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The Wheel of Change Model [wheel-for-orgs.pdf] asks that you take into careful consideration:
1. perceptions-emotions-beliefs which we call Inner Work
Shifting the way we think and feel; the inner motivations that guide the way we behave.
2. behavior which we call Behavior Change
Shifting the many actions that make up the lives of individuals and groups; learning to make different choices about what we do or don’t do, about what we say or don’t say.
3. external “reality” which we call Outer Work
Changing the systems, structures and processes that make up our environment.
Many change efforts, large and small, have limited success due to the failure to attend to all three elements of the wheel. Current reality is a self-reinforcing system of these three domains. Unattended parts of the wheel, over time, like a rubber band tend to pull things back to their original homeostasis, eroding our efforts to change any one or two aspect of the system.
Some typical examples:
1. Our team goes to an off-site. We experience what feel like breakthroughs in trust and communication, we make commitments to remember the spirit we’re feeling and communicate better with each other. Two months later, things are back to where they started (or worse, because people may feel even more disheartened because of people’s failure to keep their agreements). The problem: no substantive changes were made in the structures and processes of the organization that might have supported the sincere goodwill with which people returned from the retreat. Promises of new behavior were lost in the relentless tide of work.
2. Management wants to create a shift in staff behavior, for example, higher performance standards. The focus is on training in new behaviors, and changing performance management systems: closer supervision, new methods of evaluation, etc. However, underlying problems in the inner life of the organization, namely lack of alignment on purpose and vision, and a deep mistrust of management by many staff, are not directly addressed. The investment of time and money basically has little or no impact on performance.
3. The organization invests large amounts of money into revamping information systems to improve communication flow within the organization. But insufficient time and attention is given to training staff in other behaviors that impact the skillful utilization of these systems, and a deeper problem with competition between departments is completely ignored.
4. An example from an individual change effort would be:
Someone makes a personal commitment to take better care of their body after repeated physical difficulties exacerbated by lack of exercise. But their efforts to follow-through are undermined by unexamined personal beliefs around self-sacrifice, and a failure to make changes in their external environment that might have supported their efforts at behavior change (for example, getting extended childcare to allow them to go to the gym after work; or engaging an exercise buddy to support them in their sometime sporadic commitment).
Important note in working with the Wheel:
The 5 sub-categories in each section of the three sections wheel are neither compulsory nor comprehensive. These are meant to serve as examples of the possible work to be done in each part of the wheel, but you do not have to engage with all 5, and you may discover other elements of inner work, behavioral work, or outer work.
In conclusion:
We understand that doing change work (especially with teams and organizations) can be like trying to change the tires on your car while traveling 60 miles per hour. Life is often beautifully messy and unpredictable, and in these times of accelerated change, finely detailed plans may prove to be amusing /frustrating failed attempts to control reality. However, by not attending to all three domains in the wheel, we can be pretty sure that our efforts will be less than fully successful.
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Two Paths to Social Change
Unless they’re focused simply on providing direct service, social change groups are seeking to change the way people live with each other or the natural environment. So from an activist’s or ‘change agent’s’ point of view, what are the basic approaches for pushing an idea further and faster along the social change bell curve?
It strikes me that there are two major paths for social change. Depending on the issue, social and environmental organizations focus on one or both of them. They often work in tangent. One path is ‘social marketing’; the other is ‘advocacy.’
Social Marketing
Social marketing focuses on individual behaviour change. Examples: public marketing campaigns focused on fitness (ParticipAction, HIV prevention and condom use, anti-smoking, volunteering, anti-racism, hand-washing, recycling, etc. On the continuum stretching from “what’s in it for me” to “it’s the right thing to do for the world”, these kinds of initiatives tend to fall squarely in the self-interest camp.
Still, these efforts are vitally important. Collectively, huge numbers of people can shift a culture over time. But getting there is hard. It takes time and money – which most social change groups lack – to get the frequency and reach to push an idea along that bell curve. Again, that assumes the group has a relevant and compelling message in the first place.
Advocacy
For me personally, the ‘juice’ lies in the second path: advocacy. Advocacy is about power. It’s about power in the form of policy – which in turn is about changing the context in which individuals make decisions in the first place. Effective, progressive policy shifts the cost-benefit calculus of decision-making for people, corporations and industries. Smart policies provide incentives to do the right thing, or eliminate the ‘free rider’ effect so that good behaviours are worthwhile.
Take anti-smoking campaigns: social marketing approaches tries to convince youth they’ll be smelly, dorky or otherwise unpleasant if they smoke. (Sometimes the message is about getting sick and dying young, which is singularly un-motivating, given that most youth think they’re immortal). That’s important – but it takes a lot of face-to-face organizing, TV ads, podcasts, organizing etc. to reach enough youth often enough to make a difference – assuming the message is compelling and relevant to them in the first place.
Policy advocacy comes at it from the other direction. It goes right to the source.
When British Columbia and other provinces and US states declared all public buildings to be smoke-free, the behaviour of hundreds of thousands of smokers and non-smokers alike were affected in one fell swoop. And now that tobacco companies across North America are being sued by states for their own marketing efforts targeting youth, and for lying about the health effects of their products, another form of policy is sweeping through the industry –again, going right to the source.
The Advocacy/Social Marketing Interplay
Of course, in a democracy a policy like that could only have been created in the context of years of social marketing having taken place already. In that sense, anti-tobacco campaigns, or what could be described as the anti-smoking movement (given its size, reach and impact), involved both approaches. And each affected the other. How much more legitimate were the social marketing arguments when anti-smoking legislation was in place in various communities – and vice versa? Different campaigns lend themselves to different approaches, depending on the target audiences, the scale of change sought, the timeframe, and the resources of the social change groups involved.
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AOC: Field Research
Let’s begin doing some field research today. Over the course of the day you will find yourself in a variety of different work contexts. You will be collaborating within a number of different relationships. Let’s take what we’ve been learning about contracting, and see to what degree these contexts and relationships rest upon a foundation of clear, mutually agreed-upon expectations.
Practice #5
For each significant work context and work relationship with which you engage today, ask yourself the following 5 questions:
1. What is the nature of our contract, stated or implied?
2. How clear are our expectations of each other?
3. Have there been insecurities, frustrations, mis-steps, inefficiencies or breakdowns due to differing expectations?
4. How comfortable am I with the current nature of our agreement field?
5. Are there areas I might like to clear up or renegotiate?
In order to really engage with this intriguing (and possibly unsettling) practice:
* write these questions down where you can easily see them over the course of the day
* use whatever kinds of reminders (sticky notes, etc.) seem to help you stay focused on practice
* take a few notes over the course of the day—there’s a lot to be tracking and integrating here
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AOC: The Art of Contracting
Practice #5: THE ART OF CONTRACTING. Good contracting is fundamental to our work as agents of change. Please read this carefully, then proceed to the written assignment at the end of the e-mail. Important: The next 7 days represent a self-study course in contracting. Each of the 7 days of this practice examines a different aspect of this vital part of our work. Several of the days involve some brief writing.
By staying current with the changing assignments, you can gain important perspectives and tools to help bring greater clarity and ease to your work.
Today’s practice (below) is also attached to preserve formatting. As this material is an updated and improved version of what’s in your binder, you may wish to substitute it: (Tab 8; page 1-)
Contracting is as important for leaders, funders, and coalition members, as it is for consultants and coaches. I will sometimes refer to the person other than yourself as the “client,” but please mentally substitute the appropriate word for your relationship.
CONTRACTING. Purpose of contracting: To create beneficial conditions for mutually satisfying and successful relationships by:
* agreeing on the results to be created.
* clarifying roles and responsibilities of each party
* creating a “field” of agreement
- rapport among people
- trust/confidence in competence, intent & process
- alignment around outcomes and process
To state the obvious, when there is less than full agreement as to these expectations, the entire ensuing process is ripe for problems.
Different Contexts; Different Contracts
Contracting may be more or less comprehensive, and more or less formal, depending on the nature of the relationship and engagement. Contracting will look rather different depending on whether this is:
* the beginning of a new relationship; or a new arrangement in the context of an existing relationship;
* an arrangement among people working within an organization; or the hiring of an independent contractor
* a casual coaching conversation; or an ongoing coaching or supervisory relationship
* a one-time facilitation or training day; or an ongoing contract
* between people of equal power, or where there is a marked difference in positional power
In a one-time coaching conversation, contracting may be as simple as asking the “client” a few simple questions such as: Continue reading ‘AOC: The Art of Contracting’
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AOC: Ain’t it awful?
We are coming to the end of our practice on Have To/Choose To. Today, really listen to the conversations around your organization or your circles of colleagues and friends. Where do groups of people… or teams…fall into “I have to” and “I can’t?” To what degree do people collude in each others’ victimization? Do people engage in “Ain’t it awful” conversations? (as in: I can’t get support from the members on this!….”Yeah, ain’t it awful.”) Or are there norms of engaging and inspiring each other to test the limits of what’s possible? To what extent are the conversations infused with “Can’t do?” Or “Can do?”
If you have an organization, to what degree do people feel like power and expression is impeded… or supported by the organizational culture and power structure (including the impact of your own leadership).
“I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. There may be things we cannot change. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.. But we can change our attitude. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.’’ Charles R. Swindoll
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AOC: Have to/Choose to III
With all those with whom you interact, be aware of each time anyone says or implies “I have to…” or I can’t…” or acts in ways that suggest they might feel this way.
The primary purpose of this practice is to heighten your sensitivity to how others give away their freedom and power. Recognizing and skillfully working with this phenomenon is a critical skill in both coaching and leadership. You will probably start to notice a lot of this behavior in your environment. You may find it in people with little “real” power or wealth, or people who have every reason to feel victimized by the circumstances of their birth, race and social identity. But if you’re alert, you will also sometimes find it in people with considerable external power and privilege. When consulting to organizations, I often hear a lot of victim language from those with less positional power. But much of my work with top leaders is ends us helping them with their own feelings of “have to” and victimization.
This giving away of power can be very overt…or quite subtle. You may notice it in the language of others:
“I have to…” “I can’t…” “There’s no way…” “I’ve got to…” “He’s making me…”
But remember, 93% of communication is not in the words. Many of the signs of victimhood will be in voice tone: whiney, anxious, discouraged, frustrated, depressed etc. You can also sometime detect it in body postures such as slumped shoulders.
How many times can you observe this in others each day? Where and when are your co-workers, friends and family slipping into powerlessness? At this point in the practice, there’s no suggestion that you should be doing anything. But do begin waking up to this phenomenon of victimhood and “have to.” It’s everywhere.
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Power: What Lies Beneath
“There is nothing wrong with power if used correctly… What we need to realize is that power without love is reckless and abusive and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a campaign facilitator, I see groups constantly faced with nuances in strategy – those fuzzy lines around the “ends vs. the means” dance that seems to need constant re-assessment, if power is truly the aim of the group. By “power”, I mean actual impact on policy decisions – not just alot of media stories or rallies. But for many of us, after years of battling against the status quo, “power” is synonymous with “abuse”. It doesn’t have to be that way. But what is the ethical, right, smart way to deal with power? What lies at the core? How do we find that sweet spot where power comes from a place of integrity and goodness?
For me, it’s love. And no, I don’t actually run around saying that – certainly not in the average political strategy session! But I think love is what drives many – maybe most – social change folks. Yes, some are driven by anger, and woundedness, and a desire to lash out. In those cases, our job, as facilitators and coaches, is to help them connect with that deeper positive force.
Thanks to my American colleague Kevin for reminding me of this beautiful quote.
Filed under: Campaign Strategy, Social Change, strategic communications | 1 Comment
AOC: Excuse of the Month
And the excuse of the week award goes to a Zambian tennis player quoted in a local paper following his defeat in a match: “Musumba Bwalaya is a stupid man and a hopeless player. He has a huge nose and is cross-eyed. He only beat me because my jockstrap was too tight and because when he serves he farts, and that made me lose my concentration, for which I am famous throughout Zambia.”
We always have choice about the stories we tell ourselves about the things that happen. The stories we tell have immense power over consciousness. Just as the stories the media tell have enormous impact on our society. We can tell ourselves stories about our opponents farting, of the power we don’t have, what we can’t do, about how circumstances are awful… Or we can tell ourselves stories of possibility, of hope, of what we can do…
You are the producer, the author and the narrator of your story-telling. What kinds of stories do you want to tell today? To yourself…. And to others…
Practice #4b – Step 1: Notice each and every time the thought/feeling arises in you that “I have to…”
Step 2: Now, ask your yourself: “Is it absolutely true that I can’t/have to do this?” What choices or options do I have?
Step 3: Keep examining until you experience a felt shift from victimhood to choice.
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AOC: The Frightening Conclusion
“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what hey are capable of becoming.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
Step 1: Notice each and every time the thought/feeling arises in you that “I have to…”
Step 2: Now, ask your yourself: “Is it absolutely true that I can’t/have to do this?” What choices or options do I have?
Step 3: Keep examining until you experience a felt shift from victimhood to choice.
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Do you want to have results in your life? Or stories, reasons and excuses? The practice of self-responsibility and language of “choose to” help give us the power to create results. We construct reality through language… Through the conversations we have with others…and inside our own heads. The language of “have to” and “can’t” usually leads to stories, reasons and excuses, rather than results…
An unsatisfying meal of self-justification… Rather than the satisfaction of achieving what you really yearn for. One of my mentors once said, “Robert, the reward of listening to your own limitations is… you get to keep them.” All of us will run into real obstacles in life. Things we cannot control. Let reality be the limitation… Rather than the phantoms of mind. Continue reading ‘AOC: The Reward of Our Own Limitations’
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