Art and NC (part 2)

How can we master change more effectively? A reflection space on new forms of transformation (part 2)

I first became aware of the term negative capability through an essay by James Krantz, in which he discusses the importance of “reflective spaces in groups and organisations” (Krantz, 2013, p. 30).

Using the theme of negative capability for leadership and management styles is not entirely new though. Since the 1990s at the latest, published texts have focused on the recognition of negative capability as a key skill that enables leaders to successfully/constructively engage with the transformative challenge of the future (Saggurthi & Thakur, 2016, p. 187).

For leaders to be able to deal with uncertainties and to be at all effective (efficient) in the midst of them, they need to be convinced that they can integrate uncertainty into decision-making processes as a creative shaping force (Saggurthi & Thakur, 2016, p. 186; French, R., Simpson, P., & Harvey, C., Jan 1, 2009).

An openness to creativity, an open exchange, and the feeling of trust and security in the team and at the workplace create an important basis for negative capability...

For such reflective spaces, as desired by James Krantz, to become possible at all, a change in corporate culture is needed. This calls for a change of mindset on the part of leaders, as they must introduce new ways of thinking and behaving in order to encourage staff “to fail forward, promoting active debrief of failures and supporting criticism and self-evaluation” (Hagemann & Schatz, 2019, p. 32).

However, such a climate, in which one is allowed to be uncertain, in which there is the confidence to make mistakes (A. Edmondson, 1999), in which the basic “fear of learning” (Coutu, 2002) is recognised, must first be set up, deliberately practised and thus consciously created. Amy Edmondson was able to use the results of her study ‘Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams’ to substantiate her hypothesis that safety aids positive learning behaviour, which in turn influences team performance (A. Edmondson, 1999). For Edmondson, three main strategies are important, in order to increase psychological safety in a team: (1) Frame the work as a learning problem, not an execution problem. (2) Acknowledge your own fallibility. (3) Model curiosity (A. Edmondson, 2014). To “model curiosity” in particular requires “creativity” in the sense of “lateral thinking”, whereby one moves “sideways” (de Bono, 1992, pp. 52-53), which means trying out new directions of thinking.

An openness to creativity, an open exchange, and the feeling of trust and security in the team and at the workplace create an important basis for negative capability, because other studies also show that security at the workplace pays off, in that staff talk about their problems and discuss open issues (Broeng, 2018, pp. 433-434). So in order to achieve negative capability, we need reflection, trust, curiosity and lateral thinking, so that this gets anchored in a “negative space” within companies (Krantz, 2013, p. 37).

The reality, however, is different: In companies, there is far too little time for reflection (Krantz, 2013, p. 37) and no room for “reflective inaction” (Simpson et al., 2002, p. 1210). This is because waiting, feeling one’s way into the situation (keyword: empathy) and resisting the pressure to act do not match the common image of a leader who always knows the way and shows strength through determination (Simpson et al., 2002, pp. 1210/11).

Negative capability is indeed a key component needed for change and transformation, but French shows that it requires a counterbalance, demonstrating the importance of the right balance between positive and negative capability (R. French, 2001):

“‘Negative’ does, of course, make little sense without a concept of its opposite, ‘positive’. Again, the ‘truth’ of organizational life ‘is not in the middle, and not in one extreme, but in both extremes’.” (p. 486)

After all, positive capabilities, i.e. the ability to implement in a timely and concrete manner and to act on initiative (R. French, 2001, p. 487), aid change and transformation just as much as negative capabilities. It takes both together to ensure the “capacity to live the uncertainty and yet still to act” (R. French, 2001, p. 490). Here, then, is a reciprocal “dynamic concept of role” (R. French, 2001, p. 490), in which there is the right balance between positive and negative capabilities.

Although they wrote their text twenty years ago and the world has definitely become much more dynamic since then, Simpson’s, French’s and Harvey’s analysis is still highly applicable, in that negative capability opens up important future potential. In addition to positive capabilities, there is also a need to be able to listen and wait, and to use precisely this capability as the “opposite pole to action as intervention” (Simpson et al., 2002).

…

In part 3 of "NY - How can we master change more effectively? A reflection space on new forms of transformation", I will closely explore the relationship between art and negative capability. I will present works by various artists and explore their NC potential for a reflection space.

The third part will be published on Wednesday mid November 2024.

REFERENCES

Broeng, S. (2018). Action research on employee silence: The need for negative capability in leadership. Management Revue, 29(4), pp. 432-448.

Coutu, D. L. (2002). The anxiety of learning. Harvard Business Review, 80(3), pp. 100-106.

de Bono, E. (1992). Serious creativity. Using the Power of Leteral Thinking to Create new Ideas. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Edmondson, A. (2014). Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8.

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), pp. 350-383.

French, R., Simpson, P., & Harvey, C. (Jan 1, 2009). Negative capability: A contribution to the understanding of creative leadership. B. Sievers, H. Brunning, J. De Gooijer, & L. Gould (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Studies of Organizations: Contributions from the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations. London: Karnac Books.

French, R. (2001). ‘Negative capability’: Managing the confusing uncertainties of change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 14(5), pp. 480-492.

Hagemann, B., & Schatz, S. (2019). The mentally prepared leader. Association for Talent Development.

Krantz, J. (2013). Work culture analysis and reflective space. In S. Long (Ed.), pp. 23-44. London: Karnac Books.

Saggurthi, S., & Thakur, M. (2016). Usefulness of uselessness: A case for negative capability in management. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15(1), pp. 180-193.

Simpson, P., & French, R. (2006). Negative capability and the capacity to think in the present moment: Some implications for leadership practice. Leadership, 2(2), pp. 245-255.

Simpson, P., French, R., & Harvey, C. E. (2002). Leadership and negative capability. Human Relations, 55(10), pp. 1209-1226.