Work for Change

Obama Brings Generation Jones to the White House

Scott Mills, Ph.D.

    Everyone is pretty clear that Barack Obama has ushered in a new era for our country.  Not only is he the first African American president of the U.S., he is also the first President to come from Generation Jones.  Maybe you hadn't heard of Gen Jones, although the recent election coverage used it quite often as a filler, but it makes a pretty big difference in what we might see from him as a leader.

    Gen Jones was born between 1954 and 65.  Obama, born in 1961, is clearly a member of this cohort.  This group doesn't look much like their Boomer and Gen X neighbors but have rarely been discussed as having a separate identity.  Jonathan Pontell, the California based sociologist, first coined this term in 2001.  He writes of Generation Jones. 

"They were given huge expectations in the Sixties, their formative years, but came of age in the unrequited reality of the Seventies. Their attitudes are different, their experience is different, yet just because they were born when the birth rate was high they have been lumped in with the boomers for all their lives. They are a lost generation."

   Perhaps the first yuppies, the Jones have a very different way of viewing the world.  They were a little too late for the great expectations, we can change the world, attitude of the Boomers.  And a little too early for the crushing sense of being completely powerless in a world gone mad that Xers inherited.   So they are the roll of your sleeves folks who have been described as "practical idealists."  This ethic has already confused some people who are watching Obama and wondering why he is picking certain people in his cabinet.  We can look forward to lots of other choices that might have us scratching our heads until he explains his reasoning.  

    As Obama leads our nation, we will also see an expanding conversation of the role of Gen Jones.  They are only now coming into positions of leadership that the Boomers are vacating.  If we are lucky they will maintain all of the hopefulness of the Boomers combined with the pragmatism of the Xers.   What do you think are the characteristics of Jones leadership?  We would love to hear your thoughts!

Scott Mills, Ph.D. is an expert in generational diversity and organizational development.  He offers workshops, presentations, consulting and coaching to nonprofit organizations and businesses.  To find out more or read more articles check out www.workforchange.net.

Leading with a New Understanding of Change

Scott Mills, Ph.D.

The poet Muriel Rukesyer wrote that "the universe is not made up of atoms, it is made up of stories."  This simple statement points to the fact that the way that we organize our lives is based on the stories we tell about them.   Nowhere is this more true than in the way that we "manage" change in organizations.

First, let's all realize that the Emperor has no clothes.  Our efforts to manage or direct change, or control when changes happen, are largely failures.  Often our efforts fail to recognize the rhythms and timing of humans or their ways of dealing with change.   On top of that, we pretend that change is not something that is happening every moment of every day.   As our world has continued to speed up, this has been harder and harder to deny.   

So what's the point?  If we can't manage change what do we do?  I would suggest that there are three things that organizations can do to best ride the waves of change that occur continually in organizations.  First, we can reframe our understand of change.   Second, we can draw together the right people capable of dealing with change.  And third, we can support them with everything we've got.  Let's look at these in a bit more detail.

Reframing Change

Imagining a more organic structure of organizations, Margaret Wheatley the world reknowned systems theorists, calls us to imagine our organizations differently.

"Change is the organizing force, not a problematic intrusion.   Structures and solutions are temporary.  Resources and people come together to create new initiatives, to respond to new regulations, to shift the organization's processes.  Leaders emerge from the needs of the moment.  There are fewer level of management.  Experimentation is the norm.  Local solutions predominate but are kept local, not elevated to models for the whole organization.   Involvement and participation constantly deepen.  These organizations are experts in the process of change.   They understand their organization as a process of continuous organizing."

Letting go of the notion that change is the enemy or something fundamentally disruptive and re-imagining it as the life blood that we all breath will allow us to engage it more fully.   However, it is also important to note that in her work, change happens not from the top down but rather at the local level where the variables of the situation can actually be addressed.

Drawing the Best People Together

Jim Collins, in his study of extremely high performing companies, has called this "getting the right people on the bus."  In his study, it became clear that one of the primary factors for high achieving companies was that the people share the vision and the purpose of the organization.   They wanted to create something together.

It seems clear that the defining factor in hiring the right people is not necessarily that they be the best in their skill set.  This might go against common practice but the reality is, with a constantly changing world, the skill sets of today are often obsolete tomorrow.   A capacity for curiosity and learning allow one to continually learn new skills as needed.  The greatest factor in success, according to numerous psychologists, is emotional intelligence.  In particular, the capacity for self-discipline and an optimistic outlook, when taken together with a shared sense of purpose seem to be the best indicators of capacity to grow and change with an organization.

Supporting Your Team

Some folks are still hanging onto the notion that the best leader is like a general who directs his troops in battle from a distance.  However, how much more can an empowered team accomplish than one that is directed?  When we trust and support our team members, providing them with all the resources they need, we enable them to combine their intelligence and act quickly.  For some of you, this might mean that you have a need to redefine your relationships with some employees or find ways to help them learn skills that they don't yet have.   You may need to step out of the role of commander and into the role of coach.  But in the end, your team will be much more able to address the demands of an ever changing world.

These three primary understandings undergird the work of change in organizations.  The next set of articles that Cathy and I will be posting are specifically related to the ways in which you can work with the different generations to engage change in your organization.  We look forward to your comments, thoughts and questions!

Find about more about Dr. Mills or our work at www.workforchange.net

References

Jim Collins. From Good to Great. 2001.

Margaret Wheatley.  Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. 2005.

Listening to the Brain: Opening New Avenues of Leadership

Dr. Scott Mills, Ph.D.

To really understand human behaviors, leaders need to understand the basic workings of the human brain.  How do we function?  What is it that makes us act and feel the ways that we do?  The work of neuroscientist, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, has opened up new doors for us in terms of understanding the workings of the brain.   I encourage you to watch her talk on TED.  How might your leadership style change if you incorporated more whole brain integration?

Below, you will find a link to a talk by Taylor explaining her own direct experience of the brain and the implications for brain research on leadership.

Jill Bolte Taylor on the Brain

One of the most important elements to the work that Dr. Cathy Rodgers and I have been doing is bringing more of this integration into organizations.  We do this by helping leaders develop greater emotional intelligence (a factor which plays a greater role than IQ in success according to the work of Dr. Daniel Goleman at Harvard), increasing stillness so that more of what is really happening can be taken in as well as employing sophisticated tools of assessment to understand the health of an organization.

We encourage you to imagine what your organization might look like and how it would function if people were able to bring all of their intelligence to the workplace.  We believe this has the possibility of increasing productivity, creativity and innovation not mention improving the quality of workplace relationships.

Find about more about Dr. Mills or our work at www.workforchange.net