Change Part 2 | Kevin Bomhoff

Last post, I shared the story of the startling change my daughter experienced in starting first grade. I also introduced the “Productive Zone of Disequilibrium,” the term Ron Heifetz uses for the zone that promotes learning and progress in systems.

When the “temperature” or level of discomfort is too great, the organism can explode or implode.  When the temperature is too low, the organism stops learning and adapting. The activity does not result in the organism “blowing up” nor does it “blow off” what needs to be done.

Reading the temperature of an organization requires a certain amount of data gathering and experimentation.   Based on observations, what are all the possible interpretations to be made?  We need input from internal and external stakeholders.

CCSR is in the midst a deliberate process our director, Dr. Scott Wituk, has deemed “Listen, Think, Act.” 


Listen
We have visited over 35 partners asking probing questions about their needs and experience with our services.

Think
Using this data, staff members are now adding their own reflections.   The information will be used to develop as many interpretations as possible about our current and future activities.

Act
We will design experiments – perhaps new approaches or different processes based on what we have learned.   These “Acts” will inevitably turn up the temperature as we experiment with new ways to define our organization and help our customers.

Sometimes, of course, the temperature needs to be turned down -- while avoiding complacency. This is its own challenge.  When an intervention works, system functioning improves and the temperature lowers.  When an intervention does not produce the desired outcome, it is critical that data is readily available to inform a timely “course correction” before serious damage occurs.

Adapting in a timely manner using formative data reduces the temperature as new, more productive interventions replace those that did not work.    Beginning with research and using “evidenced-based practices” can give the system a great head start but does not guarantee success.   Our assumptions about the application of such practices in new settings and our ability to accomplish fidelity to proven models must be tested.     

What’s all this got to do with a six-year-old kid who’s already had it with “systems change” on her first day of first grade?   Well, later that night the ice did thaw a bit, and her nasty observations were interpreted though her own eyes with a little input from stakeholders (mom and dad).   Some of these rules worked for her.   Some seem to be made for other kids who appeared to be “out of control.”   That could help her too – indirectly.  Some rules clearly needed to change and probably would as the year unfolded.  It was, after all, just the first day. The first day of the rest of her life - observing, interpreting and intervening as part of one system after another.                                                                         
     


“Productive Zone of Disequilibrium,” courtesy of the Kansas Leadership Center   |    Photo courtesy of Couchlearner