I used to go running as a child. I remember the heat and pain in my sternum, the hot blood pumping around my head, in the winter my hands itching under my gloves. My Dad and I used to run together a lot, the rhythm of our trainers pounding the ground together. It was through running that I learnt to push through pain, push it down and keep going through gritted teeth, ignore it and not notice it to get through the burn.
I wonder how many leaders deploy the same technique when managing complex change in their organisations. Do you grit your teeth and push through? Or pay attention to the pain, the unheard voices? How important is it to notice our own discomfort, as well as the discomfort with in our system?
I've met many a leader who sees strength in sticking to their guns, delivery focused, rarely swaying from plans. Useful for seeing through delivery of an objective in large and complex systems. Not so useful for agility and adapting when things change. Which in a complex system, is all the time. The world, as we know is full of uncertainty and unpredictability. We’re not dealing with linear processes, just like any large system.
Pain tells us something, as a felt physical sensation it draws our attention to be more present and embodied. We notice and experience what the system is experiencing. We might create a moment to reflect on how to restore. How useful this is as a diagnostic tool, something to bring our conscious to our cognitive dissonance. If we ignore the voices expressing pain, those same voices are very likely to stall any change process we’re trying to realise. We move towards what we pay attention to. Just noticing pain is a useful compass to check where we’re going. Hearing our own unheard voice, as well as our systems’ is one of the most effective tools we have.
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