All organizations are human systems. Everyone within that human system is an organism and all of these “organisms” make up the ecosystem. In any company, each organism needs an ecosystem where it can not only live and survive, but thrive.
All biological organisms have an inherent intent to survive, however, human beings can have an intent that’s much bigger. And it makes sense that we all should, because surviving only means getting by. When our intent is to thrive, and we bring that to our roles in life, especially our role at work, we give ourselves the chance to actually enjoy the work we do, and learn, grow and self-actualize through our work. If we want to be happy and thrive, it is crucial to our well-being that we embrace the inevitable change impacting us and in the places we work.
Embracing change requires personal and professional evolution. To evolve, we need to have an intent to do so. You need to have an aim to achieve. The aim is the intent for our life. What is our life for? Where are we headed? What's important to us? Are we acting, behaving, and interacting in a way that is true to who we say we are and what we say is important?
So, why should we want to evolve?
Human systems thrive in a state of flow, however all too often most of our organizational human systems are mired in friction causing mass stress to the humans beings in that system. Economically, geographically, systemically, people are polarized and are dealing with a mass sense of distrust for leadership everywhere. Whether it's leadership of their country, leadership of their healthcare institutions, or leadership of their businesses, this distrust is pervasive and fingers are always pointed elsewhere.
However, when life and work seems challenging, the only place for people to really look is within. Are you the problem? If you aren’t the problem, are you indirectly contributing to it or passively allowing it to happen. Do you have any ability to fix the issue? Looking inward before starting to point fingers would end so much of the friction that is present in so many companies.
Whenever we're spending our time looking for someone to blame or take responsibility for how we feel in our life, we're giving up control, which means we're in a victim's state of mind. We aren’t taking responsibility for how we could change the situation.
Stephen Covey, in his book The Seven Habits for Highly People, talks about two separate domains in our lives: the circle of concern and the circle of influence. The Circle of Concern includes all the things we care about and are worried about. These could be:
Global issues (e.g., climate change, political situations)
Personal issues (e.g., health, job security)
Concerns about other people's behaviors and opinions
Essentially, the Circle of Concern encompasses everything that might cause us stress, anxiety, or worry. However, many of these concerns are things we have little or no control over.
Within the Circle of Concern is the Circle of Influence. This circle represents all the things we can actually do something about. These could be:
Our own behaviors and attitudes
How we spend our time
How we interact with others
By focusing on our Circle of Influence, we can take proactive steps to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. The idea is that by consistently focusing on what we can control, we gradually expand our Circle of Influence.
If you want to be happy, you have to understand the difference between your circle of concern and your circle of influence, so that you avoid getting upset and agonizing over things in which you have no control. Stressing over your circle of concern is a recipe for living below the line on the 7 levels and not being in a place of power, freedom, and ease, but one of frustration, fear, and hopelessness.
While we can certainly think about what's going on in the world and how we believe the world should be different, if we want to be happy, experience internal and external well-being, and feel empowered, then we need to remember that the only thing we can actually change is ourselves.
We can change our outlook. We can change our context for how we live. We can change our perspective. We can change our values. We can change our attitude and our mood. We can learn to embrace change. We can cultivate how we live our life and the structures, systems, and rituals (the architecture) that we put in place so that we maintain the kind of attitude, mood and context that is empowering for how we see the world. All of that is going to take continual attention and intention.
For example, we recently facilitated a workshop with a group of top-performing, highly driven people who are not victims, however a few of them were starting to shift blame to people who outranked them and told them what to do. We had to get them off that path and guide them to have to focus on their own behaviors, beliefs and actions and on what they can control, which is themselves, the people who support them, the people they lead, what specifically they bring to the table, and how they influence others. It's about tuning out the noise and the idea of not being responsible and instead choosing to assume responsibility. We coached them to see this, just like you are responsible for telling yourself that this is what you need to do to make this better. That’s how you evolve.
The Conditions for Evolution
We already mentioned the necessity of an intent for evolution. However, there are a few other things that must happen for evolution to occur, whether for personal or for organizational change. In order for anything to evolve, it needs to have an environment that's fertile ground for growth, development, lessons learned, failing forward, and teamwork. You have to really be willing and able to identify where there's friction among people, among departments, among roles, and within yourself. You must be willing to deal with friction in order to create flow.
Another thing that is required for evolution is architecture. Things like disciplines, structures, and opportunities for recurrence are necessary to evolve. In other words, we could go to the gym for one day, but if we don't keep going to the gym and lifting weights or using our body to do pushups, pullups and sit ups, we won't master fitness.
It's the same thing in an organization or for anything else in our lives. There has to be architecture in place so that the learning is recurrent. Then you have to invest the time necessary for recurrence. You need to continue building that muscle over and over again, dedicating the time over and over again, and cultivating how you behave, act, and interact with others, all in service of that aim. That is no small undertaking.
Ways to Evolve
There are many different ways to evolve. The key is finding what works for you (and what you will actually do - there’s no point in signing up for a class that you won’t attend). Some of the various methods include but are not limited to:
Reading a book or consuming other forms of knowledge
Taking a class
Hiring a coach
Attending an experiential program
Doing an Intervention
Meditation
Yoga
We recommend taking a balanced approach to evolving. Have several different points of learning that give you the experience, the insight, the introspection, and the reflection, so that as you are gaining knowledge, you're also gaining insights, taking action and experimenting with what you're learning.
No matter which ways you choose, the most important thing to remember is that evolution is always happening, whether you like it or not. You and your organization are constantly evolving. It’s up to you whether you evolve intentionally, where you are purposefully cultivating an ecosystem for yourself or others to thrive in, or unintentionally, where you lack control over new changes, and things occur that you don’t want and don’t control.
P.S. Evolution begins with the leader within. Join us for our inaugural public seminar program, Evolve the Leader Within, and learn how you shape the ecosystem for where you work and where you live. Register here today.
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