Learn To Love Being Out Of Control

120 leaders. 6 presentations. 2 days. 1 unintended (and only slightly terrifying) object lesson in the necessity of learning to live and work in renewable ways. 

It all happened earlier this week, when Dave Daubert and I were in Madison, WI co-keynoting at a leadership conference. Somewhere between presentation 4 and 5 the hard drive on Dave's computer crashed. And, all of a sudden, we were exhibit A.

Ironically, the presentation Dave was just about to give before his computer bit the dust was about how to use PAWN (an acronym which stands for P.urpose, A.ssets, W.ows, and N.eeds) - a process strategy we've developed to help people and the organizations they care about "see with new eyes" what is and what is emerging in their context. The ability to work in emergent ways is one of the characteristics of a renewable approach to life and work. Instead of investing a lot of time and resources into traditional long-range strategic planning and goal-setting, a renewable organization invests in preparing people to pay attention and respond to what is happening right here and right now. 

First of all, there is plenty of evidence that traditional long-range strategic planning is dead. (The last 10-year plan you spent a year and probably a load of cash to have somebody write for you, sitting in a dusty binder on a shelf in your office somewhere, is probably proof enough for you, though.) Secondly, researchers are discovering the danger and counter-productive nature of big, hairy, audacious goals gone wild. 

The biggest issue, though, is that the context we're working in is changing so fast! What kind of 10-year plan would you make in the movie business, for example, when according to Netflix the number of their subscribers who watched video streamed over the internet nearly doubled in just the last year? Or what kind of long-range plan would you make in the book business when Amazon is reporting it is now selling more e-books than hardcovers? Or what about in the church where the membership slide in traditional denominations seems unstoppable and even megachurches like the Crystal Cathedral are in trouble? How do you make long range plans in this context?

You don't.

Instead, you learn how to pay attention and respond to what is happening – and what is emerging – right here and right now. You learn how to be who you are and see what you have for the sake of doing what matters today. You learn that good preparation is way more important than having a detailed plan. Because you just never know when, all of a sudden, your hard drive is going to crash. And both your notes and the power point deck you built to illustrate your presentation are lost forever – 15 minutes before you need to go live in front of a group of 120 leaders who gave up two days of their life to spend with you and who expect to go home having learned something. 

Andrew Lightheart, a blogger who specializes in communication, argues that the best presentations never go as planned. In fact, they shouldn't. If your presentation is going as you planned it, it means you're just reading a script and not paying attention to your audience. A good presentation, he says, is less like performing Mozart and more like playing jazz. You prepare - learn how to play your instrument, think through all the possibilities, even put together a plan - but then you improvise. You allow there to be interplay between yourself, your band, and your audience. You let the spirit move you. And you let the experience be fresh. 

That is a good description, I think, of the most effective way to run a business these days, too - whatever your business happens to be. For that matter, it's a pretty good description of how to live a healthy life. 

By the way, with 15 minutes to create a new presentation from scratch (N.eed) that would help people learn about working in renewable ways (P.urpose), Dave and I looked around the room to figure out what we had to work with. I spied a travel coffee mug sitting on a table (A.sset), which prompted me to remember a creative exercise my daughter, who works in marketing at the Chicago Sun Times, used to interview candidates for a graphic design position earlier this month (W.ow). I quickly explained it to Dave, who grabbed the mug and proceeded to lead the group through a half hour exercise that ended up being the most fun thing we did in two days - and another half hour debriefing that exercise in a way that helped people understand what it means to "see with new eyes" for the sake of doing what matters right here and right now. Not even the best power point slides or carefully written script could have been more effective. 

Are you ready to let go of the idea that you can control, manage, or even predict the future? If so, you might just be ready to begin living and working in more renewable - lifegiving, organic, decentralized, purposeful and emergent - ways. If not, these days, you and the organizations you care about are probably in trouble. 

 

 Church leaders: You may want to click on the book cover below to learn more about seeing through new eyes.