Paradigm Shifts
8 Things to Remember When Shift Happens
(1) CommentThis is the last post in my series on the evolution of organizational paradigms. Sometimes the only thing required for a business initiative to succeed is an occasional adjustment in the way people operate within the organization. Other times, success requires dramatic, fundamental alterations not only in how people work but also in their view of the business itself, their customers, their roles, etc.—“paradigm shifts.” These change projects are the ultimate challenge and should be entered into cautiously. Yet, today’s competitive markets demand more leaps of this magnitude than ever before. This means more
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How to Make Shift Happen
In this series, we’ve been exploring the evolution of organizational paradigms. In my last post, I talked about the collapse/renewal phase, the place where either shift “happens” or it “hits the fan.” Here, I’ll pick up with an exploration of what is involved when orchestrating a new paradigm. It requires a four-part approach involving leadership, a learning environment, a new culture, and resilience.
Strong Leadership Is Imperative
Existing paradigms are typically not dissolved by consensus nor by insiders. Usually a single, determined individual or small group with the power to sanction dramatic change throughout an organization concludes that more
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The Movement Begins
(1) CommentThe Uncertainty Phase—Time to Shift or…
So far in this series, we’ve explored the meaning of the term “paradigm shift,” and we’ve looked at the first two phases of an organizational paradigm evolution. Now it’s time for us to look at how the actual shift happens, to uncover why the existing paradigm begins to decay.
It’s upsetting to realize that a critical issue (current or anticipated problem or opportunity) cannot be adequately addressed by the existing paradigm and its multitude of fixes. Such a crisis is usually precipitated by more
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Before Shift Happens
(1) CommentIn my last post, I talked about the term “paradigm shift.” Very simply, we can say it’s “a fork in the road that opens up a completely new way of perceiving, thinking, and taking action—with no turning back.” I also said that the term has become part of our slang, and that its real meaning has often been diluted more
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How Shift Happens
“Rather than being an interpreter, the scientist who embraces a new paradigm is like the man wearing inverting lenses.” ~Thomas Kuhn
“Paradigm shift.” How many times have you heard that term thrown around?
Thomas Kuhn was the first to popularize it when he used it in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He said that science doesn’t progress in a linear way. Instead, it undergoes periodic, transformative upheavals he called “paradigm shifts.”
He said unconventional thinking drives revolutionary science. It is always a hard sell among scientists, because they apply their current perceptions and understandings to something new and unorthodox. In other words, “out-of-the-box” thinking is scrutinized by “in-the-box” biases. Therefore, it’s rejected most of the time.
However, more
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