This Is Why 'The HOW' Is More Important Than 'The WHAT'

Standing at the foot of Mt. Everest. No water. No oxygen. No proper equipment to speak of.

Nevertheless, must get to the top. And fast.

Teaching and travelling around Asia in the second half of the 1990s, this is exactly how I felt on my return to the heart of the tech boom in 1999.

Back at home in sunny California, never had I felt more a stranger in a strange land…

Fast forward a few years to my new home of Munich, Germany. Europe had replaced Asia, English teaching was now soft skills training. But, I was still fully immersed in a foreign culture. Only this time without any big mountains in sight…until around 2008.

A few years shy of 40, I found myself in a job that required me to “do” Leadership Development. Suddenly, I was surrounded by guys who’d been doing it for 5+ years. Guys who could spout off countless leadership theories, methods and models in their sleep.

By the way, how does one "do" Leadership Development?

Once again, lots to learn. Lots of catching up to do. And so the pattern continued…

Fortunately, a few years later I came across across a few simple ideas that taught me this:

How I do things is more important that what I do.

Below is an upcoming review I wrote for the Organization Development Network Europe.  For me, it’s a transformative book full of liberating and empowering ideas like the one above.

COMPLEXITY DU JOUR

To effectively manage a complex change, something radically different is required. After all, no tool or technique can help you deal with a situation that can’t be predicted. A problem that can’t be planned for. And yet, many change methodologies claim to do just that.

In Relational Organisational Gestalt: An Emergent Approach To Organisational Development (ROG), Dr. Marie-Anne Chidiac presents a “way of being” rather than a set methodology or a “what to do”.

In the spirit of transparency, I need to make a confession. Not only do I know the author, I’m a graduate of the ROG Training Programme offered by the company she co-founded, Relational Change.

However, you don’t need to be a graduate of ROG or familiar with gestalt theory or practice to enjoy and benefit from this book.  It’s a great entry point for someone unfamiliar with gestalt but who is looking for added support in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous VUCA world.

The simple and powerful ideas within ROG provide it.

MISMATCH

As we learn in the Introduction, Dr. Chidiac’s desire to write this book stems from her own experience working with organizations and exposure to the chosen change methodologies.

As experienced first-hand, there was a “mismatch that existed between the promises of change methodologies and what happened in practice”, i.e. the theories didn’t always deliver.  ROG is the product of her journey on her way to becoming a gestalt OD change practitioner.

She explains how gestalt provided a way of supporting her by placing the “use of self” and “presence” at the heart of its practice: “I went from feeling tool-less to understanding that the most valuable tool was myself.”

For someone who has struggled with Imposter Syndrome throughout his career, gestalt has made the same empowering impact on me.

And for me, that is what ROG is all about – a clear statement that how I operate is more important than what I operate with.

ROG offers an OD approach that is “practical, dynamic, and one that resources both the practitioner as well as the organization”.

MOST POWERFUL TOOL IN YOUR TOOLBOX

With a practical focus throughout, Dr. Chidiac introduces a core idea or principle and goes on to help the reader understand its importance and application by providing relevant examples and case studies.

Connecting back to very roots of OD, we’re reminded that Kurt Lewin, who most consider the father of OD, was a German gestalt psychologist. Lewin gave us the concepts of field theory, group dynamics and action research – deeply embedded in OD theory and practice to this day.

While many gestalt ideas and concepts are introduced throughout the book, none are more relevant than the ones that deal with change. After all, much of the complexity we face in our field stems from this constant and powerful force.

You’ll learn why “heightening awareness in the present moment leads to change” and why “change happens through dialogue”. Hence, the “relational” in ROG. Most importantly, you’ll see how the practitioner uses their “self as an instrument of change”.

Further to self, ROG presents it as something which is fluid and changing with every interaction – “constantly impacting and being impacted through our relationships and interactions with our environment and changing (both ourselves and others) in that process”.

She anchors this empowering concept with the SOS model of Self, Other and Situation.

FIGURE 1 – SOS MODEL FROM WWW.RELATIONALCHANGE.ORG

As change is ongoing and cannot be controlled though fixed theories or plans, she argues, it needs to be seen as something that is co-created and emerging in the present moment.

As what emerges and co-created cannot be known or planned for in advance, the change practitioner’s approach can’t rely on a tool or technique. It should, however, rely on the presence of the practitioner – fluidly responding to the situation in the “here and now”.

Building on the ideas of Malcom Parlett and other great thinkers, Dr. Chidiac points out that the “more attuned we can be to what is going on within and around us, and the more clarity we achieve about this data, the more effective our interventions”.

Incidentally, if you thought you could be more effective in your interventions would you want to know how?

Dr. Chidiac believes that a key to better interventions comes down to the ability to access your whole Body-Mind-Energy System – your built-in “smart” device that allows you to experience feelings, physical sensations and other sensory information. The data received through this “embodied sensing” is highly valuable for all parties involved – practitioner and group, coach and coachee, etc.

She stresses the importance of letting oneself be influenced by emotional and embodied responses – in addition to the intellectual ones. Therefore, the practitioner is not the expert but rather “someone that co-creates, through awareness raising, the conditions for emergent change”.

And in order to create these ideal conditions for emergent change, the ability to be present is of utmost importance.

Presented as “energetic availability and fluid responsiveness”, “presence” sits right alongside “use of self” in the ROG approach. Like discovering the paradoxical concept “relaxed concentration” in The Inner Game of Tennis many years ago, these four words changed the way I work.

Viewing it as a relational process which happens through interaction rather than just a skill to acquire, Dr. Chidiac synthesizes the dimensions of presence into five key attributes. What emerges is a conceptual framework called CARES – each letter representative of a desired way of being.

At its very essence, gestalt is about embodiment – What am I feeling? How does that sit with me? What is my body telling me?  Therefore, I’d like to highlight the fourth attribute of “embodied sensing” – the capacity to experience others and the world around us by paying attention to all sensory information.  Sound familiar?

Tapping into this intelligent Body-Mind-Energy System is a way to fully experience what’s going on inside and outside of yourself. Connecting to the holistic SOS model with presence at the intersecting center, it’s also a way to attune to others and the situation around you (see Figure 1).

SEA CHANGE

In addition to the examples and case studies, ROG offers experiential activities that you can try out yourself – another key piece of gestalt theory:  Before concluding anything, make your own experience. There’s even one that can help you increase your level of empathy toward someone – a useful activity for any of us!

Beyond the practical and experiential focus, Dr. Chidiac makes frequent reference to other current thought leaders and relevant topics.

When stressing the importance of listening to one’s intuition or “gut feeling”, she references Daniel Kahneman’s two modes of thought in Thinking, Fast and Slow (this guy won a Nobel prize!).

She doesn’t need to jump too far from Kahneman to get to the pre-Theory U concept of “presencing” made popular by Peter Senge and friends back in 2004.

One of my favorite real-life examples comes from the father of gestalt OD, Ed Nevis. When a client would say or do something that might appear insignificant, he would say: “Isn’t that interesting”. With this harmless observation, he’d bring attention to the action or comment. I’ve tried this. It works.

You’ll experience more awareness-raising examples throughout the book – ones that illustrate the approach of a humble inquirer rather than an expert. Yes, OD giant Edgar Schein is referenced, as well.

Building on “presencing”, “Theory U” and other such approaches, ROG highlights the shift in the OD field that sees change emerging from shared presence and co-creation, not a few “heroes” at the top.

ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

In ROG, Dr. Chidiac presents the rich interconnected history of OD & gestalt. She also provides an ethical and effective way to face the uncertainty and complexity around you.

If you do decide to integrate these powerful ideas into your practice, keep in mind that you’ll be operating from a “genuine position of not knowing”. Trust me when I say, letting yourself be truly surprised by what might come next is not always easy.

In my opinion, however, it’s the most important part of the ROG approach. But if you really want to help yourself and your clients navigate the VUCA landscape, I honestly believe that it’s the best approach.

Like Dr. Chidiac, I share the hope that ROG “supports OD practitioners in their continued quest for emergent and relational approaches as a way of ethically addressing the growing complexity and uncertainty of organizational life”. Without a doubt, it supports and sustains me.

In the spirit of gestalt, don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself. Make your own experience.

What is your experience with complex change? How do you approach planning for and predicting it?

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Tim Nash helps people raise awareness for peak performance. For free actionable tips & strategies, join his Newsletter, The Path To Peak Performance.