Strategic Planning, "Learning Organizations", and Creative Tension…in Dog Speak

"Every act of creation first of all is an act of destruction

because the new idea will destroy

what a lot of people believe is essential

to the survival of their intellectual world."

                          --- Pablo Picasso

Successful organizational and personal change; successful organizational and personal learning, comes individually from within the people, and takes time.  One size does not fit all.  It is not dictated from the top or brought in from the outside, and then completed by the end of the year.  If you don't know that, you should.  

Too many programs still begin with the tenet to gain commitment from the top of the organization; and that is certainly necessary in the development of strategic plans and learning organizations.  I've never been convinced that is totally true for organizational change.  

However, numerous plans, programs and ideas die simply because they only have buy-in at the top.  Mission/Vision statements created by "senior" leadership then vetted by lawyers and handed to the masses on cool wall hangings aimed at building morale.  Apparently some MBA programs missed the Drucker line... "You can't motivate people, you can only thrwart their motivation.  They have to motivate themselves.".   Handing them a wall hanging does not create motivational circumstances.  

How many of us have witnessed a scenario where the “boss” attends a conference, sees a GREAT presentation and returns to the office inspired and espousing the need to "get this program going"?  The minions quickly read the material and then go off running in circles and being “proactive”, hoping to make the boss happy. 

By the end of the month they’re all In Search of Excellence as they try to get Out of the Crisis with Seven Habits of Highly Effective People ; but most often they end up with a new definition of Thriving on Chaos.    The program dies a slow death because the group was focused more on performing for the boss’s approval and not on creating the best outcome for the organization.   By the end of the year, the boss is discouraged, the minions are frustrated, employees are openly apathetic and nobody's talking about the benefit of anything, particularly the "program".[1]

Dog advice: Don't preach "change is constant, our organization is a learning one...", then follow it up with directives like, "have it done by ...." That is called a mixed message in dog speak.   It does great at building packs of angry dogs, though.  
 

Simply put, one of the basics of developing this organizational learning thing is the understanding that people (AND organizations) have been conditioned to be taught rather than to learn.  Think about it…. from the moment we entered school, we have been given grades and approval based on our ability to ingest information and regurgitate "correct" responses to tests.   Then we entered the job market and get ratings on our performance appraisal; and the need to impress our teacher has magically moved to impressing our boss. 

Simply put, from about the age of 5, people have been trained to go into a room, be filled with information and directions, and regurgitate correct answers.  Simply put, people have been taught to perform for approval, which is generally in the form of meeting other people's expectations.  Peter Senge, in defining a “learning organization” astutely positioned the learning organization as beginning with the basic principle of addressing people's need to re-learn how to learn. 

The research-based concept of continuous learning is foreign to most people.  The theory entails education of the individual and the organization, based on five disciplines:  1) continually clarifying and deepening the vision and understanding each individual's ability to create their own reality, 2) unearth the internal pictures that individual's and organization's carry of themselves and other things, scrutinize them, and make them open to the influence of others, 3) create a capacity to "think together" by learning to "talk together", 4) develop and share visions of the future which foster genuine commitment, and, 5) think systemically, which will integrate the other four and fuse them into a coherent body of theory and practice.  

Pretty high-brow esoteric stuff, huh?   Too deep, complicated and confusing for mere mortal dogs?   Not really.  It ain’t rocket science.  It is work though, very hard work; and can't be done in 30-60-90 days.   The concept is one of never ending, always moving. 

Dog advice:  
“Sometimes it’s what you want, sometimes it’s not what you want, sometimes it’s a combination of both – but it’s the whole system which creates that.  If you want to improve, what you do is improve the system; you don’t badger the people to work harder or work smarter.  You don’t threaten them with punishment or promise them rewards:  that’s looking in the wrong place.”
                                                                        --- Peter Scholtes 

You may also have heard about developing a strategic plan.   Many places approach “strategic planning” in the same way the boss did in the fourth paragraph.   I can tell you, as someone who was involved in these things on a regular basis, I have a lot of 3-ring binders with cool powerpoint inserts, that cost a whole lot of money for a minimal ROI.   And they gather dust.  All of the idea and programs inside those binders crying to get out.  

I would go on to say that success in progressing through the strategic planning journey lies in senior leaders (personally and organizationally), working on a mission of con­tinually clarifying and deepening their own personal visions, focusing energies, developing patience, and seeing reality objec­tively. 

These leaders push, pull, prod their organizations/people from their “current reality’ to really see a “vision” of what may be.   And, Current Reality and Vision are clear pictures, not some vague hyperbole.   They involve speaking the so very difficult words called “truth”.  Hold a mirror up to the organizaton, and the individuals.  

This effort of moving from current reality to a new world vision generates something called “creative tension”; best described in Picasso’s quote above. 

Creative tension will come on strong as ways to improve and work together evolve in the processes and people.   People will impulsively look at things as “win/lose”; or from a perspective of “us vs. them” in “either/or” situations, rather than looking at what is best for what may be achieved TOGETHER.   They are operating from their long-held need to “perform for approval” and get a good grade. 

And, again, that’s okay.   That’s a normal part of the process.   The trick is to address those concerns in open and honest two-way communication.  This process is part of a longer plan, not a weekly plan, so a lot of things aren’t known and need to be worked out.   A lot of questions don’t have answers, and the need to learn more about some things to be able to formulate the best answers.  Ambiguity may rule, but the chaos may also ultimately bring new order.   (Thanks to Meg Wheatley for "Leadership & The New Science").

Success will be achieved in doing that, and building momentum.  Success will be achieved by keeping that momentum going.   Thus, no dust gathering.  

The principle of creative tension has long been recognized by real leaders.  Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind, so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths, so must we create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism."    

But creative tension can't be generated from vision alone; it demands an accurate picture of current reality as well.  Just as King had a dream, so too did he continually strive to "dramatize the shameful conditions" of racism and prejudice so that they could no longer be ignored.  As noted in the example of the “boss and the program” above, Vision without an understanding of current reality will more likely foster cynicism than creativity.  The death knell for strategic planning.

Many organizations also mistake analysis for action.   All the analysis in the world will never achieve a vision.  Many very smart people fail because they try to substitute analysis for vision.  The “boss” may say something about decisions needing to be “data driven” and "evidence based" – and, whoosh, the minions are off and running for a data analysis program!   Do they assume that if people see data, they will feel the motivation to change…because that’s what the boss said?   Then they are disappointed when people "resist" the personal and organizational changes that must be made to alter their reality.

Simply put, someone must transform the data into information, help it become knowledge, then generate understanding and, ultimately, facilitate the wisdom to find the way.  Get people to WANT to go to the new realities.  Leaders to provide the tools, the resources AND the common focus.  

What some leaders never grasp is that the natural energy for changing things must come from within the people.  Yes, the data analysis is important, but it only tells us where we’ve been, not where we are gong.   How to take action on the data and how we’re going to get to where we want to be…that’s what leadership is for.   One size solution may not fit all of the needs of strong organizations, and the numerous entities embedded within each one.  

Dog advice:   Don't mistake patience for weakness.  It's just the opposite. 

It takes time... and effort… and patience… to see the possibilities; the vision of what is possible to become clear.   Leaders fear that patience will be perceived as a weakness.   This is another common mistake in many places.   Yet, nothing is really further from the truth.   This isn’t just about solving the immediate day-to-day problems.  

Leading through creative tension is different than solving problems.  In problem solving, the energy for change comes from attempting to get away from a current reality that is undesirable.  That is reactive and can be done quickly.   With creative tension, the energy for change comes from seeing the vision of what we want to create.   That takes time.   Success is in solving the immediate problems with the future in mind.  

As the saying goes, “recognize the past, live for today and look for tomorrow”. 

So, simply put, the pursuit of real learning and accomplishing a strategic plan needs not just endorsement and acceptance at the top, but leadership which is willing to accept a challenge to transform the organization's culture.  It needs leadership who understands that such acceptance places an emphasis on continuous learning and compels them to have enough self-confidence to admit that they don't know everything, but they have the resources to find the solutions.  When problems arise, when capabilities are less than ideal, leaders must understand that they can institute effective changes from the top through their own learning.  It needs leaders who can learn, as well as lead. 

That alone can be the biggest challenge. 

People who have changed the universe never accomplished it by changing officials, but always by inspiring the people.

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[1] The italicized titles are of popular business books by: Tom Peters/Robert Waterman, W. Edwards Deming, Steven Covey, and Tom Peters, respectively.