Habits Die Hard
November 9th, 2003 by Hal
This is a continuation of my series of postings on the theme Variation as an Enabler that started on Sept 12th.
It's obvious to say it takes people to do projects. But what we've missed in putting projects together and managing them through calm and troubled times is the people on the project are the source of power on the project. Trite? I don't think so. Companies spend buckets of cash on facilitation, problem resolution, dispute resolution, brain-storming, and team building all with the intent of being more participative. The results are checkered. For the most part, people who take part in these activities report 'good feelings' about having participated. And, too many will tell you that the effects are not lasting.
Habits die hard. To think that we can provide a shot in the arm misses the nature of being human. We are social beings. We are biological beings. The routines of social interaction are etched into our biology. The biologist Humberto Maturana describes this as structural coupling. Through repeated interactions with others we develop ingrained patterns or habits of response and engagement. These habits allow us to be effective with those around us. (I can go into more of this if readers are interested.)
Here's the big point. While we can agree intellectually that two are smarter than one, and three are smarter than two, we generally lack the structural coupling on projects to manifest that smartness. Why? Project teams by definition (or practice?) are temporary organizations. Everyone knows that. Some organizations go so far as to staff projects (not project teams) with 'interchangeable cogs' — some general skill and experience level suitable for some understanding of the tasks. (The term 'interchangeble cog' is so demeaning.) They do this with the intention that they can switch out resources as needed. This is absolute hooey.
Teams perform when they have personal relationships with each other. Based on Maturana we can make the case that collections of people aren't teams unless they are structurally coupled. Yet we act like skills and experience are interchangeable just like machines in a factory. And, we know they are not.
We have a great opportunity on our projects for manifesting the talents, gifts, intellect, and creativity of project performers. With that will come the surprise — uncertainty or variability — in project results. Patience and persistence required.
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