Read More - Zenger Folkman

CHANGEEMERGENCEEmergenceHow change happens.by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah FriezeIN SPITE OF CURRENT slogans, theworld does not change one personat a time. It changes as networks ofrelationships form among people whoshare a common cause and vision. Thisis good news for leaders: We don’tneed to convince large numbers of peopleto change; instead, we need to connectwith kindred spirits.Networks need to evolve into intentionalworking relationships wherenew knowledge, practices, courage,and commitment can develop, such ashappens in Communities of Practice.From these relationships, emergencebecomes possible. Emergence is howlarge-scale change happens. Separate,local efforts connect and strengthentheir interaction and interdependency.What emerges is a system of influence—a powerful cultural shift that thengreatly influences behaviors anddefines accepted practices.Traditionally, when leaders seek tocreate a culture of achievement, theycreate a vision, develop a strategy,design an implementationplan, structure a timeline ofactivities and desired outcomes,design assessmentand evaluation tools, thenparcel out the work. Theyseek allies and changechampions from seniorleaders, use policies, measuresand rules to enforcethe new behaviors, developrewards and enticements to achievebuy-in, punish those who don’t buy it,and develop a PR and communicationstrategy to create good press.This theory has several embeddedassumptions: Change is top-down andrequires top-level support; it requirescareful planning and good controls; ithappens step-by-step in a neat, incrementalfashion; behavior can be mandated;rewards and punishmentmotivate people to change; and largescalechanges require large-scale efforts.This approach to change has failedto achieve its intentions. The intent isto create a Culture of Achievement butwhat emerges is a Culture of Enforcementwhich subverts achievement and weariesand demoralizes people.How do change leaders often createresults opposite to what they intend?To answer this question, we need tonotice how change really happens.Change Through EmergenceIn all living systems, change happensthrough emergence. Large-scalechanges that have great impact do notoriginate in plans or strategies from onhigh. Instead, they begin as small, localactions. While they remain separateand apart, they have no influencebeyond their locale. However, if theybecome connected, exchanging informationand learning, their separateefforts can emerge as powerfulchanges, able to influence a large system.This sudden appearance alwaysbrings new capacity. Three things areguaranteed with emergent phenomena:their power and influence far exceedany sum of the separate efforts; theyexhibit skills and capacities that werenot present in the local efforts; andtheir appearance always surprises us.One way to understand emergenceis to look at the “Perfect Storm.” Itspower is a result of several factors convergingin perfect synchrony. If anyone of the elements were not presentat that very moment, the storm couldnot emerge. It is the simultaneity of theirconvergence that creates their power.Well-intentioned leaders often activateunseen dynamics in the culture tocreate a perfect storm. Localchanges that have little significancein isolation convergewith other changes tocreate a major force.In organizations, aSystem of Influence determinesaccepted practicesand patterns of behavior; itsets the criteria for what’simportant. Over time, thosewho fail to conform to requirementsget labeled as deviant and pushed to thefringes. A System of Influence, like aculture, sets the values, norms, expectations,beliefs and assumptions. Itdetermines where resources go, whatpractices to use, which behaviors toreward. To understand how these powerfulsystems of influence arise, wemust understand and work with thedynamics of emergence.Working with EmergenceEmergence is a description of largescalechange. These Systems of Influencehave broad reach and affect behaviorsthroughout the system. Yet emergencedoesn’t start big—it begins with smalllocal actions. Large-scale changeemerges from connections amongthese local efforts, from the exchangesand forging of relationships.Even if you could change all the elements,you could never replicate howthey converge. What you can do isbegin to create system-wide change byworking locally where you learn how tobe the change you want to see. At thestart, your small efforts seem impotent,puny in the face of the dominating culture.By themselves, they’re insufficient.These initial local experiments notonly teach us how to make the futurecome alive in the present, they activatesupportive beliefs that have been suppressedby the current culture. Manysupportive dynamics and beliefs areinvisible now, but they appear as youdo your work. Your work is to encouragelocal experiments, to nourish supportivebeliefs and dynamics, and tosponsor people to connect with all thekindred spirits now working in isolation.This is how you work with emergenceto create the future you desire.Emergence has a life-cycle. In eachstage, connections become strongerand interactions more numerous anddiverse. It begins with networking,connecting people who are often soengaged in their own efforts that theydon’t know what’s happening outsidetheir building. Discovering you’re notalone offers a big boost to morale.The second stage is when peoplerealize that they can create more benefitby working together. Relationships shiftfrom casual exchanges to a commitmentto work together. Personal needs expandto include a desire to support others andimprove professional practices. Oneexample is Communities of Practice—agroup of practitioners dedicated to learningwith and from one another in pursuitof promising practices that supportor create the desired changes. Withemergence, it’s not critical mass youhave to achieve—it’s critical connections.As we innovate at the local level,strengthen connections, and embodysocietal ideals, we work toward theemergence of a new System of Influence.If we can see how we created our currentculture and how change happens,a new map will reveal itself for howwe can create better organizations. LEMargaret Wheatley is President emerita of The Berkana Institute,and author of Leadership and the New Science and ASimpler Way.Deborah Frieze is co-president of the Berkana Institute. Visitwww.margaretwheatley.com, www.Berkana.org or bigspeak.com.ACTION: Work with emergence.10 May 2008 Leadership Excellence