| Changing our Thinking about Action by Peter Block
Originally published in the March 2003 Issue of Link & Learn.
In difficult times, whether for a nation, a workplace, or our own lives, our immediate instinct is to want to do something. Don't just stand there, do something. We pride ourselves in being action oriented. While we need to respond to strong events and strong emotions, I want to question what constitutes strong action.
Our first instinct is to do something tangible and concrete. We so quickly join in to shift direction, seek justice, enforce controls, increase oversight, set standards, hold people more accountable, budget money, and change policy or regulations. In the face of all of this, I have come to see these as mostly symbolic and constitute doing more of today what we have been doing yesterday.
In our search for the next big action, we keep ignoring the fact that the last big action never fulfilled its intent nor provided the more secure and hopeful future that it promised. This is one reason we jump from one next big thing to the new next big thing. I wonder whether the search for action as we have traditionally defined it changes anything of lasting value, or whether it just embeds us in the condition that we are trying to fix.
A Shift in What Matters
If we think about the changes we truly care about, they have to do with the qualitative dimension of our lives. If I asked you what kind of a world or institution you wanted to create, you would most likely focus on human values: peace, consideration, love, cooperation, social responsibility, harmony with nature, or economic self-sufficiency.
If we care about human values, I see little evidence that decisions about direction, controls, standards, more oversight or protections, have much impact. These are decisions that reinforce the illusion that executive action can shift our lives, keep us safe or make us successful. Much of the decisions that we call for only reinforce our belief in capturing more control over events, and it is this mindset of decisiveness that most often created the symptoms of dysfunction that we are trying to cure.
Authentic change in the quality of our experience, of our culture, change which shifts rather than reinforces the ground we stand on, is of a different nature than what grows from decisive decision making and pointed problem solving. If we want to not only fix the symptom, but also revise our part in creating the conditions that trouble us, then problem solving and quick action change nothing.
We might make a distinction in our conception of what we call action. Something shifts when we differentiate between decisive action and what we might call profound action. Profound action is about our way of thinking, our way of being with those immediately around us, and the nature of the conversations we engage in. Profound action exists in contrast to decisive action, where we choose to spend or save money, build or eliminate a structure, pick or refuse a destination.
EThere are three actions that would be included in what we can label as profound: Shifting our Consciousness, Making Relationships Primary, and speaking Language of Reconciliation.
Shifting Our Consciousness.
What problem solving and "decisiveness" miss is that change is about consciousness. It is about our capacity to reflect on our experience and see it in a different way. Consciousness is the realization that I am constructing the world within and around me, even the evil in the world. It is the capacity to reflect on our own thinking. For example, if we long for hope or greater security, we need to rethink from where our security comes. There is no adequate protection against our vulnerability to the pain and randomness of the external world. To believe that decisive safety measures can give us security and safety is to bet on an illusion.
Bosses cannot protect their employees, the army or the government cannot protect its citizenry, and parents cannot hold their children immune from the pain in the world. All may want to, but as long as we think it is achievable, we will bet our future on acquiring all the power, resources and protective regulations that we can muster, and thereby miss the point.
When we include consciousness as a powerful action step in times of crisis, we would start to value reflection. We would take time to think. We would question the limitations of our own worldview. We would value wondering what events mean to us, rather than how to manage events. We would accept the idea that if we wish to change the world we first must change our mind. This puts thought and our thinking at the center of action. It carries the insight that seeing our role in creating the world is the essence of being awake and being really in charge.
Making Relationships Primary
In a culture that values decisive action, relationships are viewed as a means to an end. Every time we meet it is for a purpose other than simply meeting. We want to "decide" something. It is almost illegal to end a meeting without summarizing what we have decided to do. Real change, though, comes when authentic commitment, passion, and whole heartedness are released. These are social phenomenon and are created from the nature of how we come together. They are an outgrowth of the quality of our relationship with each other.
The most important questions that impact our future, then, are not about a list of decisions, but more from a discussion of what binds us:
- What purpose is worthy of our collective action?
- How do we deepen the quality of contact we make with each other?
- How do all the gifts of those present get brought to the table?
An honest discussion of purpose, contact and gifts are profound action steps. They are reason enough to come together. When they are the point, and are not simply process questions to improve the quality of our decisiveness, we acknowledge that our commitment to each other, our relationships, may be the determinant of our success more than the particular path we pick or next big thing we engage in.
Choosing Language of Reconciliation
If we really want action that shifts our future, then we need to seek a shift in language. We become anesthetized by the old conversations associated with decisive actions: the talk of greater controls, higher standards, better security and regulation, better accountability. We were weaned on these conversations and when we language the world this way, we intuitively know that we are simply going down a path of distressing familiarity.
We fool ourselves every time we think that last time we were not decisive, controlling, or watchful enough. Most often, we were, in fact, quite decisive, controlling and watchful, it just did not get the results we wanted.
Profound action grows out of language, which we might call the language of reconciliation.
Reconciliation begins with an acknowledgement of how we, not they, contributed to the problem we are facing. This is often called confession. It takes the form of the question, "What have I done to contribute to the problem?" This makes each of us a player in the drama, and if I helped create this situation, then I can fix it.
Forgiveness is another element of reconciliation. Forgiveness, not part of our everyday business talk, is an antidote for all the ways we think other people need to change for the future to be different. Addressing the question, "What is the forgiveness I have been withholding" takes us into new conversational space. It helps complete the past and is a replacement part for blame.
A third element of reconciliation is an un-bartered promise. This is a promise made for its own sake, not one that is negotiated. Authentic commitment comes in this form. As soon as I bargain with you, I have sown the seeds of disappointment, for the moment I think you have let me down; I can exercise my escape clause, and claim that because you did that, the deal is off. This is not commitment or wholeheartedness; it is conditional commitment, which is no commitment at all. Promises freely made, with no expectation of return have durable power.
Another element of reconciliation is gratitude. This is acknowledgement that we are here as a result of sacrifices others have made for us. It recognizes the gifts of those who came before and those around this table. Gratitude reminds us that what we have is enough and makes complaint obsolete. It also takes the discussion of deficiencies off the table. Deficiency discussions are at the core of problem solving and are mostly a discussion of what is missing. If we want to create an alternative future, why would we spend so much time talking about what we don't have? Gratitude is about what is present and valuable. Why wouldn't we build a future on this?
A Foundation for Change
These dimensions of profound action are all inter-connected. Greater consciousness and more powerful relationships grow from using language of forgiveness, confession, and gratitude. The language of reconciliation is only possible when there is a platform of consciousness and relatedness. When we have gathered for the sake of a conversation for profound action, we are foundation building. You might say we are creating a spiritual foundation, which becomes the basis for real accomplishment.
It is on this foundation that decisive action can change the world. Without this foundation, problem solving and traditional decisiveness is a defense against change. It insures that tomorrow will look exactly like today, and we have unconsciously chosen habit and convention over transformation. Profound action, which recognizes the power of consciousness, relationships and language, creates a new context within which decisiveness and problem solving can play a key role in giving us the future we desire.
Peter Block, consultant and speaker, helped initiate the interest in empowerment; these days his work centers primarily on bringing of service and accountability to organizations and communities. He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers consulting skills workshops designed by Peter to build the skills outlined in his Flawless Consulting books. He received a Masters Degree in Industrial Administration from Yale University in 1963; he performed his undergraduate work at the University of Kansas. Peter is the author of many best selling books, including Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, second edition (1999); Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest (1993); and The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work (1987). His most recent books are The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters (Berrett-Koehler, 2001), Freedom and Accountability at Work: Applying Philosophic Insight to the Real World, co-authored with consultant and philosopher Peter Koestenbaum (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001), and Flawless Consulting Fieldbook & Companion: A Guide to Understanding Your Expertise (2000).
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