It can be hard to see change coming, but there are patterns in the way change disrupts an industry that, when identified, can help to empower an organization to prepare for what's coming and be prepared to act.  In this episode of The Forward Thinking podcast, host Stephanie Barton, VP of Marketing and Communications at FCCS sits down with Vance Crow, Organizational Strategist, and CEO of Articulate Ventures for a look at how your organization can better prepare for change and create a shared language to facilitate open, meaningful and necessary conversations. Vance will be speaking at the upcoming FCCS Director Leadership Conference in Nashville, and in this conversation, he offers a look inside his session "The Edge of Chaos: Where and How Society Changes".

Episode Insights Include:

Defining the edge of chaos

• The world can be viewed in a dualist way, like the yin and yang.

• Order and chaos are an integral part of everything. 

• Order is what we know and understand while chaos represents the rest of the world and is often avoided. 

• Nothing new comes from order, it only comes from the chaos that is brought back to order.

• The edge of chaos represents the border between what is unknown and what is known. 

• Innovation and advancements are found at the edge of chaos.

The challenge of preparing for change

• Change is difficult to prepare for because we never know when it's coming.

• Change often comes quickly and all at once.

• Change can be preceded by pain and suffering.

• Change often requires that people move beyond the suffering to try something different, which is not always a pleasant experience.

Creative tactics for excelling in the face of change

• Organizations need to consider what is and isn't working in their messaging and be willing to try something different.

• Allow your teams to come up with new and innovative solutions to problems and see how successful they are.

• Create smaller teams that have the opportunity to explore wild innovations without having a major impact on company-wide endeavors.

Identifying patterns of change

• Spotting patterns of change requires doing things that are uncomfortable.

• Expose yourself to ideas that you may not agree with.

• Surround yourself with people who have ideas that are different from your own.

• Identify people that you respect who have a different set of beliefs than you do.

• Ask questions from younger people and learn from their answers. 

Having conversations that encourage innovation and change

• Leadership plays a critical role in effective conversations.

• Leaders help others frame their contributions in ways that are well-received.

• Effective guides understand how the gears of an organization work and the important role that each team member plays.

Creating an effective shared language 

• An effective shared language represents shared values and shared knowledge.

• Shared language can help develop a new way of thinking about systems that can be shared and worked on by the entire group.

• Company culture is strengthened by a shared language.

• Shared language allows a team to move further faster.

This podcast is powered by FCCS.

Resources

Learn more about the FCCS 2023 Director Leadership Conference- https://www.fccsconsulting.com/conferences/director-leadership

Connect with Vance- Vance Crow

Get in touch

[email protected]