A new employee for a buisness, a smart recent MBA graduate from a top school, was discussing how the business "works", "what it does", "how it does it". I was thinking about opportunities for the business and they were, radically different to this industry and businesses ways today but not for other industries. Our conversation became peppered with "but that's not how we do it" and "but look at what this did for xyz industry when abc did it".
The "Status Quo" perspective was very compelling - the company was more than 100 years old and successful with systems and processes built to do what we do the way we do it. But so was the "Outside the Box" perspective - two competitors had leap frogged incumbents and gained significant market share do different things and doing things differently when they entered the industry as fresh faced new entrants.
As leaders, managers and change agents I believe we need to live in the Ying and Yang of these apparently opposite perspectives:
Ying: The Status Quo of What and How we Do Things
- Know the status quo, respect it for what it is and see how it is powerful
- Learn how the status quo shapes, and is shaped by, the culture, ways of thinking and implicit reward systems
- Think about what the status quo means for the customer and why many customers like it. Learn what critical elements of the brand promise it represents
Yang: The Out of the Box of What and How others in different industries and businesses Do things
- Look at things that work in different industries and busiensses that are radically different to us
- Learn what these approaches mean for customers and what it meant when they were first introduced
- Play. Ask "what if we did this....?" and just for now ignore....."but that's not how we work"
- Think about what the value would be to customers if we did this thing that is radical for this industry or business but the norm for some others
Our jobs must include both. Our organizations need us to see new ways and influence innovation and change at the very same time as we keep the way we do things today humming along.
The leader who is all Ying and Status Quo brings incremental innovations but seldom discontinuities that transform industries. The leader who is all Yang and Out of the Box discontinuity, and fails to appreciate the Ying, does little to support today's operations and may make no progress with change.
To succeed in implementing change and transforming organizations we need the subtle alchemy of both perspectives.
Breathe deep! Be the Ying and the Yang of the Status Quo and Out of the Box thinking!
Bath time question:
Today, how will you deepen your understanding and appreciation for the Status Quo and at the same time contemplate Out of the Box things to do and ways for doing things? How will you develop yourself, your group and your organization to hold these two conflicting perspectives in mind at the same time?
