TL;DR
To create change in an organization you need to do more than implementing tools or processes. You need to act holistically. Integral Theory helps to structure the holistic approach. In four categories you have to start small but you can take direct action. These actions are listed in “Summing up potential actions” below.
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
The case
I got contacted by a public broadcasting company. The company wanted to introduce a collaboration tool (JIRA). The person who contacted me was a guy from the C-level.
His goal was to enhance the performance of the employees working on projects. In other words: Increase their efficiency. Also he wanted to align the work of the employees with the overarching goals of the organization. Calling all that Agile was welcomed.
Put in other words, the goal was to make people work together in a better way to achieve company objectives.
The solution that was looked for was tool / process based. Spoiler: My company did not get the project. Main reason: We offered JIRA + an overarching approach. He just wanted JIRA.
The time period after that I reflected a lot on what was going on. I wrote an essay on potential means of what could have been done and sent it to him.
This is a more refined version of this essay.
Btw, we are still speaking regularly. He has a hard time pushing things forward to help the organization become agile. Feels like he has given up. Instead, internal politics (driven by real, external politics), stakeholder dynamics (strengthened by an “I know best attitude”) and a focus on cost are eating up the energy.
This essay is written for him. It is a repeated effort to convince him to do something. I hope he reads it. You are welcome to read along.
What you can (not) expect
If you look for a standardized recipe to transform your whole company, please look somewhere else. If you want to get hands on advice on where to start and create real change bottom up, read on.
You will also have to question yourself and work on yourself. You cannot spare that.
The approach
I am now going to introduce a framework. I chose this theory because it takes a holistic approach. I will explain how it can be used to create momentum for change. I deduct calls for actions for four dimensions that include tools and processes but are not limited to it.
The framework I am talking (or writing) about is called Integral Theory and was created by Ken Wilber. This theory helps to structure everything. The author named his book “A brief history of everything” accordingly. If you like to go meta, I strongly recommend reading it. It also gives the theoretical underpinning for the great book Reinventing Organisations.
Structure of the theory
The theory¹ distinguishes between individual and collective on the vertical axis. On the horizontal axis it separates internal and external traits.
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
These two axes form four quadrants. I will explain what these quadrants show and what to do with them in the following paragraph.
How to create holistic change
To create holistic change, you need to work on all of the four quadrants, mentioned above. Let me explain what they show and what actions you can deduct from each of them. Hands on. Try it yourself. Here we go:
Individual / internal, “I” (Upper left)
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
Explanation: This quadrant represents the inner (or mental) world of individuals. It´s what you cannot measure² or see in one´s behavior. It´s emotions, values, thoughts.
Call to action: Work on your own values and mental models or try to bring those to others
Complication: You cannot change the individual ways of thinking of others, you can only bring ideas that might nudge people to think differently. Whether they do, that´s up to them.
Exercise: Give yourself 15 minutes of time. Grab a coffee and a white sheet of paper and answer (step by step!) the following questions / thoughts in writing. (You can do this with your colleagues / employees in a workshop also.):
● Who was a person who had meaning for you? (Can be any prominent, historical or privately known person.)
● What did they do? Which behaviors and traits did they show?
● What do you assume their values and principles were?
● Do these values align with what you do? What do you need to do to get there?
Attention: This might lead to people really reflecting about themselves, think about what they do and whether the current job is right for them. But some people might come to the conclusion that they believe in what they do. This will create momentum!
Bonus-Exercise: This exercise is called 5 out of 25: Again, take some time and grab pen and paper. Breath in and out. Deeply. Again. Then:
● Think about what you want to achieve in life. What do you want to learn, do, experience, achieve, … List all of that.
● If you run out of ideas, stare at the sheet (put your phone away!) and wait. Give it a minute. Or two. Something will come! Write that down. Is your sheet full? Do you have at least 25 items on it? Good!
● Now circle the five most important things.
● Cross everything else.
Congrats! You now have defined your most important priorities. You can use these to align your decisions from now on. Review them regularly. (I just used my own priorities for multiple major decisions in the last 3 years.)
Attention: Same as in the paragraph above: Reflecting about yourself and what you do might lead to unintended consequences.
Alternative: Split personal values, split work and private life. Bringing only your work-self to work can be a viable thing to do. I prefer being myself as completely and authentically as possible.
Individual / external, “IT” (Upper right)
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
Explanation: This quadrant describes what you can measure or see in individuals. Blood pressure, electrical brain impulses, behavior of a person etc.
Call to action: Work on externally visible behavior of individuals (including your own). We humans are functioning on autopilot most of the time and stick to behavior patterns we establish. These automated behaviors can be good or bad. The good thing: We can program ourselves.
Complication: As said above, everybody has to do that for him- or herself (you cannot push somebody to change him- / herself). And that is true independently of any case or framework. It is one of the core principles of systems thinking.
Exercise: Apply the four laws of behavior change (taken from Atomic habits). These are: Make it obvious, easy, attractive and rewarding. I show you an example for your private life and leave it to you to come up with ideas for your work life.
Example: If you want to exercise regularly the application of the laws might look like:
● Make it obvious: Put a red post it on your coffee machine, saying: Do five push ups before coffee
● Make it easy: Plan for only five (or less) push ups a day — not more!
● Make it attractive: Combine it with a thing you like (your first morning coffee)
● Make it rewarding: Drink you coffee or write the successful completion on a list / in a journal
Attention: This can become addictive! Life is not just about optimizing oneself!
Bonus-Exercise: This is a short term hack. When feeling stressed or being anxious, breath in and out through your nose. Breath in while counting to four (or more) seconds and breath out while counting again. Recognize your body becoming more relaxed. Notice that you are not in danger. Do that everytime you are in a challenging situation. Even better: Do that regularly either way. That will also create change in you in the medium term. This will allow you to better take a moment between stimulus and response.
Also, you can go for a walk.
Attention: You might recognize the often artificial pressure created in the workplace.But if you feel your body is OK, you become aware that you are not in danger. You can develop an inner smile towards all that craziness. Others might sense and react allergic to this.
Alternative: Keep on reacting to stimuli from your environment on autopilot.
Collective / external, “ITS” (Lower right)
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
Explanation: These are the processes, tools, ways of working together, the meetings being held etc.. To create change you need to work on these systems as well.
Call to action:To work on systems / teams you need to change the interaction structures. Suggest and implement collaboration tools, suggest and create a groove of ceremonies (i.e. implement Scrum). Identify what works already. Try to make use of that and make it bigger.
Complication: To change interaction structures teams have to develop them themselves. You cannot just push any method or collaboration (Scrum, OKRs, Spotify model or anything else) into an organization. Try to identify which interaction structures are existing already. These can be hidden or small. But you have to use them.
Exercise: To leverage the seeds of change: Start, stop, continue: Ask the people themselves (in workshops) what kind of collective behavior they want to start, to stop and what should be continued. Let it grow from there. That´s very simple — but not easy.
Attention: Everything you do has second (or third) order consequences. These consequences are non linear. This means there is no clear cause and effect relation. Also, some time might pass between the change and resulting unexpected behavior patterns. Be aware of that. It cannot be avoided.
Alternative: Implement tools only and see that nothing changes.
Collective / internal, “WE” (Lower left)
Source: Based on: https://spiraldynamicsintegral.nl/en/about-sdi/integral-theory/)
Explanation: In this quadrant shared values, meanings and implicit behavior rules are sorted into. It is what you feel when you walk in a company hall. It´s how people look at each other when things happen. It’s the energy and excitement or seriousness and fear or warmth and friendliness that is in the air. In short: It’s a company´s culture.
The good news: You can influence your culture.
Complication: If you think you can work on culture directly, you are misled. You cannot just identify new company values and meanings, put them on the wall and think you´re done (or something analogous). But that is what most companies do. Thinking about values in the management ivory tower, throwing them at their employees by communication initiatives and then wondering (if they recognize it, at all) that nothing changes (or gets worse).
Call to action: Work on the other three dimensions. That´s where collective cultures emerge from. And if you recognize values that emerge, feel free to also write them down (or don´t!³) and put them on the wall. In this order. Do not reverse the causation.
The common patterns
Start small
In all of the approaches above, one pattern emerges, one thing is important. And that is: Start small. Do small steps and respect where you are coming from. You might not like that. But it´s what you´ve got to do, because
“If you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.” (James Clear)
In a nutshell: Small steps consistently taken over time lead to great results, especially in networks, because
“we are an interconnected web of hurt and bliss” (Hanzi Freinacht),
meaning that everything we (you!) do has ripple effects towards others.
Enough quotes, let´s move on.
Start with what you have
Why is it so important to start with some small steps that are already existing? Why think about Start, Stop, Continue?
For every change that appears somewhen and -where a seed for this change is already existing. Revolutions come from in-between spaces. You just have to look for them.
Therefore you have to respect the history of every system you interact with. Everything has a history. Everything in our current reality, especially our expectation, is inseparable intermingled with our past.
Example: Your expectations of how a soccer game will turn out is dependent on the club performance in the past. Just think about how different fans from Real Madrid and Barcelona feel before the next playday when you compare that to Celtic Glasgow or others.
Therefore: If you hear people saying “We´ve tried that before” DO NOT DISRESPECT THAT! Respect where people come from. Not only because it´s nicer but also because it is essential to drive anything forward.
If you want to create magical change, do it slowly. Work on the dimensions: Internal individual, external individual, external collective. Connect them in a balanced way. This leads to an outward and upward movement.
Listen to my mother who said: “I can do magic, but only slowly.”
Wrapping up the case
Whether it works in the case of the public broadcaster? Well, I do not know. The case just started. What you just read was the approach, the next small step itself.
Let´s see what happens. Maybe I keep you posted. :)
What´s your case?
Summing up potential actions
What to do:
● Identify people who already think differently. You have got to feel that. There are some. Find them.
● Look at how they act differently. That means: Speak to them about what they think, what they want to do. Dive into their mental models. If they are the right person to start the change with, they will be more than happy to do that. If they do not open up, they are not your people.
● Try to identify what they are doing already differently:
○ Identify good / new processes that are already in place and work
○ Feel the values that are already feelable within those individuals — articulate them and make them transparent to your organization
● Create a community. Meet regularly. Become visible. If you get asked by others, explain. Be transparent about everything you do. Pro-activity is in most cases helpful.
● Always keep the different dimensions from above in mind.
● Having these dimensions in mind, always ask: What can we start, stop, continue?
● Act accordingly
● Be courageous. It is not easy. It might endanger your classical career path. But if you mean it you have to put your “skin in the game” and commit yourself. Otherwise people won´t believe you. Not even yourself.
You may ask yourself now: “But how can I transform the whole company in an organized and predictable way?” — you don´t.
Still, it´s worth it to start small.
Small starts can have big impacts. Long term. Non-linearly.
Unpredictably.
Disclaimer
I am really happy that you read this far.
I am sometimes bold with my statements in this text. The points of view are quite one sided and sometimes take multiple perspectives. I am aware of that. But they are also loosely held. I am eager to hear alternative perspectives because I love to have opposing views in my head at the same time — and try to function nevertheless (based on a quote of F. Scott Fitzgerald). Also, reality is always way more complex than one line of argumentation.
I can help you with all of the aspects mentioned above. Every point I mention is a workshop format which we can do together. Reach out if you want to do that.
And if you have related challenges, reach out. I have a network of specialists for many areas in innovation, tech and agile I can connect you with.
You find me on twitter @SirRendipity or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-schmidt-550bb820/
Footnotes
1) The author himself calls it a “theory”. Some might say a theory should be testable. I doubt it is. I will just follow his semantics.
2) I am aware of Neuralink from Elon Musk. They currently measure impulses of the motor cortex and map this with and steer devices by thought control. I have not heard of them measuring beliefs.
3) Richard Bartlett dives into the question whether oral commitments can work better than written rules
Sources
Eva von Redeker im Interview (German only)