Panoramic View
“I’m getting old, it’s personal. I’ll take my toll in panoramic view.” These words from AWOLNATION’s song of the title above struck me as particularly relevant recently. Everything (and everyone) ages. Several things seem to happen naturally as we (and the things around us) get older. However, just because things are typical doesn’t mean they are inevitable.
As we age, it is easy for our view to narrow. Science tells us it takes more and more energy to create new connections in our brains. We also have cataloged a significant set of experiences and can become averse to trying new things, fearing they may not create the same level of enjoyment as the things we are familiar with.
In other words, our viewpoint narrows. We settle into predictable patterns of behavior. We create “rules” that we use to protect our comfortable behaviors, and then we try to impose those on other people too. This all happens naturally, like rust. You don’t have to do anything to cause this, rather, you must work very hard to prevent it.
Organizations are subject to aging also. Like a human, there are stages of “life” that are predictable and natural. Infancy, Growth, Prime, Aging, and Death are the natural cycles that will occur for many organizations unless we work diligently to interrupt the cycle. Infancy and Death are the ends of the spectrum, so let’s look at what happens in between.
The Growth period is similar to childhood and teen years in humans. Rapid (and easy) learning, agility, low risk aversion (almost a predilection to making mistakes), and experimentation are hallmarks of this part of the life cycle. Often referred to as entrepreneurial, this time is most likely to produce innovation and idea volume marked by effectiveness but not much efficiency.
On the other side of “life” is Aging which occurs when the organization has converted its modality to processes and controls exclusively. Risk aversion becomes the highest priority and “not losing” replaces “winning” as the goal. Unfortunately, controls give birth to more controls and, like cancer, eventually choke the life out of the organization leading to Death.
In the middle is a fantastic period called Prime. This is where we experience the best of the entire cycle in balance. Still “young” enough to take risks and see the world as an opportunity, while “old” enough to be appropriately cautious and improve efficiency while maintaining effectiveness. This period is marked by steady but controlled growth fueled by continuous but mostly incremental improvements.
Just like we would personally like to stay in our “prime” as long as possible, it is also important for organizations to be intentional about extending their prime period extensively, if not indefinitely. Interestingly, the same mindset works to extend our personal as well as our organizational prime. You guessed it. A panoramic view. The dictionary says a panoramic view is showing a full or wide view that is comprehensive in scope or range of coverage. Simply, not losing sight of either end of the spectrum.
Personally, I try to seek out new experiences as a way to keep my viewpoint broad. New experiences can have a significant impact on brain function. When you do something, read something, or experience something new, your brain adapts, causing structural and functional changes that can enhance cognitive abilities and promote positive mental health. This process is known as neuroplasticity.
Organizations can experience organoplasticity (I just made that word up). In response to ideas, structural changes, initiatives, and new information, the organizational “brain” will adapt and increase its capacity and propensity to health, or “prime.” The organization stays young.
It is the responsibility of leaders to promote and provide opportunities for exposure to new things. This can be training opportunities, interactions with other organizations to experience different ways, reorganization and restructuring, and moving leaders around within the organization to generate fresh perspectives (just to name a few). Really, anything that forces us out of our comfort zone and gets our eyes up and looking around rather than down and focused on our naturally shrinking point view is healthy.
People age. Organizations age. On a long enough timeline, everyone and everything dies. However, we don’t have to act “old.” We can (and should) work diligently at thinking young. Leaders who challenge themselves and their communities to see the world around them in a panoramic view stay in their prime and are able to live the Bison Way.