Something isn’t producing the result we want.
So we respond.
We introduce a new initiative.
Change the structure.
Revise the process.
Set new targets.
Provide more training.
Perhaps bring in new technology.
And sometimes that works.
But what happens when, months or years later, we find ourselves confronting a remarkably similar problem?
We respond again.
Perhaps with another initiative, another restructure or another process.
Which makes me wonder:
Did we actually change what was creating the problem — or did we simply change our response to it?
In my last article, I suggested that if we want a different result in our business, somewhere people will probably need to make different choices.
That thought becomes particularly interesting when a problem keeps returning.
Because behind the visible outcome there will have been actions.
And behind those actions there will have been thinking, assumptions, interpretations and choices.
We may change the process around them.
We may change the reporting structure.
We may even change the people.
But have we become curious about the choices that helped create the outcome in the first place?
And, perhaps more importantly:
Have we changed anything that would enable different choices to be made next time?
This isn’t an argument against systems, restructuring, training or technology. Any of them may be exactly what is needed.
It is simply another lens through which to look at a recurring business problem.
Imagine something in your own organisation that you have had to address more than once.
Perhaps poor communication.
A customer issue.
A project that repeatedly overruns.
People reluctant to speak up.
A change programme that never quite produces the expected result.
Instead of beginning with:
“What should we do about it this time?”
what might we discover if we first asked:
“What choices keep contributing to this?”
Not to find somebody to blame.
To learn.
Because if we understand the choices, and what influenced them, we may begin to see something that another change of process alone would never reveal.
Perhaps that is one of the opportunities Human Agency gives us.
To look beneath the repeated outcome and become curious about the human choices helping to create it.
And that leaves me with a question.
Is there something in your business that you keep responding to — when the greater opportunity might be to understand why it keeps happening?
If that question brings a particular business issue to mind, I work with senior business people as an Independent Co-Thinker — exploring familiar business challenges through a different lens.
Sometimes the value may simply be in asking a different question.You can find more about my thinking on Human Agency and my work at arbitrium.uk
Related Articles:
Human Agency and Business Results: What Different Choices Do People Need to Make?
How Human Agency Strengthens Organisational Learning and Adaptability
Resistance to Change Is Often Misdiagnosed: Understanding Fear In Organisations