Tag: H2-

Posted on

Everything had to change for everything to stay the same

This is the key line in one of my favourite films, Visctonti’s 1963 The Leopard. 

Based on the novel of the same name by Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa, the film follows the life of the Prince of Salina during the unification of Italy in the 1860s. 

Rather than fight the revolution, he goes with it, because he senses that after the revolution the old power hierarchies will remain. 

‘Everything had to change for everything to stay the same’. 

This line could sound fatalistic. But I take it as a warning not to be complacent when we see change coming. Change might signal  the dismantling of the status quo. Or it could simply mean the current system rearranging itself to maintain power. 

How can we tell the difference? 

Well, we can spend time thinking about what the future is we want to build. What are values? How is it wired together? What would thriving look like?

In the Toolkit for Regenerative Design, two models help with this”

  • Changing Mindsets — how our worldview shapes the systems we create
  • Living Systems Blueprint — the characteristics of systems that create thriving over time

When we have clarity, then we can scrutinise the latest novelty and ask:

is it a path to better, or is it a path to more of the same?

Posted on

All change or no change

How do we know if an organisation is really committed to change?

A big clue is to look at the culture of the organisation. Because in organisations, culture is how things get done.

The Johnson Scholes Culture Web gives us six lenses to read an organisation’s culture. Each gives us a way to test if they are really committed to change. 

Stories — Are they telling different stories about who they are and what they value?

Routines and rituals — Have day-to-day practices shifted? Has what they celebrate changed ?

Symbols — Has the visual language shifted? What’s being shown — or hidden?

Control systems – What are they measuring? Has the weight of KPIs shifted? How much R&D is allocated to this change? How are they measuring their supply chain?

Organisational structure — Where is the work of change located? Is it is the delivery teams or in the marketing team?

Power structure — Are senior leaders backing the change, asking questions about it and backing it even when it’s not the easy option?

These six lenses help us spot shifts in culture. 

What the culture is doing is a strong clue about whether the organisation is really committed to change — or actually planning on changing nothing.

Posted on

The dance of innovation or dancing on the spot

Regenerative design aims to shift our system of design and construction to one that creates thriving. 

But when we are working with an incumbent organisation — one built around the current way of doing things — a big question often arises: 

How do I know if I am really making change?

When organisations are heavily invested in the current system, genuine change is rarely part their short-term strategy. 

An avoidance strategy then is to perform the dance of innovation — creating the appearance of transformation while continuing with business as usual. 

Like a magician waving one hand while hiding the real trick with the other: 

Well, you know, we’re really committed to change and we’ve got these great consultants in, and they’re figuring out the strategy… so for now, we’ll just carry on.

For change-makers looking to shift the mainstream, the chance to work with a major supplier or client can feel too good to pass up. But we have to stay alert to innovation being a delaying tactic.

It may look like progress, but if nothing changes under the surface it’s really just dancing on the spot.