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What does it mean to be a GoodCo? The "Co" can represent anything from collaborator to connection to conversation to corporation. However, in this context (another "Co") we use company as a double entendre. The company you keep and also the company you work for.
Culture best describes what type of company you are. A good company or a not so good company are a result of the very nature of complex adaptive systems where patterns emerge and reinforce the system. Our position is a good company produces a generative culture that is good for your clients, customers, employees, and shareholders.
Unknown
In this version of you, your mindset is focused on you looking good which selects a practice of building your reputation. This practice leads to a pattern of scapegoating when you fail to achieve your intent. This behavior is fear based and power-oriented.
With this version of you, your mindset is focused on you doing good which selects a practice of creating prescription. This practice leads to a pattern of justice when you fail to achieve your intent. This behavior is also fear based and rule-oriented.
This is the best version of you. Your mindset is focused on collective good which selects a practice of enabling others. This practice leads to a pattern of inquiry when we fail to achieve our intent. This behavior is knowledge based and performance-oriented.
Roy T. Bennett
The behavior of this culture really sucks because people are out for themselves and you have to watch your back constantly. Nobody tells the truth unless it helps them climb the ladder. Fear is omnipresent.
The behavior of this culture can't get anything done without going through many layers. Rules, rules, rules and more rules. How many checklists do we need? People tend to have a narrow focus.
Now we are talking. The behavior of this culture puts people first and knows what it takes to win as a team. Performance matters and retention is high. People are focused on learning as a means for growth.
Peter Drucker
You and your OS are complex adaptive systems. In the case of culture, this means that patterns emerge from the OS that defines its behavior and it is that behavior influencing you to adapt. The result of your adaptation reinforces the OS often making your culture resistant to change.
Patterns are essential to understanding the behavior of your culture. The patterns of pathological and bureaucratic cultures reduce information flow of the OS with power and rule-oriented behavior. These cultures produce more org debt increasing costs and reducing revenue. Conversely, generative culture's performance oriented behavior increase information flow. This culture minimizes org debt reducing costs and increasing revenue.
Let's use an example with everyone's favorite practice, meetings:
Pathological Pattern: Scapegoating
Org debt impact: High
Bureaucratic Pattern: Justice
Org debt impact: Moderate to high
Generative Pattern: Inquiry
Org debt impact: None to low
If your meetings are spent with people scapegoating or punishing failure then you are exhibiting patterns that lead to more org debt. If your meetings are centered around learning then you will have less org debt. Which culture has greater value generation? Which culture would you want to be a part of?
Managers maintain, leaders transform. If you are focused on maintaining order and business as usual then you are not leading, you are reacting and part of the culture that you may not want but feel powerless to change.
The reality is, you do have the power to change it. Every leader plays a significant role in shaping culture through your own patterns of behavior. The first of which is to create and hold space for change. In this space, we develop your ability to recognize patterns. You will know what type of culture you are a part of and what patterns you should target for change.
Think of your culture as a sailboat at sea. How difficult has it been to arrive at your chosen destination? Together, we can help you and your crew understand the wind, read the tides, know the currents and navigate its waters. Your arrival is good for everyone.
Ralph Nader
We interact with a complicated system very differently than we do a complex system. An automobile is complicated, traffic is complex. A project plan is complicated, executing a successful project is complex.
In a complicated system you sense what is occurring, analyze what is needed, and respond with a known good practice. Think of an automobile that you've sensed isn't starting and you've analyzed that the battery is dead. Now, what good practice should you choose to prevent this from occurring in the future? One is regular maintenance and another is having a battery tender. Another is regularly testing your alternator or generator. Many good practices can be applied.
In a complex system we won't know what will work until after the fact. If we picked a known good practice such as the automobile example above your culture may reject it. This is due to the nature of complexity. With a complex system we would need to probe (or experiment), sense what occurs and respond accordingly. Instead of the automobile think traffic. While roundabouts certainly have their merits do they work on freeways? Will it be as effective in downtown Montreal as Los Angeles? Maybe. Maybe not. Can you imagine the chaos created if you decided to put roundabouts (a practice) everywhere (at scale)?
Now think about your culture. Can you imagine the org debt that would be created if you scaled a known good practice in your OS? Would it work? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps you already know. If we are appreciating complexity, we respond with creating and holding space for safe-to-try experimentation to find out what occurs and respond accordingly.
When there is a desire to change it rouses a tension. A tension occurs when our current reality is counter to our vision. Tension is an indicator that change will occur its only a matter of time. Think of a rubber band under stress. Eventually it'll snap. Would you rather wait for that to occur? Or relieve the tension?
Appreciating complexity, we know that tension is relieved by experimentation. This experiment deploys a practice to determine if a desired pattern develops. Anti-patterns are targeted since they are disrupted by experimentation. Undesired patterns are called anti-patterns because they prevent you from achieving your vision.
Why does this work? As you learned above, culture is a systems phenomena and systems reveal their behavior via patterns. The causes of these tensions are revealed in patterns and emphasize the importance of developing pattern recognition. We integrate this coaching extensively in our services.
Alan Watts
Adapted from the good work of
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