Don´t we all want to change the world?

What kind of world would you like to leave for your children or grandchildren? One where they could be as creative, energetic and happy as they are when they were born? One that is safe and kind to all human beings? I think most people would agree that they really want their children to have a better world than we have today.

Changing the world is a huge undertaking and I am sure it can be done. Look at the world as one big organization, consisting of interdependent relationships between people and between many millions of organizations! You start to see all those different organizations such as United Kingdom, the USA, Sweden, the European Union or United Nations. You also start to see organizations such as Microsoft Corporations, General Motors, IKEA, Walmart, Volvo, and other business organizations as nodes in the big spiderweb of relationships that makes up our world. Within those organizations you find even more webs of relationships between people. All these webs are connected.

This huge multidimensional web of relationships makes it possible for each being within it, to have an impact. Think of what happens when you start rocking a thread in a spider web. The whole web is moving and sometimes it even breaks. So when you do something to the threads that you are holding on to in the world web, it could have an impact very far away from you.

A good way to start the world change is to change the organizations we are parts of. If we change one organization, that will influence others, some of them closer to us but also some that are far away. The organizations we have today are mostly outmoded because the world has changed since they were created in the early 1900. So instead of having organizations that are designed for a time when people are seen as machine parts, that could easily be exchanged, we need organizations that are designed for today when we see people as valuable assets. One reason for starting with changing organizations instead of starting with change in people is that the organizational culture is almost always stronger than the individual. When a person has changed and want to work in line with his change, the organizational culture might force him/her to retreat to the old fashion or leave the organization.

What would the organizations look like if we want them to change the world? It will certainly be an interesting discussion! Bring your thoughts to our next CollaborativeCircle on Sept 11. Register at www.collaborativeways.com.