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.

Creating community – a highway to vision

A community is a web of relationships, blending together in unplanned and unknown ways. Since many communities are connected through the internet, the threads of relationship are invisible so sometimes one might think, there are no connections. But if the right question comes up, there is quickly a lot of movement among the members, an allocation of resources, a mobilization of energy to work with that question. In between there could be silence for long times.

So how can this invisible web be a highway to achieve a vision? First, information spreads quickly in ways that are almost impossible to follow or and definitely impossible to control. Second, the mobilization for a topic that is of interest to the community, is almost immediate. Does this happen in every community. No, of course not. Some things have to be in place for this to happen.

The community needs a culture where listening, trusting and allowing each other space to take leadership and do things are invited. Other things that support community creation are common purpose and a shared vision. The agreement for openness where leadership can just emerge and take care of what needs to be done, does not have to be in written but more as a work approach. It might be helpful having some rules about the responsibility and accountability that follows this leadership. You can certainly use the principles and law in Open Space Technology together with some givens decided by the senior leaders or the CEO. Givens are the outer frames of what is allowed and asked for in the organization. They can certainly be discussed from time to time but they are a safety net so people will know when they are outside of the organizational boarders and where their energy would be wasted.

Trust is not complementary, you have to earn it. The best way to earn trust is to start trusting others. If you are interested in this theme, you are highly recommended to read The 8th Habit by Stephen R Covey, a very interesting book about leadership. Trust is really instead of many control systems, especially those that are put in to allow managers to control the behaviours and actions of people. It is interesting that some managers still think they can control people, even now when people living now exist in a very different era than the industrial and thus have different values and norms.

Do you feel that creating community in an organization is difficult? It does not need to be. There are easy tools to use, such as Open Space Technology, Whole Person Process Facilitation, Appreciative Inquiry and World Café. You can also use the Medicine Wheel Tool© to assure the readiness of the organization and to measure your success. You just do as when you are cooking, use the recipe to find out what is the flavor of this special cake and then go forward and make it with the things you have at home. And remember to make the cake together. The others will help you get where you want to be, so much faster. Cooking together is a great way of creating community. Help me with the cooking in the Genuine Contact Way!

Merry Christmas!

Eiwor

Change

I am sure you have heard Mahatma Ghandi´s well known words: “You have to be the change you want to see in the world”. I relate those to the sentence “Walk your talk”. Sustainable changes in an organization requires that the leaders are part of the changes. As Birgitt Williams says in the Genuine Contact Way e-book, http://www.genuinecontactway.com/ : “A shift in consciousness of an organization is dependent on a shift in consciousness of the individuals who make up the organization.”

So if you as a leader are serious about shifting the organizational culture, you have to start with yourself. Angeles Arrien in her The Four-Fold Way, tells us about the principles of leadership. The first principle is to show up and be present. It means to be who you are without being disguised or playing a role. It means being a role model, leading the way. It is about being courageous. Again using the words from Birgitt Williams: “Courageous living is what we are asked to embrace.”

Actually we are all part of a change process – all the time. Change is the only thing we can be sure of. It is very interesting when people say it would have been better if Sweden never became part of the European Union, because we knew what we had but were not sure what we would get. I believe we can never be sure of what we will get, union or not. The clue is to be able to handle change, to know how to stay in balance in the middle of it and also to learn how to make the most of the opportunities it brings. Because it does!

The opportunities that come with change, can go by quickly so one challenge is to have an organizational culture that allows for self-organizing, for people to make their own decisions and grasp the opportunities without having to go back to the leaders every time. And this requires trust – a valuable asset that comes from the leaders trusting their people. Which might or might not require a shift in consciousness.

Organizational Body Language

Have you ever thought about body language of an organization? We often say that body language can tell more than thousand words. When someone talks to you, you might feel something is not matching the words. Their body language is saying something else than what comes out from their mouth. Our human body language consists of how we move our physical body when communicating with other people. In a discussion it shows the other person if we understand, if we are interested and if we are really present. Clothes, jewelries, haircut and makeup could also be part of the body language since they say something about how we understand ourselves.

The body language of an organization also consists of physical things that tell us something about how they see themselves and the values they work from. It contains houses, offices, furniture, pictures etc. A large jacaranda table breaths prosperity and power. An open landscape could say that “we have no secrets here”. It could also say “we want to see that you are really working all the time”.

That the organizational body language consists of principles, protocols, control systems and unwritten rules might be quite obvious, but it also consists of the way they arrange their furniture, the way they hold their meetings and how they handle their budget. When an organization say “our staff is our greatest asset” and then put in a new control system and cut the budget for training, do you believe them? It is a little bit like when you tell your teenager that he is doing fine, with your arms crossed over your chest, a raised eyebrow and tapping your foot. He knows for sure that he has done something you don´t like.

Walk your talk is as important for organizations as it is for us human beings. Our body language will show when we do as we say. We will be calm, grounded and successful in achieving our goals. Most of all, our honesty will allow people around us to use all their wisdom and be the person they truly are.

              What does this placement of the chairs tell you about what the sponsors want with their meeting?

Culture in organisations

Many articles in the newspapers lately talk about people´s behaviour at work. Some days ago a professor in psychology said that people behave as they are taught by the culture in their workplace. So true!

One example: In one of the Swedish communities, Mark, just east of Gothenburg, there has been issues about their way to handle fosterchildren. They have been accused for doing inferior research and not take the perspective of the children into consideration. It created headlines some year ago and now they have done it again. The first time both the politicians and the officer resigned. It seemed people thought this was the end of the problem, but they did not do anything to the real problem - the culture in their organization. So it happened again.

The same thing happens when people get outburnt. Most of the time this is caused by the organizational culture or climate, sometimes in combination with personal patterns. The culture affects everyone in it and creates certain patterns. The person on sickleave gets rehabilitated and sent back to their old job, only to get sick again. Who rehabilitates the organization?

It would be interesting to learn how many organizations that consciously works with their culture in order to create healthy and positive patterns among their people. If you are working in such an organization or leading one, please share what you are doing. If you would like to work in a consciously learning organization, let´s discuss what it takes to get there.

Water of life, 

tiny drops and an ocean,

irresistable force when flowing in the same direction