Change-ability and Thoughts
Looking at human development through the lens of values combined with the dimensions of VUCA and Mindset, can lead to the explanation and understanding of one’s own worldview and to an individually creation of measures and skills development to reduce uncertainty, increase tolerance of ambiguity and exponentially capture complexity and volatility. Change-ability can therefore be reactive or proactive, depending on the level of complexity. Reactive change adapts and optimizes existing practices and behaviours, but not fundamentally redesigning values, goals, processes and structures. The complexity of the change process is manageable and needs a longer period of time. High intensity change, intervenes in the overall systems through new behaviours, rules, forms or a change in identity. This change is long-term and means fundamental changes in attitude and behaviour for people and organisations.
The shift from one value system to the next, occurs through oscillating interests for the individual (take responsibility, rely on the power of yourself) and collective life (embrace the inevitable, focus on making peace with yourself) to have the opportunity to alternately explore the world and repair your inner self. Thus, the locus of control also changes, from the inside to the outside, in the respective value systems. The development of people in the value systems is moving in the direction of greater complexity as our knowledge and experiences increase. The flow of development according to Csikszentmihalyi has four characteristics:
·???????Expansion of psychological space – more perspectives
·???????Expansion of conceptual space – bigger picture views, wider span of influence
·???????A progressive increase of alternatives – more choice in acting
·???????A progressive increase in behavioural freedom –emotions and interrelationships
Change-ability is defined as the potential and willingness to change including the ability, possibility, the will and the need of a person to change. Knowing the own change-ability is helpful and insightful for people and organisations. By making the subject and object and regularly reflect on it and work on following criteria:
·???????Individual Capacity and Capability
Personal components (resilience, self-reflection, ability to implement)
·???????Collective Capacity and Capability ?
??Social components (empathy, communicative flexibility and conflict management)
·???????Objective Capacity and Capability ?
?Methodological competencies (problem-solving ability, creating structure) ?
Enabler and Barriers
People live in a system of needs, values and hopes that assign meaning to theirs lives and justification to their behaviour. As a result, certain life conditions - be they external factors such as society, family, organisation, or internal factors such as conscious and unconscious beliefs, or both types of factors at the same time - can lead people to allocate their energy to maintaining their existence. The expression of the change-ability thus maps onto a scale from unhealthy, insufficient possibilities and resources to blocked and ultimately to open, healthy possibilities. Effective interventions require not only that the value-system of a person or a team can be established, but also the status of the change potential allows for an individual co-creation of development.
Factors - Thoughts
How do you perceive change?
·???????Is it scarry?
·???????Is it hard work that you resent?
·???????Is it unknown territory that frightens you?
·???????Is it fun and divers?
·???????Is choice that you can’t take?
·???????Is it opportunity you love to follow?
领英推荐
Most people oscillate between some of those beliefs or can be rigidly caught in one of it.
Thoughts are our constant companions and linked with emotions and memories and physiological sensations. They can activate other thoughts, emotions and/or memories that lead to other related thoughts. In a state of cognitive fusion, our thoughts disproportionately control our behaviour and our actions. By cognitive defusion we can create context in which the thoughts, memories and emotions are not excessively regulating the actions. In a defused state, a person can notice that she/he is currently experiencing particular thoughts, while remaining flexible enough to choose whether or not to allow those thoughts to influence behaviour.
Stages of Thoughts
·???????Are thoughts about situations hunting you in ruminating about the shame of being proven inferior or stupid?
Find a better feeling and a more successful answer that gives you the satisfaction of winning over the person or situation you’re dealing with.
?·???????Ruminating about guilt and what you have done wrong, finding and searching for every mistake and fault, beating yourself up: “How could I be so stupid?”
Find people who feel the same and have thorough discussion about it (conscious complaining) and on the subject – How wrong the thing is and what you would do about it.
?·???????Feeling beaten and unsuccessful ruminating in negative thoughts and feelings towards a situation and/or people, having the tendency to avoid those thoughts while engaging in unhelpful behaviours (binge eating and drinking, TV, etc…) developed over years.
First reflections start to rationalize thoughts and situations to enhance the outcome. Negative thoughts are consciously rationalized and mined for a better future solution to learn and improve. Positive thoughts are used to capture the here and now and celebrate the moment and the success to build on the achieved.
?·???????Ruminating about own incapacities, not-enough-ness and rejection can lead to deep depression.
Balancing your thoughts when negative in deep reflection by finding new ways to forgive yourself, to appreciate yourself with more love for yourself and others. Find common ground with groups and share thoughts and ideas.
?·???????Perceiving negative and positive thoughts in the moment they occur and know what caused them and recognize the link to emotions and memories through higher reflection that allows you to see the patterns and be informed about the situation you’re in.
Thoughts foster beliefs and behaviours and we also use them to constantly check what’s going on in our world.?Changing between the different stages of thoughts and expanding on inner capacities allows for more and more flexibility in perceiving and be informed by thoughts and emotions.
What is your predominant Stage of Thought? Where are you caught in and would like to move on?
What are your thoughts about this? Feel free to leave a comment and/or contact me.
#change #development #leadershipdevelopment #complexity #complexitythinking
Literature:
Beck, D. E. & Cowan, C. C. (2006): Spiral Dynamics. Mastering values, leadership and change. Blackwell Publishing
Flaxman, P., Bond, F. & Livheim, F. (2013): The Mindful and Effective Employee. An Acceptance & Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance. New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Szebel, A. (2015): Ver?nderungskompetenz von Mitarbeitern. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur differentiellen Konstrukterschlie?ung der individuellen Ver?nderungskompetenz von Mitarbeitern unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Einflusses dispositionaler Pers?nlichkeitsfaktoren. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Humanwissenschaftlichen Fakult?t der Universit?t zu K?ln.