Navigate the Swirl

CHAPTER 7A 5:30 Wake-Up Call: The Transition to Stage 3, Distributed Leadership

I hope you will abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience—to appreciate the fact that life is complex.

—M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Beep … beep … beep …beep … When the wake-up call comes, telling us it's time to transition to stage 3, it's unavoidable. Of course, “beep” sounds different, depending on the company and circumstances. You might hear things like, “The market is changing too fast,” “We can't innovate,” or “We're falling behind our competition.” You might hear, “We're disconnected from our customer,” or “We're not responsive,” or “The technology has all changed again and we just got through the last big upgrade!” The successes of the past are no longer translating in the present. People will ask, “Are all big organizations as dysfunctional as we are?”

The challenges aren't just in the marketplace; they're also internal. “I spend all my time in meetings! When am I supposed to get my work done?” is a common complaint that you start hearing from team members when that wake-up call gets louder. The Swirl is sapping their energy and creativity, and they don't know how to break free of it. They have gone from having a direct line to the customer to being encumbered ...