The Necessary Revolution

Based on the book by Peter Senge, Vryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Laur & Sara Schley (Broadway Books 2008)
Prepared by: Dr. Ricardo Sosa (sosa.ricardo@gmail.com)
The
Necessary
Revolution
“(Change) conversations can
easily polarize. The harder the
advocate pushes, the more
diligent the opposition... Some
may join one or the other camp.
As one pushes back, others will
become only more stubborn and
more convinced that they are
right.”

Getting
people
engaged
“But there is another option,
the most crucial part of the
conversation is neither
advocating nor opposing but
asking a genuine question
that could lead to fresh
perspectives on the issues.”

Your role
as a
(change)
leader
“The way to reach people is
not to challenge their views
but to find questions that
they are ready to ask. This
inquiry starts with the
recognition that no one has
the full picture. We all see a
slice of the possible future.”

First steps
toward
improving
dialogue
1. Personal reflections
2. Initial conversations with
like-minded peers
3. Informal team
4. "Scouting party"
5. Draft of a case for change

Making
your role
productive
“Four essential kinds of leaders:
1. Local line leaders
2. Internal network leaders and
community builders
3. Managers of specialist functions
with the capability to initiate or
work with key cross-organizational
processes
4. Executive leaders”

Take stock
personally
“If you feel irritation, impatience
or discomfort, give yourself
permission to rant. But also tell
the truth. Turn the irritation into
a rough initial positive
statement of what you want.”

Take stock
personally
“Don't spend too long
thinking about these
issues alone -it's easy to
feel overwhelmed.”

Forming
your initial
team
“You can begin by
searching for like-minded
people in the organization
who share your concerns
and are also seeking to
make a case for change.”

Forming
your initial
team
“Consider meeting one-on-
one with each of them
initially to have a brief
conversation, establish some
common ground, translate
your frustration and theirs
into larger visions and goals,
and build a case for change.”

Forming
your initial
team
“Keep in mind that people
don't need to agree on
everything when they meet: a
broad goal, interest, or point
of common frustration is
often sufficient.
Disagreements can help... if
you talk openly.”

Aspiration
s “Make time early on to
look ahead together,
perhaps a time frame of 25
years in mind so that you
are unconstrained by
present-day realities.”

Aspiration
s “Be patient with your
initial vision. Your
aspirations will change...
Truly shared visions are a
continual work in
process.”

Stuart L. Hart and Mark B. Milstein

Building
your case
for change
“The majority of initiatives
are in the lower left quadrant
-they're internal and focused
on today. The larger goal of
your work is to create a
balanced portfolio of options
and investments across all
four quadrants.”

Connecting
your
efforts “Don't fall into the trap of
presenting your work as a
fait accompli.”

Seeing
Systems “People frequently use the word
system when they want to imply
that something is outside their
control... Seeing systems and
understanding our role in
shaping those systems are two
sides of the same coin.”

Systems-
thinking
iceberg
1.Reacting to Events- what just happened
2. Anticipating Patterns/Trends- what’s
been happening and have we been here or
same place similar before
3. Systemic Structure or Forces- what
are the deeper forces driving patterns
4. Transform Mental Models- how these
models affect, even dictate, our thoughts.

Economy
and
ecology
“Once people start to practice
seeing systems, they begin to
understand basic flaws in
prevailing mental models and
alternative futures that are
possible.”

Spaceship
Earth
“Obviously, something has to
give. In a world where we need
to shift as rapidly as possible to
low-carbon, non-fossil-fuel
sources of power, we are all
part of the challenge.”

Rethinking
boundaries
“Attempts to convince people
that they are wrong and that they
need to rethink boundaries will
almost always be met with
resistance; few people
appreciate being told that their
thinking is too limited.”

Rethinking
boundaries
“Ask people to reflect on
how they are thinking
now, rather than trying
to force them to think
differently.”

Spaceship
Earth
“Inquiry is far
more effective
strategy than
advocacy.”

Rethinking
boundaries
“As you consider the
problem you are focusing
on, ask: “In what ways are
we imposing arbitrary
boundaries?”

Rethinking
boundaries
“The problems come not
because we have
boundaries in our thinking
but because we forget
there are boundaries.”

Rethinking
boundaries
“Groups forget the
assumptions they are
making and get frozen in
taken-for-granted
worldviews.”

Rethinking
boundaries
“The first step is to
help people see these
self-imposed
boundaries.”

Seeing
limits to
growth
“Developing our natural systems
intelligence starts with
recognizing patterns that are
part of our everyday experience
but that often go unnoticed
because we lack the ability to
recognize them and the language
to talk about them.”

Seeing
limits to
growth “Businesses that can see
limits can adapt a lot faster
than their competitors and
can strategize much more
effectively.”

Seeing our
choices “Key insight: opting for
quick fixes and avoiding
fundamental solutions
tends to set up a
reinforcing set of
pressures for more quick
fixes over time.”

Seeing
common
limits
“Many data centers and software
companies have realized that
they are likely facing limits in
electricity supplies in the near
future. In fact, all technology
companies are now recognizing
that they are in the energy
business.”

The
circular
economy “Look beyond your
immediate supplier and
consider the total value
chain.”

Seeing our
choices “Seeing systems is a team
sport, and people working
together will push each
other along as they come
up with many new ideas
and fresh perspectives.”

Collaborati
ng across
boundaries “Bringing about significant
changes in large systems is
difficult work. It takes
great courage and even
greater patience.”

Collaborati
ng across
boundaries
“Bringing about significant
changes... takes facing
difficult problems many
would like to assume either
do not exist or are somebody
else's job to fix.”

Collaborati
ng across
boundaries
“Among the many reasons we
do not look at problems
systemically is that
implementing the insights
that result would force us out
of our intellectual and
institutional comfort zones.”

http://www.solonline.org

'Getting the
system in
the room'
“Often, those at the top of
institutional hierarchies have
far too much invested in
preserving the status quo of
their own organizations to
undertake bold experiments
outside their boundaries.”

Collaborati
ng across
boundaries
“Extraordinary change requires
building extraordinary
relationships, and at some level
this requires gathering together
diverse people representing
diverse views so that they can
speak and listen to one another in
new ways.”

Darcy Winslow from Nike
“Do we really
understand the products
we -and our whole
industry- are creating?”

Growing a
Strategic
Microcosm
1.“Continually reflect on key challenges,
actors and forces in the system
2.What are the key voices that you have
yet to include in your group or network?
3.Look for blind spots
4.When might the time be right?
5.How might you go about engaging those
excluded?

Growing a
Strategic
Microcosm
Expect:
1.Core leadership,
2.Circle of engagement,
3.Circle of informed,
4.The uninformed
5.(and opponents)

“There most be more to
this business than the
next cool gadget”

Building
momentum “Shifting conversations from
problems to possibilities not
only shapes the convening
process, it lays a foundation
for genuine commitment
among those involved and
gets them excited about
working together”

“Who knows? This might be our
greatest possibility. When you
think about it, Nike is one of the
few companies that could make
this sustainability stuff 'cool'”

Purposeful
networking “Building leadership
networks invariably comes
down to investing lots of time
in one-on-one or small-group
conversations to explore
issues and foster
engagement.”

Purposeful
networking
“The process will lead to
surprises. Invariably, you
will find that people whom
you never expected to be
interested will start to get
engaged.”

Purposeful
networking
“Many who will prove to be
important partners will be
people you never knew
aboutor had contrary
opinions.”

Purposeful
networking
“Many who fail to show
much interest early on often
respond differently later,
when they see a critical mass
starting to form around issues
that concern them.”

Stakeholde
r dialogue
interviews “Make your own
concerns and aspirations
clear and come to learn,
rather than to advocate
or sell your own ideas.”

Stakeholde
r dialogue
interviews
“Prepare: be fully present during the
interview
Open: say it simply and without
hyperbole
Engage: ask one or two simple and
open-ended questions that give
people a chance to reflect
Follow the flow: begin a true
dialogue

Stakeholde
r dialogue
interviews
Jump off the bridge: let go of
whatever is holding you back from
connecting
Expand the network: ask if there is
anyone else we should talk with
Close: avoid a feeling of
incompleteness
Be yourself and be genuinely
curious.”

Also...
Show early your true
willingness to negotiate
Detach yourself from the ideas
Show empathy, rephrase what is
important to them
Highlight risks and trade-offs
Sell “reversability”

Building
relationship
s “Change advocates either think
that the reasons to change are so
clear and compelling that
anyone awake must be on board,
or they look at the enormous gap
between what is and what is
needed and become cynical.”

Building
relationships“In between are those who
have both a passion for the
vision and an
understanding of the need
to build the collaborative
networks the vision
requires”

Conversations
that shape the
future
“Above-the-line conversations
depend on three skills: learning
how to suspend immediate
assumptions, reflecting on
mental models we had
previously taken for granted, and
balancing advocacy for our
ideas with inquiry into other
opinions.”

Suspending
assumptions
“The discipline of testing
our assumptions forces us to
make them explicit, opens the
possibility that they might not
be 100% correct, and lays the
foundation for learning over
time.”

Opening
hearts and
minds
“Bring together a diverse group of people
that represents the larger system
Identify the different facets of the system
“Go there together”: travel with the entire
team
Set aside ample time to reflect and talk
together
Pay careful attention to the intentions and
commitments that arise.”

Opening
hearts and
minds
“Direct experience (“going
there”) means seeing a
different place firsthand,
talking with people we
usually do not talk with,
seeing how people live, work,
play, raise their children...”

Building
shared
commitment
“Trying to get people
commited is a bit like trying
to be happy: the harder you
try, the less successful you're
likely to be... Your ability to
foster commitment will
never be greater than your
own commitment.”

http://mitleadership.mit.edu/r-fpmodel.php
4-Player
Model Move :—establishes a direction and sets
the team in motion.
Follow : provides support for the move
and serves the function of completion.
Oppose:—questions the move that has
been initiated.
Bystand: provides perspective and invites
the team to be more reflective.

Positive vs.
negative
vision
“The spirit of creating is
virtually the opposite of
the attitude that has
characterized much of the
history of the
environmental and social
justice movements.”

Creative
tension
“Creative tension is the
gap between the image
of what we truly want to
see exist and the world
as it is today.”

Seeing
opportunitie
s
W. McDonough and M.
Braungart: “If a car is heading
south, slowing down does not
cause it to head north. Sooner or
later, you need to turn the car
around 180 degrees. No matter
how “less bad” you are, it will
not make you good.”

Creative
tension
“Strategies based on negative
visions, emotional tension,
and being less bad differ
fundamentally from ones
guided by positive visions
and creative tension.”

Unleasing
everyday
magic
“The creative process is part
of our common heritage as
human beings, and accessing
this perennial wisdowm will
be key to liberating our
individual and collective
potential.”

You don't
have to have
all the
answers
“It is only in the process of
working to bring a vision to
reality, and seeing what is
effective and what isn't, that
you will gain key insights.”

Learning
through
prototypes “Academics, even brilliant
ones, frequently spend a lot
of energy talking about
problems instead of what can
be done differently.”

Learning
through
prototypes “Latent needs (never expressed)
are difficult or impossible to
discern with standard market
research methods, but they come
to the surface when people see
tangible embodiments of new
ideas.”

Learning
through
prototypes When people see a
prototype, they say: “If we
can do this, why couldn't
we do that too?”

Asking for
help “Often people in important
leadership positions think they have
to have all the answers, and those
'below' them hold the same view.
Ironically, this fails to tap the
collective intelligence that can arise
when asking for help.”

Patrick Atkins from Alcoa
“When you've got 130,000
Alcoa employees, each of
them thinking about this for
ten minutes a day, it's
amazing what happens.”

Asking for
help “Asking for help has two
benefits: it generates a
remarkable diversity and
depth of ideas and energy
for change; it also engages
people in changes that
really matter to them.”

Strategic
possibilitie
s
“Many companies are
selling the wrong
products to the wrong
customers based on the
wrong business model.”

Vivienne Cox from BP
“We were still investing more in
advertising than in developing
renewable energy.”

Looking
inside for
energy and
commitment
“Identify key areas
Engage skeptics
Find a way to prove it
Identify the visionaries
Draw a network map
Identify personal relationships”

Anticipate
“Pick initial team members for
prototyping
Continually make linkages to key
organizational issues and goals
Demonstrate what's possible
Build contingency plans
Generate curiosity
Create clear evidence for change”

Looking
outside for
energy and
commitment
“Identify lead customers
Leverage customer engagement and
interest
Identify favourable conditions and
communities
Tie your idea to a latent or emerging
segment of the market
Pay attention to and build on your
organization's DNA”

Businesses
with a
mission
“Peter Drucker once said: Profit
for a company is like oxygen for
a person
- Unfortunately, most businesses
operate as if their purpose is
breathing”

Businesses
with a
mission
“There is no more basic
confusion that prevades the
business world than the idea
that the purpose of a
company is to maximize
profit.”

Businesses
with a
mission
“A few businesses do
not exist in order to
make profit, they make
a profit in order to
contribute.”

https://greystonbakery.com/pages/about-greyston

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/about

Businesses
with a
mission
“The key is building
these relationships
slowly, so that people
really get to know one
another and what really
matters to each of us.”

Redesignin
g for the
future
“Current organizational
structures have evolved
in response to the
imperatives of the past,
not the future, and they
wil need to change to
support new visions,
strategies and goals.”

Redesignin
g for the
future “Be specially sensitive to
the dangers of shifting
the burden to specialists.
At best, they can be a
temporary catalyst.”

Redesignin
g for the
future “Approach change by
setting lofty goals, even
if no one knows how to
achieve them.”

It's okay
not to
know how “If you are a senior leader,
you and your team don't have
to know immediately how
you're going to achieve your
vision.”

It's okay
not to
know how “It is crucial that you don't
frame your goal in the context
of what you know today. If
you do so, you will limit the
reach of your aspiration.”

Erich Fromm
"True freedom is not the absence
of structure-but rather a clear
structure that enables people to
work within established
boundaries in an autonomous and
creative way.”

Structure
for
freedom “Designing mechanisms for
horizontal, cross-boundary
collaboration is as crucial as
getting the vertical
accountabilities right.”

Structure
for
freedom
“Rethinking organizational
structure is challenging but
high-leverage work.
Organizations get the results
they are designed for, and no
more.”

The end

The Necessary Revolution

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Similar a The Necessary Revolution

Similar a The Necessary Revolution (20)

Más de R. Sosa

Más de R. Sosa (20)

Último

Último (20)

The Necessary Revolution