2 ∎ Setup for Success
Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.
—Amelia Earhart
Why This Book Is Needed
Organizations are facing far greater challenges in today’s rapidly changing world, and despite much investment in change, they are continuing to fail at providing engaging workplaces.
Most Organizations Suck
The truth is that most organizations on this planet, from corporations to nonprofits, have terrible performances. Employee engagement, culture, and leadership are the number one issues facing organizations (Solow 2015). Large organizations that have been around for decades or even centuries are going bankrupt as they fail to compete with the fast pace of a modern world that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous—the VUCA world.
Now more than ever, society is demanding change. Organizations are being asked to shift to more conscious business practices—to place an emphasis on taking care of customers and the environment—and to provide workplaces that support the needs of workers. People are demanding environmental responsibility and equality as they struggle with financial deprivation and untold suffering. This demand to change organizational structures is not enough. Even if the organizational desire to change is there, the understanding of how to make this change is elusive.
Change Is Hard
Attempts at organizational transformation, whether in the name of Agile, Digital, Lean, or culture, either fail outright or fall far short of lofty expectations. The whole mechanism of understanding organizational change is a broken paradigm. It’s time to hit the eject button on what no longer works.
Leadership Is Lost
The truth is that those with the power to effect change are truly lost. They do not have the understanding, skills, or stable presence needed to effect real change. And it’s not getting better: “While there is a $366 billion investment globally in leadership development, most organizations are not getting results” (Westfall 2019). Our view is that without a fundamental rethink of leadership, there is no hope of progress.
Humanity Is Dying
To pull out to an even wider perspective, the survival of the human species seems to be coming to an end with environmental overuse and collapse. Unless there is a global shift in how we function, adapt, and lead change, finding a way forward will likely be increasingly difficult and perhaps even impossible.
Leading Beyond Change
“Leading Beyond Change” has multiple overlapping meanings that clarify the purpose and contribution of this book.
Beyond = Business Agility and the Future of Work
It is possible to create high-performing organizations filled with energized people that are able to surf the waves of change. Whether you call this business agility, Teal (high performing), Evolutionary, or the future of work, it is possible for you and for your organization to evolve. Whether you care about the results, the people, or how to innovate, this book holds the keys to understanding where you are and where you want to go.
Leading Beyond
Are you interested in leading an organization beyond business as usual to the future of work? There is a clear set of capabilities and skills that anyone can acquire to learn this new way of leading. We show you step by step exactly what this looks like, so you can evolve your leadership.
Beyond Change
It may sound crazy, but the secret to change is to stop trying to change things. Out of this seeming paradox, a new paradigm arises for how to move beyond change to ongoing organizational evolution. With the guidance of very practical business patterns, a new future may emerge.
SHIFT314 Evolutionary Leadership Framework (SELF)™
We have created the SHIFT314 Evolutionary Leadership Framework (SELF) to create the understanding and application needed to evolve high performance. The SELF system includes the Laws of Organizational Dynamics™.
While the laws provide an understanding of the intrinsic cause-and-effect relationships, SELF provides a means and approach to apply the laws that evolve people and organizations.
While some concepts you may have heard before, many are novel to our work. For example, in the Integration of Culture, Leadership, and Org.Change model, you will discover how organizational culture, organizational leadership, and organizational change are not three separate subject areas. Instead, they are deeply intertwined, and lasting success comes from an integrated understanding that informs novel application.
SELF—an Introduction
In this book, we share one part of the SELF. It is a collection of maps, principles, models, patterns, and tools that you can use to unlock success.
SELF is a practical guide for leading beyond change to evolve business agility.
While it is about your “self,” it is equally about how you can make lasting change without power, budget, or authority.
The components of SELF that we will be highlighting in the book are shown in table 2.1. Each component is represented by an icon. These icons will be used throughout the book to highlight the SELF components and provide rapid access to key information. The elements of SELF that we will be highlighting in the book are as follows:
Table 2.1: SELF Components and Icons
| Icon | What | Description |
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Map | Visual infographics that tell you how to get from where you are now to where you want to go. |
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Principle | Principles guide effective evolution by explaining what to do or by linking cause and effect. |
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Model | Analytical models that you can use to collect data and perform analysis. A frame for viewing and understanding the world around you. |
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Tool | A specific practice or technique that you can use to improve results. |
The Laws of Organizational Dynamics™
The SELF is ultimately an encoding of what we call the Laws of Organizational Dynamics. As organizations are composed of people and structures, the laws provide an integrated understanding of the interplay between people and aspects of organizations.
It sounds fancy, yet it is really all about the law of connecting cause and effect. Things like A → B. For example, we might illustrate with the principle: when you treat people well, they perform better.
Like the law of gravity, the Laws of Organizational Dynamics are always in effect. Ignorance of a law does not excuse one from the consequences when they break it. The whole purpose of this book is to help you understand the laws so you can be at a place of choice for what you want to create. It’s up to you whether you want to follow the laws or not.
Expect Practical, Not Academic
The very first version of this book was written in an academic style, and it was boring. It has since been heavily modified, and the focus is on practical application and ease of understanding. We could easily double the number of citations—however, that’s not going to help you create impact. In the event that you recognize key messages that aren’t mentioned, just see that as confirmation that you are on the right path.
How to Get the Most Out of This Book
The book is divided into three parts:
• Part One: Starting the Journey gives you a bird’s-eye view for how to evolve high-performance organizations by starting with leaders.
• Part Two: Patterns for Leading Beyond Change. The core of this book is dozens of business patterns that cut across seven dimensions of organizational functioning. The traps of traditional organizations are contrasted with the high-performance practices of evolutionary organizations.
• Part Three: Integration and Application revisits key messages and guides you through steps for application and continued learning.
Your Turn = Your Success
Throughout the book there are Your Turn questions at the end of each chapter and pattern—this is your chance to actually improve in practice. Just reading the book without application will give you an academic understanding. However, it will not have the practical results that you may be hoping to achieve. It is scientifically proven that journaling exercises increase learning and retention.
Our advice for you as you set out on this journey is to play “all in.” We promise that you will get out what you put in. Why is this important?
Imagine you want to be a great soccer player. Reading books on soccer won’t directly translate to success on the field. What will lead to success is application and practice. Success requires muscle memory, where new ways of perceiving and acting are integrated into your being.
Download Workbook and Diagrams Now
We have created a free package to support your learning journey, which includes:
• Key diagrams: Easy reference to key diagrams to orient you while you read the book and support integration of concepts.
• Exercise workbook: Use journaling and reflection activities to deepen learning and evolve your consciousness.
• Tools: Tools to go beyond the book contents to accelerate your evolutionary journey.
Download at: https://shift314.com/leading-beyond-change.
Your Turn
• What does “leading beyond change” mean to you?
• How well is culture, leadership, and organizational change functioning in your workplace?
• What connections do you already see between the topics of culture, leadership, and organizational change?