Changing the Game: Leadership in turbulent times

by John J. Scherer

Some 2,600 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it this way: “Everything flows. Nothing stands still. You cannot put your foot in the river in the same place twice.”

He sure got that one right. Individuals, organizations, even cultures change constantly, sometimes dramatically. All of nature, including its human element, is in a continuous state of transformation. Millions of cells in our bodies go out of existence every second, as new ones are created to replace them. Ironically, even though all of life is change, leaders have difficulty coping with it and creating it. If change is such a built-in aspect of life, why is it such a problem for us?

To understand, it is only necessary to look at how attached we get to the simplest things. In a recent keynote presentation to a group of Canadian government leaders, I invited everyone to get up, move to another table, and sit with someone they didn’t work with. You can imagine the result. Some people refused to move. When the dust had settled, I pointed out how difficult that had been for many people, how attached we had gotten to something as trivial as a certain chair at a table in a large room where we had been sitting for ten minutes. Imagine how much more attached we get to something like a job or an office or a group of colleagues whom we have been with for years.

The life cycle of human systems
Every human system, from a friendship to the largest organization, goes through very predictable stages of development in its life cycle.

If you walked into an Embryonic (start-up) organization, what would it be like? Chaotic, energized, busy, fun. Change would not be a problem; it would be the water everyone swam in. Mistakes wouldn’t even exist yet and everything important would be unknown.

As the system learns and moves into the Growth stage, the game changes. You start getting more of everything: people, structure, answers, meetings, emails, conflicts. At some point, things have to level off and you enter the Mature phase. This time, the game changes big time. Now the attitude toward change is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Everything important to the success of the system is believed to be known, and mistakes are no longer tolerated. Here the challenge is that, if things don’t change, the system will inevitably fall into Decline, where everything becomes an emergency with survival as the controlling agenda.

It is crucial for leaders to understand that this represents not only the life cycle of things like budgets, programs, client satisfaction, productivity, etc. It also represents the life cycle of the concepts, the ideas, the paradigms on which the system is based. “How we do what we do around here” goes through these stages, too. Things – and people – that used to work really well a few years (or months) ago, at some point don’t work so well anymore. It is unavoidable. No concept or person can stay the same for long and still be relevant, still be worthwhile.

“Turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn,” is the way The Byrds sang the Pete Seeger song in the 1960s, paraphrasing the Biblical verses in Ecclesiastes:
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

Or, as wise leaders might sing it today:
A time for centralizing, a time for de-centralizing
A time for top-down decision-making, a time for bottom-up consensus
A time for change, a time for stability
A time for expanding programs, a time for constricting programs
A time to hire, a time to lay off
A time for war, a time for peace
I swear it’s not too late

Leaders, especially in government service, need to understand that a healthy system has something in each of the four stages of the life cycle. You need a few things to be in a start-up mind-set, some things that are taking off, a few ‘cash cows’ that are just ticking along, requiring only some occasional fine tuning, and – the hardest one – a few things that are being phased out. The trick is knowing where you are and when it’s time for what.

Sometimes more of the same only better is not good enough. Sometimes, to stay current, to stay relevant, to stay a plus, you need to go back to zero and ask those start-up questions again: Who are we? Why do we exist? How should we be organized? Where should we be located? What’s the best way to do _?

A nature lesson
When a bee finds a new source of pollen, it flies back to the hive and starts to dance, vibrating its stinger back and forth in a carefully choreographed set of movements, based on the angle of the sun, that tells all the other bees the direction to the new find. It’s accurate to within 10 to 20 degrees. While the bee is dancing, he’s also buzzing and the frequency of those buzzes gives an indication of the distance to that pollen. This is very accurate communication. The dancing bee says, “You all getting this?!” When all the bees nod their heads (or whatever they do) the one in charge says, “Let’s go then!” and all the bees leave to go find the pollen.

Every time they head out to get the pollen, the same thing happens: only 85% of the bees follow the instructions…15% head off in some other direction. Now, it is not the same bees each time, not always the same small group of anti-authoritarian or counter-dependent bees. It’s different bees, but it’s always about 15%.

What would a naïve observer say about those fifteen percenters? “They’re obviously trouble-makers, not listening to directions, rabble-rousers, not committed to the old hive.” But if you think about it, realizing that there are no accidents in nature, you see quickly that those fifteen percenters are guaranteeing the survival of the hive. They are finding the next source of pollen.

I tell my clients that this is the way it needs to be in their organization: 85% of their change effort (read incremental improvement) should be directed at the way things are now (“How can we do what we do now a little better each day?”) But 15% of your meeting agendas, 15% of what you think about, worry about, focus on, 15% of your effort needs to be aimed at, “What are we going to do next? What comes after this? Is it time for us to change the game?”

From time to time, changing the game is the job of leadership. Management can improve what is happening now; only leadership can change the game.


John Scherer is a Seattle-based change consultant and leadership development specialist with 25 years experience, much of it in Canada. His clients have included Northern Telecom, The Union of BC Municipalities, BC Tel, CIBC, Canadian Tire, and others from both the public and private sectors. Business and organizational leaders from 19 countries have graduated from his Executive Development Intensive. He is currently working with the Canada School of Public Service on the November 2006 Leadership Conference for Communicators (www.SchererCenter.com).