A moment in time: transformation is possible

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Many people use the term ‘change’ very broadly.

Firstly, change is preceded by learning. As you consider what you and your teams have learned recently (refusing to use the virus word today!) or need to learn, the model below (from my forth coming book ‘Big Little Shifts: complexity thinking for organisational change and adaptation’) may help.

There are three types of learning (Chris Argyris and Donald Schön (1978))

Single-loop: Do you just need to refine your actions? Is the learning all in the execution?

Double-loop: Does the learning involve challenging long help beliefs and assumptions (e.g. ‘we could never do this work from home.’)

Triple-loop: What would the business look like if we met the real needs of our employees, business, customers, community and natural environment? (a renewed or refreshed purpose).

Although transformation is a term that is used a great deal, the conditions for a genuine transformation do not exist very often.

Transformation is a very real possibility at present because of the extent of change that we have already experienced. The whole systems has been shaken up and because we are all interdependent, that shake up means there is more flexibility within the whole system at present – which means radical change or transformation of the triple loop kind is more likely to be successful and perhaps demanded to survive and thrive into the new future.

“Don’t waste a good crisis!” – you could work with people to use this time to generate the future in more positive ways. Ways that challenge existing beliefs and transform the purpose through the creation of a new vision of possibilities.

Your future survival may depend on your ability to lead yourself and others through these deeper levels of learning. And that is important for all of us. Now, more than ever, we are realising that ‘the quality of my future is dependent upon your future’.