Definitions
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Some of you may be new to some of the concepts we’re discussing – and to our change model. If there are other things you find that need defining, please let us know.
Aikido
A Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba. Aikido is often translated as “the Way of unifying with life energy” or as “the Way of harmonious spirit.” Ueshiba’s goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury.
Domains
Domains provide a way for us to separate levels of knowing/unknowing, order/disorder/unorder. In our Change Model, we play with four domain quadrants. (You may find other models that apply domains in a somewhat similar way, but with a different orientation). Starting upper left, (above the horizontal line) we have the Simple Domain – the current state. On the right is the Complicated Domain – the future state. On the right below the line is the Complex Domain and on the left the Chaos Domain. In between these two Domains is something we call Mystery – the place of creativity and innovation.
From Our Change Model:
Orange Line
This is part of our Change Model. The solid orange line represents our Plan – how we think the change will happen, how we plan for it to happen, how we want/hope/wish/dream it will happen. And, it’s usually not how the change plays out at all. That said, it’s important to have this Predicted Path – as long as we know going in that it’s likely going to change in unexpected ways. This predicted path is important in helping to establish the milestones that will keep us on track to our Future State – although those, too, may change before we get there.
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Cauldron
When an event happens that throws people off the straight path from Current State to Future State they “fall” into a place we call the Cauldron and into the Chaos Domain. How deep and wide the Cauldron is depends on how prepared you are for the event and how quickly you can move from Chaos to Complexity.
Red Line / The Transitional Path
This is part of our Change Model. The jagged red line is triggered when we a destabilizing event takes place putting us face-to-face with change (intentional or unintentional). It represents our emotional reaction to the change and to the process of working through the transition that the change requires. It’s the path that is most likely to be ignored – sometimes with seriously unpleasant results.
Green Line / The Transactional Path
This is part of our Change Model. The solid green line represents what actually happens, and the broken green line represents what will actually happen that we can’t be sure of yet. It depicts the transactions, or the path of Transactional Change, tracing what we actually do as we move from the Current State to the Future State.
Blue Line / Sewing Machine
Another part of our Change Model. The blue line represents how we navigate change. It shows the process of checking in between the milestones (on the orange line) with what’s happening internally for people on the Red Line, and what’s actually being done in terms of and then going back up and adjusting the next milestone if necessary.
Safe-Fail
While in the Cauldron trying out different things that if don’t work (Fail) do not have a significant impact (Safe) on the efforts to move forward to the new beginning.
Weak Signals
Our world is increasingly filled with information mixed in with all the “noise.” It’s a challenge finding ways to sort it – to not become inundated while also not missing what’s important. Weak signals refers to the way information shows up first, before any patterns or its importance are obvious. And it’s frequently from sources that we think would be unlikely or are not yet attuned to or monitoring. As part of our strategy and systems, we need to find ways watch for and bring to the attention of the right people this information that may turn out to be important but can so easily be missed until too late or initially dismissed as unimportant.
VUCA
VUCA (pronounced voo – ka) is an acronym that stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. The concept was conceived by the Army War College to describe the environment of the combat soldier. Recently VUCA has made it way into the vocabulary of the business world.
VUCA prime
An acronym that stands for Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility. In the early 1990’s, Bob Johansen from the Institute for the Future coined the term VUCA Prime to show that there are positive responses to VUCA.