The Challenge of Power (Extract)
There are virtually always political barriers!
What I have found to be true is that when the issue faced is more important than their position, people in power positions will engage. In other words, they’ll step up when:
- the situation reaches the point that they realize that they can’t solve it alone;
- it is critical to their success; and
- they’ve found a partner to work with that they’re willing to trust.
Essentially, these are the conditions when anyone will engage. It’s just that people with more to lose tend to wait longer. By then, the situation is really messy and they’re desperate.
Peggy Holman knows a lot about change in organizations and communities and she wrote Engaging Emergence to help people not only deal with unexpected and chaotic change, but even come out ahead by engaging it proactively.
But proactive engagement means letting go of some things just as much as discovering new things. To help you navigate, Peggy presents her list of The Five Things We Need To Let Go Of To Effectively Deal With Emergence:
1. Give Up Command and Control.
2. Give Up Habit and Routine.
3. Give Up Top-Down Decision-Making.
4. Give Up the Existing Order.
5. Give Up Thinking That You Have the Answers.
Read the full blog with paragraphs and examples for each of the above….
Worth a Look: Engaging Emergence
Journal: Self-Organizing Emergence from Chaos
Reference: Peggy Holman Free Video on Emergence
Who’s Who in Collective Intelligence: Peggy Holman
