The past decades of behavior-based, individual-focused development have had the unintended consequence of overemphasis on individual skills. The majority of what ails organizations today – slow to change amidst industry disruption, workplace hostility, and ineffective, poorly executed strategies – goes beyond behaviors to the embedded beliefs and embodied habits in the dynamics. We fail to see the system at work across layers, between functions, and within leaders, being quick to blame employee skills when linear cause-and-effect thinking is the fatal flaw.
Organizational architecting has been a leadership gap for decades and the importance is increasing exponentially. It’s no longer sufficient to coach ‘like’ employees or effective to expect employees to ‘keep you happy’. Leaders are now required to overcome the initial discomfort of differences to collaborate to integrated views. Uncertainties must be embraced for what they are without invoking excessive anxiety and fear. When taking the systemic view, we quickly see the lines blur from ‘training and development’ to mental, emotional, and relational maturity. Embracing a paradigm of growth on the inside of the organization as a means to growth on the outside, leaders evolve themselves and their dynamic workplace for sustainable success. Skills are essential and not enough.
The system sketch below illustrates the circular nature of unhealthy leader/employee dynamics, offered as a spark for your curiosity. Where do you see yourself? How are the dynamics moving around you? What is your resilience to do what breaks the patterns? Although a change in any one interaction can change the system, it is slow and demands exorbitant tenacity and risk-taking by one individual – not something an immature organization rewards – which subsequently leads to unintended consequences of making things worse!
Architecting the organization for harmonized systemic growth provides solutions at the source of the challenges, where benefits are inherently realized. I hope this piques your curiosity about a new paradigm. It's about individual skills AND systemic maturity.
Do you have an audience ready for a new conversation about implications of mental health in the workplace? Contact Shelly for an outreach presentation.
Ready to embrace the paradigm shift and start seeing the circular effects around and within you? Embark on your evolution with Leadership TheraCoaching.
Have a differing view? Please share your thoughts to continue the conversation.
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