Shrink-Wrapped in Our Own Thinking:Thinking That Transforms

Presented by

Ariane David, PhDSenior Partner

The Veritas GroupCalifornia State University, Northridge

ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com

The Secret Life of Organizations:

Where the Action Is

Shrink-Wrapped in Our Own Thinking:Thinking That Transforms

There’s no need to remember everything or take amazing notes:

this PowerPoint presentation is posted at

www.theveritasgroup.com

The Secret Life of Organizations:

Where the Action Is

The Life of Organizations

Understanding culture

– Visible life

– Secret life

Unlocking the secret life

Transforming the secret life

Today we’ll focus on…

Organizational Culture and the Secret Life

Culture influences everything we do and think within the organization.

Culture extends out to the farthest reaches of the organization surmounting geographic and social barriers, and it is amazingly resistant to change.

Culture is the social container in which everything in an organization takes place.

Culture is the greatest hindrance to change but can also be the greatest help.

Why is there culture and how did it evolve?

To contain the sum of organizational/societal experience

To transmit knowledge, norms and values

…and as a result

To maintain order and the status quo

To contain group anxiety by fostering predictability

Culture simply happens on its own unless you take the lead.

The Visible Life of Organizations

What makes up culture: visible life.

Tangible artifacts: what we can see, touch, hear, taste, smell

Expressed rules of the Game: espoused norms, standards and values

Mission and vision statements, and all the things we say about ourselves

Conscious/ expressed behavior, language, customs, traditions, shared assumptions

What makes up culture: visible life. (cont)

Expressed metaphors and symbols

Organizational knowledge, stories and expressed history

Formal performance plans and measures, rewards and punishment

Formal distribution of power and expressed leadership norms

Sanctioned/formal communication including social media

The Secret Life of Organizations

The secret life is the container for everything that’s

most magical and exciting about an organization.

Creativity

Engagement

Real communication

Commitment

…but there’s also a dark side that thwarts these things.

What makes up the secret life.

The REAL rules of the Game: actual norms, standards and

values

Shared unexpressed basic assumptions, meanings, and

metaphors and symbols

What people know

Unsanctioned communication including gossip,

un-discussables, and social media

What makes up the secret life. (cont)

De facto rewards and punishment

How leaders actually lead, and how power is distributed

What really motivates and de-motivates *

Hidden individual and group dynamics *

Hidden organizational thinking including how we solve

problems, handle conflict, and make decisions *

Hidden Demotivators

Poor work conditions

Poor salary

Poor relationship with supervisor

Poor relationships with peers

Management characteristics of supervisor

Lack of career future

Meaningless or unsatisfying work

The absence of demotivation does not equate to motivation

Hidden Motivators

Trust in managers/fairness

Opportunity to be creative

Personal responsibility and autonomy

Meaningful work

Personal values that correspond to organizational values

Sense of relationship

Recognition

Thinking in the Secret Life of Organizations

Hidden Organizational Thinking

What we say vs. what we do

Organizational defense patterns (hiding failure and errors)

– Undiscussables

– Blame (the buck flies around)

– Mixed messages and fancy footwork

Groupthink, group shift, and conformity

Positional Thinking Major thinking errors in organizations.

Tyranny of Knowledge

Zero-sum Illusion

Baboon Trap

Lost Key Dilemma

Tyranny of Knowledge

Choosing existing knowledge simply because it’s the knowledge we have.

Doing what worked in the past only because it worked in the past, without examining how

appropriate that strategy is in light new information.

It includes assuming the future will be like the past.

Zero Sum Illusion

Believing that there is a limited amount of “solution”, including “either/or” and “fixed

position” thinking.

Distributive bargaining.

Politics today.

Baboon Trap

Thinking for the short term, not how current actions lead to future outcomes. Ex. Tragedy of the

commons, Hawaiian mongooses

Seeing only parts, but not how they’re related or how they form a whole, including shifting the burden. Ex.

Auto manufacturers; the “gap”

Seeing only symptoms but not the underlying causes

Attachment to unworkable situations. Ex. Our LIVES!

Lost Key Dilemma

Looking for information/solutions/answers somewhere only because that’s where the

information is easy to access.

Not everything that can be counted counts;

not everything that counts can be counted.

(Variously attributed to Albert Einstein, W. Edwards Deming and a half dozen others)

The Secret Life and Organizational Learning

Two Kinds of Organizational Learning

Adaptive Learning: Non-learning Organization

How to avoid pain and get pleasure

• Based in fear• Uses blame to succeed• Purpose is survival (groupthink)• Defensive (organizational defense patterns, blame)

Generative Learning: Learning Organization

Learning is its own reward

•Based in curiosity and openness•Uses accountability to succeed •Purpose is growth and self-expression•Creative

Non-Learning Organization: Positional (Adaptive) Problem Solving

BLAME

Problem

Fear

Blame / Fault

DefensivenessDenial

Distorted Information

Ineffective Action /

No Learning

Fear /Blame

No learning can take place in the space of blame.

Learning Organization: Non-Positional Problem Solving

Problem

Quality information

and communication

CollaborationEffective action

Organizational learning

Openness / Curiosity

Accountability

Mistakes are the price we pay for learning.

Changing Organizations and the Secret Life

Changing organizations by transforming

the secret life.

If you want to create permanent change you need to transform the culture to support it.

But first you need to unlock the secret life

Culture transformation can be intentional or unintentional.

Unlocking the Secret Life: Thinking non-positionally

Realize/acknowledge that you don’t know what’s going on

Decide what it is you want to know and why

Approach your research with curiosity not certainty

Sleuth out the situation

– Observables vs. assumptions

– Organizational “habits” that are implicated

– Hidden organizational thinking and thinking errors

– Think of analysis as building the story line

Breakout: Figuring out the problem

Figuring Out the Problem: Breakout

What is the problem?

– Observables vs. assumptions What are the actual behaviors?

– Human dynamics that are involved

– Organizational “habits” that are implicated

– Hidden organizational thinking and thinking errors ✪

– How the culture keeps it all in place

Hidden Organizational Thinking

What we say vs. what we do

Organizational defense patterns (hiding failure and errors)

– Undiscussables

– Blame (the buck flies around)

– Mixed messages and fancy footwork

Groupthink, group shift, and conformity

✪

Hidden Organizational Thinking ✪ Major thinking errors in organizations.

Tyranny of Knowledge

Zero-sum illusion

Baboon trap

Lost Key dilemma

Transforming the Secret Life

Clearly define where you are now

(what you figured out about the secret life)

Clearly define where you want to be

For each change that you want to introduce, ask

– What cultural “habits” need to be created in order to support them?

– What cultural “habits” need to change?

– What are the behaviors associated with these “habits” and how can we minimize them? How can we strengthen the behaviors we want or change those we don’t? (more on this in a moment)

Identify “resistance”

(cont.)

Transforming the Secret Life (cont.)

Define a strategy for the change including how to overcome

cultural obstacles and resistance, and reinforce allies*

Include how to engage people

– Communication: up and down

– Ask for people’s ideas

– Find out what people need

– Find out what really motivates them

Be consistent in upholding changes

`

Change, the Secret Life and Resistance

Overcoming Resistance

Overcoming Resistance

News Flash!

Overcoming Resistance

News Flash!

Resistance is an illusion - it does not exist.

Overcoming Resistance

News Flash!

Resistance is an illusion - it does not exist.

Only reactions to change exist.

Reactions to Change

All change generates a reaction that either reinforces the change or pushes back on it.

When it reinforces it’s called an ENABLER.

When it pushes back it’s called a RESISTOR. Resistors create resistance.

Resistance to change cannot be managed by bull-dozing it. The only way to deal with resistance is to understand what lies beneath, and work with that.

News Flash!

It is not human nature to resist change or fear the unknown.

Reactions to Change

How, then, do we deal with resistance?

Reactions to Change

Resistance is a natural, inevitable and unavoidable human reaction to disruption.

How much of it we have relates to the size of the disruption and the way in which it is being handled.

Begins immediately when people become aware of the change.

Is neither good nor bad.

Is expressed overtly or covertly.

Perception is reality!

Managing Resistance to Change: Non-Positionally

Don’t assume you know what’s going on. Resistance is very rarely what we think it is.

Identify specific resistors: people, conditions, fears, motives (think “fruit”)

Identify the underlying causes of each of these resistors.

Identify specific enablers.

Make a Force Field Analysis for resistors and enablers.

Find ways of weakening resistors and strengthening enablers.

Change Force Field Analysis

Resistors(weaken resistors)

List RESISTORS and assign a value from 1 to 6, 6 being strongest

Enablers(strengthen enablers)

List ENABLERS and assign a value from 1 to 6, 6 being strongest

5 4 3 2 1 ITEM ITEM 1 2 3 4 5

Creating a Culture from “Scratch”

TOPRAK: A mind experiment.

Shrink-Wrapped in Our Own Thinking:Thinking That Transforms

Questions/Comments/Feedback

Ariane David, PhDThe Veritas Group

Additional Information

ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com

www.theveritasgroup.com

The Hidden Life of Organizations

Where the Action Is