Insights for the Journey

In previous episodes, I shared how powerful it is to invite people to this whole new land of management not through abstract concepts or bullet points, but by talking about what call you there. By sharing what you no longer want and what you long for. In this episode I invite you to explore the other side of the change ahead, with two powerful questions: What is our identity that will not change? And where is the future already here? Leaders often focus so much on the future that they neglect to share with colleagues the foundations that will not change.

Several leaders I spoke with had this advice to share: don't turn this transformation into a program! Don't give this journey, or the new world you are aiming, for a name. Here is why...

In some organizations I've talked to, teams are purposefully left to struggle to define their new way of working. They often reinvent the wheel even though other teams have already cracked things. Isn't that cruel and awfully wasteful? Or is it perhaps a necessary part of unlearning and relearning? It's a profound question, that has serious implications for leaders, whose traditional role is to help avoid mistakes and waste wherever possible.

This is a tension you will almost certainly encounter. As you start reinventing your organization, teams will start experimenting with all sorts of new practices. Which is great... and can become confusing, when different teams all do things differently.This tension easily leads to two opposite pitfalls. I've seen some organizations who standardize things from the start or too early. They forego all the learning and the spirit of adventure and ownership that comes with experimenting. Other organizations fall for the opposite trap: they experiment seemingly forever and never want to standardize anything (standardizing is so old world!), which leads to much unnecessary pain and confusion. Bonus insight: some practices might never need to be standardized.

In the old "top-down" mode, there is this subtle level of fear that drives us to think things through completely and try to avoid any possible mistakes - which often means endless meetings before anything gets approved. Another habit we can unlearn.Instead, you can try and learn the habit of asking the questions "Good enough for now?" and "Safe enough to try?"

In larger organizations, where do you start? At the top? The bottom? A pilot in one area? One process across the entire organization? Or could you apply the cool hack that Jos de Blok devised for the competitors he is advising?

I get this question often: where do we start? I tend to respond with two questions of my own that can help you find the best answer for you.

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like nails." Here I invite you to explore which kind of interventions you naturally gravitative towards, and which you tend to neglect.This might be a great exploration to do with other people who lead this transformation with you. And if your work with a coach or facilitator in this journey, it might be worthwhile to examine what their preference and blind spots are!

We've all inherited ways to think about change ... and it might be time for an upgrade! You can't plan this change in the way you might be used to.

Three ideas for how you can get support and energy to sustain you on the personal and organizational journey you are on. The loneliness at the top might finally be a thing of the past at some point down the road... but probably not quite yet.