Enabling the murmuration

In the image, above thousands of starlings take to the sky in a breathtaking display known as a murmuration. This mesmerising phenomenon showcases nature's collective intelligence as the flock moves in perfect harmony, creating fluid patterns that seem almost choreographed. 

Each bird is acutely aware of its closest neighbours, allowing the group to respond instantly to environmental changes. This delicate balance between individual action and group alignment enables starlings to adapt swiftly to threats, share information, and stay warm. The murmuration serves as a stunning reminder of the power of collaboration and adaptability in nature.

A critical yet often overlooked aspect of leading change is maintaining awareness of the entire environment and its stakeholders. Effective leaders must understand where people are currently and how they will be impacted by the proposed changes. This holistic view enables better decision-making and allows leaders to focus their efforts on areas with the most significant consequences and potential for positive outcomes.

Not being aware of 'the system' in all of its forms (e.g. hierarchy, processes, team dynamics, history of events) may sometimes be an advantage (avoiding being held back by old habits). It is more likely to cause friction and challenges; subconsciously getting people to put up their walls!

Here are a couple of stories with factors to consider when navigating change and improvements in your domain.

Understanding the system

When planning client workshops, I work closely with clients to enable the workshops to be effective. Reflecting upon a recent workshop planning session with a client, I thought about how crucial it was to have appreciated the people involved and their situation - and truly explore where they are; their situation. 

The workshop is intended to help the team create their own consistent practices and set a base for ongoing self-improvements, while also increasing their satisfaction and motivation. So we needed to set it up for success, and also avoid trip wires that might bring walls up and close down progress (sort of like in Raiders of the Lost Arc!).

While reviewing the design the wording on one of the slides was picked up; it was inviting participants to think outside the box. This is usually a perfectly harmless statement, yet every environment has their own culture, ways of working, terminology and reverberating messages which resonate loudly, and if we don’t know how that concept or term is understood, it can bring up subconscious walls of resistance. 

On this occasion, the team is constantly thinking outside the box, so asking them to do it in a workshop would likely lead to them feeling belittled! So we changed the message to fit them. A small but significant example.

If something as simple as that can derail an even to drive improvement, think about what else could explain the myriad challenges is enabling a (perhaps subtle) shift in your workplace?

The value of frameworks

A common practice is to follow a given process and use certain frameworks and templates. While this can be extremely helpful, it can also hold us back and even block possibilities. I have seen this happen in the software domain, where (over the course of a decade) ‘agile’ ways of working moved from 4 values and 12 principles to complete handbooks and massive frameworks; leading to a loss of intuition, common sense and the ability to problem solve.

Change management often follows a similar path, which is even acknowledged by Prosci (a commonly applied framework in change, and owners of ADKAR). Prosci admits, on their own website (6 reasons why change management fails), that 70% of change initiatives fail - because we are failing to consider how to dance along the path. Instead we fall into a habit of marching in step, which looks efficient, but can cause severe damage (analogous to the London Millennium Bridge debacle).

The power of inner development

A leader’s successful journey

It was a pleasure recently to see a (1-on-1 leadership coaching) client have their eureka moment, gleaned from a fresh understanding of how to work more effectively in their work system.

Their focus was initially on becoming a better leader, with a greater presence to enable it. However, towards the end of the coaching program they shared that the presence expectation has changed. 

With increased awareness, they saw that being a better leader for them was more about building trust and asking the right questions in a constructive manner. The presence now turned on its head; with their team already moved from good to great, it became time to work on a presence up the chain, using many of the same concepts. It had turned out to be inner development and soft skills that made this possible.

They were now able to effectively shift their focus from being a leader of a team, to becoming an inspirational leader of a department and more.

Summary

Effective change cannot happen without considering the impact on the people, and how we ourselves are part of that picture. This requires thought, reflection - and collaboration.

? You may be thinking; all my guys are good, they have lots of experience ? 

Yet adding to the case I shared above, the leader had been a manager for years, and at the start of the coaching program they shared how they knew leadership had changed and they hadn’t - YET. Self awareness, supported by curiosity and a growth mindset, enabled them to move forward very quickly.