Constructivism and Organizational Change (Part 2)

In this episode, organizational expert Heather Stephens dives into the concept of emergence and its vital role in addressing complex problems within organizations. Moving away from the outdated mechanical metaphor, the discussion champions organizational discovery and co-creation. Heather shares insights on the importance of engaging teams in decision-making, the pitfalls of top-down change, and the need for continuous adaptation in a dynamic market.

The dialogue warns against the rigid application of frameworks, suggesting instead that true leadership requires continuous learning and the ability to navigate non-linear environments. The episode also highlights practical approaches to organizational change, emphasizing psychological safety and the necessity to remain curious and responsive in our rapidly evolving world.

Members of the Cyb3rSyn Community can watch/discuss the podcast episode on the www.cyb3rsynlabs.com portal or the mobile app (iOS and Android).

In Part 2, Heather challenged one of the most dominant paradigms in the technology world: the idea that an organization is a machine that can be "engineered" or "designed".

To Silicon Valley executives, the mechanical metaphor is tempting. We like inputs, outputs, and predictable control loops. But as we discussed, this metaphor has done significant damage.

Here are the key insights from our dialogue and why you should stop "designing" and start "facilitating emergence”…

We often talk about ‘Organizational Design’ as if we are outside architects moving blocks around. I think that Organizational “Discovery" or "Co-creation" are far better terms. Heather agreed and explained how nature solves complex problems through emergence and gave breathing as an example.

Individual cells in your lungs cannot breathe. "Breathing" is an emergent trait of the collective system that no single component possesses on its own.

The Plant Metaphor: If you put a plant in a window where the sun only hits one side, the plant self-organizes and grows toward the light. It interprets signals from the environment to solve a problem (getting energy). Organizations need to do the same -interpreting market signals and self-organizing to meet them, rather than rigidly adhering to a "target operating model".

We touched on Ashby’s Law (Requisite Variety) and how nature handles complexity. Heather shared a fascinating example of symbiosis involving a carnivorous pitcher plant and a specific species of bat.

The bat has evolved to fit perfectly inside the plant to roost safely. In return, the bat’s saliva provides nutrients the plant needs. This isn't a top-down structure; it is a "self-organized response" where two entities evolved in perfect harmony to serve each other.

Instead of asking "What is the correct hierarchy?", maybe we should ask "What symbiotic relationships need to exist to solve the market's problem?".

One of the takeaways from Heather was the concept of Political Legitimacy. Do your employees follow new rules because they are coerced, or because they believe the process used to create those rules was fair?

Change is often traumatic. If a previous reorganization was brutal, employees carry that baggage forever. Heather shared a cautionary story about a leader who held a workshop, asked employees to write their concerns down, and then completely ignored them. This destroyed legitimacy. The next time change was required, people withdrew because they learned their input didn't matter.

To build legitimacy, we must facilitate "co-creation." This might mean involving a "diagonal slice" of the company - people from all functions and levels - to define the new structure together.

We discussed the difficulty of getting honest feedback during these co-creation sessions. I brought up the military saying:

In some organizations, when executives are in the room, psychological safety often evaporates. Heather suggests using anonymized data collection as a way to mitigate this and we also discussed the importance of having an external facilitator who isn't afraid to be "radically direct" and channel the conversations towards productive decision making.

For the executives in our community, this is a critical warning. We discussed the "Rockstar" myth - similar to heart surgeons who are geniuses at their home hospital but struggle when they move to a new one because they lost their specific team that compensated each other for their strengths and weaknesses and the underlying context.

You cannot take a playbook that worked at your last startup and force it onto a new enterprise. As Heather put it: "You got to learn how to be a leader every time". Success is context-dependent, and "plug and play" management ignores the unique ecosystem you are entering.

Finally, Heather discussed how the world is shifting from VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) to BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, Incomprehensible).

In a brittle and anxious world, rigid theoretical frameworks can blind you to reality. Heather’s advice is to apply Permaculture principles, specifically: "Observe and Interact". Before you restructure, sit down and converse with the people. Sense the patterns.

Heather takeaway message is simple: As we navigate this paradigm collapse, we need to be willing to "throw our models away" and remain curious about what is actually happening right in front of us.

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for more multidisciplinary insights next week.