Finding the eye of the storm
By Brian Bacon, Founder and President, Oxford Leadership Academy
At the turn of the millennium, we live in a time of fundamental transformations of a scale never witnessed in all our history. The political, economic, technological, cultural and now climatic changes act together like a huge hurricane that swirls individuals and organizations around in a constant process of adjustments and repositionings. The stronger and wiser remain standing whereas others are simply expelled by the winds.
Many of the companies that figured proudly on the Fortune 500 listings just a decade or two ago have not survived. Millions of people have been thrown to the lines of the unemployed by the relentless storms of downsizings and rightsizings. On an individual level, we have been obliged to develop new competencies just to keep our jobs, that we never would have imagined in the times (now remote) of relative stability.
The pressures to improve performance at all levels within our organizations are formidable. While implanting new strategies implementation paralysis is common. Lack of communication, commitment, buddy-buddy systems and scepticism end up killing the best of plans. In spite of excellent intentions, human nature has its in-built resistances. Few are against the changes themselves, but when it’s a question of change of attitudes and behaviour on an individual level, resistance is silent and often overwhelming.
We have to have a deeper and demystified approach to the necessary human values for effective change in a world caught in full crisis. That’s why in implanting any process of organizational realignment, the human beings involved have to be prepared mentally, emotionally and even spiritually for the implications of working in the new reality of chaos, complexity and discontinuous change.
In a hurricane, first high-speed winds create enormous havoc throwing in to the air everything that comes in its path. Soon after there is a calm period that is in fact the epicentre of these swirling masses of air - called the ‘eye of the storm’. The relative calm of the ‘eye’ is the space from where it is possible to observe clearly what is happening and to develop proactive strategies to move with the changes. It is also necessary to be in the ‘eye’ prepare individuals for their new roles.
As in a ship caught in a hurricane, the single most important strategic factor is time. If the organization remains in a state of open-mouthed shock or tries to employ the old paternalistic tricks of human resource manipulation – there is just not enough time. The hurricane will arrive and smash down everything. To be able to manage the self and lead others in times of chaos is an urgent need. Any leader facing the turbulent times can act more effectively and decisively by having clearer focussing powers and access to his or her inner potential. The leadership of the organization needs to come to this point of detached observation – in the ‘eye’ of the storm - to reflect quickly and creatively, and then make the needed transformations of attitude and perception in order to act effectively and decisively.