Evolution or revolution? Should we view our present climate of change as part of the evolutionary process or would we benefit from a revolutionary mindset? Organisations that survive are those that learn and innovate. We will find out what this means in times of rapid change. You will be asked to assess your mindset as the manager of a learning organisation. We will identify what it means to look, listen, learn and do as a learning organisation. Finally, there is an option to pick up some golfing take-aways.

Prof Billy Futter

Evolution or revolution? Should we view our present climate of change as part of the evolutionary process or would we benefit from a revolutionary mindset? Organisations that survive are those that learn and innovate. We will find out what this means in times of rapid change. You will be asked to assess your mindset as the manager of a learning organisation. We will identify what it means to look, listen, learn and do as a learning organisation. Finally, there is an option to pick up some golfing take-aways.

Evolution or Revolution?

It is fascinating to apply the theories of evolution to the world as we have known it over the last 50 years. We are told repeatedly that we are living in a time of rapid change. Through our own experiences we know this to be true. From water diviners to water on Mars, from vinyl records to DVDs, from morse code to SMS’s. The level of innovation is almost beyond imagination and very difficult to predict. So what lessons does this hold for us? Bear with me for a while as we have a brief look at evolution theory.

Evolution theory

How do you understand the concept of evolution? Perhaps as a process of natural selection in which something evolved into a different form to take advantage of specialised niches in the environment. The survivors improved and adapted as the environment changed. Those who persisted with inappropriate strategies and structures became extinct. How did this happen – was the ride smooth or bumpy? Two contrasting macro-evolutionary theories have emerged. ‘Phyletic gradualism’ states that evolution occurs by the gradual accumulation of small changes. ‘Punctuated equilibrium’ argues that evolutionary history consists of long periods of time of little or no evolution, which are “punctuated”, or interrupted, by very short periods of quick evolution. Which theory do you support? Do you have a sense of gradualism with cautious adjustment, genetic drift or do you believe in the ratchet effect of intermittent massive adjustments?

Revolution

There is much to learn from the ‘punctuated equilibrium’ theory. It more accurately describes our daily experience. The environment is unstable. Change is a constant. ‘Turbulent’ and ‘chaotic’ are used to paint the picture. Revolution occurs daily, whether it is a political, economical, social, legal or technological revolution. Historians will use the word ‘evolution’ to describe the process of survival.

Four elements will feature in their discussion.

1. Man : the Survivor
   Ever since he was weaned from his mother’s breast, man has focussed on one priority – survival¹. Some believe that he has been so successful that they describe him as the worst ‘virus’ to invade the planet. It really is amazing when one considers the odds. Most of the world’s population does not have access to clean water, sanitation or adequate nutrition. Add to that war, disease, and natural disasters such as fire, floods, earthquakes, and drought. Blend that with the 20th century problems of pollution, stress, AIDS, TV, cell phones and microwaves and you have a recipe for extinction. So why does the world face a major problem of over-population? How has this survival been possible? How has man been so triumphant? A key element in his survival kit has been his ability to adapt through learning and innovating
2. Man : the Learner
   He has been able to observe and identify the way in which others have succeeded and failed. He learns from his own experiences. These lessons are passed on to others. Mistakes are not repeated (well, not too often!).
3. Man : the Innovator
   When faced with new challenges, for which prior learning does not produce answers, man has been able to develop new ways to overcome them. The speed with which these innovations are now taking place is mind-boggling. Some innovations have resulted in exceptional progress for some people, whilst being ruinous for others. In so doing, man has increased the instability of his own environment. One gets the feeling that man is evolving by creating greater turbulence in which fewer rather than more are likely to survive.
4. Man : the Team Member
   Man did not live on his own – his life revolved around his membership of groups (and still does!). In earlier days, typical groups were the family and the hunting party. Now the range of groups is staggering. In addition to the 8 to 5 work group, many other groups influence the way in which man thinks and behaves. How many groups do you belong to? How many organisations have regular meetings or functions that you attend? How many committees do you serve? A few examples – the church, school, professional bodies, golf club, bridge, book club, weight watchers, hospice and other support groups, and that group who fight the early morning traffic to train for the Argus Cycle Tour and the Comrades Marathon.How important are groups in contributing to survival? Sociologists and anthropologists have studied the phenomena of groups and group behaviour, and how these have influenced the survival or destruction of society. Evidence is conclusive. Groups and their leaders significantly influence the course of history – whether they are political, religious, sports or work based.

Some examples from our country support this. It has been acknowledged that :

• The final transition to democracy relied on the ability of leaders to convince their groups to follow the route of non-violent change.
• Our successes in sport have been attributed to the team, whilst our failures have been laid at the feet of the coach who has been unable to develop a winning team.
• Although HIV transmission depends on the behaviour of the individual, the battle to control the spread of this disease depends on changing group norms about sexual behaviour.

Organisational survival

A major challenge confronting managers is how to design organisations that will survive during this period of instability, mayhem and chaos. The survivors are shifting towards structures that are more horizontal than vertical, with greater employee involvement and participation. At the pinnacle of this shift is a type of organisation called the learning organisation.

The learning organisation

The concept of the learning organisation was initiated by Peter Senge². He proposed a mindset for managers to help their organisations adapt to an increasingly chaotic world. This mindset increases the chance of provoking survival strategies from members of the organisation. A learning organisation is one in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems, enabling the organisation to continuously experiment, improve and increase its capacity to learn, grow and achieve its purpose³. It is designed to solve problems in a unique way so as to satisfy the needs of clients. The differences between the traditional focus and the mindset of managers in a learning organisation are summarised in Figure 1.

• Leadership – to what extent do you create and inspire a clear, shared vision, shape the organisation culture and help to achieve it? This involves facilitating and actively encouraging team work, precipitating change, guiding others to see the bigger picture and developing the capacity of people to shape the future. (Traditional leaders concentrate on improving the efficiency of the organisation.)

• Organisation – to what extent have you developed a flat organisation, based on teams who have authority to implement changes? (Traditional managers have a hierarchical structure and do not use teams to initiate or implement changes.)

• Empowerment – to what extent do your employees have the power, training and freedom to make decisions and perform effectively? Do they share responsibility for outcomes? (Traditional managers reserve decision making for themselves. Their staff have neither the authority nor the training to make decisions, nor do they feel responsible for the outcomes of decisions made – a typical ‘us and them’ situation.)

• Participative strategy – to what extent is strategy generated from all levels of staff, based on deliberate, systematic efforts to encourage staff to do so? (Traditional managers regard strategic decisions as the preserve of senior management – strategy formation is top down.)

• Strong adaptive culture – to what extent do your staff feel responsible for the whole organisation, have a sense of caring and compassion for each other, welcome change, continuously strive to improve and innovate? (Traditional managers see change as a threat, and there is no incentive for staff to improve or innovate.)

• Open information – to what extent do you follow an open-book approach where everyone understands the whole organisation as well as their part in it? For example, do you keep them fully informed about financial and other strategic issues? To what extent is time set aside for dialogue and information sharing amongst and between all staff? (Traditional managers do not keep their staff fully informed, nor provide them with access to ‘management’ information, nor do they spend time asking and listening to their staff.) Learning disabilities These prevent the organisation from changing to best fit into the future environment. Senge wrote extensively about system thinking and the need to ensure an open systems approach to receive signals from the environment and exploit change to best advantage.

Learning disabilities that prevent change are :

• Focus on one’s own job exclusively, with little sense of responsibility for the collective product – “Not my job, I did what I was supposed to do.”
• Blaming the enemy out there for things that go wrong – “Not my fault, I did what I was supposed to do.”

Increase organisational learning

Use action research as the foundation for your learning system. This is a research method that combines learning and doing. It involves thinking, doing, checking, adjusting, and trying again. Key elements are looking, listening and learning. Your staff are particularly important since they are your eyes and ears. They visit different places, meet different people and see and hear different things.

Learning through looking

Train yourself and your staff to observe and interpret meaning. More than 90% of communication is from non-verbal behaviour that is far more truthful than the spoken word. Observation provides an abundance of valuable, accurate data. However, the meaning is not always obvious.

Here is a scenario with which you can identify :

Validate the intepretation by looking for supporting information. Is this an isolated case? Have there been fewer purchases per customer visit, fewer new accounts, an increase in the closure of accounts, more people delaying payment (also an indicator of discontent)? Do you have a team that meets regularly to monitor and improve client satisfaction? Do they gather information from all staff, appeciate the significance of an indicator, are they aware of the financial situation and changes, and do they have access to this data

If this is not the case, identifying and solving the problem will be your responsibility alone. Like Pavlov’s dog, the staff will only respond to a stimulus from you and not feel part of the problem or the solution.

The organisation is yours, not theirs.

Looking at Clients

hat are clients doing differently? Not only your clients but also those clients who support your competitors. Is there a new group of customers in town; are there more or less buyers or browsers? How do they respond to the merchandising, the layout, the specials and other innovations?

Looking at Staff

Remember that each staff member is a strategic asset with the potential to lift your business to levels that you could not imagine, or drag it down to levels that you don’t want to think about. As with any other asset, they need preventative maintenance, together with immediate response to problems identified (how far would you drive with a puncture?). Watch them – their behaviour provides indicators of the need for action. Who has been behaving differently? In what way? Positively or negatively? Are you the cause or is there an outside influence?

For example, a lighter social baggage from a new/stable relationship, resolution of family problems, school successes of children may bring out the best in a new staff member, and create fertile situations for greater focus and development.

A heavier social baggage may arise from any number of problems from home or debts, threatened retrenchment of partner/friend, or family illness etc. This is a source of distraction. It needs to be managed not by becoming involved, but by creating space to deal with the problem in order to restore focus and development. Be particularly sensitive to the staff member who starts to “white ant”⁴ the organisation. Deal with the symptoms before they have the chance to become real problems – blowing out the match rather than waiting until you need the fire brigade. If you are not looking for the symptoms, you are probably already too late.

Learning through listening

Listening is a communication skill that is learnt. It does not come naturally. There are many distractions that make listening difficult or impossible. Because we live in a very noisy world, we have developed the ability to tune out many noises so that we can listen to what we want to hear. (Do you listen to all the adverts on TV?)

1. Listening to clients
   What do they mean? A mild expression of dissatisfaction or praise may have a deeper underlying message? Confront for clarification using assertiveness, not agression. What messages are you receiving from nonprofessional settings such as at the 19th hole at the golf club? Your clients may be more honest in a neutral setting than in a professional setting in which you hold power over them.
2. Listening to staff
   Assertive listening actively encourages staff to raise contentious issues. Create an environment in which they are convinced that open sharing of information and opinions is essential for improvement. They are more likely to do so if they believe that you are also open and honest, and that you will respond to their opinions. Remember that your staff are the front line. They have more contact with clients than you do. They are more sensitive to subtle changes and comments. They have a different, and possibly larger social circle than you do. Collectively, they represent a vast information network.
3. Do something
   In a nutshell – develop an obsession for action! Convert new learning into new strategies. A pot full of new ideas, left simmering on the stove, will soon burn dry. You don’t have time to do everything. Give your staff authority to change systems and make them responsible for communicating decisions to others and measuring and reporting progress.I

In conclusion

When you live in a revolution, you have the option of becoming a refugee or an activist. A refugee seeks shelter and watches the world go by, living on the largesse of others. As an activist you are part of the action. You are seen and heard. You hold strong convictions about and are fiercely loyal to your organisation. You are prepared to fight for what is right. Can you imagine if you had staff who were all activists. Wow! You could conquer the world