Creating Conversations that Matter

What have been your real lived experiences with major change inside an organization? What was the initial catalyst? How did it migrate throughout the company? What might the model for that messy, complex change process look like? 

For me, the most appropriate metaphor is the hologram because it best captures the true complexity involved. Over the next few weeks, I plan on going into detail for each aspect of my model for change. For now, I invite you to simply reflect on the words and image and see what emerges for you as you think about your own lived experiences of change.

I once heard Meg Wheatley say that if you trace any major change back to its origin, it started with: “A friend and I were talking.” The example she shared was Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) which began when two women were chatting and discovered they both had lost children to drunk drivers. Their conversation deepened into wanting to make sure other mothers did not experience the same tragedy. They built their relationship, broadened their inquiry to many others, tried different approaches and built on those that seemed to work and learning along the way. Their initial connection and conversation in 1980 sparked a movement that has grown into one of the nation’s most respected non-profit organizations.

What about change inside an organization? Does it happen the same way? I believe it does. In fact, I think it is the only way that successful change occurs. And by successful, I mean long-lasting and beneficial to all stakeholders–change that lasts beyond the existing leadership! But how to convey that kind of messy, complex, emergent process in a two-dimensional graphic. Through conversations with my colleagues Patricia Shaw and Nic LeDourec, I came up with the model below. (Note: Models make me very nervous because they are both our best friend and worst enemy. Friend because they simplify the messiness and complexity of real life and help us make sense. Worst enemy because they simplify the messiness and complexity of real life and can easily give us a very distorted sense of reality! What a paradox!)

I call it a “holographic” model because even though it looks on the surface like 6 discrete steps, in actuality, every step is embedded in every other. Consider a hologram: When a laser is bounced off the plate a 3-D image appears. If that plate should break, a laser bounced off any piece will still reveal the WHOLE image (though dimmer). I chose the image of the fern to convey the fractal nature of the model. That is, that the pattern repeats at every level of detail.

Reactions?

Our Profound Conversations website has just gone live and I’m excited! Both that we have a new site and also that our homepage has blog features: so that I can share my thinking, approaches, and tools for successful change with you here . I hope you enjoy exploring this site!

And I hope it raises questions in your mind. Because I believe that questions are what produce generative profound conversations. Questions are very fateful - What we ask about determines what we find.

Right now I am very focused on questions that help develop leadership: in myself, in my community, and as a key part of my consulting practice.

What are you curious about? I look forward to learning from you, and with you.

Feel free to provide feedback by adding a comment below. Or email me directly: neil@profoundconversations.com.

One of Profound Conversations’ core approaches is The Importance of Questions & The Appreciative Approach. One of the questions I am often asked by clients is to explain what exactly I mean by the Appreciative Approach, why I use it – and how they can learn more.

I made them a summary – and I would like to share it with you.

Appreciative Inquiry & The Appreciative Approach

“We have two possibilities, we can look at what works or we can look at what doesn’t work - whatever we look for is what we are going to find”. - Marjorie Schiller, Phd

The Appreciative Approach is based on Appreciative Inquiry (AI).

AI offers a new, invigorating approach to dealing with the very real business issues you face. We focus on what gives energy, and support leaders, their teams, and their organizations on remembering and re-discovering themselves at their best.

Let’s contrast it briefly with the traditional approach: The traditional approach to change is often deficit-focused. It comes from the belief that organizations are problems that need to be solved. That all we need to do to “fix” the problem is to identify the root cause of failure and then develop and implement solutions to close the gap. Often, experts are called in to diagnose the problem and “prescribe” solutions.

Appreciative Inquiry’s new theory of change is that broad-based participation and collaboration focused on purposefully exploring for and enhancing that which gives life to an organization when it is performing at its best is much more effective and efficient in shaping the future. Or as David Cooperrider (the originator of AI) put it: “AI is an exciting way to embrace organizational change. Its assumption is simple: Every person, every team, every school, every organization has something that works right – things that give it life when it is most alive, effective, successful, and connected in healthy ways to its stakeholders and communities.”

Therefore, the Appreciative Approach means we direct our questions away from deficits and gaps. We focus instead on what gives energy, and support leaders, their teams, and their organizations on remembering and re-discovering themselves at their best. As a result, a powerful vision for, and commitment to, an energizing future emerges.

You can learn more about Appreciative Inquiry here. Or ask me a question via email or in the comment section below. I look forward to your feedback!

Over the past two weeks, I have found myself continually returning to one particular story and a John Quincy Adams quote.

A Story: Two Wolves

An elder Apache was teaching his grandchildren about life.

He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.”

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Grandpa simply replied, “The one you feed.”

A Quote:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.
- John Quincy Adams

I believe that the same fight the elder Chief refers to goes on every day in many organizations–within individual leaders, within the leadership team, within and between departments, between the field and home office, between management and staff… I could go on.

The questions it raises for me are:

• Which wolf have I been feeding? (Which wolf do you feed?)
• Are we choosing which wolf to feed or simply continually re-running long-standing patterns?
• What impact is it having on us and our organizations?
• How is that choice affecting our ability to inspire others to dream, learn, do, and become more?
• What possibilities might a different choice create?

I would love to hear your answers to these questions. And perhaps you have some questions for me, too?