A633.1.3.RB - Butterfly Effect

 Butterfly Effect

 

     I recently started at a new job in a unique position that had just been created. The job was listed under one company, but the actual location of this job was within another company. During the interview process only the ‘listed’ company’s name was ever talked about; however, once I started I was told that I would in fact have two bosses and that 70% of my work would be for the ‘listed’ company and 30% would be for the ‘location’ company. 

     The listed company had just moved into the location company’s building less than a year ago and just received the approval and funding for this position I was hired for. However, in order for this to happen, it was agreed upon that my position would be split 70/30.

This position has been an awkward position to be in from the start since no one really knew exactly what the duties would be and how it would all play out. 

      The point to all of this is…as awkward has this has been for me, I can tell that it is still pretty awkward for the company as well. This small butterfly effect of the “merging” of the offices has had a definite impact on both organizations. While we all work together under the same paycheck signature, there are very clear lines drawn as to who works for whom. I do not believe this has been an easy transition and it appears that there is not much willingness to change that, at least not right away. The way I see it, this merging has become a negative catalytic mechanism. It was a small change, but yielded a large result and not in the way that was expected. 

     According to the example that Oblinsky gives about Collins, catalytic mechanisms have five characteristics: one, they have unpredictable results; two, they distribute power; three, encourages the team to be “self-policing”; four, they help to eject viruses; and five, the produce on-going effects (2010). This merging as created all 5 of those characteristics. 

     Since complexity science looks at regrowing an organization from the traditional pyramid frame into more of an interlocking circle with member having more interactions with other members, it would appear that this is exactly what this company needs. The first step would be to have a clear vision and I don’t know if anyone has ever made the vision of this merge clear. As a new hire, I couldn’t tell you the vision of either company. I know I’m new, but I do see lots of room for improvement that maybe I can help bring about.  Maybe I can start making little, positive changes that will bring about a positive butterfly effect.

 

 

 

Obolensky, 2010. Complex adaptive leadership. (2^nd edition). London, UK: Gower/Ashgate

A632.2.3. RB – Sheena Lyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier

    

How to Make Choosing Easier

 

     As an adult, I have grown increasingly more frustrated by having more choices. I have never given much thought that the more choices I have the worse I feel. I hate shopping these days because of the fact that there are so many choices. I spent a great deal of time living overseas on a military base where our choices were severely limited. At the time, I thought it was horrible that there were only two types of deodorants to choose from, or that the grocery store only had one type of apple.

     However, when we came back to the states I went to the store to pick up shampoo. I stood there in the middle of the isle looking at the sea of choices and I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I couldn’t choose what type of shampoo to buy. This one had intense moisture, but that one had added shine, well, I wanted both intense moisture and added shine. I found one that had both, but there were 15 different brands. I couldn’t find the difference between all of them and the prices were all around the same. My hair can be tricky, so buying the right kind of shampoo for my hair type is important, or so the choices made it seem. 

     As I stood in the isle staring at barrage of choices, I got really mad and I ended up leaving my cart in the isle and walked out. I simply could not handle it. I felt so overwhelmed that I just had to get out of there. I was so astonished at my reaction. I didn’t even understand where it was coming from, but I really couldn’t deal with it. These large chain stores drive me crazy and give me anxiety. I always feel like no matter what choice I make, it was probably the wrong one. 

    Dr. Lyengar set out a pretty good strategy on how to improve your ability to decide. The first step is get rid of the extra alternatives. I have done this by not going to the bigger chain stores. The second step is to understand the consequences of the choice. This one is still new to me and I am not sure I would do this on a daily basis, but it would definitely work for major purchases. The third step is to categorize. Our brains work better when there are more categories than there are choices. And the fourth step is to condition for complexity. This means to start off small and then gradually increase the amount or degree of difficulty. 

Now, if we could just get stores to understand this logic, life would be much simpler! But until then, learning how to break down the enormity of the choosing between shampoos and other large choice items and put them into categories to process them better, will help me when I do find myself standing in the Super Store isle staring at 50 different choices of lipstick.

S633.1.2.RB - Leadership Gap

                                                             Leadership Gap
     In my years, I have noticed that my attitude towards leaders have changed, for many different reasons. In general, I would have to say that I have less trust in leaders, or that it takes a lot more to convince me of their abilities to lead. I used to look up to someone who was in a position of leadership with a bit of awe, like they had something I didn’t have.  However, as I have gotten older I realize that I am just as capable of being that leader as the next person. I have truly come to understand what people mean when they tell someone who is about to give a speech to just visualize everyone naked. It means that when you strip off the clothes and title of someone, they are the same as me.

     There absolutely is a changing trend between each generation. The change is in the respect. I fully believe that the amount of respect that leadership gets has continuously diminished over time. In my opinion, the reason for this decline is because of the amount of times leadership has been in the wrong. Now, I also believe that this is due to the amount coverage certain things get on the news, but even in leaders that have not been covered on the news are subject to the same type of scrutiny. For example, the situation with Eron back in the 90’s. Leadership seemed to be doing everything right. Employees were happy, or so we thought, and the company was making tons of money. However, it was the leadership that was crooked and brought employees down with them. Trust was broken and it was relentlessly talked about on television and the news. This broke down people trust in the corporate leadership, which in turn caused other people to start questioning their own companies’ leadership.

     I believe that the reason this has occurred is because of a higher awareness of it happening. I think it is a vicious cycle of the news making people more aware, but for every person that was only made aware, there is a person who was given an idea. That person that had the idea put in his head now commits the crimes, which get televised, reaching others who repeat the action, which then gets televised. Lets take ISIS for example. People didn’t even know who ISIS was until 9/11, yet their numbers increased significantly after the news started saturating the public with ISIS and how they were recruiting. You take a fresh young mind who just hears about ISIS, is curious about what they are and decides to research them, and then is on the next plane to Iraq. This is the same premise with the decline in trust of leaders, especially those in media.