It is possible for a systems thinking type to stay sane in a command and control organisation.
Some tips:
1. Don’t argue with people and never criticise
Sometimes fun and it passes the time but usually misery-making. Try to avoid it unless you consistently hear people say “After listening to you criticise me, I have learnt that you are right and I am wrong!”.
2. Be patient
Hundreds of gurus, academics, teachers, authors, thinkers, managers and employees have tried to change management thinking over the decades and the prevailing style of management still, for the most part, prevails. Be patient! It isn’t an overnight thing. It may take many more decades.
3. Do something
Plan (as in P for Ploy) to a) make others curious about alternatives, b)Plan to experiment in the work you have direct control over and lead by example or c) Plan to leave the organisation and do something else that will bring you joy.
Regarding point 2, how optimistic are you (and maybe other readers of your blog) that, one day, systems thinking or something similar will replace the prevailing command and control style of management?
BTW, for the sake of my own sanity, the answer needs to be “yes, definitely!”
I’m not optimistic at all. I don’t believe optimism has anything to do with the actual chances of it. Temporary and limited areas may turn out good, like Aviva Insurance, or a large part of a council, but no more. Then what, when a new chief exec arrives? I think command and control plays more to our nature, and also to the rest of the culture/thinking of our society. Taylorism may have started a particular refined approach to command and control, but it wasnt Heaven before then either. Just a bumbling and more cack-handed version of command and control. Thousands of years of that too.
I think its like tending a small vegetable patch. To be sure its better than a weed infested wasreland, but really hard work to “go against nature” to get to a nice state then constant vigilance to keep it there.
I don’t believe that optimism has anything to do with the actual chances of it either. Optimism is a state of mind based on the liklihood of the chances of a positive outcome. Optimism doesn’t make something happen. If optimism made things happen, that would
be magic. I don’t believe in magic. We can leave this to Noel on Deal or No Deal.
People used to think it was part of our human nature to have slaves. Abolishing slaves, people said, would be to go against our nature.The people who thought this were wrong. Thinking everything undesirable is part of our human nature is limiting and circular. It’s like saying “we do this because we do this”. It shuts down any chance of movement.
I think systems thinking plays more to our nature. We are born good. We are born natural problem solvers. It is human nature to cooperate with other humans, be purposeful and look for meaning. I believe leading and working in command and control organisations goes against our nature. The way we manage organisations is a mixture of historical accident and the power of the status quo. As Deming said, the present style of management is a modern invention and represents “a prison created by the way in which people interact”. Blaming modern management on human nature won’t get us anywhere.
I’d say slavery is very much a part of our nature. It predates written records, and continues to today when there are more slaves than ever! Where we are right now, in geography and in history, is a happy exception.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
Yes, I am optimistic. One day, definitely! We will look back and how we will laugh.
More slaves than ever because there are more people but “probably the smallest proportion of the world’s population in history”. It is also in our human nature to outlaw slavery.
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