WHY USE RA?
RA allows for a deep understanding of how the organization works and what holds ittogether. RA allows the right balance of continuity and flexibility.
RA harnesses the energy that flows within the organization’s formal, explicit connections such as reporting lines, accountabilities, authorities, responsibilities, and structures. It also harnesses the energy that flows in the organizational open space – the complex social systems relationships and sub-cultures that work both inside organizations and extend beyond the organization.
In nature, this space is called ‘dark matter’. Scientists used to think the space between planets was empty. This is why we called it “space”. Astrophysicists have discovered that dark matter is not empty space, it exists as a critical part of the universal living system. Dark matter shapes planets, solar systems, stars, and galaxies. Scientists call this invisible, unanticipated force the "scaffolding" of the universe.
In organizations, the open space between people and groups is the scaffolding that holds the whole together, it tears apart and reshapes the relationships between people, teams, groups, roles, functions, procedures, processes, values streams, systems, and strategies. Of course, it does not appear on culture and climate surveys, it is not accounted for on the P&L, the Balance Sheet or Cash-Flows, but it affects them all.
The integration of formal and informal, tacit and explicit changes allows you to tap the scaffolding of the organization as part of your organizational transformation. This results in rapid awareness and response to emergence. This allows you to focus on energy, socialize strategy, gather ideas, prioritize, test decisions and improve performance.
TOO MUCH AGILITY FOR THE SAKE OF AGILITY
RESULTS IN HYPERACTIVITY AND PANIC.
- This destroys value and creates a culture of constant panic and toxic stress. Insufficient agility results in
- Burn out, value destruction and ultimately, failure.
- The death rate of businesses is climbing – even the most successful are going to the wall at an alarming
- Rate and overwhelmingly it is because they do not have RA.
- The requisite level of agility enables an organization to survive and thrive in turbulent times.
REQUISITE AGILITY
NOT RECKLESS AGILITY
REQUISITE AGILITY:
RECKLESS AGILITY
It consists of hyperactivity and panic. Following fashionable trends, forcing through one-size-fits-all solutions pushing agility as the panacea of all ills may appear to be logical and organized on the surface, but if it is the wrong change, it will cause fragility and cost dearly in the end.
Change is not only intentional; it is also emergent. This is why continuous sensing and sense-making need to be built into the capacity of the organization, rather than an event-based interruption.
SOURCE
Anticipated
Unexpected
RECKLESS AGILITY
HYPERACTIVITYAction for the sake of action. Following fashionable trends and copying others.
PANICUnanticipated changes result in trauma of disorder and fear-driven control.
REQUISITE AGILITY
INTENTIONApply changes based on continuous sensing and adaptation.
EMERGENCE Tap turbulence, networked for continuous learning and creativity.
An RA Performance System is designed for intention and emergence. What is the design of your performance system based on?
The volatility, uncertainty, and risk will vary from area to area. For example, in a hospital emergency is the reason we call it the ‘emergency room’. This is not the place for panic. An effective emergency room is a web of relationships that are connected and continuously learning and adapting, primed for the unanticipated. At the same time, there are other parts of the same hospital that are operating with lower levels of agility and focus on consistency, such as the labs for testing blood, taking x-rays and MRIs.
RA enables you to apply the necessary agility in each function or situation. RA is the global quality standard that transcends dependence on any particular theory or practice of organizational design or systems integration.
REQUISITE AGILITY
LEADERSHIP
The essence of RA lies in the depth of self and mutual awareness with which users integrate a variety of systemic intervention methods to create more humane organizations. Leadership exists in all roles, positions, and levels. Every associate has a role to play to be a critical systemic facilitator, who is able to apply models and perspectives to develop an awareness of the broader whole, the emerging changes, the structural, systemic relationships, and the latent potential that is present in a situation. Critical facilitators can observe their own thinking structures in relation to those of the client and intervene from there. This results in a high level of collaborative intelligence.
