Look for the Root
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.
In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he also writes monthly columns for CIO Magazine and Computerworld Canada.
His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
If you'd like permission to reprint any of Peter's articles, please contact him directly.
You can contact him at
pdejager@technobility.com
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Gardeners know that pushing a heavy lawnmower over an ugly nasty weed, week after dreary week, is only an excuse for exercise under the hot sun. It isn't effective at removing the weed and besides, the roots gain time to grow strong and deep. If you really want to waste that weed - understanding why it is there in the first place, how it grows and what nurtures it, are important bits of information.
The building the Future, is all about weed removal. What are the obstacles between what we desire to achieve and what we already have? How do we overcome them without making the obstacles stronger in the process?
Stronger? Unfortunately that's what typically happens when we try to push something out of our way, it pushes back… and the harder we push - the more resistance we encounter.
Try it… ask someone to put their hand up as if they're about to make the oath of allegiance. Place your hand against theirs and tell them you're going to push. What are they doing? They're pushing back. Now push harder and you'll notice they'll trade grunt for groan until you stop pushing. Ask them why and the answer you'll receive is "If I didn't push back, I'd fall over" or they'll mumble something about pushing back is "instinctive". What they're really saying is they are protecting their territory.
It is Human nature to push back when pushed.
Of course we might be so 'strong' that resistance is truly futile. I'm 6'2" and mean
(honest!) looking - I could easily push children over - no matter how hard they tried to stop me. Unfortunately for us, not every obstacle is like a little child. Some are more complex in their nature.
To build a future is to bring about societal change. If there is anyone with a vested interest in the existing Status Quo, then they will - it's their duty - resist that future with tooth and nail. They'll do this until they decide, because of either reason or force, that it is time to change.
Of the two, "reason" is the tool of choice, and "force" only works when the recipient believes they no longer have a choice but to change. i.e. they cannot afford the consequence of not changing.
"Force" is often the 'easy' solution. If they don't change fire the bums! That threat is often more than enough to get someone to use a new accounting system, although it doesn't do much to build either morale or company loyalty.
Of course financial "force" is also effective. Raising the cost of driving a car into a downtown area by raising parking fees via a 1000% tax is a rather effective form of force. Traffic congestion would disappear overnight if it cost $300 to park the car.
The problem with "force" as a solution is that it is based on two curious assumptions:
a) There is a specific target for the application of the force,
whether it is social, economic or even military might.
If you cannot identify each person in the "target" population, then you can't apply the necessary force. In the parking example everyone who wants to park downtown IS the target - we get them when they park.
b) That there IS an unacceptable consequence to not changing.
The ultimate use of force is the threat of death, or the threat of a loved one's death.
Which leads us to two final observations:
The effectiveness of force is active only as long as it remains a threat. If I have only one person I care about, and you kill that person, then you have lost your hold on me. Unless of course you threaten me… this leads to the final observation.
What if the threat of personal death means nothing to me? What if death is one of my accepted responses to being pushed? How effective is the threat of death if my primary weapon against you is a suicide attack?
And… what if the use of force only serves to spawn the very obstacle it was trying to eradicate?
© 2005, Peter de Jager –
Peter is passionate about change, how it affects both individuals and
organizations and allows them to grow and prosper. To contact him, and
host internal seminars on Change Management visit www.technobility.com
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