supports the others toward a systemic understanding of critical thinking as applied to making humans systems both productive and satisfying.
These disciplines focus upon:
- Conscious Use of Self
- Systems Orientation
- Sound and Current Data
- Feedback
- Infinite Power
- Learning from Differences
- Empowerment
- Support Systems
We will look at each of them in greater detail in the coming weeks.
The Process of Organization Development
Hey All,
I’ve been thinking about how to formulate with sufficient detail to be useable and in a temporally logical manner, the things that the top OD folks think about as they move from the beginning of an OD project to its end. The problem, of course, is that each step requires the personal judgment needed to move a step from number 3 to 9 or step 12 to 5. Most steps will need to be repeated over and over as the process unfolds anyway.
I’m offering a loose recipe that will always require your own tweaks, modifications, and embellishments. It’s stuff worth thinking about for those who want to increase their ability to manage change in human systems.
Go to http://www.chumans.com/human-systems-resources/process-of-od.html for the document.
Let me know what you would add, change, or subtract from the list that would make it more useful! I’d really like that!
Michael