Do not shy away from them as if they were unnatural
Because the behavior of a CAS emerges from the interaction
among agents, and because of nonlinear
effects, “weird” stuff seems to happen. Of course, it is only weird because we do not yet
have a way to
understand it.
In a CAS, creativity and innovation have the best chance
to emerge precisely at the point of greatest
tension and apparent irreconcilable differences. Rather than smoothing over these differences –
the typical
leadership intuition from the machine and military metaphors – we should focus on them and seek
a new
way forward.
An organization in which tension and stresses are quickly
smoothed over or even denied is one that isn’t
learning or adapting very efficiently. Consider an organization embroiled in internal conflict over
some kind
of change, in which one group wants radical change and the other is holding steadfastly to the status
quo.
There may be a temptation for leaders to compromise, try to deliver to both groups, or prematurely stand
by
one position while discounting the other. How might you work with paradox and tension in this case?
The
approach one leader took was to mix the two warring factions (the “radical change” people
and the “status
quo” people) into a single group and give them the task of finding a “radical way to hold
on to the status
quo.” This is a paradox; it makes no sense according to the prevailing mental models.
However, working on it placed the group at the edge of
chaos and increased the likelihood that creative
approaches would emerge. Here are some other paradoxical questions to consider. Can you think of others
that are relevant to your context?
Another way to uncover paradox is to ask “wicked
questions.” These are questions that have no obvious
answers, but expose our assumptions. For example, in an organization that was trying to build a more-
enabled environment, one leader asked, “Are we really ready to put responsibility for the work
on the
shoulders of the people who do the work?” Perhaps you can sense the discomfort in such a question.
But
challenging the sacred cows is an activity that can put you at the edge of chaos, and begin to reveal
the
hidden assumptions.
"The chaos manager must recognize these ‘forks
in the road’ and create a context supporting the new
line of development by finding interventions that transcend the paradoxes or make them irrelevant …
The
task hinges on finding new understandings or new actions that can reframe the paradox in a way that
unleashes system energies in favor of the new line of development."
–Morgan
"Clearly leadership has to do with the sustaining
of creative tension in organizations. Creative tension is
derived through strategic imbalance, which occurs when operating at the limits of organizational
consensus or the boundaries of the organization. Innovation takes place on the edges of the organization
where the potential for far-from-equilibrium conditions is optimal."
–Zimmerman
1. Thoughts
