Paths in the Snow: A Meditation on Individual/Organizational Change
One of the most important things I have learned through my work in systems change is the value of recognizing patterns from the micro to the macro level and the relationship between them. This is helpful in gaining insights about the nature of individual and organizational change. So I wanted to share one of these patterns through a metaphor.
Each of us would have an experience with negative thought patterns: ways of thinking about ourselves, others, or the world that are counter-productive or unhealthy. We’ve also had the experience of having bad habits or certain experiences that trigger a learned set of reactions (when something stresses me out I immediately crave ice cream cake). Similar to our cries for culture change in organizations, we often wish we could break these habits and introduce new, more desirable and effective behaviours. Why is this so hard?
Imagine your mind like a landscape of fresh snow. There are different destinations on this landscape we can get to. These destination are ways of thinking and behaving, good and bad. The more we think a certain way, or the more we do a certain thing, the deeper/wider the path we create. This means that one way of thinking or one way of doing become the easier thing to do each time we are presented with a choice; even if it isn’t the best or healthiest. And sometimes these paths become ruts so deep that they are hard to get out of. The good news is, with reflection and intention we can get out of them, and create new more desirable paths.
The thing is, doing something new, learning new things or entertaining the unfamiliar, means we need to venture into unexplored territory. That means going where there is currently no path. That’s not the easiest option. It is hard work and there is a really good chance that we are going to get snow in our boots. It’s going to be uncomfortable. But it gets easier over time.
This pattern exists from the neurological (neural pathways), behavioural (habits), organizational (embedded behaviour), and socio-cultural levels (path dependancy). And they inform each other!
How do we change culture? We change culture by creating new paths in our cognitive and organizational snow:
- Mindset – Recognize that each of us is a cultural producer. We co-create our culture through our actions, reactions and inaction every day. This happens in largely unconscious and unintentional ways.
- Intentionality – Find ways to intentionally create the culture we wish to see. As Alex Ryan has said: “culture changes faster through collaborative project work than through a culture change initiative”. Be the change you wish to see in the system; organize your projects to reflect the future that wants to emerge.
- Demonstration – Model the way; show don’t tell. Rather than telling people how to change, show the world what change looks like and create opportunities for them to experience the benefits or working in different ways.
We can’t let the discomfort prevent us from doing the right thing or the new thing. This is why innovation is so hard. Because we have a cognitive bias that has evolved over millennia to protect us. That we reject the unfamiliar to avoid danger. If we want to innovate, to come up with new and novel solutions, to understand the experience of others, we are required to explore the unfamiliar. That often means changing our mental models, behaviours, relationships and organizational designs. It means not doing the same thing we did before, or the way others did before us, even though it is the easier thing to do. It means being conscious of and breaking free from path dependancy and getting snow in our boots. But its ok! The boots will dry and our feet will warm up and we will have added a new choice in paths.
