Canadian HR Reporter

JUNE 16, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK From the lab to the C-suite From the lab to the C-suite Findings in physics, biology hold inherent lessons about leadership and change Findings in physics, biology hold inherent lessons about leadership and change BY LIZ BERNIER CONTROL, EFFICIENCY and authority — these are just a few of the buzzwords surrounding tradi- tional ideas of leadership. Preserving stability, maintaining the status quo, quashing conflict and sustaining control are some of the tasks leaders are traditionally expected to do. But leadership is infi nitely more complex than that, said Jamie Gru- man at a recent Strategic Capability Network event in Toronto. "We're controlled by ideas and norms that have outlived their usefulness in organizations," said Gruman, an associate professor in the department of business at the University of Guelph in Ontario. "Organizations today are largely dinosaurs." e way we think organizations should function is largely based on ideas that originated hundreds of years ago, he said — and many of those ideas are out of place in a rap- idly changing world. "Most of the advances that we have in science are attributable to this idea that developed during the (Age of ) Enlightenment that we can control the universe if we think about it carefully enough," he said. "And this is how our organizations have evolved — with the same idea." Traditionally, the primary objec- tive of an organization's function has been control and effi ciency. "If you think about the structures and policies and procedures that govern the way your operate in your organization, I bet you dollars to doughnuts that 90 per cent of them are focused on control and effi cien- cy, and making sure everything stays the way you want it," he said. But that status quo mentality is not conducive to successful change — and it's not compatible with sci- entifi c discoveries about how the world works. "Some ideas have developed out of developments in the hard sciences that shed light on the fundamental nature of the universe in which we operate," said Gruman. And these new fi ndings in areas such as quantum physics and evo- lutionary biology highlight the fact that the old ideas about control and authority aren't as helpful as we once imagined. Complexity leadership and emergent change Scientific advancements have shown us that physical reality is in- determinate — as much as we might like to, we can't predict everything, said Gruman. " e fundamental nature of re- ality is you can't predict outcomes. You can in very circumscribed situ- ations that are short in time, short in distance. But over the longer-term, fi ve years out, 10 years out, you can- not predict what's going to happen," he said. at's why the notion of complex- ity leadership becomes important. "Complexity leadership is an ap- proach to leadership… that capital- izes on these crazy ideas that charac- terize the fundamental nature of our reality," said Gruman. Also important is the concept of emergent change. Traditional notions of change rely on a highly structured, planned ap- proach, he said. is can work for smaller changes but for larger ones — more sweeping ones, more con- troversial ones — it probably won't work, he said. "There's a high probability of relapse with planned approaches to change — uneven distribution among units, less suitability for op- portunity-driven changes, unantici- pated consequences due to limited foresight, adoption of best practices that are ill-suited to your environ- ment, ignorance of top management regarding key contingencies and ca- pabilities at the front line, lapse in implementation… and a whole host of other (problems)." An emergent approach to change is a way to compliment the planned approach and address some of those problems — and that gives you a greater likelihood of success. Emergent change is when order develops without you having the in- tention to make order develop — it emerges on its own. You may have experience with groups or teams in your organiza- tion that come together to solve a specifi c problem. It's not necessarily sanctioned by the employer — it just arises spontaneously, said Gruman. "All of a sudden, they come up with a new solution to something — out of nowhere. is is an example of emergence in organizations," he said. "As managers and leaders, if we want to move toward emergent change, we need to create the con- ditions necessary for emergence to occur." In the traditional approach, a leader's job is to increase stability —to look for deviations and correct them. "Whereas in the new approach — the (emergent change) approach — your job as a manager is to increase learning and self-organization, which may involve moving away from stability," he said. It's not a perfect idea — there are problems with emergent change as well, he said. But it's a diff erent way of thinking about change — one that leaves for room for creativity and innovation. "As leaders, one of the fundamen- tal things you need to do to man- age change eff ectively is let go," said Gruman. Control versus chaos Part of letting go of control is letting go of the idea that our role as manag- ers and leaders is to keep the system close to equilibrium, he said. "Emergent change or an emer- gent organization occurs when we are far from equilibrium. If you're in a system that is very regimented, very controlled, you're not going to have emergence. It's when you bring that system to a more chaotic state — to the edge of chaos — that emergence is likely to occur," said Gruman. Leaders tend to rely on "shaping behaviours," which involve a high amount of control. "Shaping behaviours involve controlling what gets done, ex- pressing your own views and beliefs about change, using your unique experience of change to shape the implementation, holding others ac- countable… this is really the mental model of what we think of when we think of a leader. Someone who is in control, domineering, authorita- tive — these are the shaping behav- iours," he said. An alternative to that is leaders who engage in "framing behaviours" and creating capacity — creating a framework for change that is not forced or regimented. " ese were leaders who estab- lished starting points for change, designed and managed the journey, and communicated guiding prin- ciples for the organization. Instead of saying, 'Here's how you're going to do it,' they said, 'Here are ways to think about how to approach what you're doing. What you do is up to you,'" said Gruman. Research has found that the shap- ing behaviours — those traditional leadership behaviours we all think of — were negatively associated with successful change. However, framing behaviours were positively associated with suc- cessful change, he said. "We live in a diff erent world to- day. It's no longer 'command, con- trol, paramilitary style.' It's no longer about controlling... it's about innova- tion, constant change, building your organization to change." is doesn't mean leaders should throw out the rulebook or abandon everything they've learned about leadership, said Gruman. It just means the old ideas should be tem- pered and moderated by the new ones. "We're not talking about aban- doning the rules — we're not talking about abdicating your responsibili- ties," he said. "It's not about completely ignor- ing everything we know about tra- ditional leadership, but supplement- ing it with behaviours that help the system get to a position where it can grow on its own, and you can lever- age the inherent knowledge and experience and capabilities of all the people that you work with." Credit: faithie/Shutterstock.com

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