The Pillars of Hercules

"The Pillars of Hercules" is the phrase applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar – the "end" of the known world.  In complement, the etymology of Spain - "Hispania" – may derive from the poetic use of the term "Hesperia", reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia) and Spain, being still further west, as Hesperia ultima.

Renaissance tradition states that the actual Herculean pillars bore the inscription "non plus ultra" – "nothing further beyond" – serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to venture no further into the unknown.

Charles V – King of Spain in the years following the discovery of the Americas – later re-framed the phrase to "plus ultra" – further beyond – and made it his motto. It was to serve as encouragement to ignore the ancient warning, take risks and go further beyond. It indicates a desire to see the Pillars as an entrance to the rest of the world rather than as a gate to the Mediterranean and point to the Spanish overseas possessions in "the new world". Today, you will find both the pillars and Charles V's re-framed motto in the Spanish coat of arms and flag.

Organizations too, have their own "Herculean Pillars". Markers of the known world as they see it - constraints or limits to their business, their way of thinking or working. Set convictions about how the world "as it is" preventing them from venturing beyond.

This begs the question: What constitutes the Pillars of Hercules in YOUR organization?

On the universe I: Definitions

The obvious benefit of defining your own universe is just that – you get to define it. It is not THE universe: I do not represent a specific "school" of change management. Nor do I seek to define one. Quite simply, everything I present has proven immensely practical to me.


ACCEPT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
I am a historian by trade. As such, I have looked at every kind of human organization, peoples, and situations and tried to make some sense of what was going on. I like to compare it to studying an anthill: You see frantic activity, but you might not understand why or what is to come from all this activity. However, as a historian you have to accept, that what goes on is rational. All systems make internal sense.

For the historian, the concept of "rationality" is obscured as you observe from a position dislocated in time. Thus, you get to see the whole process from thought to action and result. Hindsight will lead you to think, that certain actions were "irrational", as they did not produce the desired results. But – as we all know – planning for an unknowable future, you lack both control and time to further qualify your decisions. So, with the information available at the time, actions may have been perfectly rational even if they do not bring about the intended results.

Accepting the internal order of every system and understanding the underlying rationality lets you understand what goes on and why. This is a prerequisite for facilitating change.


THEORY AS SUNGLASSES
For me at least, theory and method is extremely important. Still, I think of theory as sunglasses: "Put these on, and the light filters in this way". Put these on instead and the world looks entirely different. Some lenses are perfect for certain types of light. Polarized glasses eliminates reflections; a grey lens
tint lets you see true color; brown lenses enhances depth; yellow lenses helps you see in low-light conditions and so forth.

Consequently, being aware what a certain theory or model helps you see or understand is key for any change manager. Conversely, you should be aware that the image is only partial and accept, that a different model or theory will reveal a different image.

THE MAJOR CELESTIAL BODIES
I will go into more detail in my following posts, but for now, let me define the major celestial bodies of my universe – the main body of theory:

1. The progression of economic value
2. The success staircase
3. Team state

The Progression of Economic Value
Joe Pine is the man behind one of my favorite models – The Progression of Economic Value. I use the model as a tool for "diagnosis". It allows me to understand where the organization is; if it is consistent in what it does; where it could go; what it would take and what my options are. Furthermore, the model presents a vocabulary that allows me to frame the project.


The Success Staircase
The Success Staircase is a seemingly simple model from the field of cognitive psychology derived by David McClelland. It states five (prioritized) steps moving from a present state to a desired future state:

1. Motivation (meaning and value)
2. Convictions (belief and courage)
3. Action
4. Evaluation
5. New action

It is beautifully simply model covering enormous complexity and I use it as basis for the hands-on phase of ALL projects. Period.


The Team State Model
The Team State Model is conceived by John Geier who also masterminded the DISC Personal Assessment System. According to Geier there are four team states progressing from "dependency" to "independence", "interdependence" and finally "integration".

Assessing the team state of a team or organization can be crucial and will let you formulate quite precise theses about what will work, what will face opposition and what will fail miserably. The team state model obviously works very well in connection to DISC.


MEANS TO ENDS
In unison, the above three models will help you:

1. Carry out precise diagnostics and mapping
2. Formulate a clear strategic intention
3. Formulate precise assumptions about the organization
4. Formulate precise assumptions about the effectiveness of tools
5. Understand your role as change manager
6. Understand your options and predict opposition/conflict

Moreover, they provide a basic framework for framing and ongoing communications on all levels.
The closer you move to the "action" part of the success staircase the more you will need actual tools and formats, but for framing the project and providing a basic project design, the models above provide ideal understanding.

In my next posts, I will spend some time going into detail on these central models and their use starting with the Progression of Economic Value.

Organizations as geo- or helio-centric systems

As with the universe, one can look at organizations as either geo- or helio-centric systems.

It is my contention that most organizations and domains view themselves, and act as, geo-centric systems. They think of themselves as "center of the universe". This obviously influences their view of the "outside world" and especially their views on customers. Usually, they think of them as independent celestial bodies that may be attracted to various systems.

Individual departments within organizations may also adopt a geo-centric view. If so, they perceive themselves as "independent" from the rest of the organization. Geo-centricity is often "supported" by the organizational framework of organizational plans and structural conditions such as budgets, which – in a geo-centric view – easily translates to departmentalized or individualized "power".

In such systems, the approach to the customer is limited to the individual transaction. The customer only gets our attention when he or she appears in "our system". That the customer may also interact with other parts of the organization is not important. To us at least. Thus, individual customers may interact with different parts of our organization (x, y, z) but they only get attention from the individual parts of the system - they are not treated as customers to the entire system.

The geo-centric approach is problematic as it creates a customer experience that falls short of – or is in direct contradiction to – customer expectations. Internally, the geo-centric approach causes an atomized approach to problem solving, rivalry, sub-optimization, resistance to change, limited sharing of knowledge and data, lack of communication and unnecessarily complex workflows.

In contrast, a helio-centric approach usually strive to create a unified customer experience and conduct backstage coordination. Internally, helio-centric systems are more collaborative, share knowledge and data and promote an orchestrated approach to problem solving. Furthermore, budgets are usually perceived as means to be used to the good of the organization.

Working as a change manager in geo-centric systems is almost impossible. If you promote anything resembling a more helio-centric approach to enable process efficiency or customer centricity you face fierce opposition. Suggest anything that requires co-operation, collaboration or the sharing of resources and you are in for a hard day at work. Even in the face of openly expressed motivations regarding the potential benefits of change, all organizational convictions work against your. There ARE ways to succeed, but it takes time and (ninja)skills.


HELIO-CENTRICITY = $$$
You might have head the phrase "customer centricity". Easy – just think of the customer as the sun in your solar systems "et voila"!

The customer does not perceive your company as different entities. They perceive you as ONE. Thus, if you work with any kind of "customer experience" or service improvement projects, there is no way around adopting a more helio-centric approach: Back-stage coordination; maybe a single point of contact but at least a similar experience and awareness of all interactions with the organization over time.

REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE
In Denmark, reports show that a young person with a criminal record sees help from as much as 20 different municipal officials on his/her way back to "normal" life. Other groups of people in need of help from the social system are treated likewise.

Even if each person in the system is eager to help, the many and indeed well intentioned initiatives often causes chaos as coordination between, and across, municipal and state bodies is limited. Consequently, the person in need of "help" is administered "chaos". As a result, some retreat into mental resignation - others put up active resistance.

Link to report (report is in Danish)

The same reports show that if you have just ONE person handling all direct contact with the person in need of help (a helio-centric approach) and carry out internal coordination backstage - you can produce 40% MORE results with 60% LESS input of resources. And while this may not be true everywhere, it is food for thought.

I have witnesses the success of three different initiatives aimed at bringing people from the most troubled end of the social system back to work. One had cognitive psychology as its basis, one used art projects and the third was more "mainstream" in its use of tools. However, what they shared was a common of just ONE contact point and widespread back-stage coordination – a working (best) principle that can be applied in any service organization and a great example of the power of the helio-centric (customer centric) approach.

Geo- and helio-centric systems

Well into the Middle Ages, the sun and planets were thought to evolve around the earth. As early as 150 AD Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy had published "Almagest", in which he presented mathematical models to support the theory. Another Greek mathematician - Aristarchus - had suggested otherwise 400 years earlier, but as is apparent, his theories found no support. Thus, the universe was thought of as a geo-centric (earth centered) system.

Geo-centric system (britannica.com)

It was Copernicus and Kepler who – in the early 16th century – could prove the sun to be center of our system and describe the elliptical orbits of the planets. "Helios" being the personification of the sun in Greek mythology, the universe was henceforth a helio-centric system – a solar system.

Image of helio-centric system (wikipedia)

However, Copernicus discoveries met opposition from both the Catholic and Protestant church. As a result, his work "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was added to the Catholic Church's list of forbidden books – Index liborum prohibitum – where it remained until 1835.

In 1633, Galilei Galileo was convicted by the Inquisition and forced to openly recant his support for the heliocentric theory. Despite doing so, Galileo remained under house arrest until he died nine years later. In 1992 – after 13(!) years of studies – a commission set down by Pope John Paul II to investigate Galileo case – concluded that it had been wrong for the Catholic Church to condemn Galileo.

For now at least, one has to conclude, that anyone advocating the helio-centric view of the universe or any associated views has had a hard time in our part of the world.

Framing

In his most recent book, Joe Pine - author of "The Experience Economy"- explores the infinite possibilities of the "multiverse". As the change manager's life is sufficiently complex, I'll keep from confusing matters even more by exploring what would happen if we also alter time, matter and space.

As Machiavelli states in the sixth book of "The Prince": "We must bear in mind, that there is nothing more difficult and dangerous, or more doubtful of success, than an attempt to introduce a new order of things in any state. For the innovator has for enemies all those who derived advantages from the old order of things, whilst those who expect to be benefited by the new institutions will be but lukewarm defenders."

It's a sobering thought that the human opposition to change has remained the same throughout history. It makes opposition easier to bear – at least for me. But how to motivate the unwilling and gain more open support from the willing and drive/lead all forward towards change? That is what this blog is about.

The blog presents you with a large number of theoretical models as well as theory based tools and formats. In their totality, they represent a coherent and immensely dynamic system that allows you to develop, implement and sustain change management efforts in any given organization, domain or field of operations. Cross my heart.

"Knowledge is theory", W. Edwards Deming states. "Experience by itself teaches nothing". However, the theory is only there to assure your foundation. All examples, models, formats and theories can be – and has been – used for hands on, in the field, work – and for producing real results in the real world. This blog is not an academic discussion of theory – it is a toolbox.

As I work with business development, experience- and transformation economy, hands-on CRM and communications as well, you will find useful models, references and examples relating to these areas from time to time. Hopefully, the tag cloud should help you navigate.

Should you find yourself in orbit or just lost in space, please send me a note, and I'll help you out the best I can.

Welcome!