“Learning is not compulsory…neither is survival.” – W. Edwards Deming
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
“Adapt or perish; now as ever, it’s nature’s inexorable imperative.” – H.G. Wells
These are certainly challenging times. We’ve been through a global economic earthquake and we’re still feeling the aftershocks. It’s understandable that we might want to just find a safe place to cower and wait for the danger to pass, to pull in our wings and minimize our risks. And yet, if there has ever been a time when we need to explore and experiment, this is that time. Our world has changed and we need to figure our how this new one works. We need to rediscover our place in it.
For some that means an entirely new career path if not outright unemployment. For many it means re-evaluating our customers and markets and business strategies. If everything we already know were enough to accomplish that, we wouldn’t be struggling. Our challenge is to somehow move beyond our expertise to discover new insights, preferably ahead of our competitors. It’s a mental challenge that demands imagination and creativity and a willingness to take risks.
It’s a set of skills that are not easily mastered. Yet they’re behaviours that are fundamentally very childlike, even playful. We were born explorers; just watch any toddler. As adults, our knowledge makes us more cautious, and we’re certainly getting plenty of reminders about how things can go wrong, but knowledge isn’t necessarily the solution we need. As important as it is, our knowledge represents accumulated assumptions and beliefs that may no longer serve our objectives. There are times when we need to abandon old orthodoxies about a market or an industry or business practices that may no longer hold.
Our knowledge can sometimes be a hindrance, so hope it afflicts your competitors while you investigate new options. Most of us realize we need to adapt, but we resist because the necessary changes contradict what we believe to be true. We forget that what’s true all around us is already different, and therefore calls for a new response.
It’s also important as a leader to recognize how powerful our instincts are to hold onto those past assumptions—especially when we’re under stress. We need to be very explicit about the value of exploring new possibilities—even when they contradict long held beliefs. Things like encouragement, trust, a tolerance for uncertainty and the ability to assess and manage risk are what distinguish great leaders in times of change. What’s crucial is not just the ability to drive change, but to effectively adapt to the changes imposed on us…and knowing how to help others do the same.
Dennis Stauffer is an internationally recognized thought leader on the behaviours and attitudes that promote adaptation and agility. He works with executives, innovators and other leaders to hone those skills. As founder of US-based Insight Fusion, he will be leading an executive retreat April 23 and 24. For more information…http://www.cforc.org/flyers/100423DennisStauffer.html
Filed under: Leadership
