By Wayne Visser
Margaret Mead once said, ‘The only person who likes change
is a wet baby’, to which Hunter Lovins added ‘and the baby squalls all the way
through the process.’ So change is never easy, especially on the big issues of
sustainability. In thinking about this, I have found Richard
Beckhard and David Gleicher’s Formula for Change rather useful: D x V
x F > R. This means that three factors must be present for meaningful
organisational change to take place. These factors are:
D = Dissatisfaction with how things are now;
V = Vision of what is possible; and
F = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision.
V = Vision of what is possible; and
F = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision.
If the product of these three factors is greater than
R (Resistance), then change is possible. I have seen sustainability change
efforts fail for all four reasons. Deep-seated resistance often exists because
the benefits of the status quo to those in power are considerable.
Sustainability initiatives, especially if they are integrated into the core
business, are often seen as extra burden. For instance, an operations manager
of a plant really doesn’t want the extra hassle of collecting emissions data
for a sustainability report, or subjecting his staff and facilities to an
audit.
Most often, I think, the dissatisfaction that we may feel
with the state of the world or the company’s actions really isn’t widely shared
enough. Jonathon Porritt, author of Capitalism as if the World Matters, after
many years in the sustainability game (he started the UK’s Green Party and
chaired the government’s Sustainable Development Commission among other
things), told me: ‘Looking at people all over the world today, rich and poor
world, they are not remotely close to a state of mind that would call for
anything revolutionary. There’s no vast upheaval of people across the world
saying, “This system is completely and utterly flawed and must be overturned
and we must move towards a different system.”
There isn’t even that, let alone an identification of what the other
system would look like.’
Likewise, on creating a compelling vision, Porritt concludes
that ‘we have not collectively articulated what this better world looks like –
the areas in which it would offer such fantastic improvements in terms of
people’s quality of life, the opportunities they would have, a chance to live
in totally different ways to the way we live now. We haven’t done that. Collectively we’ve not
made the alternative to this paradigm, this paradigm in progress, work
emotionally and physically, in terms of economic excitement. We’ve just not done it.’ Taking first steps
is something companies are generally much better at, especially picking the
so-called ‘low hanging fruit’. But the reason these steps so often don’t get
beyond the pilot or peripheral stage is because the other two factors –
dissatisfaction and vision – are not strong enough.
Another way to think of change in a structured way is Peter
Senge’s concept of the learning organisation, popularised in his book, The
Fifth Discipline. He described the five interrelated disciplines as follows:
‘Systems thinking [the fifth discipline] needs the disciplines of building
shared vision, mental models, and personal mastery to realise its potential.
Building shared vision fosters a commitment to the long term. Mental models
focus on the openness needed to unearth shortcomings in our present ways of
seeing the world. Team learning develops the skills of groups of people to look
for the larger picture that lies beyond individual perspectives. And personal
mastery fosters the personal motivation to continually learn how our actions
affect our world.’
In a follow-up book, Learning for Sustainability, Senge,
together with co-authors from the Society for Organisational Learning, apply
the fifth discipline model to sustainability. In particular, they emphasise
connecting the inner and outer work that needs to be done: ‘Connecting the
inner changes in how we manage and lead with the outer effects our
organisations have on larger systems; connecting the inner changes in mental
models and personal visions with the outer changes in management culture; and
connecting the inner changes in who we are as human beings with how we act and
interact.’
In seeking to create change for sustainability, Senge and
his colleagues once again emphasise the interconnected nature of all change
processes, and the critical role of business: ‘There has never before been a
time when the social, ecological and economic conditions that challenge
political leaders in any one part of the world have been so interwoven with
what is occurring in so many other places. This phenomenon has arisen through
the ever-growing web of interconnectedness spun by institutions, especially
multinational corporations. Collectively, these organisations determine what
technologies are created and how they are applied around the world: which
markets develop and which are largely ignored. These institutions determine who
benefits from the world economy and who does not.’
Given the interconnectedness, the key to change, believes
Senge, is collaboration. To illustrate his point at an MIT Sustainability
Summit 2010, Senge asked the question: What would it take to get rid of
disposable cups? Who would have to work together to eliminate disposable
cups? The answers suggested include everyone from Starbucks and its
competitors to paper manufacturers, food service providers, recyclers and
municipal governments. To make real headway on really
tough sustainability issues is a ‘massive undertaking in collaboration’.
What’s more, the parties that need to collaborate often aren’t naturally
inclined to.
Senge concludes that a good guy/bad guy mentality can
be a barrier to such collaboration. ‘You’ve got to wake up and say “We’re all
part of the system”. You know who is causing the destruction of species? You
and me. You know who’s causing the huge waste problems around the world? You
and me.’ Once you become more open-minded to this possibility, then you can
look for collaborative solutions. ‘Look for small steps of things you can do
together with people with whom you traditionally would never have
cooperated — and do something useful, no matter how small.’
Article reference
Visser, W. (2012) Will Anyone Join Your Revolution? Wayne
Visser Blog Briefing, 24 April 2012.
Source
Extracted and adapted from Visser, W. (2011) The Age of
Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business. London: Wiley.
***
Part of the WAYNE VISSER BLOG BRIEFING Series
Copyright 2012 Wayne Visser
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